Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selection of the Optimal Sizes of Analog Integrated Circuits by Fuzzy Sets Intersection

This paper shows the application of Fuzzy sets to select the optimal sizes of analog integrated circuits accomplishing target specifications that are established by linguistic variables, namely: gain “closer to” unity and “large” bandwidth. The cases of study are three unity-gain cells and a current-feedback operational amplifier (CFOA), whose performances characteristics are evaluated by using integrated circuit technology of 0. 35μm and 180nm. Every circuit is codified by the width (W) and large (L) of every metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (MOSFET), and by the bias current source, in order to generate a population of feasible solutions by applying the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm NSGA-II, from which the optimal W and L sizes are selected through the intersection of fuzzy sets. We present the results of the proposed fuzzy selection approach that has beenimplemented in a sequential and a distributed system, and by applying a zoom technique to search for the optimal sizes in a more detailed or refined way. Keywords— Circuit sizing, fuzzy sets, NSGA-II, SPICE, zoom technique, MOSFET, unity-gain cell, voltage follower, CFOA.
The Ausback study: an audit of low back pain outcomes in Australian musculoskeletal medicine practices

Abstract Background: The major influences on musculoskeletal medicine practitioners in Australia in the last 20 years have been from an eclectic mix of local and international experts and evidence from many disciplines. This has resulted in practitioners with a multimodal approach that combines evidence with pragmatism. The effectiveness of this combined approach on Australian patients with low back pain needs testing to see if it has broader application. Objectives: This study aimed to measure the effectiveness of a multimodal approach practiced by musculoskeletal medicine practitioners in a private clinic setting supported by a referral network of allied health professionals. Patients and Methods: This non-randomised, non-consecutive audit comprised 75 patients with low back pain with or without leg pain from three musculoskeletal medicine practices in Queensland, Australia. Pain, disability, general health and global response were followed in participants for 6 months. Results: For this cohort, the mean ± SD age was 45 ± years and the median duration of low back pain was 4 years (IQR, 0.5–8 years). The follow-up rate at 6 months was 75%. Clinically and statistically significant reductions in mean scores from baseline to 6 months were noted for pain from 5.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.0–6.0) to 2.9 (95% CI, 2.3–3.5) at 6 months and for Roland–Morris disability questionnaire from 12.2 (95% CI, 11.0–13.3) to 7.7 (95% CI, 6.2–9.2). At 6 months, 51% were much improved or very much improved. Better reductions in pain and disability were noted in subgroups that were not working, that had pain duration up to 3 months and a past history of one to two episodes of low back pain. Conclusions: The improvements in pain and disability at 6 months observed in this study were similar to those observed for other conservative treatment methods for chronic low back pain.
A GENERIC PLATFORM FOR DEVELOPING LANGUAGE RESOURCES AND APPLICATIONS

The paper describes a unification-based language engineering platform meant for development of reversible language resources and linguistic applications. The platform, called EGLU (Environnment Generique Linguistique d’Unification) is an enhanced generalized port of ISSCO’s original ELU from SUN-OS Allegro Common Lisp to Macintosh Common Lisp and Carnegie Mellon Lisp (under Solaris). Several language resources have been developed, ranging from small demo MT systems (French-English), medium-size grammars (French) to large dictionaries (Romanian language).
Class Notes : Programming Parallel Algorithms

These are the lecture notes for CS 15-840B, a hands-on class in programming parallel algorithms. The class was taught in the fall of 1992 by Guy Blelloch, using the programming language NESL. It stressed the clean and concise expression of a variety of parallel algorithms. About 35 graduate students attended the class, of whom 28 took it for credit. These notes were written by students in the class, and were then reviewed and organized by Guy Blelloch and Jonathan Hardwick. The sample NESL code has been converted from the older LISP-style syntax into the new ML-style syntax. These notes are not in a polished form, and probably contain several errors and omissions, particularly with respect to references in the literature. Corrections are welcome. This research was sponsored in part by the Avionics Laboratory, Wright Research and Development Center, Aeronautical Systems Division (AFSC), U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433-6543 under Contract F33615-90-C-1465,ARPA Order No. 7597 and in part by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (Grant ASC890018P), who provided Connection Machine CM-2 and Cray Y-MP time. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. government.
Using collaborative plans to model the intentional structure of discourse

