Query: Chapter 1 . Principles of Synthetic Aperture Radar

Relevant passages:
Synthetic aperture radar interferometry <=SEP=> Synthetic aperture radar interferometry is an imaging technique for measuring the topography of a surface, its changes over time, and other changes in the detailed characteristic of the surface. By exploiting the phase of the coherent radar signal, interferometry has transformed radar remote sensing from a largely interpretive science to a quantitative tool, with applications in cartography, geodesy, land cover characterization, and natural hazards. This paper reviews the techniques of interferometry, systems and limitations, and applications in a rapidly growing area of science and engineering.

The evolution of synthetic aperture radar systems and their progression to the EOS SAR <=SEP=> The spaceborne imaging radar program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has evolved primarily through Seasat and the Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR) to a multifrequency, multipolarization system capable of monitoring the Earth with a variety of imaging geometries, resolutions, and swaths. In particular, the ability to digitally process and calibrate the data has been a key factor in developing the algorithms which will operationally provide geophysical and biophysical information about the surface of the Earth using synthetic aperture radar (SAR). This paper describes the evolution of the spaceborne imaging radar starting with the Seasat SAR, through the SIR-A, SIR-B, and SIR-CI X-SAR missions, to the EOS SAR which is scheduled for launch as part of the Earth Observing System (EOS) at the end of the 1990s. A summary of the planned international missions, which may produce a permanent active microwave capability in space starting as early as 1991, is also presented, along with a description of the airborne systems which will be essential to the algorithm development and long-term calibration of the spaceborne data. Finally, a brief summary of the planetary missions utilizing SAR and a comparison of their imaging capabilities with those available on Earth is presented.

On the derivation of coseismic displacement fields using differential radar interferometry: The Landers earthquake <=SEP=> We present a map of the coseismic displacement field resulting from the Landers, California, June 28, 1992, earthquake derived using data acquired from an orbiting high-resolution radar system. We achieve results more accurate than previous space studies and similar in accuracy to those obtained by conventional field survey techniques. Data from the ERS 1 synthetic aperture radar instrument acquired in April, July, and August 1992 are used to generate a high-resolution, wide area map of the displacements. The data represent the motion in the direction of the radar line of sight to centimeter level precision of each 30-m resolution element in a 113 km by 90 km image. Our coseismic displacement contour map gives a lobed pattern consistent with theoretical models of the displacement field from the earthquake. Fine structure observed as displacement tiling in regions several kilometers from the fault appears to be the result of local surface fracturing. Comparison of these data with Global Positioning System and electronic distance measurement survey data yield a correlation of 0.96; thus the radar measurements are a means to extend the point measurements acquired by traditional techniques to an area map format. The technique we use is (1) more automatic, (2) more precise, and (3) better validated than previous similar applications of differential radar interferometry. Since we require only remotely sensed satellite data with no additional requirements for ancillary information, the technique is well suited for global seismic monitoring and analysis.

Accuracy of topographic maps derived from ERS-1 interferometric radar <=SEP=> A interferometric radar technique for topographic mapping of surfaces promises a high-resolution approach to the generation of digital elevation models. We present here analyses of data collected by the synthetic aperture radar instrument on-board the ERS-1 satellite on successive orbits. Use of a single satellite in a nearly repeating orbit is attractive for reducing cost and spaceborne hardware complexity; also it permits inference of changes in the surface from the correlation properties of the radar echoes. The data have been reduced to correlation maps and digital elevation models. The correlation maps show that temporal correlation decreases significantly with time, but not necessarily at a constant well-defined rate, likely depending on environmental factors. When correlation among passes remains high, however, it is possible to form digital elevation models. Analyses of noise expected in ERS-1 interferometric data collected over Alaska and the southwestern United States indicate that maps with relative errors less than 5 m rms are possible in some regions. However, orbit uncertainties imply that tie points are required in order to reduce absolute height errors to a similar magnitude. We find that about 6 tie points per 40 X 40 km scene with 5 m rms or better height accuracy are needed to keep systematic map height errors below 5 m rms. The performance of the ERS-1 radar system for topographic applications, though useful for a variety of regional and local discipline studies, may be improved with respect to temporal decorrelation errors and absolute height acuity by modifying the orbit repeat period and incorporating precise orbit determination techniques. The resulting implementation will meet many, but not all, objectives of a global mapping mission.

