Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robustness Analysis of Global Exponential Stability of Recurrent Neural Networks in the Presence of Time Delays and Random Disturbances

In recent years, the global stability of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) has been investigated extensively. It is well known that time delays and external disturbances can derail the stability of RNNs. In this paper, we analyze the robustness of global stability of RNNs subject to time delays and random disturbances. Given a globally exponentially stable neural network, the problem to be addressed here is how much time delay and noise the RNN can withstand to be globally exponentially stable in the presence of delay and noise. The upper bounds of the time delay and noise intensity are characterized by using transcendental equations for the RNNs to sustain global exponential stability. Moreover, we prove theoretically that, for any globally exponentially stable RNNs, if additive noises and time delays are smaller than the derived lower bounds arrived at here, then the perturbed RNNs are guaranteed to also be globally exponentially stable. Three numerical examples are provided to substantiate the theoretical results.
A novel SIFT-based codebook generation for handwritten Tamil character recognition

A method for the off-line recognition of Tamil handwriting characters based on local feature extraction is investigated. In the proposed method each pre-processed character is represented by a set of local SIFT feature vectors. From a large set of SIFT descriptors, the key idea is to create a codebook for each character using K-means clustering algorithm. K-means is an optimisation algorithm but this algorithm takes very long time to converge. We construct an initial codebook by using the Linde Buzo and Gray (LBG) algorithm so that the convergence time for K-means is reduced considerably. Target character is recognised into one of twenty categories by k-nearest neighbour classification. An average recognition rate of 87% on the character level has been achieved in experiments using six thousand training and two thousand testing images of twenty selected characters. Further study may include more characters and more samples being recognised with better classifier.
Threats to the validity and value of empirical assessments of the accuracy of coverage-based fault locators

Resuming past work on coverage-based fault localization, we find that empirical assessments of its accuracy are subject to so many imponderables that they are of limited value. To improve on this situation, we have compiled a comprehensive list of threats to be considered when attempting such assessments in the future. In addition, we propose the establishment of theoretical lower and upper bounds of fault localization accuracy that depend on properties of the subject programs (including their test suites) only. We make a suggestion for a lower bound and show that well-known fault locators do not uniformly perform better.
MIMO Single-Carrier Scheme Employing SVD-Based Processing in the Frequency Domain

In this contribution, we present a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system employing single-carrier (SC) transmission with frequency domain preand post-processing to allow a further adaptation of the transmission. The so-called dominant eigenmode transmission (DET), which is based on the singular value decomposition (SVD) algorithm, is deployed as a typical application for such a pre- and post-processed system. Furthermore, the MIMO SC-FDE based and the MIMO OFDM based schemes with and without DET is compared for equal data-rate systems by means of computer simulation, showing a significant performance advantage for MIMO SC-FDE based schemes
Towards a unifying grasp representation for imitation learning on humanoid robots

In this paper, we present a grasp representation in task space exploiting position information of the fingertips. We propose a new way for grasp representation in the task space, which provides a suitable basis for grasp imitation learning. Inspired by neuroscientific findings, finger movement synergies in the task space together with fingertip positions are used to derive a parametric low-dimensional grasp representation. Taking into account correlating finger movements, we describe grasps using a system of virtual springs to connect the fingers, where different grasp types are defined by parameterizing the spring constants. Based on such continuous parameterization, all instantiation of grasp types and all hand preshapes during a grasping action (reach, preshape, enclose, open) can be represented. We present experimental results, in which the spring constants are merely estimated from fingertip motion tracking using a stereo camera setup of a humanoid robot. The results show that the generated grasps based on the proposed representation are similar to the observed grasps.
Effects of single-dose atorvastatin on interleukin-6, interferon gamma, and myocardial no-reflow in a rabbit model of acute myocardial infarction and reperfusion

