Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stability of discrete-time iterative learning control with random data dropouts and delayed controlled signals in networked control systems

This paper studies the robust stability of discrete-time iterative learning control (ILC) systems in a networked control system setting(NCS). First we consider the problem where data sent from a remote plant to the ILC algorithms is subject to random data dropouts. For this scenario we establish mean-square stability, taking into account the convergence of the covariance of the error along the iteration domain. Next, using this result, we derive a robust stability condition for a more general NCS-based ILC problem with data delays and dropouts in the control signals transmitted to the remote plant as well as data delays in output signals returned from the plant.
New Graph Regularized Sparse Coding Improving Automatic Image Annotation

Typical image classification pipeline for shallow architecture can be summarized by the following three main steps: i) a projection in high dimensional space of local features, ii) sparse constraints for the encoding scheme and iii) a pooling operation to obtain a global representation invariant to common transformation. Sparse Coding (SC) framework is one particular example of this general approach. The main problem raised by it is the local feature encoding which is done independently, loosing correlation of the input space. In this work we propose to simultaneously encode sparse codes to tackle this problem with Joint Sparse Coding (JSC) inspired by Graph regularized Sparse Coding (GSC). We experiment SC, GSC and JSC on UIUCsports and scenes15 database. We will show that results obtained, for UIUCsports, with SC (87.27± 1.33), JSC (84.17±1.57) and the State-of-the-Art (88.47±2.32 [23]) are tackled by a simple fusion (95.37± 1.29). Several assumptions will be advanced to explain this phenomenon which can’t be generalized.
EECS-730 High-Power Inverted Doherty Power Amplifier for Broadband Application

Abstract This paper presents a high-power inverted Doherty power amplifier for broader operational bandwidth. After analyzing two operation modes according to the load modulation of the Doherty power amplifier, the inverted Doherty structure was selected. In the design, the load impedances for optimum broadband characteristics at both the back-off and peak power levels. The Doherty power amplifier was designed to have simultaneously optimized back-off efficiency and load impedances at peak power level. The designed inverted Doherty power amplifier based on LDMOSFET’s shows high efficiency of more than 40 % at the point backed-off by 6 dB from the 1 dB compression point of 50 dBm and at the band from 2.04 to 2.24 GHz.
A plastic-visco-elastic model for wrinkles in facial animation and skin aging

A model is described to simulate expressive wrinkles in 3D facial animation and skin aging. A plastic visco elastic skin surface is defined that can slide over an underlying layer. This layer constrains the skin surface by the spring force that simulates the connective fat tissue between skin and muscles. Muscle masks are constructed to characterize the muscular contractions that offer the tension to the skin and provide the facial movement. By choosing proper parameters for this physically based model, wrinkles in facial animation and skin aging are simulated through the elastic process assembled with visco and plastic units
Developmental Trends in Peer Victimization and Emotional Distress in LGB and Heterosexual Youth

OBJECTIVES: This study had 2 objectives: Our first objective was to provide the first evidence of developmental trends in victimization rates for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)- and heterosexual-identified youth, both in absolute and relative terms, and to examine differences by gender. Our second objective was to examine links between victimization, sexual identity, and later emotional distress. METHODS: Data are from a nationally representative prospective cohort study of youth in England were collected annually between 2004 and 2010. Our final analytic dataset includes 4135 participants with data at all 7 waves; 4.5% (n = 187) identified as LGB. Analyses included hierarchical linear modeling, propensity score matching, and structural equation modeling. RESULTS: LGB victimization rates decreased in absolute terms. However, trends in relative rates were more nuanced: Gay/bisexual-identified boys became more likely to be victimized compared with heterosexual-identified boys (wave 1: odds ratio [OR] = 1.78, P = .011; wave 7: OR = 3.95, P = .001), whereas relative rates among girls approached parity (wave 1: OR = 1.95, P = .001; wave 7: OR = 1.18, P = .689), suggesting different LGB–heterosexual relative victimization rate trends for boys and girls. Early victimization and emotional distress explained about 50% of later LGB–heterosexual emotional distress disparities for both boys and girls (each P < .015). CONCLUSIONS: Victimization of LGB youth decreases in absolute, but not necessarily relative, terms. The findings suggest that addressing LGB victimization during adolescence is critical to reducing LGB–heterosexual emotional distress disparities but additional support may be necessary to fully eliminate these disparities.
Augmented Reality Centered Rapid Prototyping

