Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
STiCMAC: A MAC Protocol for Robust Space-Time Coding in Cooperative Wireless LANs

Relay-assisted cooperative wireless communication has been shown to have significant performance gains over the legacy direct transmission scheme. Compared with single relay based cooperation schemes, utilizing multiple relays further improves the reliability and rate of transmissions. Distributed space-time coding (DSTC), as one of the schemes to utilize multiple relays, requires tight coordination between relays and does not perform well in a distributed environment with mobility. In this paper, a cooperative medium access control (MAC) layer protocol, called STiCMAC, is designed to allow multiple relays to transmit at the same time in an IEEE 802.11 network. The transmission is based on a novel DSTC scheme called randomized distributed space-time coding (R-DSTC), which requires minimum coordination. Unlike conventional cooperation schemes that pick nodes with good links, STiCMAC picks a transmission mode that could most improve the end-to-end data rate. Any station that correctly receives from the source can act as a relay and participate in forwarding. The MAC protocol is implemented in a fully decentralized manner and is able to opportunistically recruit relays on the fly, thus making it robust to channel variations and user mobility. Simulation results show that the network capacity and delay performance are greatly improved, especially in a mobile environment.
Reasons for marriage of educated Bedouin women to Bedouin men with intellectual disability from the point of view of the women

ABSTRACT Background: The aim of this study was to explore how educated Bedouin women perceive the causes and meaning of their marriages to Bedouin men with intellectual disability (ID). Methods: In-depth semi-structured ethnographic interviews were utilised in data collection from 15 educated Bedouin women who were married to Bedouin men with ID. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and then translated into English. Themes were generated using thematic analysis. Results: Six main reasons are presented: the need for independence; age; family and societal pressures; receiving social protection of the husband or man; destiny; and the desire for children. Conclusions: The research findings offer an intra-cultural insight into the reasons for marriages from the point of view of the women. These reasons have a cultural and community basis. These results provide a valuable conceptual understanding of the phenomenon of the marriage of educated Bedouin women to Bedouin men with an ID.
Categorising Interaction between Teachers and Students in ESOL Classrooms

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how the Flanders Interaction Analysis Category System (FIACS) can be used to investigate the interactional practices of students and teachers of English to speakers of other languages (ESOL). Additionally, this study sought to produce a system by which interaction could be categorised in the ESOL classroom which could be deployed by teachers in order to help them gain a deeper insight into the ways that they interact with their students during classes. The dissertation tracked the practices of 46 individuals. The data of this study included recordings of ESOL lessons. These recordings were then transcribed and categorised into different interaction types using a revised version of the Flanders Interaction Analysis Category System, in order to provide insight into what types of interaction most commonly occur between teachers and students and the purpose of that interaction. The results of this research found that students in the ESOL classroom are given greater encouragement and opportunity to speak during classes than in non-ESOL classrooms, and the classes themselves are more student-centred. Previous research conducted in a non-ESOL context showed a more teacher-centred approach. The results of this study indicate that students and teachers in an ESOL class may have different interactional preferences for learning than those of non-ESOL teachers and students and in order to account for these differences, a new and more ESOL-specific category system has been developed.
The Semantics of Gringo and Infinitary Propositional Formulas

Input languages of answer set solvers are based on the mathematically simple concept of a stable model. But many useful constructs available in these languages, including local variables, conditional literals, and aggregates, cannot be easily explained in terms of stable models in the sense of the original definition of this concept and its straightforward generalizations. Manuals written by designers of answer set solvers usually explain such constructs using examples and informal comments that appeal to the user's intuition, without references to any precise semantics. We propose to approach the problem of defining the semantics of GRINGO programs by translating them into the language of infinitary propositional formulas. This semantics allows us to study equivalent transformations of GRINGO programs using natural deduction in infinitary propositional logic, so that the properties of these programs can be more precisely characterized. In this way, we aim to create a foundation on which important issues such as the correctness of GRINGO programs and optimization methods may be more formally studied.
Economic Incentives in the HTTPS Authentication Process

In this paper, the authentication system of the HTTPS protocol is considered from an economical perspective. The use of SSL certificates to authenticate web servers has a number of known technical flaws but is widely used. The different actors of the HTTPS authentication system are identified and the study of their roles and incentives for security shows the lack of a clear reason to progress towards a more secure system.
Label-Free and Antibody-Free Wideband Microwave Biosensor for Identifying the Cancer Cells

