Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
P 2 P-XBone : A Virtual Network Support for Peer-to-Peer Systems

An architecture to deploy virtual IP networks with P2P-like dynamic topology management is described. Existing virtual IP network deployment mechanisms do not allow for dynamic topology adaptation and fault-tolerance since provisioning of IP tunnels is performed only once when a virtual network is deployed. We propose a P2P-XBone, in which a P2P protocol such as DHT drives the topology and the routing table of a virtual IP network consistent with its neighbor node state. We describe how to extend both the existing X-Bone system and P2P protocols to achieve interworking between them. The P2P-XBone not only provides P2P’s characteristics such as self-organization, fault-tolerance and content-based routing to virtual IP networks but also provides higher forwarding performance and simpler implementation to P2P systems due to the availability of existing network services. We also show several evaluation results on the overhead of P2P-driven provisioning and on forwarding performance.
ESD failure mechanism and optimiztion for the LDMOS with low on-resistance and large geometric array used as output device

In this work, a novel ESD failure mechanism for the LDMOS with low on-resistance and large geometric array used as output device is presented. A novel structure based on the failure mechanism is also proposed to improve its ESD robustness. The secondary break current (It2) of the modified LDMOS is increased by almost 50% without changing other characteristics basically.
Sound-based classification of objects using a robust fingerprinting approach

Tangible Acoustic Interfaces (TAIs) are interaction devices that are able to localize the interaction point on a solid surface. Their advantages over traditional interaction devices (touch screens, touch pads, etc.) is in the fact that actual acoustic (vibrational) signals are acquired by contact sensors. This opens the way to interaction classification and recognition. With this application in mind, this paper approaches the problem of classifying the interaction object from the acquired sounds. We focus on continuous interaction noise, which we classify through a “fingerprinting” approach: features are extracted from the acquired signals and matched against pre-computed features. More sophisticated solutions can be devised for the problem of the classification of noiselike sounds but our approach has the advantage of being computationally simple and can be profitably implemented in real-time.
Measuring the Structural Similarity between Source Code Entities (S)

Similarity coefficients are widely used in software engineering for several purposes, such as identification of refactoring opportunities and system remodularizations. Although the literature provides several similarity coefficients that vary on the computing strategy, there is a tendency among researchers to make habitual use of certain coefficients that others in their field are using. Consequently, some approaches might be using an inadequate coefficient for their purpose. In this paper, we conduct a quantitative study that compares 18 coefficients to identify which one is the most appropriate in determining where a class should be located. Our evaluation contemplates 111 open source systems from Qualitas Corpus, which totalizes more than 70,000 classes. As a result, we observed that Jaccard—one of the most used coefficients in our area—has not presented the best results. While Jaccard correctly indicated the suitable module to 22% of the classes, other coefficients were able to indicate 60%.
Stereo Augmented Detection of Lane Marking Boundaries

This paper presents a stereo filtering approach to augment the detection of lane markings in the Bird's Eye View image before the Inverse Perspective Mapping is applied with an existing lane detection algorithm. It also completely reformulates the semi-supervised learning process used so that it requires much less labour and is much more effective than the previously used method, allowing the approach to be extended to much larger and more complicated images. These improvements are then tested against an open and challenging KITTI data set to demonstrate the improved results. This paper then provides an analysis of the lane marking hypotheses filtered by our augmentation to illustrate that the candidates removed by our filter can produce highly confident erroneous results if not removed before Inverse Perspective Mapping due to their visual similarity to lane markings in the grayscale Bird's Eye View image.
The Statistical Analysis of Failure Time Data

