Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DYNAMIC MODELING AND CONTROL OF A TWO WHEELED ROBOTIC VEHICLE WITH A VIRTUAL PAYLOAD

One of the challenging issues to consider in balancing a two-wheeled robotic machine (TWRM) is when the load carried by the machine is changing position along the vehicle intermediate body (IB). An issue of interest in this case is the resulting impact on the system behaviour due to changing position of the load. Further complications arise with changing the size of the load. This work presents investigations into controlling a TWRM with a payload positioned at different locations along its IB. Two types of control techniques are developed and implemented on the system, the traditional proportional-derivative (PD) control and fuzzy logic (FL) control. PD and PD-fuzzy logic control techniques are developed to balance the vehicle with a payload incorporating two different scenarios. Firstly, the payload is positioned at different locations along its IB. Secondly, it is considered to perform a continuous sliding motion along the IB. The balancing of the robot has to be achieved during the motion of the vehicle and the payload along the IB. An external disturbance force is applied to the rod which constitutes the IB in order to test the robustness of the developed controllers. Investigations are carried out on the effect of changing the level and duration of the disturbance force, and changing the speed of the payload on the system during the balancing mode. Simulation results of both control algorithms are analyzed on a comparative basis.
Ciclo político presupuestal en México, 1980-2014. Un enfoque econométrico

El objetivo de este documento es determinar la presencia del ciclo politico presupuestal en relacion con las elecciones presidenciales de Mexico durante el periodo 1980-2014. Para ello, se estiman modelos autorregresivos y de promedios moviles, extendidos para tomar en cuenta los efectos de factores economicos, para el gasto publico total, el gasto publico programable y los componentes de este. Entre los resultados mas importantes destacan que los factores economicos (medidos por la produccion manufacturera) juegan un papel limitado en la dinamica del gasto y, mas importante aun, que existe evidencia de ciclo politico presupuestal en el gasto publico total, asi como en el gasto corriente y de capital, entre otros. Estos resultados reflejan conductas oportunistas de los gobiernos para mantenerse en el poder y el uso de recursos publicos para el beneficio de grupos politicos particulares
In Search of the Community University Student

Around the first week of school, a young man stayed after class to speak to me, waiting until everyone left. Sam was in his late twenties, early thirties, a serious student in class with a permanent frown as he listened intently. He was worried about comments I had made concerning attendance and he explained that there might be times during the semester when he would have to be absent if his children were sick. He softly added that he was a single father of four small children. Several days later, I had the opportunity to ask him about his family and, as a proud father, he showed me pictures of his children.
Motion of a heavy impurity through a Bose-Einstein condensate (5 pages)

We study the motion of a pointlike impurity in a Bose-Einstein condensate at T=0. By solving the Guinier-Preston (GP) equation in a perturbative manner we calculate the induced mass of the impurity and the drag force on the impurity in three-, two-, and one-dimensional (1D) cases. The relationship between the induced mass and the normal mass of fluid is found, and coincides with the result of the Bogoliubov theory. The drag force appears for the supersonic motion of the impurity. In 1D the drag force is investigated also on the basis of the exact Lieb-Liniger theory, using the dynamic form factor, which has been evaluated by the Haldane method of the calculation of correlation functions. In this theory the force appears for an arbitrarily small velocity of the impurity. The possibility of measuring the form factor in existing experiments is noted.
Dynamic information-theoretic measures for security informatics

Many important security informatics problems require consideration of dynamical phenomena for their solution; examples include predicting the behavior of individuals in social networks and distinguishing malicious and innocent computer network activities based on activity traces. While information theory offers powerful tools for analyzing dynamical processes, to date the application of information-theoretic methods in security domains has focused on static analyses (e.g., cryptography, natural language processing). This paper leverages information-theoretic concepts and measures to quantify the similarity of pairs of stochastic dynamical systems, and shows that this capability can be used to solve important problems which arise in security applications. We begin by presenting a concise review of the information theory required for our development, and then address two challenging tasks: 1. ) characterizing the way influence propagates through social networks, and 2. ) distinguishing malware from legitimate software based on the instruction sequences of the disassembled programs. In each application, case studies involving real-world datasets demonstrate that the proposed techniques outperform standard methods.
Partially Labeled Supervised Topic Models for RetrievingSimilar Questions in CQA Forums

