Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Artificial Neural Network Based Model for Forecasting Sugar Cane Production

Problem statement: The global need for alternative energy source has n ecessitated the exploration of vast organic agricultural products w ith a view of processing them for the production of ethanol in commercial quantity. To ascertain a sust ainable production of ethanol from processed sugar cane, a predictive model based on non-linearity nat ure of its production is imperative. This is due to unavailability of sufficient reliable data and the wide yield fluctuation that was not well dispersed over time. Approach: This study employed heuristic technique to develop an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model to forecast sugar cane production in Nigeria. The input data set used includes the socio- economic and agro-climatic factors affecting sugar cane production while the output is the actual suga r cane output for the period covering 1920-2005. Vari ous hidden layers and processing elements were tested giving rise to different Artificial Neural N etwork (ANN) models. The performance of the ANN models were measured using the Mean Squared Error (MSE), Normalized Mean Squared Error (NMSE), correlation coefficient (r), Akaike's Infor mation Criterion (AIC) and Minimum Description Length (MDL). The contributions of the inputs to th e outputs were determined to know how variation of the input variables affected the output. Results: The 85.70% accuracy result of the best ANN model of 2-hidden layer network of 4 Processing Ele ments (PEs) indicated the efficacy of Artificial Neural Network in accurate prediction. Conclusion: The developed ANN based model fits well real data and can be used for predicting purpose with a high accuracy.
Generating Natural Language Descriptions With Integrated Text and Examples

Good documentation is critical for user acceptance of any system. Advances in areas such as knowledge-based systems, text generation and multi-media have now made it possible to investigate the automatic generation of documentation from the underlying knowledge bases. Empirical studies have shown that examples can greatly increase the effectiveness of system documentation. However, studies also show that badly integrated text and examples can be actually detrimental compared to using either text or examples alone. It is thus clear that in order to provide useful documentation automatically, a system must be capable of providing well-integrated examples to illustrate its points. This thesis builds upon previous work in natural language generation, example generation, cognitive and educational psychology to identify relevant issues in the generation of coherent descriptions that integrate text and examples. We identify how text and examples co-constrain each other and show that a system must consider example generation as an integral part of the generation process. We describe an implementation, and present an initial evaluation of the system's effectiveness. (Copies available exclusively from Micrographics Department, Doheny Library, USC, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0182.)
Source-channel coding for digital magnetic recording

The authors explore the possibility of dedicating a disk to store the binary representation of analog data samples and using source-channel codes both to compress the data and to protect it from the increased error rate that results from higher bit density. To determine what gains are possible using this approach, a system was simulated consisting of an IID Gaussian data source, a tree structured vector quantizer for source-channel coding, a channel model similar to that of C.A. French and J.K. Wolf (1988), and two kinds of detector/demodulators. For IID Gaussian data, for which only modest compression is possible, it was found that gains on the order of three to four in data density were achievable with this approach. <<ETX>>
Energy management in a parallel hybrid electric vehicle with a continuously variable transmission

This paper describes a control strategy for the energy management of a post-transmission parallel hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Results are presented highlighting the dynamic behavior of the model, as well as the fuel consumption normalized to a base case. A dynamic, forward simulation of a complete compact class vehicle including driver model and computer controller was written in Matlab/Simulink. The modeled vehicle components include: internal combustion engine, engine clutch, CVT, electric motor, lead-acid battery, vehicle driveline, hydraulic brakes, and the vehicle and tire dynamics.
A large-scale distributed decision-making procedure for a single-machine scheduling problem

This paper presents a distributed scheduling procedure for a large-scale single-machine problem with precedence constraints, and identifies phenomena using large-scale distributed decision-making for a decomposable and distributed situation. The approach proposed exhibits efficient computational performance over a large-sized work load (23,000 jobs and 2,209,536 precedence constraints) in a distributed computing environment. We highlight three findings: (1) the communication burden originating from the large-scale problem can lead to performance loss while distributed agents collaborate to solve the problem, but after a threshold the computational gain by distribution offsets the loss; (2) when the problem size is sufficiently large, the real computation gain outperforms the expected gain by the number of agents (super-linear effect); and (3) when the number of precedence constraints of each agent differs, the slowest agent processing the largest number of precedence constraints restrains the computational performance (load imbalance). We believe that our research is the first distributed decision-making model that meets the requirements of distributed information, distributed decision authority, and distributed computation in a large-scale single-machine scheduling situation with precedence constraints.
XLR: A Free Excel Add-In for Introductory Business Statistics

