Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Improved FOCUSS Algorithm in the Presence of Noise

FOCUSS(Focal Underdetennined System Solver) algorithm is a novel tool for sparse representation and underdetermined inverse problems. To improve the performance of FOCUSS in the presence of noise, we propose an improved FOCUSS algorithm using augmented Lagrange multiplier in this paper. The improved algorithm introduces precise penalty factor with limited value to enhance the precision of signal recovery. For dealing with large scale problem, Conjugate Gradient method is also cooperated to accelerate the convergence speed. Finally, computer simulations illustrate that performance on strengthening the recovery ability of the signal.
Quadrature splitter considerations for digital cellular radio

A quadrature splitter for converting a narrowband bandpass IF or RF signal into baseband inphase and quadrature phase signals is evaluated in a high IF cellular digital radio system with a total bandwidth of 25 MHz. The results show that the simple splitter causes spectrum residues due to the relatively small ratio of sampling frequency to total signal bandwidth. These spectrum residues result in spectrum overlap between a pair of two channels symmetrically located on either side of the center IF frequency. To accommodate the cellular radio application, two alternative splitters are designed and simulated. The improved splitters provide better performance with the cost of higher complexity. The performance and structure trade offs are presented. <<ETX>>
A Collaborative Approach for the Development of Networked Learning Environments Using the ADDURI Framework

Advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have made it possible to reach a large number of distance learners beyond the correspondence tuition models traditionally used in open and distance learning. Designers and developers are increasingly working with Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) for distance teaching and learning. However, designing and implementing such learning systems remains a challenge due to the many interrelated components, factors, choices and many possible approaches. In this paper we present the ADDURI (Analyse, Design, Develop, Use, Review, Improve) resource based learning and teaching framework. We analyse the key cross-disciplinary activities that influence the inter-relationships of the groups in order to provide a systematic methodology for the development of Collaborative Networked Learning Environments, and provide guidelines for the adoption and use of the framework. We conclude with indications of further work.
Maternal scaffolding in mother-infant games and its relationship to language development: a longitudinal study

This study explored the support, both verbal and non-verbal, mothers offer to their infants as they play games together and sought to determine how this support might play a role in the development of both the linguistic and game-playing abilities of the infants. Twenty-five mothers were videotaped as they played peek-a-boo and ball with their infants when they were 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 24 months old. A language test was administered at the end of each session. Nine maternal scaffolding behaviours were identified and analysed in order to determine how they vary in the two games and with increasing age of the infants. Mothers were found to use different scaffolding behaviours as a function of the game at hand. The amount and type of scaffolding used varied with the children's age as well. With the exception of the 6-month session, there was a consistently high use of scaffolding through out the time span of the study. Contrary to what Bruner (1983) suggests, no strong relationship between maternal scaffolding behaviours and infant language level was found. Some interpretations are offered for the lack of direct correlation between language development and such well-adapted support of social game-playing.
Visual quality of high‐contrast projection screens. Part I: Visibility of screen‐based artifacts and noise

Abstract— The investigation of visual‐quality issues for high‐contrast projection screens such as those used for avionics projection displays and other applications requiring a high level of ambient light rejection will be described. Visibility of artifacts and noise generated by the optical and structural properties of a variety of high‐contrast projection screens was characterized by both empirical, subjective image quality evaluations and a suite of objective screen‐quality metrics. At least two of these metrics were found to provide very good correlation with the subjective assessment. These metrics are applicable to any display system where spatial‐noise artifacts are an issue, such as with direct‐view AMLCDs with anti‐glare treatments.
How Important is Visual Feedback When Using a Touch Screen

From check station point-of-sale devices (restaurants, grocery stores, etc.) to information kiosks, to the cars we drive (navigation systems), touch screens have become the input device of choice. While the versatility of the touch screen is highly desired, the poor performance it achieves relative to the mechanical keyboard has been something that users have been forced to deal with. Empirical research studies have found that touch screens consistently produced slower and less accurate performance when compared with keyboards (Barrett & Krueger, 1994; Wilson, Inderrieden, & Liu, 1995). Schneiderman (1998) outlines the many advantages and disadvantages to using a touch screen (see Table 1).
A New Learning Method Based on Cybernetics

