Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Robustness of n s . 0 . 95 in Racetrack Inﬂation

A spectral index n s . 0 . 95 appears to be a generic prediction of racetrack inﬂation models. Reducing a general racetrack model to a single-ﬁeld inﬂation model with a simple potential, we obtain an analytic expression for the spectral index, which explains this result. By considering the limits of validity of the derivation, possible ways to achieve higher values of the spectral index are described, although these require further ﬁne-tuning of the potential.
Photonic Crystals and Photonic Bandgap

o build future optical information superhighways, “photonic engineering” should be a common practice just like today’s electrical engineering. As Purcell proposed in 1946, the radiation rate of photons from an excited atom can be controlled by modifying the space that surrounds the atom [1]. Should this photon tailoring be positively adapted, dramatic improvement of photonic devices can be expected. For example, zero-threshold lasers, high-efficiency light-emitting diodes, and tight-bending waveguides for optical integrated circuits could be realized in the not-too-distant future. This article discuses the photonic crystal, which is expected to lead us through this new and expanding world of nanophotonics [2].
SenseHAR: a robust virtual activity sensor for smartphones and wearables

Modern smartphones and smartwatches are equipped with inertial sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer) that can be used for Human Activity Recognition (HAR) to infer tasks such as daily activities, transportation modes and, gestures. HAR requires collecting raw inertial sensor values and training a machine learning model on the collected data. The challenge in this approach is that the models are trained for specific devices and device configurations whereas, in reality, the set of devices carried by a person may vary over time. Ideally, one would like activity inferencing to be robust of this variation and provide accurate predictions by making opportunistic use of information from available devices. Moreover, the devices may be located at different parts of the body (e.g. pocket, left and right wrist), may have different sets of sensors (e.g. a smartwatch may not have gyroscope while a smartphone might), and may differ in sampling frequencies. In this paper, we provide a solution which makes use of the information from available devices while being robust to their variations. Instead of training an end-to-end model for every permutation of device combinations and configurations, we propose a scalable deep learning based solution in which each device learns its own sensor fusion model that maps the raw sensor values to a shared low dimensional latent space which we call the 'SenseHAR'-a virtual activity sensor. The virtual sensor has the same format and similar behavior regardless of the subset of devices, sensor's availability, sampling rate, or a device's location. This would help machine learning engineers to develop their application specific (e.g., from gesture recognition to activities of daily life) models in a hardware-agnostic manner based on this virtual activity sensor. Our evaluations show that an application model trained on SenseHAR achieves the state of the art accuracies of 95.32%, 74.22% and 93.13% on PAMAP2, Opportunity(gestures) and our collected datasets respectively.
Growth of Oregon White Oak (Quercus garryana)

Abstract Many land managers are interested in maintaining or restoring plant communities that contain Oregon white oak (OWO, Quercus garryana), yet there is relatively little information available about the species' growth rates and survival to guide management decisions. We used two studies to characterize growth (over multi-year periods and within individual years) and to evaluate the main factors that affect growth and survival. The objective of the first study was to revise the OWO components of the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS), a widely-used growth model. We first compiled a large database on growth and survival to develop equations to revise FVS. Diameter growth and survival over multi-year periods were strongly affected by stand density, the competitive position of the tree, tree size, and site productivity. The height growth potential of OWO was predicted from site productivity, stand density and tree size. In the second study, intra-annual patterns of OWO growth were evaluated by precisely measuring stem diameters with band dendrometers. OWO experienced two periods of stem expansion, with the first period likely representing growth (the production of new wood and bark) and the second representing stem rehydration in the fall and winter. As in the first study, growth was strongly affected by the level of competition around each tree. Our results show the sensitivity of Oregon white oak to competition and highlight the need to restore low stand densities in many cases to improve growth and the likelihood of survival.
Effects of immune challenge and supernormal clutch production on egg quality in the red-legged partridge

Background: Because maintenance of the immune system is thought to be resource-limited, trade-offs between immune function, body condition, and reproductive allocation are expected. Questions: Do females confronted with the simultaneous challenges of immune stimulation and supernormal egg production face a trade-off in terms of self-maintenance (body mass and blood parameters) and/or egg quality? Organism: Red-legged partridge, Alectoris rufa, a precocial bird species with a huge investment in eggs. Methods: We challenged the immune systems of females, before egg laying, with a novel antigen (Newcastle Disease virus vaccine, NDV). We also removed eggs as they were laid, so as to induce supernormal egg production. Conclusion: Compared with the other eggs, the last-laid eggs of hens with supernormal production were smaller, contained less yolk, had a lighter shell, and contained albumen with less lysozyme. However, the immune challenge had no effect on female condition or egg quality. Thus we found no evidence of a trade-off between immune function, body condition, and reproductive allocation.
System of tactical assessment in Soccer (FUT-SAT): Development and preliminary validation

