Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trace: tactor reach access and constraint environment

A virtual environment experience of a confined space is usually visually and not physically satisfying. Movement provides excellent visual impressions of the virtual space's shape. But for more precise understanding of the limitations of the virtual world, then visual feedback through the moving eye and disembodied hand are no longer sufficiently adequate paradigms for virtual equivalents of physical presence. What is missing is a more physical sense of the confinement and constraint of the virtual environment. This work addresses these two crucial missing dimensions in interactive immersive environments: confinement and constraint. To address confinement, a partial body suit of tactors provides localized cutaneous vibratory feedback to the user's right arm on areas of collision with the virtual environment. To address constraint, the tactor's haptic feedback is linked to a real-time human figure model. A tactor activates when the corresponding body area collides with the constraint. During movement, the users endeavor to minimize or eliminate tactor sensation. The system includes the tactor hardware and controller, a tactor-based partial body suit, and a computer application interface for tactile feedback during virtual confined space accessibility simulations. The system detects body-to-environment collisions, activates the affected tactors, and drives a real-time display including the scene, the user's avatar, and visual collision feedback. Collision depth is mapped to two discrete tactor frequencies to give the user a better sense of collision severity. The hypothesis is that tactile feedback to body areas provides sufficient guidance to the wearer that the existence and physical realism of access paths and body configurations may be ascertained. The evaluation methodology includes performance measures such as time to complete tasks and number of collisions with the virtual scene. In this dissertation, we present the design and implementation of this system, as well as a series of human subject experiments that validate its empirical performance. The experiments include confined space accessibility studies and skill acquisition exercises. The results clearly show that the use of full arm tactile feedback increases performance in navigating the virtual environment.
Pharmacokinetic analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MR breast images

DCE-MR breast imaging is becoming an important modality as a problem-solving tool and in screening of high-risk patients. In DCE-MR a T1-weighted time series is recorded during the uptake of a contrast agent (CA: Gd-DTPA) that enables the assessment of voxel-specific dynamic tissue properties. Tumor malignancy often goes hand in hand with high vascularity and high vessel wall permeability because of angiogenesis; i.e. a large number of new vessels is formed at such a rate that their walls are not properly constructed and therefore highly permeable. These ‘malignant’ tissue characteristics affect the shape of the CA-uptake curve. The goal is to investigate the use of a pharmacokinetic twocompartment model (extended Kety [1]) in the context of dynamic analysis of CA-uptake curves as a contribution to automatic detection and characterization of breast cancer.
The Power of Incumbency: Abdul Gani Kasuba’s Strategy to Win the Voice of the Makean Ethnic Group in South Halmahera in the 2018 Noth Maluku Governor Election

Sociological factors that base ethnic identity in each political context in the region, elections for governors, mayors, and regents have always been vital in political struggles at the electoral level. Likewise, in the political tradition in North Maluku Province, the ethnic sentiment is an instrument used to get electoral support. In the 2018 gubernatorial election in Kayoa District South Halmahera, ethnic instrumentation did not work because the incumbent Governor, who had a Tobelo-Galela ethnic background, managed to win votes. The Makean-Kayoa ethnic group surpassed the other candidates with the Makean-Kayoa ethnic background. Thus, the research question is how the incumbent Governor's political strategy won the Makean ethnic group's vote. This study uses qualitative methods, with data collection techniques through in-depth interviews by interviewers to respondents. The result found; Strategic Program Campaign, Utilizing AGK Popularity as Ulama, Party Machine Power, and Politics of the Kasuba Clan.
An Implementation of The Scalable and Correct Time-Stamped Stack

Many concurrent data structures impose real time ordering over their elements. This is needed only if the insertions modifying the data structure ran sequentially. A new approach using time stamps was proposed to avoid unneeded ordering. Our implementation is based on that time-stamped (TS) stack. Concurrent insertions can be left unordered and then ordered as necessary at removal. Because of this weak ordering, using linearizability to establish correctness is not possible. The original paper presents a new approach to proving correctness for the TS stack. This proof technique is a new, generic proof for correctness on concurrent data structures. In this paper, we highlight our general approach to re-implementing the Time-Stamped stack, discuss our modifications made to to the stack, give an overview of our implementation of a stack using software transactional memory, and analyze comparative performance graphs based on our experimental data.
A Study of Sewer Layout to Control a Outflow in Sewer Pipes

