Query: Quaternion Convolutional Neural Networks for End-to-End Automatic Speech Recognition

Relevant passages:
LSTM: A Search Space Odyssey <=SEP=> Several variants of the long short-term memory (LSTM) architecture for recurrent neural networks have been proposed since its inception in 1995. In recent years, these networks have become the state-of-the-art models for a variety of machine learning problems. This has led to a renewed interest in understanding the role and utility of various computational components of typical LSTM variants. In this paper, we present the first large-scale analysis of eight LSTM variants on three representative tasks: speech recognition, handwriting recognition, and polyphonic music modeling. The hyperparameters of all LSTM variants for each task were optimized separately using random search, and their importance was assessed using the powerful functional ANalysis Of VAriance framework. In total, we summarize the results of 5400 experimental runs ( $\approx 15$  years of CPU time), which makes our study the largest of its kind on LSTM networks. Our results show that none of the variants can improve upon the standard LSTM architecture significantly, and demonstrate the forget gate and the output activation function to be its most critical components. We further observe that the studied hyperparameters are virtually independent and derive guidelines for their efficient adjustment.

Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization <=SEP=> We introduce Adam, an algorithm for first-order gradient-based optimization of stochastic objective functions, based on adaptive estimates of lower-order moments. The method is straightforward to implement, is computationally efficient, has little memory requirements, is invariant to diagonal rescaling of the gradients, and is well suited for problems that are large in terms of data and/or parameters. The method is also appropriate for non-stationary objectives and problems with very noisy and/or sparse gradients. The hyper-parameters have intuitive interpretations and typically require little tuning. Some connections to related algorithms, on which Adam was inspired, are discussed. We also analyze the theoretical convergence properties of the algorithm and provide a regret bound on the convergence rate that is comparable to the best known results under the online convex optimization framework. Empirical results demonstrate that Adam works well in practice and compares favorably to other stochastic optimization methods. Finally, we discuss AdaMax, a variant of Adam based on the infinity norm.

Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition <=SEP=> Deeper neural networks are more difficult to train. We present a residual learning framework to ease the training of networks that are substantially deeper than those used previously. We explicitly reformulate the layers as learning residual functions with reference to the layer inputs, instead of learning unreferenced functions. We provide comprehensive empirical evidence showing that these residual networks are easier to optimize, and can gain accuracy from considerably increased depth. On the ImageNet dataset we evaluate residual nets with a depth of up to 152 layers - 8× deeper than VGG nets [40] but still having lower complexity. An ensemble of these residual nets achieves 3.57% error on the ImageNet test set. This result won the 1st place on the ILSVRC 2015 classification task. We also present analysis on CIFAR-10 with 100 and 1000 layers. The depth of representations is of central importance for many visual recognition tasks. Solely due to our extremely deep representations, we obtain a 28% relative improvement on the COCO object detection dataset. Deep residual nets are foundations of our submissions to ILSVRC & COCO 2015 competitions1, where we also won the 1st places on the tasks of ImageNet detection, ImageNet localization, COCO detection, and COCO segmentation.

Improving speech recognition by revising gated recurrent units <=SEP=> Speech recognition is largely taking advantage of deep learning, showing that substantial benefits can be obtained by modern Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). The most popular RNNs are Long Short-Term Memory (LSTMs), which typically reach state-of-the-art performance in many tasks thanks to their ability to learn long-term dependencies and robustness to vanishing gradients. Nevertheless, LSTMs have a rather complex design with three multiplicative gates, that might impair their efficient implementation. An attempt to simplify LSTMs has recently led to Gated Recurrent Units (GRUs), which are based on just two multiplicative gates. This paper builds on these efforts by further revising GRUs and proposing a simplified architecture potentially more suitable for speech recognition. The contribution of this work is two-fold. First, we suggest to remove the reset gate in the GRU design, resulting in a more efficient single-gate architecture. Second, we propose to replace tanh with ReLU activations in the state update equations. Results show that, in our implementation, the revised architecture reduces the per-epoch training time with more than 30% and consistently improves recognition performance across different tasks, input features, and noisy conditions when compared to a standard GRU.