Based on cybernetics, feedback and other theories, the paper first introduces something about the learning system and then puts forward a new learning method-active input and active output method. In connection with the current problem of college students’ not very high learning efficiency, this paper, with college students as the subject of study, cybernetics as theoretical basis and experiment as verification means, makes a deep study on the factors influencing the language output of Chinese college students, puts forward the English learning model of active input and active output. The research indicates that in the current non-immersion learning environment, the active input and active output leaning theory will not only help learners to form new acquisition of language, improve comprehensively their discourse behavior, but also to spur on learners to make use of all their resources to improve their communicative competence. College students, who adopt such learning methods, show a higher enthusiasm and stronger confidence in studying English.
Weighted Least Squares for Visualization of Scanned Point Clouds

AbstractThis paper describes several improvements to implicit surface fitting over point clouds. Noisy stamped part point cloud data gathered by both a laser digitizer scanning system and a stereo vision sensor is processed using a method based on the weighted least squares algorithm. Two kernel functions are proposed: one using an enhanced sphere-of-influence graph (SIG) method to determine nearest neighbours; and a second using an improved Gaussian kernel. Automatic bandwidth adjustment is implemented for both methods. A method of incorporating a scalar attribute at each data point, which can represent any desired quantity and relate it to the surface at that point, is introduced. In this case surface strain data was gathered and processed by the scanning system, with a resulting thickness strain measurement calculated at each point. This strain data was used to introduce a temperature plot style colour map over the surface, allowing for fast and simple analysis of the strain of the formed part.
Telepresence technology in medicine: principles and applications

Telepresence systems can improve surgeons' performance in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and microsurgery and also enable them to operate on patients remotely over great distances. In MIS, telepresence technology allows surgeons to experiment surgery as if their hands and eyes were effectively inside the patient's closed abdomen, enabling them to work with improved skill and dexterity. In microsurgery, the technology can scale down the surgeons' motions, forces, and field of view, allowing them to skillfully operate on microscopic anatomy with relative ease. The systems also enable surgeons to treat patients remotely in inaccessible or hazardous locations with great effectiveness, allowing them to operate as if they were present at the remote site. The means for conveying human presence in such systems is through force-reflecting manipulators with digital servo controllers, stereo viewing systems, and communication links. Depending on the application, the surgeon at the telepresence workstation may be across the room from the patient or across the state, connected by a microwave link or communication network.
Fast and efficient locomotion of a snake robot based on self-excitation principle

Snake-like animal locomotion by means of friction force can perform various kinds of motion and body shape. In order to realize high speed and high efficiency locomotion, the authors applied the self-excited locomotion principle to a snake mechanism. First, they analyzed the kinematics and the dynamics of a three-link snake mechanism driven by self-excitation. Then, they manufactured the first prototype of a snake robot called "SES-1". By using the experimentally identified traction parameters of the robot, they found a good agreement between the experimental and simulated results and a locomotion velocity of 0.4[m/s]. Furthermore, they showed high efficiency of the self-excited snake locomotion. Lastly, they introduced the second prototype of the self-excited snake robot called "SES-2" that is radio-controlled.
Distributed control algorithms for dynamic restoration in DCS mesh networks: performance evaluation

This paper reports preliminary observations from a Bellcore study of five algorithms, proposed by different developers, for dynamic distributed control reconfiguration of DCSs. The purpose of the study is to help formulate Bellcore's preliminary views regarding proposed generic requirements of distributed control DCS restoration. Preliminary conclusions were reached through simulations of the various algorithms on common study networks, and the performance metrics include the restoration efficiency and speed for single link, double link, and node failures. <<ETX>>
GIS Design: A Review of Current Issues in Interoperability

The evolution of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has witnessed an important step towards achieving interoperability through the communication, exchange, cooperation and sharing of resources between systems. The main developments in interoperability include the use of standards for transfer and exchange of geographical information, the integration of different data types up to the development of comprehensive interoperability models. This article aims to review the main advances in interoperability of GIS and provide a basis to identify the future research issues in this field. It first considers the various points of view from which interoperability can be defined and then examines the concept of interoperability itself. An overview is provided on how interoperability can be modelled by discussing the main aspects that directly have an effect on how interoperability levels have been created according to different contexts and purposes of use. It also points out the significant advances in terms of measures that can determine the ability of a GIS to interoperate with other systems, predict the resources needed for successful interoperation, and discover techniques useful to achieving interoperability. We conclude with some suggestions where the research will go next.
The effect of quadrature modulator and demodulator errors on adaptive digital predistorters for amplifier linearization

