Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A general control-volume formulation for modeling impact ionization in semiconductor transport

A method for incorporating impact ionization into a general control-volume formulation of semiconductor transport is described. The methods for electric-field and current-density vector evaluation and generated charge partitioning within a two-dimensional triangular element are given. The techniques employed allow device breakdown to be accurately determined independent of mesh orientation to current flow direction. The avalanche breakdown of a 1-µm n-MOSFET illustrates the approach. Regions where the drain current is a multivalued function of drain voltage are directly and self-consistently calculated for this device.
A Robust Speaker Identification System Using the Responses from a Model of the Auditory Periphery

Speaker identification under noisy conditions is one of the challenging topics in the field of speech processing applications. Motivated by the fact that the neural responses are robust against noise, this paper proposes a new speaker identification system using 2-D neurograms constructed from the responses of a physiologically-based computational model of the auditory periphery. The responses of auditory-nerve fibers for a wide range of characteristic frequency were simulated to speech signals to construct neurograms. The neurogram coefficients were trained using the well-known Gaussian mixture model-universal background model classification technique to generate an identity model for each speaker. In this study, three text-independent and one text-dependent speaker databases were employed to test the identification performance of the proposed method. Also, the robustness of the proposed method was investigated using speech signals distorted by three types of noise such as the white Gaussian, pink, and street noises with different signal-to-noise ratios. The identification results of the proposed neural-response-based method were compared to the performances of the traditional speaker identification methods using features such as the Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, Gamma-tone frequency cepstral coefficients and frequency domain linear prediction. Although the classification accuracy achieved by the proposed method was comparable to the performance of those traditional techniques in quiet, the new feature was found to provide lower error rates of classification under noisy environments.
Insulinlike Growth Factor (IGF)-1 Administration Ameliorates Disease Manifestations in a Mouse Model of Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy is an X-linked motor neuron disease caused by polyglutamine expansion in the androgen receptor. Patients develop slowly progressive proximal muscle weakness, muscle atrophy and fasciculations. Affected individuals often show gynecomastia, testicular atrophy and reduced fertility as a result of mild androgen insensitivity. No effective disease-modifying therapy is currently available for this disease. Our recent studies have demonstrated that insulinlike growth factor (IGF)-1 reduces the mutant androgen receptor toxicity through activation of Akt in vitro, and spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy transgenic mice that also overexpress a noncirculating muscle isoform of IGF-1 have a less severe phenotype. Here we sought to establish the efficacy of daily intraperitoneal injections of mecasermin rinfabate, recombinant human IGF-1 and IGF-1 binding protein 3, in a transgenic mouse model expressing the mutant androgen receptor with an expanded 97 glutamine tract. The study was done in a controlled, randomized, blinded fashion, and, to reflect the clinical settings, the injections were started after the onset of disease manifestations. The treatment resulted in increased Akt phosphorylation and reduced mutant androgen receptor aggregation in muscle. In comparison to vehicle-treated controls, IGF-1–treated transgenic mice showed improved motor performance, attenuated weight loss and increased survival. Our results suggest that peripheral tissue can be targeted to improve the spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy phenotype and indicate that IGF-1 warrants further investigation in clinical trials as a potential treatment for this disease.
Radio jet interactions in the radio galaxy PKS 2152–699

We present radio observations of the radio galaxy PKS 2152–699 obtained with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The much higher resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of the new radio maps reveal the presence of a bright radio component about 10 arcsec north-east of the nucleus. This lies close to the highly ionized cloud previously studied in the optical and here shown in a broad-band red snapshot image with the HST PC 2. It suggests that PKS 2152–699 may be a jet/cloud interaction similar to 3C 277.3. This could cause the change in the position angle (of ∼ 20°) of the radio emission from the inner to the outer regions. On the large scale, the source has Fanaroff & Riley type II morphology although the presence of the two hotspots in the centres of the lobes is unusual. The northern lobe shows a particularly relaxed structure while the southern one has an edge-brightened, arc-like structure.
A system for feature classification of emotions based on speech analysis; applications to human-robot interaction