Unsupervised feature learning for audio classification using convolutional deep belief networks <=SEP=> In recent years, deep learning approaches have gained significant interest as a way of building hierarchical representations from unlabeled data. However, to our knowledge, these deep learning approaches have not been extensively studied for auditory data. In this paper, we apply convolutional deep belief networks to audio data and empirically evaluate them on various audio classification tasks. In the case of speech data, we show that the learned features correspond to phones/phonemes. In addition, our feature representations learned from unlabeled audio data show very good performance for multiple audio classification tasks. We hope that this paper will inspire more research on deep learning approaches applied to a wide range of audio recognition tasks.

Kineticons: using iconographic motion in graphical user interface design <=SEP=> Icons in graphical user interfaces convey information in a mostly universal fashion that allows users to immediately interact with new applications, systems and devices. In this paper, we define Kineticons - an iconographic scheme based on motion. By motion, we mean geometric manipulations applied to a graphical element over time (e.g., scale, rotation, deformation). In contrast to static graphical icons and icons with animated graphics, kineticons do not alter the visual content or "pixel-space" of an element. Although kineticons are not new - indeed, they are seen in several popular systems - we formalize their scope and utility. One powerful quality is their ability to be applied to GUI elements of varying size and shape from a something as small as a close button, to something as large as dialog box or even the entire desktop. This allows a suite of system-wide kinetic behaviors to be reused for a variety of uses. Part of our contribution is an initial kineticon vocabulary, which we evaluated in a 200 participant study. We conclude with discussion of our results and design recommendations.

A taxonomy for multi-agent robotics <=SEP=> A key di culty in the design of multi-agent robotic systems is the size and complexity of the space of possible designs. In order to make principled design decisions, an understanding of the many possible system con gurations is essential. To this end, we present a taxonomy that classi es multiagent systems according to communication, computational and other capabilities. We survey existing e orts involving multi-agent systems according to their positions in the taxonomy. We also present additional results concerning multi-agent systems, with the dual purposes of illustrating the usefulness of the taxonomy in simplifying discourse about robot collective properties, and also demonstrating that a collective can be demonstrably more powerful than a single unit of the collective.

Sample Size in Factor Analysis <=SEP=> The factor analysis literature includes a range of recommendations regarding the minimum sample size necessary to obtain factor solutions that are adequately stable and that correspond closely to population factors. A fundamental misconception about this issue is that the minimum sample size, or the minimum ratio of sample size to the number of variables, is invariant across studies. In fact, necessary sample size is dependent on several aspects of any given study, including the level of communality of the variables and the level of overdetermination of the factors. The authors present a theoretical and mathematical framework that provides a basis for understanding and predicting these effects. The hypothesized effects are verified by a sampling study using artificial data. Results demonstrate the lack of validity of common rules of thumb and provide a basis for establishing guidelines for sample size in factor analysis.

How We Transmit Memories to Other Brains: Constructing Shared Neural Representations Via Communication <=SEP=> Humans are able to mentally construct an episode when listening to another person's recollection, even though they themselves did not experience the events. However, it is unknown how strongly the neural patterns elicited by mental construction resemble those found in the brain of the individual who experienced the original events. Using fMRI and a verbal communication task, we traced how neural patterns associated with viewing specific scenes in a movie are encoded, recalled, and then transferred to a group of naïve listeners. By comparing neural patterns across the 3 conditions, we report, for the first time, that event-specific neural patterns observed in the default mode network are shared across the encoding, recall, and construction of the same real-life episode. This study uncovers the intimate correspondences between memory encoding and event construction, and highlights the essential role our common language plays in the process of transmitting one's memories to other brains.