Satellite radar interferometry for monitoring ice sheet motion: application to an antarctic ice stream. <=SEP=> Satellite radar interferometry (SRI) provides a sensitive means of monitoring the flow velocities and grounding-line positions of ice streams, which are indicators of response of the ice sheets to climatic change or internal instability. The detection limit is about 1.5 millimeters for vertical motions and about 4 millimeters for horizontal motions in the radar beam direction. The grounding line, detected by tidal motions where the ice goes afloat, can be mapped at a resolution of approximately 0.5 kilometer. The SRI velocities and grounding line of the Rutford Ice Stream, Antarctica, agree fairly well with earlier ground-based data. The combined use of SRI and other satellite methods is expected to provide data that will enhance the understanding of ice stream mechanics and help make possible the prediction of ice sheet behavior.

Towards the enhancement of e-democracy: identifying the notion of the 'middleman paradox' <=SEP=> The challenge towards e-democracy, through the electronic transformation of political systems, has become increasingly evident within developed economies. It is regarded as an approach for increased and better quality citizen participation in the democratic processes. E-democracy forms a component of overall e-government initiatives where technology adoption and diffusion, to enhance wider access to, and the delivery of, government services, are apparent. However, previous research demonstrates that very few e-democracy proposals survive the stage of formal political decision-making to become substantive egovernment projects within national or international agendas. Furthermore, the implementation of e-democracy projects is undertaken at a much slower pace and with dramatically less support than the implementation of other, so-called e-administration, activities in the public sector. The research in this paper considers the notion of the ‘middleman paradox’, presenting theoretical and empirical evidence that further investigates the phenomenon associated with potential e-democracy improvements. Specifically, the paper adds a new dimension to existing theories on the hesitant evolution of e-democracy that clearly identifies politicians as an inhibiting factor. Proposals are made for an enhancement of these processes, and suggestions for further applicable research are demonstrated.

Burden of Depressive Disorders by Country, Sex, Age, and Year: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 <=SEP=> BACKGROUND
Depressive disorders were a leading cause of burden in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 1990 and 2000 studies. Here, we analyze the burden of depressive disorders in GBD 2010 and present severity proportions, burden by country, region, age, sex, and year, as well as burden of depressive disorders as a risk factor for suicide and ischemic heart disease.


METHODS AND FINDINGS
Burden was calculated for major depressive disorder (MDD) and dysthymia. A systematic review of epidemiological data was conducted. The data were pooled using a Bayesian meta-regression. Disability weights from population survey data quantified the severity of health loss from depressive disorders. These weights were used to calculate years lived with disability (YLDs) and disability adjusted life years (DALYs). Separate DALYs were estimated for suicide and ischemic heart disease attributable to depressive disorders. Depressive disorders were the second leading cause of YLDs in 2010. MDD accounted for 8.2% (5.9%-10.8%) of global YLDs and dysthymia for 1.4% (0.9%-2.0%). Depressive disorders were a leading cause of DALYs even though no mortality was attributed to them as the underlying cause. MDD accounted for 2.5% (1.9%-3.2%) of global DALYs and dysthymia for 0.5% (0.3%-0.6%). There was more regional variation in burden for MDD than for dysthymia; with higher estimates in females, and adults of working age. Whilst burden increased by 37.5% between 1990 and 2010, this was due to population growth and ageing. MDD explained 16 million suicide DALYs and almost 4 million ischemic heart disease DALYs. This attributable burden would increase the overall burden of depressive disorders from 3.0% (2.2%-3.8%) to 3.8% (3.0%-4.7%) of global DALYs.


CONCLUSIONS
GBD 2010 identified depressive disorders as a leading cause of burden. MDD was also a contributor of burden allocated to suicide and ischemic heart disease. These findings emphasize the importance of including depressive disorders as a public-health priority and implementing cost-effective interventions to reduce its burden. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.

