Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From Multi-Keyholes to Measure of Correlation and Power Imbalance in MIMO Channels: Outage Capacity Analysis

An information-theoretic analysis of a multi-keyhole channel, which includes a number of statistically independent keyholes with possibly different correlation matrices, is given. When the number of keyholes or/and the number of Tx/Rx antennas is large, there is an equivalent Rayleigh-fading channel such that the outage capacities of both channels are asymptotically equal. In the case of a large number of antennas and for a broad class of fading distributions, the instantaneous capacity is shown to be asymptotically Gaussian in distribution, and compact, closed-form expressions for the mean and variance are given. Motivated by the asymptotic analysis, a simple, full-ordering scalar measure of spatial correlation and power imbalance in MIMO channels is introduced, which quantifies the negative impact of these two factors on the outage capacity in a simple and well-tractable way. It does not require the eigenvalue decomposition, and has the full-ordering property. The size-asymptotic results are used to prove Telatar's conjecture for semi-correlated multi-keyhole and Rayleigh channels. Since the keyhole channel model approximates well the relay channel in the amplify-and-forward mode in certain scenarios, these results also apply to the latter.
‘Too young to read’: early years practitioners’ perceptions of early reading with under-threes

ABSTRACT This research paper investigates how graduate early years practitioners support under-threes with early reading; presenting their perceptions and daily encounters. Previous research into the practice and pedagogy of early reading appears to have resulted in the latest overarching policy investment in phonics. This paper suggests that this neoliberal policy agenda influences practitioner’s pedagogy with under-threes. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study, involving an initial survey, followed by practitioner interviews and reflective Zines. Findings from this study indicate that the increased emphasis on school readiness is affecting experienced, graduate level practitioners’ perceptions of early reading. Intrinsically, early years practitioners are being driven to adopting a ‘policy compliant’ [Fisher, J., and E. Wood. 2012. “Changing educational practice in the early years through practitioner-led action research: an Adult–Child Interaction Project. ” International Journal of Early Years Education 20 (2): 114–129, 12] approach; consequently, resulting in a deficit model of provision for under-threes in terms of the resources, activities and experiences necessary to encourage and enthuse children to engage with reading. This research concludes that there is an urgent need to support early years practitioners in understanding what ‘early reading’ is in practice.
Simultaneous Optimization of Acoustic Echo Reduction, Speech Dereverberation, and Noise Reduction against Mutual Interference

We propose an optimized speech enhancement method that combines acoustic echo reduction, speech dereverberation, and noise reduction in a unified framework. Normally, partial optimization of acoustic echo reduction, speech dereverberation, and noise reduction does not lead to total optimization. A cascade method of multiple functions causes mutual interference between these functions and degrades eventual speech enhancement performance. Unlike cascade methods, the proposed method combines all functions to optimize eventual speech enhancement performance based on a unified framework, which is also robust against the mutual interference problem. With the proposed method, in addition to time-invariant linear filters, time-varying filters are used to reduce residual reverberation, residual acoustic echo signal, and background noise signal which cannot be reduced using time-invariant filters. These time-invariant filters and time-varying filters are also optimized based on a unified likelihood function to avoid the mutual interference problem. By combining the time-invariant linear filters and the time-varying filters, the proposed method uses a local Gaussian model with a full-rank covariance matrix and a non-zero average vector as a probabilistic model of the microphone input signal. In the local Gaussian model, non-stationary characteristics of speech sources are considered to effectively enhance speech sources. Under this probabilistic model, all the parameters are optimized simultaneously based on the expectation-maximization algorithm and calculates a minimum mean squared error estimate of a desired signal. The experimental results show that the proposed method is superior to the cascade methods.
Decomposition of line segments into corner and statistical grown line features in an EKF-SLAM framework

Robots are emerging from industrial plants toward every people's daily life. Thus, navigation in and understanding of human related environments becomes a prerequisite for the systems of tomorrow. Most such environments can be efficiently described using line segments. However, incorporation of extent information is often difficult, as line segments are seldom observed completely and erroneous data-association may corrupt the information associated to a certain segment. To reduce such problems this paper proposes a statistically driven description of line segments. The corresponding parameters are decomposed into line and corner features, which are separately tracked through an extended Kalman filter (EKF). Information about the extent of the lines is encoded statistically. Therefore, we use a method to recursively incorporate the information gained through a time-series of measurements. Thus, the covariance matrix belonging to a line segment grows as new regions of the corresponding line are discovered. Experimental results obtained by implementation on the mobile platform ITrike show the validity of our algorithm.
Integrated Scheduling and Binding : A Synthesis Approach for Design Space Exploration