The Fox News Effect: Media Bias and Voting∗ <=SEP=> Does media bias affect voting? We address this question by looking at the entry of Fox News in cable markets and its impact on voting. Between October 1996 and November 2000, the conservative Fox News Channel was introduced in the cable programming of 20 percent of US towns. Fox News availability in 2000 appears to be largely idiosyncratic. Using a data set of voting data for 9,256 towns, we investigate if Republicans gained vote share in towns where Fox News entered the cable market by the year 2000. We find a significant effect of the introduction of Fox News on the vote share in Presidential elections between 1996 and 2000. Republicans gain 0.4 to 0.6 percentage points in the towns which broadcast Fox News. The results are robust to town-level controls, district and county fixed effects, and alternative specifications. We also find a significant effect of Fox News on Senate vote share and, to a lesser extent, on voter turnout. Our estimates imply that Fox News convinced 3 to 8 percent of its viewers to vote Republican. The evidence is most consistent with voters suffering from persuasion bias. We also discuss a model of rational voter updating that fits most facts. ∗George Akerlof, Stephen Ansolabehere, Larry M. Bartels, Matthew Gentzkow, Alan Gerber, Jay Hamilton, Alan Krueger, Marco Manacorda, Enrico Moretti, Torsten Persson, Sam Popkin, Riccardo Puglisi, Matthew Rabin, Jesse Shapiro, David Stromberg, and audiences at Bonn University, EUI (Florence), Fuqua, Harvard University, IIES (Stockholm), Princeton University, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago GSB, and the NBER 2005 Political Economy and Labor Studies Meetings provided useful comments. We would like to specially thank Jim Collins and Matthew Gentzkow for providing the Scarborough data. Shawn Bananzadeh, Jessica Chan, Marguerite Converse, Neil Dandavati, Tatyana Deryugina, Monica Deza, Dylan Fox, Melissa Galicia, Calvin Ho, Sudhamas Khanchanawong, Richard Kim, Martin Kohan, Vipul Kumar, Jonathan Leung, Clarice Li, Tze Yang Lim, Ming Mai, Sameer Parekh, Sharmini Radakrishnan, Rohan Relan, Chanda Singh, Matthew Stone, Nan Zhang, Sibo Zhao, and Liya Zhu helped collect the voting and the cable data. Dan Acland, Saurabh Bhargava, Avi Ebenstein, and Devin Pope provided excellent research assistance.

Validation of LiDAR point clouds for classification of high-value crops using geometric-and reflectance-based extraction algorithm <=SEP=> This study provides an experimental analysis of high-value crop classification using geometric and reflectance-based feature extraction algorithms which can be used to validate extensive classification. The main goal of this study is to identify the class based on the 3D reconstruction of small scale LiDAR scanner and RGB images. The reference used in this study was obtained from the initially classified classes of Mapua-Phil LiDAR2 Project. In validating high-value crops, the classification results were compared to the results obtained using the reference data. The validation procedures involve comparing the locations of previously classified crops and analyzing the crop cycle in the tested fields. The proposed methodology used to identify specific class based on the geometric feature alone are found to be acceptable with an average accuracy of 92.5% while the reflectance based classification alone provides an average accuracy of 90%.

Gain enhancement of butler matrix fed antenna array system by using planar circular EBG units <=SEP=> In this paper planar circular Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) structures have been implemented in the Butler matrix fed antenna array system to improve the radiation performance of the system. Initially a conventional 4×4 Butler matrix fed antenna array system has been designed at 14.5 GHz. Asymmetricity in the gain values of major beams of the antenna array system has been observed both in simulation and measurement. Generally due to the design simplicity, light weight and compactness, the rectangular patch microstrip antenna has been used as the radiating element in the Butler matrix fed antenna array system. At higher frequencies microstrip antenna suffers from losses due to surface wave excitation. It degrades the radiation efficiency of the antenna array system and also increases the level of mutual coupling between the radiating elements in the antenna array. EBG (Electromagnetic Band Gap) units are used to improve the radiation performance of the system by the generation of stop band. The propagation of surface wave will be suppressed in this stop band region and may improve the performance of the system. To fulfill this requirement, 3 × 1 planar circular EBG unit has been designed. A stop band of 2.15 GHz with the centre frequency of 14.5 GHz has been obtained by the proposed EBG unit. The 3×1 planar circular EBG unit has been integrated between the radiating elements of the antenna array system. As a result the gain enhancement has been achieved for the 1R, 2L, 2R and 1L beams both in simulation and measurement at 14.5 GHz.