Manual annotations, e.g. tags and links, of user generated content in community question answering forums and social media play an important role in making the content searchable. During the active phase of a new question entered into a CQA forum, a moderator or an answerer often has to make a significant effort to manually search for related question threads (which we refer to as documents), that he may consider linking to the current question. This manual effort can be greatly reduced by an automated search process to suggest a list of candidate documents to be linked to the new document. We described our investigation of link recommendation for this task. We approach the problem as an ad-hoc information retrieval (IR) task in which a new document (question) acts as the query and the intention is to retrieve a list of potentially relevant documents (previously asked questions in the forum), which could then be linked (manually) to the new one. In contrast to standard ad-hoc search, two pieces of human annotated additional information, namely the tags of the documents and the known links between existing document pairs, can potentially be used to improve the search quality for new questions. To utilize this additional information, we propose a generative model of tagged documents which jointly estimates the distribution of topics corresponding to each tag of a document along with the likelihood of a document being linked to another one. The model predictions are then incorporated in the query likelihood estimate of a standard language model (LM) of IR. Experiments conducted on three months of a crawled StackOverflow dataset show that utilizing the tag specific topic distributions results in a significant improvement in retrieval of the candidate set of related documents.
TIMEN: An Open Temporal Expression Normalisation Resource

Temporal expressions are words or phrases that describe a point, duration or recurrence in time. Automatically annotating these expressions is a research goal of increasing interest. Recognising them can be achieved with minimally supervised machine learning, but interpreting them accurately (normalisation) is a complex task requiring human knowledge. In this paper, we present TIMEN, a community-driven tool for temporal expression normalisation. TIMEN is derived from current best approaches and is an independent tool, enabling easy integration in existing systems. We argue that temporal expression normalisation can only be effectively performed with a large knowledge base and set of rules. Our solution is a framework and system with which to capture this knowledge for different languages. Using both existing and newly-annotated data, we present results showing competitive performance and invite the IE community to contribute to a knowledge base in order to solve the temporal expression normalisation problem.
Streamlines for Illustrative Real‐Time Rendering

Line drawing techniques are important methods to illustrate shapes. Existing feature line methods, e.g., suggestive contours, apparent ridges, or photic extremum lines, solely determine salient regions and illustrate them with separate lines. Hatching methods convey the shape by drawing a wealth of lines on the whole surface. Both approaches are often not sufficient for a faithful visualization of organic surface models, e.g., in biology or medicine. In this paper, we present a novel object‐space line drawing algorithm that conveys the shape of such surface models in real‐time. Our approach employs contour‐ and feature‐based illustrative streamlines to convey surface shape (ConFIS). For every triangle, precise streamlines are calculated on the surface with a given curvature vector field. Salient regions are detected by determining maxima and minima of a scalar field. Compared with existing feature lines and hatching methods, ConFIS uses the advantages of both categories in an effective and flexible manner. We demonstrate this with different anatomical and artificial surface models. In addition, we conducted a qualitative evaluation of our technique to compare our results with exemplary feature line and hatching methods.
MyThOS — Scalable OS Design for Extremely Parallel Applications

Many-core architectures trade single-thread performance for a larger number of cores. Scalable throughput can be attained only by a high degree of parallelism, minimized synchronization. Whilst this is achievable for many applications, the operating system still introduces bottlenecks through non-local sharing, synchronization,, message passing. A particular challenge for highly dynamic applications, for example invasive HPC applications, elastic compute clouds, is the management of short-living application threads, processes. This paper discusses OS architecture choices based on microkernel, multikernel, distributed systems designs, our development experience in the context of the MyThOS project. Initial experiments show a much faster thread creation, activation compared to monolithic systems like Linux while providing a more flexible protection, threading model that is better suited for dynamic scenarios. However, despite significant progress in the overall domain of operating systems, the design space for scalable many-core operating systems is yet to be fully explored.
Shame memories and eating psychopathology: the buffering effect of self-compassion.

OBJECTIVE Research suggests that self-compassion may protect against shame in eating disorders. This study examines the association between shame memories, self-compassion, self-judgment and eating psychopathology severity and tests the moderator effect of self-compassion on the relationships between shame memories and eating psychopathology. METHOD Participants were 34 patients with the diagnosis of an eating disorder, who were assessed using Eating Disorder Examination and the Shame Experiences Interview and self-report instruments measuring the traumatic and centrality to identity features of shame memories, self-compassion and self-judgment. RESULTS Self-compassion was negatively correlated to shame memory features and eating psychopathology, and self-judgment was positively associated with such variables. Self-compassion had a moderator effect on the association between shame traumatic and central memories and eating psychopathology severity. CONCLUSION This is the first study to explore the buffering effect of self-compassion against the pathogenic effects of shame memories on eating psychopathology severity in eating disorders, with relevant clinical and research implications.
On TD(0) with function approximation: Concentration bounds and a centered variant with exponential convergence