This paper discusses the potential of an updated version of IRIS, a rapid prototyping framework based on augmented reality technology. It extends a previous study conducted using a previous version of the system. Although the previous system performed as well as some other prototype methods, results gathered from the previous version led to the conclusion that the system suffered from key faults such as the insufficient resolution of the camera and the lack of connection between user and prototype device. Tests of the new version of the system showed that the increased resolution of the camera used in the new system gave a major benefit to the user interaction with overall increased performance ratings. The use of a blurry background also helped the users focus more on the prototype device and made them feel more connected during the tasks in comparison with the user experience of the previous study. The disadvantages of the new version were that users still claimed to feel distracted due to a minor lag on the video displayed on screen and the real movement of the hand. In addition, the representation of the prototype in 2D was a major factor for the users not to feel completely connected to it during testing.
The global warming hiatus has faded away: An analysis of 2014–2016 global surface air temperatures

We present an analysis of the global annual mean surface temperature anomaly in 2014, 2015, and 2016 based on five datasets of historical observational records of surface temperature. These three years are the three warmest on record in all but one of the datasets. The largest warming occurred over land, especially at high latitudes. Since the strong El Niño event that occurred in 2015/2016 was similar to the 1997/1998 El Niño, we compared the 2014–2016 period with 1998, the warmest year in the 20th century. The contribution to the annual mean surface temperature anomaly of climate variations at different time scales was assessed using ensemble empirical mode decomposition. Results based on the HadCRUT4 dataset suggest that the interannual component may have contributed an anomaly of −0.01°C in 2014, 0.12°C in 2015, and 0.06°C in 2016. These values are substantially lower than the contribution in 1998 (0.18°C). In comparison, the combined contribution of the decadal‐to‐multidecadal (DM) component and the long‐term warming trend was 0.64°C in 2014, 0.70°C in 2015, and 0.77°C in 2016, which are substantially greater than that in 1998 (0.41°C). Similar results were obtained using the other four datasets. The larger contribution from the DM component and the long‐term warming trend implies that warmer years like 2014–2016 may occur more frequently in the near future. We conclude that the so‐called warming hiatus has faded away.
Latitudinal Environmental Niches and Riverine Barriers Shaped the Phylogeography of the Central Chilean Endemic Dioscorea humilis (Dioscoreaceae)

The effects of Pleistocene glaciations and geographical barriers on the phylogeographic patterns of lowland plant species in Mediterranean-climate areas of Central Chile are poorly understood. We used Dioscorea humilis (Dioscoreaceae), a dioecious geophyte extending 530 km from the Valparaíso to the Bío-Bío Regions, as a case study to disentangle the spatio-temporal evolution of populations in conjunction with latitudinal environmental changes since the Last Inter-Glacial (LIG) to the present. We used nuclear microsatellite loci, chloroplast (cpDNA) sequences and environmental niche modelling (ENM) to construct current and past scenarios from bioclimatic and geographical variables and to infer the evolutionary history of the taxa. We found strong genetic differentiation at nuclear microsatellite loci between the two subspecies of D. humilis, probably predating the LIG. Bayesian analyses of population structure revealed strong genetic differentiation of the widespread D. humilis subsp. humilis into northern and southern population groups, separated by the Maipo river. ENM revealed that the ecological niche differentiation of both groups have been maintained up to present times although their respective geographical distributions apparently fluctuated in concert with the climatic oscillations of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Holocene. Genetic data revealed signatures of eastern and western postglacial expansion of the northern populations from the central Chilean depression, whereas the southern ones experienced a rapid southward expansion after the LGM. This study describes the complex evolutionary histories of lowland Mediterranean Chilean plants mediated by the summed effects of spatial isolation caused by riverine geographical barriers and the climatic changes of the Quaternary.
The Impact of Informal Care on Elderly People’s Physical Health Outcomes

-The empirical study of informal care on care receivers’ physical health has not been gained comprehensive attention. We aim to investigate the effects of informal care on the physical health of elderly people in China. We pure the potential endogeneity of informal care time by introducing the distance from the care receiver’s to their child’s whose is closest to where his elderly parents live, and the communication frequency between receivers and their children as instrument variables. The probability for blood urea nitrogen at higher risk level can be reduced 0.6%. For creatinine, elder people’s probability at higher risk level can be decreased 0.2%. The cystatin C at higher risk level can be reduced 0.4%. The results show that the informal care can improve the elderly people’s physical health by driving their blood biomarkers into lower risk level. Keywords—informal care; health; instrumental variables;
Portable Inter Process Communication Programming