This study presents a label-free and antibody-free microwave biosensor that uses a coplanar waveguide transmission line with a defined detection window for the dielectric characterization of human hepatoma (HepG2), human lung carcinoma (A549), and human endometrial adenocarcinoma (HEC-1-A) cancer cells. The biosensor is having 40-GHz bandwidth and defining a detection window at the center of the conductor line. The biosensor can rapidly analyze the dielectric properties of cancer cells while eliminating unwanted microwave parasitic effects (including dielectric of cultured medium and substrate material). In addition, an equivalent circuit model for cancer cells was created. The equivalent capacitance C(f)cell and resistance R(f)cell of cancer cells were extracted and calculated. The effects of applying a small amount of RF power (2-4 dBm) to the biosensor were investigated. The R(f)cell and C(f)cell values indicated that applying RF power to the biosensor can damage cancer cells. The biosensor can be applied in in-vitro diagnostics, particularly in the field of prognosis.
A study of auxiliary BE in African American English: a comparison of children with and without specific language impairment

This study’s purpose was to examine the use of auxiliary BE forms in African American English (AAE)-speaking children with and without language impairment. The impetus for this work was a lack of information in the literature about BE use in AAE as a function of form, language status, and tasks, and the relevance of this type of data for testing one theoretical model of childhood language impairment, the Extended Optional Infinitive account (EOI; Rice, Wexler, & Cleave, 1995). Thirty African Americans participated: 10 six-year-olds with specific language impairment (SLI); 10 age controls (AM); and, 10 language controls (LM). All of the participants were classified as speakers of AAE through listener judgments. Production of the auxiliary BE forms was examined through language samples and an elicited probe. A grammaticality judgment task, which measured the participants’ marking preference and reaction time of three BE forms, was also administered. Analyses were hindered by limited tokens in the language samples, high variability, and a bimodal distribution for the AM group in the elicitation probe. When steps were taken to address these issues, the following results were found. A significant group difference was revealed between the SLI and AM groups in the language samples for are, with a marginally significant difference for is. For the elicitation probe, a group difference was found between the SLI and LM groups across all three BE forms. The results of the grammaticality judgment task were inconsistent with those for production. For this task, SLI and LM groups accepted standard-marked am at higher rates than the AM group. No group differences were revealed for the reaction times in this task. However, the participants accepted items containing are more quickly than those containing is and am.
Calibration of time-of-flight range imaging cameras

In this paper, a procedure for the systematic, generic and reproducible calibration of 3-D time-of-flight range imaging cameras is proposed. First, the effect of a number of internal and environmental influence factors is studied. Internal factors include the illumination radiation pattern, inner temperature and pixel integration period. Environmental factors are the ambient temperature, light, and target properties such as position, reflectance and color. Then, the influence of these factors is compensated. The procedure is illustrated with the SR-3000 camera, and validation results show that systematic improvements of the measurement accuracy have been obtained.
Quality by Construction Through mConcAppt: Towards Using UI-construction as Driver for High Quality Mobile App Engineering

Mobile Business Apps bear a huge potential to increase employee productivity, working comfort, and even sales if they are of high quality. Thereby, usability and user experience are seen as the key quality attributes. This paper shortly describes a constructive user centered method (mConcAppt) for UI and interaction design that is closely interwoven with all other activities in the software engineering lifecycle. Ensuring a high quality product by construction, the method clearly defines those interfaces to other activities. Thus, mConcAppt serves as a driver for information exchange and communication within mobile app engineering teams. Experiences from various applications in practice are shown that describe those communication needs and interfaces in detail.
Resource dependencies in mobile services value networks

As mobile infrastructures of 3G and beyond are evolving rapidly, the next generation of mobile Internet services is on its way. Developing and commercializing these mobile Internet services requires a broad set of resources and capabilities ranging from the basic telecommunication network to specific applications, user data and interesting content. As operators, content providers and application developers do not possess all these resources themselves, they need to act collectively in complex value networks. This paper assesses what resource dependencies are most critical in mobile Internet services value networks, and how the level of perceived dependency differs among the various types of actors in the mobile domain, i.e. operators, application providers, content providers, and consultancies. We do so by applying resource dependence theory on the mobile Internet services domain, and by analyzing the results of a survey among 97 practitioners and experts. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis using Amos 7.0 confirm our proposition that resource dependencies can be clustered in those related to access to the network; access to the customer; access to content; and access to applications. Moreover, we found that the level of perceived dependency is significantly different among the actor types. Our results provide a basis for further research on resource dependencies in mobile value networks, as well as guidance for actors in the field on what dependencies to take into account when developing innovative business models and services.
Power distribution methods for MIMO-OFDM systems and field experimentations

