Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Looming Auditory and Vibrotactile Collision Warning for Safe Driving

Looming auditory warning signals (that is, signals whose intensity increases over time) have proven to be particularly effective in terms of reducing a driver’s brake reaction times (BRTs) to impending collisions, and are also associated with very low false alarm rates. The authors report two experiments designed to further investigate how the presentation of looming auditory warnings with increasing frequency or increasing spatial extent would compare to those with increasing intensity. A third experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the potential efficacy of presenting looming warnings to drivers in another modality, namely via vibrotactile signals. Participants’ speeded BRTs to potential collision events following the presentation of various warning signals in a simulated car following scenario were measured. While both looming frequency and spatial warnings were effective in terms of speeding the driver’s responses to critical driving events, the magnitude of the benefit resembled that of a typical non-looming constant intensity warning. Looming intensity warnings outperformed their looming frequency counterparts in terms of facilitating drivers’ collision avoidance responses. As for vibrotactile warnings, the results revealed that looming vibrotactile stimuli did not offer any additional benefits over and above the other non-looming vibrations tested in the study. The implications of these findings for collision warning systems design are discussed.
Multiscale methods in signal processing for adaptive optics. (Méthode multi-échelles en traitement du signal pour optique adaptative)

In this thesis, we introduce a new approach to wavefront phase reconstruction in Adaptive Optics (AO) from the low-resolution gradient measurements provided by a wavefront sensor, using a non-linear approach derived from the Microcanonical Multiscale Formalism (MMF). MMF comes from established concepts in statistical physics, it is naturally suited to the study of multiscale properties of complex natural signals, mainly due to the precise numerical estimate of geometrically localized critical exponents, called the singularity exponents. These exponents quantify the degree of predictability, locally, at each point of the signal domain, and they provide information on the dynamics of the associated system. We show that multiresolution analysis carried out on the singularity exponents of a high-resolution turbulent phase (obtained by model or from data) allows a propagation along the scales of the gradients in low-resolution (obtained from the wavefront sensor), to a higher resolution. We compare our results with those obtained by linear approaches, which allows us to offer an innovative approach to wavefront phase reconstruction in Adaptive Optics.
Braid groups and Iwahori-Hecke algebras

This article was submitted to a volume under preparation, with Benson Farb as the editor, on the topic of open problems in surface mapping class groups. The braid group B_n is the mapping class group of an n-times punctured disk. The Iwahori-Hecke algebra H_n is a quotient of the braid group algebra of B_n by a quadratic relation in the standard generators. We discuss how to use H_n to define the Jones polynomial of a knot or link. We also summarize the classification of the irreducible representations of H_n. We conclude with some directions for future research that would apply mapping class group techniques to questions related to H_n.
A study of cluster robots line formatted navigation using potential field method

Instead of single mobile robot, multi mobile robots can perform complex tasks with simple robot system and algorithm. But multi mobile robots face much more complex driving problem than singular driving. To solve the problem, in this study, driving algorithm based on the energy method is applied to the individual robot in a group. This makes a cluster be in a formation automatically and suggests a cluster the automatic driving method so that they stably arrive at the target. The Energy method mentioned above is applying attractive force and repulsive force to a special target, other robots or obstacles. This creates the potential energy, and the robot is controlled to drive in the direction of decreasing energy, which basically satisfies Lyapunov function. Through this method, a cluster robot is able to create a formation and stably arrives at its target. Also, it makes the algorithm stabilized by applying the data's average which involves environment to Lyapunov function. In the meantime, it successfully overcomes the problems such as errors for recognizing environment and weak performance of sensor. Since it uses information only on comparative distance and degree among objects, driving algorithm is very simple, and processor is speedy due to small amount of calculation.
A survey of intelligent question routing systems

This paper represents a survey of the existing research in the domain of intelligent question routing. The survey starts from an original presentation paradigm that generalizes the essence of approaches found in the open literature. The presentation paradigm includes three basic processing stages related to the three major problems of system implementation. Various research efforts use different approaches for implementation of each one of the basic processing stages. Each particular approach is presented here using the same template. All these approaches are enlisted, discussed, and presented using a table, for easier comparison. The outcome of this analysis is a proposal for a new approach based on a generalized treatment of the user knowledge profiling. Major contributions of this survey paper are: (a) original presentation paradigm, (b) detailed description of existing approaches, (c) comparative study of existing approaches, and (d) proposal of a new approach to user knowledge profiling, which enables uniform incorporation of new information sources in the form of software agents.
Does might make right or fight? Coercive capacity, democracy, and human rights, 1975 to 2010