Synthesis of digital systems, involves a number of tasks ranging from scheduling to generating interconnections. The interrelationship between these tasks implies that good designs can only be generated by considering the overall impact of a design decision. The approach presented in this paper provides a framework for integrating scheduling decisions with binding decisions. The methodology supports allocation of a wider mix of operator modules and covers the design space more effectively. The process itself can be described as incremental synthesis and is thus well-suited for applications involving partial pre-synthesized structures.
Joint Adaptive Block Matching Search (JABMS) Algorithm

In this paper a new Joint Adaptive Block Matching Search (JABMS) algorithm is proposed to generate motion vector and search a best match macro block by classifying the motion vector movement based on prediction error. Diamond Search (DS) algorithm generates high estimation accuracy when motion vector is small and Adaptive Rood Pattern Search (ARPS) algorithm can handle large motion vector but is not very accurate. The proposed JABMS algorithm which is capable of considering both small and large motions gives improved estimation accuracy and the computational cost is reduced by 15.2 times compared with Exhaustive Search (ES) algorithm and is 1.3 times less compared with Diamond search algorithm. Keywords— Adaptive rood pattern search, Block matching, Diamond search, Joint Adaptive search, Motion estimation.
On learning with dissimilarity functions

We study the problem of learning a classification task in which only a dissimilarity function of the objects is accessible. That is, data are not represented by feature vectors but in terms of their pairwise dissimilarities. We investigate the sufficient conditions for dissimilarity functions to allow building accurate classifiers. Our results have the advantages that they apply to unbounded dissimilarities and are invariant to order-preserving transformations. The theory immediately suggests a learning paradigm: construct an ensemble of decision stumps each depends on a pair of examples, then find a convex combination of them to achieve a large margin. We next develop a practical algorithm called Dissimilarity based Boosting (DBoost) for learning with dissimilarity functions under the theoretical guidance. Experimental results demonstrate that DBoost compares favorably with several existing approaches on a variety of databases and under different conditions.
Convergence between Russian regions

In this paper we study convergence among Russian regions. We find that while there was no convergence in 1990s, the situation changed dramatically in 2000s. While interregional GDP per capita gaps still persist, the differentials in incomes and wages decreased substantially. We show that fiscal redistribution did not play a major role in convergence. We therefore try to understand the phenomenon of recent convergence using panel data on the interregional reallocation of capital and labor. We find that capital market in Russian regions is integrated in a sense that local investment does not depend on local savings. We also show that economic growth and financial development has substantially decreased the barriers to labor mobility. We find that in 1990s many poor Russian regions were in a poverty trap: potential workers wanted to leave those regions but could not afford to finance the move. In 2000s (especially in late 2000s), these barriers were no longer binding. Overall economic development allowed even poorest Russian regions to grow out of the poverty traps. This resulted in convergence in Russian labor market; the interregional gaps in incomes, wages and unemployment rates are now below those in Europe. The results imply that economic growth and development of financial and real estate markets eventually result in interregional convergence.
Spectral aggregation for clustering ensemble

Since a large number of clustering algorithms exist, aggregating different clustered partitions into a single consolidated one to obtain better results has become an important problem. We propose a new algorithm for clustering ensemble based on spectral clustering. We also propose a criteria along with this algorithm, for the detection of cluster numbers. Our algorithm can determine the number of clusters more accurately with less volatility, and therefore can deduce a better combined clustering result. Experimental results on both synthesis and real data-sets show the capability and robustness of our approach.
Emergency response simulation using wireless sensor networks

During emergency response situations, decisions have to be made in a timely manner. Multiple entities have to be optimally coordinated and numerous resources must be allocated efficiently, creating a very interesting and challenging technical problem. In this paper we present a simulation system that models the evacuation of a multi-storey building. Autonomous intelligent agents are used to represent various types of actors that interact inside a virtual physical world. We also model virtual hazards, such as fire, that spread inside the building evacuation simulator. A real wireless sensor network is used to monitor the spread of the hazards while an external event generator provides input to the sensors. We study the effect of different disaster scenarios and agent behaviours, such as human behaviour during an emergency, on the result of the evacuation procedure. Our initial results indicate that the safety of the evacuees and the evacuation time depend on local interactions between the participants and are affected by the actors' decisions. The integration with the wireless sensor network gives us the opportunity to investigate the effect of sensed information on resource allocation and allows us to study the impact of network issues on the decision making process.
Methods of Resistance Estimation in Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors for Real-Time Thermal Management