We provide non-asymptotic bounds for the well-known temporal difference learning algorithm TD(0) with linear function approximators. These include high-probability bounds as well as bounds in expectation. Our analysis suggests that a step-size inversely proportional to the number of iterations cannot guarantee optimal rate of convergence unless we assume (partial) knowledge of the stationary distribution for the Markov chain underlying the policy considered. We also provide bounds for the iterate averaged TD(0) variant, which gets rid of the step-size dependency while exhibiting the optimal rate of convergence. Furthermore, we propose a variant of TD(0) with linear approximators that incorporates a centering sequence, and establish that it exhibits an exponential rate of convergence in expectation. We demonstrate the usefulness of our bounds on two synthetic experimental settings.
Statistical reconstruction for x-ray CT systems with non-continuous detectors

We analyse the performance of statistical reconstruction (SR) methods when applied to non-continuous x-ray detectors. Robustness to projection gaps is required in x-ray CT systems with multiple detector modules or with defective detector pixels. In such situations, the advantage of statistical reconstruction is that it is able to ignore missing or faulty pixels and that it makes optimal use of the remaining line integrals. This potentially obviates the need to fill the sinogram discontinuities by interpolation or any other approximative pre-processing techniques. In this paper, we apply SR to cone beam projections of (i) a hypothetical modular detector micro-CT scanner and of (ii) a system with randomly located defective detector elements. For the modular-detector system, SR produces reconstruction volumes free of noticeable gap-induced artefacts as long as the location of detector gaps and selection of the scanning range provide complete object sampling in the central imaging plane. When applied to randomly located faulty detector elements, SR produces images free of substantial ring artefacts even for cases where defective pixels cover as much as 3% of the detector area.
SERIE RESEARCH mEmORIMDIl

In this paper we consider the consequences of realization uncertainty, i.e. uncertainty about the possibility of realization of a chosen alternative, for the formulation of discrete choice models and for empirically observable choice behaviour in the Dutch housing market. They turn out to be significant in both respects. It is shown that the introduction of realization uncertainty introduces correlation between the random terms of the Utilities and that the usual derivation of GEV-models breaks down in the presence of such correlation. As an alternative we propose an axiomatic approach which gives rise to a reasonable model, which is a generalisation of the logit model. This model is applied to choice behaviour in the Dutch housing market. It is shown that the realization uncertainty has a significant influence on choice behaviour in this market, in the sense that people in general tend to avoid the most heavily rationed types of dwellings and that this effect is stronger when their original sitiation is worse.
EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON OF CONTROL LAWS FOR UNICYCLE-TYPE MOBILE ROBOTS

Mobile robots o er a typical example of a system with a nonholonomic constraint. Many control laws have been developed for stabilizing these systems. One of the main issues with these controllers is that they are usually based on kinematic relations only and do not include the dynamics. Moreover, additional factors like quantization, noise and delay may be present that make stabilization more diÆcult. Comparing the characteristics and the performance of these controllers using an experimental testbed is therefore of great interest. In this paper, we use a Khepera robot to perform these experiments and compare several controller proposed in the literature.
Drosophila Insulin-Producing Cells Are Differentially Modulated by Serotonin and Octopamine Receptors and Affect Social Behavior

A set of 14 insulin-producing cells (IPCs) in the Drosophila brain produces three insulin-like peptides (DILP2, 3 and 5). Activity in IPCs and release of DILPs is nutrient dependent and controlled by multiple factors such as fat body-derived proteins, neurotransmitters, and neuropeptides. Two monoamine receptors, the octopamine receptor OAMB and the serotonin receptor 5-HT1A, are expressed by the IPCs. These receptors may act antagonistically on adenylate cyclase. Here we investigate the action of the two receptors on activity in and output from the IPCs. Knockdown of OAMB by targeted RNAi led to elevated Dilp3 transcript levels in the brain, whereas 5-HT1A knockdown resulted in increases of Dilp2 and 5. OAMB-RNAi in IPCs leads to extended survival of starved flies and increased food intake, whereas 5-HT1A-RNAi produces the opposite phenotypes. However, knockdown of either OAMB or 5-HT1A in IPCs both lead to increased resistance to oxidative stress. In assays of carbohydrate levels we found that 5-HT1A knockdown in IPCs resulted in elevated hemolymph glucose, body glycogen and body trehalose levels, while no effects were seen after OAMB knockdown. We also found that manipulations of the two receptors in IPCs affected male aggressive behavior in different ways and 5-HT1A-RNAi reduced courtship latency. Our observations suggest that activation of 5-HT1A and OAMB signaling in IPCs generates differential effects on Dilp transcription, fly physiology, metabolism and social interactions. However the findings do not support an antagonistic action of the two monoamines and their receptors in this particular system.
The English past tense debate in the Chinese EFL learners’ mind: a masked priming study

