Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stabilization of a Riderless Bicycle A Linear-Parameter-Varying Approach

T he bicycle provides transportation for leisure, recreation , and travel between home and work, throughout the world, in big cities as well as in small villages, supporting human mobility for more than a century. In addition , this widespread vehicle probably is the least expensive means of wheeled transportation. The bicycle has a debatable origin. Some history books speculate about Leonardo da Vinci's 1490s drawings that seem to depict a mechanical device with two wheels. The first widely recognized early bicycle precursor, called celerifere, a sort of toy of the French nobility built around 1790 by Comte Mede de Sivrac of France, was a wooden scooter-like device with neither pedals nor steering. In 1817 the German Baron Karl von Drais developed the first two-wheeled vehicle. This vehicle, called the draisine and shown in Figure 1, has a steerable front wheel. To ride the draisine, a human had to push it forward using his feet against the ground. Not until in 1861 were rotary cranks and pedals added to the front wheel of the draisine by the French inventor Pierre Michaux. The name of this new kind of vehicle was velocipede, which is Latin for fast foot, although it was sometimes called boneshaker because of the uncomfortable ride due to the wooden wheels and cobblestone covered streets of the day. Indeed, driving the velocipede, riders were able to experience the bicycle's self-balancing property, noticing that this two-wheeled vehicle can balance itself when moving fast enough. The bicycle was continually developed during the last quarter of the 19th century and the 20th century, leading to the high-performance modern device of today. An account of bicycle evolution can be found in [1] as well as in the Proceedings of the International Cycling History Conference, held every year since 1990 [2]. The first qualitative analysis of bicycle balancing was developed in 1869 [3], using analogies with an inverted-pendulum model. A rigorous analysis of its dynamics was given by Whipple in 1899 [4] and Carvallo in 1900 [5], where the equations of motion linearized around the upright vertical equilibrium point are derived. This model was used to show that two-wheeled vehicles are statically unstable like an inverted pendulum but can balance themselves when rolling forward in a proper speed range. This dynamic behavior, called self-stabilization, is the basis of the statement by Einstein that " Life is like a bicycle. To keep your balance …
Female expatriates’ motivations and challenges: the case of oil and gas

Purpose This case study is designed as a teaching exercise and this paper aims to highlight the key issues for organisations’ expatriating women within masculine industry sectors and/or into challenging international environments. Design/methodology/approach This case study draws together key published findings relating to women’s expatriation in the oil and gas exploration and production sector. It demonstrates a triangulated research design, drawing upon organisational policy from two oil and gas firms, semi-structured interviews with 14 human resource professionals and 26 female expatriates, as well as from 71 female assignees’ questionnaire responses. Findings Career and financial drivers underpin women’s motivations for accepting organisationally assigned expatriation. Women expatriates engage in satisficing and career compromise. The main challenges women face in masculine industries include access to expatriate roles because of limited female networks, family concerns, managing working time and work-life balance and coping with loneliness. Research limitations/implications The oil and gas case findings are based on a cross-sectional research design. The majority of female expatriates undertook long-term assignments; limited numbers engaged in flexpatriation. Practical implications While organisational policy supporting expatriation does not usually address gendered expatriate concerns specifically, inclusion of interventions that are identified by women as helpful to their expatriate participation can assist in increasing expatriate gender diversity. Originality/value This oil and gas research case brings together and presents a summary of the motivations, problems and challenges faced by women in male-dominated expatriate environments, together with relevant theoretical approaches and organisational interventions to help us understand and increase expatriate gender diversity.
Dynamic Environment Exploration Tool : A Blind ’ s Eye

One of the most challenging problems for visually impaired people is navigation. Usually they have to be dependent on other people to navigate their way. A wearable navigation system which can determine the obstacles and drop-offs can help blind people to walk with confidence even in unfamiliar outdoor environments. Many electronic travel aids have been developed recently to help them navigate independently even in unfamiliar or changing environments. Here, we propose an intuitive, economic and wearable device which focuses on removing the mobility problems of visually impaired people and thus replace the commonly used white cane.
A Taxonomy of Functional Language Implementations Part II : Call-by-Name, Call-by-Need and Graph Reduction

In Part I [5], we proposed an approach to formally describe and compare functional languages implementations. We focused on call-by-value and described well-known compilers for strict languages. Here, we complete our exploration of the design space of implementations by studying call-by-name, call-by-need and graph reduction. We express the whole compilation process as a succession of program transformations in a common framework. At each step, different transformations model fundamental choices or optimizations. We describe and compare the diverse alternatives for the compilation of the call-by-name strategy in both environment and graph-based models. The different options for the compilation of beta-reduction described in [5] can be applied here as well. Instead, we describe other possibilities specific to graph reduction. Call-by-need is nothing but call-by-name with redex sharing and update. We present how sharing can be expressed in our framework and we describe different update schemes. We finally classify some well-known call-by-need implementations.
Cell Capacity for IEEE 802.16 Coverage Extension

