Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lossy Source Compression of Non‐Uniform Binary Source via Reinforced Belief Propagation over GQ‐LDGM Codes

In this letter, we consider the lossy coding of a non‐uniform binary source based on GF(q)‐quantized low‐density generator matrix (LDGM) codes with check degree dc=2. By quantizing the GF(q) LDGM codeword, a non‐uniform binary codeword can be obtained, which is suitable for direct quantization of the non‐uniform binary source. Encoding is performed by reinforced belief propagation, a variant of belief propagation. Simulation results show that the performance of our method is quite close to the theoretic rate‐distortion bounds. For example, when the GF(16)‐LDGM code with a rate of 0.4 and block‐length of 1,500 is used to compress the non‐uniform binary source with probability of 1 being 0.23, the distortion is 0.091, which is very close to the optimal theoretical value of 0.074.
Interpositional Transfer Function for 3D-Sound Generation*

The interpolation of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) for 3D-sound generation through headphones is addressed. HRTFs, which represent the paths between sound sources and the ears, are usually measured for a finite set of source locations around the listener. Any other virtual position requires interpolation procedures on these measurements. In this work a definition of the interpositional transfer function (IPTF) and an IPTF-based method for HRTF interpolation, recently proposed by the authors, are reviewed in detail. The formulation of the interpolation weights is generalized to cope with azimuth measurement steps which change with elevation. It is shown how to obtain a set of reduced-order IPTFs using tools such as balanced model reduction and spectral smoothing. Detailed comparisons between the accuracy and the efficiency of the IPTF-based and the bilinear interpolation methods (the latter using the HRTFs directly) are provided. A practical set of IPTFs is built and applied to a computationally efficient interpolation scheme, yielding results perceptually similar to those attainable by the bilinear method. Therefore the proposed method is promising for real-time generation of spatial sound.
Lubricated and Non-Lubricated Cone Penetrometer Performance Comparison in Six Soils

ABSTRACT LUBRICATED cone penetrometers were compared with non-lubricated cone penetrometers in the laboratory using six soils with textures ranging from sands to loams. Effects of varying cone angles were studied at three compaction levels and up to four moisture levels. Additionally, cone size effects were evaluated in three soils at three compaction levels and two soil moisture levels. The Cone Index (CI) vs penetration depth was determined for both lubricated and non-lubricated penetrometers for each cone angle and cone size. A concept of stress relaxation was developed and evaluated. Lubricating the cone had a substantial effect on the rate of change of CI with depth. The level of stress relaxation also appeared to be related to the rate of CI change. Results identify several new directions for future research.
Trials to Determine the Effects of the Accidental Ignition of Stacks of Hazard Division 1.2 Ammunition

Abstract : To date, nearly all international effort in the field of accidental explosion consequence determination has been aimed at the quantification of the effects of a Hazard Division (HD) 1.1 event in an explosives storage facility. Until the commencement of the program of work described here, little attention has been paid to the consequences of the ignition of stacks of Hazard Division 1.2 ammunition either in or out of storehouses. In 1989 NATO AC/258 agreed that a program of trials should be carried out to investigate the consequences of an HD 1.2 event with the aim of revising the current NATO quantity-distance relationships and placing them on a firmer footing. The program of trials to investigate the effects of the initiation of 105mm TNT loaded ammunition stacked in the open was commenced in 1991. A report on the results obtained at the time was given at the 25th seminar and interim conclusions were drawn. The program of trials on the TNT loaded ammunition has now been completed and further analysis of the results carried out. The conclusions of the analysis are reported. At the same time, the need was identified to extend the database of effects to examine the consequences of changes in packaging, caliber and type of ammunition, and the explosive fill. The resulting program of trials is described and initial results for the first of these (examining the effects of changing from TNT to Composition B filling in 105mm ammunition) are reported.
Studio-Sustain Urla-Barbaros: a design studio course on sustainability

A series of design studio projects on sustainability and design was initiated in 2017 at İstanbul Bilgi University, Department of Industrial Design. The series aims to lead the students to think, discuss, and get aware of their responsibilities on their decisions, about the environment, living things and resources in design projects. For this purpose, a design studio course encompassing the processes and methods of sustainable design was structured. The topic was the context of a locality in Turkey, outside the campus and within daily life, so the students would directly relate with these responsibilities. Similarly, the structure and project briefs of the studio were determined through a direct interaction with the locals and the local knowledge of the region. Aiming that, and in line with certain methodologies of sustainable design, three visits were made to the site during the semester; the first by the coordinators before the semester started, the second and the third with the students and coordinators, for research and project development phases. The research phase was based on the core topics related to sustainability and the region: built environment, culture, food, energy, waste, and water. During the project development the students focused on one of these topics and built vision scenarios for future on the grounds of the past and present of the village, and proposed system and product designs to facilitate reaching their vision. They shaped their design ideas on the grounds of the local context and shared their projects with stakeholders and the inhabitants.
Partial polarization signature results from the field testing of the SHallow water Real-time IMaging polarimeter (SHRIMP)