In this paper, we propose several power allocation schemes for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission based on the minimization of an approximated bit error rate (BER) expression, and we evaluate the different solutions via field trial experimentations. The methods illustrated in this paper, serve to allocate power among the different transmit antennas and the different subcarriers which compose the MIMO OFDM transmitted signal. Several solutions are available to perform power allocation. Frequency domain power allocation, spatial domain power allocation and combined spatial and frequency power allocation are evaluated. We first review and describe the analytical solution for each power allocation scheme and then evaluate the complexity in terms of both computational operations and BER performances. Simulation results show the performance in term of BER and link the advantage of each possibility of power distribution with the associated complexity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Stochastic Gradient Descent Learning and the Backpropagation Algorithm

Many learning rules minimize an error or energy function, both in supervised and unsupervised learning. We review common learning rules and their relation to gradient and stochastic gradient descent methods. Recent work generalizes the mean square error rule for supervised learning to an Ising-like energy function. For a specific set of parameters, the energy and error landscapes are compared, and convergence behavior is examined in the context of single linear neuron experiments. We discuss the physical interpretation of the energy function, and the limitations of this description. The backpropgation algorithm is modified to accommodate the energy function, and numerical simulations demonstrate that the learning rule captures the distribution of the network’s inputs. 1 Gradient and Stochastic Gradient Descent A learning rule is an algorithm for updating the weights of a network in order to achieve a particular goal. One particular common goal is to minimize a error function associated with the network, also referred to as an objective or cost function. Let Q(w) denote the error function associated with a network with connection weights w. A first approach to minimize the error is the method of gradient descent, where at each iteration a step is taken in the direction corresponding to −∇Q(w). The learning rule that follows is w := w − η∇Q(w), (1) where η is a constant parameter called the learning rate. Consider being given a set of n observations {xi, ti}, where i = 1, 2.n. Each observation consists of inputs x into the network and corresponding outputs t. A particular case of gradient descent may be formulated for an error function of the form Q(w) = n ∑
Optimal local routing on Delaunay triangulations defined by empty equilateral triangles

We present a deterministic local routing algorithm that is guaranteed to find a path between any pair of vertices in a half-$\theta_6$-graph (the half-$\theta_6$-graph is equivalent to the Delaunay triangulation where the empty region is an equilateral triangle). The length of the path is at most $5/\sqrt{3} \approx 2.887$ times the Euclidean distance between the pair of vertices. Moreover, we show that no local routing algorithm can achieve a better routing ratio, thereby proving that our routing algorithm is optimal. This is somewhat surprising because the spanning ratio of the half-$\theta_6$-graph is 2, meaning that even though there always exists a path whose lengths is at most twice the Euclidean distance, we cannot always find such a path when routing locally. Since every triangulation can be embedded in the plane as a half-$\theta_6$-graph using $O(\log n)$ bits per vertex coordinate via Schnyder's embedding scheme (SODA 1990), our result provides a competitive local routing algorithm for every such embedded triangulation. Finally, we show how our routing algorithm can be adapted to provide a routing ratio of $15/\sqrt{3} \approx 8.660$ on two bounded degree subgraphs of the half-$\theta_6$-graph.
Tempo-Toolkit: Tempo to Java Translation Module

TIOA is a formal language for modeling distributed, concurrent, and timed/untimed systems as collections of interacting state machines, called Timed Input/Output Automata. TIOA provide natural mathematical notations for describing systems, their intended properties, and the relationships between their descriptions at varying levels of abstraction. The Tempo toolkit is an implementation of the TIOA language and a suite of tools that supports a range of validation methods for description of systems and their properties, including static analysis, simulation, and machine-checked proofs. The tools are implemented as Eclipse plugins. In this paper we introduce a new plugin of the toolkit, the Tempo-to-Java compiler, which automatically translates high level Tempo specification into executable Java code for various distributed platforms. The translation process is verified to preserve the formal properties of the source specification, hence leading to generated code which is correct by construction.
Non-Negative Matrix Factorization and Support Vector Data Description Based One Class Classification

