Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plain-to-plain scan registration based on geometric distributions of points

Scan registration plays a critical role in odometry, mapping and localization for Autonomous Ground Vehicle. In this paper, we propose to adopt a probabilistic framework to model the locally planar patch distributions of candidate points from two or more consecutive scans instead of the original point-to-point mode. This can be regarded as the plain-to-plain measurement metric which ensures a very high confidence in the normal orientation of aligned patches. We take into account the geometric attribution of the scanning beam to pick out feature points and then which can reduce the number of selected points to a lower level. The optimization of transform is achieved by the combination of high frequency but coarse scan-to-scan motion estimation and low frequency but fine scan-to-map batch adjustment. We validate the effectiveness of our method by the qualitative tests on our collected point clouds and the quantitative comparisons on the public KITTI odometry datasets.
Text summarization features selection method using pseudo Genetic-based model

The features are considered the cornerstone of text summarization. The most important issue is what feature to be considered in a text summarization process. Including all the features in the summarization process may not be considered as an optimal solution. Therefore, other methods need to be deployed. In this paper, random five features used and investigated using a (pseudo) Genetic concept as an optimized trainable features selection mechanism. The Document Understanding Conference (DUC2002) used to train our proposed model; hence the objective of this paper is to learn the weight (importance) of each used feature. For each input document using the genetic concept, the size of the generation is defined and the chromosome dimension (genes) is equal to number of features used. Each gene is represents a feature and in binary format. A chromosome with high fitness value is selected to be enrolled in the final round. The average of each gene is computed for all best chromosomes and considered the weight of that feature. Our experimental result shows that our proposed model is able performing features selection process.
'Excess Entry, Ambiguity Seeking, and Competence: An Experimental Investigation'

Excess entry refers to the high failure rate of new entrepreneurial ventures. Economic explanations suggest 'hit and run' entrants and risk-seeking behavior. A psychological explanation is that people (entrepreneurs) are overconfident in their abilities (Camerer & Lovallo, 1999). Characterizing entry decisions as ambiguous gambles, we alternatively suggest–following Heath and Tversky (1991)–that people seek ambiguity when the source of uncertainty is related to their competence. Overconfidence, as such, plays no role. This hypothesis is confirmed in an experimental study that also documents the phenomenon of reference group neglect. Finally, we emphasize the utility that people gain from engaging in activities that contribute to a sense of competence. This is an important force in economic activity that deserves more explicit attention.
Design and operation of an adjustable power factor sinusoidal convertor for variable speed constant frequency generation with permanent magnet synchronous machine

A self-commutated converter for a variable-speed constant-frequency (VSCF) permanent magnet synchronous machine is described. The operation and design of the converter and its associated control circuitry are described in detail. A performance analysis of the system characteristics is given. The impact of the switching frequency, selection of the switches, and quantification of the filter size over the entire operating speed range are included. An experimental verification of the key theoretical results is also provided. <<ETX>>
Adaptive gain processing to improve feedback cancellation in digital hearing aids

Adaptive filters are commonly used to cancel acoustic feedback in hearing aids. The sound quality of hearing aids deteriorates as the hearing aid gain is increased. This paper presents a method to alter the gain function in digital hearing aids to provide additional amplification and better output sound quality. This approach employs a variable, frequency-dependent gain function that is lower at frequencies of the incoming signal where the information is perceptually insignificant. The increase in stable gain over traditional methods and the output sound quality were evaluated with a psychoacoustic experiment on normal-hearing listeners. The results indicate that the method of this paper provides more hearing aid gain and less distortion in the output sound quality than feedback cancelers with fixed gain functions.
Qlisp: parallel processing in Lisp

One of the major problems in converting serial programs to take advantage of parallel processing has been the lack of a multiprocessing language that is both powerful and understandable to programmers. The authors describe multiprocessing extensions to Common Lisp designed to be suitable for studying styles of parallel programming at the medium-grain level in a shared-memory architecture. The resulting language is called Qlisp. Two features for addressing synchronization problems are included in Qlisp. The first is the concept of heavyweight features, and the second is a novel type of function called a partially multiply invoked function. An initial implementation of Qlisp has been carried out, and various experiments performed. Results to date indicate that its performance is about as good as expected. <<ETX>>
A multicentre, randomised trial examining the effect of test procedures measuring emergence from post-traumatic amnesia