Credit card fraud detection using machine learning techniques: A comparative analysis <=SEP=> Financial fraud is an ever growing menace with far consequences in the financial industry. Data mining had played an imperative role in the detection of credit card fraud in online transactions. Credit card fraud detection, which is a data mining problem, becomes challenging due to two major reasons — first, the profiles of normal and fraudulent behaviours change constantly and secondly, credit card fraud data sets are highly skewed. The performance of fraud detection in credit card transactions is greatly affected by the sampling approach on dataset, selection of variables and detection technique(s) used. This paper investigates the performance of naïve bayes, k-nearest neighbor and logistic regression on highly skewed credit card fraud data. Dataset of credit card transactions is sourced from European cardholders containing 284,807 transactions. A hybrid technique of under-sampling and oversampling is carried out on the skewed data. The three techniques are applied on the raw and preprocessed data. The work is implemented in Python. The performance of the techniques is evaluated based on accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, Matthews correlation coefficient and balanced classification rate. The results shows of optimal accuracy for naïve bayes, k-nearest neighbor and logistic regression classifiers are 97.92%, 97.69% and 54.86% respectively. The comparative results show that k-nearest neighbour performs better than naïve bayes and logistic regression techniques.

Wiggling through complex traffic: Planning trajectories constrained by predictions <=SEP=> The vision of autonomous driving is piecewise becoming reality. Still the problem of executing the driving task in a safe and comfortable way in all possible environments, for instance highway, city or rural road scenarios is a challenging task. In this paper we present a novel approach to planning trajectories for autonomous vehicles. Hereby we focus on the problem of planning a trajectory, given a specific behavior option, e.g. merging into a specific gap at a highway entrance or a roundabout. Therefore we explicitly take arbitrary road geometry and prediction information of other traffic participants into account. We extend former contributions in this field by providing a flexible problem description and a trajectory planner without specialization to distinct classes of maneuvers beforehand. Using a carefully chosen representation of the dynamic free space, the method is capable of considering multiple lanes including the predicted dynamics of other traffic participants, while being real-time capable at the same time. The combination of those properties in one general planning method represents the novelty of the proposed method. We demonstrate the capability of our algorithm to plan safe trajectories in simulation and in real traffic in real-time.

Privacy-Preserving Human Activity Recognition from Extreme Low Resolution <=SEP=> Privacy protection from unwanted video recordings is an important societal challenge. We desire a computer vision system (e.g., a robot) that can recognize human activities and assist our daily life, yet ensure that it is not recording video that may invade our privacy. This paper presents a fundamental approach to address such contradicting objectives: human activity recognition while only using extreme low-resolution (e.g., 16x12) anonymized videos. We introduce the paradigm of inverse super resolution (ISR), the concept of learning the optimal set of image transformations to generate multiple low-resolution (LR) training videos from a single video. Our ISR learns different types of sub-pixel transformations optimized for the activity classification, allowing the classifier to best take advantage of existing high-resolution videos (e.g., YouTube videos) by creating multiple LR training videos tailored for the problem. We experimentally confirm that the paradigm of inverse super resolution is able to benefit activity recognition from extreme low-resolution videos.

Coverage-Guided Fuzzing for Deep Neural Networks <=SEP=> In company with the data explosion over the past decade, deep neural network (DNN) based software has experienced unprecedented leap and is becoming the key driving force of many novel industrial applications, including many safety-critical scenarios such as autonomous driving. Despite great success achieved in various human intelligence tasks, similar to traditional software, DNNs could also exhibit incorrect behaviors caused by hidden defects causing severe accidents and losses. In this paper, we propose DeepHunter, an automated fuzz testing framework for hunting potential defects of general-purpose DNNs. DeepHunter performs metamorphic mutation to generate new semantically preserved tests, and leverages multiple plugable coverage criteria as feedback to guide the test generation from different perspectives. To be scalable towards practical-sized DNNs, DeepHunter maintains multiple tests in a batch, and prioritizes the tests selection based on active feedback. The effectiveness of DeepHunter is extensively investigated on 3 popular datasets (MNIST, CIFAR-10, ImageNet) and 7 DNNs with diverse complexities, under large set of 6 coverage criteria as feedback. The large-scale experiments demonstrate that DeepHunter can (1) significantly boost the coverage with guidance; (2) generate useful tests to detect erroneous behaviors and facilitate the DNN model quality evaluation; (3) accurately capture potential defects during DNN quantization for platform migration.