Enhance emotional and social adaptation skills for children with autism spectrum disorder: A virtual reality enabled approach <=SEP=> Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, one of the diagnostic criteria of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), greatly hinders children with ASD from responding appropriately and adapting themselves in various social situations. Although evidences have shown that virtual reality environment is a promising tool for emotional and social adaptation skills training on ASD population, there is a lack of large-scale trials with intensive evaluations to support such findings. This paper presents a virtual reality enabled program for enhancing emotional and social adaptation skills for children with ASD. Six unique learning scenarios, of which one focuses on emotion control and relaxation strategies, four that simulate various social situations, and one that facilitates consolidation and generalization, are designed and developed with corresponding psychoeducation procedures and protocols. The learning scenarios are presented to the children via a 4-side immersive virtual reality environment (a.k.a., half-CAVE) with non-intrusive motion tracking. A total number of 94 children between the ages of 6 to 12 with clinical diagnosis of ASD participated in the 28-session program that lasted for 14 weeks. By comparing preand post-assessments, results reported in this paper show significant improvements in the project’s primary measures on children’s emotion expression and regulation and social-emotional reciprocity but not on other secondary measures.

Real time Sign Language Recognition using PCA <=SEP=> The Sign Language is a method of communication for deaf-dumb people. This paper presents the Sign Language Recognition system capable of recognizing 26 gestures from the Indian Sign Language by using MATLAB. The proposed system having four modules such as: pre-processing and hand segmentation, feature extraction, sign recognition and sign to text and voice conversion. Segmentation is done by using image processing. Different features are extracted such as Eigen values and Eigen vectors which are used in recognition. The Principle Component Analysis (PCA) algorithm was used for gesture recognition and recognized gesture is converted into text and voice format. The proposed system helps to minimize communication barrier between deaf-dumb people and normal people.

Noninvasive diagnosis of fetal aneuploidy by shotgun sequencing DNA from maternal blood. <=SEP=> We directly sequenced cell-free DNA with high-throughput shotgun sequencing technology from plasma of pregnant women, obtaining, on average, 5 million sequence tags per patient sample. This enabled us to measure the over- and underrepresentation of chromosomes from an aneuploid fetus. The sequencing approach is polymorphism-independent and therefore universally applicable for the noninvasive detection of fetal aneuploidy. Using this method, we successfully identified all nine cases of trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), two cases of trisomy 18 (Edward syndrome), and one case of trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome) in a cohort of 18 normal and aneuploid pregnancies; trisomy was detected at gestational ages as early as the 14th week. Direct sequencing also allowed us to study the characteristics of cell-free plasma DNA, and we found evidence that this DNA is enriched for sequences from nucleosomes.

Design and Implementation of Phalanges Based on Iteration of a Prosthesis <=SEP=> In this work an electromechanical hand is implemented based on the study and implementation of the phalanges of the five fingers of the hand, a control system based on a microcontroller was implemented that takes as feedback signals coming from flexosensors and strain gauges. The movement of the fingers was made based on myoelectric signals in real time, these signals were acquired through an innovative method of acquisition based on patterns. The tests performed were measurements with extended hand, closed hand and pressing an object that validates the present proposal.

Resilience and Sustainable Development : Theory of resilience , systems thinking and adaptive governance <=SEP=>  Basic information on SD  Country profiles  Quarterly reports  Policy briefs  Case studies  Conference papers  Workshop papers  Getting in touch with us The European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN) is an informal network of public administrators and other experts who deal with sustainable development strategies and policies. The network covers all 27 EU Member States, plus other European countries. The ESDN is active in promoting sustainable development and facilitating the exchange of good practices in Europe and gives advice to policy-makers at the European and national levels. This ESDN Quarterly Report (QR) provides a condensed overview of the concept of resilience. Despite the complexity of the theory behind resilience, this QR tries to communicate the main notions behind this concept in a way that is understandable and not overly technical. The intention of this QR is to serve as a guide through the concept of resilience. The report does not aim at being exhaustive but intends to provide an overview on the links which are particularly relevant for sustainable development (SD) in general and SD governance in particular. A multitude of diverse sources have been used, mainly from the academic literature. It has to be mentioned the significant and decisive role that the Resilience Alliance has in providing extensive knowledge: the website that they are running, is an exceptionally good source of information for those who are interested and want to deepen their knowledge of resilience. Additionally, among all the scientific publications cited throughout the report, a special mention goes to the book by Walker and Salt (2006) entitled " Resilience thinking: sustaining ecosystems and people in a changing world " , which is very much suggested as a practical source of information on resilience. As a first chapter, an executive summary is provided with a short overview of the report with the essential notions that are depicted throughout the QR. The second chapter then introduces the concept of resilience and gives an extensive background on the notions behind it. It intends to provide guidance, especially to understand the linkages between the concept of resilience and sustainable development, and the importance of resilience and systems thinking for policy-makers and for those who work on SD governance. The third chapter summarizes the relationships among resilience, society, governance and policy. Therefore, the concept of 'adaptive governance' is advanced as a more appropriate way to deal with …