Background: Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) tests that record different PTA durations in the same patient, thereby raising measurement accuracy issues, have been reported previously. A major problem lies in determining the end point of PTA. Aims: To delineate areas of discrepancy in PTA tests and to provide independent verification for a criterion signalling emergence from PTA. Methods: In a randomised design, two related PTA procedures were compared, one purportedly more difficult (Westmead PTA Scale, WPTAS) than the other (Modified Oxford PTA Scale, MOPTAS). Eighty two patients in the early stages of PTA were examined daily until emergence, by using the Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test (GOAT) and the WPTAS/MOPTAS. A short battery of cognitive and behavioural measurements was made on three occasions: at the early stage of PTA (time 1), towards the end of PTA when the maximum score (12/12) was first obtained (time 2) and at the traditional criterion for emergence (scoring 12/12 for 3 consecutive days; time 3). Results: No significant difference was recorded in PTA duration between the MOPTAS and WPTAS. Both scales recorded longer PTA durations than the GOAT. By using Kaplan-Meier survival analyses, the WPTAS was found to show a more protracted pattern of emergence at the end stage of PTA than the MOPTAS. A time lag of ≥1 week in the resolution of disorientation as compared with amnesia was observed in 59%cases. Significant improvements occurred on all independent measurements between time 1 and time 2, but on only 2 of 5 cognitive measurements between time 2 and time 3. Conclusions: Although no significant differences in the duration of PTA on the MOPTAS/WPTAS were recorded, emergence from the late stages of PTA occurred more promptly with the MOPTAS. The need for inclusion of both orientation and memory items in PTA tests is highlighted by the frequency of disorientation-amnesia dissociations. The patterns of results on the independent measures suggest that patients who are in PTA for 4 weeks have probably emerged from PTA when they first score 12/12 on the MOPTAS/WPTAS, and this criterion can replace the traditional criterion.
Cartographic indexing into a database of remotely sensed images

The paper aims to develop simple statistical methods for indexing line patterns. The application vehicle used in this study involves indexing into an aerial image database using a cartographic model. The images contained in the database are of urban and semi urban areas. The cartographic model represents a road network known to appear in a subset of the images contained within the database. There are known to be severe imaging distortions present and the data cannot be recovered by applying a simple Euclidean transform to the model. We effect the cartographic indexing into the database using pairwise histograms of the angle differences and the cross ratios of the lengths of line segments extracted from the raw aerial images. We investigate several alternative ways of performing histogram comparison. Our conclusion is that the Matusita and Bhattachargya distances provide significant performance advantages over the L/sub 2/ norm employed by M. Swain and D. Ballard (1990). Moreover, a sensitivity analysis reveals that the angle difference histogram provides the most discriminating index of line structure; it is robust both to image distortion on to the variable quality of input line segmentation.
Iterative Channel Estimation and LDPC Decoding With Encoded Pilots

This paper proposes to encode pilot bits together with information bits by using a systematic encoder and applying them to an iterative receiver, where channel estimation and decoding are iteratively performed. This paper then shows why and how the encoded pilot bits can give a positive gain over a conventional uncoded pilot system. Specifically, this paper considers an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing system that is encoded by a low-density parity-check code under a frequency-selective fading channel and shows theoretical analysis as well as simulation results.
Efficient Monocular SLAM using sparse information filters

A new method for efficiently mapping three dimensional environments from a platform carrying a single calibrated camera, and simultaneously localizing the platform within this map is presented in this paper. This is the Monocular SLAM problem in robotics, which is equivalent to the problem of extracting Structure from Motion (SFM) in computer vision. A novel formulation of Monocular SLAM which exploits recent results from multi-view geometry to partition the feature location measurements extracted from images into providing estimates of environment representation and platform motion is developed. Proposed formulation allows rich geometric information from a large set of features extracted from images to be maximally incorporated during the estimation process, without a corresponding increase in the computational cost, resulting in more accurate estimates. A sparse Extended Information Filter (EIF) which fully exploits the sparse structure of the problem is used to generate camera pose and feature location estimates. Experimental results are provided to verify the algorithm.
Predecessor and Permutation Existence Problems for Sequential Dynamical Systems