A system for recognition of emotions based on speech analysis can have interesting applications in human robot interaction. Robot should make a proper mutual communication between sound recognition and perception for creating a desired emotional interaction with humans. Advanced research in this field will be based on sound analysis and recognition of emotions in spontaneous dialog. In this paper, we report the results obtained from an exploratory study on a methodology to automatically recognize and classify basic emotional states. The study attempted to investigate the appropriateness of using acoustic and phonetic properties of emotive speech with the minimal use of signal processing algorithms. The efficiency of the methodology was evaluated by experimental tests on adult European speakers. The speakers had to repeat six simple sentences in English language in order to emphasize features of the pitch (peak, value and range), the intensity of the speech, the formants and the speech rate. The proposed methodology using the freeware program (PRAAT) and consists of generating and analyzing a graph of pitch, formant and intensity of speech signals for classify basic emotion. Eventually, the proposed model provided successful recognition of the basic emotion in most of the cases.
Angular Momentum Transport by Internal Gravity Waves II- Pop II stars from the Li plateau to the horizontal branch

This paper is the second in a series where we examine the generation and filtering of internal gravity waves in stars and the consequences of wave induced transport of angular momentum at various stages of the stellar evolution. Here we concentrate on Pop II dwarf stars and we focus in particular on the differential properties of internal gravity waves as a function of the stellar mass. We show that, for the range of masses corresponding to the lithium plateau, gravity waves are fully efficient and should thus lead to a quasi-solid rotation state, similar to that of the Sun. In the slightly more massive progenitors of currently observed horizontal branch star however, internal wave generation is not efficient on the main sequence, and large internal differential rotation can thus be maintained. This leads to a natural explanation of the large rotational velocities measured on the horizontal branch in some globular clusters.
Parallelization of Shape Diameter Function Computation using OpenCL

Shape Diameter Function (SDF) is a scalar function that expresses a measure of the diameter of the object’s volume in the neighborhood of each point on the surface on an input mesh. It is fundamental in many applications in computer graphics used for consistent mesh partitioning and skeletonization. The algorithm sends several rays inside a cone centered around the point’s inward-normal direction and measures the distance at the point of intersection. We have implemented the original algorithm and further extended it on GPU by parallelizing the ray casting process using OpenCL. We have also generalized the algorithm to support non-manifold meshes. The algorithm shows great speedup in terms of timing when compared with the CPU based implementation.
Hierarchical Visualization of Network Intrusion Detection Data

A technique for visualizing intrusion-detection system log files using hierarchical data based on IP addresses represents the number of incidents for thousands of computers in one display space. Our technique applies a hierarchical data visualization technique that represents leaf nodes as black square icons and branch nodes as rectangular borders enclosing the icons. This representation style visualizes thousands of hierarchical data leaf nodes equally in one display space. We applied the technique to bioactive chemical visualization and job distribution in parallel-computing environments.
Markov Models for Identification of Significant Episodes

We propose a new method for a reliable identification of statistically significant sequential episodes occurring within a window of size w in an event sequence modeled by a Markov source. As a measure of significance we use Ω∃(n,w), the number of windows containing the episode as a subsequence. We prove that Ω∃(n,w) is a sum of a φ-mixing sequence of random variables and obeys the central limit theorem. This leads us to a computational formula for a threshold to identify significant episodes. The novelty of our method for Markov source stems from the fact that, instead of scoring the whole sequence using a Markov model, we compute the expected value of Ω∃(n,w) and its variance in order to compute the threshold and compare it to the observed Ω∃(n,w). Since performance of the method critically depends on the model structure and parameters, we argue that variable order Markov models of event streams are superior to fixed order Markov models. We chose DNA sequences as event sources in experiments, and compared the performance of fixed order Markov models with interpolated Markov models. This paper is an extension of our previous work in [9, 2] where we considered the problem of the reliable The work of this author was supported by the NSF Grant CCR-0208709, and NIH grant R01 GM068959-01. Portions of this author’s work were supported by Grants EIA-9903545, IIS-0219560, IIS-0312357, and IIS-0242421 from the National Science Foundation, Contract N00014-02-1-0364 from the Office of Naval Research, by sponsors of the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security, and by Purdue Discovery Park’s e-enterprise Center. The work of this author was supported by the NSF Grant CCR-0208709, NIH grant R01 GM068959-01 and AFOSR Grant FA 8655-04-1-3074. detection of significant episodes for memoryless sources.
Ray-traced diffusion points

Diffusion curves [Orzan et al. 2008] (DCs) has risen as an attractive vector primitive for representing complex colour gradients. Its flexible mathematical definition, taking curves with colour values as input, can be easily adopted by artists and designers because curves represent an intuitive approach to 2D drawing and design. However, the (Laplacian) diffusion process is computationally expensive and naive DCs (solving the large sparse PDE naively) are consequently unattractive as a practical vector graphics primitive. Lots of work has therefore been undertaken to identify a practical framework for defining and rendering DCs.
Concentric gravity waves in the mesosphere generated by deep convective plumes in the lower atmosphere near Fort Collins, Colorado

