Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gain-Scheduled & Nonlinear Systems : Dynamic Analysis by Velocity-Based Linearisation Families

A family of velocity-based linearisations is proposed for a nonlinear system. In contrast to the conventional series expansion linearisation, a member of the family of velocity-based linearisations is valid in the vicinity of any operating point, not just an equili brium operating point. The velocity-based linearisations facil itate dynamic analysis far from the equili brium operating points and enable the transient behaviour of the nonlinear system to be investigated. Using velocity-based linearisations, stabili ty conditions are derived for both smooth and non-smooth nonlinear systems which avoid the restrictions, to trajectories lying within an unnecessarily, perhaps excessively, small neighbourhood about the equili brium operating points, inherent in existing frozen-input theory. For systems where there is no restriction on the rate of variation, the velocity-based linearisation analysis is global in nature. The analysis techniques developed, whilst quite general, are motivated by the gain-scheduling design approach and have the potential for direct application to the analysis of gain-scheduled systems.
Optimal Control on the Doubly Infinite Continuous Time Axis and Coprime Factorizations

We study the problem of existence of weak right or left or strong coprime factorizations in H-infinity over the right half-plane of an analytic function defined in some subset of the right half-plane. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of such coprime factorizations in terms of an optimal control problem over the doubly infinite continuous time axis. In particular, we show that an equivalent condition for the existence of a strong coprime factorization is that both the control and the filter algebraic Riccati equation (of an arbitrary realization that need not be well-posed) have a solution (in general unbounded and not even densely defined) and that a coupling condition involving these two solutions is satisfied. The proofs that we give are partly based on corresponding discrete time results which we have recently obtained.
The ‘spiteful’ origins of human cooperation

We analyse generosity, second-party (‘spiteful’) punishment (2PP), and third-party (‘altruistic’) punishment (3PP) in a cross-cultural experimental economics project. We show that smaller societies are less generous in the Dictator Game but no less prone to 2PP in the Ultimatum Game. We might assume people everywhere would be more willing to punish someone who hurt them directly (2PP) than someone who hurt an anonymous third person (3PP). While this is true of small societies, people in large societies are actually more likely to engage in 3PP than 2PP. Strong reciprocity, including generous offers and 3PP, exists mostly in large, complex societies that face numerous challenging collective action problems. We argue that ‘spiteful’ 2PP, motivated by the basic emotion of anger, is more universal than 3PP and sufficient to explain the origins of human cooperation.
Demo abstract: Stemflow: Inter-datacenter overlay as a service

Thanks to the abundant available bandwidth and multiple paths on wide-area links that interconnect datacenters on major cloud platforms, it is conceivable that bandwidth-intensive applications may improve their performance by relaying their traffic through such an inter-datacenter network. We propose Stemflow, a new systems framework that provides Inter-Datacenter Overlay as a Service. It is provided as a turn-key solution for applications to conveniently and transparently tap into the available bandwidth resources across datacenters in the cloud, with internal optimizations on the performance of data delivery. Internally, we have implemented Stemflow as a software-defined overlay. We present two interactive cloud applications built upon Stemflow — live video broadcast and instant messaging — to demonstrate the ease of development and the performance gains by using Stemflow.
Synthesis, Screening and Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Potential Prodrugs of Bupropion. Part One: In Vitro Development

In general, prodrugs are developed to circumvent deficiencies associated with the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion or toxicological (ADMET) profile associated with the active drug. In our study, we select bupropion, a drug with broad pharmacology incorporating dopaminergic, noradrenergic, nicotinic and cytokine modulation properties, but which is rapidly metabolized in vivo. We exploited its carbonyl and secondary amine functionality to facilitate the synthesis of bioprecursor prodrug forms with the sole objective of identifying analogues with enhanced properties over bupropion. A range of analogues were synthesized, ranging from N-methyl, N-benzyl, oximes, enol acetate and ether forms to examples where both functional groups were utilized to form oxadiazine, oxadiazinone, oxazolone and acetylated derivatives. We then developed an in vitro metabolic screen to simulate the human oral delivery route for these analogues. The selection of media in the screens contained a variety of pH, enzymatic and co-factor systems which mimic metabolic in vivo environments that drugs encounter when delivered orally. By coupling our in vitro screening tool to a selective hyphenated technique such as LC-MS, we were able to quickly select potential prodrugs for further in vitro and in vivo development. From the data generated, the N-alkylated bupropion analogues were shown to have the highest potential to act as bioprecursor prodrugs of bupropion.
Extended target detection in interference whose covariance matrix is defined via uncertainty convex constraints

