Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discrete cellular lattice assembly

Robotic assembly of discrete cellular lattices at super-hertz (>1Hz) assembly rates is shown to be possible by integrating the design of a modular robotic assembler with the specified lattice topology such that the lattice can itself be removed from the incremental assembly process. Limits to assembly rates are ultimately dependent on allowable error, system stiffness, and damping characteristics. Vibrations due to cyclical motions of the end-effector, locomotion system, and the dynamic response of an incrementally varying lattice must settle to acceptable ranges to enable engagement between end-effectors, discrete elements, and their affixing features to adjacent cells. For given system dynamics, longer settling times enables greater energy dissipation, and less error. With a greater allowable error at the interface, a shorter assembly cycle period can be attained. Passive alignment features designed into the robot end-effectors, locomotion systems, and the discrete lattice elements reduce the precision requirements of the assembly process by opening up the acceptable error range, thereby, enabling higher assembly cycle-rates. An experiment was performed to evaluate how an assembler locally referencing a lattice performed in comparison to a globally referenced assembler. The two assemblers were of similar kinematic form: both gantry-type CNC machines: a ShopBot and a custom built relative robotic assembler. The results showed superior performance by the global coordinate frame system. An error budget analysis of the two systems showed that the locally referenced, lattice based system had a larger more variable structural loop than the global coordinate frame ShopBot. The control experiment, demonstrated 0.1Hz assembly rates, while first order approximations predict a maximum 4Hz cycle for the specified interface geometry. Results show that in order to successfully assemble discrete cellular lattices at super-hertz rates the robot must itself become the local, instantaneous global coordinate frame such that the structural loop is absolutely minimized, while stiffness is maximized; at the instantaneous moment of assembly the structural loop of the robot must reference only itself. Thesis Supervisor: Neil Gershenfeld Title: Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
Moving Towards Semantic Web: Relational Schema to Ontology

Over the past decade there is an increase in requirement of web application, and to the most of the web application relational schema is attached as a backend. The idea of semantic web was presented by Tim Berners-Lee, and it has captured the focus of many researchers in past few years. The promises of future web have brought the researchers to the point where to obtain the benefits of future web; we need to make conversion of current web i.e. web 2.0 to future Web i.e Semantic Web. There will be relational schema to ontology conversion required while making such transitions. There is a need to have some automated or semi automated approach for this issue as it will be hard to convert relational schema to ontology manually. The paper discusses some of the available techniques for the conversion, and focuses on the foreign key identification in the relational schema then compares some already presented techniques and concludes the results on the experimentation carried out on different relational schemas.
Visually-Cued Touch Gestures for Accurate Mobile Interaction

Portable devices such as tablet personal computers can allow a user to perform tasks while walking. These devices provide new interaction opportunities and challenges. LocalSwipes is a new interaction technique that utilizes localized, multi-touch, radial stroke gestures to reduce the difficulty of interacting with large data sets on mobile devices. LocalSwipes adapts traditional point-to-click widgets to visually support gestural input. A user evaluation demonstrated that LocalSwipes results in fewer interaction errors and is preferred when compared to a touch-based interface incorporating traditional graphical user interface widgets.
Optimal Placement of Distributed Generation Units for Constructing Virtual Power Plant Using Binary Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

The idea of applying distributed generation resources in distribution systems has become increasingly important due to changes in the distribution systems. Optimal sizing, location, type and installation time of DGs for constructing virtual power plant is one of the important subjects in applying distributed generation in the power system. In this paper, a new method is presented for optimal placement and type of distributed generation units and long term system planning aim to constructing virtual power plant. Minimizing the long term total cost of the system is considered as the objective function. The impacts of applying demand response on expansion planning is also investigated. The Binary particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) method is used for solving this problem. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed method, the method is tested on the IEEE 33 bus distribution system.
Geometric and Statistical Summaries for Big Data Visualization