GRID-CLUSTERING: A FAST HIERARCHICAL CLUSTERING METHOD FOR VERY LARGE DATA SETS <=SEP=> This paper presents a new approach to hierarchical clustering of very large data sets, named GridClustering. The method organizes unlike the conventional methods the space surrounding the patterns and not the patterns. It uses a multidimensional grid data structure. The resulting block partitioning of the value space is clustered via a topological neighbor search. The Grid-Clustering method is able to deliver structural pattern distribution information for very large data sets. It superceeds all conventional hierarchical algorithms in runtime behavior and memory space requirements. The algorithm was analyzed within a testbed and suitable values for the tunable parameters of the algorithm are proposed. A comparison of the executions times to other commonly used clustering algorithms and a heuristic runtime analysis is given.

Optimal Parallel Algorithms for Computing the Sum, the Prefix-Sums, and the Summed Area Table on the Memory Machine Models <=SEP=> The main contribution of this paper is to show optimal parallel algorithms to compute the sum, the prefix-sums, and the summed area table on two memory machine models, the Discrete Memory Machine (DMM) and the Unified Memory Machine (UMM). The DMM and the UMM are theoretical parallel computing models that capture the essence of the shared memory and the global memory of GPUs. These models have three parameters, the number p of threads, and the width w of the memory, and the memory access latency l. We first show that the sum of n numbers can be computed in O(n w + nl p + l log n) time units on the DMM and the UMM. We then go on to show that Ω(n w + nl p + l log n) time units are necessary to compute the sum. We also present a parallel algorithm that computes the prefix-sums of n numbers in O( n w + nl p + l log n) time units on the DMM and the UMM. Finally, we show that the summed area table of size √ n × √n can be computed in O( n w + nl p + l log n) time units on the DMM and the UMM. Since the computation of the prefix-sums and the summed area table is at least as hard as the sum computation, these parallel algorithms are also optimal. key words: Memory machine models, prefix-sums computation, parallel algorithm, GPU, CUDA

From checking on to checking in: designing for low socio-economic status older adults <=SEP=> In this paper we describe the design evolution of a novel technology that collects and displays presence information to be used in the homes of older adults. The first two iterations, the Ambient Plant and Presence Clock, were designed for higher socio-economic status (SES) older adults, whereas the Check-In Tree was designed for low SES older adults. We describe how feedback from older adult participants drove our design decisions, and give an in-depth account of how the Check-In Tree evolved from concept to a final design ready for in situ deployment.

Design of dual-polarized waveguide slotted antenna array for Ka-band application <=SEP=> A dual polarized waveguide slotted array for Ka band application is designed. Vertical polarization (VP) is realized by longitudinal slots on broad wall of the ridge waveguide sub array, while horizontal polarization (HP) is realized by tilted slot pairs in the narrow wall of the rectangular waveguide sub array. The feed networks are also designed for each polarization. Especially that for VP, a method to improve the coupling is presented. The antenna has low cross-polarization level and high degree of isolation between two ports.

Analysis and Support of Lifestyle via Emotions Using Social Media <=SEP=> Using recent insights from Cognitive, Affective and Social Neuroscience this paper addresses how affective states in social interactions can be used through social media to analyze and support behaviour for a certain lifestyle. A computational model is provided integrating mechanisms for the impact of one’s emotions on behaviour, and for the impact of emotions of others on one’s own emotion. The model is used to reason about and assess the state of a user with regard to a lifestyle goal (such as exercising frequently), based on extracted information about emotions exchanged in social interaction. Support is provided by proposing ways to affecting these social interactions, thereby indirectly influencing the impact of the emotions of others. An ambient intelligent system incorporating this has been implemented for the social medium Twitter.

