Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhanced vector network analyzer time domain measurement using normalized superimposition

The measurement of the complex scattering parameters of a device under test (DUT) in the frequency domain using a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) is common practice. Further investigation in the time domain is often obtained where the Inverse Fourier Transformation of the measurement results is examined. Thus, the impulse and/or step responses of the DUT can be obtained, which give another form of representation of the characteristics of the DUT. One of the main problems in this scheme is the introduction of unwanted side lobes that are caused when applying FT or IFT to measured signals that are band-limited. One technique to reduce side lobes is windowing, but this has a broadening effect on the main-lobe. The Spatially Variant Apodization (SVA) and superimposition (SI) techniques have been seen to address these issues in the past, and in this paper an enhancement to the SI technique through a normalisation process is investigated. The SI technique is seen to preserve the position, amplitude and phase of the main lobe responses from a DUT in simulated and measured data, while reducing side lobes and therefore confusion in the time domain representation of the DUT. In that sense a better approximation to the ideal impulse response of the DUT can be obtained.
Putting Haptics into the Ambience

In an attentionally overloaded world, relief will come only from interfaces between humans and computation that are able to provide information in the background of our sensory and cognitive processes. Haptic displays may have a special role to play in this emerging movement toward ambient interfaces, because the touch sense is well suited to present many types of information in a way that treads lightly on our mental resources. This paper offers an introduction to the notion of ambient information display, and explores why and how the haptic channel could contribute. It begins with a discussion of the attentional problems posed by contemporary interface technology, and a broad overview of ambient interfaces themselves: their purpose, specification, features, and some general examples. Sense is made of the haptic ambient design space through a morphology of the functionality and social configurations exhibited by existing and envisioned examples. Finally, reflections on design principles and challenges for ambient haptic interfaces are aimed at inspiring, shaping, and informing future development in this area.
2016 Ieee International Conference on Big Data (big Data) towards Understanding Word Embeddings: Automatically Explaining Similarity of Terms

—Word embedding techniques (e.g., Word2Vec, GloVe) have been recently used for variety of applications with quite good rate of success. They allow to capture word semantics and syntactics with decreased dimensionality based on the concept of distributional vector representations. Vector representations can be then used for similarity comparison. However, if we treat the word embeddings as a kind of encryption process, it is difficult to decrypt their meaning. This makes it problematic to justify why particular terms should be considered similar as well as to prove that the overall quality of the trained vector space is high. Evaluating the accuracy of the similarity computation between any two given terms is difficult due to the lack of concrete evidences to explain and support the similarity. In this paper, we propose a novel way to automatically extract evidences represented as term pairs to explain the similarity of arbitrary terms. Our approach is unsupervised and can be applied to either homogeneous or heterogeneous vector spaces.
Supply chain leagility using an integrated AHP-Fuzzy-QFD approach

Nowadays supply chain management has become one of the powerful business concepts for organizations to gain a competitive advantage in global market. This is the reason that now competition between the firms has been replaced by competitiveness among the supply chains. Moreover, the popular literature dealing with supply chain is replete with discussions of leanness and agility. Agile manufacturing is adopted where demand is volatile while lean manufacturing is used in stable demands. However, in some situations it is advisable to utilize a different paradigm, called leagility, to enable a total supply chain strategy. Although, various generic hybrids have been defined to clarify means of satisfying the conflicting requirements of low cost and fast response, little research is available to provide approaches to enhance supply chain leagility.By linking Leagile Attributes and Leagile Enablers (LAs and LEs), this paper, based upon Quality Function Deployment (QFD), strives to identify viable LEs to achieve a defined set of LAs. Due to its wide applicability, AHP is deployed to prioritize LAs. Also, fuzzy logic is used to deal with linguistics judgments expressing relationships and correlations required in QFD. To illustrate the usefulness and ease of application of the approach, the approach was exemplified with the help of a case study in chemical industry.
Situating the transient user: overcoming challenges in the design of e-government systems

e-Government systems present new challenges for user involvement in the design process. Existing user-centred and participatory design methodologies were mainly developed for situations where a user is in the workplace. In e-government applications the user population is heterogeneous and numerous; the increasing ubiquity of e-government systems also questions the concept of “the interface”. This paper presents the results of a study of discourses of e-government users in two cases studies of interaction with new information systems in transport, which illuminate usability problems arising from a failure to prioritise users’ needs at all stages. An approach is proposed which accounts for the values as well as the goals of users, appropriating stakeholder analysis and ideas from Soft Systems Methodology while recognising that the routine actions of users in the real world are situated and contingent.
Designing and Mapping of a Turbo Decoder for 3 G Mobile Systems Using Dynamically Reconfigurable Architecture

