Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Latency Tolerance through Multithreading in Large-Scale Multiprocessors

In large-scale distributed-memory multiprocessors, remote memory accesses su er signi cant latencies. Caches help alleviate the memory latency problem by maintaining local copies of frequently used data. However, they cannot eliminate the latency caused by rst-time references and invalidations needed to enforce cache coherence. Multithreaded processors tolerate such latencies by rapidly switching between threads when they encounter cache misses. This paper evaluates the e ectiveness of multithreading in Alewife, a scalable multiprocessor that is being developed at MIT. For the applications used in this study, multithreading results in a modest 20% improvement in execution time on a 64-processor machine. The impact of multithreading is expected to be far more signi cant in larger machines, when remote memory latency becomes a dominant term in the performance equation. Kiyoshi Kurihara is currently at IBM Japan, Ltd. Tokyo, Japan.
Journal of Graph Algorithms and Applications Distributing Unit Size Workload Packages in Heterogeneous Networks

The task of balancing dynamically generated work load occurs in a wide range of parallel and distributed applications. Diffusion based schemes, which belong to the class of nearest neighbor load balancing algorithms , are a popular way to address this problem. Originally created to equalize the amount of arbitrarily divisible load among the nodes of a static and homogeneous network, they have been generalized to heterogeneous topologies. Additionally, some simple diffusion algorithms have been adapted to work in dynamic networks as well. However, if the load is not divisible arbitrarily but consists of indivisible unit size tokens, diffusion schemes are not able to balance the load properly. In this paper we consider the problem of balancing indivisible unit size tokens on heterogeneous systems. By modifying a randomized strategy invented for homogeneous systems, we can achieve an asymptotically minimal expected overload in l1, l2 and l∞ norm while only slightly increasing the run-time by a logarithmic factor. Our experiments show that this additional factor is usually not required in applications.
Design Methodology for Maximum Power Transmission, Optimal BER-SNR and Data Rate in Biomedical Implants

Using Pulse-Width Modulation Amplitude-Shift Keying (PWM-ASK) in biomedical implants enables the simultaneous transmission of wireless energy as well as data using a single inductive link. This paper approaches Pulse-Width Modulated Amplitude-Shift Keying (PWM-ASK) from a communication theory point of view. It provides a design methodology to obtain high data rate while maintaining an optimal BER (Bit Error Rate), and optimal power transfer in biomedical implants.
Survivability of a distributed multi-agent application - a performance control perspective

Distributed multi-agent systems (DMAS) such as supply chains functioning in highly dynamic environments need to achieve maximum overall utility during operation. The utility from maintaining performance is an important component of their survivability. This utility is often met by identifying trade-offs between quality of service and performance. To adaptively choose the operational settings for better utility, we propose an autonomous and scalable queueing theory based methodology to control the performance of a hierarchical network of distributed agents. By formulating the MAS as an open queueing network with multiple classes of traffic we evaluate the performance and subsequently the utility, from which we identify the control alternative for a localized, multi-tier zone. When the problem scales, another larger queueing network could be composed using zones as building blocks. This method advocates the systematic specification of the DMAS's attributes to aid realtime translation of the DMAS into a queueing network. We prototype our framework in Cougaar and verify our results.
Multi-source information fusion augmented reality benefited decision-making for unmanned aerial vehicles: A effective way for accurate operation

Augmented reality UAV multi-source information is obtained by overlaying a variety of other sensors and the database data in the airborne video of CCD sensor. More substantial and credible information display can then be obtained. Our research includes the establishment of binocular stereo camera, improved feature matching algorithm with high matching speed and robustness, pose measurement methods making control operators observation immersion better. The method used for manipulation of augmented reality provides enhanced decision support information to improve the personnel control decision's speed and accuracy.
Assisted Dying for Mental Disorders: Why Canada's Legal Approach Raises Serious Concerns

Critics of Canada’s new assisted dying law argue that its exclusion of mental disorders is overly restrictive, asserting that the fundamental values of autonomy and dignity on which Carter was decided apply equally to mental and physical disorders. However, we must be careful not to let individual interests blindly eclipse our societal interest in protecting vulnerable groups. Assisted dying for mental disorders presents significant ethical, clinical, and legal challenges and it should therefore be approached with extreme caution. This essay explores the potential effects of mental disorders on decision-making; the lack of rigorous capacity assessments; the difficulty of holding physicians accountable; the inherent challenge of “irremediabilty;” the right to refuse treatment; the diverse legal meanings of “mental disorder;” the lack of proximity to end-of-life; and the suboptimal state of Canada’s mental health system; and how the cumulative effect of these issues raises serious concerns about assisted dying for mental disorders.
The Research of Operational Transconductance Amplifier