Most developed models are designed to determine pipe diameter, slope and overall layout in order to minimize the cost for the design rainfall for the optimal sewer layout. However, these models are not capable of considering the superposition effect of runoff hydrographs in the sewer pipes. The flow characteristics in the sewer pipes, such as the sewer layout, pipe diameter and slope, vary according to the design of the sewer system. In particular, when the sewer network is modified, the shapes of the runoff hydrographs in the sewer pipes also change because of the superposition effect. In this study, the sewer layout is designed to control and distribute the flows in the sewer pipes, while considering the runoff superposition effect, in order to reduce the inundation risk at each junction. This is accomplished by separating the inflows that enter into each junction by changing the way in which pipes are connected between junctions. And this model combines SWMM (Storm Water Management Model) to perform the hydraulic analysis for the flows in the sewer network. The current sewer layout was modified to minimize the peak outflow at outlet in Garak basin, Seoul, South Korea. As the results, the peak outflows at the outlet were decreased by approximately 20% for the design rainfall during 30 minutes and the total overflows were also decreased for the excessive rainfalls.
Perspectives of Musical Corpus Studies: The Annotated Mozart Sonatas

This paper discusses the potential of musical corpus studies, taking research on common-practice tonal harmony as a case in point. Based on a brief depiction of a project carried out at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and two novel datasets of harmonic analyses of music in the classical style, we elaborate on research questions, applications, and the need of extending the annotation standard used.
Lq-Estimates for stationary Stokes system with coefficients measurable in one direction

We study the stationary Stokes system with variable coefficients in the whole space, a half space, and on bounded Lipschitz domains. In the whole and half spaces, we obtain a priori [Formula: see text]-estimates for any [Formula: see text] when the coefficients are merely measurable functions in one fixed direction. For the system on bounded Lipschitz domains with a small Lipschitz constant, we obtain a [Formula: see text]-estimate and prove the solvability for any [Formula: see text] when the coefficients are merely measurable functions in one direction and have locally small mean oscillations in the orthogonal directions in each small ball, where the direction is allowed to depend on the ball.
Bandwidth efficient coding: Theoretical limits and real achievements. Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

In his seminal 1948 paper 'The Mathematical Theory of Communication,' Claude E. Shannon derived the 'channel coding theorem' which has an explicit upper bound, called the channel capacity, on the rate at which 'information' could be transmitted reliably on a given communication channel. Shannon's result was an existence theorem and did not give specific codes to achieve the bound. Some skeptics have claimed that the dramatic performance improvements predicted by Shannon are not achievable in practice. The advances made in the area of coded modulation in the past decade have made communications engineers optimistic about the possibility of achieving or at least coming close to channel capacity. Here we consider the possibility in the light of current research results.
Design Issues and Experiences with BRIMON Railway BRIdge MONitoring Project

An attachment for a fishing line which comprises an elongated sinker having an end section with line grippers for locking onto a fishing line and a pair of eyes for holding the fishing line in proper position. The interior of the sinker contains a groove which holds the fishing line in the center of the sinker and a pair of line gripping members located on the end of the sinker coact with the body of the sinker to firmly hold the line in the sinker. A line organizer forms part of the eye and prevents the opening in the end of the sinker from being closed during the tumbling action that sinkers encounter prior to use. The sinker body can be mounted on the fishing line so the sinker body remains symmetrical with respect to the fishing line to thereby produce a weedless sinker that maintains its alignment with the fishing line.
Multi-bit NAND Flash memories for ultra high density storage devices

Abstract: This chapter is about NAND Flash memories, which have outpaced DRAMs in the technology scaling race. The first part of this work is devoted to the basics of this technology, including array architectures and operations (read, program and erase). Multi-bit per cell approaches (MLC and TLC) are also described, because they strongly drive the price reduction at the cost of reduced reliability. Lastly, the new 3D approach is introduced: the industry is still in a development phase, and here we present a summary of the pros and cons of the most promising candidates.
Augmented Reality Mentor for Training Maintenance Procedures: Interim Assessment

Abstract : The Augmented Reality Mentor is a 2-yr advanced development effort seeking to demonstrate the training potential of integrating visual augmented reality (AR) with virtual personal assistant (VPA) technology. The training demonstration venue is basic maintenance training for the Army's Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV). This report is a high level assessment of the AR Mentor's potential as of the end of the first year of effort. BFV maintenance students, BFV instructors, and non-BFV mechanics felt that, relative to using the technical manual to guide training, the AR mentor presented less of a mental load. Relative to instructor training, novice maintenance students using AR Mentor showed equivalent levels of errors and help-seeking, and significantly lower levels of instructor intervention. Observations indicated AR Mentor students engaged in greater collaborative problem solving than in other learning conditions. Accuracy of voice recognition and relevance of instruction from the VPA was judged adequate. AR Mentor is a wearable technology; users indicated that at times its form and fit somewhat hindered their movement. The AR Mentor assessment results will inform continued development during the second year of the project.
Radiomics Analysis of Iodine-Based Material Decomposition Images With Dual-Energy Computed Tomography Imaging for Preoperatively Predicting Microsatellite Instability Status in Colorectal Cancer