In recent times, the visualization and data analysis paradigm is adapting fast to keep up with the rapid growth in computing power and data size. Modern scientific simulations run at massive scale to produce huge datasets, which must be analyzed and visualized by the domain experts to continue innovation. In the presence of large-scale data, it is important to identify and extract the informative regions at an early stage so that the following analysis algorithms, which are usually memory and compute-intensive, can focus only on those regions. Transforming the raw data to a compact yet meaningful representation also helps to maintain the interactivity of the query and visualization of analysis results. In this dissertation, we propose a novel and general-purpose framework suitable for exploring large-scale data. We propose to use importance-based data summaries, which can substitute for the raw data to answer queries and drive visual exploration. Since the definition of importance is dependent on the nature of the data and the task at hand, we propose to use suitable statistical and geometric measures or combination of various measures to quantify importance and perform data reduction on scalar and vector field data. Our research demonstrates two instances of the proposed framework. The first instance applies to large number of streamlines computed from vector fields. We make the visual exploration of such data much easier compared to navigating through a cluttered 3D visualization of the raw data. In this case, we introduce a fractal dimension based metric called box counting ratio, which quantifies the geometric complexity of
The climate-carbon isotope relationship in tree rings and the significance of site conditions

Considerable complexity exists regarding the relationship between tree ring δ 13 C and climate. We proceed from the theoretically derived and experimentally confirmed finding that the relative humidity of the atmosphere but also the soil water content can influence the stomatal opening of plant leaves and consequently the δ 13 C of photosynthetically fixed carbon. Therefore, the potential to reconstruct humidity variations by δ 13 C in tree rings should depend on the water conditions at the site where the trees are growing. We analysed δ 13 C series (3-year ring samples) of cellulose of beech trees ( Fagus silvatica ) covering the time period from 1934 to 1989 for 3 sites in Switzerland: a relatively dry and a humid site close together and another dry site 30 km distant. The δ 13 C series from the two dry sites are closely interrelated and are inversely correlated to the total precipitation amount of the months May + June + July This is most expressed for first differences, i.e., differences of consecutive values, while the long-term trends are more strongly influenced by biological effects. A multivariate analysis shows that at the dry sites, δ 13 C is relatively high for dry/warm summers and low for cool/wet summers. The respective correlations for the humid site are less distinct. In addition, we compared average δ 13 C values for beech, pine and spruce trees from sites differing in soil moisture conditions. For all species we found that the drier the sites the more positive the tree δ 13 C values are. We conclude that at relatively dry sites in temperate-moist climatic conditions, short-term precipitation variations can be reconstructed by δ 13 C measurement on tree rings of beech and probably also of the conifers pine and spruce. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.47. issue3.4. x
Scheduling Algorithms For Fault-Tolerant Real-Time Systems

This thesis deals with the problem of designing efficient fault-tolerant real-time scheduling algorithms for independent periodic tasks on uni- and multiprocessor platforms. The well-known Rate-Monotonic (RM) scheduling algorithm is assumed as it is widely used in many commercial systems due to its simplicity and ease of implementation. First, a uniprocessor RM scheduling algorithm is analyzed to derive an efficient and exact feasibility condition considering fault-tolerance. Second, a multiprocessor scheduling algorithm is designed to achieve efficient utilization of the processors while meeting the task deadlines. The goal of the former algorithm is to achieve reliability while the goal of the latter algorithm is to achieve a high performance. In this thesis, it is also discussed how to blend these two metrics into the same scheduling framework. The uniprocessor RM scheduling algorithm is analyzed using a novel composability technique considering occurrences of multiple faults. Based on this analysis, the exact feasibility of the fault-tolerant schedule of a task set can be determined efficiently in terms of time complexity. This algorithm exploits time redundancy as a cost-efficient means to tolerate faults. The fault model considered is very general in the sense that faults can occur in any task and at any time (even during recovery), and covers a variety of hardware and software faults. The multiprocessor RM scheduling algorithm is designed to achieve a high average utilization of the processors while meeting all task deadlines. The algorithm uses a task-splitting technique, in which a bounded number of tasks are allowed to migrate their execution from one processor to another. It is proved that, using the algorithm, all tasks can meet their deadlines if at most 55.2% of the processor capacity is requested. The load on the processors are regulated to enable the design of an efficient admission controller for online scheduling that scales very well with an increasing number of processors.
Has Ambisonics come of age

Ambisonics was developed in the 1970’s as a flexible, psycho-acoustically aware system. Developed at the same time as Quadraphonics, Ambisonics is an often mis-understood system that was far ahead of it’s time. Due to the ubiquity of surround sound equipment in modern computers and interest in live surround events becoming more widespread, is the time, finally, right for Ambisonics to come into its’ own?
An adaptive backpropagation through time training algorithm for a neutral controller