With the increasing importance of spectral efficiency in mobile communications, the power amplifier linearity has become a critical design issue for nonconstant envelope modulation. Imperfections in quadrature modulators and demodulators-gain and phase imbalance and DC offset-have a crippling effect on amplifier linearization circuits, a fact that has previously been noted experimentally. This paper is the first analysis of these effects on an adaptive predistorter. The primary result is an expression that provides an explicit tradeoff among intermodulation power, accuracy of the quadrature modulator and demodulator, and speed of adaptation. Another useful result is a simple and easily measured error figure for quadrature modulators and demodulators.
Restructuring revised: A theoretical note on Ohlsson's mechanism of restructuring

A critique of Ohlsson's (1984) ‘mechanism of restructuring’ is forwarded through an elaboration of the way in which information is organized in memory and the resultant types of retrieval possible. A basic form of organization of information is outlined and two examples briefly considered to illustrate the implications of these proposals.
Interpreting an arbitrary data stream

This paper describes a new method that can interpret and extract information from a machine-level binary data stream. This method has two major components: one is a Data Format Scripting Language (DFSL); the other is generic Data Parsing Application Software. The DFSL is a scripting language that specifies the physical layout and semantic constraints for an associated binary data stream. This language can be used to parse a data stream with a specified data format and convert the data into meaningful data structure with text notation. The Data Parsing Application Software is a generic program used to parse the script and its associated raw data. Depending on the script, this program can interpret the meaning of individual data fields and their values. This language and the developed system can be used in the electrical engineering area, especially where the demand for manipulation of real machine-level binary digits is high.
Image quality metrics for halftone images

In this paper, different factors that affect the quality of a halftone image are examined. We investigated the quality of constant-gray-level halftones, and also of more complex halftone images with various content and degree of detail. For the constant-gray-level halftones, it was examined how their visual appearance changes with variations in their power spectrum characteristics, and for the more complex halftone images we investigated how different quantitative quality metrics can describe the quality of these images. Since the ultimate judges of image quality are human viewers, the success of the quantitative metrics as quality measures for halftones was assessed by comparing their results with the results of a psychovisual test.
Error Analysis for Image-Based Rendering with Depth Information

We propose a novel approach to analyze the rendering error of image-based rendering (IBR) algorithms with depth information. We do not use the assumption of band-limitedness as existing approaches. Instead, we use the framework of the propagation algorithm that allows to rigorously analyze the rendering error via the framework of nonuniform interpolation. In this framework, using the depths, we propagate all the intensity information to the virtual cameras, and by doing so, turning the IBR problem into a nonuniform interpolation problem at the virtual image planes. The proposed approach then can systematically analyze the rendering quality for different interpolation methods, including commonly used linear interpolation. We can furthermore analyze the effect of depth estimation error on the rendering quality.
ACU and RSM Based Radio Spectrum Management for Realization of Flexible Software Defined Radio World

SUMMARY A new spectrum management architecture for a flexible software defined radio (SDR)is proposed. In this architecture, the SDR hardware and software are certified separately so as not to destroy the SDR flexibility, but to ensure that any combinations of hardware and software are compliant to the radio regulations even at the system (vertical)handover, global (horizontal)handover, and upgrade (forward)or downgrade (backward)handover. This architecture is based on automatic calibration & certification unit (ACU), built-in GPS receiver, and radio security module (RSM). The ACU is a hardware embedded RF manager that dynamically controls the output power spectrum to be compliant to the local radio regulation parameters. This local radio regulation parameters are securely downloaded to the hardware as an electronic label of the SDR software and stored in the RSM which is a security manager of the hardware. The GPS position check is used, especially during roaming, to keep the compliancy of the terminal to each local radio regulations managed by the geographical region. The principle parties involved in this architecture are telecommunication certification body (TCB), SDR hardware maker (HW maker), SDR software maker (SW maker), and SDR user. The roles and relationships of these four parties in the proposed architecture are clarified in
Model attraction in medical image object recognition

This paper presents as new approach to image recognition based on a general attraction principle. A cognitive recognition is governed by a 'focus on attention' process that concentrates on the visual data subset of task- relevant type only. Our model-based approach combines it with another process, focus on attraction, which concentrates on the transformations of visual data having relevance for the matching. The recognition process is characterized by an intentional evolution of the visual data. This chain of image transformations is viewed as driven by an attraction field that attempts to reduce the distance between the image-point and the model-point in the feature space. The field sources are determined during a learning phase, by supplying the system with a training set. The paper describes a medical interpretation case in the feature space, concerning human skin lesions. The samples of the training set, supplied by the dermatologists, allow the system to learn models of lesions in terms of features such as hue factor, asymmetry factor, and asperity factor. The comparison of the visual data with the model derives the trend of image transformations, allowing a better definition of the given image and its classification. The algorithms are implemented in C language on a PC equipped with Matrox Image Series IM-1280 acquisition and processing boards. The work is now in progress.
Microcomputer-Based Instruction in Special Education