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of radiomics analysis of iodine-based material decomposition (MD) images with dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) imaging for preoperatively predicting microsatellite instability (MSI) status in colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: This study included 102 CRC patients proved by postoperative pathology, and their MSI status was confirmed by immunohistochemistry staining. All patients underwent preoperative DECT imaging scanned on either a Revolution CT or Discovery CT 750HD scanner, and the iodine-based MD images in the venous phase were reconstructed. The clinical, CT-reported, and radiomics features were obtained and analyzed. Data from the Revolution CT scanner were used to establish a radiomics model to predict MSI status (70% samples were randomly selected as the training set, and the remaining samples were used to validate); and data from the Discovery CT 750HD scanner were used to test the radiomics model. The stable radiomics features with both inter-user and intra-user stability were selected for the next analysis. The feature dimension reduction was performed by using Student's t-test or Mann–Whitney U-test, Spearman's rank correlation test, min–max standardization, one-hot encoding, and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator selection method. The multiparameter logistic regression model was established to predict MSI status. The model performances were evaluated: The discrimination performance was accessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis; the calibration performance was tested by calibration curve accompanied by Hosmer–Lemeshow test; the clinical utility was assessed by decision curve analysis. Results: Nine top-ranked features were finally selected to construct the radiomics model. In the training set, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.961 (accuracy: 0.875; sensitivity: 1.000; specificity: 0.812); in the validation set, the AUC was 0.918 (accuracy: 0.875; sensitivity: 0.875; specificity: 0.857). In the testing set, the diagnostic performance was slightly lower with AUC of 0.875 (accuracy: 0.788; sensitivity: 0.909; specificity: 0.727). A nomogram based on clinical factors and radiomics score was generated via the proposed logistic regression model. Good calibration and clinical utility were observed using the calibration and decision curve analyses, respectively. Conclusion: Radiomics analysis of iodine-based MD images with DECT imaging holds great potential to predict MSI status in CRC patients.
A case study of stride frequency and swing time in elite able-bodied sprint running: implications for amputee debate

Recent research into trans-tibial double-amputee sprint performance has debated the possible inherent advantages, disadvantages and limitations to sprinting with prosthetic limbs compared to healthy limbs. Biomechanical data gathered throughout a training season from an elite able-bodied sprinter provide a new perspective on this debate. Peak stride frequency was measured at 2.62 Hz, and the corresponding swing time was estimated to be 0.287 s in the able-bodied sprinter. Published swing time and stride frequency values from the double-amputee at maximum velocity, thought to be beyond biological limits, therefore may not be so, although previously published research has provided evidence that some joint kinetic values from the double-amputee have not been shown in elite able-bodied sprinting.
Land Application of Waste Materials from Dredging, Construction, and Demolition Processes.

Abstract : This paper presents the text of a manuscript to be published as a chapter in a monograph of the symposium entitled 'Land Application of Waste Materials,' sponsored by the Soil Conservation Society of Ameria. The paper is divided into two sections: waste materials generated by the dredging process and by the construction and demolition processes. Quantities and the general physical and chemical characteristics of the waste materials for each process are described. The potential use of these materials for land application for agricultural production is discussed as well as other potential uses such as land improvement, wildlife habitat development, recreational facilities, and industrial and residential landfill. The environmental impact of using these materials is described with emphasis on the legal restrictions as well as the social and psychological concerns to be considered. Certain dredged material will no doubt be beneficial to specific land application sites. However, all dredged material will not be suitable for land application. The dilemma to be reconciled is to determine which dredge material and application sites are environmentally compatible. Information is being generated through the Dredged Material Research Program, under the direction of the U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Miss. This information coupled with sound scientific management should achieve productive uses of dredged material that are technically satisfactory, environmentally compatible, and economically feasible. (Author)
Incentives Build Robustness in Bit-Torrent

