Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Partner Selection in Indoor-to-Outdoor Cooperative Networks: An Experimental Study

In this paper, we develop a partner selection protocol for enhancing the network lifetime in cooperative wireless networks. The case-study is the cooperative relayed transmission from fixed indoor nodes to a common outdoor access point. A stochastic bivariate model for the spatial distribution of the fading parameters that govern the link performance, namely the Rician K-factor and the path-loss, is proposed and validated by means of real channel measurements. The partner selection protocol is based on the real-time estimation of a function of these fading parameters, i.e., the coding gain. To reduce the complexity of the link quality assessment, a Bayesian approach is proposed that uses the site-specific bivariate model as a-priori information for the coding gain estimation. This link quality estimator allows network lifetime gains almost as if all K-factor values were known. Furthermore, it suits IEEE 802.15. 4 compliant networks as it efficiently exploits the information acquired from the received signal strength indicator. Extensive numerical results highlight the trade-off between complexity, robustness to model mismatches and network lifetime performance. We show for instance that infrequent updates of the site-specific model through K-factor estimation over a subset of links are sufficient to at least double the network lifetime with respect to existing algorithms based on path loss information only.
A review and implementation of swarm pattern formation and transformation models

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address a classic problem – pattern formation identified by researchers in the area of swarm robotic systems – and is also motivated by the need for mathematical foundations in swarm systems.Design/methodology/approach – The work is separated out as inspirations, applications, definitions, challenges and classifications of pattern formation in swarm systems based on recent literature. Further, the work proposes a mathematical model for swarm pattern formation and transformation.Findings – A swarm pattern formation model based on mathematical foundations and macroscopic primitives is proposed. A formal definition for swarm pattern transformation and four special cases of transformation are introduced. Two general methods for transforming patterns are investigated and a comparison of the two methods is presented. The validity of the proposed models, and the feasibility of the methods investigated are confirmed on the Traer Physics and Processing environment.Original.
Numerical Simulation of a Thermoviscoelastic Frictional Problem with Application to the Hot-Embossing Process for Manufacturing of Microcomponents

Abstract Hot embossing is a compression molding technique used for high replication accuracy of small features. One of the most sensitive phases of the process is the de-embossing stage during which the patterned part has to be demolded. In this paper, the demolding stage is considered as a frictional contact problem between a rigid mold insert and a viscoelastic polymer sheet as it deforms and cools inside a mold under an applied force. The contact is modeled with a modified Coulomb's law of dry friction while a generalized Maxwell model is used to describe the polymer behavior during embossing, cooling and de-embossing stages. The heat transfer between the mold insert and the patterned polymer sheet is solved through a domain decomposition method. A finite element approximation based on a penalized technique is proposed and analyzed. The purpose of this modeling approach is to predict dimensional stability and residual shape of microcomponents in the hot embossing process. Such a prediction will allow one to assign appropriate processing conditions that minimize geometrical imperfections and increase replication accuracy.
Magnetorheological elastomer with stiffness-variable characteristics based on induced current applied to differential mount of vehicles

A differential mount with elastomers is installed to insulate vibration transmitted from the engine to the body through the propeller shaft. Since existing differential mounts adopt an elastomer of uniform stiffness, it is difficult to meet both the requirements for steering performance and driving comfort at the same time. In order to overcome this limitation, this study suggests a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE)-based stiffness-variable differential mount which allows the mount’s stiffness to vary reversibly or instantly. The stiffness-variable differential mount was designed with a new inner structure where a magnetic field can be induced in the MRE. Further, the geometry of the MRE was optimized by means of the response surface method to achieve a targeted level of stiffness. The variable performance of the stiffness-variable differential mount was evaluated with the dynamic stiffness when a current of 3 A (0.287 T) was applied. As a result, it was found that the average increase in dynamic stiffness was 4.41 kgf mm−1 over an excitation frequency range of 60–100 Hz, a critical point of variation for dynamic stiffness, and 3.60 kgf mm−1 over an excitation frequency range of less than 100 Hz.
Moment feature-based three-dimensional tracking using two high-speed vision systems

When considering real-world applications of robot control with visual servoing, both three-dimensional (3-D) information and a high feedback rate are required. We have developed a 3-D target-tracking system with a 1-ms feedback rate using two high-speed vision systems called Column Parallel Vision (CPV) systems. To obtain 3-D information, such as position, orientation and shape parameters of the target object, a feature-based algorithm has been introduced using moment feature values extracted from vision systems for a spheroidal object model. Also, we propose a new 3-D self-windowing method to extract the target in 3-D space using epipolar geometry, which is an extension of the conventional self-windowing method in 2-D images.
Morphological changes in rectus femoris muscle: advanced image processing technique and 3-dimensional visualization to monitor denervated and degenerated muscles treated with functional electrical stimulation