The mechanisms of statins relieving the no-reflow phenomenon and the effects of single-dose statins on it are not well known. This study sought to investigate the effects of inflammation on the no-reflow phenomenon in a rabbit model of acute myocardial infarction and reperfusion (AMI/R) and to evaluate the effects of single-dose atorvastatin on inflammation and myocardial no-reflow. Twenty-four New Zealand white male rabbits (5-6 months old) were randomized to three groups of eight: a sham-operated group, an AMI/R group, and an atorvastatin-treated group (10 mg/kg). Animals in the latter two groups were subjected to 4 h of coronary occlusion followed by 2 h of reperfusion. Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expression of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) in normal and infarcted (reflow and no-reflow) myocardial tissue was determined by immunohistochemical methods. The area of no-reflow and necrosis was evaluated pathologically. Levels of serum IL-6 were significantly lower in the atorvastatin group than in the AMI/R group (P<0.01). Expression of IFN-γ in infarcted reflow and no-reflow myocardial tissue was also significantly lower in the atorvastatin group than in the AMI/R group. The mean area of no-reflow [47.01% of ligation area (LA)] was significantly smaller in the atorvastatin group than in the AMI/R group (85.67% of LA; P<0.01). The necrosis area was also significantly smaller in the atorvastatin group (85.94% of LA) than in the AMI/R group (96.56% of LA; P<0.01). In a secondary analysis, rabbits in the atorvastatin and AMI/R groups were divided into two groups based on necrosis area (90% of LA): a small group (<90% of LA) and a large group (>90% of LA). There was no significant difference in the area of no-reflow between the small (61.40% of LA) and large groups (69.87% of LA; P>0.05). Single-dose atorvastatin protected against inflammation and myocardial no-reflow and reduced infarct size during AMI/R in rabbits. No-reflow was not dependent on the reduction of infarct size.
A new simulation method for nonlinear characteristics of SAW devices

In recent years, the linearity performance of the RF front end part of mobile phone handsets is a one of very hot topics. In such a situation, the requirement of high linearity to SAW duplexers has become strong. In this paper, a novel simulation method for nonlinear signals has been proposed. The nonlinear stress and current are represented by introducing nonlinear terms into the piezoelectric fundamental equations. They are connected as voltage and current sources in the electrical equivalent circuit of a SAW device, and the nonlinear signals observed at arbitrary external terminals are estimated. Very good agreement between the simulation and the measured values has been obtained for the third-order harmonic and IMD of SAW resonators.
Holt ’ s exponential smoothing model for interval-valued time series

Interval-valued time series are interval-valued data that are collected in a chronological sequence through time. This paper adapts an approach to forecasting interval valued-time series based on Holt’s exponential smoothing method. In the adapted Holt’s method for interval-valued time series, the smoothing parameters are estimated by using techniques for non-linear optimization problems with bound constraints. The practicality of the method is demonstrated by simulation studies and applications using real interval-valued stock market time series.
Dialogisk lesing som metode i barnehagen for å styrke barns språkferdigheter på andrespråket

Hensikten med studien var a undersoke hvordan en 10-ukers intervensjon (totalt 40 okter) med dialogisk lesing ville pavirke flerspraklige barnas andresprakslaering. Utvalget bestod av 72 flerspraklige barnehagebarn (gjennomsnittsalder 5,3 ar; 39 jenter og 33 gutter) fra 16 norske barnehager. Barnehagene ble tilfeldig fordelt til intervensjon med dialogisk lesing eller kontrollintervensjon med matematikk. Resultatene viste at intervensjonen med dialogisk lesing hadde signifikant effekt post-test pa grammatiske ferdigheter sammenlignet med kontrollgruppen, men ikke signifikant effekt pa vokabular, fonologisk bevissthet eller narrative sprakferdigheter. Resultatene tyder pa at dialogisk lesing kan vaere en saerlig effektiv metode for a utvikle grammatiske ferdigheter i andrespraket. ABSTRACT English title: Dialogic Reading as a Means of Strengthening Children's Second Language Competence in Preschool The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of a 10-week long intervention (40 sessions) with dialogic reading on children’s second language skills. The study included 72 bilingual children (mean age 5.3 years; 39 girls and 33 boys) from 16 preschools. The preschools were randomly assigned as intervention or control group. The result showed that intervention had significant effect on grammatical knowledge compared with the control group. No significant post-test differences were found between the intervention and the control group on vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness or narrative skills. The findings suggest that dialogic reading could be particularly effective to enhance the bilingual children’s second language grammatical knowledge.
Design and Development of the Long-Jumping "Grillo" Mini Robot

This paper describes the design of a fast long-jumping robot conceived to move in unstructured environments through simple feed-forward control laws. Despite the apparent similarities with hopping, jumping dynamics is peculiar and involve non-trivial issues on actuation powering, energy saving and stability. The "Grillo" robot described here is a quadruped, 50-mm robot that weights about 15 grams and is suited for a long-jumping gait. Inspired by frog locomotion, a tiny motor load the springs connected to the hind limbs. At take-off, an escapement mechanism releases the loaded springs. This provides a peak power output that can exceed several times the maximum motor power. In this way, the actuation and energy systems can be significantly reduced in weight and size. On the other hand, passive dynamics is exploited by compliant forelegs, that let to partially recover the impact energy in their elastic recoil. Equipped with a 0.2W DC motor, the robot is dimensioned to achieve a forward speed of 1.5 m/s, which corresponds to about 30 body length per second.
Atrial Tachycardia Remodeling of Pulmonary Vein Cardiomyocytes: Comparison With Left Atrium and Potential Relation to Arrhythmogenesis