XLR is an Excel add-in that unifies the user friendly, widely popular interface of Excel with the powerful and robust computational capability of the GNU statistical and graphical language R. The add-in attempts to address the American Statistical Association’s comment that “Generic packages such as Excel are not sufficient even for the teaching of statistics, let alone for research and consulting. ” R is the program of choice for researchers in statistical methodology that is freely available under the Free Software Foundation’s GNU General Public License (GPL) Agreement. By wedding the interactive mode of Excel with the power of statistical computing of R, XLR provides a solution to the problem of numerical inaccuracy of using Excel and its various internal statistical functions and procedures by harnessing the computational power of R. XLR will be distributed under the GNU GPL Agreement. The GPL puts students, instructors and researchers in control of their usage of the software by providing them with the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software, thus, freeing them from the bondage of proprietary software. The creation of XLR will not only have a significant impact on the teaching of an Introductory Business Statistics course by providing a free alternative to the commercial proprietary software but also provide researchers in all disciplines who require sophisticated and cutting edge statistical and graphical procedures with a user-friendly interactive data analysis tool when the current set of available commands is expanded to include more advance procedures.
Wikipedia for academic publishing: advantages and challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of Wikipedia as a venue for academic publishing.Design/methodology/approach – By looking at other sources and studying Wikipedia structures, the paper compares the processes of publishing a peer‐reviewed article in Wikipedia and the open access journal model, discusses the advantages and challenges of adopting Wikipedia in academic publishing, and provides suggestions on how to address the challenges.Findings – Compared to an open access journal model, Wikipedia has several advantages for academic publishing: it is less expensive, quicker, more widely read, and offers a wider variety of articles. There are also several major challenges in adopting Wikipedia in the academic community: the web site structure is not well suited to academic publications; the site is not integrated with common academic search engines such as Google Scholar or with university libraries; and there are concerns among some members of the academic community about the s.
A new method of NIR face recognition using kernel projection DCV and neural networks

A new face recognition system was proposed, which used active near infrared imaging system (ANIRIS) as face images acquisition equipment, used kernel discriminative common vector (KDCV) as the feature extraction algorithm and used neural network as the recognition method. The ANIRIS was established by 40 NIR LEDs which used as active light source and a HWB800-IR-80 near infrared filter which used together with CCD camera to serve as the imaging detector. Its function of reducing the influence of varying illuminations to recognition rate was discussed. The KDCV feature extraction and neural network recognition parts were realized by Matlab programming. The experiments on HITSZ Lab2 face database and self-built face database show that the average recognition rate reached more than 95%, proving the effectiveness of proposed system.
Electrosorption of iodide on platinum: packing density and potential-dependent distributional changes observed in situ with x-ray standing waves

We describe the X-ray standing wave technique for directly measuring, in situ, the ionic concentration profile at an electrode/electrolyte interface on the angstrom scale. An X-ray standing wave is generated whenever coherently related incident and reflected X-ray plane waves interfere. In this study, we use X-ray standing waves generated during Bragg reflection from a platinum/carbon layered synthetic microstructure to investigate the electrosorption of iodide on platinum
Calibration/validation of ERS-1 scatterometer precision products

As a result of tests performed since ERS-1 launch, the scatterometer archive was reprocessed using improved algorithms at "Centre ERS d'Archivage et de Traitement" located in the "Institut Francais de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la MER". A model function based upon buoy and model wind data was developed and the Normalized Radar Cross Section (NRCS) observations are shown to fit well with this model function. Scatterometer winds are in good agreement with winds measured on NOAA buoys. Mean standard deviation is of the order of 1.2 m/s for wind speed and 15 degrees for wind direction with no biases. However, some limitations affect the data accuracy: (1) insufficient anisotropy of NRCS's at low incidence angles and low wind speeds results in an increase in the wind direction standard deviations for these conditions, (2) the same underestimation of very high wind speeds (above 20 m/s) as with the Seasat scatterometer is observed and causes are being analysed, (3) effects of the lack of correction for stratification and sea-state on the 10 m neutral wind vector estimate when inversing the scatterometer signals is shown by comparison with NOAA buoy data. Differences with the real-time data provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) are discussed in terms of wind accuracy and in terms of quality control, especially concerning dealiasing skill and sea-ice detection. <<ETX>>
High speed signal processing, pipelining, and VLSI