This study demonstrates qualitatively and quantitatively how functional electrical stimulation (FES) restores volume and morphology to denervated degenerate muscle. To this purpose a novel technique was developed to isolate and monitor muscle growth. During 3 years of electrical stimulation, complete 3-dimensional reconstructions of rectus femoris muscles from patients with long-term flaccid paraplegia were made. Spiral computer tomography and advanced image processing tools were developed and used to monitor and measure select muscle regions influenced by the stimulation. The complete morphology of rectus femoris muscle (RFM) was reconstructed at different therapy stages. The results show remarkable changes of shapes and volume: 3-dimensional imaging of rectus femoris muscle demonstrates the restoration process during the therapy.
An Efficient Visualization of Implicit Surfaces

In this paper, we present a novel rendering algorithm for implicit surfaces by using a particle system. First, an alternative initial technique based on bundles of parallel lines is used to find initial points that are evenly distributed on the surface. Because of its characteristics, the usual split-and-death criterion of particle system is not needed. Second, we move each elliptical particle towards a progressively lower energy state using a conjugate gradient method. Third, a greedy selection strategy is used to choose a subset of active particles which guarantee a hole-free approximation. Finally, a relaxation process further improves the curvature driven anisotropic particle sampling. Our elliptical particles are especially designed for splat-based representation and can be directly converted into elliptical surface splats as rendering primitives without any modification, thus we are able to obtain high-performance and high-quality rendering of complex implicit surfaces.
Revolution Number (RPM) Measurement of Molten Alloy by Pressure Compensation Method

The melt flow has a significant effect on the structure developing during the unidirectional solidification of alloys. This phenomenon can be experienced during the solidification of melts stirred by the rotating magnetic field (RMF)-type magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) facility as well. As it would be very difficult to measure the intensity of melt flow (e.g. its revolution number, angular velocity) during solidification, it seems to be reasonable to perform the so-called "scale model" experiments applied usually in the hydrodynamics. Using the results of these measurements, conclusions can be drawn concerning the flows during solidification by means of the similarity law of hydrodynamics. The revolution number of Ga-In alloy melt placed in the rotating magnetic field can be measured by the equipment developed for performing the "scale model" experiments. The measurements were performed in crucibles with different surface roughness using melt-cylinders with different diameters located in rotating magnetic field having different frequencies and magnetic induction.
Reengineering embedded automotive software

The fact that software ages holds for embedded automotive software as well as for any other kind of software. In comparison to IT software, the automotive domain has to deal with different kinds of requirements, such as real time properties, feedback control, and constrained resources. Therefore, used programming languages are C - to meet resource constraints - and data flow oriented graphical languages - to meet the used engineering method and notation of feedback control engineers. This makes the software quite different from what the software maintenance and reengineering community is usually working on, and their results are seldom directly applicable. In this paper, we describe results of a Bosch-internal research project that focused on the adaption of existing reengineering techniques and methods to embedded automotive software development. The goal was to make software maintenance more efficient by a) preventing software ageing and b) supporting program comprehension. Our approach was to make existing reengineering techniques usable for series development in an effective and efficient way. The result is a set of reengineering tools and practices that are specialized for the needs of the automotive domain and usable in practice.
Combining Visualization and Statistical Analysis to Improve Operator Confidence and Efficiency for Failure Detection and Localization

Web applications suffer from software and configuration faults that lower their availability. Recovering from failure is dominated by the time interval between when these faults appear and when they are detected by site operators. We introduce a set of tools that augment the ability of operators to perceive the presence of failure: an automatic anomaly detector scours HTTP access logs to find changes in user behavior that are indicative of site failures, and a visualizer helps operators rapidly detect and diagnose problems. Visualization addresses a key question of autonomic computing of how to win operators' confidence so that new tools will be embraced. Evaluation performed using HTTP logs from Ebates.com demonstrates that these tools can enhance the detection of failure as well as shorten detection time. Our approach is application-generic and can be applied to any Web application without the need for instrumentation
Data mining for marketing in telecommunication industry