The BitTorrent file distribution system uses tit-fortat as a method of seeking pareto efficiency. It achieves a higher level of robustness and resource utilization than any currently known cooperative technique. We explain what BitTorrent does, and how economic methods are used to achieve that goal. 1 What BitTorrent Does When a file is made available using HTTP, all upload cost is placed on the hosting machine. With BitTorrent, when multiple people are downloading the same file at the same time, they upload pieces of the file to each other. This redistributes the cost of upload to downloaders, (where it is often not even metered), thus making hosting a file with a potentially unlimited number of downloaders affordable. Researchers have attempted to find practical techniqes to do this before[3]. It has not been previously deployed on a large scale because the logistical and robustness problems are quite difficult. Simply figuring out which peers have what parts of the file and where they should be sent is difficult to do without incurring a huge overhead. In addition, real deployments experience very high churn rates. Peers rarely connect for more than a few hours, and frequently for only a few minutes [4]. Finally, there is a general problem of fairness [1]. The total download rate across all downloaders must, of mathematical necessity, be equal to the total upload rate. The strategy for allocating upload which seems most likely to make peers happy with their download rates is to make each peer’s download rate be proportional to their upload rate. In practice it’s very difficult to keep peer download rates from sometimes dropping to zero by chance, much less make upload and download rates be correlated. We will explain how BitTorrent solves all of these problems well. 1.1 BitTorrent Interface BitTorrent’s interface is almost the simplest possible. Users launch it by clicking on a hyperlink to the file they wish to download, and are given a standard “Save As” dialog, followed by a download progress dialog which is mostly notable for having an upload rate in addition to a download rate. This extreme ease of use has contributed greatly to BitTorrent’s adoption, and may even be more important than, although it certainly complements, the performance and cost redistribution features which are described in this paper.
The Impacts for Upward Bound: Final Report for Phase I of the National Evaluation

Focuses on Upward Bound's effects on students during high school and the first few years of college, finding limited impacts during high school on students as a whole, but larger impacts on some groups, notably those with lower educational expectations going into the program, those with poorer academic performance as high school freshmen, and those who remain in the program for at least two years.
Application of cyclostationary signal selectivity to the Carry-on Multi-platform GPS Assisted Time Difference of Arrival System

Abstract : Traditional methods of time difference of arrival (TDOA) determination suffer significantly in environments fraught with co-channel interference and low signal to noise ratios. Cyclostationary signal processing techniques offer solutions to the shortcomings of the traditional TDOA methods. Specifically, the Spectral Coherence Alignment (SPECCOA) method of TDOA determination, developed by the Mission Research Corp. and Statistical Signal Processing Inc., performs exceptionally in very poor signal to noise ratio environments. The Applied Research Lab at the University of Texas at Austin (ARL:UT) has developed a prototype TDOA system, the Carry-on Multi-platform GPS Assisted Time Difference of Arrival System for the Naval Information Warfare Activity. It currently utilizes a traditional complex ambiguity function (CAF) to determine the TDOA(s) between multiple observers and an ARL:UT developed closed form solution for the geolocation of the emitter. The work presented here takes the first step in applying SPECCOA to the ARL:UT system. Coding both SPECCOA and the ARL:UT closed form solution in MATLAB(Trademark) makes possible a quantitative comparison between the CAF and SPECCOA using ARL:UT real world test signals.
Fire Safety in Nuclear Power Plants: A Risk-Informed and Performance-Based Approach

The consideration of risk in regulatory decision-making has long been a part of NRC’s policy and practice. Initially, these considerations were qualitative and were based on risk insights. The early regulations relied on good practices, past insights, and accepted standards. As a result, most NRC regulations were prescriptive and were applied uniformly to all areas within the regulatory scope. Risk technology is changing regulations by prioritizing the areas within regulatory scope based on risk, thereby focusing on the risk-important areas. Performance technology, on the other hand, is changing the regulations by allowing requirements to be adjusted based on the specific performance expected and manifested, rather than a prior prescriptive requirement. Consistent with the objectives of risk-informed and performance-based regulatory requirements, BNL evaluated the feasibility of applying risk- and performance-technologies to modifying NRC’s current regulations on fire protection for nuclear power plants. (1) This feasibility study entailed several case studies (trial applications). This paper describes the results of two of them. Besides the case studies, the paper discusses an overall evaluation of methodologies for fire-risk analysis to support the risk-informed regulation. It identifies some current shortcomings and proposes some near-term solutions.
Impact measurement revised: Evaluating the Impact of the Lifelong Learning Programme in Slovenia

European Union programmes in the field of education and training demand regular evaluation. However, due to several conceptual and measurement issues, the validity of evaluation results is put into question. The paper proposes to assess the programmes from a refined perspective of impact, calling for the clarification of some key methodological issues. Two groups of problems for the validity of evaluation research in the field of educational programmes are identified, one referring to causality and the second to the absence of proper conceptualisation and operationalisation. The case of LLP impact evaluation in Slovenia is used to present solutions to the outlined problems.