Most applications are consisted of several activities that are fulfilled by different processes. And even processes are included different child processes named light processes or threads. The basic idea of dividing the whole activities to processes is followed by the reusability and sharing ideas. Therefore, applications need an IPC mechanism to establish the communication between the processes. Inter process communication that is known as IPC is a collection of mechanisms that meet the communication requirements between processes. System V defines standard for IPC mechanism named SVIPC. Different operating systems implement SVIPC standard in different manner. Therefore programs that are using the IPC mechanism have different structure in other operating systems. On the other hand reproducing program for various operating systems is a time consuming activity. Porting is a solution to writing programs with the least changes to port them on different operating systems. In this survey we present a brief introduction of various IPC mechanisms in the two operating systems and describe porting Windowspsila programs to Linux by mapping the IPC primitives as a solution. We present the porting as a solution to portable IPC programming. While the program is written with windows IPC mechanism can use our wrapper to be able to run in Linux operating system.
Benevolent Ideology and Women’s Economic Decision-Making: When Sexism Is Hurting Men’s Wallet

Can ideology, as a widespread “expectation creator,” impact economic decisions? In two studies we investigated the influence of the Benevolent Sexism (BS) ideology (which dictates that men should provide for passive and nurtured women) on women’s economic decision-making. In Study 1, using a Dictator Game in which women decided how to share amounts of money with men, results of a Generalized Linear Mixed Model analysis show that higher endorsement of BS and contextual expectations of benevolence were associated with more very unequal offers. Similarly, in an Ultimatum Game in which women received monetary offers from men, Study 2’s Generalized Linear Mixed Model’s results revealed that BS led women to reject more very unequal offers. If women’s endorsement of BS ideology and expectations of benevolence prove contrary to reality, they may strike back at men. These findings show that BS ideology creates expectations that shape male-female relationships in a way that could be prejudicial to men.
Increased electroencephalographic gamma activity reveals awakening from isoflurane anaesthesia in rats.

BACKGROUND Animal studies often require reliable measures for anaesthetic drug effects. Lately, EEG-based depth of anaesthesia estimation has been widely applied to rat models. This study investigated the reliability of different EEG spectral properties in revealing awakening from isoflurane anaesthesia in rats. METHODS Adult Wistar rats with previously implanted frontal epidural electrodes were anaesthetized using isoflurane. The anaesthesia was slowly lightened until awakening, as observed by the first spontaneous movement, after which anaesthesia was induced again by increasing the isoflurane concentration. EEG was recorded during the recovery and induction periods, and the spectrograms and 23 quantitative spectral parameters used in the depth of anaesthesia estimation were calculated from the signals. RESULTS The awakening was accompanied by a decrease in EEG activity at frequencies below 25 Hz, while the activity at higher frequencies (25-150 Hz) was increased. Whereas the behaviour of parameters used to measure activity in the lower frequencies was subject to variability between animals, the increase in higher frequency activity was more consistent, resulting in a statistically significant change in the relative gamma power parameters at the moment of awakening. CONCLUSIONS The increase in frontal relative gamma activity, especially in the 50-150 Hz frequency band, seems to be the most reliable EEG indicator for the awakening of a rat from isoflurane anaesthesia. A number of other spectral measures can also be used to detect this event. However, the role of gamma frequencies in the performance of these parameters is crucial.
On the Role of Software Architecture for Simulating Multi-Agent Systems

A control system is a software system connected to an underlying environment. The en-vironment is the part of the external world with which the control system interacts, andin which the e ects of the control system will be observed [Jackson, 1997]. The task of acontrol system is to ensure that particular functionalities are achieved in the environment.A multi-agent control system is a control system of which the software is a multi-agent
An automated p-nitrophenylphosphate serum alkaline phosphatase procedure for the "Robot Chemist".

A new, precise, and accurate procedure is described for the automated determination of serum alkaline phosphatase on the Robot Chemist. The substrate, p-nitrophenyl-phosphate in 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol, offers the prime advantage of providing directly its own chromogen, p-nitrophenol, following enzyme action. Other advantages are the small sample volumes required and linear reaction rates. Correlations are presented between the manual procedure and those used with both the Technicon Auto-Analyzer and the Robot Chemist.
Learning fuzzy cognitive maps using Structure Optimization Genetic Algorithm

Fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) is a soft computing methodology that allows to describe the analyzed problem as a set of nodes (concepts) and connections (links) between them. In this paper a new Structure Optimization Genetic Algorithm (SOGA) for FCMs learning is presented for modeling complex decision support systems. The proposed approach allows to automatic construct and optimize the FCM model on the basis of historical multivariate time series. The SOGA defines a new learning error function with an additional penalty for highly complexity of FCM understood as a large number of concepts and a large number of connections between them. The aim of this study is the analysis of usefulness of the Structure Optimization Genetic Algorithm for fuzzy cognitive maps learning. Comparative analysis of the SOGA with other well-known FCM learning algorithms (Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm and Multi-Step Gradient Method) was performed on the example of prediction of rented bikes count. Simulations were done with the ISEMK (Intelligent Expert System based on Cognitive Maps) software tool. The obtained results show that the use of SOGA allows to significantly reduce the structure of the FCM model by selecting the most important concepts and connections between them.
Primary and secondary aPPraisals in measuring resilience to stress

Measuring resilience to stress (or stress resistance) validly and reliably is an im-portant theoretical and practical problem. Process-oriented stress theories assume that primary and secondary appraisals play an important role in determining the level of resilience. In the present study, a model of resilience based on the analysis of the interplay between primary and secondary appraisal processes is developed. Resilience is high if benign primary appraisals of taxing situations are accompa-nied by secondary appraisals of coping resources as being suffi cient for controlling stressors. In an implementation of the model, the quality of primary appraisals is assessed through the assessment of anxiety, anger and depression, which char-acterize the most typical cognitive-emotional reactions to demanding situations. The assessment of secondary appraisals is restricted to the analysis of psychophys-iological (functional) resources, which are involved in all forms of coping activities. The implementation of the model gives rise to a measure of resilience, which is shown to successfully predict the outcome of the stress process in a sample of Russian police offi cers.Keywords: resilience, stress process, situation appraisal, psychophysiological re-sources, assessment, validity.
Introduction to Estimation of Distribution Algorithms

Estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs) guide the search for the optimum by building and sampling explicit probabilistic models of promising candidate solutions. However, EDAs are not only optimization techniques; besides the optimum or its approximation, EDAs provide practitioners with a series of probabilistic models that reveal a lot of information about the problem being solved. This information can in turn be used to design problem-specific neighborhood operators for local search, to bias future runs of EDAs on a similar problem, or to create an efficient computational model of the problem. This chapter provides an introduction to EDAs as well as a number of pointers for obtaining more information about this class of algorithms.
Wearable stooping-assist device in reducing risk of low back disorders during stooped work

Stooped postures are commonly found in agricultural, construction, mining, and other workplaces all around world, and such workers are estimated to be in the 100s of millions worldwide. The work requiring stooped postures is strongly associated with high incidence of low back disorders (LBDs). According to biomechanics, the ideal static equilibrium model of stooped human body was established. A wearable stooping-assist device (WSAD) was developed as an intervention to reduce thoracic and lumbar erector spinae activity, based the model. Electromyography (EMG) experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the WSAD. Results showed that the integrated EMG amplitudes of the thoracic erector spinae (TES), the lumbar erector spinae (LES), the latissimus dorsi (LD) and the rectus abdominis (RA) were reduced by 42%, 47%, 28% and 9% respectively, when sagittal trunk bended forward to 90 degrees from the vertical. By reducing back erector spinae activity, the WSAD is able to reduce low back physical demands during stooped work task thereby decreasing the risk of developing LBDs associated with stooped work.
Design and analysis of a collision avoidance system for the visually impaired

The visually impaired face a lot of challenges in their day to day life. The major challenge for a visually impaired person is being able to walk and commute safely in a hectic environment. Various Collision avoidance systems have been developed to alert the user of an imminent obstacle as well as to help in navigation through a given area. This paper focuses on the implementation of a prototype for a collision avoidance system which can alert the user of an obstacle in the linear direction using a combination of audio and haptic feedback. The aim was to build a fully functional prototype for the visually impaired using PIC microcontroller, ultrasonic module and other peripherals. Our goal is to build a fully functioning device which could be commercially produced as a useful product for the visually impaired, considering its high efficiency, low power consumption, accuracy, and low cost components used.
Preserving Privacy and Utility in RFID DataPublishing

Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is a technology that helps machines identify objects remotely. The RFID technology has been extensively used in many domains, such as mass transportation and healthcare management systems. The collected RFID data capture the detailed movement information of the tagged objects, offering tremendous opportunities for mining useful knowledge. Yet, publishing the raw RFID data for data mining would reveal the specific locations, time, and some other potentially sensitive information of the tagged objects or individuals. In this paper, we study the privacy threats in RFID data publishing and show that traditional anonymization methods are not applicable for RFID data due to its challenging properties: high-dimensional, sparse, and sequential. Our primary contributions are (1) to adopt a new privacy model called LKC-privacy that overcomes these challenges, and (2) to develop an efficient anonymization algorithm to achieve LKC-privacy while preserving the information utility for data mining.