Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Threshold-based voltage reference with pn- junction temperature compensation

A new voltage reference with output dependent upon the threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor is introduced. A low temperature coefficient is achieved by using a pn-junction PTAT current generator to compensate for the negative temperature coefficient of the threshold voltage. Implemented in a standard 0. 6µm CMOS process with an output of 1.67V, it has a temperature coefficient of 4.9ppm/°C over a 195 °C range.
A PARALLEL ARCHITECTURE FOR CURVE-EVOLUTION PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

The computation of the distance function is a crucial and limiting element in many applications of image processing. This is particularly true for the PDE-based methods, where the distance is used to compute various geometric properties of the travelling curve. Massive Marchinga is a parallel algorithm computing the distance function by propagating the solution from the sources and permitting simultaneous spreading of component labels in the infiuence zones. Its hardware implementation is conceivable as no sorted data structures are used. The feasibility is demonstrated here on a set of parallely-operating Processing Units arranged in a linear array. The text concludes by a study of the accuracy and the implementation cost.
Collaborative Student Modelling- a new perspective using Wiki.

The current paper discuses the potential use of Wiki as an environment for the formation of student models during distance education sessions. The idea of student models is not novel, rather their benefits in distance education. Wiki has already been used in a number of Education scenarios and projects, either as an authoring or a teaching tool. The paper discusses the appropriateness of Wiki towards a new adapted role, that of collaborative Student Modelling and explores the possible benefit for instructors of using Wiki under that perspective. The up growth use of Wiki environment, signals the culmination of variety collaborative activities in the field of distance education.
A lower bound for optimum frame synchronization on AWGN channels

We present a new tight lower bound for evaluating the performance of sync word based frame synchronization algorithms, in the periodically embedded case, i.e. for fixed length frames where a synchronization word has to be searched. The optimal search technique, based on maximum likelihood criterion, consists in this case in finding the position where a metric, evaluated in a proper window, is maximal. The performance of such synchronizer has never been evaluated analytically given its complexity. In this work we provide an analytical lower bound for the correct synchronization probability, that will be shown to be very close to results obtained through simulation for commonly used channel conditions and ratios frame length/sync word length.
Data Clustering Based on Hybrid of Fuzzy and Swarm Intelligence Algorithm Using Euclidean and Non-euclidean Distance Metrics: a Comparative Study

Data mining is a collection of techniques used to extract useful information from large data bases. Data clustering is a popular data mining technique. It is the task of grouping a set of objects into classes such that similar objects are placed in the same cluster while dissimilar objects are in separate clusters. Fuzzy c-means (FCM) is one of the most popular clustering algorithms. However, it has some limitations such as sensitivity to initialization and getting struck at local optimal values. Swarm intelligence algorithms are global optimization techniques and are recently successfully applied to solve many real-world optimization problems. Constriction Factor Particle Swarm Optimization (cfPSO) algorithm is a population based global optimization technique which is used to solve data clustering problems. Euclidean distance is a well known and commonly used metric in most of the literature. Some drawbacks of this distance metric include blind to correlated variables, not robust in noisy environment, affected by outlier data points and handle data sets with only equal size, density and spherical shapes. But real-world data sets may exhibit different shapes. In this paper, a Fuzzy based Constriction Factor PSO (FUZZY-cfPSO-FCM) algorithm is proposed using Non-Euclidean distance metrics such as Kernel, Mahalanobis and New distance on several benchmark UCI machine learning repository data sets. The proposed hybrid algorithm makes use of the advantages of FCM and cfPSO algorithms. The clustering results are also evaluated through fitness value, accuracy rate and failure rate. Experimental results show that proposed hybrid algorithm achieves better result on various data sets.
Mental Health and Labour Supply – Evidence from Mexico's Ongoing Violent Conflicts

