Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimum Receiver Design and Performance Analysis of Arbitrarily Correlated Rician Fading MIMO Channels With Imperfect Channel State Information

The error performance of different types of receivers over an arbitrarily correlated Rician fading MIMO channel is assessed by evaluating the decision metric and the pairwise error probability. The differences are in the way channel state information at the receiver (CSIR) is recovered. We consider: i) a genieaided receiver, based on the perfect knowledge of CSIR; ii) a mismatched receiver, based on the use of pilot-aided (imperfect) CSIR in the perfect-CSIR decision metric; iii) an optimum receiver, based on perfect channel distribution information at the receiver (CDIR), which performs jointly channel and data estimation. In this paper, the decision metric of the optimum receiver is derived, and an iterative algorithm is proposed to calculate it for sequential decoding schemes. The complexity of this iterative algorithm is analyzed and compare against the complexity of the mismatched receiver. Closed-form expressions are given for the pairwise error probabilities (PEPs) of the three receivers with arbitrarily correlated Rician fading. These expressions are further processed to obtain the asymptotic (in the SNR) PEPs, the diversity order, and the asymptotic power losses. Numerical results are presented to support the validity of this analysis and to assess the impact of power efficiency and CDIR estimation errors on the PEP versus the ¿b/N0 ratio.
Comparative Study of Wireless Sensor Networks Energy-efficient Topologies and Power save Protocols

— Ad hoc networks are the ultimate technology in wireless communication that allow network nodes to communicate without the need for a fixed infrastructure. The paper addresses issues associated with control of data transmission in wireless sensor networks (WSN) – a popular type of ad hoc networks with stationary nodes. Since the WSN nodes are typically battery equipped, the primary design goal is to optimize the amount of energy used for transmission. The energy conservation techniques and algorithms for computing the optimal transmitting ranges in order to generate a network with desired properties while reducing sensors energy consumption are discussed and compared through simulations. We describe a new clustering based approach that utilizes the periodical coordination to reduce the overall energy usage by the network.
Modelling and implementation of a permanent magnet synchronous motor drive using a DSP development environment

A permanent magnet synchronous motor drive using a prototype 6 pole 3 kW inset magnet motor is presented. The drive is controlled by a DSP based control board that can be programmed using the MATLAB/SIMULINK software. To investigate the influence of saturation, an accurate measurement procedure based on load tests is described. This method benefits from the I/O features of the development environment. The theoretical performance limits of the motor are determined using optimal torque control. Finally, aspects of controller design, simulation and implementation are briefly discussed.
Radiosity algorithms using higher order finite element methods

Many of the current radiosity algorithms create a piecewise constant approximation to the actual radiosity. Through interpolation and extrapolation, a continuous solution is obtained. An accurate solution is found by increasing the number of patches which describe the scene. This has the effect of increasing the computation time as well as the memory requirements. By using techniques found in the finite element method, we can incorporate an interpolation function directly into our form factor computation. We can then use less elements to achieve a more accurate solution. Two algorithms, derived from the finite element method, are described and analyzed.
A Middleware Architecture for Mobile Social Networking with Intelligent Energy Saving

In recent years, middleware for social mobile networking has attracted the attention of academia, causing the design and development of various approaches by researchers. This type of middleware facilitates and makes more efficient the development process of mobile social networking applications. Furthermore, middleware solutions also abstract the communication process with other applications, allowing the acquisition, persistence and reuse of social context information and location of users, besides providing an API so that developers can access this information quickly and build new social applications. With a view to supporting this new trend of research, in this paper we propose a middleware architecture for mobile social networking called My-Direct which will make use of Wi-Fi Direct as a solution to improve the connectivity between the nodes of the social network. Along with My-Direct also created an intelligent mechanism for the management of mobile resources in order to reduce energy consumption.
Learning Algorithms in a Decentralized General Equilibrium Model

A model is developed in which economic agents learn to make price-setting, price-response, and resource allocation decisions in decentralized markets where all information and interaction is local. Computer simulation shows that it is possible for agents to act almost as if they had the additional necessary information to define and solve a standard optimization problem. Their behaviour gives rise endogenously to phenomena resembling Adam Smith's invisible hand. The results also indicate that agents must engage in some form of price comparison for decentralized markets to clear--otherwise there is no incentive for firms to respond to excess supply by lowering prices. This suggests that agent-based models with decentralized interaction risk untenable results if price-response decisions are made without being first directed toward the most favourable local price.
Framing and Interorganizational Knowledge Transfer: A Process Study of Collaborative Innovation in the Aircraft Industry