A topology structure of operational transconductance amplifier is proposed to be devised in this paper. In order to make it have the feature of high-speed, large bandwidth, and high stability, a two-stage cascode structure amplifier is designed by using cascaded single-stage amplifier. And several important parameters are calculated and analyzed theoretically. Finally the designed cascode two-stage amplifier is debugged by using Hspice. And the related parameter values are obtained. The magnification is more than 100dB, unity gain bandwidth is about 635MHz, and output swing is 4V. And the total transconductance of operational transconductance amplifier is 8.8A / V.
Computing Optimal Alignments for the IBM-3 Translation Model

Prior work on training the IBM-3 translation model is based on suboptimal methods for computing Viterbi alignments. In this paper, we present the first method guaranteed to produce globally optimal alignments. This not only results in improved alignments, it also gives us the opportunity to evaluate the quality of standard hillclimbing methods. Indeed, hill-climbing works reasonably well in practice but still fails to find the global optimum for between 2% and 12% of all sentence pairs and the probabilities can be several tens of orders of magnitude away from the Viterbi alignment. By reformulating the alignment problem as an Integer Linear Program, we can use standard machinery from global optimization theory to compute the solutions. We use the well-known branch-and-cut method, but also show how it can be customized to the specific problem discussed in this paper. In fact, a large number of alignments can be excluded from the start without losing global optimality.
A Computational Agent Model Using Internal Simulation to Generate Emotional Dream Episodes

In this paper a computational agent model is presented that models dreaming based on internal simulation. Building blocks for this internal simulation are memory elements in the form of sensory representations and their associated emotions. In the model, under influence of associated feeling levels and mutual competition, some sensory representation states pop up in different dream episodes. The activation levels of both the feeling and the sensory representation states are regulated by control states. The model was evaluated by a number of simulation experiments for different scenarios.
Capacity for downlink massive MIMO MU-SCMA system

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is a new multiple access technique with reusing non-orthogonal code domain resource. It has massive connectivity serving a large number of users and improves spectral efficiency of radio access. SCMA directly maps the information bits of different users to sparse complex codewords selected from the predefined codebooks, and each codeword represents a transmission layer. SCMA can be combined with MIMO technique to further improve the spectral efficiency. This combined technique is called code-space-multiplexing (CSM) which is the extension of the spatial multiplexing. Under downlink massive MIMO MU-SCMA (massive-CSM) system, the base station, equipped with massive transmit antennas, transmits SCMA codewords for each user. In this paper, by applying random matrix theory, we derive an asymptotic equivalent (AE) of signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) as the number of transmit antennas approaches infinity. In addition, some asymptotic results of SINR for two special cases can be obtained in terms of large-scale fading coefficients, sparse parameter and the number of resource blocks. Simulation results show massive-CSM can improve the capacity of MU-SCMA system and has a substantial advantage in terms of higher sum rate performance compared with Massive MIMO MU-OFDMA system. As the number of transmit antennas increases, our analytic expression of SINR closely approaches the theoretical result.
Analysis of the training load during the competitive period in individual rhythmic gymnastics

The aim of this study was twofold: (i) to describe the training load of elite rhythmic gymnastics in training situations and (ii) to examine the relationship between different training indicators with the final score of the gymnasts. Performance data were collected from elite gymnasts (n=7) in competition exercises executed over 10 sessions occurring in the competition period. Three variables were considered: heart rate, subjective rate of perceived exertion, final score achieved by gymnasts. Data were examined using Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficient and paired samples T-test. Results showed that the heart rate average values ranged between 137 and 154 beats per minute. At the end of the competitive period a decrease in the perceived exertion and in the average score of the exercises was observed. The highest scores were achieved in the first sessions (1-3) and the lowest scores in the last sessions (9-10) of the competition period. There is not a clear relationship between RPE, average heart rate and the score achieved by the gymnasts. The findings can contribute to improve training program effectiveness in rhythmic gymnastics.
Towards An Extensible Virtual Machine

The Java Virtual Machine Language (JVML) is rapidly emerging as the de-facto standard for representing portable code and Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) are increasingly being used as standard platforms for running applications. But how suitable are the JVMs and the associated JVML for this purpose? This paper argues that JVML has a serious drawback in that it is not extensible enough. This lack of extensibility hinders the process of deploying new innovations in applications that run on the JVM platform. This paper also describes how a standard for portable code can be designed to be significantly more extensible than JVML. The paper explores the issues involved in designing such an extensible virtual machine (EVM), and reviews some recent research on formal techniques like type systems, logic frameworks, and analysis algorithms to show how an EVM can safely execute untrusted code.
Evolution of the global virtual water trade network