Background—The pulmonary veins (PVs) are important in the pathophysiology of atrial fibrillation (AF), as is atrial tachycardia (AT) remodeling. The relative importance of AT remodeling in PVs versus other atrial sites is unknown. The present study assessed AT-induced cellular changes in PVs versus left atrium (LA) and their relationship to arrhythmogenesis. Methods and Results—We studied ionic currents (single-cell patch clamp) and action potentials (APs; coronary-perfused multicellular preparations) in the PVs and LA free wall of dogs after 7-day AT pacing (400 bpm), as well as in nonpaced control dogs. In controls, rapid (IKr) and slow (IKs) delayed-rectifier currents were larger in PVs; transient-outward (Ito), inward-rectifier (IK1), and L-type Ca2+ (ICa) currents and AP duration were smaller. AT remodeling reduced ICa and Ito, left IKr and IKs unchanged, and increased IK1 in both LA and PV. AT reduced action potential duration in both LA and PV. LA–PV AP differences became smaller in AT than in control dogs. Premature extrastimuli induced atrial tachyarrhythmias at 4.5±2.8% (mean±SEM) sites in 6 control multicellular preparations compared with 64.2±7.3% sites in 9 AT-remodeled preparations (P<0.001). Resection of all PVs failed to alter atrial tachyarrhythmia inducibility in AT-remodeled preparations (67.5±13.1%). PV resection did not significantly change tachyarrhythmia duration (mean 3.9 seconds per heart, range 0.7 to 15.7 seconds before resection; mean 7.0 seconds per heart, range 0.9 to 36.0 seconds after resection) or cycle length (120±6 ms before resection, 115±8 ms after resection). Conclusions—AT produces qualitatively similar ionic remodeling in LA and PVs but reduces PV–LA AP differences. PVs are not essential for AT-induced atrial tachyarrhythmia promotion in this model, which may relate to the failure of PV isolation to prevent AF in some patient populations.
No one loop back reaction in chaotic inflation

We use an invariant operator to study the quantum gravitational back reaction to scalar perturbations during chaotic inflation. Our operator is the inverse covariant d'Alembertian expressed as a function of the local value of the inflaton. In the slow roll approximation this observable gives $\ensuremath{-}{1/(2H}^{2})$ for an arbitrary homogeneous and isotropic geometry; hence it is a good candidate for measuring the local expansion rate even when the spacetime is not perfectly homogeneous and isotropic. Corrections quadratic in the scalar creation and annihilation operators of the initial value surface are included using the slow-roll and long wavelength approximations. The result is that all terms which could produce a significant secular back reaction cancel from the operator, before one even takes its expectation value. Although it is not relevant to the current study, we also develop a formalism for using stochastic samples to study back reaction.
Association Rule Mining: Applications in Various Areas

This paper presents the various areas in which the association rules are applied for effective decision making. Association rule mining seeks to discover associations among transactions encoded in a database. It can be used to improve decision making in a wide variety of applications such as: market basket analysis, medical diagnosis, bio-medical literature, protein sequences, census data, logistic regression, fraud detection in web, CRM of credit card business etc.
IC 4406: A Radio-Infrared View

IC 4406 is a large (about 100″ × 30″) southern bipolar planetary nebula composed of two elongated lobes extending from a bright central region where there is evidence for the presence of a large torus of gas and dust. We show new observations of this source performed with IRAC (Spitzer Space Telescope) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The radio maps show that the flux from the ionized gas is concentrated in the bright central region and originates in a clumpy structure previously observed in Hα, while in the infrared images filaments and clumps can be seen in the extended nebular envelope, the central region showing toroidal emission. Modeling of the infrared emission leads to the conclusion that several dust components are present in the nebula.
Biomimetic self-healing of advanced composite structures using hollow glass fibres

The use of functional repair components stored inside hollow reinforcing fibres is being considered as a self-repair system for future composite structures. The incorporation of a self-healing capability within a variety of materials, including fibre reinforced polymers (FRPs), has been investigated by a number of workers previously. This paper considers the placement of self-healing plies within an FRP to mitigate damage occurrence and restore mechanical strength. The flexural strength results indicate that the inclusion of hollow fibres results in an initial strength reduction of 16% from a baseline FRP laminate. However, the effect of impact damage on the performance of the baseline FRP laminate and the laminate containing the hollow fibre layers was comparable, with a flexural strength typically 72–74% of the undamaged state. Self-healing of the damage site saw the laminate recover 87% of the undamaged baseline FRP laminate’s strength. This study provides clear evidence that an FRP laminate containing hollow fibre layers can successfully self-heal. This result suggests that biomimetic repair is now possible for advanced composite structures.
DFTMAX Compression Shared I / O Minimize the Cost of Testing ARM ® Processor-based Designs and Other Multicore SoCs

synopsys.com Introductions A significant design trend in recent years has been the widespread use of ARM® multicore processors in systems-on-chip (SoCs). Designers’ ability to easily and cost-effectively employ multiple, high-performance embedded processors to meet the computational demands of the end application has helped fuel the explosive growth in mobile computing, networking infrastructure, and digital infotainment systems.
Barcelona Economics Working Paper Series the Provision of Relative Performance Feedback Information: an Experimental Analysis of Performance and Happiness the Provision of Relative Performance Feedback Information: an Experimental Analysis of Performance and Happiness *