An agent's ability to understand an utterance depends upon its ability to relate that utterance to the preceding discourse. The agent must determine whether the utterance begins a new segment of the discourse, completes the current segment, or contributes to it. The intentional structure of the discourse, comprised of discourse segment purposes and their interrelationships, plays a central role in this process (Grosz and Sidner, 1986). In this thesis, we provide a computational model for recognizing intentional structure and utilizing it in discourse processing. The model specifies how an agent's beliefs about the intentions underlying a discourse affects and are affected by its subsequent discourse. We characterize this process for both interpretation and generation and then provide specific algorithms for modeling the interpretation process. The collaborative planning framework of SharedPlans (Lochbaum, Grosz, and Sidner, 1990; Grosz and Kraus, 1993) provides the basis for our model of intentional structure. Under this model, agents are taken to engage in discourses and segments of discourses for reasons that derive from the mental state requirements of action and collaboration. Each utterance of a discourse is understood in terms of its contribution to the SharedPlans in which the discourse participants are engaged. We demonstrate that this model satisfies the requirements of Grosz and Sidner's (1986) theory of discourse structure and also simplifies and extends previous plan-based approaches to dialogue understanding. The model has been implemented in a system that demonstrates the contextual role of intentional structure in both interpretation and generation.
Dynamic Behavior Sequencing in a Hybrid Robot Architecture

Abstract : Hybrid robot control architectures separate plans, coordination, and actions into separate processing layers to provide deliberative and reactive functionality. This approach promotes more complex systems that perform well in goal-oriented and dynamic environments. In various architectures, the connections and contents of the functional layers are tightly coupled so system updates and changes require major changes throughout the system. This work proposes an abstract behavior representation, a dynamic behavior hierarchy generation algorithm, and an architecture design to reduce this major change incorporation process. The behavior representation provides an abstract interface for loose coupling of behavior planning and execution components. The hierarchy generation algorithm utilizes the interface allowing dynamic sequencing of behaviors based on behavior descriptions and system objectives without knowledge of the low-level implementation or the high-level goals the behaviors achieve. This is accomplished within the proposed architecture design, which is based on the Three Layer Architecture (TLA) paradigm. The design provides functional decomposition of system components with respect to levels of abstraction and temporal complexity. The layers and components within this architecture are independent of surrounding components and are coupled only by the linking mechanisms that the individual components and layers allow.
Envers une stratégie de conservation pour oeuvres éphémères: entre le materiel et le conceptuel

This article examines the context in which Joseph Beuys’s work Wirtschaftswerte was created over time by researching the method of production, the meaning of the foodstuffs, and the techniques that the artist used. Draw¬ing on the development of new conservation strategies of modern and contemporary art, where the focal point has shifted from mate¬rial to immaterial aspects, and by introduc¬ing food-preservation techniques into the decision-making process, the article presents the concept of a material and conceptual conservation strategy for ephemeral works of art. The aim of this essay is to reexamine the strategies and methods of traditional art conservation in the light of new strategies that have been used for temporary works of art, and to present a methodology that offers a framework to manage the specific prob¬lems linked to the conservation of ephemeral works of art.
Towards a Power and Performance Simulation Framework for Parallel DSP Architecture

High performance, low power and low cost will continue to be driving factors for digital signal processor (DSP) and embedded computer systems of the future. Recent improvements of semiconductor technology have led to faster circuits, higher density, and smaller dimensions. However, along with technology scaling there are still many difficult challenges for future electronic and computer system design, one of them is power consumption. There is a lot of research efforts dedicated for reducing both dynamic and static power consumption in all the design levels ranging from the circuit-level to the architecture-level and the algorithm-level. In all these levels performance-power simulation/estimation tools play a very important, even decisive role. This thesis describes in detail our ongoing research work on designing and im-plementing an architecture-level cycle-accurate power-performance simulator for parallel DSP architectures (DSP-PP). The DSP-PP uses the suggested White-box Table-based Total Power Consumption (WTTPC) estimation approach offering both rapid and accurate architectural level power estimation models for proces-sor components with regular structures (such as SRAM arrays) based on tables of power values. This approach offers relatively simple high-accuracy architecture-level power estimation models accounting for both dynamic and static power consumption. The DSP-PP simulator, implemented using C++ and SystemC libraries, simulates an extended version of the ManArray parallel DSP architecture. DSP-PP produces performance data (i.e. number of clock cycles) and power estimates while running executable programs. By varying the configuration of the architecture, the user can rapidly explore the power and performance design space.
Metadata Management for Information Control and Business Success