An adaptive method is proposed for choosing the time length (or number of time steps) used in the standard backpropagation through time (BTT) algorithm. BTT is commonly used in training neurocontrollers to perform control actions for a given cost function. Traditionally, the time length of BTT is chosen based on experience, and sometimes unnecessary calculations are performed because the time length is too large or too small. The adaptive backpropagation through time (ABTT) algorithm proposed is a technique for finding a minimum time length required to train a controller successfully to achieve its objective using the BTT algorithm. A DC motor controller is used as an example to demonstrate its feasibility. The performance of adaptive and standard BTT is compared in terms of objective achievement, cost function and computation requirements. <<ETX>>
Parallel Optimization for Data-Intensive Service Composition

The age of Big Data has inspired the appearance and application of data-intensive Web service. In most cases, multiple data-intensive services are assembled into a service composition to meet complicated requirements. As the number of Data-intensive Web services on the Internet is increasing rapidly and dramatically, traditional central service composition approaches have come to a performance bottleneck. This paper proposes a method for automatic data-intensive service composition, which can be executed in parallel. Firstly, the problem of automatic service composition is defined by combing the approaches of State Space Search and Planning Graph. Then, a heuristic algorithm is proposed to compose data-intensive Web service automatically. After that, more details are given to present the parallel optimization for the composition algorithm. A series of experiments show that the proposed parallel optimization method improves the efficiency of automatic Web service composition to a great extent.
고대 수학자와 현대 예비교사들의 영(zero) 처리 오류 및 교수학적 시사점

Heading for ZERO Our goal was straightforward: build a net-zero energy house, emphasizing passive features, while minimizing the environmental impact both during and after construction. While we weren't seeking formal certification, this house followed the German passivhaus design philosophy of combining a super-insulated and air-sealed shell with passive solar design to reduce heating loads. Combined with using only Energy Star-rated appliances and solar water heating, computer modeling predicted this all-electric house, dubbed Heliospiti (Greek for " sun house "), would achieve net-zero annual energy input by adding a 4-kilowatt (kW) PV system. To start the energy modeling and design, my wife Elise and I defined the basic features of the house: • A floor plan that would be spacious enough to accommodate our two children, but small enough to be an " empty nest " home, with no wasted interior space. • An open interior to avoid wasted space and promote airflow through the house. • Slab-on-grade design with the concrete slab as our main floor and the thermal mass needed for passive solar. • Two-story, rather than ranch style, to maximize the house's volume-to-surface area ratio, and minimize thermal loss. • Rectangular shape with long east-to-west axis to maximize solar gain and daylighting. • A garage that would share minimal wall area with the main house to reduce the risk of harmful fume migration into the living area. • Defining the thermal boundary at the roof, not the attic floor, for ease of air sealing and to keep the attic as a semi-conditioned mechanical room. • Compliant with the Environmental Protection Agency's WaterSense guidelines to minimize water consumption. With a basic idea of what we wanted, we turned to Debra Rucker Coleman's book, The Sun-Inspired House, for the fundamentals of passive solar design (see " Designing Your Place in the Sun " in HP116). On her website, we found a design very close in size and floor plan to the house we had already sketched out. That set our architectural design path— we bought those plans, and set about modifying them to go from high-efficiency passive solar to net-zero energy. Since I owned Energy-10 software for my consulting business, we had the tools already at our fingertips. Designed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Energy-10's hour-by-hour simulation capability and extensive NREL validation make it excellent for capturing the complexities of passive solar design. This all-in-one software
Flexible image decomposition for multimedia indexing and retrieval

Content-based image and, more generally, multimedia retrieval calls for a semantic understanding of the content of an image. However, the discrepancy between any automated segmentation technique and a operator-based segmentation is now established. There is therefore a strong need for a technique that exploits the best of analytical segmentation techniques while remaining flexible enough to allow for a useful decomposition of the image. In this paper, we describe an interactive image segmentation framework and applications where this framework is essential. Our technique is general enough to allow a generic segmentation technique to be embedded and optimally exploited. The principle is to efficiently obtain a fine-to-coarse image decomposition and represent this structure using an XML description scheme. When browsing through this pyramid, the user will retrieve and mark semantically useful structures within the document. The result may then be used in different contexts such as image indexing and annotation, object-based multimedia query formulation, object tracking in video, etc. We first study the conditions for a base segmentation technique to fit within our framework. Then, we show that our framework provides a solution to typical problems encountered in the context of multimedia information indexing and retrieval. We detail an example Java-based implementation which may be used as a stand-alone tool or as a module within other applications.
Introduction to Microsoft Popfly, No Programming Required