Real-time thermal management of electrical machines relies on sufficiently accurate indicators of internal temperature. One indicator of temperature in a permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) is the stator winding resistance. Detection of PMSM winding resistance in the literature has been made on machines with relatively high resistances, where the resistive voltage vector is significant under load. This paper describes two techniques, which can be applied to detect the winding resistance, through “angle” and “magnitude” current injection. Two further methods are described, which discriminate injected current and voltages from motoring currents and voltages: “unipolar” and “bipolar” separation. These enable the resistance to be determined, and hence the winding temperature in permanent-magnet machines. These methods can be applied under load, and in a manner that does not disturb motor torque or speed. The method distinguishes between changes in the electromotive force constant and the resistive voltage. This paper introduces the techniques, while a companion paper covers the application of one of the methods to a PMSM drive system.
Architecting Secure Software Systems

Through the use of examples, this volume defines a myriad of security vulnerabilities and their resultant threats. It details how to do a security requirement analysis and outlines the security development lifecycle. The authors examine security architectures and threat countermeasures for UNIX, . NET, Java, mobile, and Web environments, and they explore the security of telecommunications and other distributed services through Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The book employs a versatile multi-platform approach which allows users to seamlessly integrate the material into their own programming paradigm regardless of their individual programming backgrounds. The text also provides real-world code snippets for experimentation.
Consistency of Ambipolar Diffusion Models with Infall in the L1544 Protostellar Core

Recent high-resolution studies of the L1544 protostellar core by Tafalla et al. and Williams et al. reveal the structure and the kinematics of the gas. The observations of this prestellar core provide a natural test for theoretical models of core formation and evolution. Based on their results, the above authors claim a discrepancy with the implied infall motions from ambipolar diffusion models. In this paper, we reexamine the earlier ambipolar diffusion models and conclude that the L1544 core can be understood to be a magnetically supercritical core undergoing magnetically diluted collapse. We also present a new ambipolar diffusion model specifically designed to simulate the formation and evolution of the L1544 core. This model, which uses reasonable input parameters, yields mass and radial density distributions, as well as neutral and ion infall speed profiles, that are in very good agreement with physical values deduced by observations. The lifetime of the core is also in good agreement with mean prestellar core lifetimes estimated from statistics of an ensemble of cores. The observational input can act to constrain other currently unobserved quantities, such as the degree of ionization and the background magnetic field strength and orientation near the L1544 core.
Telephony text-prompted speaker verification using i-vector representation

I-vectors have proved to be the most effective features for text-independent speaker verification in recent researches. In this article a new scheme is proposed to utilize i-vectors in text-prompted speaker verification in a simple while effective manner. In order to examine this scheme empirically, a telephony dataset of Persian month names is introduced. Experiments show that the proposed scheme reduces the EER by 31% compared to the state-of-the-art State-GMM-MAP method. Furthermore it is shown that using HMM instead of GMM for universal background modeling leads to 15% reduction in EER.
Antimicrobial susceptibility of clinical isolates of non-jejuni/coli campylobacters and arcobacters from Belgium.

OBJECTIVES To determine the susceptibility of non-jejuni/coli campylobacters and arcobacters isolated from diarrhoeal stool specimens in Belgium. METHODS The MICs were determined using Etest for six antimicrobial agents including ampicillin, erythromycin, nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and tetracycline for the most frequently isolated non-jejuni/coli campylobacter and arcobacter strains in two University Hospital laboratories between 1995 and 2005. RESULTS In total, 85 Campylobacter upsaliensis, 20 Campylobacter concisus, 11 Campylobacter fetus, 61 Arcobacter butzleri and 10 Arcobacter cryaerophilus isolates were tested. Most C. upsaliensis strains were susceptible to ampicillin (100%), gentamicin (100%), ciprofloxacin (94.1%) and tetracycline (100%), whereas 11.8 and 12.9% were resistant to nalidixic acid and erythromycin, respectively. For A. butzleri, 78.7% of isolates were susceptible to ampicillin and erythromycin. Most A. butzleri isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin (96.7%), nalidixic acid (82.0%), gentamicin (100%) and tetracycline (100%). All C. concisus strains were fully susceptible to ampicillin and tetracycline, but 5% of them were resistant to gentamicin, ciprofloxacin and erythromycin. Nearly all C. fetus and A. cryaerophilus strains were susceptible to erythromycin but the results should be interpreted with caution since only a small number of strains were tested. CONCLUSIONS Fluoroquinolones should be considered in the treatment of severe C. upsaliensis and A. butzleri infection. When clinically indicated, erythromycin remains the first choice for the treatment of intestinal campylobacteriosis caused by C. concisus and C. fetus.
Comparison of different control methods for mobile manipulation using standardized tests

This report gives a short overview about an inspection test taken by two different ways of tele-operating a manipulator. The first type of control is a joystick control which provides two different operation modes:1) joint-by-joint control and 2) controlling the tool center point. This joystick control is commercially available and, thus, tested in various environments and used in real applications like bomb disposal. The second control method is a direct coupling of the human arm and the robot manipulator. Movements of the human arm are used to control the robot's manipulator. This control type is an outcome of a research project and, thus, under development. The advantages and disadvantages of each control method are shown in different tests based on a NIST/ASTM setup.
Diffusion MRI in the heart