This paper analyzes a two-hop extension to the coverage of an IEEE 802.16 cell. There is natural degradation in cell capacity due to multihop communications which can be mitigated by spatial reuse, adaptive modulation and coding. We estimate the available capacity by analyzing the random geometry related to the locations of the base station, the sponsor nodes and the mesh subscriber stations situated two hops away from the base station. The results show the trade-offs of extending the coverage area and the decrease of the capacity.
The Intrinsically X-Ray-weak Quasar PHL 1811. II. Optical and UV Spectra and Analysis

This is the second of two papers reporting observations and analysis of the unusually bright (mb = 14.4), luminous (MB = -25.5), nearby (z = 0.192) narrow-line quasar PHL 1811. The first paper reported that PHL 1811 is intrinsically X-ray-weak and presented a spectral energy distribution (SED). Here we present HST STIS optical and UV spectra, and ground-based optical spectra. The optical and UV line emission is very unusual. There is no evidence for forbidden or semiforbidden lines. The near-UV spectrum is dominated by very strong Fe II and Fe III, and unusual low-ionization lines such as Na I D and Ca II H and K are observed. High-ionization lines are very weak; C IV has an equivalent width of 6.6 Å, a factor of ~5 smaller than measured from quasar composite spectra. An unusual feature near 1200 Å can be deblended in terms of Lyα, N V, Si II, and C III* using the blueshifted C IV profile as a template. Photoionization modeling shows that the unusual line emission can be explained qualitatively by the unusually soft SED. Principally, a low gas temperature results in inefficient emission of collisionally excited lines, including the semiforbidden lines generally used as density diagnostics. The emission resembles that of high-density gas; in both cases this is a consequence of inefficient cooling. PHL 1811 is very unusual, but we note that quasar surveys may be biased against finding similar objects.
Extracting Sense-Disambiguated Example Sentences From Parallel Corpora

Example sentences provide an intuitive means of grasping the meaning of a word, and are frequently used to complement conventional word definitions. When a word has multiple meanings, it is useful to have example sentences for specific senses (and hence definitions) of that word rather than indiscriminately lumping all of them together. In this paper, we investigate to what extent such sense-specific example sentences can be extracted from parallel corpora using lexical knowledge bases for multiple languages as a sense index. We use word sense disambiguation heuristics and a cross-lingual measure of semantic similarity to link example sentences to specific word senses. From the sentences found for a given sense, an algorithm then selects a smaller subset that can be presented to end users, taking into account both representativeness and diversity. Preliminary results show that a precision of around 80% can be obtained for a reasonable number of word senses, and that the subset selection yields convincing results.
Reasoning about public-key certification: on bindings between entities and public keys

Public-key certification is of crucial importance for advancing the global information infrastructure, yet it suffers from certain ambiguities and lack of understanding and precision. This paper suggests a few steps toward basing public-key certification and public-key infrastructures on firmer theoretical key. In particular, we investigate the notion of binding a public to an entity. We propose a calculus for deriving conclusions from a given entity Alice's (for instance, a judge's) view consisting of evidence and inference rules valid in Alice's world. The evidence consists of statements made by public keys (e.g., certificates, authorizations, or recommendations), statements made physically toward Alice by other entities, and trust assumptions. Conclusions are about who says a statement, who owns or is committed to a public key, and who transfers a right or authorization to another entity, and are derived by applying the inference rules.
Sex hormones in women with and without migraine

Objective: To compare daily sex hormone levels and rates of change between women with history of migraine and controls. Methods: History of migraine, daily headache diaries, and daily hormone data were collected in ovulatory cycles of pre- and early perimenopausal women in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation. Peak hormone levels, average daily levels, and within-woman day-to-day rates of decline over the 5 days following each hormone peak were calculated in ovulatory cycles for conjugated urinary estrogens (E1c), pregnanediol-3-glucuronide, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone. Comparisons were made between migraineurs and controls using 2-sample t tests on the log scale with results reported as geometric means. Results: The sample included 114 women with history of migraine and 223 controls. Analyses of within-woman rates of decline showed that E1c decline over the 2 days following the luteal peak was greater in migraineurs for both absolute rate of decline (33.8 [95% confidence interval 28.0–40.8] pg/mgCr vs 23.1 [95% confidence interval 20.1–26.6] pg/mgCr, p = 0.002) and percent change (40% vs 30%, p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between migraineurs and controls in absolute peak or daily E1c, pregnanediol-3-glucuronide, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone levels. Secondary analyses demonstrated that, among migraineurs, the rate of E1c decline did not differ according to whether a headache occurred during the cycle studied. Conclusions: Migraineurs are characterized by faster late luteal phase E1c decline compared to controls. The timing and rate of estrogen withdrawal before menses may be a marker of neuroendocrine vulnerability in women with migraine.
Arthroscopic Percutaneous Repair of Anterosuperior Rotator Cuff Tear Including Biceps Long Head: A 2-Year Follow-up