This article explains how and why organizational actors' decisions about interorganizational knowledge transfer might change over time. We find that organizational actors' framing of future innovation developments, as either an opportunity or a threat, motivates them to engage or disengage in interorganizational knowledge transfer activities. Shifts in framing lead organizational actors to leverage their relational context and knowledge base in new ways, thereby emphasizing the role of agency in drawing upon these structures. These findings are incorporated into a process model that explains discontinuous change in interorganizational knowledge transfer.
Legitimate Participation in the Classroom Context: Adding Learning Goals to Participatory Design

In this paper we examine the challenges of introducing learning goals in Participatory Design (PD) activities in a school context. In order to increase the transparency of mutual learning in accordance with traditional PD values, we argue that learning through design approaches can inspire us to actively formulate learning goals, stage activities and include reflection as an integral part in the PD activity in order to meet those learning goals. We tested this approach in several master student projects, where the students were required to involve children in schools in the design of a technology. Our data analysis is based on their written reports as well as a specific exam question. We found that defining good learning goals was hard, but useful, especially when designing and discussing informed consent forms with teachers. Staging activities in order to meet the learning goals was possible, although learning goals were sometimes derived from the activities. Finally, incorporating moments of reflection for children was still difficult for our students because they felt pressed for time. We present some of the advantages and problems so that practitioners can consider the added value of this approach.
Cognitive Call Admission Control for VoIP over IEEE 802.11 Using Bayesian Networks

In this paper we address the problem of provisioning Quality of Service (QoS) to Voice over IP applications in a Wireless LAN scenario based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. We propose the use of a Cognitive Network approach to design a Call Admission Control (CAC) scheme, according to which each user stores relevant information on its past network experience and then uses such information to build a Bayesian Network (BN), a probabilistic graphical model to describe the statistical relationships among network parameters. The BN is exploited to predict the voice call quality, as a function of the Link Layer conditions in the particular scenario considered. Such prediction on the present and future values of the QoS provided is directly exploited to design the cognitive CAC scheme, which is shown to significantly outperform state of the art CAC techniques in a realistic scenario.
Cortical excitability and sleep deprivation: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study

The objective was to assess the changes in cortical excitability after sleep deprivation in normal subjects. Sleep deprivation activates EEG epileptiform activity in an unknown way. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can inform on the excitability of the primary motor cortex. Eight healthy subjects (four men and four women) were studied. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (single and paired) was performed by a focal coil over the primary motor cortex, at the “hot spot” for the right first dorsal interosseous muscle. The following motor evoked potential features were measured: (a) active and resting threshold to stimulation; (b) duration of the silent period; (c) amount of intracortical inhibition on paired TMS at the interstimulus intervals of 2 and 3 ms and amount of facilitation at interstimulus intervals of 14 and 16 ms. The whole TMS session was repeated after a sleep deprivation of at least 24 hours. After the sleep deprivation, the threshold to stimulation (in the active and resting muscle), as well as the silent period, did not change significantly. By contrast, the paired stimulus study showed a significant (p<0.05) reduction in both intracortical inhibition and facilitation. Thus, TMS showed that sleep deprivation is associated with changes in inhibition-facilitation balance in the primary motor cortex of normal subjects. These changes might have a link with the background factors of the “activating” effects of sleep deprivation.
A recombinant inwardly rectifying potassium channel coupled to GTP- binding proteins

GTP-binding (G) proteins have been shown to mediate activation of inwardly rectifying potassium (K+) channels in cardiac, neuronal and neuroendocrine cells. Here, we report functional expression of a recombinant inwardly rectifying channel which we call KGP (or hpKir3.4), to signify that it is K+ selective, G-protein-gated and isolated from human pancreas. KGP expression in Xenopus oocytes resulted in sizeable basal (or agonist-independent) currents while coexpression with a G-protein-linked receptor, yielded additional agonist-induced currents. Coexpression of KGP and hGIRK1 (a human brain homolog of GIRK1/Kir3.1) produced much larger basal currents than those observed with KGP or hGIRK1 alone, and upon coexpression with receptor, similarly large agonist-induced currents could be obtained. Pertussis toxin treatment significantly diminished agonist-dependent currents due to either KGP or KGP/hGIRK1 expression. Interestingly, PTX also significantly reduced basal KGP or KGP/hGIRK1 currents, suggesting that basal activity is largely the result of G-protein gating as well. When the two channels were coexpressed with receptor, the relative increase in current elicited by agonist was similar whether KGP and hGIRK1 were expressed alone or together. When in vitro translated or when expressed in Xenopus oocytes or CHO mammalian cells, KGP gave rise to a nonglycosylated 45-kD protein. Antibodies directed against either KGP or hGIRK1 coprecipitated both proteins coexpressed in oocytes, providing evidence for the heteromeric assembly of the two channels and suggesting that the current potentiation seen with coexpression of the two channel subunits is due to specific interactions between them. An endogenous oocyte protein similar in size to KGP was also coprecipitated with hGIRK1.
Integrated Modelling for Safe Transportation - Driver modeling and driver experiments