Diffusion MRI provides unique information on the structure, organization, and integrity of the myocardium without the need for exogenous contrast agents. Diffusion MRI in the heart, however, has proven technically challenging because of the intrinsic non‐rigid deformation during the cardiac cycle, displacement of the myocardium due to respiratory motion, signal inhomogeneity within the thorax, and short transverse relaxation times. Recently developed accelerated diffusion‐weighted MR acquisition sequences combined with advanced post‐processing techniques have improved the accuracy and efficiency of diffusion MRI in the myocardium. In this review, we describe the solutions and approaches that have been developed to enable diffusion MRI of the heart in vivo, including a dual‐gated stimulated echo approach, a velocity‐ (M1) or an acceleration‐ (M2) compensated pulsed gradient spin echo approach, and the use of principal component analysis filtering. The structure of the myocardium and the application of these techniques in ischemic heart disease are also briefly reviewed. The advent of clinical MR systems with stronger gradients will likely facilitate the translation of cardiac diffusion MRI into clinical use. The addition of diffusion MRI to the well‐established set of cardiovascular imaging techniques should lead to new and complementary approaches for the diagnosis and evaluation of patients with heart disease. © 2015 The Authors. NMR in Biomedicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Regulation of polarized morphogenesis by protein kinase C iota in oncogenic epithelial spheroids

Protein kinase C iota (PKCι), a serine/threonine kinase required for cell polarity, proliferation and migration, is commonly up- or downregulated in cancer. PKCι is a human oncogene but whether this is related to its role in cell polarity and what repertoire of oncogenes acts in concert with PKCι is not known. We developed a panel of candidate oncogene expressing Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells and demonstrated that H-Ras, ErbB2 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase transformation led to non-polar spheroid morphogenesis (dysplasia), whereas MDCK spheroids expressing c-Raf or v-Src were largely polarized. We show that small interfering RNA (siRNA)-targeting PKCι decreased the size of all spheroids tested and partially reversed the aberrant polarity phenotype in H-Ras and ErbB2 spheroids only. This indicates distinct requirements for PKCι and moreover that different thresholds of PKCι activity are required for these phenotypes. By manipulating PKCι function using mutant constructs, siRNA depletion or chemical inhibition, we have demonstrated that PKCι is required for polarization of parental MDCK epithelial cysts in a 3D matrix and that there is a threshold of PKCι activity above and below which, disorganized epithelial morphogenesis results. Furthermore, treatment with a novel PKCι inhibitor, CRT0066854, was able to restore polarized morphogenesis in the dysplastic H-Ras spheroids. These results show that tightly regulated PKCι is required for normal-polarized morphogenesis in mammalian cells and that H-Ras and ErbB2 cooperate with PKCι for loss of polarization and dysplasia. The identification of a PKCι inhibitor that can restore polarized morphogenesis has implications for the treatment of Ras and ErbB2 driven malignancies.
Localized Eutectic Trimming of Polysilicon Microhemispherical Resonating Gyroscopes

This paper describes a novel technique to permanently tune a frequency mismatch between degenerate modes of a polysilicon microhemispherical resonating gyroscope (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>HRG) caused by fabrication imperfections with the potential to be implemented postpackaging. A systematic trimming algorithm is introduced to compensate for frequency mismatch and mode misalignment based on laser-induced silicon-metal eutectic formation. The stiffness changes are applied to the vicinity of the supporting post at the base of a hemispherical resonator, a region, which has not been previously studied for this purpose. Our numerical studies show the four-nodal point elliptical wineglass modes are highly sensitive to strain modifications around the post. The algorithm is developed and proven effective through finite element method simulations in COMSOL, where a significant reduction (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$> 10\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula>) of the frequency split of the wineglass modes in an imperfect <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>HRG has been achieved.
The Impacts of Emoticons on Message Interpretation in Computer-Mediated Communication

Emoticons are graphic representations of facial expressions that many e-mail users embed in their messages. These symbols are widely known and commonly recognized among computer-mediated communication (CMC) users, and they are described by most observers as substituting for the nonverbal cues that are missing from CMC in comparison to face-to-face communication. Their empirical impacts, however, are undocumented. An experiment sought to determine the effects of three common emoticons on message interpretations. Hypotheses drawn from literature on nonverbal communication reflect several plausible relationships between emoticons and verbal messages. The results indicate that emoticons’ contributions were outweighed by verbal content, but a negativity effect appeared such that any negative message aspect—verbal or graphic—shifts message interpretation in the direction of the negative element.