Research has shown that essentially all naturally occurring light outdoor's and underwater is partially linearly polarized. The polarized components can be combined to form an image that describes the polarization of the light in the scene. This image is known as the degree of linear polarization image or partial polarization image. Naturally occurring polarization signatures have the potential to provide a diver or an unmanned underwater vehicle with the information necessary to detect, classify, and identify threats such as obstacles or mines in the shallow water environment. The SHallow water Real-time IMaging Polarimeter (SHRIMP) has recently been designed and developed to measure the underwater partial polarization of targets. This camera is a passive, three-channel device that simultaneously measures the three components of the Stokes vector needed to determine the partial linear polarization of the scene. Testing of this sensor has been ongoing. This paper presents the results of the laboratory characterization and performance results from the field testing that quantify the partial polarization signature of targets in the very shallow water and surf zone regions.
Simple sensorless algorithm for interior permanent magnet synchronous motors based on high-frequency voltage injection method

This study presents a simple sensorless algorithm based on the high-frequency signal injection for an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor. The sensorless drive using a square-wave-type injection signal has an enhanced control bandwidth and reduced acoustic noise owing to the reduction of filters and availability of high injection frequency. However, this method still needs discrete filters to extract the fundamental and the injected frequency component currents; so it has a limitation in enhancing the sensorless control performance. Therefore this study proposes a simple algorithm, which eliminates these filters and further simplifies the signal process for estimating the rotor position. As a result, the overall sensorless control can be implemented easily without any filters while providing an enhanced dynamics. Additionally, a detection method of an initial rotor position for start-up by using the same square-wave-type voltage injection is introduced. The experimental result shows that the speed control bandwidth in the sensorless drive simplified by the proposed algorithm becomes very close to the one achieved in sensored drives.
The Roles of Immediacy and Redundancy Relative Subjective Workload Assessment

Subjective workload assessment is one of the most frequently used tools for system evaluation. However, little is known about which factors contribute to the sensitivity, validity, and reliability of subjective workload ratings. One major classification of subjective workload assessment tools is based on relative judgments of the workload of different task conditions. The present research evaluated different approaches to relative subjective workload assessment in terms of their sensitivity to demand manipulations, concurrent validity with performance, and test-retest reliability. Results indicated that performing relative judgments retrospectively after having experienced all task conditions was superior to rating each task condition immediately after performing it. Further, redundant relative comparisons may produce more sensitive ratings than do relative comparisons to a single reference task. Overall, the results support the use of retrospective relative workload judgments as an evaluation tool.
Global Patterns in Spatial Expansion of Dengue Serotype-I in Response to Increasing Surface Temperature

Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection (DENV serotypes 1-4) that imposes a serious health and economic burden in tropical and sub-tropical countries around the world. Increasing atmospheric temperature had changed the dynamics of the mosquito habitats and thereby influences distribution of these mosquito vectors. We examined the increase in the number of countries within the regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas reporting laboratory confirmed dengue cases caused by DENV-1 as a response to increasing global surface temperature difference. Data on the number of countries with confirmed reports of dengue (Messina et al. 2014) and surface temperature difference (General Circulation Model) were subjected to scatter plots and linear regression. There were 113 recorded countries across three regions (America=44, comprising the North and South; Africa=28; and Asia=41) reporting dengue incidence from 1943 to 2013, of which 98 countries (America=41; Africa=20; and Asia=37 with the inclusion of Australia) reported confirmed dengue cases caused by DENV-1. Findings suggest that the effect of temperature to the expansion of dengue varies dramatically in certain groups of country. Here, we explore three patterns (PAT) of expansion response where 1) continuous increase in temperature results into a continuous increase in the number of countries with dengue cases (PAT-A), 2) initial increase in temperature results into increase in the number of countries with dengue cases but subsequent increase in temperature results in the decline of dengue expansion (PAT-B), and 3) initial increase in temperature results into higher rate of dengue expansion but continued increase slows it down (PAT-C). PAT-A represented the majority of these countries, including 10 out of 11 countries in Southeast Asia. These results are in congruence with the past studies that supports dengue expansion to be temperature-dependent.
Lumped-element switchable superconducting filters