The purpose of this paper was to report the development and preliminary validation of tactical assessment system in Soccer and highlight its advantages. The validation process followed five perspectives of the concept of validity that consider the value of heuristic methods and the importance of the description of behavior performed in playing situations. Thus, the process of validation was focused on four points: i) acceptability and reasonableness of the test perceived by players; ii) analysis of content of assessment tool through a panel of experts; iii) potential of the assessment tool to discriminate the quality of the performance of players; iv) observation reliability. The results displayed values higher than 0.63 for correlation between the evaluations of coaches and the system. It shows the potential of this system to distinguish the performances of players based on the evaluations of coaches. The players who performed the field test agreed with its physical demands and spatial and normative configurations. All experts endorsed the categories and variables of this system. The reliabilities showed values higher than 0.79 for intra and inter-observers. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the system is valid and reliable for the assessment of the tactical behavior of soccer players.
Effect of preservative type and natural weathering on preservative gradients in southern pine lumber.

The effects of preservative type and natural weathering on preservative component distribution in southern pine boards were evaluated. Lumber was treated by a modified full-cell process with chromated copper arsenate (CCA-C), alkaline copper quat (ACQ-D), and micronized copper quat (MCQ), and samples were exposed to natural weathering. After treatment, the copper and arsenic components of CCA were uniformly distributed across the board thickness, whereas the chromium component was higher near the surface. The copper amine component of ACQ was preferentially adsorbed near the board surface, whereas MCQ had lower copper concentration near the surface compared with inside the board. The quat component (didecyldimethylammonium carbonate [DDACb]) of both preservatives was preferentially adsorbed near the surface resulting in a steep concentration gradient. After 330 da of exposure to natural weathering, the average amounts leached were 2.9% for ACQ-Cu, 0.36% for MCQ-Cu, 0.24% for CCA-Cr, 0.59% for CCA-Cu, and 2.05% for CCA-As. For ACQ and MCQ, the ratio of CuO to quat increased significantly with weather exposure indicating a higher DDACb rate of leaching compared with copper. For both preservatives, it was estimated that DDACb leaching was about 20% for ACQ and 16% for MCQ.
Recognition of Static Obstacles with Curve Features

Recognition of stationary obstacles based on curve features is an important method of obstacle recognition for unmanned vehicle using three-dimensional lidar. Firstly, binary processing of point cloud data collected by three-dimensional lidar is carried out. Then, Kalman filter tracking method is used to extract static obstacles. Finally, Hough transform is used to extract obstacles with curve characteristics. Experiments show that this method is simple and effective for extracting static obstacles with curve characteristics.
Perceived Ease Of Use (Peou) And Ranking Of Payment Systems In Nigeria: Case For Systems Cannibalization

With a view to facilitating the cashless policy of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the study ranked the three payment systems in Nigeria using the Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) framework of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Based of ten factors of PEOU, 282 highly literate and financially active Nigerians who are aware of the three payment systems obtainable in Nigeria were required to rank them on a scale of 1-3. Analysis of the ranking showed that on the aggregate, e-payment system ranked first on the basis of PEOU factors, while in specific terms, cash payment system ranked first on the crucial factors of ease of use and clarity of operating payment systems, and cheque payment system ranked first on the factors of rigidity/inflexibility and ability to manipulate payment systems. For e-payment system to become the dominant payment system in Nigeria, the study recommended the Cannibalization of Cash and Cheque Payment Systems through the adoption of counter marketing strategies and the adoption of developmental marketing strategies for e-payment system.
Quantum assignment for QoS-aware AFDX network with deficit round robin

Avionics Full Duplex switched Ethernet (AFDX) is the de facto standard for the transmission of critical avionics flows. It is a specific switched Ethernet solution based on First-in First-out (FIFO) scheduling. Timing constraints have to be guaranteed for such critical flows. The worst-case traversal time analysis introduces some pessimism, leading to a very lightly loaded network: typically less than 10 % of the bandwidth is used. One solution to improve the utilisation of the network is to introduce Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms. First, it can decrease worst-case delays for the most constrained avionics flows. Second less/non critical additional flows can be transmitted on the network with bounded impact on avionics ones. Deficit Round Robin (DRR) is such a QoS mechanism and it is envisioned for future avionics networks. An optimised WCTT analysis has been proposed for DRR on AFDX, based on network calculus. With DRR, the flow set is divided into classes and each class is allocated a quantum. In each round, transmissions are managed, based on these quanta. Thus delays are significantly impacted by quanta. The contribution of this paper is to propose an efficient quantum assignment for a set of critical avionics flow classes and at most one additional class with less/non critical flows.
Continuous Beam Scanning in Substrate Integrated Waveguide Leaky Wave Antenna