ABSTRACT Democracy is generally beneficial for human rights whereas coercive capacity increases government repression. Using data for 161 countries between 1975 and 2010, I consider how different aspects of democracy interact with the size and scope of a country's military apparatus to shape respect for bodily-integrity rights. Does democracy ameliorate the negative effects of coercive capacity? Or, does a strong military overpower the positive impact of democracy? Multivariate analyses suggest that high levels of democracy neutralize the effect of coercive capacity on bodily-integrity violations. At the same time, high levels of coercive capacity increase human rights abuses even in the most democratic regimes, at least when different aspects of democracy—executive constraints, competitive elections, and media freedom—are evaluated in isolation. Regimes that combine respect for media freedom with constraints on executive authority or competitive elections are able to harness coercive capacity for protective purposes.
Cellular distribution of the fragile X mental retardation protein in the mouse brain

The fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) plays an important role in normal brain development. Absence of FMRP results in abnormal neuronal morphologies in a selected manner throughout the brain, leading to intellectual deficits and sensory dysfunction in the fragile X syndrome (FXS). Despite FMRP importance for proper brain function, its overall expression pattern in the mammalian brain at the resolution of individual neuronal cell groups is not known. In this study we used FMR1 knockout and isogenic wildtype mice to systematically map the distribution of FMRP expression in the entire mouse brain. Using immunocytochemistry and cellular quantification analyses, we identified a large number of prominent cell groups expressing high levels of FMRP at the subcortical levels, in particular sensory and motor neurons in the brainstem and thalamus. In contrast, many cell groups in the midbrain and hypothalamus exhibit low FMRP levels. More important, we describe differential patterns of FMRP distribution in both cortical and subcortical brain regions. Almost all major brain areas contain high and low levels of FMRP cell groups adjacent to each other or between layers of the same cortical areas. These differential patterns indicate that FMRP expression appears to be specific to individual neuronal cell groups instead of being associated with all neurons in distinct brain regions, as previously considered. Taken together, these findings support the notion of FMRP differential neuronal regulation and strongly implicate the contribution of fundamental sensory and motor processing at subcortical levels to FXS pathology. J. Comp. Neurol. 525:818–849, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Parents’ representations of mother–child and father–child relationships as predictors of early coparenting interactions

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to assess the influence of maternal and paternal representations of mother–child and father–child relationships on coparenting interactions during the first two years of the child’s life. The sample constituted 69 families whose mothers’ and fathers’ representations were assessed when their child was 3, 9, and 18 months old with a self-reported questionnaire. Coparenting support and conflict were assessed in our laboratory with the Lausanne Trilogue Play, a standardized situation of observation. Questionnaires were used to control for variables known to influence coparenting: marital satisfaction and child temperament. Results show that (i) parental representations are stable through time; (ii) both parents tend to see themselves and the other parent as less tolerant as the child gets older; (iii) representations explain coparenting support over and above other variables of influence; and (iv) there is an interaction effect between representations and the child’s gender.
Resource Allocation for Dynamic Intra-Cell Subcarrier Reuse in Cooperative OFDMA Wireless Networks

Resource reuse schemes in relay-enhanced cooperative orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) networks have been well studied in the literature from an interference mitigation perspective and with cell-partitioning being the basis. In this paper however, we study dynamic intra-cell subcarrier reuse in cooperative OFDMA networks in which the users are allowed to share any subcarrier in the relay links provided that the resultant intra-cell interference is managed; an option not available in non-cooperative networks. Specifically, when the target data-rates of the users are not reachable in a conventional cooperative OFDMA network, dynamic intra-cell subcarrier reuse enables the users to achieve their target data-rates, even when the number of users surpasses the number of subcarriers. We formally define the problem of maximizing the system sum-rate subject to per node power and target data-rate constraints in a cooperative OFDMA single-cell network in which subcarriers are allowed to be reused in the relay links. After analyzing the problem in the dual domain and deriving the performance bounds, we propose a suboptimal resource allocation algorithm where subcarriers and links (relay and/or direct) are assigned to the users. Simulation results show that by employing our resource allocation algorithm, the system sum-rate and the outage ratio are significantly improved, specially in an overpopulated network.
Theraplay: The Evidence for Trauma-Focused Treatment for Children and Families