Turbo codes enable high quality communication links by offering exceptional error correction capabilities. Turbo coding is proposed in the coming Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems (UMTS) standard by the 3GPP for high data rates channels. Direct realization of the Turbo decoder algorithm in hardware encounters many challenges, such as algorithm complexity, large silicon area, high power consumption and low throughput. Reconfigurable computing is emerging as a favorable solution that provides flexibility and power savings without noticeable sacrifice in performance. As a possible application, a Turbo decoder compatible with 3GPP standard is designed and mapped onto new dynamically reconfigurable architecture that is specifically designed for the 3 generation and future wireless mobile terminals. The implementation exploits the parallelism in the Turbo decoder algorithm and shows the possibilities of the architecture to be dynamically reconfigured in time and space. Simulation results are given.
A Zone-based bandwidth allocation protocol in WiMAX multi-hop relay networks

For mobile multi-hop wireless network, IEEE 802.16j/MR network can not only supply large area wireless deployment, but also provide high quality network service to mobile users. In this paper, we will be focusing on QoS supporting for mobile users in the IEEE 802.16-MR network. The probability of a mobile user who visits a RS is known beforehand. With the same visiting probability of each RS and the system-specified size of the range for bandwidth allocation, BS can calculate the required bandwidth to meet the mobile user's demand and allocate appropriate bandwidth for a mobile user includes the user's current relay station and the nearby relay stations. The range of bandwidth allocation for mobile users is called the Zone in this paper; and the proposed scheme is therefore a Zone-based bandwidth allocation protocol. The simulation results demonstrate that Zone-based bandwidth allocation protocol can reduce QoS degradation and bandwidth re-allocation overhead.
Data integrity protection through security monitoring for just-in-time news feeds

There has recently been a major shift in news related media consumption trends and readers are increasingly relying on just-in-time news feeds versus the traditional newspaper print medium. Cloud-networked infrastructures are being setup by the media companies to aggregate news feeds from affiliates, and to meet the elastic demands of Internet-scale users accessing news feeds. However, cyber attacks could compromise these just-in-time news feed services and hackers could particularly launch data integrity as well as denial-of-service attacks that: (a) tarnish the reputation of media companies and (b) impact the service availability for users. In this paper, we describe data integrity and availability checking techniques to protect just-in-time news feed services against cyber attacks in use cases such as: (a) “Data-in-Motion” - when obtaining just-in-time news feeds (e.g., RSS feeds) from affiliates and (b) “Data-at-Rest” - when compiled news feeds reside within cloud-networked infrastructure for real-time premium subscriber access. Using concepts of distributed trust and anomaly detection and a realistic testbed environment in the DeterLab infrastructure, we show the impact of the different cyber attacks and propose solutions to defend against them.
‘Women Are Bad at Math, but I'M Not, Am I?’ Fragile Mathematical Self–Concept Predicts Vulnerability to A Stereotype Threat Effect on Mathematical Performance

The present research reports the results of three studies showing that individuals with a fragile self–concept in the domain of performance are particularly vulnerable to stereotype threat effects. Specifically, women who explicitly described themselves as rather mathematical but whose implicit self–concepts contradicted these claims were vulnerable to stereotype threat effects on mathematical performance. This effect was robust across three studies, independent of the subtleness or content of the stereotype threat manipulation. Additionally, it was shown that the effect was mediated by anxious worrying (Study 3). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Information Fusion for Hazard Analysis in Multi-Sensor Systems based on Bayesian Networks

Modern sliding table saws are equipped with several passive safety devices. However, alone in Germany several hundred severe injuries or limb amputations occur each year due disregarding safety regulations and demounting of passive safety devices. Thus an active safety system is developed in order to protect the machine user. For this purpose, a multi sensor system for hazard analysis based on infrared and capacitive sensors is applied. When a danger- ous situation is recognized by the developed sensors, the system triggers a rapid saw blade braking device. The hazard analysis is carried out by means of an information fusion of the sensor signals based on a Bayesian network. For the fusion process the mea- surement values of the sensors have to preprocessed appropriately. The system is implemented in C and LabView. Therefore the system runs in real-time. Validation tests have shown the very reliable function of the developed hazard analysis. Bayesian network, measurement fusion, infrared sen- sor, capacitive sensor, hazard analysis
Analysis of Brownian Dynamics Simulations of Reversible Bimolecular Reactions

A class of Brownian dynamics algorithms for stochastic reaction-diffusion models which include reversible bimolecular reactions is presented and analyzed. The method is a generalization of the $\lambda$–$\overline{\varrho}$ model for irreversible bimolecular reactions which was introduced in [R. Erban and S. J. Chapman, Phys. Biol., 6 (2009), 046001]. The formulae relating the experimentally measurable quantities (reaction rate constants and diffusion constants) with the algorithm parameters are derived. The probability of geminate recombination is also investigated.
Towards an analytic model of security flaws