The concept of metadata common factors affecting data quality data flexibility and responsive to business change active information management metadata entity types introduction to the enterprise metamodel the challenges of information management recognizing the fallacy of software engineering distinguishing between data and information Occam's dilemma - recognizing necessary complexity establishing a common basic metamodel metadata in business managing the metadata the role of metadata in application development and support metadata in data warehousing and business intelligence the role of metadata on the Internet the basics of metamodelling design and management of metadatabases interaction between metamodels.
Handbook of Histopathological Technique

For example, the contribution on cancer by the editor of this collection surveys nearly 600 papers on clinical and experimental aspects of carcinogenesis in about 100 pages. This compresses a remarkable amount of factual information into the space available and yet even finds room to discuss briefly the speculative and all-embracing concepts of the genesis of cancer arising from the work of Weiss and of Green. The article by Gofman on arteriosclerosis and hypertension, on the other hand, devotes 50 pages to the narrow limits of discussing changes in the blood lipids, demonstrable by the ultracentrifugal techniques developed by this author and his collaborators, in relation to statistical considerations of the incidence in coronary arteriosclerosis. No new evidence is presented to show a causal relationship between alterations in serum lipoproteins and coronary disease and there is a somewhat polemic discussion of alternate hypotheses such as that of Duguid. The articles by the pathologists among the contributors, i.e., on the kidney by D. B. Jones, on the anterior pituitary by Agnes Russfield, and on connective tissues by R. M. Wagner, describe the application of the newer staining techniques and histochemical methods to the investigation of disease processes affecting these tissues and attempt the correlation of altered cellular morphology with biochemical changes demonstrated by other methods. The remaining articles are by physicians. The discussion by Ratnoff on three aspects of hepatic failure, cholaemia, ascites, and haemorrhagic phenomena, is selective rather than exhaustive but excellent in its treatment of modern work in this field. The attempt by Mueller and Vilter to formulate the pathogenesis of the various varieties of macrocytic anaemia in terms of blockage of various metabolic pathways for nucleoprotein synthesis is stimulating though as yet premature in the light of deficiencies in present knowledge in this field. The essay on abnormal haemoglobins by Will adds little to the numerous reviews already available on this topic and is already outdated by the discovery of further abnormal haemoglobins and by other recent work on the pathogenesis of hereditary haemolytic anaemias. Most of the articles are well-documented, many listing between one and two hundred references each. While these are, as usual, largely to American sources, British work is not overlooked. Although the price of this volume is somewhat high it will serve as a useful reference source to those actively engaged in research on the topics discussed.
Meta-Heuristics Techniques and Swarm Intelligence in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

The infrastructure-less and the dynamic nature of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) demands new set of networking strategies to be implemented in order to provide efficient end-to-end communication. MANETs employ the traditional TCP/IP structure to provide end-to-end communication between nodes. However, due to their mobility and the limited resource in wireless networks, each layer in the TCP/IP model requires redefinition or modifications to work efficiently in MANETs. One interesting research area in MANETs is routing. Routing is a challenging task and has received huge attention from researches. Due to the adaptive and dynamic nature of these networks, the Swarm Intelligence approach is considered a successful design paradigm to solve the routing problem. Swarm intelligence is a relatively new approach to problem solving that takes inspiration from the social behaviours of insects and of other animals. In particular, the collective behaviour of ants have inspired a number of methods and techniques among which the most studied and the most successful is the general purpose optimization technique known as Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) meta-heuristic. ACO takes inspiration from the foraging behaviour of some ant species. These ants deposit a chemical substance called pheromone on the ground in order to mark some favourable path that should be followed by other members of the colony. This behaviour has led to development of many different ant based routing protocols for MANETs. In this chapter, a description of swarm intelligence approach and ACO meta-heuristic is given, an overview of a wide range of ant based routing protocols in the literature is proposed and finally other applications related to ACO in MANETs and new directions are discussed.
Computation of ontology resemblance coefficients for improving semantic interoperability

In open and dynamic environments, where various heterogeneous agents need to communicate, a shared ontology that explicitly and formally describes the whole domain of interest, or an alignment that provides semantically related entities among distinct ontologies, can be employed. The former case is infeasible, because a unique conceptual view of a domain is not widely accepted. Hence, the case, usually adopted, is the latter, where independently developed heterogeneous ontologies exist. A challenging issue is how an agent, charged with the task of carrying out the alignment, should select a suitable execution of matchers, to establish correspondences between ontology entities, in the fastest and most efficient way. A solution to this challenge is to use metrics for estimating the resemblance of a given pair of ontologies. To this end, we propose two metrics, as similarity coefficients, to estimate the lexical or structural resemblance of a given pair of ontologies.
Distance Feedback Travel Aid Haptic Display Design