In Mexico, conflicts between drug-trafficking organisations result in a high number of deaths and immense suffering among both victims and non-victims every year. Little scientific research exists which identifies and quantifies the monetary and nonmonetary consequences of ongoing violent conflicts on individuals. Using the Mexican Family Life Survey for 2002 and 2005, the causal effect of mental health (symptoms of depression / anxiety) on the extensive and intensive margin of labour supply for working-aged men and women is estimated. Measures of the ongoing drug-related violent conflicts both at the macro level using intentional homicide rates by region, and at the micro level indicated by the presence of armed groups in the neighbourhood, serve as instruments for mental health. The results show a signifi cant adverse impact of the conflicts on anxiety for men and women. Based on IV-Tobit model results, a worse mental health state decreases individual labour supply strongly and significantly for men. The findings demonstrate that Mexico's population not only suffers from the violent conflicts between drug-trafficking organisations by anxiety or even depression but also indirectly from less household income through less work which in turn has consequences for Mexico's social development and economic growth.
Coping with energy limitation, social constraints and stress in a colonial breeder, the king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)

Cette these s’interesse aux strategies comportementales et physiologiques permettant a un oiseau colonial, le manchot royal, de se reproduire sous de fortes contraintes energetiques (jeune prolonge) et sociales (forte densite de congeneres) potentiellement stressantes. Utilisant la frequence cardiaque (FC) comme indicateur de la depense energetique et de la reponse au stress, elle considere : 1) le cout energetique des comportements majeurs (confort et agressivite) du manchot royal se reproduisant a terre, questionnant leur signifiance evolutive; 2) les changements physiologiques (FC, temperature corporelle, activite physique) associes au jeune reproductif le plus long (1 mois), revelant que la FC de repos des animaux est fortement influencee par la densite coloniale et suggerant un cout energetique de la vie en groupe; 3) L’influence de l’environnement social, indiquant que lors d'interactions agressives la reponse cardiaque des animaux est modulee par leur implication dans l'interaction et par le risque associe; 4) Les effets du statut nutritionnel et reproductif sur les reponses cardiaques, hormonales et metaboliques a differents stress anthropiques aigus, demontrant que ces reponses varient en fonction de la valeur relative de la reproduction (œuf vs. Poussin). L’attenuation de ces reponses, couteuses en energie et pouvant conduire a l'abandon de la progeniture, permettrait d’augmenter le succes reproducteur lorsque la valeur de la reproduction en cours est elevee. Des recherches futures permettront de determiner les consequences physiologiques (cout energetique, stress oxydatif, vieillissement) du stress social chez des especes vivant en groupe.
Extending Semantically Enabled Virtual Environments for Training Assessment

Educators and trainers at all levels are interested in deploying game-based environments and virtual environments as innovative educational tools and intelligent training systems, especially in application areas that involve challenging task activities. However, many development technologies are difficult to use, especially for those who are not specialists in building computer-based systems. In particular, the incorporation of lesson preparation and learner assessment into a computer-based learning program deserves close attention. This paper reports the lessons learned from several recent research and development projects, and offers some directions for new studies that build on this work. The core work of interest is Semantically Enabled Automated Assessment in Virtual Environments. This prototype task-training framework assesses learner performance within an instrumented virtual environment and provides contextual feedback to help improve skill acquisition. An authoring capability allows subject matter experts to create exercise solution models by demonstrating them directly in the environment. A review of additional research offers avenues for improving the existing exercise development and learner assessment capabilities. One Sentence Summary: Semantically grounded virtual environments bridge the gap between the graphical representation of the training scene and the instructional models used to drive learner assessment, yet current research can be applied to improve the quality of this enabling capability.
Track-stair and vehicle-manipulator interaction analysis for tracked mobile manipulators climbing stairs