Theraplay® is a brief, attachment-based parent-child psychotherapy approach that uses interactional play to establish ‘affectional’ bonds between caregiver and child. Recent research related to Theraplay suggests it is an evidence-based practice for use in schools and clinical settings for a wide range of childhood problems, including those that are trauma-based. Of particular importance, Theraplay is emerging as an approach that is consistent with current neuroscience research on children’s brain development and new understandings of attachment and disruption advanced by researchers. Young clients with some form of trauma-related symptoms comprise a large percentage of clinical cases, and present with complicated emotional and behavioral problems In this chapter, we will explore the basic theoretical underpinnings of Theraplay, the relevant mechanisms of change, and current evidence base. Although Theraplay can be used with a wide range of clients and problems, in this chapter, the focus will be on the applicatio with families with children who have experienced trauma.
$I$-Divergence Geometry of Probability Distributions and Minimization Problems

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Institute of Mathematical Statistics is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Annals of Probability. Some geometric properties of PD's are established, Kullback's I-divergence playing the role of squared Euclidean distance. The minimum discrimination information problem is viewed as that of projecting a PD onto a convex set of PD's and useful existence theorems for and characterizations of the minimizing PD are arrived at. A natural generalization of known iterative algorithms converging to the minimizing PD in special situations is given; even for those special cases, our convergence proof is more generally valid than those previously published. As corollaries of independent interest, generalizations of known results on the existence of PD's or nonnegative matrices of a certain form are obtained. The Lagrange multiplier technique is not used.
Loss Cumulant Generating Function Inference in Sensor Network

The internal link performance inference has become an increasingly important issue in operating and evaluating a network. Since it is usually impractical to directly monitor each node or link in the wireless sensor network, we consider the problem of inferring the internal link loss characteristics from passive end-to-end measurement in this paper. Specifically, the link loss performance inference during the data aggregation is considered. Under the assumptions that the link losses are mutually independent, we elaborate a bias corrected link loss cumulant generating function (CGF) algorithm. Through the simulation, we show that the internal link loss CGF can be inferred accurately, comparable to the sampled internal link loss CGF. At the end of this paper, we apply the result of internal link loss CGF inference to the lossy link identification in the sensor network
Fuzzy Support Vector Learning Algorithm for Mixed Attributes Data

A new fuzzy support vector learning algorithm (FSVLA) for mixed attributes data is investigated by utilizing FSVM (fuzzy support vector machine), which was proposed previously. Firstly, the similarity degree between a pair of data with mixed attributes is defined. Then a kernel matrix based on mixed similarity degree is constructed and proved to be a Mercer kernel. So, the original mixed attributes space is mapped into a canonical high dimensional space with simplex continuous attributes with preserving the primary information in the given data. By learning algorithm of SVM with good generalization performance, the FSVLA was proposed, which has a small set of fuzzy if-then rules. The new learning algorithm has good generalization ability and linguistic interpretation, and the numerical experiments illustrate the effectiveness of the new learning algorithm
PAAS: A Privacy-Preserving Attribute-Based Authentication System for eHealth Networks

Recently, eHealth systems have replaced paper based medical system due to its prominent features of convenience and accuracy. Also, since the medical data can be stored on any kind of digital devices, people can easily obtain medical services at any time and any place. However, privacy concern over patient medical data draws an increasing attention. In the current eHealth networks, patients are assigned multiple attributes which directly reflect their symptoms, undergoing treatments, etc. Those life-threatened attributes need to be verified by an authorized medical facilities, such as hospitals and clinics. When there is a need for medical services, patients have to be authenticated by showing their identities and the corresponding attributes in order to take appropriate healthcare actions. However, directly disclosing those attributes for verification may expose real identities. Therefore, existing eHealth systems fail to preserve patients' private attribute information while maintaining original functionalities of medical services. To solve this dilemma, we propose a framework called PAAS which leverages users' verifiable attributes to authenticate users in eHealth systems while preserving their privacy issues. In our system, instead of letting centralized infrastructures take care of authentication, our scheme only involves two end users. We also offer authentication strategies with progressive privacy requirements among patients or between patients and physicians. Based on the security and efficiency analysis, we show our framework is better than existing eHealth systems in terms of privacy preservation and practicality.
A Cooperative Multi-Robot Control Using Ad Hoc Wireless Network