Abstract The involvement of rule-based computation is the focus of the past tense debate. The present masked priming study contributed to the debate by investigating how Chinese EFL learners processed regular English past tense forms. The results show that, for the past tense forms of relatively high frequency, at the early stage of processing, the highly proficient group can make use of morphological rule to decompose regular past tense forms. The lower proficiency level group, however, cannot decompose past tense forms. It is suggested that surface form frequency of past tense inflections and foreign language proficiency are the two factors that affect the way complex words are processed. Our data supports the dual-route model of Declarative-Procedural memory in the past tense debate.
PESA-II: region-based selection in evolutionary multiobjective optimization

We describe a new selection technique for evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithms in which the unit of selection is a hyperbox in objective space. In this technique, instead of assigning a selective fitness to an individual, selective fitness is assigned to the hyperboxes in objective space which are currently occupied by at least one individual in the current approximation to the Pareto frontier. A hyperbox is thereby selected, and the resulting selected individual is randomly chosen from this hyperbox. This method of selection is shown to be more sensitive to ensuring a good spread of development along the Pareto frontier than individual-based selection. The method is implemented in a modern multiobjective evolutionary algorithm, and performance is tested by using Deb's test suite of `T' functions with varying properties. The new selection technique is found to give significantly superior results to the other methods compared, namely PAES, PESA, and SPEA; each is a modern multi-objective optimization algorithm previously found to outperform earlier approaches on various problems.
MULTI-FEATURE EXTRACTION FOR PRINTED THAI CHARACTER RECOGNITION

This paper presents a simplified printed Thai character recognition system using multiple feature extraction and character classification. Three relevant information extracted from a set of training character images are the direction of each character’s contour, the density of character body and character peripheral information. This set of features is used as reference for classifying unknown input characters. Based on Euclidean space model, the category of the reference vector yielding the minimum distance is assigned to the input character pattern. From the experiments, the recognizing speed is 5 character images per second with 97.44% correctness. The performance of recognition can be improved gradually in strengthening the robustness and lowering the error recognition rate by simply training and maintaining the knowledge by users.
An Integrated Ontology Ranking Method for Enhancing Knowledge Reuse

The Semantic Web is a mesh of information linked up such that it can be easily processed by machines. The focus of semantic web is to share data instead of documents and the ontologies act as the mainstay of the semantic web. Ontologies are used to represent domain knowledge in semantic web. As ontologies have many applications in various prominent fields, ontology reuse is becoming increasingly significant. To facilitate the search and reuse of ontologies many ontology libraries and search engines are in existence. But as there are a huge number of ontologies, the need for a faultless ontology ranking algorithm will help users find the best ontology that suits their purpose. The existing ranking methods focus only in the lexical level matching which does not provide exact results to the user. In order to overcome this, the paper proposes an integrated ranking approach which associates two ranking algorithms namely Content based ranking and ontology rank that encourages semantic matching. Keyword-Ontology, Ontology Ranking, Relation matching, Taxonomy matching, Concept matching, Ranking Techniques
Steady-state dependability verification for very large systems ∗

Probabilistic model checking can be done either by numerical analysis or by simulation and statistical methods. In the paper presented in [12], we have compared the efficiency of the numerical model checking implemented in PRISM tool and our statistical model checking approach which combines perfect sampling and statistical hypothesis testing to study the steady-state properties of large Markovian models. In this research report we extend this work by considering also the statistical module of the MRMC model checker. Therefore the comparisons are established between the numerical model checker PRISM, the statistical module of MRMC and our statistical verification engine included to the perfect sampler Ψ. In fact, we compare the efficiency and the scalability of these approaches when they are applied to the verification of steady-state properties of very large models. We show that our statistical approach using perfect sampling is generally more efficient than the two other approaches and it allows us to consider very large models and to verify rare event properties efficiently. Extension of recent work 1. We have enriched the experimental studies. This is done by considering a larger set of input parameters. We have also considered a tandem queue with 10 queues essentially for the comparison with MRMC statistical model checking module. 2. We have included a section to briefly introduce the new considered tools (MRMC tool) (subsection 4.2) and a section to illustrate the tools differences (subsection 4.4). 3. We have included a subsection ( subsection 3.3) for the complexity and the applicability of the proposed approach. The section for the brief introduction of tools have been extended and MRMC is included. Moreover the paper is reorganised for the sake of readability and sections are extended to make it self-contained (subsection 3.3.1).