In this paper we deal with the problem of detecting extended targets embedded in Gaussian interference with structured covariance matrix. We model the target echo from each range bin as a deterministic signal with an unknown scaling factor that accounts for the target response. We also exploit some a-priori knowledge about the operating environment at the design stage. Specifically, we assume that inverse disturbance covariance matrix belongs to a set described through a family of unitary invariant convex functions. Hence, we derive a class of Generalized Likelihood Ratio Tests (GLRT's) for the resulting hypothesis test. At the analysis stage, we assess the performance of some detectors, lying in the aforementioned class, in terms of Detection Probability (PD). The results highlight that the better the covariance uncertainty characterization, the better the detection performance.
G-Player: Exploratory Visual Analytics for Accessible Knowledge Discovery

Understanding player behavior and making sense of gameplay actions is a non-trivial and time-consuming process that requires both thorough domain knowledge of game design, and advanced technical skills in database query languages and statistical packages. Researchers, technology partners and content creators are developing tools to aid in the process of knowledge discovery to gain insights and understanding player behavior. This is important for game production, as it is crucial for formative evaluation of game designs, but is also important for research applications to understand human behavior. In this paper we present G-Player, a tool that aims at democratizing advanced intelligence and knowledge discovery from players’ behavior. G-Player leverages spatial visualizations, such as heat maps and event/movement plotting, to answer complex queries on spatio-temporal data. It allows quick turn-around time between data analysis, hypothesis forming and verification on multimodal datasets, and lets users gain levels of insight beyond simple descriptive statistics. As a first step, we evaluated our tool for production, through domain experts, who were asked to compare it to their current tools. Through this comparison, we enumerate advantages and disadvantages of G-Player’s design as a tool to expand our understanding of player behaviors through space and time analysis.
Opportunities for Adaptation and Learning in Dynamically Stable Legged Robots

This paper addresses the control and aspects of modeling for Scout II, an autonomous four-legged robot with only one actuator per compliant leg. The running controller requires minimal task level feedback, yet achieves reliable, efficient and fast running up to 1.2 m/s - apparently complex dynamically dexterous tasks may be controlled via simple control laws. We demonstrate the need to model the actuators and the power source of the robot system carefully in order to obtain experimentally valid models for simulation and analysis. The availability of validated models and the small number of controller parameters, makes this type of robot a good candidate for further performance improvements based on adaptation and learning.
Resting TI‐201 Scintigraphy in the Evaluation of Coronary Artery Disease in Children With Hurler Syndrome

Severe coronary artery disease may occur early in the course of mucopolysaccharidosis. The authors present radiologic, scintigraphic, and pathologic findings in five patients with Hurler syndrome. Thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy and selective coronary angiography obtained within 2 days to 6 months were correlated in five patients. Postmortem examination of the coronary arterles was obtained in one patient within hours of angiography. Interobserver agreement on grading of scintigraphic abnormalities was poor. Nonspecific findings on TI-201 studies included septal abnormalities in all five patients. Scintigraphic findings were corroborated by angiography and postmortem results in only 3 of 5 patients. Our findings suggest that resting TI-201 scintigraphy has limited value in the detection of coronary artery disease in patients with Hurler syndrome.
Novel Algorithm of Energy-Aware in Asymmetric Wireless Sensor Networks Routing for In-Point Coverage

since we are not able to replace the battery in a wireless sensor network, energy and lifetime are the most important parameters. Common sensors are not able to connect directly with the central station due to their limited ranges in asymmetrical wireless networks, therefore, we utilize super nodes. A super node has more energy, processing power and a wider range of communication. It does connectivity and transmits data to the base station, nevertheless, it is not possible for all simple nodes to connect to the super nodes directly and they transmit data through other nodes. Optimal selection and considering the energy of relay nodes are the most important sections of designing a wireless network to choose and transmit data and increase the lifetime of the network. In this paper, an energy-aware routing algorithm is presented for sensor networks.
Global fixed priority scheduling with deferred pre-emption

This paper introduces schedulability analysis for global fixed priority scheduling with deferred pre-emption (gFPDS) for homogeneous multiprocessor systems. gFPDS is a superset of global fixed priority pre-emptive scheduling (gFPPS) and global fixed priority non-pre-emptive scheduling (gFPNS). We show how schedulability can be improved via appropriate choice of priority assignment and final non-pre-emptive region lengths, and we provide algorithms which optimize schedulability in this way. An experimental evaluation shows that gFPDS significantly outperforms both gFPPS and gFPNS.
Demographic indicators of trust in federal, state and local government: implications for Australian health policy makers.