Background To report the results of an arthroscopic percutaneous repair technique for partial-thickness tears of the anterosuperior cuff combined with a biceps lesion. Methods The inclusion criteria were evidence of the upper subscapularis tendon tear and an articular side partial-thickness tear of the supraspinatus tendon, degeneration of the biceps long head or degenerative superior labrum anterior-posterior, above lesions treated by arthroscopic percutaneous repair, and follow-up duration > 24 months after the operation. American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, constant score, the pain level on a visual analogue scale, ranges of motion and strength were assessed. Results The mean (± standard deviation) age of the 20 enrolled patients was 56.0 ± 7.7 years. The forward flexion strength increased from 26.3 ± 6.7 Nm preoperatively to 38.9 ± 5.1 Nm at final follow-up. External and internal rotation strength was also significantly increased (14.2 ± 1.7 to 19.1 ± 3.03 Nm, 12.3 ± 3.2 to 18.1 ± 2.8 Nm, respectively). Significant improvement was observed in ASES and constant scores at 3 months, 1 year and the time of final follow-up when compared with preoperative scores (p < 0.001). The mean subjective shoulder value was 86% (range, 78% to 97%). Conclusions The implementation of complete rotator cuff repair with concomitant tenodesis of the biceps long head using arthroscopic percutaneous repair achieved full recovery of normal rotator cuff function, maximum therapeutic efficacy, and patient satisfaction.
To create neuro-controlled game opponent from UCT-created data

Adaptive Game AI improves adaptability of opponent AI as well as the challenge level of the gameplay, as a result the entertainment of game is augmented. Opponent game AI is usually implemented by scripted rules in video games, but the most updated algorithm of UCT (Upper Confidence bound for Trees) which perform well in computer go can also be used to achieve excellent result to control non-player characters (NPCs) in video games. However, due to computational intensiveness of UCT, it is actually not suitable for Online Games. As it is already known that UCT can create near optimal control, so it is possible to create Neuro-Controlled Game Opponent by off-line learning from the UCT created sample data; finally Neuro-Controlled Game Opponent for Online Games from UCT-Created Data without worry about computational intensiveness is generated. And also if the optimization approach of Neuro-Evolution is applied to the above generated Neuro-Controller, the performance of the opponent AI is enhanced even further.
A new phase-locked loop with high speed phase frequency detector

In this paper, we first systematically analyze existing phase frequency detectors from aspects of theoretical analysis and circuit operation. Based on the circuit architecture, both classifications and comparisons are made. Then we propose a high speed phase frequency detector for PLL design. The proposed phase frequency detector is simple in its structure and has no glitch output as well as better phase characteristics. Furthermore, some simulations results by HSPICE are performed based on 0.35 mum process parameters. Several prior art phase frequency detectors with the proposed one are compared for phase sensitivity, dead zone characteristics and maximum operation frequency. Based on simulation results, the proposed phase frequency detector shows satisfactory circuit performance with higher operation frequency, lower phase jitter and smaller circuit complexity. The speed of the proposed phase frequency detector is up to 3.5GHz. Moreover, the circuit design of a GHz PLL has been completed including high speed VCO, charge pump and phase frequency detector with an external loop filter. The total layout size excluding pads is 216.3mum times 47.85mum. The post-layout simulations for 1.1 GHz PLL loop operation has been shown and verified
Creating a Policy Environment for Entrepreneurs

This paper demonstrates that levels of entrepreneurship can be greatly affected by the general policy environment. Using a state-level panel, we estimate the effects of several policy variables on rates of entrepreneurship and find that bankruptcy exemptions, corporate tax rates, and the level of the minimum wage all affect a state's rate of entrepreneurship. For the median state, these policies reduced the level of entrepreneurship by 10.5 percent. Much of the geographic pattern of entrepreneurship can be explained by policy differences: The low-entrepreneurship states of the Great Lakes and the South tend to have relatively unfriendly policy environments, and the high-entrepreneurship states of the West tend to have relatively friendly policies. On the other hand, although New England states tend to have relatively unfriendly policy environments, they also tend to have high rates of entrepreneurship.
Maximal Lyapunov exponent at crises.