Microsoft Popfly is a web site comprising a social network (the Popfly Space), a tool (the Popfly Creator), and an optional Visual Studio plug-in (the Popfly Explorer), which together allow you to create and combine web content for sharing with others. This book introduces Popfly and shows how you can use it to: Create web content mashups by connecting predefined building blocks on a design surface; no programming required. Create a Popfly hosted web page incorporating one or more mashups. Include mashups in your social network profiles, as sidebar gadgets on your Windows Vista desktop, and more. Make Popfly friends, share content with them, and rate their projects. Use Popfly Explorer to share Visual Studio projects and make them accessible from anywhere. And just for fun: the book concludes with an example of how Microsoft Popfly may be combined with another mashup technology, Yahoo! Pipes, to create even more innovative web content.
Kernel-Based on Data Fusion for Image Classification with Body Energy Action Model

Human action classification has been and still a highly interesting and important research topic. The research results are capable of analyzing human action that we visually perceive in many aspects. Therefore the research requires an effective and competent approach to accurately interpret human action. In this paper, we present a novel model called the body energy action model for finding actual semantic action. The model is based on the fundamental concepts of biomechanics that human movement in different classes is likely to spend different amounts of energy. The model is classified by using kernel- base data fusion to obtain from the 5-fold cross validation. Experimental results show that the proposed provides much more authentic meaning of human actions. 
System-initiated digressions and hidden menu options in automated spoken dialogue systems

Automated speech recognition technology is increasingly used in the mass-market domain of self-service telephone applications. However, the recognition technology is rarely infallible and system prompts in the form of explicit instructions, menu listings and telephone keypad touch-button options are commonly used in order to support the spoken human-computer interaction. A dilemma facing designers of such menu-based applications is where to place new or less frequently requested service options within the call-flow and.how to incorporate these with the existing dialogue interface design. To date, this topic within the field of dialogue engineering has not been fully addressed. The research detailed in this thesis proposes the use of system-initiated digressions as an alternative strategy to that of explicitly adding all options to the main menu listing of a speech-driven automated service. The purpose of these digressions was to deliver information about the availability of a new product or service option that could be triggered by using the relevant spoken keyword at the main menu. The keyword itself, however, was not explicitly mentioned (i.e. remained 'hidden') as an option in the existing main menu listing; therefore, callers had to infer that the option was available and then initiate the request themselves rather than passively select it from the menu listing. The dialogue engineering investigation presented here centres on three main themes: the location of the digression in the dialogue, the turn-taking strategy employed and the type of register (wording) adopted. Contrasting system-initiated digressions were introduced into the dialogue of an existing real-world automated telephone banking service. In a series of four progressive empirical experiments, participants were
Radio education and student repetition in Nicaragua

As a result of student repetition, class sizes tend to increase, school budgets rise, and access to schooling extends more slowly to hitherto excluded populations. This paper analyzes the impact of the Radio Mathematics Project on repetition rates in an attempt to understand the causes of repetition and the impact of educational interventions on its extent. The statistical model used first predicts post test performance and then uses post test performance with other variables to predict student failure, repetition, and reenrollment. The analysis of the data concerning first-grade students leads to the following conclusions: (i) mathematics performance improved significantly; (ii) probability of failure was reduced; (iii) although the introduction of radio lessons increased per student costs, it decreased per first-grade graduate cost by a greater amount; and (iv) between-year dropout propensity decreased.
The Role of Advanced Networks in the Education of the Future: A Report of Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria i-Lab Initiatives

Many have predicted that a global network of affordable multimedia computers, on-line libraries, student-centered "leaning ware," and enhanced human communications in general will improve access to high-quality education on a scale that simply cannot be accomplished today. Although this may be a compelling vision of the future, many details, methods, capabilities, and even principles necessary to achieve it are not yet clear. Recent rapid progress on several fronts, however, suggests that much of this vision can be realized—and sooner rather than later. There is an exciting ferment in the entire field, both within and outside traditional institutions of higher education. This paper looks at how the emergence of an Advanced Internet has specifically broken the access, performance, and cost barriers that in the past have presented an insurmountable obstacle to the new vision of education at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. It then discusses the more fundamental opportunities and challenges concerning missions, goals, roles, methods, organization, and evaluation that will face most institutions of higher education once the technical barriers have been removed. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013. v4n14p109