A class of finite discrete dynamical systems, called Sequential Dynamical Systems (SDSs), was introduced in [BR99] as a formal model for analyzing simulation systems. Here, we address the complexity of two basic problems and their generalizations for SDSs.Given an SDS $\mathcal{S}$ and a configuration $\mathcal{C}$, the PREDECESSOR EXISTENCE (or PRE) problem is to determine whether there is a configuration $\mathcal{C}'$ such that $\mathcal{S}$ has a transition from $\mathcal{C}'$ to $\mathcal{C}$. Our results provide separations between efficiently solvable and computationally intractable instances of the PRE problem. For example, we show that the PRE problem can be solved efficiently for SDSs with Boolean state values when the node functions are symmetric and the underlying graph is of bounded tree width. In contrast, we show that allowing just one non-symmetric node function renders the problem $\mathbf{NP}$-complete even when the underlying graph is a star (which has a tree width of 1). Our results extend some of the earlier results by Sutner [Su95] and Green [Gr87] on the complexity of the PREDECESSOR EXISTENCE problem for 1-dimensional cellular automata.Given two configurations $\mathcal{C}$ and $\mathcal{C}'$ of a partial SDS $\mathcal{S}$, the PERMUTATION EXISTENCE (or PME) problem is to determine whether there is a permutation of nodes such that $\mathcal{S}$ has a transition from $\mathcal{C}'$ to $\mathcal{C}$ in one step. We show that the PME problem is $\mathbf{NP}$-complete even when the function associated with each node is a simple-threshold function. We also show that the problem can be solved efficiently for SDSs whose underlying graphs are of bounded degree and bounded tree width. We consider a generalized version (GEN-PME) of the PME problem and show that the problem is $\mathbf{NP}$-complete for SDSs where each node function is NOR and the underlying graph has a maximum node degree of 3. When each node computes the OR function or when each node computes the AND function, we show that the GEN-PME problem is solvable in polynomial time.
The Analysis of Software Complexity Using Stochastic Metric Selection

The automated prediction of qualitative attributes such as software complexity is a desirable software engineering goal. A potential technique is to use software metrics as quantitative predictors for these kinds of attributes. We describe a pattern classification method where a large collection of classifiers is presented with randomly selected subsets of software metrics describing modules from a sophisticated biomedical data analysis system. The method identifies the software metric subset that has the highest discriminatory power vis-à-vis software complexity. That is, we identify the metric subset that is most effective at predicting this qualitative attribute. This classification method is empirically evaluated and carefully validated against three benchmark approaches. We demonstrate that this method has utility in the automated prediction of software complexity using quantitative
The IIA super-eightbrane

We present a version of ten-dimensional IIA supergravity containing a 9-form potential for which the field equations are equivalent to those of the standard, massless, IIA theory for vanishing 10-form field strength, F10, and to those of the 'massive' IIA theory for non-vanishing F10. We exhibit a multi 8-brane solution of this theory which preserves half the supersymmetry. We propose this solution as the effective field theory realization of the Dirichlet 8-brane of type IIA superstring theory.
Static Detection of Deadlock for Java Libraries

Library writers wish to provide a guarantee not only that each procedure in the library performs correctly in isolation, but also that the procedures perform correctly when run in conjunction. To this end, we propose a method for static detection of deadlock in Java libraries. Our goal is to determine whether client code exists that may deadlock a library, and, if so, to enable the library writer to discover the calling patterns that can lead to deadlock. Our flow-sensitive, context-sensitive analysis determines possible deadlock configurations using a lock-order graph. This graph represents the order in which locks are acquired by the library. Cycles in the graph indicate deadlock possibilities, and our tool reports all such possibilities. We implemented our analysis and evaluated it on 18 libraries comprising 1245 kLOC. We verified 13 libraries to be free from deadlock, and found 14 distinct deadlocks in 3 libraries. Thesis Supervisor: Michael D. Ernst Title: Associate Professor
Field inversion by consensus and compressed sensing

We study the inversion of a random field from pointwise measurements collected by a sensor network. We assume that the field has a sparse representation in a known basis. To illustrate the approach, consider the inversion of an acoustic field created by the superposition of a discrete number of propagating noisy acoustic sources. Our method combines compressed sensing (sparse reconstruction by ℓ1-constrained optimization) with distributed average consensus (mixing the pointwise sensor measurements by local communication among the sensors). The paper describes the approach and demonstrates its good performance with synthetic data for several scenarios of practical interest.
Two Neutron Star Soft X-Ray Transients in Quiescence: 4U 2129+47 and EXO 0748−676

We report on X-ray observations of two soft X-ray transients containing neutron stars, 4U 2129+47 and EXO 0748-676. Our emphasis is on the quiescent properties of these sources. The X-ray spectrum and light curve of the eclipsing low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) 4U 2129+47 was measured with the ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportinal Counter during its current quiescent state. The quiescent X-ray luminosity of ∼1032.7 ergs s-1 and blackbody temperature kT ∼ 0.21 keV are similar to other quiescent LMXBs. The quiescent X-ray light curve may show orbital modulation, but the statistics are insufficient to distinguish between a V-shaped partial eclipse (as seen in the high state) or a total square-wave eclipse. The similarity in the luminosity and temperature to other (noneclipsing) quiescent LMXBs implies that the vertical structure in the disk that blocked our direct view of the neutron star in the high state has collapsed, and the neutron star is seen directly. EXO 0748-676 was serendipitously observed with the Einstein IPC in quiescence before it was discovered as a bright transient with EXOSAT. Our reanalysis of this quiescent observation finds Lx ∼ 1034.0 ergs s-1, and blackbody temperature kT ∼ 0.22 keV, again similar to other LMXBs in quiescence.
Reflexive visual orienting in response to the social attention of others