One class classification is widely used in many applications. Only one target class is well characterized by instances in the training data in one class classification, and no instance is available for other non-target classes, or few instances are present and they cannot form statistically representative samples for the negative concept. A two-step paradigm employing nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) and support vector data description (SVDD) for one class classification training of nonnegative data is developed. Firstly, a projected gradient based NMF method is used to find the hiding structure from the training instances and the training instances are projected into a new feature space. Secondly, SVDD is employed to perform one class classification training with the projected feature data. Classification examples demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to principal component analysis (PCA) based SVDD method and other standard one class classifiers.
MotifMap: a human genome-wide map of candidate regulatory motif sites

MOTIVATION Achieving a comprehensive map of all the regulatory elements encoded in the human genome is a fundamental challenge of biomedical research. So far, only a small fraction of the regulatory elements have been characterized, and there is great interest in applying computational techniques to systematically discover these elements. Such efforts, however, have been significantly hindered by the overwhelming size of non-coding DNA regions and the statistical variability and complex spatial organizations of mammalian regulatory elements. RESULTS Here we combine information from multiple mammalian genomes to derive the first fairly comprehensive map of regulatory elements in the human genome. We develop a procedure for identifying regulatory sites, with high levels of conservation across different species, using a new scoring scheme, the Bayesian branch length score (BBLS). Using BBLS, we predict 1.5 million regulatory sites, corresponding to 380 known regulatory motifs, with an estimated false discovery rate (FDR) of <50%. We demonstrate that the method is particularly effective for 155 motifs, for which 121 056 sites can be mapped with an estimated FDR of <10%. Over 28K SNPs are located in regions overlapping the 1.5 million predicted motif sites, suggesting potential functional implications for these SNPs. We have deposited these elements in a database and created a user-friendly web server for the retrieval, analysis and visualization of these elements. The initial map provides a systematic view of gene regulation in the genome, which will be refined as additional motifs become available.
Is There Still a Role for Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Antagonists in Acute Coronary Syndromes?

The role played by glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitors has continuously evolved from the initial introduction in mid 90 s until the most recent guidelines for treating acute coronary syndromes, and competed with a wider use of ADP inhibitors and novel anticoagulant drugs, to the extent that they stepped down from class I to class II recommendation in the routine setting of acute coronary syndromes. As a consequence, GP IIb/IIIa use was greatly narrowed. The purpose of this review is to define the roles that GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors may still have in acute ischemic settings by explaining why in high risk patients they might be preferable and/or whether they might be added to ADP inhibitors also emphasizing the underlying mechanistic actions. It is concluded that there might be a more extensive use of GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors in patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes, strictly based on the definition for a high risk procedure: complexity, angiographic characteristics and patient’s risk profile, regardless whether STEMI or NSTEMI. The positive elements one should appreciate in GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors are: efficacy, rapid onset and reversibility of action, absence of pharmacogenomic variability, pharmacoeconomic considerations and the possibility of intracoronary administration.
Sonderforschungsbereich 378 Ressourcenadaptive Kognitive Prozesse Ki-labor Am Lehrstuhl F ¨ Ur Informatik Iv Assessing Temporally Variable User Properties with Dynamic Bayesian Networks Assessing Temporally Variable User Properties with Dynamic Bayesian Networks

Bayesian networks have been successfully applied to the assessment of user properties which remain unchanged during a session. However, many properties of a person vary over time, thus raising new questions of network modeling. In this paper we characterize different types of dependencies that occur in networks that deal with the modeling of temporally variable user properties. We show how existing techniques of applying dynamic probabilistic networks can be adapted for the task of modeling the dependencies in dynamic Bayesian networks. We illustrate the proposed techniques using examples of emergency calls to the fire department of the city of Saarbrücken. The fire department officers are experienced in dealing with emergency calls from callers whose available working memory capacity is temporarily limited. We develop a model which reconstructs the officers' assessments of a caller's working memory capacity.
A Novel DFT-based Digital Watermarking System for Images

A novel design of a DFT-based digital watermarking system for images is proposed in this paper. The system provides images copyright protection which can be done by adding invisible watermark into the digital image. First, the original image is decomposed into DFT coefficients using a fast Fourier transform. For minimal loss in image fidelity, the watermark is embedded in those DFT coefficients with highest magnitudes except for those in the lowest one. The watermark detection is achieved without use of the original image by computing a similarity measure between the input watermark and the DFT coefficients of the attack image. Experimental results show that the proposed method is robust against the common image/signal processing operations