OBJECTIVE To provide baseline findings regarding Australians' trust in federal, state and local government. METHODS A computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) survey was administrated during October to December 2009 to a random sample (n=1109) across Australia (response rate 41.2%). Binary logistic regression analyses were carried out by means of SPSS. RESULTS Age, household size, household income, IRSD and ARIA were found to be significant indicators for trust in federal, state and local government. Trust in state government is lower for older respondents and respondents living in inner and outer regional areas. Trust in local council is lower in respondents living in inner regional areas, respondents living in disadvantaged areas, and respondents in the income bracket of $60001 to $100000. Trust in federal government is lower for older respondents and respondents living in disadvantaged areas. Of note is diminished trust in government among older, regional and lower income ($30001-$60000) respondents. CONCLUSIONS Trust in all levels of government was found to be the lowest in population groups that are identified by empirical research and media to have the poorest access to government services. As a consequence, improved access to services for these populations may increase trust in health policy. Increased trust in health governance may in turn, ensure effective dissemination and implementation of health policies and that existing inequities are not perpetuated through distrust of health information and policy initiatives.
Efficiency of oxidative work performance of skeletal muscle in patients with cystic fibrosis.

BACKGROUND--Exercise intolerance in patients with cystic fibrosis is commonly attributed to reduced pulmonary and nutritional status. The possible role of diminished efficiency of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in relation to skeletal muscle performance was investigated in patients with cystic fibrosis. METHODS--In vivo synthesis of ATP in skeletal muscle during submaximal exercise was studied in eight patients with cystic fibrosis aged 12-17 years, and in 19 healthy control subjects aged 8-36 years. The intracellular pH and concentrations of phosphate compounds were calculated at four steady states from phosphorus-31 labelled nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements in the forearm muscle during bulb squeezing in an exercise protocol. Normalised power output, expressed as percentage maximal voluntary contraction (Y, in %MVC), was related to the energy force of ATP hydrolysis (X = ln [ATP]/[ADP][Pi]). This relationship provides an in vivo measure of efficiency of oxidative work performance of skeletal muscle. RESULTS--During all workloads (but not at rest) intracellular pH was higher in the patients with cystic fibrosis than in the controls. The linear least square fit for Y = a-bX showed high correlations in both groups; the slope b was 19% lower in the patients than in the controls (11.8% v 14.5% MVC/ln M; 95% confidence interval for difference 0.3 to 5.0). CONCLUSIONS--In patients with cystic fibrosis oxidative work performance of skeletal muscle is reduced. This may be related to secondary pathophysiological changes in skeletal muscle in cystic fibrosis.
Can Child Self-Report Measures of Depression and Anxiety Be Used in College Samples?

Depression and anxiety are typically measured in college samples using adult scales. However, some child and adolescent versions of internalizing symptoms may be appropriate for use with college samples. Child versions may be appropriate to use with college samples when multi-sample designs are utilized, e.g., both children and adults are assessed. To explore this possibility, 149 college students (M age = 21.9 yr., SD = 6.3; 43 men, 106 women) were assessed on child and adolescent versions and adult scales of anxiety, i.e., the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and depression, i.e., the Children's Depression Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory. Both sets of depression scores were highly correlated (r = .81), which suggests that the children's measure can be used in college samples. Although scores on the two anxiety scales were also significantly correlated, these scales shared less common variance. An exploratory factor analysis provided evidence that a single factor composed of all items for depression was an optimal solution. It was concluded that the Children's Depression Inventory can be used with college samples; however, the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale should not.
Florida International University and University of Miami TRECVID 2011

This paper presents a summary of the team “Florida International University - University of Miami (FIU-UM)” in TRECVID 2011 tasks [1]. This year, the FIU-UM team participated in the Semantic Indexing (SIN) and Instance Search (INS) tasks. Four runs of the SIN results were submitted. F A FIU-UM-1 1: KF+Meta&Relation+Audio+SPCPE&SIFT - Fuse the results from Subspace Modeling and Ranking (SMR) using the Key Frame-based low-level features (KF), LibSVM classification using Metadata from those meta-xmlfiles associated with the IACC videos as well as the relationships between semantic concepts (Meta&Relation), Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) using the Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) audio features, and the simultaneous partition and class parameter estimation (SPCPE) algorithm with scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) interesting points matching (SPCPE&SIFT). F A FIU-UM-2 2: KF+Meta&Relation - Fuse the results from SMR using KF and LibSVM using meta information and relationships between semantic concepts. F A FIU-UM-3 3: KF+Audio+SPCPE&SIFT - Fuse the results from SMR using KF, GMM using MFCC audio features as well as SPCPE&SIFT matching.
An Analysis of the Occurrence Probabilities of Wet and Dry Periods through a Stochastic Monthly Rainfall Model