Data mining is used to extracting the patterns and get insight from the data. For marketing in telecommunication industry, first step is to segmenting the customer according to customer's usage of services and customer payment. Telecommunication industry has a lot of packages of products with different specifications and price offered to its customers. Using Market Basket Analysis (MBA) to determine the relationship between the products. To reduce the data and get promising information, we use packages from profitable customers which has identified in segmentation process. We use IBM SPSS modeler to process it.
A proof of the Boyd-Carr conjecture

Determining the precise integrality gap for the subtour LP relaxation of the traveling salesman problem is a significant open question, with little progress made in thirty years in the general case of symmetric costs that obey triangle inequality. Boyd and Carr [3] observe that we do not even know the worst-case upper bound on the ratio of the optimal 2-matching to the subtour LP; they conjecture the ratio is at most 10/9. In this paper, we prove the Boyd-Carr conjecture. In the case that a fractional 2-matching has no cut edge, we can further prove that an optimal 2-matching is at most 10/9 times the cost of the fractional 2-matching.
A High-Throughput Distributed Shared-Buffer NoC Router

Microarchitectural configurations of buffers in routers have a significant impact on the overall performance of an on-chip network (NoC). This buffering can be at the inputs or the outputs of a router, corresponding to an input-buffered router (IBR) or an output-buffered router (OBR). OBRs are attractive because they have higher throughput and lower queuing delays under high loads than IBRs. However, a direct implementation of OBRs requires a router speedup equal to the number of ports, making such a design prohibitive given the aggressive clocking and power budgets of most NoC applications. In this letter, we propose a new router design that aims to emulate an OBR practically based on a distributed shared-buffer (DSB) router architecture. We introduce innovations to address the unique constraints of NoCs, including efficient pipelining and novel flow control. Our DSB design can achieve significantly higher bandwidth at saturation, with an improvement of up to 20% when compared to a state-of-the-art pipelined IBR with the same amount of buffering, and our proposed microarchitecture can achieve up to 94% of the ideal saturation throughput.
Dynamic and Order Preserving Data Partitioning for Database Machines

The I/O bottleneck represents a major problem in architectures hat have been pro-posed to implement hard database operations such as join and projection. It is recognized that solutions to this problem cannot be based on new database machine architectures alone if satisfactory performance goals are to be atteined. A case in point is illustrated by the comparison of cellular/associative and in- stream pipeline based architectures. A metho- dology based on a global order preserving and dynamic partitioning is presented. The relevance of this approach to the solution of the I/O bottleneck problem is demonstrated through the efficient parallel processing of the join and projection operations. Finaly, this methodology is incorporatated into a specific database machine architecture; namely, the RAP.3 database machine. The partitioning strategy has been previously proven to be supe- rior to he other known methods.
Modeling Learner's Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies in an Open-Ended Learning Environment

The Betty’s Brain computer-based learning system provides an open-ended and choice-rich environment for science learning. Using the learning-by-teaching paradigm paired with feedback and support provided by two pedagogical agents, the system also promotes the development of self-regulated learning strategies to support preparation for future learning. We apply metacognitive learning theories and experiential analysis to interpret the results from previous classroom studies. We propose an integrated cognitive and metacognitive model for effective, self-regulated student learning in the Betty’s Brain environment, and then apply this model to interpret and analyze common suboptimal learning strategies students apply during their learning. This comparison is used to derive feedback for helping learners overcome these difficulties and adopt more effective strategies for regulating their learning. Preliminary results demonstrate that students who were responsive to the feedback had better learning performance.
Bug Fixing Practices within Free/Libre Open Source Software Development Teams

Free/Libre open source software (FLOSS, e.g., Linux or Apache) is primarily developed by distributed teams. Developers contribute from around the world and coordinate their activity almost exclusively by means of email and bulletin boards, yet some how profit from the advantages and evade the challenges of distributed software development. In this article we investigate the structure and the coordination practices adopted by development teams during the bug-fixing process, which is considered one of main areas of FLOSS project success. In particular, based on a codification of the messages recorded in the bug tracking system of four projects, we identify the accomplished tasks, the adopted coordination mechanisms, and the role undertaken by both the FLOSS development team and the FLOSS community. We conclude with suggestions for further research.
Ultrafiltration and convective-based dialysis modalities: new trends and applications for renal replacement therapy in ESRD patients.