This chapter introduces approaches of electronic travel (walking) aid (ETA) interface for visual information deficit and gives discussions on the high integrity design concept under restrictions of visualtactile sensational characteristics in substitution process. Here, we start from the concept formulation of ETA. The concept of ETA human interface is based on the sensory substitution between visual and tactile sensation. If human has lost the visual information caused by some sort of environment interference or physical troubles, this ETA assist the subjects to obstacle avoidance self-walking with transferring some environment information (depth, image, object and so on). Since the first prototype ETA model of TVSS (Tactile Vision Substitution System) in early 1960’s, enormous number of research and commercial instruments are developed with visual sensory substitution. Some of these models are still available in markets with improvements (e.g. sonic torch/guide, MOWAT sensor and so on.). The user with visually impaired using these devices claimed on the difficult understanding at complex environment like in crowds and ‘sensory overload’ in use as complexity of understanding, inhibition to other sensory function.
Towards Cognitive Modeling of Students’ Self-Efficacy

This paper presents a study of a Student Model based on beliefs of Self-Efficacy to improve the effectiveness of Intelligent E-Learning System. The Self-efficacy means the students belief on his capacity of performing a task. This belief affects his behavior, motivation, affectivity and the choices he makes. We design an e-Learning System, called InteliWeb, this environment is composed by the Self-Efficacy Mediator Agent, an animated pedagogical agent and offers instruction material on Biological sciences. We use fuzzy theory for dealing with uncertainty in the assessment of the students and the incomplete knowledge about his Self-Efficacy.
Transistor count and chip-space estimation of simplescalar-based microprocessor model

This paper proposes a chip space and transistor count estimation tool, which receives its input from the baseline architecture and the configuration file of the microarchitecture performance simulator sim-outorder of the SimpleScalar Tool Set. The estimation tool yields a pre-silicon chip space and transistor count estimation and allows to compare different microprocessor configurations with respect to their potential chip space requirements. The estimation method, which is the basis of our tool, is validated by configuration parameters of a real processor yielding a transistor count and a chip space estimation that is very close to the real processor numbers.
Audio-visual imposture

A GMM based audio visual speaker verification system is described and an Active Appearance Model with a linear speaker transformation system is used to evaluate the robustness of the verification. An Active Appearance Model (AAM) is used to automatically locate and track a speaker's face in a video recording. A Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) based classifier (BECARS) is used for face verification. GMM training and testing is accomplished on DCT based extracted features of the detected faces. On the audio side, speech features are extracted and used for speaker verification with the GMM based classifier. Fusion of both audio and video modalities for audio visual speaker verification is compared with face verification and speaker verification systems. To improve the robustness of the multimodal biometric identity verification system, an audio visual imposture system is envisioned. It consists of an automatic voice transformation technique that an impostor may use to assume the identity of an authorized client. Features of the transformed voice are then combined with the corresponding appearance features and fed into the GMM based system BECARS for training. An attempt is made to increase the acceptance rate of the impostor and to analyzing the robustness of the verification system. Experiments are being conducted on the BANCA database, with a prospect of experimenting on the newly developed PDAtabase developed within the scope of the SecurePhone project.
Instructional Design for Teachers: Improving Classroom Practice

1. What is Instructional Design? 2. What is the Instructional Design for Teachers (ID4T) Model? 3. How does this model really work in my classroom? 4. How can we integrate constructivist notions into the ID4T model? 5. How can we integrate user-design into the ID4T model? 6. How can we integrate inquiry learning into the ID4T model? 7. How can we integrate the standards-based curriculum into the ID4T model? 8. Why should I or shouldn't I use the ID4T model?
Translating Agent Perception Computations into Environmental Processes in Multi‐Agent‐Based Simulations: A means for Integrating Graphics Processing Unit Programming within Usual Agent‐Based Simulation Platforms

Multi-agent-based simulations (MABS) relies on modelling the behavior of individual entities and their interactions in a virtual environment. Nowadays, MABS are used for studying various complex systems such as crowds, animal societies, ecosystems, traffic behaviors or the Market. So MABS are experimental research tools that contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms embedded in these complex systems. Still, studying some complex systems may require to consider millions of individuals. In such a case, the computing resources, which are required, represent a major obstacle for MABS end-users. In this respect, general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is a relevant approach for addressing performance and scalability issues. However, GPU programming requires expert skills, which strongly limits both the accessibility and the re-usability of the frameworks developed using GPGPU. This paper presents MABS design guideline, dedicated to the GPU context, which allows the use of the GPU power without sacrificing the accessibility of MABS frameworks.