Stochastic simulators can effectively generate the intrinsic variability of the rainfall process, which is an important issue in the analysis of the projections uncertainties. In this paper, a procedure for stochastic modeling of precipitation at monthly scale is proposed. The model adopts variable transformations, which are finalized to the deseasonalization and the Gaussianization of the monthly rainfall process, and includes a procedure for testing the autocorrelation. The model was applied to a homogeneous database of monthly rainfall values registered in 12 rain gauges in the region of Calabria (Southern Italy). After the estimation of the model parameters, a set of 104 years of monthly rainfall for each rain gauge was generated by means of a Monte Carlo technique. Then, dry and wet periods were analyzed through the application of the standardized precipitation index (SPI). Some results, confirmed through the application of the drought severity index (DSI), showed that the proposed model provided a good representation of the monthly rainfall for the considered rain gauges. Moreover, the results of the SPI application indicate a greater probability of dry conditions than wet conditions, especially when long-term precipitation patterns are considered.
Fast missing-data IAA by low rank completion

The adaptive spectral estimation method IAA provides better performance than the periodogram at the cost of higher computational complexity. Current fast IAA algorithms reduce the computational complexity using Toeplitz/Vandermonde structures, but are not efficient for missing data cases when the number of missing samples is small. We considerably reduce the computational complexity compared to the state-of-the-art by using a low rank completion to transform the problem to a Toeplitz/Vandermonde structured problem.
Perceptions of retired professional soccer players about the provision of support services before and after retirement

Objective: To determine the views of retired players about the provision of support services in English professional soccer before and after retirement and to assess the impact of career ending injury on these views. Method: An anonymous self administered questionnaire was distributed to 500 former players registered with the English Professional Footballers' Association. The questions asked about personal details, current medical status, reasons for retirement, perceptions of the provision and quality of support services, and use of prophylactic treatments while injured. Results: Of the 500 questionnaires distributed, 185 (37%) were returned. The Professional Footballers' Association provided significantly (p<0.001) more help and advice to retired players on medical, financial, career, and educational matters than any other organisation. Although respondents showed some satisfaction with the provision of medical support, they were significantly (p<0.001) less satisfied with the provision of sports science (23%) and education/welfare (19%) support. Respondents who had retired through injury, however, were more dissatisfied with the provision of all services. Significantly (p<0.001) more respondents agreed with the view that injuries would reduce income earning potential, contribute to medical problems, and restrict the duration of their playing career. Respondents who had been medically diagnosed with osteoarthritis were significantly more likely, at some time, to have regularly received steroid injections while injured. Conclusion: The results presented are consistent with other evidence that the provision of injury prevention and socioeconomic services at professional soccer clubs is inadequate. The soccer industry should therefore develop a long term strategy for managing the needs of players who are forced to retire through injury.
Cystatin C Identifies Patients With Stable Chronic Heart Failure at Increased Risk for Adverse Cardiovascular Events

Background—Renal function is a strong predictor of adverse events in heart failure. Current renal function measures are imperfect, and cystatin C (CysC) is promoted as a better marker of glomerular filtration rate. This study compares the prognostic use of CysC and derived glomerular filtration rate estimates with other measures of renal function in patients with chronic heart failure. Methods and Results—We measured serum CysC levels in 823 patients with heart failure undergoing coronary angiography with follow-up of major adverse cardiovascular events (death, myocardial infarction, stroke). CysC levels strongly correlated with creatinine (r=0.73), blood urea nitrogen (r=0.70), and estimated glomerular filtration rate by the 4-variable modification of diet in renal disease equation (r=−0.62) (all P<0.001). However, the correlation was lower in estimated glomerular filtration rate ≥60 mL/min per 1.73 m2. CysC-based measures significantly improved areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the prediction of major adverse cardiovascular events, especially in estimated glomerular filtration rate ≥60 mL/min per 1.73 m2 (P<0.01). Net reclassification improvement was 22.2% (P<0.001) in this group. CysC remained an independent predictor of major adverse cardiovascular events (P<0.001) after adjustment for traditional risk factors and brain natriuretic peptide. Conclusions—CysC is an independent predictor of adverse events in chronic heart failure. It adds prognostic value to creatinine, particularly in patients with preserved renal function.
Selection of the PSO Parameters for Inverting of Ellipsometry

To guarantee the convergence of PSO applied to the inverting of ellipsometry to the global optima in good time, the optimization performance of PSO under different parameters is compared and analyzed. The result shows that the range of inertia weight ω from 0.5 to 0.8, the sum of learning parameters c<sub>1</sub>, c<sub>2</sub> preferably not more than 3, and at the same time, a smaller c<sub>1</sub> and a bigger c<sub>2</sub>, ensure the better optimization performance of PSO.