[1] Gravity waves in the mesopause region (80–105 km) may induce perturbations in OH Meinal Band emissions at ∼87 km. These perturbations can be observed by ground-based OH airglow imagers. In this paper, we present observations of concentric gravity waves (CGW) by the all-sky OH imager at Yucca Ridge Field Station (40.7°N, 104.9°W) near Fort Collins, Colorado. We find that expanding rings of concentric gravity waves were observed on 9 out of 723 clear nights from 2003 to 2008. In particular, on 11 May 2004, concentric rings were observed for ∼1.5 h, with nearly perfect circular rings entirely in the field of view during the first 30 min. The centers of the concentric rings occurred at the geographic locations of two strong convective plumes which were active in the troposphere ∼1 h earlier. We measured the horizontal wavelengths and periods of these gravity waves as functions of both radius and time. These results agreed reasonably well with the internal Boussinesq gravity wave dispersion relation with an assumed zero background wind. Similarly, for the other 8 cases, strong convective plumes occurred prior to the CGW observations near the apparent center of each of the arcs or rings. For the 7 out of the 9 cases, radiosonde data were available up to z = 30–35 km. These data showed that the wind speeds from the tropopause to ∼30–35 km were smaller than ∼20–30 m/s. Because 8 of the 9 cases occurred when the total horizontal mean winds were weak and because the horizontal winds below ∼87 km were less than ∼20 m/s on 11 May 2004 (according to radiosonde and TIME-GCM model data), we postulate that weak background horizontal winds are likely a necessary condition for gravity waves excited from convective overshooting to be observed as concentric arcs or rings in the OH layer.
MiRNA-1/133a Clusters Regulate Adrenergic Control of Cardiac Repolarization

The electrical properties of the heart are primarily determined by the activity of ion channels and the activity of these molecules is permanently modulated and adjusted to the physiological needs by adrenergic signaling. miRNAs are known to control the expression of many proteins and to fulfill distinct functions in the mammalian heart, though the in vivo effects of miRNAs on the electrical activity of the heart are poorly characterized. The miRNAs miR-1 and miR-133a are the most abundant miRNAs of the heart and are expressed from two miR-1/133a genomic clusters. Genetic modulation of miR-1/133a cluster expression without concomitant severe disturbance of general cardiomyocyte physiology revealed that these miRNA clusters govern cardiac muscle repolarization. Reduction of miR-1/133a dosage induced a longQT phenotype in mice especially at low heart rates. Longer action potentials in cardiomyocytes are caused by modulation of the impact of β-adrenergic signaling on the activity of the depolarizing L-type calcium channel. Pharmacological intervention to attenuate β-adrenergic signaling or L-type calcium channel activity in vivo abrogated the longQT phenotype that is caused by modulation of miR-1/133a activity. Thus, we identify the miR-1/133a miRNA clusters to be important to prevent a longQT-phenotype in the mammalian heart.
Emotional gait: e ects on humans' perception of humanoid robots

Humanoid robots have this formidable advantage to possess a body quite similar in shape to humans. This body grants them, obviously, locomotion but also a medium to express emotions without even needing a face. In this paper we propose to study the effects of emotional gaits from our biped humanoid robot on the subjects’ perception of the robot (recognition rate of the emotions, reaction time, anthropomorphism, safety, likeness, etc.). We made the robot walk towards the subjects with different emotional gait patterns. We assessed positive (Happy) and negative (Sad) emotional gait patterns on 26 subjects divided in two groups (whether they were familiar with robots or not). We found that even though the recognition of the different types of patterns does not differ between groups, the reaction time does. We found that emotional gait patterns affect the perception of the robot after being shown to the subjects. The implications of the current results for Human Robot Interaction (HRI) are discussed.
The performance consequence of multiple performance measures usage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of performance measurement systems, particularly the BSC framework, by investigating empirically the extent of multiple performance measures usage and their effects on the performance of Malaysian manufacturers.Design/methodology/approach – The paper used a mail‐survey of companies listed in the Directory of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM), year 2003. The FMM Directory provides a database of over 2,000 manufacturing firms of various sizes producing a broad range of products. The FMM Directory was utilized because it specifically covers manufacturers and manufacturing‐related services. A simple random sample of 975 companies located in West Malaysia was drawn. Companies with at least 25 employees and annual sales turnover of at least RM10 million were selected. A total of 120 usable responses were gathered and used in the data analysis.Findings – The findings suggest that the use of non‐financial measu.
A Computational Cognitive Model of Mirroring Processes: A Position Statement