This paper studies the effect of providing relative performance feedback information on individual performance and on individual affective response, when agents are rewarded according to their absolute performance. In a laboratory setup , agents perform a real effort task and when receiving feedback, they are asked to rate their happiness, arousal and feeling of dominance. Control subjects learn only their absolute performance, while the treated subjects additionally learn the average performance in the session. Performance is 17 percent higher when relative performance feedback is provided. Furthermore, although feedback increases the performance independent of the content (i.e., performing above or below the average), the content is determinant for the affective response. When subjects are treated, the inequality in the happiness and the feeling of dominance between those subjects performing above and below the average increases by 8 and 6 percentage points, respectively.
The intergenerational transmission of Australian Indigenous languages: why language maintenance programmes should be family-focused

ABSTRACT By 2050, the majority of Australia’s surviving Indigenous languages are likely to become extinct. The intergenerational transmission of languages in which children acquire languages from their parents and grandparents is a key mechanism for reversing language shift, but many Australian children whose parents speak an Indigenous language do not speak that language. Using a unique, national survey of Australian Indigenous children, I identify factors associated with the successful intergenerational transmission of Indigenous languages within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. Results highlight the importance of parents’ language use. Although community-level characteristics account for some of the variance in successful language transmission, parents who use Indigenous languages at home, speak them as well as they speak English, and do not also speak a creole language are more likely to pass those languages onto their children.
European Organization for Nuclear Research Measurement of the 0 C Lifetime the Wa89 Collaboration

We present the measurement of the lifetime of the 0 c we have performed using three independent data samples from two diierent decay modes. Using a ? beam of 340 GeV/c we have obtained clean signals for the 0 c decaying into ? K ? + + and ? + ? + , avoiding topological cuts normally used in charm analysis. The short but measurable lifetime of the 0 c is demonstrated by a clear enhancement of the signals at short but nite decay lengths. Using a continuous maximum likelihood method we determined the lifetime to be 0 c =55 +13 ? 11 (stat) +18 ? 23 (syst) fs. This makes the 0 c the shortest living weakly decaying particle observed so far. The short value of the lifetime connrms the predicted pattern of the charmed baryon lifetimes and demonstrates that the strong interaction plays a vital role in the lifetimes of charmed hadrons.
Legacy effects of anaerobic soil disinfestation on soil bacterial community composition and production of pathogen-suppressing volatiles

There is increasing evidence that microbial volatiles (VOCs) play an important role in natural suppression of soil-borne diseases, but little is known on the factors that influence production of suppressing VOCs. In the current study we examined whether a stress-induced change in soil microbial community composition would affect the production by soils of VOCs suppressing the plant-pathogenic oomycete Pythium. Using pyrosequencing of 16S ribosomal gene fragments we compared the composition of bacterial communities in sandy soils that had been exposed to anaerobic disinfestation (AD), a treatment used to kill harmful soil organisms, with the composition in untreated soils. Three months after the AD treatment had been finished, there was still a clear legacy effect of the former anaerobic stress on bacterial community composition with a strong increase in relative abundance of the phylum Bacteroidetes and a significant decrease of the phyla Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes, Nitrospirae, Chloroflexi, and Chlorobi. This change in bacterial community composition coincided with loss of production of Pythium suppressing soil volatiles (VOCs) and of suppression of Pythium impacts on Hyacinth root development. One year later, the composition of the bacterial community in the AD soils was reflecting that of the untreated soils. In addition, both production of Pythium-suppressing VOCs and suppression of Pythium in Hyacinth bioassays had returned to the levels of the untreated soil. GC/MS analysis identified several VOCs, among which compounds known to be antifungal, that were produced in the untreated soils but not in the AD soils. These compounds were again produced 15 months after the AD treatment. Our data indicate that soils exposed to a drastic stress can temporarily lose pathogen suppressive characteristics and that both loss and return of these suppressive characteristics coincides with shifts in the soil bacterial community composition. Our data are supporting the suggested importance of microbial VOCs in the natural buffer of soils against diseases caused by soil-borne pathogens.