Is Proof More Cost-Effective Than Testing? <=SEP=> ÐThis paper describes the use of formal development methods on an industrial safety-critical application. The Z notation was used for documenting the system specification and part of the design, and the SPARK subset of Ada was used for coding. However, perhaps the most distinctive nature of the project lies in the amount of proof that was carried out: proofs were carried out both at the Z levelÐapproximately 150 proofs in 500 pagesÐand at the SPARK code levelÐapproximately 9,000 verification conditions generated and discharged. The project was carried out under UK Interim Defence Standards 00-55 and 00-56, which require the use of formal methods on safety-critical applications. It is believed to be the first to be completed against the rigorous demands of the 1991 version of these standards. The paper includes comparisons of proof with the various types of testing employed, in terms of their efficiency at finding faults. The most striking result is that the Z proof appears to be substantially more efficient at finding faults than the most efficient testing phase. Given the importance of early fault detection, we believe this helps to show the significant benefit and practicality of large-scale proof on projects of this kind. Index TermsÐSafety-critical software, formal specification, SPARK, specification proof, code proof, proof vs. testing, industrial case study.

An Immune Genetic Algorithm for Software Test Data Generation <=SEP=> This paper aims at incorporating immune operators in genetic algorithms as an advanced method for solving the problem of test data generation. The new proposed hybrid algorithm is called immune genetic algorithm (IGA). A full description of this algorithm is presented before investigating its application in the context of software test data generation using some benchmark programs. Moreover, the algorithm is compared with other evolutionary algorithms.

High speed and low power preset-able modified TSPC D flip-flop design and performance comparison with TSPC D flip-flop <=SEP=> Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear functional imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image of functional organs in the body. PET requires high resolution, fast and low power multichannel analog to digital converter (ADC). A typical multichannel ADC for PET scanner architecture consists of several blocks. Most of the blocks can be designed by using fast, low power D flip-flops. A preset-able true single phase clocked (TSPC) D flip-flop shows numerous glitches (noise) at the output due to unnecessary toggling at the intermediate nodes. Preset-able modified TSPC (MTSPC) D flip-flop have been proposed as an alternative solution to alleviate this problem. However, the MTSPC D flip-flop requires one extra PMOS to suspend toggling of the intermediate nodes. In this work, we designed a 7-bit preset-able gray code counter by using the proposed D flip-flop. This work involves UMC 180 nm CMOS technology for preset-able 7-bit gray code counter where we achieved 1 GHz maximum operation frequency with most significant bit (MSB) delay 0.96 ns, power consumption 244.2 μW (micro watt) and power delay product (PDP) 0.23 pJ (Pico joule) from 1.8 V power supply.

Multifocal planes head-mounted displays. <=SEP=> Stereoscopic head-mounted displays (HMD's) provide an effective capability to create dynamic virtual environments. For a user of such environments, virtual objects would be displayed ideally at the appropriate distances, and natural concordant accommodation and convergence would be provided. Under such image display conditions, the user perceives these objects as if they were objects in a real environment. Current HMD technology requires convergent eye movements. However, it is currently limited by fixed visual accommodation, which is inconsistent with real-world vision. A prototype multiplanar volumetric projection display based on a stack of laminated planes was built for medical visualization as discussed in a paper presented at a 1999 Advanced Research Projects Agency workshop (Sullivan, Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Va., 1999). We show how such technology can be engineered to create a set of virtual planes appropriately configured in visual space to suppress conflicts of convergence and accommodation in HMD's. Although some scanning mechanism could be employed to create a set of desirable planes from a two-dimensional conventional display, multiplanar technology accomplishes such function with no moving parts. Based on optical principles and human vision, we present a comprehensive investigation of the engineering specification of multiplanar technology for integration in HMD's. Using selected human visual acuity and stereoacuity criteria, we show that the display requires at most 27 equally spaced planes, which is within the capability of current research and development display devices, located within a maximal 26-mm-wide stack. We further show that the necessary in-plane resolution is of the order of 5 microm.