The project IMoST addresses the problem of capturing the behavior of a car driver in an executable model enabling design-time predictions of the interplay between driver, assistance system and car in realistic traffic scenarios. To this end, a generic cognitive model is instantiated and extended based on data gathered in targeted simulator experiments. The considered example scenario covers the entering of an expressway, with possible support for the driver in the form of an intelligent assistance system. The project plan foresees specific analysis techniques for the resulting heterogeneous models and validation of the driver model both via experiments and simulation.
Agency Problems are Ameliorated by Stock Market Liquidity: Monitoring, Information and the Use of Stock-Based Compensation

Recent theoretical models have shown that liquid stock markets can improve the alignment of managers' and shareholders' interests even though high stock turnover would seem to be incompatible with the traditional view of monitoring of management by a stable set of shareholders. We test the prediction of Holmstrom and Tirole (1993) that managers' compensation is more closely tied to shareholder wealth when the firm's shares trade more actively. It is strongly empirically supported using a sample of over 45,000 executive years and numerous tests. In virtually all specifications, the effect of liquidity is at least as great as that of size, risk, industry, year, the existence of growth options, leverage, the existence of cash constraints, firm focus, or the presence of government regulation, existing option holdings and stock holdings. In fact, utilizing 900 simulations across different sample sizes, three liquidity variables account for between 67% and 79% of the explained variation with the remainder accounted for by 17 traditional variables. By contrast, accounting-based bonus incentives are employed by more illiquid firms and have more the characteristics of a substitute rather than a complement. We conclude that boards delegate monitoring of executives to active market traders when the stock is liquid and undertake internal monitoring using bonus schemes when the stock is relatively illiquid. Given greater efficacy of external monitoring, this implies that stock market liquidity sets bounds on the size and complexity of diversified firms.
IMaging geodesy with TerraSAR-X

We report on a method and experiments to achieve about 3 centimeters pixel location accuracy of TerraSAR-X SAR images. The method is based on atmospheric refraction corrections, Earth tide compensation and image correlation or the use of corner reflectors. Our method does not exploit the SAR phase and is therefore not subject to phase unwrapping problems or unknown phase offsets.
Knockdown of NIK and IKKβ-Binding Protein (NIBP) Reduces Colorectal Cancer Metastasis through Down-Regulation of the Canonical NF-κΒ Signaling Pathway and Suppression of MAPK Signaling Mediated through ERK and JNK

Background Despite the identification of many signaling pathways involved in colorectal cancer (CRC) tumorigenesis, metastatic CRC still remains one of the major causes of cancer related death. NIK and IKKβ-binding protein (NIBP) is one of the key regulators of the NF-κB signaling pathway, which has been implicated in CRC metastasis. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of NIBP in CRC metastasis through its regulation of NF-κΒ and extracellular regulated kinase/c-Janus kinase (ERK/JNK) signaling pathways. Methods In this study NIBP, phosphorylated (p)-p65, p-ERK1/2, and p-JNK1/2 expression was examined in 130 CRC, and 25 adenoma tissue samples were studied by immunohistochemistry. NIBP shRNA knockdown was performed in HCT116 cells, and NF-κB and ERK/JNK pathway activity was measured after TNF-α stimulation in vitro and in vivo. Results We found that NIBP, p-p65, p-ERK1/2, and p-JNK1/2 expression was higher in late stages of CRC compared to early stages or adenomas. Expression of p-p65, p-IκBα, p-IκBβ, p-ERK1/2, and p-JNK1/2 was inhibited in TNF-α stimulated HCT116 cells following NIBP knockdown. Nevertheless, p-ERK1/2 expression in un-transfected and NIBP knockdown HCT116 cells remained the same in the absence of TNF-α stimulation. Furthermore, cell motility and invasion were reduced in HCT116 cells following NIBP knockdown even after TNF-α treatment. Finally, primary tumor weight and liver metastasis were reduced in nude mice with orthotopically transplanted NIBP knockdown of HCT116 cells. Conclusion In conclusion, we demonstrated that NIBP knockdown reduces colorectal cancer metastasis through down-regulation of canonical NF-κΒ signaling and suppression of ERK and JNK signaling.
Mining Distributed and Heterogeneous Data Sources: A Project in the Medical Domain