Detection of camera artifacts from camera images <=SEP=> Cameras are frequently used in state-of-the-art systems in order to get detailed information of the environment. However, when cameras are used outdoors they easily get dirty or scratches on the lens which leads to image artifacts that can deteriorate a system's performance. Little work has yet been done on how to detect and cope with such artifacts. Most of the previous work has concentrated on detecting a specific artifact like rain drops on the windshield of a car. In this paper, we show that on moving systems most artifacts can be detected by analyzing the frames in a stream of images from a camera for static image parts. Based on the observation that most artifacts are temporally stable in their position in the image we compute pixel-wise correlations between images. Since the system is moving the static artifacts will lead to a high correlation value while the pixels showing only scene elements will have a low correlation value. For testing this novel algorithm, we recorded some outdoor data with the three different artifacts: raindrops, dirt and scratches. The results of our new algorithm on this data show, that it reliably detects all three artifacts. Moreover, we show that our algorithm can be implemented efficiently by means of box-filters which allows it to be used as a self-checking routine running in background on low-power systems such as autonomous field robots or advanced driver assistant systems on a vehicle.

Automating hierarchical document classification for construction management information systems <=SEP=> The widespread use of information technologies for construction is considerably increasing the number of electronic text documents stored in construction management information systems. Consequently, automated methods for organizing and improving the access to the information contained in these types of documents become essential to construction information management. This paper describes a methodology developed to improve information organization and access in construction management information systems based on automatic hierarchical classification of construction project documents according to project components. A prototype system for document classification is presented, as well as the experiments conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach. D 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The design of early childhood makerspaces to support positive technological development: Two case studies <=SEP=> Purpose – With the advent of the maker movement, there has been a new push to explore how spaces of learning ought to be designed. The purpose of this paper is to integrate three approaches for thinking about the role of design of the learning environment: the makerspace movement, Reggio Emilia’s Third Teacher approach, and the positive technological development (PTD) framework. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes two case studies that involved the design of two different early childhood makerspaces (ECMSs) through a co-participatory design experience: the Kindergarten Creator Space at the International School of Billund in Denmark; and the ECMS at (removed for blind review), a resource library in Medford, MA. Findings – Based on the foundational education framework of PTD, and ideas from the field of interior design, this paper describes the design principles of several successful makerspaces, and case examples of children who use them. Originality/value – By grounding the theoretical discussion in three approaches, the authors aim to suggest design elements of physical spaces in schools and libraries that can promote young children’s learning through making. Recommendations are discussed for practitioners and researchers interested in ECMSs.

CS Teacher Experiences with Educational Technology, Problem-BasedLearning, and a CS Principles Curriculum <=SEP=> Little is known about how K-12 Computer Science (CS) teachers use technology and problem-based learning (PBL) to teach CS content in the context of CS Principles curricula. Significantly, little qualitative research has been conducted in these areas in computer science education, so we lack an in-depth understanding of the complicated realities of CS teachers' experiences. This paper describes the practices and experiences of six teachers' use of technology that was implemented to support PBL in the context of a dual enrollment CS Principles course.
 Results from an early offering of this course suggest that (1) while CS teachers used technology, they did not appear to use it to support student inquiry, (2) local adaptations to the curriculum were largely teacher-centric, and (3) the simultaneous adoption of new instructional practices, technologies, and curricula was overwhelming to teachers. This paper then describes how these results were used to modify the curriculum and professional development, leading to increased teacher satisfaction and student success in the course.

Predicting the Structure of Cooking Recipes <=SEP=> Cooking recipes exist in abundance; but due to their unstructured text format, they are hard to study quantitatively beyond treating them as simple bags of words. In this paper, we propose an ingredientinstruction dependency tree data structure to represent recipes. The proposed representation allows for more refined comparison of recipes and recipe-parts, and is a step towards semantic representation of recipes. Furthermore, we build a parser that maps recipes into the proposed representation. The parser’s edge prediction accuracy of 93.5% improves over a strong baseline of 85.7% (54.5% error reduction).

Convolutional Monte Carlo Rollouts in Go <=SEP=> In this work, we present a MCTS-based Go-playing program which uses convolutional networks in all parts. Our method performs MCTS in batches, explores the Monte Carlo search tree using Thompson sampling and a convolutional network, and evaluates convnet-based rollouts on the GPU. We achieve strong win rates against open source Go programs and attain competitive results against state of the art convolutional net-based Go-playing programs.