The dynamic kinetochore-microtubule interface. <=SEP=> The kinetochore is a control module that both powers and regulates chromosome segregation in mitosis and meiosis. The kinetochore-microtubule interface is remarkably fluid, with the microtubules growing and shrinking at their point of attachment to the kinetochore. Furthermore, the kinetochore itself is highly dynamic, its makeup changing as cells enter mitosis and as it encounters microtubules. Active kinetochores have yet to be isolated or reconstituted, and so the structure remains enigmatic. Nonetheless, recent advances in genetic, bioinformatic and imaging technology mean we are now beginning to understand how kinetochores assemble, bind to microtubules and release them when the connections made are inappropriate, and also how they influence microtubule behaviour. Recent work has begun to elucidate a pathway of kinetochore assembly in animal cells; the work has revealed that many kinetochore components are highly dynamic and that some cycle between kinetochores and spindle poles along microtubules. Further studies of the kinetochore-microtubule interface are illuminating: (1) the role of the Ndc80 complex and components of the Ran-GTPase system in microtubule attachment, force generation and microtubule-dependent inactivation of kinetochore spindle checkpoint activity; (2) the role of chromosomal passenger proteins in the correction of kinetochore attachment errors; and (3) the function of microtubule plus-end tracking proteins, motor depolymerases and other proteins in kinetochore movement on microtubules and movement coupled to microtubule poleward flux.

Active compensation of current unbalance in paralleled silicon carbide MOSFETs <=SEP=> Current unbalance in paralleled power electronic devices can affect the performance and reliability of them. In this paper, the factors causing current unbalance in parallel connected silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs are analyzed, and the threshold mismatch is identified as the major factor. Then the distribution and temperature dependence of SiC MOSFETs' threshold voltage are studied experimentally. Based on the analysis and study, an active current balancing (ACB) scheme is presented. The scheme directly measures the unbalance current, and eliminates it in closed loop by varying the gate delay to each device. The turn-on and turn-off current unbalance are sensed and independently compensated to yield an optimal performance at both switching transitions. The proposed scheme provides robust compensation of current unbalance in fast-switching wide-band-gap devices while keeping circuit complexity and cost low. The performance of the proposed ACB scheme is verified by both simulation and experimental results.