Chapter 5, “Inference Procedures for Log-Location-Scale Distributions,” is concerned with likelihood-based inference under various censoring schemes for the important case where the logarithm of the lifetime is modeled with a location-scale distribution. The Weibull, extreme value, lognormal, and loglogistic distributions are discussed. In addition, two distributions with an additional parameter, the generalized log-Burr and the generalized log-gamma, are discussed. Chapter 6, “Parametric Regression Models,” presents models where one or more distribution parameters are modeled as a linear function of some regression parameters. The most popular of such models, the accelerated failure time model, where the location parameter in a location-scale distribution is modeled as a linear function of regression parameters, is discussed in detail. Extensions of this model in which the distribution is allowed to be the generalized log-Burr or the generalized log-gamma and the scale parameter is modeled with regression parameters are discussed. Also discussed in detail are graphical modelchecking techniques for assessing regression model  t. Chapter 7, “Semiparametric Multiplicative Hazards Regression Models,” focuses on the proportional hazards model. Chapter 8, “Rank-Type and Other Semiparametric Procedures for Log-Location-Scale Models,” presents the accelerated failure time analog to the models of Chapter 7. The regression model has a location-scale form, but no speci c distribution is assumed. Chapter 9, “Multiple Modes of Failure,” gives a careful treatment of the analysis of data when failures can occur due to multiple failure modes. Chapter 10, “Goodness-of-Fit Tests,” begins with a general discussion of methods for testing goodness of  t. Some speci c tests of  t for the exponential, Weibull, extreme value, normal, and lognormal are then presented for the case of type 2 censoring or complete data. Tests of  t in regression models are brie y discussed. Simulation methods for overcoming restrictions on the testing procedures are discussed in each case. Finally, Chapter 11, “Beyond Univariate Survival Analysis,” introduces multivariate lifetime data, discussing clustered lifetimes, event history data, and data where an internal process is related to the lifetime of interest. For those working with reliability data, the books by Meeker and Escobar (1998) or Nelson (1982) may be more useful as primary references because of their emphasis on engineering methodology and applications. However, this book complements the other references well, and merits a place on the bookshelf of anyone concerned with the analysis of lifetime data from any  eld.
A reconfigurable real-time SDRAM controller for mixed time-criticality systems

Verifying real-time requirements of applications is increasingly complex on modern Systems-on-Chips (SoCs). More applications are integrated into one system due to power, area and cost constraints. Resource sharing makes their timing behavior interdependent, and as a result the verification complexity increases exponentially with the number of applications. Predictable and composable virtual platforms solve this problem by enabling verification in isolation, but designing SoC resources suitable to host such platforms is challenging. This paper focuses on a reconfigurable SDRAM controller for predictable and composable virtual platforms. The main contributions are: 1) A run-time reconfigurable SDRAM controller architecture, which allows trade-offs between guaranteed bandwidth, response time and power. 2) A methodology for offering composable service to memory clients, by means of composable memory patterns. 3) A reconfigurable Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) arbiter and an associated reconfiguration protocol. The TDM slot allocations can be changed at run time, while the predictable and composable performance guarantees offered to active memory clients are unaffected by the reconfiguration. The SDRAM controller has been implemented as a TLM-level SystemC model, and in synthesizable VHDL for use on an FPGA.
Ozone Concentration Measurements on the C-Line at the Apple Grove 750 kV Project and Theoretical Estimates of Ozone Concentrations Near 765 kV Lines of Normal Design

This paper presents the results of a study of transmission line ozone conducted in January 1975 at the Apple Grove 750 kV Project. Ozone measurements using chemiluminescent monitors were made adjacent to the C-line test span which operates at surface gradients much higher than commercial lines. Simultaneous measurements were made of corona loss and wind parameters. Ozone was monitored at two fixed sampling stations located 30 feet and 2 feet above ground 95 feet from the center phase at midspan. Ozone due to line corona was detected only at the 30 foot station and only in foul weather. In fair weather line ozone could not be detected at either station. An ozone production rate of 2.4 g/ kWhr was deduced for the C-line in foul weather corona. A diffusion analysis was carried out to predict ozone concentrations near a normal 765 kV line for a hypothetical worst case situation. It is concluded that ozone production by a normal 765 kV line has an insignificant impact on the environment.
Design Optimization of Compact Wideband Optical Switch Exploiting Staircase Index MMI

We propose a new compact optical switch that works over a wide wavelength band. This switch has low cross talk and can be easily integrated with other components of the communication system. The device utilizes the self imaging theory of the parabolic index profile. A new methodology to formulate the design problem as an optimization problem is proposed. Both the response and the gradient of the response are utilized within a gradient-based optimization approach. The adjoint variable method is utilized to extract the gradient of the response using the wide angle BPM method.
Cross-lingual portability of Chinese and english neural network features for French and German LVCSR

This paper investigates neural network (NN) based cross-lingual probabilistic features. Earlier work reports that intra-lingual features consistently outperform the corresponding cross-lingual features. We show that this may not generalize. Depending on the complexity of the NN features, cross-lingual features reduce the resources used for training —the NN has to be trained on one language only— without any loss in performance w.r. t. word error rate (WER). To further investigate this inconsistency concerning intra- vs. cross-lingual neural network features, we analyze the performance of these features w.r. t. the degree of kinship between training and testing language, and the amount of training data used. Whenever the same amount of data is used for NN training, a close relationship between training and testing language is required to achieve similar results. By increasing the training data the relationship becomes less, as well as changing the topology of the NN to the bottle neck structure. Moreover, cross-lingual features trained on English or Chinese improve the best intra-lingual system for German up to 2% relative in WER and up to 3% relative for French and achieve the same improvement as for discriminative training. Moreover, we gain again up to 8% relative in WER by combining intra- and cross-lingual systems.
Dynamic modeling and torque estimation of FES-assisted arm-free standing for paraplegics