This paper analyzes interactions between the tracks and the stairs, as well as those between the tracked mobile robot and the onboard manipulator for tracked mobile manipulators (TMMs) climbing stairs. Combining a tracked mobile robot, which has the ability to climb stairs, with an onboard manipulator, a TMM extends the workspace and scope of applications of the robot dramatically. However, this combination gives rise to complex track-stair and vehicle-manipulator interactions, because the configuration of the onboard manipulator affects load distribution, which will further influence the track-stair interactive forces. Unlike the wheeled mobile robots, which are normally assumed to obey the nonholonomic constraints, slippage is unavoidable for a tracked mobile robot, especially when climbing stairs. The track-stair interactive forces are complicated, which may take the forms of grouser-tread hooking force, track-stair edge frictional force, grouser-riser clutching force, and even their compositions. In this paper, the track-stair and vehicle-manipulator interactions are analyzed systematically, which are essential for tip-over prediction and prevention, as well as for automatic control of TMMs in autonomous and semi-autonomous stair-climbing. Simulations for a TMM being developed in our laboratory have demonstrated the usefulness of the presented analysis results.
The Detrimental Effect of Machiavellian Leadership on Employees’ Emotional Exhaustion: Organizational Cynicism as a Mediator

Numerous empirical studies have examined predictors of emotional exhaustion. In this vein, both positive and negative leadership styles have been associated with this outcome. Yet, little is known about the role of Machiavellian leadership in fostering employees’ emotional exhaustion. As such, we investigated the relationship between Machiavellian leadership and emotional exhaustion. Even more, we investigated an explanatory mechanism of this association by encompassing organizational cynicism as a mediator. Results showed that Machiavellian leadership has a both direct and indirect, through organizational cynicism, on employees’ emotional exhaustion.
A sliding mode controller with disturbance observer for a farm vehicle operating in the presence of wheel slip

In this paper, a sliding mode controller with disturbance observer (DOB-SMC) is developed for a tractor as a farm vehicle operating in the presence of longitudinal and lateral slips at front and rear wheels. Farm vehicles intended for autonomous operations usually traverse at low speeds along straight lines. As very low accelerations are involved kinematic models seem sufficiently accurate for developing controllers. However undulating, sloping and very uncertain terrain, besides rough environment, introduces significant disturbances which makes the control design challenging. The proposed DOB-SMC is able to guarantee precision as well as robustness for a typical tractor. In the modelling, lateral and longitudinal sliding are incorporated in the otherwise ideal kinematic model and an error model is developed for the kinematic model. Then a DOB-SMC is developed to cope with disturbances. We prove that the proposed controller is stable in the presence of significant slip. Simulation results prove acceptable performance of the proposed controller in comparison to two other controllers in the literature.
8T1R: A novel low-power high-speed RRAM-based non-volatile SRAM design

With continuous and aggressive technology scaling, suppressing the stand-by power is among the top priorities for SRAM design. Switching off the less-frequently accessed blocks is an efficient way to reduce the stand-by power, provided that the information stored in these blocks can be restored. Non-volatile memories (NVMs) are integrated into SRAM cells to perform the required store and restore functions. Among various types of NVMs, memristors (a.k.a. RRAM) have several advantages including their small device size, low voltage operation, high speed, and CMOS-compatible fabrication process. In this article, we propose a new 8T1R RRAM-based non-volatile SRAM (NV-SRAM) which adds non-volatility to the SRAM with minimum impact on the Write and Read operations. Simulation at cell-level and array-level have confirmed that the new design performs Read and Write operations at a compatible delay, energy and noise margin as the conventional 6T SRAM, and it is among the best of all reported RRAM-based NV-SRAM designs to our knowledge. In addition, since our 8T1R design uses only one RRAM device per cell, the energy required for storing/restoring the SRAM data to/from the RRAM is significantly reduced by 60%/70% compared to the lowest storing/restoring energy of the previously proposed RRAM-based NV-SRAM designs.
System Analysis of a Programmed Cell Death Model

Apoptosis is a programmed cell death by which the organism removes unwanted cells. Its core reactions can be described by a system of differential equations exhibiting multiple steady-states. In this paper we analyse how this model can include both very slow dynamics for the lag phase before apoptosis (in theory up to several days) while the apoptosis itself is more switch-like with changes occurring within minutes. We both describe how the trajectories evolve during the lag phase and show which of the states have the most impact on the slow dynamics.
Real-time rendering of translucent objects with variable sizes