A simple model of the dynamics of flaws within a software security system is presented. We demonstrate how this model can be fully captured by a Galton-Watson branching process and thus can be effectively calculated upon. Using the limit behaviour of a Galton-Watson branching process, we can demonstrate how a multi-layered security system can become secure even with ’poor’ flaw correction. Finally we make some observations about how the parameters of our models can be estimated and how further results from branching processes could be exploited within security systems.
Frequency coding of particle motion by saccular afferents of a teleost fish

SUMMARY The saccule is known to play an important role in hearing in fishes. In this study we investigated spatial frequency selectivity of single saccular afferents in a teleost fish (the sleeper goby, Dormitator latifrons) to acoustic particle motion at 50–400 Hz. Saccular afferents have similar distributions of best sensitivity (−90.0 to −54.8 dB re. 1 g, mean ± s.d.=−81.1±8.0 dB) and characteristic frequencies (≤50–400 Hz, median=80 Hz) along the longitudinal, side-to-side and dorsoventral axes of fish. They were lowpass, bandpass or broadly tuned to low frequencies with Q50% at 15 dB above threshold in ranges from 0.28 to 3.30 (1.46±0.71), 0.18 to 2.54 (1.36±0.78), and 0.41 to 4.26 (2.25±0.1.12) along the three axes, showing slightly greater frequency tuning in the vertical axis than horizontal axes. At supra threshold we found tuning plasticity, i.e. best frequencies of saccular afferents shifted to high frequencies as stimulus level increased. Isolevel rate–frequency curves were asymmetrical with shallow slopes at the low-frequency edge and steep slopes at the high-frequency edge. Saccular afferents of the sleeper goby have similar capabilities of coding particle motion frequencies in the three orthogonal axes. Results from this and other studies suggest that (1) the saccule is the major hearing organ in this species, (2) the saccule of this species is capable of encoding sound frequencies in three dimensional space, and (3) saccular afferents in fishes without accessory auditory structures exhibit similar frequency selectivity in response to particle motion.
Indoor waypoint UAV navigation using a RGB-D system

This paper presents a method for estimating the orientation and position of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), through processing information provided by a RGB-D sensor and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) in order to inspect predefined points in an indoor environment. A fusion filter is implemented to correct the existing drift position and orientation errors on a commercial AR.Drone quadrotor model. In addition, it was adopted a PD controller to position the UAV in such points with predetermined orientations. Experiments involving abrupt maneuvers to induce errors in the estimation of position and orientation were carried out, to check the effectiveness of the developed 3D data capture system and the designed controller. Results show the success of the new approach integrating a data fusion system to estimate UAV position and orientation.
Greek Anaphora in Cross-Linguistic Perspective

The Homeric and Classical Greek systems of referentially dependent pronouns support an approach to binding and anaphoric reference which characterizes pronouns by two cross-classifying features, which specify the maximal domain in which their antecedent must be located, and whether they can overlap in reference with a coargument (Kiparsky 2002). By treating reflexivity as a special case of referential dependency, this approach predicts a class of referentially dependent non-reflexive anaphors, or discourse anaphors, whose characteristic is that they need not have a structural antecedent but can serve as reflexives in contexts where a dedicated reflexive is unavailable. This class is instantiated in the Greek clitic anaphors eo, e, oi, min. It also predicts a class of reflexive pronouns which must be disjoint in reference from a coargument, attested in Homeric Greek as the bare reflexive e-. Greek also gives some support to the Blocking principle, which dictates the use of the most restricted pronoun available in a given context. The proposal is compared to the well-known theory of Reinhart a Reuland (1993) on the basis of Greek as well as Germanic (Swedish, German, Dutch, Frisian, Old English), and is shown to provide a better answer to the challenge raised by Evans a Levinson (2009).
Iterative Bayesian word segmentation for unsupervised vocabulary discovery from phoneme lattices

In this paper we present an algorithm for the unsupervised segmentation of a lattice produced by a phoneme recognizer into words. Using a lattice rather than a single phoneme string accounts for the uncertainty of the recognizer about the true label sequence. An example application is the discovery of lexical units from the output of an error-prone phoneme recognizer in a zero-resource setting, where neither the lexicon nor the language model (LM) is known. We propose a computationally efficient iterative approach, which alternates between the following two steps: First, the most probable string is extracted from the lattice using a phoneme LM learned on the segmentation result of the previous iteration. Second, word segmentation is performed on the extracted string using a word and phoneme LM which is learned alongside the new segmentation. We present results on lattices produced by a phoneme recognizer on the WSJ-CAM0 dataset. We show that our approach delivers superior segmentation performance than an earlier approach found in the literature, in particular for higher-order language models.
NMR-detected hydrogen exchange and molecular dynamics simulations provide structural insight into fibril formation of prion protein fragment 106–126