We study the variation of Lyapunov exponents of simple dynamical systems near attractor-widening and attractor-merging crises. The largest Lyapunov exponent has universal behavior, showing abrupt variation as a function of the control parameter as the system passes through the crisis point, either in the value itself, in the case of an attractor-widening crisis, or in the slope, for an attractor-merging crisis. The distribution of local Lyapunov exponents is very different for the two cases: the fluctuations remain constant through a merging crisis, but there is a dramatic increase in the fluctuations at a widening crisis.
Accountability and the meaning of ‘success’ in education systems and STEM subjects

A description is given of different kinds of accountability systems and of the rise of ‘performance based’ and ‘simultaneous supply-side / demand-side’ educational policies in the United Kingdom since 1980. It is argued that these systems and policies have been useful, but that they need improvement in their operationalisation, both in terms of content and in the support given to professionals to cope with the resulting pressure. A review of the (limited) research literature on accountability, virtually all of which has come from secondary schools rather than Further Education Colleges because the traditional benchmark assessment occurs at GCSE at age 16, shows that the present accountability and evaluation systems have positive effects on student outcomes, but an analysis of contemporary policy developments in the STEM subject areas shows some problematic issues relating both to government education policy and to the adequacy of professional resourcing. Some interesting developments in STEM subjects from other countries are also discussed. We recommend a range of policy changes currently.
Flexible Image Blending for Image Mosaicing with Reduced Artifacts

Image mosaicing involves geometric alignment among video frames and image compositing or blending. For dynamic mosaicing, image mosaics are constructed dynamically along with incoming video frames. Consequently, dynamic mosaicing demands efficient operations for both alignment and blending in order to achieve real-time performance. In this paper, we focus on efficient image blending methods that create good-quality image mosaics from any number of overlapping frames. One of the driving forces for efficient image processing is the huge market of mobile devices such as cell phones, PDAs that have image sensors and processors. In particular, we show that it is possible to have efficient sequential implementations of blending methods that simultaneously involve all accumulated video frames. The choices of image blending include traditional averaging, overlapping and flexible ones that take into consideration temporal order of video frames and user control inputs. In addition, we show that artifacts due to mis-alignment, image intensity difference can be significantly reduced by efficiently applying weighting functions when blending video frames. These weighting functions are based on pixel locations in a frame, view perspective and temporal order of this frame. One interesting application of flexible blending is to visualize moving objects on a mosaiced stationary background. Finally, to correct for significant exposure difference in video frames, we propose a pyramid extension based on intensity matching of aligned images at the coarsest resolution. Our experiments with real image sequences demonstrate the advantages of the proposed methods.
Collective Churn Prediction in Social Network

In service-based industries, churn poses a significant threat to the integrity of the user communities and profitability of the service providers. As such, research on churn prediction methods has been actively pursued, involving either intrinsic, user profile factors or extrinsic, social factors. However, existing approaches often address each type of factors separately, thus lacking a comprehensive view of churn behaviors. In this paper, we propose a new churn prediction approach based on collective classification (CC), which accounts for both the intrinsic and extrinsic factors by utilizing the local features of, and dependencies among, individuals during prediction steps. We evaluate our CC approach using real data provided by an established mobile social networking site, with a primary focus on prediction of churn in chat activities. Our results demonstrate that using CC and social features derived from interaction records and network structure yields substantially improved prediction in comparison to using conventional classification and user profile features only.
Neural Networks for the Calculation of Bandwidth of Rectangular Microstrip Antennas

Abstract : Neural models for calculating the bandwidth of electrically thin and thick rectangular microstrip antennas, based on the multilayered perceptrons and the radial basis function networks, are presented. Thirteen learning algorithms, the conjugate gradient of Fletcher-Reeves, Levenberg-Marquardt, scaled conjugate gradient, resilient backpropagation, conjugate gradient of Powell-Beale, conjugate gradient of Polak-Ribiere, bayesian regularization, one-step secant, backpropagation with adaptive learning rate, Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno, backpropagation with momentum, directed random search and genetic algorithm, are used to train the multilayered perceptrons. The radial basis function network is trained by the extended delta-bar-delta algorithm. The bandwidth results obtained by using neural models are in very good agreement with the experimental results available in the literature. When the performances of neural models are compared with each other, the best results for training and test were obtained from the multilayered perceptrons trained by the conjugate gradient of Powell-Beale and Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno algorithms, respectively.
Disruption-Tolerant Wireless Sensor Networks for Wind Tunnel Monitoring

According the complex deployment region and the various demands in wind tunnel, a novel disruption-tolerant wireless sensor networks (DT-WSN) architecture is developed in this paper. Mobile routers (rovers) are introduced to collect and relay sensing data from static nodes. We present a stochastic analytical framework to study the performance of the network model. The epidemic algorithms based system implement and empirical evaluation are proposed. DT-WSN is novelly introduced to wind tunnel monitoring. Our analytical study and the application-driven design exercise serve to provide further insights towards future designs of DT-WSN.