We present a novel technique for real-timely rendering translucent objects. Our technique is mainly based on translucent shadow maps with a new adaptive sampling strategy. In this sampling strategy, the hierarchy levels and positions for sampling are selected according to the size of target object. By our optimization, less storage in the texture is required than that in previous methods. Compared with previous methods, our technique provide a way to choose the proper sampling pattern and is applicable for a wider range of object sizes. With the implementation on GPU, the presented technique is able to render translucent objects in animated scenes where lights and material parameters vary real-timely without any lengthy preprocessing.
Metabolic Heat Stress Adaption in Transition Cows: Differences in Macronutrient Oxidation between Late-Gestating and Early-Lactating German Holstein Dairy Cows

High ambient temperatures have severe adverse effects on biological functions of high-yielding dairy cows. The metabolic adaption to heat stress was examined in 14 German Holsteins transition cows assigned to two groups, one heat-stressed (HS) and one pair-fed (PF) at the level of HS. After 6 days of thermoneutrality and ad libitum feeding (P1), cows were challenged for 6 days (P2) by heat stress (temperature humidity index (THI) = 76) or thermoneutral pair-feeding in climatic chambers 3 weeks ante partum and again 3 weeks post-partum. On the sixth day of each period P1 or P2, oxidative metabolism was analyzed for 24 hours in open circuit respiration chambers. Water and feed intake, vital parameters and milk yield were recorded. Daily blood samples were analyzed for glucose, β-hydroxybutyric acid, non-esterified fatty acids, urea, creatinine, methyl histidine, adrenaline and noradrenaline. In general, heat stress caused marked effects on water homeorhesis with impairments of renal function and a strong adrenergic response accompanied with a prevalence of carbohydrate oxidation over fat catabolism. Heat-stressed cows extensively degraded tissue protein as reflected by the increase of plasma urea, creatinine and methyl histidine concentrations. However, the acute metabolic heat stress response in dry cows differed from early-lactating cows as the prepartal adipose tissue was not refractory to lipolytic, adrenergic stimuli, and the rate of amino acid oxidation was lower than in the postpartal stage. Together with the lower endogenous metabolic heat load, metabolic adaption in dry cows is indicative for a higher heat tolerance and the prioritization of the nutritional requirements of the fast-growing near-term fetus. These findings indicate that the development of future nutritional strategies for attenuating impairments of health and performance due to ambient heat requires the consideration of the physiological stage of dairy cows.
RNA structure through multidimensional chemical mapping

The discoveries of myriad non-coding RNA molecules, each transiting through multiple flexible states in cells or virions, present major challenges for structure determination. Advances in high-throughput chemical mapping give new routes for characterizing entire transcriptomes in vivo, but the resulting one-dimensional data generally remain too information-poor to allow accurate de novo structure determination. Multidimensional chemical mapping (MCM) methods seek to address this challenge. Mutate-and-map (M2), RNA interaction groups by mutational profiling (RING-MaP and MaP-2D analysis) and multiplexed ·OH cleavage analysis (MOHCA) measure how the chemical reactivities of every nucleotide in an RNA molecule change in response to modifications at every other nucleotide. A growing body of in vitro blind tests and compensatory mutation/rescue experiments indicate that MCM methods give consistently accurate secondary structures and global tertiary structures for ribozymes, ribosomal domains and ligand-bound riboswitch aptamers up to two hundred nucleotides in length. Importantly, MCM analyses provide detailed information on structurally heterogeneous RNA states, such as ligand-free riboswitches, that are functionally important but difficult to resolve with other approaches. The sequencing requirements of currently available MCM protocols scale at least quadratically with RNA length, precluding general application to transcriptomes or viral genomes at present. We propose a modify-crosslink-map expansion to overcome this and other current limitations to resolving the in vivo ‘RNA structurome’.
September 2005 mega‐dike emplacement in the Manda‐Harraro nascent oceanic rift (Afar depression)