In this paper we discuss issues arising in the design of highly pipelined VLSI circuits for high-speed signal processing applications. Problems such as clock skew, buffer design, clock distribution network, and timing simulation are addressed, and methods of alleviating them are presented. The impact of technology on the degree of pipelining is discussed. Some design examples, including an 8-bit systolic multiplier fabricated in 2.5 micron CMOS technology and tested up to 70 MHz multiplication rate, are presented. The extension of this design to a systolic multiply-add/accumulate chip and its applications are briefly discussed.
Talking to Ourselves: Internal Communication Strategies for Reference Services

At many academic libraries, spiral notebooks and three ring binders have given way to blogs and wikis as a means of facilitating communication at the reference desk. Western Kentucky University Libraries opted instead to create a custom internal website to log reference transactions, highlight current issues, and manage scheduling changes. This solution incorporated numerous platforms and technologies, including LibGuides, Facebook, and Google Calendar. It avoided some of the pitfalls described in the literature, such as relying too heavily on user-generated content, and has been successful largely because it is embedded in the reference workspace and contains features that librarians will use on a daily basis.
Explicit Transition Modelling for Automatic Singing Transcription

Abstract We present a system for the automatic transcription of solo human singing into note sequences. Particular attention is devoted to the modelling of the transitions between consecutive notes of the sung passage. Hidden Markov models (HMMs) are used to represent both individual notes and the transitions between them, in order to capture the variability of the estimated pitch within a statistical framework. A database consisting of annotated passages sung by 26 soprano subjects is compiled and used for the development of the system. Explicit transition models are introduced in order to better identify note boundaries that are otherwise poorly modelled. Context-independent transition models are evaluated first, followed by context-dependent transition models which are shown to improve both the note recognition accuracy and the transition region time-alignment. The final system is found to be able to transcribe sung passages with an overall accuracy of 86.7%.
Depth image‐based rendering for multiview generation

Abstract— Techniques for 3‐D display have evolved from stereoscopic 3‐D systems to multiview 3‐D systems, which provide images corresponding to different viewpoints. Currently, new technology is required for application in multiview display systems that use input‐source formats such as 2‐D images to generate virtual‐view images of multiple viewpoints. Due to the changes in viewpoints, occlusion regions of the original image become disoccluded, resulting in problems related to the restoration of output image information that is not contained in the input image. In this paper, a method for generating multiview images through a two‐step process is proposed: (1) depth‐map refinement and (2) disoccluded‐area estimation and restoration. The first step, depth‐map processing, removes depth‐map noise, compensates for mismatches between RGB and depth, and preserves the boundaries and object shapes. The second step, disoccluded‐area estimation and restoration, predicts the disoccluded area by using disparity and restores information about the area by using information about neighboring frames that are most similar to the occlusion area. Finally, multiview rendering generates virtual‐view images by using a directional rendering algorithm with boundary blending.
From Log Files to Assessment Metrics: Measuring Students' Science Inquiry Skills Using Educational Data Mining

We present a method for assessing science inquiry performance, specifically for the inquiry skill of designing and conducting experiments, using educational data mining on students' log data from online microworlds in the Inq-ITS system (Inquiry Intelligent Tutoring System; www.inq-its.org). In our approach, we use a 2-step process: First we use text replay tagging, a type of rapid protocol analysis in which categories are developed and, in turn, used to hand-score students' log data. In the second step, educational data mining is conducted using a combination of the text replay data and machine-distilled features of student interactions in order to produce an automated means of assessing the inquiry skill in question; this is referred to as a detector. Once this detector is appropriately validated, it can be applied to students' log files for auto-assessment and, in the future, to drive scaffolding in real time. Furthermore, we present evidence that this detector developed in 1 scientific domain, phase change, can be used—with no modification or retraining—to effectively detect science inquiry skill in another scientific domain, density.
Research and Application of Collaborative Modeling for Prefecture-County Integrated System Based on Workflow Engine

In order to implement the information flow and verification process in collaborative modeling for prefecture-county integrated system based on workflow, the workflow engine is embedded in the system. On the base of the Workflow Management Coalition Specification and Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), the paper describes the way to implement the workflow engine, interface service between the engine and CORBA middleware, and the automation of the verification process in the prefecture-county integrated system.
A new algorithm for estimating mobile speed at the TDMA-based cellular system