A planar substrate integrated waveguide leaky wave antenna (LWA) with cross slots is proposed in the frequency range of 10 GHz–15.5 GHz. Moreover, the symmetrical version of the structure is designed and analyzed in terms of the simulated S-parameters and E-field distribution which shows the existence of the open stopband in the frequency range from 12.91 GHz–14 GHz, consequently degrading the radiation beam at broadside. Therefore, asymmetry is introduced in the unit cell design w.r. t the position of the cross slots to achieve the continuous beam scanning in the desired frequency range. The unit cell is analyzed with the help of dispersion relation and Bloch impedance for predicting the beam scanning and matching of the proposed LWA respectively. This planar LWA is fabricated by the standard printed-circuit board process. Measured results are almost consistent with the simulation ones with a continuous beam scanning from of −40◦ to +16◦ with gain varying from 8.5 dBi to 11 dBi.
Seguin Form Board as an intelligence tool for young children in an Indian urban slum

Objective The present study evaluates the concurrent and predictive validity of the Seguin Form Board Test (SFBT) as an intelligence tool for children in low- and middle-income countries. Methods In a cohort of normal children, followed up in South India, two cross-sectional analyses were done at 3 and 7 years of age on 95 children. The SFBT and Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS) were done at 3 years of age and Malin’s Intelligence Scale for Indian Children (MISIC) and the VSMS were done at 7 years of age, and the results were compared for concurrent and predictive validity for the SFBT. Results Intelligence quotient and social quotient had positive correlations at 3 years of age, indicating fair concurrent validity. The SFBT done at around 3 years of age had good positive correlation with MISIC at 7 years of age, indicating good predictive validity. Conclusion This study shows the utility of the SFBT as a community-based intelligence tool with acceptable concurrent and predictive validity.
MRP 2019: Cross-Framework Meaning Representation Parsing

The 2019 Shared Task at the Conference for Computational Language Learning (CoNLL) was devoted to Meaning Representation Parsing (MRP) across frameworks. Five distinct approaches to the representation of sentence meaning in the form of directed graph were represented in the training and evaluation data for the task, packaged in a uniform abstract graph representation and serialization. The task received submissions from eighteen teams, of which five do not participate in the official ranking because they arrived after the closing deadline, made use of additional training data, or involved one of the task co-organizers. All technical information regarding the task, including system submissions, official results, and links to supporting resources and software are available from the task web site at: http://mrp.nlpl. eu
Vehicular mobility modeling based on heterogeneous sensor networks: poster abstract

Urban mobility especially vehicular mobility is important for many real-world applications. A lot of work has been done based on data from mobile sensor networks and stationary sensor networks, where each of them has its only weakness in spatiotemporal coverage and penetration rates. In this paper, we aim to coordinate the strength of heterogeneous sensor networks to achieve mobility modeling. Specifically, we design a mobility prediction system called Mohen to predict the destination of all the vehicles after they leave the coverage of stationary sensors with (i) only small portion vehicles with mobile sensors (i.e., GPS devices); (ii) historical data from stationary sensors (i.e., toll stations). The key novelty of Mohen is that we utilize the complementary features from heterogeneous sensor networks that mobile sensor networks provide better spatiotemporal coverage whereas stationary sensor networks capture vehicles with high penetration rates. We implement and evaluate Mohen in Guangdong Province, China by two real-world datasets, an electric toll collection (ETC) data set of 2 million vehicles, and an insurance-based vehicular tracking system of 114 thousand vehicles and show the accuracy of 75%.
Electronic records of obstetrics and gynecology encounter: beyond professional logics of health care

This paper examines how use of electronic medical record (EMR) within professional understanding of medical model have bearings upon the health-care provisions for women. Through a qualitative, empirical study in four hospitals, we showed that understanding illness/health of married women were not solely driven by clinical signs and symptoms rather originate in the socio-economic context. We discuss how within doctor-patient interactions, EMR mediates doctor's actions by putting patient's physiological 'system', like reproductive system, in the centre. We find that EMR serve the needs of doctor by valuing their understanding and, beliefs over patient and discounting the patient's situational aspects. We unpack some doctor-patient interactions where patients' needs arising outside 'medical model' were met. Drawing on our findings, we argue for the need to update the understanding and approach within HCI community towards tools mediating health care provision of women by taking into account specificity of situations in design, not merely focusing on symptoms coming from disease taxonomies.
New records of Southeast European Carex L. (Cyperaceae)