This paper presents an application of recent findings in the field of redundant robotic systems control, toward investigating the feasibility of functional electrical stimulation (FES) assisted arm-free standing for paraplegics. Twelve degrees-of-freedom (DOF) forward and inverse dynamic models of quiet standing have been developed. These models were used to investigate the minimum number of DOF that would need to be actuated in order to generate stable quiet standing in paraplegics despite internal and external disturbances. The results presented herein suggest that the proposed nonlinear dynamic model could achieve guaranteed asymptotic stability with only six active DOF, assuming that the remaining six DOF are passive, i.e., there is no active or passive torques applied to those DOF. The stability analyses were performed using a proportional and derivative (PD) controller coupled with gravity compensation. The results of this analysis suggest that if only six particular DOF are actively controlled in a paraplegic subject, this individual should be able to achieve stable quiet standing despite disturbances. This result has both clinical and system-design implications for the development of a device that will facilitate FES-assisted arm-free quiet standing. The clinical implication is, if a paraplegic patient can exert voluntary control over specified six DOF in the lower limbs, that patient, after intensive physiotherapy, will have the potential to perform quiet standing unassisted. The system-design implication is that FES-assisted arm-free standing for paraplegics is theoretically plausible if one would actively control only six out of 12 DOF in the lower limbs. The proposed solution does not require the locking of joints in the lower limbs (commonly applied in the field) or voluntary control of the upper body to compensate for the internal and external disturbances. Another important finding of this study is the existence of six different combinations of six active DOF able to facilitate stable quiet standing. This dynamic redundancy of the biological bipedal stance allows the selection of an ideal subset of six DOF in designing a neuroprosthesis for standing. This further implies that a considerably less complex FES system than previously anticipated needs to be developed for FES-assisted standing.
Pice: Prior information constrained evolution for 3-D and 4-D brain tumor segmentation

Brain tumor segmentation is an important image processing step in diagnosis, treatment planning, and follow-up studies of Glioblastoma (GBM). However it is still a challenging task due to varying in size, shape, location, and image intensities within and around the tumor. In this paper, we propose a new brain tumor segmentation method for T1-weighted MR brain images based on an improved level set method using prior information as a constraint, called Prior Information Constrained Evolution (PICE). A new energy function in PICE incorporating the tumor intensity prior is designed to match brain tumor more accurately. The advantage of PICE has been illustrated by comparing with the traditional level set method in 3-D. In addition, we also illustrate that PICE can be easily applied to 4-D images, which facilitates follow-up studies of brain tumor treatments. Using longitudinal GBM data from five patients we showed the advantages of the proposed algorithm.
Sequential design of computer experiments to minimize integrated response functions

In the last ten to fifteen years many phenomena that could be studied only using physical experiments can now be studied by computer experiments. Advances in the mathematical modeling of many physical processes, in algorithms for solving mathematical systems, and in computer speeds, have combined to make it possible to augment or replace physical experiments with computer experiments. In a computer experiment, a response z( x), usually deterministic, is computed for each set of input variables, x, according to an experimental design strategy. This strategy is determined by the goal of the experiment and depends, for example, on whether response prediction at unsampled input sites or response optimization is of primary interest. We are concerned with the commonly occuring situation in which there are two types of input variables: suppose x = ( xc, x e) where xc is a set of “control” (manufacturing) variables and xe is a set of “environmental” (noise) variables. Manufacturing variables can be controlled while noise variables are not controllable but have values governed by some probability distribution. For single response settings, we introduce a sequential experimental design for finding the optimum of e(x c) = E[z(x c, Xe)], where the expectation is taken over the distribution of the environmental variables. For bivariate response settings, we introduce a sequential experimental design for finding the constrained optimum of e1( xc)) = E[z( xc, X e)], subject to e2 (x c) = E[z2(x c, Xe)] ≤ U. The approach is Bayesian; the prior information is that the responses are a draw from a stationary Gaussian stochastic process with correlation function belonging to a parametric family with unknown parameters. The idea of the methods is to compute the posterior expected “improvement” over the current optimum for each untested site; the design selects the next site to maximize the expected improvement. Both procedures are illustrated by examples utilizing test functions from the numerical optimization literature.
Performance of the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale in a Sample of Children and Adolescents from Poor Urban Communities in Cape Town

The Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) is regularly used with South African children, although its performance in this context has yet to be empirically evaluated. This study assessed the basic psychometric properties of the RCMAS using data collected in a large study examining the mental health of children and adolescents living in poor urban communities around Cape Town. Reliability of the full-scale was good, and the predicted relationships between anxiety, depression, PTSD, delinquency, age, sex, and somaticism scores offered evidence of construct validity. However, the reliabilities for the physiological, worry/oversensitivity, and concentration subscales were low, and confirmatory factor analysis revealed the hypothesized three-factor model did not adequately fit the data. Exploratory analyses suggested a four-factor solution consisting of social evaluation, worry, affective responses, and physiological symptoms/sleep disturbance factors. Further confirmatory research examining this f.
Compressed sensing and designs: theory and simulations

In An asymptotic result on compressed sensing matrices [4], a new construction for compressed sensing matrices using combinatorial design theory was introduced. In this paper, we analyse the performance of these matrices using deterministic and probabilistic methods. We provide a new recovery algorithm and detailed simulations. These simulations suggest that the construction is competitive with Gaussian random matrices, and that recovery is tolerant to noise.
Views in Higher Education to ward Methods and Approaches for Character Development of College Students

Research providing further insight for methods and approaches for the development of character in higher education is needed. The purpose of this study was to use a unique research method to measure subjective views of students, staff, and faculty toward current and ideal character education. Three distinct views were found and interpreted as Formal Learning, Judicious Learning, and Guided Learning.
Estimation of the number of signals in the presence of unknown correlated sensor noise

A method for estimating the number of transmitted signals in the presence of spatially correlated sensor noise is proposed. The procedure applies when the unknown noise covariance matrix is a band matrix. This amounts to assuming that the noise field is only locally correlated, a quite realistic assumption in many situations. Since spatial stationarity of the noise is not necessary it also applies, for instance, to white noise with varying power along the array. Some simulations indicate that the asymptotic analysis holds for quite small sample sizes, in situations where, to the author's knowledge, no existing procedure would work. <<ETX>>
Phonological Processes in Speech Addressed to Children

Abstract This experiment was designed to examine the degree of phonological reduction in speech directed at children by adults, as opposed to speech directed at other adults. 8 British mothers were recorded speaking to their 2- to 4-year-old children and to adults in a relaxed home environment. The recordings were analyzed with respect to number of applications of four commonly used phonological rules. It was found that speech to children shows significantly greater phonological reduction in most cases. It is hypothesized that this manifestation of informality may express an affectionate attitude towards the child, thus providing emotional support even if complicating the language-learning task for her or him.
Perceptions of Retirement Affect Career Commitment: The Mediating Role of Retirement System Satisfaction for Two Teacher Age Groups

This study investigated a sample of California elementary, intermediate, and high school employed teachers (N = 247) to assess the effects of retirement perceptions on career commitment among teachers who are in different age groupings. Using path analysis, the influence of five retirement perceptions variables was examined: concerns about retirement benefits, understanding of the retirement system, perceived need for system change, control over the retirement plan, and satisfaction with current salary. The results indicated that the pattern of results differed for younger and older teachers. For the younger (age 21–45) group, concerns about retirement benefits (such as losing or reducing benefits through geographic mobility) and control over the retirement plan had significant, large, and direct effects on career commitment. For the older (age 46+) group, retirement variables had a significant effect on career commitment via the mediator of satisfaction with the retirement system. Given these findings, for younger teachers, strategies might focus on providing greater control over the retirement plan, such as in offering choice in how their retirement monies are invested. Older teachers need to feel safe about retirement in the sense of being satisfied with the system and its benefits to commit to their jobs.
KIKIWAKE: participatory design of language play game for children to promote creative activitybased on recognition of japanese phonology

This study proposes a system for supporting the Shotoku Taishi game, which is a language play game that uses the voice of children. The Shotoku Taishi game is a group game in which multiple people presenting a problem vocalize different words at the same time and the respondents are required to guess what the combination of the words is. The authors developed and implemented a system using a microphone array to extract the voice of a specific person presenting a problem in this game. The participants were 36 elementary school students whose native language was Japanese. The results showed that the participants were enjoying the Shotoku Taishi game and that this group activity was a creative activity that deepened their awareness of the Japanese language.
Generalised Pinsker Inequalities

We generalise the classical Pinsker inequality which relates variational divergence to Kullback-Liebler divergence in two ways: we consider arbitrary f-divergences in place of KL divergence, and we assume knowledge of a sequence of values of generalised variational divergences. We then develop a best possible inequality for this doubly generalised situation. Specialising our result to the classical case provides a new and tight explicit bound relating KL to variational divergence (solving a problem posed by Vajda some 40 years ago). The solution relies on exploiting a connection between divergences and the Bayes risk of a learning problem via an integral representation.