This paper presents a study on the technique of estimating mobile speed in the TDMA-based GSM network. Two algorithms are proposed. They estimate the mobile speed based on the variation of the received signal envelope cross each burst due to fast fading. Hence they are suitable for both FH (frequency hopping) and non-FH cases. Computer simulations have been done to evaluate the performance by using these two algorithms.
Topological analysis of networks composed of multiple satellites

A method of evaluating the topological quality of a multiple node satellite communication network is presented. The criteria for evaluation are network survivability and throughput. Nodal connectivity is used to characterize survivability, and mean path length is used to characterize throughput. The effects of nodal losses in a network consisting of a Walker low-orbit sphere and a geosynchronous constellation are examined. It is shown that the nodal degree of the failed node, and the distribution of links between the Walker sphere and the geosynchronous constellation, are the fundamental determinants of mean path length. <<ETX>>
Design of the Recognition and Decoding System of PDF417 Barcode Based on LabVIEW

The symbol structure of PDF417 barcode was introduced in detail, and a recognition and decoding system of PDF417 barcode based on software development platform of the LabVIEW virtual instrument was designed and implemented. The system can process and analyze the images containing PDF417 barcode collected by camera in real time, achieve the fast and omnibearing decoding of the barcode.
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL TEST COLLECTIONS

Many retrieval experiments have been based on inadequate test collections, and current research is hampered by the lack of proper collections. This short review does not attempt a fully documented survey of all the collections used in the past decade: hopefully representative examples have been studied to throw light on the requirements test collections should meet, to show how past collections have been defective, and to suggest guidelines for a future ‘ideal’ test collection. The specifications for this collection can be taken as an indirect comment on our present state of knowledge of major retrieval system variables, and experience in conducting experiments.
Simple Image Processing Algorithms for Robot Navigation in Unknown Environment

This article deals with simple image processing algorithms which are used for navigation of the robot in unknown environment. In the beginning of the article image processing procedures used in these algorithms are defined. The transformation of coordinate system of camera to robot’s coordinate system is introduced. The main body of the article consists of the definition of L-K optical flow method used in proposed visual odometry system. Article also contains the parameter settings of the used methods. Emphasis in these algorithms has been placed on simplicity and speed, so that they can be carried out in real-time. Algorithms have been verified on several scenarios.
Traffic signs localisation for highways inventory from a video camera on board a moving collection van

The work presented is part of a CEC funded R&D Esprit project called AUTOCAT (Automatic Collection of road Attributes). The aim of the project was to demonstrate the automatic detection and localisation of traffic signs along the roads, in order to trigger the selective acquisition of a high resolution digital picture for sign inventory purpose. A Kalman tracker has been implemented to localise the signs (in 3D) from their apparent motion within the field of view of a wide angle camera, taking into account the camera motion. The whole image processing chain has been tuned on synthetic road-scene image sequences of a custom virtual circuit then validated in the field on the real vehicle demonstrator using the motion information of the embedded inertial navigation system. The results obtained show the successful coupling of an inertial navigation system, providing an accurate camera motion information, with a real time image processing system performing multi-target detection and tracking. It is shown how this application takes advantage of the Kalman filter implementation as an optimal estimator in the case of a moving camera analysing a static scene.
Designing robots in the wild

As robots move into everyday environments, we need to understand both the social and the technical constraints and affordances for human-robot interaction. We use in situ evaluation of partially functioning prototypes to inform the design of robotic technologies that fit their intended contexts of use and illustrate this method through a case study of iteratively designing a desktop robot for break management in a computerized office. After an initial exploratory study of the office as context of use, we used comparative semi-controlled evaluations of multiple design alternatives to explore how different robot characteristics, specifically embodiment and social interactivity, are perceived by users and affect their break taking. We found evaluating simple prototypes with varying levels of functionality, even when not robust or "complete," provides opportunities for including users in the design process and for identifying emergent factors that impact robot use. Our case study provides insights into the challenges and best practices for performing iterative prototyping and in situ evaluations of robots, which can inform future development of contextually appropriate robotic technologies.
The Flexible Pointer: An Interaction Technique for Selection in Augmented and Virtual Reality

We present a virtual flexible pointer that allows a user in a 3D environment to point more easily to fully or partially obscured objects, and to indicate objects to other users more clearly. The flexible pointer can also reduce the need for disambiguation and can make it possible for the user to point to more objects than currently possible with existing egocentric techniques.