This article reports findings of an evaluation study examining the instructional effectiveness of varying software environments for 120 preschool special needs children. Cognitive distancing principles were applied to classify children according to symbolic competence prior to instruction and to classify child-software interactions during instruction. An aptitude-by-treatment interaction design contrasted children's learning in either Logo or instructional software contexts with a control condition. Dependent measures included indicators of preschool problem solving, skill acquisition, language development, cognitive development and affective development. Results indicated that a Logo-based environment enhanced children's problem-solving skills and their acquisition of linguistic pragmatics as compared to counterparts in a control condition. In contrast, an instructional software condition promoted children's acquisition of specific skills. Neither software environment enhanced children's global levels of cognitive or of affective development. We conclude with a caution that the medium is not the message.
Facility Layout Optimization Using the Metropolis Algorithm

A radically new approach to facility layout optimization involving nonconvex quadratic assignment problems is presented. The approach uses a simulated annealing technique originally developed to solve problems in statistical mechanics by Metropolis et al, and recently applied to VLSI chip design problems. The Metropolis algorithm is relatively simple to apply and a microcomputer model called TOPMET has been developed. TOPMET is shown to produce superior solutions to some of the more popular computer-planning techniques and hand-generated methods. The algorithm also lends itself readily to user interaction and colour graphics display, and its application is illustrated by a practical building problem. Extensions into artificial intelligence are discussed.
Artificial Life: Why Should Musicians Bother?

No new technology appears in a society without causing changes to that society. Artists instinctively respond to these changes and the potential meanings of the technologies that bring them about. In this way, artists’ interest in technology goes beyond the simple desire to possess new tools for artistic expression. Artists serve to prepare society for the invisible changes going on within it by producing artworks in response to the mechanisms of change. This paper discusses the authors’ approaches to using concepts from artificial life in their musical works, which are basically of two kinds – artificial worlds producing music as an output, and interactive compositional tools using evolutionary algorithms to generate music and sound. It also provides a brief cultural context for these works.
Development of a Medical Telediagnostic System with Tactile Haptic Interfaces

This paper aims at developing a tele-robotic hand for breast cancer diagnostics with tactile sensing and haptic feedback. An anthropomorphic, robotic hand to perform a clinical breast exam was developed. A high resolution optical tactile sensor was integrated with the hand to obtain informa- tion regarding the characteristics of the tumor inside of the patients breast. This information can be fed back desirably to the physician via a newly developed electrotactile haptic device. Experimental results were obtained by testing these devices on an artificial breast model. The high resolution tactile images that clearly showed the surface shape of the tumors. Furthermore the features of the tactile images were transferred as electrotactile excitation to an operator. The results verify the performance of these new devices and thereby the technology's potential to provide a critical and major step towards the development of better and more reliable medical tele-diagnostic systems. I. INTRODUCTION Tele-operation is an approach of applying sensing and control capabilities and intelligence of humans to robots and assisting them to perform complex tasks in remote and special environments (1). Although medical applications of tele-operation have had rapid growth in the last few years (2), very few medical tele-diagnostic systems have been reported. This can be attributed partly due to each of the fact that high performance tactile sensors for robot hands, haptic/force perception models and display systems for physicians are still open problems in the application of tele-operational robotic systems (3). One of the many useful applications that we foresee in this field is a remote breast cancer diagnostic robot. Physical examination of the breast by palpation is one of the most effective ways of detecting breast cancer (14). Ultrasound has become an indispensable accompaniment to palpation and highly compliments it. Once an abnormality is detected by palpation, ultrasound is used to further establish the abnormality and sometimes, to classify it to be malignant or benign (15). In many situations Ultrasound can detect nonpalpable tumors (16). Both these methods are currently two separate tests. A technique, that will help obtain a physical feel and a live ultrasound image of the tumor simultaneously, is very appealing to physicians. We have designed a system where in a remote diagnosis of a breast is possible by means of a tele-robot (17) with a special, three fingered, anthropomorphic, end-effector. Since