In this paper, a Cooperative Multi-robot for Carrying Targets (CMCT) algorithm is proposed. The multi-robot team consists of three robots, one is a supervisor and the others are workers for carrying boxes in a store of 100×100 m. Each robot has a self recharging mechanism. The CMCT minimizes robot’s worked time for carrying many boxes during day by working in parallel. That is, the supervisor detects the required variables in the same time another robots work with previous variables. It works with straightforward mechanical models by using simple cosine laws. It detects the robot’s shortest path for reaching the target position avoiding obstacles by using a proposed CMCT path planning (CMCT-PP) algorithm. It prevents the collision between robots during moving. The robots interact in an ad hoc wireless network. Simulation results show that the proposed system that consists of CMCT algorithm and its accomplished CMCT-PP algorithm achieves a high improvement in time and distance while performing the required tasks over the already existed algorithms. Keywords—Ad hoc network, Computer vision based positioning, Dynamic collision avoidance, Multi-robot, Path planning algorithms, Self recharging.
Embodying liminality : the disruptive potentialities of medically unexplained and in/visible chronic illness

This thesis explores how fluctuating, ambiguous, and medically unexplained illnesses might be quintessentially postmodern conditions that disrupt taken-for-granted medical and socio-cultural classifications. Drawing on qualitative interviews with people with the “contested” diagnosis of Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS), I offer the concept of embodying liminality to describe the disruptive possibilities of embodiment that resists containment and instead resides in the liminal space in-between health/illness, dis/ability, in/visibility, and absence/presence. Situating this analysis within a broader context of neoliberalism and disablism/ableism, I argue that the liminal embodied experiences of people with unexplained, contested, and in/visible illnesses might provide a critique of the increasing pressure we are all under to embody and enact narrow cultural ideals of healthiness, fitness, and competence. Ultimately, this thesis hopes to contribute to the deconstruction of damaging dichotomous categories and the harmful illusion of the invulnerable and perfect(able) body, and to reveal the liberating potentialities of embracing the fluid spectrum of embodiment.
1-V rail-to-rail operational amplifiers in standard CMOS technology

The constraints on the design of CMOS operational amplifiers with rail-to-rail input range for extremely low supply voltage operation, are addressed. Two design approaches for amplifiers based on complementary input differential pairs and a single input pair, respectively, are presented. The first realizes a feedforward action to accommodate the common-mode (CM) component of the input signals to the amplifier input range. The second approach performs a negative feedback action over the input CM signal. Two operational amplifiers based on the proposed approaches have been designed for 1-V total supply operation, and fabricated in a standard 1.2-/spl mu/m CMOS process. Experimental results are provided and the corresponding performances are discussed and compared.
Interference Avoidance in Wireless

Motivated by the emergence of programmable radios, we seek to understand a class of communication system where pairs of transmitters and receivers can adapt their modulation/demodulation method in the presence of interference to achieve better performance. Using signal to interference ratio as a metric, we present a class of iterative distributed algorithms for synchronous systems which results in an ensemble of optimal waveforms for multiple users connected to a common receiver (or co-located independent receivers). That is, the waveform ensemble meets the Welch Bound with equality and therefore achieves minimum average interference over the ensemble of signature waveforms. We provide convergence proofs for a number of scenarios and propose further research to help develop a theory and practice of interference avoidance for future licensed and unlicensed band systems.
CEP90 Is Required for the Assembly and Centrosomal Accumulation of Centriolar Satellites, Which Is Essential for Primary Cilia Formation

Centriolar satellites are PCM-1-positive granules surrounding centrosomes. Proposed functions of the centriolar satellites include protein targeting to the centrosome, as well as communication between the centrosome and surrounding cytoplasm. CEP90 is a centriolar satellite protein that is critical for spindle pole integrity in mitotic cells. In this study, we examined the biological functions of CEP90 in interphase cells. CEP90 physically interacts with PCM-1 at centriolar satellites, and this interaction is essential for centrosomal accumulation of the centriolar satellites and eventually for primary cilia formation. CEP90 is also required for BBS4 loading on centriolar satellites and its localization in primary cilia. Our results imply that the assembly and transport of centriolar satellites are critical steps for primary cilia formation and ciliary protein recruitment.