As part of taxonomical studies of Carex L. by the authors, a study of herbarium specimens (BEO, BUNS, SOM) was conducted, which uncovered interesting floristic records for three Carex species for Southeastern Europe. Carex atherodes is reported for the first time for the flora of central Europe (Vojvodina, Serbia) and the Balkan Peninsula (Bosnia-Herzegovina). Carex buekii is listed as a data record for the flora of the Republic of Macedonia. Finally, two populations of the recently described Carex castroviejoi were found for first time in Albania.
Fault-tolerant transmission of messages of differing criticalities across a shared communication medium

We discuss the motivation behind, and the design and analysis of, an algorithm for synthesizing communication schedules for shared media networks in some safety-critical hard-real-time applications such as autonomous navigation and factory automation. Communication media may be inherently noisy in many such environments, and occasional transmission errors hence inevitable. Therefore it is essential that some degree of fault-tolerance be built into the communication protocol that is used --- in some safety-critical application domains, fault-tolerance requirements may be mandated by statutory certification requirements. Since the severity of the consequences of failing to successfully transmit different messages may be different, we consider a mixed-criticality setting in which the fault-tolerance requirement specification for messages are dependent on their criticality: more critical messages are required to be able to tolerate a larger number of faults. We advocate that communication schedules be "as static as possible" in safety-critical applications in order to facilitate verification and validation, and discuss the synthesis of semi-static schedules - schedules that are driven by precomputed lookup tables - with the desired fault-tolerance properties for such applications.
Tagtag: material sensing with commodity RFID

Material sensing is an essential ingredient for many IoT applications. While hyperspectral camera, infrared, X-Ray, and Radar provide potential solutions for material identification, high cost is the major concern limiting their applications. In this paper, we explore the capability of employing RF signals for fine-grained material sensing with commodity RFID device. The key reason for our system to work is that the tag antenna's impedance is changed when it is close or attached to a target. The amount of impedance change is dependent on the target's material type, thus enabling us to utilize the impedance-related phase change available at commodity RFID devices for material sensing. Several key challenges are addressed before we turn the idea into a functional system: (i) the random tag-reader distance causes an additional unknown phase change on top of the phase change caused by the target material; (ii) the tag rotations cause phase shifts and (iii) for conductive liquid, there exists liquid reflection which interferes with the impedance-caused phase change. We address these challenges with novel solutions. Comprehensive experiments show high identification accuracies even for very similar materials such as Pepsi and Coke.
VitaMon: measuring heart rate variability using smartphone front camera

We present VitaMon, a mobile sensing system that can measure the inter-heartbeat interval (IBI) from the facial video captured by a commodity smartphone's front camera. The continuous IBI measurement is used to compute heart rate variability (HRV), one of the most important markers of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulation. The underlying idea of VitaMon is that video recording of human face contains multiple cardiovascular pulse signals with different phase shift. Our measurement on 10 participants shows the significant time delay (36.79 ms) between the pulse signals measured at the jaw region and forehead region. VitaMon leverages deep neural network models to extract both spatial and temporal information of the video to reconstruct a pulse waveform signal that is optimized for estimating IBI. We evaluated VitaMon with a dataset collected from 30 participants under various conditions involving different light intensity levels and motion artifacts. With the 15 fps video input (66.67 ms time resolution), VitaMon can measure IBI with an average error of 14.26 ms and 21.65 ms using personal and general model respectively. HRV features including geometry Poincare plot, time- and frequency-domain features extracted from the IBI measurement all have high correlation with the reference signal.
An Empirical Study of Students and Teaching Staff's Digital Competence in Western China: Based on a case study of Gansu Agricultural University

The society in the digital age is constantly evolving and advancing. At the same time, the emergence of new media, combined with a sea of access to information has also led to changes not only in our daily life but also in education and educational system. Information and communications technology (ICT) tools have already played an important role in our lives. In the aspect of education, we cannot ignore their influences and new challenges they have brought. Amid constantly-changing digital environment that contains the new conditions of interaction technologies, technological tools, digitization, informationalization and multimodality, the traditional literacy becomes outdated and thus the digital competence has become an important factor when people integrate into the contemporary society, helping them adapt to the modern trends and improve their competitiveness. The main objectives of this doctoral thesis are to investigate the actual status about digital competence of university students and teachers in China, especially western China, create their own digital competence profile. First, a systematic literature review is conducted to introduce and clarify the concept of digital competence, compare relevant skills, related policy, literacy and its development for higher education in the knowledge society. Secondly, conduct an empirical study on students and teachers of Gansu agricultural University that located in the west of China as a case study, in order to analyze their digital competence level, attitude, difficulties in using technological tool in educational context and collect their suggestions, besides, provide information for new teaching strategies and recommendation for improving the digital competence.