Global freshwater resources are under increasing pressure from economic development, population growth, and climate change. The international trade of water-intensive products (e.g., agricultural commodities) or virtual water trade has been suggested as a way to save water globally. We focus on the virtual water trade network associated with international food trade built with annual trade data and annual modeled virtual water content. The evolution of this network from 1986 to 2007 is analyzed and linked to trade policies, socioeconomic circumstances, and agricultural efficiency. We find that the number of trade connections and the volume of water associated with global food trade more than doubled in 22 years. Despite this growth, constant organizational features were observed in the network. However, both regional and national virtual water trade patterns significantly changed. Indeed, Asia increased its virtual water imports by more than 170%, switching from North America to South America as its main partner, whereas North America oriented to a growing intraregional trade. A dramatic rise in China's virtual water imports is associated with its increased soy imports after a domestic policy shift in 2000. Significantly, this shift has led the global soy market to save water on a global scale, but it also relies on expanding soy production in Brazil, which contributes to deforestation in the Amazon. We find that the international food trade has led to enhanced savings in global water resources over time, indicating its growing efficiency in terms of global water use.
Smart Grid Cost-Emission Unit Commitment via Co-Evolutionary Agents

In this paper, the uncertainty of wind, solar and load; smart charging and discharging of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to and from various energy sources; and the coordination of wind, solar power, PHEVs and cost-emission are considered in the smart grid unit commitment (UC). First, a multi-scenario simulation is used in which a set of valid scenarios is considered for the uncertainties of wind and solar energy sources and load. Then the UC problem for the set of scenarios is decomposed into the optimization of interactive agents by multi-agent technology. Agents’ action is represented by a genetic algorithm with adaptive crossover and mutation operators. The adaptive co-evolution of agents is reached by adaptive cooperative multipliers. Finally, simulation is implemented on an example of a power system containing thermal units, a wind farm, solar power plants and PHEVs. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Thermal units, wind, solar power and PHEVs are mutually complementarily by the adaptive cooperative mechanism. The adaptive multipliers’ updating strategy can save more computational time and further improve the efficiency.
The Legacy Effect of Squatter Settlements on Urban Redevelopment

The paper presents a theoretical model that seeks to answer the question of why former squatter settlements tend to upgrade/redevelop at a slower pace than otherwise similar settlements originating in the formal sector. We argue that squatter settlers’ initial strategy to access urban land creates a ‘legacy effect’ that curtails settlement upgrading possibilities even after the settlements are granted property titles. We test our model using the case of Cochabamba, Bolivia and obtain results consistent with our theoretical model prediction. Our results suggest that the commonly used ‘benign neglect while keeping the threat of eviction’ policy has profound impacts on how land is developed in the informal sector and this poses costly consequences for local governments after legalization.
Group Support Systems for Knowledge Acquisition in Humanitarian Disaster Response Teams: Embedded Research in the Belgian First Aid and Support Team

Knowledge management systems (KMS) are designed to support and enhance the process of creating, storing, retrieving and transferring knowledge. In this contribution we investigate the use of such systems for the acquisition of knowledge in humanitarian disaster response teams. First, we present a framework describing how KMS should enhance group process gains and alleviate group process losses, and create an effective learning environment for successfully supporting the acquisition of knowledge. Second, we describe ongoing research on the acquisition of knowledge in the Belgian humanitarian response team (B-FAST, for Belgian First Aid and Support Team) that uses Microsoft Groove as knowledge management system before, during and after their missions. Initial findings are presented based on participant observation and interviews of the B-FAST team during a large humanitarian exercise, along with plans for future research.
Cognitive Perspective in SLA: Pedagogical Implications for Enhancing Oral Proficiency in Foreign Languages

The following article addresses one of the main concerns of the profession: maximizing efficiency of teaching for oral proficiency. The main goal of this article is to explore yet untapped potential of the Cognitive Perspective in SLA -an interdisciplinary approach to language and language learning. In this article, we report on how Cognitive Perspective has completely transformed our conceptualization of the ways language can be taught to foster students’ ability to use the language. The article delineates pedagogical principles of Usage-Based Instruction (UBI), an innovative approach to teaching oral communication in foreign languages and provides description of the UBI instructional sequence.
High-input impedance voltage-mode universal filter using CCCCTAs