A switchable superconducting band-stop filter consisting of a series of LC resonators is described. Each resonator can be switched on or off using a bias current to control the superconducting-to-normal resistance transition. The bandwidth of the filter can thus be varied in steps. In each LC resonator, the magnetic field of the inductor passes through the fingers of the interdigital capacitor, and so a simple model is developed for the combined structure. The LC sections are placed in a coplanar line, but the model can easily be adapted to other types of transmission line. Experimental results are given.
Te rangahau o te tuakiri Māori me ngā waiaro ā-pūtea | The Māori identity and financial attitudes study (mifas) - Background, theoretical orientation and first-wave response rates

How does cultural identity matter for Mäori economic decisionmaking? Te Rangahau o Te Tuakiri Mäori me Ngä Waiaro äPütea | The Mäori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study (MIFAS) aims to address this question. The MIFAS is the first largescale (n = 7,019) nationwide study of Mäori aged 18 and over that aims to correlate personal cultural beliefs and practices to economic choices. This article describes the theoretical underpinnings of the MIFAS in identity economics and explains the process by which we have used Western methods and methodology to explicate the relationship between Mäori identity and economic * Ngäti Porou (Te Whänau o Tüwhakairiora), Ngäti Kahungunu (Ngäti Kere). Associate Professor, Department of Management and International Business, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Email: c.houkamau@auckland.ac. nz † Professor, School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. ‡ Te Aupöuri, Te Rarawa. Associate Professor, Department of Management and International Business, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. TE RANGAHAU O TE TUAKIRI MÄORI ME NGÄ WAIARO Ä-PÜTEA 143 MAI JOURNAL VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2, 2019 activity. It also provides preliminary response rate data and discusses the representativeness of the MIFAS data set in comparison with data gathered by the 2006 and 2013 New Zealand Censuses and Te Kupenga 2013.
Identification of the biomarker roles of miR-106 family for predicting the risk and poor survival of colorectal cancer

Background: Recent studies have extensively investigated the roles of miR-106 in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the associations and molecular mechanism underlying the roles of miR-106 in CRC remain unclear. We aimed to thoroughly investigate the biomarker roles of miR-106 for predicting the risk and survival outcome in CRC.Methods: We first conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate the roles of miR-106 in the diagnosis and prognosis of CRC. Then, we qualitatively explored the biomarker roles of miR-106 in CRC through an integrative bioinformatics analysis. Results: The results indicated that miR-106 yielded a combined AUC of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.76–0.83), with a pooled sensitivity of 0.50 (95% CI: 0.32–0.68) and a pooled specificity of 0.93 (95% CI: 0.79–0.98) for discriminating CRC cases from normal controls. Moreover, patients with higher expression of miR-106 were significantly associated with shorter disease-free survival (HR: 1.73; 95%CI: 1.23-2.44) and overall survival (HR: 1.39; 95%CI: 1.09-1.77). Finally, gene ontology and pathway analysis demonstrated that miR-106 family was highly involved in the initiation and progression of CRC and indicated the potential molecular mechanism for miR-106 in CRC.Conclusions: Our results indicated that miR-106 showed promising potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for CRC. Nevertheless, the underlying molecular mechanism of miR-106 family involved in CRC requires further investigation.
Busier Than Ever!: Why American Families Can't Slow Down

@fmct:Contents @toc1:Part One Busyness @toc2:1. A Journey Through Busyness 3 2. How Are We Busy? 000 3. Why Are We Busy? 000 @toc1:Part Two Coping @toc2:4. The Hidden Work of Thinking Ahead 000 5. Making Manageable Worlds 000 6. When Things Go Wrong 000 @toc1:Part Three Building Buffers @toc2:7. Using Things 000 8. Connecting People 000 9. Remaking Family 000 @toc1:Part Four Continuing Concerns @toc2:10. Why It's So Hard to Say No 000 @toc4: Acknowledgments 000 List of Families 000 Notes 000 Works Cited 000 Index 000
PRODUCTIVITY OF CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus L) AND POST-HARVEST SOIL CHEMICAL PROPERTIES IN RESPONSE TO ORGANIC FERTILIZER TYPES AND RATES IN AN ULTISOLS

Cucumber productivity in Nigeria is low due to low native fertility status of the soil among other factors. This field experiment was conducted in February to June of 2015 and 2016 at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria to evaluate the effects of cattle and poultry manures on the productivity of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) and their post-harvest effect on the chemical properties of the soil. The experiment was in a 2 x 4 split plot arrangement fitted into a randomized complete block design with three replications with the organic fertilizers (cattle and poultry manures) as main treatments the application rates (0, 5, 10 and 15 t ha- 1) as sub plots. Data were collected on growth and yield variables of cucumber. The results revealed that organic fertilizer types had no significant (p>0.05) effect on growth, yield and post-harvest variables except vine girth. The rate of application had significant (p<0.05) effect on growth, yield and post-harvest soil chemical properties. The highest fruit yields were 3.99 and 3.66 t ha-1 observed on plants treated with 15 and 10 t ha-1 of organic fertilizer, respectively. Based on convenience and cost, 10 t ha-1 of poultry manure is thereby recommended for farmers.
Low-complexity ZF precoding method for downlink of massive MIMO system