economical way of producing an on-line pharmaceutUltrafiltration (UF ) is a membrane filtration process ical grade solution (sterile and non-pyrogenic) used based on a molecular sieving exclusion [1]. The use of for substitution fluid. In this case, UF acts as a ‘cold UF in renal replacement therapy (RRT) has been sterilizing’ process. (ii) The enhanced blood purificareported in various fields including dialysis therapy, tion capacities of convectively based modalities is the sterilization of dialysate and the bloodless access illustrated through the performance of high flux HDF to the internal milieu of the patient. Occurring natur[4,5]. (iii) A high UF concentrates the protein at the ally in the native kidney, UF is the basis of glomerular blood–membrane interface and contributes to passivate filtration, the first step of the detoxification process. the membrane [6 ]. (iv) The blood separating capacity When mechanically induced through an artificial memof UF gives direct access to a protein-and cell-free brane, UF ensures convective removal of solutes and solution. Continuous production of pure ultrafiltrate excess extracellular fluid volume. High UF volume gives simple access to the patient’s ‘internal milieu’. adequately compensated with a physiological electroOn-line dialysis efficacy monitoring is illustrated using lyte solution is the common process of convectiveurea as a marker. based renal replacement modalities [haemofiltration
Assessing merged DRAM/logic technology

This paper describes the impact of the DRAM process on the logic circuit performance of Memory/Logic Merged Integrated Circuits and the alternative circuit design technology to offset the performance penalty. Three state-of-the-art logic processes (0.5 /spl mu/m, 0.6 /spl mu/m, and 0.8 /spl mu/m) and two state-of-the-art DRAM (64 Mb and 256 Mb) processes have been selected for the study. The simulation results show that the logic circuit performance is degraded by about 22% on the DRAM process including increased interconnect delay due to less interconnect layers available in the DRAM process. The silicon area increased up to 80% depending on the number of nets and components when implementing the logic circuit in the DRAM process.
Vision‐Based Automated Crack Detection for Bridge Inspection

Visual inspection of bridges is customarily used to identify and evaluate faults. However, current procedures followed by human inspectors demand long inspection times to examine large and difficult to access bridges. Also, highly relying on an inspector's subjective or empirical knowledge induces false evaluation. To address these limitations, a vision‐based visual inspection technique is proposed by automatically processing and analyzing a large volume of collected images. Images used in this technique are captured without controlling angles and positions of cameras and no need for preliminary calibration. As a pilot study, cracks near bolts on a steel structure are identified from images. Using images from many different angles and prior knowledge of the typical appearance and characteristics of this class of faults, the proposed technique can successfully detect cracks near bolts.
Extent of motor unit activation in the quadriceps muscles of healthy subjects

Motor unit activation (MUA) of the quadriceps muscles has been studied in people with muscle pain or with past and present knee injurie~~*’-~ using the twitch interpolation t e c h n i q ~ e . ’ ~ ~ ~ These patients generally lack the ability to fully activate the entire motor unit pool of the quadriceps during maximal voluntary contractions (MVC). Assessments of MUA in patients were typically made by comparing the involved and noninvolved side of the body (i.e., the left vs. the right quadriceps group), neglecting that the noninvolved side may not be an appropriate “normal” control. However, systematic studies of quadriceps MUA on normal subjects, including left to right comparisons, are presently not available for reference. The present study was aimed at evaluating the single twitch interpolation protocol generally used in clinical ~tudies,’,~-~ in order to assess the extent of MUA in the quadriceps muscles of healthy subjects during isometric knee extensor contractions of various efforts. It was intended to establish a baseline data set in a healthy population, including right to left leg comparisons, which may be used for later reference in the evaluation of MUA in patients with knee joint pathologies.
UML-business profile-based Business Modeling in Iterative-Incremental Software Development

In this paper one approach for business modeling (BM) based on UML business profile (BP) is presented. The static aspect of the BM in the iterative-incremental (I-I) software process development is described and both business models: business use case model and business object model are presented. Dynamic aspect of the BM is presented too, as well as the mechanisms to connect the BM with the other activities in the system development. Some appropriate recommendations for efficient migration of the business models in the initial system UML models are given. Described methodology is wholly integrated in the I-I process, and because of the advantages of the BM based on UML BP, all advantages of the I-I software process development are additionally improved
Communication patterns in geographically distributed software development and engineers' contributions to the development effort

This study seeks to shed light on how communication patterns in geographically distributed software development (GDSD) projects evolve over time and how they relate to developers' contributions to the development effort. Data from two GDSD projects from two distinct companies were collected. The analysis showed that the definition of formal roles had an important impact on patterns of communication across development locations. In one project a group of developers emerged over time as the liaisons between geographical locations. In addition to handling the communication and coordination load across locations, those same engineers contributed the most to the development effort. On the other hand, in the second project, communication across site was formalized and the developers involved in the cross site communication and coordination activities were not as productive.