Assessing The Impact Of Gender And Personality On Film Preferences <=SEP=> In this paper, the impact of gender and Big Five personality factors (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) on visual media preferences (for comedy, horror, action, romance and fantasy film genres) was examined. The analyses were carried out using data collected by Stillwell’s (2007) myPersonality application on Facebook; and focused on a sub-sample of British residents aged 16-25 (n=29,197). It was confirmed that females prefer romantic films, whereas males favour action films. As predicted, there was also a marked interaction between gender and personality characteristics: females score higher on Neuroticism and Agreeableness than males. Individuals scoring high on the dimension of Openness were more likely to prefer comedy and fantasy films than romantic films. Conscientious individuals were more inclined to enjoy action and romance genres. Individuals scoring high on Neuroticism tended to prefer romantic films. Finally, significant interactions were noted between gender and Openness with regard to preferences for comedy, action and romance genres. Overall, it is certain that the combination of gender and Big Five personality factors contributes substantially to an understanding of people’s film preferences. GENDER, PERSONALITY AND FILM PREFERENCES 3 Assessing the impact of Gender and Personality on Film Preferences Do comedies have a sexually differentiated public? Are males and females who enjoy horror films similar in terms of personality? Regardless of gender, do personality characteristics influence preference for the fantasy genre? In the present study, we have attempted to provide a meaningful answer to the aforementioned set of questions, based on the analysis of gender and personality interactions with regard to film preferences. In an attempt to complement previous research findings, we focused our analysis on the role of sex and personality in film preferences for British Facebook users aged 16-25. We paid attention to their scores on online Big Five personality questionnaires and their stated gender, using both single and multivariate measures to relate the two variables to film preferences, also listed on their profiles. The following hypotheses were tested: 1. Females and males differ with regard to film preferences. 2. Personality characteristics differ according to gender. 3. Film preferences vary in accordance with personality characteristics. 4. There is a significant interaction between gender and personality with regard to film preferences. the explanatory potential of online social networks Online social networks are mass repositories of valuable social and psychological information for researchers. Facebook, ranked as the most popular social network by worldwide monthly users, hosts for instance more than 400 million user profiles, in which individuals’ number of friends, media content preferences and socio-demographic background– amongst other things are displayed. Their systematic use for data collection purposes is a relatively recent trend in social psychological research; Stillwell’s creation of the myPersonality application (2007) on Facebook is a striking exemplar of the considerable explanatory potential of those online social networks. With myPersonality, users can take an online version of the Big Five personality questionnaire and agree to share their profile information for research purposes. As such, users’ personalities can be matched to any other single or collection of individual information available on Facebook, opening up an array of possible areas of investigation. GENDER, PERSONALITY AND FILM PREFERENCES 4 the predominance of visual media The appeal of visual media is easily demonstrated in terms of the importance it has in the lives of most individuals. Data from the National Survey of Culture, Leisure and Sport (2007) indicates that watching television is the most common leisure activity for over eight out of ten men and women in England, taking precedence over spending time with friends and family, sport, etc. Another intriguing finding relates to TV and movie watching online: the number of Britons visiting such websites reached 21 million in 2007. Although it is clear that many people enjoy visual media offerings, it is much more difficult to pinpoint the specific viewer characteristics that predict genre enjoyment. In other words, who prefers which type of content? visual media content: an explanation of viewer preferences Initially the domain of inquiry of communication theorists, media preferences and their determinants are increasingly studied from the vantage point of a variety of disciplines, amongst which psychology and sociology feature predominantly (Kraaykamp et al, 2005). Their combined explanatory potential finds its articulation in the uses and gratification approach (Blumler & Katz, 1974; Rosengreen & Windhal, 1989), according to which preferences for specific media and/or specific content result from an individual’s psychological and social attributes. gender differences in media content preferences Research on media preferences has paid notable attention to sex differences in responses to different types of film. It has been established that various movie genres elicit differentiated affective responses between the two sexes. Rather interestingly, the widespread gender – stereotyping running through entertainment products seems to correspond to actual viewer preferences. Males indeed prefer action/adventure genres typically associated with the masculine sex, whilst females have a soft spot for romance/drama. Oliver et al. (2000) point to the explanatory potential of differential gender-linked expectations, which can be conceptualized along two dimensions: (1) communality, typically associated with females and (2) agency, often associated with males (Eagly, 1987). Depending on whether they are communal or agency-consistent, the themes preponderant in each genre make up for a sexually differentiated public. A number of studies highlighted the importance of sex in social affiliation with media characters: viewers tend to affiliate more strongly with and GENDER, PERSONALITY AND FILM PREFERENCES 5 experience more intense emotional responses to same-sex characters (e.g. Deutsch, 1975; Hoffner & Cantor, 1991). Another potential explanation is that of sex differences in mean personality levels, which remain fairly constant across the lifespan (Feingold, 1994; McCrae & Costa, 1984). personality differences in media preferences Theorists have also focused considerable attention on the role of personality characteristics in modern mass communication theory (Blumler & Katz, 1974; Wober, 1986). In most personality/media use models, personality is conceptualized as the nexus of attitudes, beliefs and values that guide one’s cognitive and affective interactions with the social environment (Weaver et al, 1993). Personality characteristics are thus believed to influence media preferences, which are essentially evaluative judgements pertaining to the gratifications consumers anticipate from their interaction with the media (Palmgreen, 1984). The Big Five framework of personality is most frequently employed by researchers seeking to demonstrate empirical connections between media gratifications and their psychological roots (e.g. Kraaykamp, 2001; Kraaykamp et al, 2005). It includes the following domains: Openness (traits like originality and open-mindedness), Conscientiousness (traits like hardworking and orderly), Extraversion (traits like energetic and sociable), Agreeableness (traits like affectionate and considerate) and Neuroticism (traits like nervous and tense) (Donellan & Lucas, 2008). With regard to media preferences, individuals scoring high on the dimension of Openness seem to prefer original and serious media content, whilst conscientious individuals like predictable and structured formats (Kraaykamp et al, 2005). The findings for extroverts are less straightforward: they seemingly favour sensory stimulation because of relatively high arousal levels (Costa & McCrae, 1988). Agreeableness appears to be the second most important personality trait, after Openness, in predicting visual preferences. Friendly individuals tend to watch popular content, devoid of upsetting and unconventional images (Kraykaamp, 2001). Finally, emotionally unstable individuals are thought to find easy means of escape from feelings of tension and stress in watching TV (Conway & Rubin, 1991). Most studies on personality effects in media preferences tend to either overlook or control for participants’ gender (e.g. Weaver et al, 1993; Kraaykamp, 2001). As a result, it is difficult to tell in the former case whether the differentiated association between media GENDER, PERSONALITY AND FILM PREFERENCES 6 preferences and personality characteristics is partially caused by the fact that personality traits differ systematically between people of different sexes (Kraaykamp & Van Eijck, 2005). The latter design precludes the possibility of assessing the interaction between gender and personality when it comes to predicting media taste. It seemed to us as though no one has investigated gendered differences in personality in the context of similar genre preferences.