In massive multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) systems, the downlink zero-forcing (ZF) precoding method needs to compute the pseudoinverse of large matrices, which introduces high computational complexity, especially when the number of antennas is large or infinite. Although, based on Neumann series expansion, several approximation algorithms could reduce the complexity, calculating the optimisation coefficients would cost large amounts of resources and produce large delay. A novel method, also based on Neumann series expansion, is proposed. In this method, the multiplication of full matrices is transformed into multiplication of diagonal matrices by hollow matrices, effectively reducing computational complexity. Meanwhile, consideration of a simple expression of optimisation coefficients so as to avoid large delay is very useful in high-mobility scenarios. Analysis and simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Urban Freeway Traffic Flow Prediction: Application of Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average and Exponential Smoothing Models

The application of seasonal time series models to the single-interval traffic flow forecasting problem for urban freeways is addressed. Seasonal time series approaches have not been used in previous forecasting research. However, time series of traffic flow data are characterized by definite periodic cycles. Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and Winters exponential smoothing models were developed and tested on data sets belonging to two sites: Telegraph Road and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the inner and outer loops of the Capital Beltway in northern Virginia. Data were 15-min flow rates and were the same as used in prior forecasting research by B. Smith. Direct comparisons with the Smith report findings were made and it was found that ARIMA (2, 0, 1)(0, 1, 1)96 and ARIMA (1, 0, 1)(0, 1, 1)96 were the best-fit models for the Telegraph Road and Wilson Bridge sites, respectively. Best-fit Winters exponential smoothing models were also developed for each site. The single-step forecasting results indicate that seasonal ARIMA models outperform the nearest-neighbor, neural network, and historical average models as reported by Smith.
A Set of Creep Curves from a Single Test using a Tapered Specimen

The use of a tapered form of specimen for creep testingi s described. Strains are measured on a series of short gauge lengths, enabling a family of isothermal creep curves at different stresses to be obtained from a single test. The measurement of strain is by the replica method, but other methods are not necessarily excluded.Testing of tapered specimens makes possible a considerable saving in the aggregate time and material necessary to establish a set of creep curves, with little sacrifice of accuracy. Data are presented for the aluminium alloy DTD 5070A, and results from tapered specimens compare favourably with creep curves obtained in conventional tests.
"negative interference" between Australian construction professionals' work and family roles: Evidence of an asymmetrical relationship

Purpose – The paper sets out to describe the testing of a model of work and family life among a sample of professional and managerial employees in the Australian construction industry. The model positioned work‐family conflict as a variable linking experiences in one domain (i.e. work or family) with outcomes in the other domain.Design/methodology/approach – A survey exploring experiences of work and family life was conducted among employees of one large private and one large public sector construction organization in Queensland, Australia. Regression analyses were performed to test the validity of the work‐family interface model.Findings – The model was partially supported in that time and strain‐based demands in the work domain were linked to family functioning via work interference with family. However, time and strain‐based demands in the family domain were not linked to work role outcomes via family interference with work.Research limitations/implications – The survey was cross‐sectional so the causa.
Three-Phase Step Voltage Regulator Model for the Z-Bus Power Flow

This letter presents a comprehensive Step Voltage Regulator (SVR) model suitable for the three-phase ZBUS power flow. The model can be applied in all SVR configurations such as open delta, close delta, wye. Its advantage is that the tap variations are simulated outside the YBUS matrix, without compromising the convergence of the power flow. Therefore, a refactorization of the YBUS matrix is not required after every tap change reducing significantly the computation time of the power flow. The proposed SVR model is validated in a 4-Bus network, while its performance is tested in the IEEE 8500-Node test feeder.
What Is Strategy and Does It Matter

In his introduction to this book on corporate strategy, Richard Whittington makes the point that the great number of published books on strategic management all cover much the same ground and present similar recipes for success, and few indulge in self-questioning. If it was really as easy as that, managers would only need to read a few books in order to ensure they never make mistakes. Reality, however, is that in the world of business many of the most well-accepted models of strategic action have met with spectacular failure. "What is Strategy - and Does it Matter? " identifies four basic "theories of action" in strategy: the classical planning approach; the efficiency-driven evolutionary approach; the craft-like processural approach; and the internationally-sensitive, systemic approach.