Four experiments investigate the hypothesis that cues to the direction of another's social attention produce a reflexive orienting of an observer's visual attention. Participants were asked to make a simple detection response to a target letter which could appear at one of four locations on a visual display. Before the presentation of the target, one of these possible locations was cued by the orientation of a digitized head stimulus, which appeared at fixation in the centre of the display. Uninformative and to-be-ignored cueing stimuli produced faster target detection latencies at cued relative to uncued locations, but only when the cues appeared 100 msec before the onset of the target (Experiments 1 and 2). The effect was uninfluenced by the introduction of a to-be-attended and relatively informative cue (Experiment 3), but was disrupted by the inversion of the head cues (Experiment 4). It is argued that these findings are consistent with the operation of a reflexive, stimulus-driven or exogenous orient.
Effect of antenna height and polarisation on short wireless links

A characterization of the short range (<; 100 cm) narrowband wireless channel is presented, appropriate to a dense network of wireless transceivers operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. Transmission loss measurements have been made in vertical and horizontal polarisations using rectaxial antennas for a range of antenna heights and separation distances. A preliminary interpretation of the results suggests that surface wave propagation may be significant for short wireless links such as might be used in sensor network applications.
Low Power Synthesis of Dynamic Logic Circuits Using Fine-Grained Clock Gating

Clock power consumes a significant fraction of total power dissipation in high speed precharge/evaluate logic styles. In this paper, we present a novel low-cost design methodology for reducing clock power in the active mode for dynamic circuits with fine-grained clock gating. The proposed technique also improves switching power by preventing redundant computations. A logic synthesis approach for domino/skewed logic styles based on Shannon expansion is proposed, that dynamically identifies idle parts of logic and applies clock gating to them to reduce power in the active mode of operation. Results on a set of MCNC benchmark circuits in predictive 70nm process exhibit improvements of 15% to 64% in total power with minimal overhead in terms of delay and area compared to conventionally synthesized domino/skewed logic
Associations between TNF-α-308A/G Polymorphism and Susceptibility with Dermatomyositis: A Meta-Analysis

Background Some surveys had inspected the effects of the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-308A/G polymorphism on susceptibility to dermatomyositis (DM), and showed mixed results. To briefly review these consequences, a comprehensive meta-analysis was carried out to estimate the relationship between them much more accurately. Methods Relevant documents dated to February 2014 were acquired from the PUBMED, MEDLINE, and EMBASE databases. The number of the genotypes and/or alleles for the TNF-α-308A/G in the DM and control subjects was extracted and statistical analysis was conducted using STATA 11.2 software. Summary odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to calculate the risk of DM with TNF-α-308A/G. Stratified analysis based on ethnicity and control population source was also performed. Results 555 patients with DM and 1005 controls from eight published investigations were finally involved in this meta-analysis. Combined analysis revealed that the overall ORs for the TNF-α-308A allele were 2.041 (95% CIs 1.528–2.725, P<0.0001) in DM. Stratification by ethnicity indicated the TNF-α-308A allele polymorphism was found to be significantly associated with DM in Europeans (OR = 1.977, 95% CI 1.413–2.765, P<0.0001). The only study conducted on TNF-α-308A/G polymorphism in Asians could not be used in ethnicity-stratified meta-analysis. Meta-analysis of the AA+AG vs. GG (dominant model) and AA vs. GG (additive model) of this polymorphism revealed a significant association with DM in overall populations and Europeans. Conclusions Our meta-analysis demonstrated that the TNF-α-308A/G polymorphism in the TNF gene might contribute to DM susceptibility, especially in European population. However, further studies with large sample sizes and among different ethnicity populations should be required to verify the association.
Evaluation of the performance of polynomial set index functions

Randomising set index functions, randomisation functions for short, can significantly reduce conflict misses in data caches by placing cache blocks in a conflict-free manner. XOR-based functions are a broad class of functions that generally exhibit few conflict misses. Topham and Gonźalez claimed that the sub-class of functions based on division of polynomials over GF (2) contains those functions that achieve the best conflict-free mapping. Furthermore, they claim that an even smaller class of functions, namely those based on irreducible polynomials, perform better still. This paper investigates these claims in a nove l way, by evaluating many randomisation functions from the different classes. The minimum, maximum and average miss rates are used to compare the different classes of randomisation functions. To avoid computing miss rates for all of these functions, we estimate the miss rates using a semianalytical technique. The evaluation shows that polynomia l randomisation functions are not the best possible choice, although they perform relatively well. Irreducible polyno mials offer no measurable benefits over reducible polynomials, while they may be a lot more complex to implement.