The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Learning analytics : drivers , developments and challenges <=SEP=> Learning analytics is a significant area of technology-enhanced learning that has emerged during the last decade. This review of the field begins with an examination of the technological, educational and political factors that have driven the development of analytics in educational settings. It goes on to chart the emergence of learning analytics, including their origins in the 20th century, the development of data-driven analytics, the rise of learningfocused perspectives and the influence of national economic concerns. It next focuses on the relationships between learning analytics, educational data mining and academic analytics. Finally, it examines developing areas of learning analytics research, and identifies a series of future challenges.

Color , Shape and Texture based Fruit Recognition System <=SEP=> The paper presents an automated system for classification of fruits. A dataset containing five different fruits was constructed using an ordinary camera. All the fruits were analyzed on the basis of their color (RGB space), shape and texture and then classified using different classifiers to find the classifier that gives the best accuracy. Gray Level Cooccurance Matrix(GLCM) is used to calculate texture features .Best accuracy was achieved by support vector machine (svm). All the processing was carried out in Matlab. Keywords—computer vision, pattern recognition, support vector machine, texture features.

Exploring the relationships between college students' cell phone use, personality and leisure <=SEP=> 

A New ADS-B Authentication Framework Based on Efficient Hierarchical Identity-Based Signature with Batch Verification <=SEP=> Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) has become a crucial part of next generation air traffic surveillance technology and will be mandatorily deployed for most of the airspaces worldwide by 2020. Each aircraft equipped with an ADS-B device keeps broadcasting plaintext messages to other aircraft and the ground station controllers once or twice per second. The lack of security measures in ADS-B systems makes it susceptible to different attacks. Among the various security issues, we investigate the integrity and authenticity of ADS-B messages. We propose a new framework for providing ADS-B with authentication based on three-level hierarchical identity-based signature (HIBS) with batch verification. Previous signature-based ADS-B authentication protocols focused on how to generate signatures efficiently, while our schemes can also significantly reduce the verification cost, which is critical to ADS-B systems, since at any time an ADS-B receiver may receive lots of signatures. We design two concrete schemes. The basic scheme supports partial batch verification and the extended scheme provides full batch verification. We give a formal security proof for the extended scheme. Experiment results show that our schemes with batch verification are tremendously more efficient in batch verifying <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$ </tex-math><alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="yang-ieq1-2459709.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> signatures than verifying <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="yang-ieq2-2459709.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> signatures independently. For example, the running time of verifying 100 signatures is 502 and 484 ms for the basic scheme and the extended scheme respectively, while the time is 2500 ms if verifying the signatures independently.

Dual-Band and Dual-Polarized SIW-Fed Microstrip Patch Antenna <=SEP=> A new dual-band and dual-polarized antenna is investigated in this letter. Two longitudinal and transverse slots on the broad wall of the substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) are responsible for creating two different frequency bands with distinct polarization. A frequency selective surface (FSS) is placed on top of the microstrip patches to reduce the cross-polarization level of the antenna. The resonance frequencies of the patch and slot are set near to each other to get a wider impedance bandwidth. Bandwidth of more than 7% is achieved in each band. SIW feeding network increases the efficiency of the antenna. The simulated radiation efficiency of the antenna is better than 87% over the impedance bandwidth .

Simulation of lightning impulse voltage stresses in underground cables <=SEP=> The goal of this work is to study the transient behavior of the cable against the application of standard and non-standard lightning impulse voltage waveforms. A 66 kV cable model has been developed in MATLAB Simulink and standard and non-standard impulse voltages are applied to it. A preliminary comparative study on the obtained voltages indicated that non-standard impulse voltage waveform developed higher voltage stress in the cable. Simulation results helped to investigate which impulses (standard or non-standard) represent the worst possible voltage stresses on the cables. This study provides the basis for further study of effects of non-standard impulse voltage waveforms and make necessary correction in the existing impulse testing standards.