PrP106–126, a peptide corresponding to residues 107–127 of the human prion protein, induces neuronal cell death by apoptosis and causes proliferation and hypertrophy of glia, reproducing the main neuropathological features of prion-related transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Although PrP106–126 has been shown to form amyloid-like fibrils in vitro, their structural properties have not been elucidated. Here, we investigate the conformational characteristics of a fibril-forming fragment of the mouse prion protein, MoPrP106–126, by using electron microscopy, CD spectroscopy, NMR-detected hydrogen–deuterium exchange measurements, and molecular dynamics simulations. The fibrils contain ≈50% β-sheet structure, and strong amide exchange protection is limited to the central portion of the peptide spanning the palindromic sequence VAGAAAAGAV. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that MoPrP106–126 in water assumes a stable structure consisting of two four-stranded parallel β-sheets that are tightly packed against each other by methyl–methyl interactions. Fibril formation involving polyalanine stacking is consistent with the experimental observations.
A Renewed Social Institution: Non-marital Cohabitation *

In this article it is shown that cohabitation (not legally married but living under marriage-like conditions) is an old Nordic tradition still remaining to some extent in Iceland and frequently occurring in Sweden and Denmark. Evidence proves that the ancient tradition of cohabitation is returning. It is assumed that the phenomenon of a post-industrialized society is instrumental in causing the societal change into this renewed social institution of cohabitation. It is also shown that the dyad as a stable unit is still popular, and thus that the nuclear family system is still preferred and prevalent.
The neurosteroid 3 alpha, 5 apha-THP has antiseizure and possible neuroprotective effects in an animal model of epilepsy.

Some anticonvulsant drugs may suppress seizures by enhancing activity of GABAergic systems. Progesterone (P)'s anti-convulsant and neuroprotective effects may be due to the steroid's actions on GABAA-benzodiazepine receptor complexes (GBRs) rather than intracellular progestin receptors (PRs), as many P metabolites have a greater effect in vitro on benzodiazepine binding and Cl-flux than P, but poor affinity for PRs. If P's actions are due to metabolism to a progestin more potent at GBRs, then systemic administration of one of those P metabolites should also prevent CNS damage. To test this hypothesis male rats were implanted with a bipolar electrode, aimed above the perforant pathway. Experimental animals received the 5 alpha-reduced P metabolite most effective at GBRs, 5 alpha-pregnan-3 alpha-ol-20-one (3 alpha,5 alpha-THP) 2.5 mg/kg s.c. , 3 h prior to perforant pathway stimulation, while control animals received sesame oil vehicle. The duration of chewing and drooling and the incidence of wet dog shakes, partial and full seizures were reduced during perforant pathway stimulation in animals pre-treated with 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP compared to vehicle. Two weeks later, animals pre-treated with 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP had shorter latencies and distances to find a hidden platform in a Morris Water maze task. 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP pre-treatment also reduced damage to CA1 and CA3 layers of the hippocampus and preserved the number of neurons in the hilar region. These data indicate that the neurosteroid metabolite of P, 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP, can have anticonvulsant and may have neuroprotective effects in an animal model of epilepsy. Further, these data suggest that the mechanism of P's protective and anticonvulsant effects may be via GBRs rather than PRs.
Obesity and risk of hypercholesterolemia in Iranian northern adults

BACKGROUND The main aim of this study was to evaluate the association between serum cholesterol level and body mass index (BMI) in northern Iran. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study carried out on the 1995 subjects (997 males and 998 females) aged 25-65 years that were selected using multistage cluster sampling method. Plasma cholesterol was measured in the morning after a 12-hour fasting and was determined by auto-analyzer. Hypercholesterolemia (HC) was defined by a total plasma cholesterol level over 200 mg/dl. Weight and height were measured and BMI 25-29.9 kg/m2 and ≥ 30 kg/m2 was classified overweight and obesity, respectively. RESULTS Mean of age was 44.2 ± 11.5 years (44.3 ± 11.5 in men and 44.1 ± 11.2 in women) and plasma total cholesterol level was 203.1 ± 41.8 mg/dl. The HC was detected in 49.1% with higher rate in women (57.0%) than men (44.7%). In men at age 25-35 years, the odds ratio was 3.42 (1.60-7.29) in obese group and 1.90 (1.03-3.50) in overweight group compared to normal weight. In women, at age 35-45 years, the risk of HC in obese group was 3.01 (1.58-5.73) and in overweight group it was 2.06 (1.58-5.73), while in men aged 35-45 years the relative risk was 4.03 (2.22-7.34) in overweight and 3.58 (1.77-7.25) in obese group. In women after age 45 years, higher BMI was not a risk factor for HC. CONCLUSION There was a positive association between BMI and serum cholesterol level. In early middle age, obese individuals were at risk of HC more than overweight subjects. In men, after age 35 years, the risk of HC increased in overweight group while in women there was no statistically significant association between BMI and HC.