Institute of Computer Science, FORTH, Vassilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1385, GR-711 10, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, {hristof, potamias, tsiknaki, moustaki, orphanou}@ics.forth. gr Dept. of Computer Science, University of Crete, P.O. Box 1470, GR-714 09, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Dept. of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, GR-731 00, Chania, Crete, Greece, moustaki@logistics.tuc. gr
1 Zync : the design of synchronized video sharing

In this sketch, we present a design research approach which led to the development of Zync, a synchronized video player that provides a social viewing experience for online videos. This approach utilizes an iterative design process, focuses on research pragmatics over semantics, and examines the landscape of existing tools and technologies to identify the best venue for deployment. In lieu of creating an entirely new collaboration tool, we chose to build Zync as a plug-in module for a popular instant messaging (IM) client to help foster conversations where they normally occur. Zync augments the IM experience by enabling the inclusion of online videos within these conversations. Based on Zync usage data, we identified three classes of people who share videos via IM, obtained insight into what people want to watch, and created a framework to understand how people behave and hold conversations in synchronicity with temporal media.
Grammar Compaction and Computation Sharing in Automata-based Parsing

Wide-coverage grammars in Lexicalised Tree-Adjoining Grammar (ltag) and related formalisms are structurally complex, containing many hundreds of elementary trees. In the context of the development of a full-scale ltag-like grammar and parsing system, we have investigated the claim that because many of these trees have a great deal of structure in common, a parser that manipulates trees individually performs a considerable amount of redundant computation. This claim has been used to motivate a parsing technique that encodes trees as nite state automata and captures overlapping computation through automata minimization. Our preliminary results show that this technique leads to considerable computation sharing .
Forecasting murder within a population of probationers and parolees: a high stakes application of statistical learning

Summary. Forecasts of future dangerousness are often used to inform the sentencing decisions of convicted offenders. For individuals who are sentenced to probation or paroled to community supervision, such forecasts affect the conditions under which they are to be supervised. The statistical criterion for these forecasts is commonly called recidivism, which is defined as a charge or conviction for any new offence, no matter how minor. Only rarely do such forecasts make distinctions on the basis of the seriousness of offences. Yet seriousness may be central to public concerns, and judges are increasingly required by law and sentencing guidelines to make assessments of seriousness. At the very least, information about seriousness is essential for allocating scarce resources for community supervision of convicted offenders. The paper focuses only on murderous conduct by individuals on probation or parole. Using data on a population of over 60000 cases from Philadelphia's Adult Probation and Parole Department, we forecast whether each offender will be charged with a homicide or attempted homicide within 2 years of beginning community supervision. We use a statistical learning approach that makes no assumptions about how predictors are related to the outcome. We also build in the costs of false negative and false positive charges and use half of the data to build the forecasting model, and the other half of the data to evaluate the quality of the forecasts. Forecasts that are based on this approach offer the possibility of concentrating rehabilitation, treatment and surveillance resources on a small subset of convicted offenders who may be in greatest need, and who pose the greatest risk to society.
Source-Filter Model for Quasi-Harmonic Instruments

In this paper we propose a new method for a generalized model representing the time-varying spectral characteristics of quasi - harmonic instruments. This approach comprises a linear source- filter model, a parameter estimation method and a model evalua- tion based on the prototype’s variance. The source-filter-model is composed of an excitation source generating sinusoidal parameter trajectories and a modeling resonance filter, whereas basic-splines (B-Splines) are used to model continuous trajectories. To estimate the model parameters we apply a gradient decent method to a train- ing database and the prototype’s variance is being estimated on a test database. Such a model could later be used as a priori knowl- edge for polyphonic instrument recognition, polyphonic transcrip- tion and source separation algorithms as well as for resynthesis.
Industrial districts, innovation and I-district effect: territory or industrial specialization?

: The I-district effect hypothesis establishes the existence of highly intense innovation in Marshallian industrial districts due to the presence of external localization economies. However, industrial districts are characterized by specific manufacturing specializations in such a way that this effect could be due to these dominant specializations. The objective of this research is to test whether the effect is explained by the conditions of the territory or by the industrial specialization and to provide additional evidence of the existence and causes of the highly intense innovation in industrial districts (I-district effect). The estimates for Spain of a fixed effects model interacting territory and industry suggest that the high innovative performance of industrial districts is maintained across sectors whereas the industrial specialization behaves differently depending on the type of local production system in which it is placed. The I-district effect is related to the conditions of the territory more than to the industrial specialization. The territory is a key variable in explaining the processes of innovation and should be considered a basic dimension in the design of innovation and industrial policies.