This article presents a voltage-mode universal biquadratic filter (low-pass, high-pass, band-pass functions), based on current controlled current conveyor transconductance amplifiers (CCCCTAs). The features of the circuit are that: the quality factor and pole frequency can be tuned orthogonally via the input bias currents: the circuit description is very simple, consisting of merely 3 CCCCTAs and 2 grounded capacitors. Without any external resistors, requiring no component matching conditions, and using only grounded elements, the proposed circuit is very appropriate to further develop into an integrated circuit. Moreover, the proposed circuit enables easy cascading in voltage-mode, due to high-input impedances. The PSPICE simulation results are depicted. The given results agree well with the theoretical anticipation. The power consumption is approximately 4.08mW at ±2.5V power supply voltages.
User Association for HetNet Small Cell Networks

Heterogeneous networks principally composed of macro-cells overlaid with small cells (e.g., Femtocells, pico-cells, and relays) can potentially improve the coverage and capacity of existing cellular networks and satisfy the growing demands of data throughput. In Het Nets, small cells play a key role in offloading user data traffic from congested macro-cells and extending the limited coverage of macro-cells. However, the use of small cells is still impeded by the issues of coexistence and efficient operation, as small cells are characterized by limited resources, large-scale random deployment, and a lack of coordination. In this paper, we focus on user association problem in Het Net, and we propose a new scheme by applying the Voronoi diagram, a powerful computational geometry technique, to solve the user connection problem in which a user has several stations within his range from which to choose. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme can significantly increase the number of admitted users and system throughput.
Nonlocal Transport in the Quantum Spin Hall State

Living on the Edge Topological insulators are a recently described state of matter in which the bulk material is an insulator but with a metallic surface state that is protected by the topology of the Fermi surface. Roth et al. (p. 294; see the Perspective by Büttiker) now show that the current flow on the surface takes place in edge states around the boundary of the sample. These are similar to the current transport in high-quality two-dimensional electron gases in high magnetic field, which confirms theoretical work on these materials. A topological insulator exhibits current flow in edge states around the sample without the need for magnetic fields. Nonlocal transport through edge channels holds great promise for low-power information processing. However, edge channels have so far only been demonstrated to occur in the quantum Hall regime, at high magnetic fields. We found that mercury telluride quantum wells in the quantum spin Hall regime exhibit nonlocal edge channel transport at zero external magnetic field. The data confirm that the quantum transport through the (helical) edge channels is dissipationless and that the contacts lead to equilibration between the counterpropagating spin states at the edge. The experimental data agree quantitatively with the theory of the quantum spin Hall effect. The edge channel transport paves the way for a new generation of spintronic devices for low-power information processing.
Towards a Theory of Interestingness

There are a wide variety of applications that either require or assume the existence of some underlying definition of “interestingness. ” However, interests vary from user to user, from situation to situation, and from one time to another. This diversity of interests cannot be captured through a single definition. In this paper, we propose a framework called Full Interestingness Programs (FIPs) that form a subclass of the Hybrid Knowledge Base Paradigm of Lu, Nerode and Subrahmanian. FIPs may be built “on top” of any query language whatsoever. Using FIPs, interests may be easily expressed and captured, and used on an application-specific basis using an application-independent FIP-evaluator. In this paper, we provide a formal semantics for FIPs, as well as techniques for processing requests (queries) to FIPs. University of Maryland Technical Report CS-TR-3817 and UMIACS-TR-97-57, July 25, 1997.
Exploring the Impact of Interrupted Education on Earnings: The Educational Cost of the Chinese Cultural Revolution

During the Chinese Cultural Revolution many schools stopped normal operation for a long time, senior high schools stopped student recruitment for up to 6 years, and universities stopped recruitment for an even longer period. Such large scale school interruptions significantly reduced the opportunity for a large cohort of individuals to obtain university degrees and senior high school qualifications. More than half of this cohort who would normally attain a university degree were unable to do so. We estimate that those who did not obtain a university degree, because of the Cultural Revolution, lost an average of more than 50 percent of potential earnings. Both genders suffered reduced attainment of senior high school certificates and more than 20 per cent prematurely stopped their education process at junior high school level. However, these education responses do not appear to have translated into lower earnings. In addition, at each level of education attainment most of the cohort experienced missed or interrupted schooling. We show, however, that given the education certificate attained, the impact on earnings of these missed years of schooling or lack of normal curricula was small.
Choreography for Marionettes: Imitation, Planning, and Control

This paper presents a project aimed at the creation of fully automated marionettes for puppet plays, to be used in stage plays at the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts. In fact, marionettes are sophisticated and challenging mechanical systems, and therefore represent good test-beds for many current issues in robotics, such as systematic modeling of relatively high degree of freedom systems, semantics of high-level motion planning and control, and numerical optimization techniques for motion imitation and generation. This paper presents our approach to these problems, and highlights how insights from puppeteers can aid in the creation of a systematic framework for modeling and control of these complex mechanical systems.