Local and regional seismic data constrain the space‐time history of deformation and likely magma sources for the September 2005 diking episode in the Manda‐Harraro rift zone of the Afar depression. The results distinguish three centers from which subhorizontal dike propagation progressed: two distinct sources around the Dabbahu‐Gab'ho Volcanic Complex (DVC) and the third at the Ado'Ale Volcanic Complex (AVC). The temporal development of seismicity shows that the majority of the dike volume is fed from beneath AVC and migrated laterally with an average rate of 15–30 cm/sec. This dike emplacement at a divergent plate boundary is unusual due to the rapid intrusion of a large volume of magma and the large amount of seismic moment release. We interpret this volcano‐tectonic crisis as a complex interaction of multiple magma plumbing sources and lithosphere at a plate boundary under extension. Such repeated episodes will eventually shape the incipient oceanic rift morphology.
Adaptive Beamforming Applied to Medical Ultrasound Imaging

We have applied the minimum variance (MV) adaptive beamformer to medical ultrasound imaging and shown significant improvement in image quality compared to delay-and-sum (DAS). We demonstrate reduced main-lobe width and suppression of sidelobes on both simulated and experimental RF data of closely spaced wire targets, which gives potential contrast and resolution enhancement in medical images. The method is applied to experimental RF data from a heart phantom, in which we show increased resolution and improved definition of the ventricular walls. A potential weakness of adaptive beamformers is sensitivity to errors in the assumed wavefield parameters. We look at two ways to increase robustness of the proposed method; spatial smoothing and diagonal loading. We show that both are controlled by a single parameter that can move the performance from that of a MV beamformer to that of a DAS beamformer. We evaluate the sensitivity to velocity errors and show that reliable amplitude estimates are achieved while the mainlobe width and sidelobe levels are still significantly lower than for the conventional beam-former.
Electromyographic, cerebral, and muscle hemodynamic responses during intermittent, isometric contractions of the biceps brachii at three submaximal intensities

This study examined the electromyographic, cerebral and muscle hemodynamic responses during intermittent isometric contractions of biceps brachii at 20, 40, and 60% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). Eleven volunteers completed 2 min of intermittent isometric contractions (12/min) at an elbow angle of 90° interspersed with 3 min rest between intensities in systematic order. Surface electromyography (EMG) was recorded from the right biceps brachii and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to simultaneously measure left prefrontal and right biceps brachii oxyhemoglobin (HbO2), deoxyhemoglobin (HHb), and total hemoglobin (Hbtot). Transcranial Doppler ultrasound was used to measure middle cerebral artery velocity (MCAv) bilaterally. Finger photoplethysmography was used to record beat-to-beat blood pressure and heart rate. EMG increased with force output from 20 to 60% MVC (P < 0.05). Cerebral HbO2 and Hbtot increased while HHb decreased during contractions with differences observed between 60% vs. 40% and 20% MVC (P < 0.05). Muscle HbO2 decreased while HHb increased during contractions with differences being observed among intensities (P < 0.05). Muscle Hbtot increased from rest at 20% MVC (P < 0.05), while no further change was observed at 40 and 60% MVC (P > 0.05). MCAv increased from rest to exercise but was not different among intensities (P > 0.05). Force output correlated with the root mean square EMG and changes in muscle HbO2 (P < 0.05), but not changes in cerebral HbO2 (P > 0.05) at all three intensities. Force output declined by 8% from the 1st to the 24th contraction only at 60% MVC and was accompanied by systematic increases in RMS, cerebral HbO2 and Hbtot with a leveling off in muscle HbO2 and Hbtot. These changes were independent of alterations in mean arterial pressure. Since cerebral blood flow and oxygenation were elevated at 60% MVC, we attribute the development of fatigue to reduced muscle oxygen availability rather than impaired central neuronal activation.