In order to fully utilize robots for our benefit and design better agents that can collaborate smoothly and naturally with humans we need to understand how humans think. My goal is to understand the mirroring process and use that knowledge to build a computational cognitive model to enable a robot/agent to infer intentions and therefore collaborate more naturally in a human environment.
Integration of Machine Learning and Knowledge Acquisition with a Genetic Algorithm

Inductive inference techniques are showing signs of maturity as applications with real-world data are emerging. Techniques that allow symbolic representation of the acquired knowledge allow for its validation, revision and understanding by human experts. EFOPREL v 1.1(Evolutionary First Order PREdicate Logic) is an inductive and supervised learning system of rst order predicate logic rules using a genetic algorithm for searching the space of theories explaining the set of examples. EFOPREL contributes to computer assisted knowledge acquisition because it allows discovery of exible and/or alternative rules from examples. Moreover, EFOPREL integrates sources of knowledge and establishes collaboration between the genetic searcher and the human expert.
Dynamics of shock propagation and nucleosynthesis conditions in O-Ne-Mg core supernovae

It has been recently proposed that the shocked surface layer s of exploding O-Ne-Mg cores provide the conditions for r-process nucleosynthesis, because their rapid expansion and high entropies enable heavy r-process isotopes to form even in an environment with very low initial neutron excess of the matter. We show here that the most sophisticated available hydrodynamic simulations (in spherical and axial symmetry) do not support this new r-process scenario because they fail to provide the necessary conditions of temperature, entropy, and expansion timescale by significa nt factors. This suggests that, either the formation of r-pr ocess elements works differently than suggested by Ning et al. (2007, NQM07), or that some essential core properties with influence on the explosio n dynamics might be different from those predicted by Nomoto’s progenitor model.
A New Cooperative Diversity Protocol for CDMA Signaling Using Complete Complementary Codes

This paper develops and analyzes a new class of detect-and-forward cooperative diversity protocols adopting complete complementary code sets spreading. The proposed protocol employs a multi-band DS-CDMA transmission tailored to their distinct correlation properties. The complete complementary codes sets have an impulsive autocorrelation sum among each set and orthogonality between respective codes in different sets. The new protocol is shown to be advantageous due to the efficient assignment of the spreading codes through the transmission bands, receiver simplicity, and being applicable to several wireless CDMA systems. The protocol is compared to non-cooperative multi-band DS-CDMA system and illustrates enhanced performance under the effect of AWGN and a single path quasi-static frequency non-selective Rayleigh fading channel.
Digital graffiti: public annotation of multimedia content

Our physical environment is increasingly filled with multimedia content on situated, community public displays. We are designing methods for people to post and acquire digital information to and from public digital displays, and to modify and annotate previously posted content to create publicly observable threads. We support in-the-moment and on-site "person-to-place-to-people-to-persons" content interaction, annotation, augmentation and publication. We draw design inspiration from field work observations of how people remove, modify and mark up paper postings. We present our initial designs in this arena, and some initial user reactions.
Problems of IFRS Implementation in Ukraine and Their Solutions

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in many countries have become a part of national legislation or common practice today. Ukraine, as well, has made the first steps towards the adoption of IFRS taking into view the national specifics. However, the adapting international standards adaptation process has caused problems requiring their urgent solution. This article focuses on the research of particular problems arising in the course of the IFRS implementation in Ukraine. The authors have reasoned the feasibility of the International Financial Reporting Standards introduction in Ukraine and considered the prospects of the international standards use in the national accounting. The stages of the IFRS implementation in Ukraine and the problems arising at each of these stages have been identified. The tools to be used for problem solution have been proposed and analyzed. As a result of the research done the shortcomings of current accounting system reform and ways to optimize the implementation of the IFRS in Ukraine have been highlighted.
Analysis and design of a novel three-phase soft-switching rectifier

A novel power converter configuration of a three-phase soft-switching rectifier comprising four main switches and four auxiliary switches is proposed in this paper. The reduction in number of main switches can also increase the reliability because the control circuits and the auxiliary circuits are thereby reduced to two sets. All main switches in the proposed rectifier operate at zero voltage switching (ZVS) turn-on, while the auxiliary switches operate at zero current switching (ZCS) turn-off. Moreover, the proposed rectifier achieves a near unity power factor, sinusoidal input currents, a regulated output voltage and a bidirectional power flow capability. Finally, a small-signal model is derived and a feed-forward control is presented to achieve almost zero output impedance and zero audio susceptibility. Some experimental results of the proposed soft-switching rectifier, rated 400 W and operated at 40 kHz, are presented for verification.