AFRL-RQ-WP-TR-2014-0212 A BROADBAND HIGH-GAIN BILAYER LOG-PERIODIC DIPOLE ARRAY ( LPDA ) FOR ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY ( UHF ) CONFORMAL LOAD BEARING ANTENNA STRUCTURES ( CLAS ) APPLICATIONS <=SEP=> A broadband high-gain bi-layer Log-PeriodicDipole-Array (LPDA) is introduced for Conformal Load Bearing Antenna Structures (CLAS) applications. Under the proposed scheme the two layers of the LPDA are printed on two separate thin dielectric substrates which are substantially separated from each other. A meander line geometry is adapted to achieve size reduction for the array. The fabricated and tested array easily exceeds more than an octave of gain, pattern and VSWR bandwidth. Index Terms — Broadband antenna, array, log-periodic, LPDA, endfire, ultrawideband, UWB, CLAS.

Docker Layer Placement for On-Demand Provisioning of Services on Edge Clouds <=SEP=> Driven by the increasing popularity of the microservice architecture, we see an increase in services with unknown demand pattern located in the edge network. Pre-deployed instances of such services would be idle most of the time, which is economically infeasible. Also, the finite storage capacity limits the amount of deployed instances we can offer. Instead, we present an on-demand deployment scheme using the Docker platform. In Docker, service images consist of layers, each layer adding specific functionality. This allows different services to reuse layers, avoiding cluttering the storages with redundant replicas. We propose a layer placement method which allows users to connect to a server, retrieve all necessary layers -possibly from multiple locations- and deploy an instance of the requested service within the desired response time. We search for the best layer placement which maximizes the satisfied demand given the storage and delay constraints. We developed an iterative optimization heuristic which is less exhaustive by dividing the global problem in smaller subproblems. Our simulation results show that our heuristic is able to solve the problem with less system resources. Last, we present interesting use-cases to use this approach in real-life scenarios.

Support vector regression with modified firefly algorithm for stock price forecasting <=SEP=> The support vector regression (SVR) has been employed to deal with stock price forecasting problems. However, the selection of appropriate kernel parameters is crucial to obtaining satisfactory forecasting performance. This paper proposes a novel approach for forecasting stock prices by combining the SVR with the firefly algorithm (FA). The proposed forecasting model has two stages. In the first stage, to enhance the global convergence speed, a modified version of the FA, which is termed the MFA, is developed in which the dynamic adjustment strategy and the opposition-based chaotic strategy are introduced. In the second stage, a hybrid SVR model is proposed and combined with the MFA for stock price forecasting, in which the MFA is used to optimize the SVR parameters. Finally, comparative experiments are conducted to show the applicability and superiority of the proposed methods. Experimental results show the following: (1) Compared with other algorithms, the proposed MFA algorithm possesses superior performance, and (2) The proposed MFA-SVR prediction procedure can be considered as a feasible and effective tool for forecasting stock prices.

Women with hyperandrogenism in elite sports: scientific and ethical rationales for regulating. <=SEP=> The recent implementation by some major sports-governing bodies of policies governing eligibility of females with hyperandrogenism to compete in women's sports has raised a lot of attention and is still a controversial issue. This short article addresses two main subjects of controversy: the existing scientific basis supporting performance enhancing of high blood T levels in elite female athletes, and the ethical rationale and considerations about these policies. Given the recently published data about both innate and acquired hyperandrogenic conditions and their prevalence in elite female sports, we claim that the high level of androgens are per se performance enhancing. Regulating women with clinical and biological hyperandrogenism is an invitation to criticism because biological parameters of sex are not neatly divided into only two categories in the real world. It is, however, the responsibility of the sports-governing bodies to do their best to guarantee a level playing field to all athletes. In order not cloud the discussions about the policies on hyperandrogenism in sports, issues of sports eligibility and therapeutic options should always be considered and explained separately, even if they may overlap. Finally, some proposals for refining the existing policies are made in the present article.

Design of Boost-Flyback Single-Stage PFC converter for LED power supply without electrolytic capacitor for energy-storage <=SEP=> Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are likely to be used for general lighting applications due to their high efficiency and longer life. This paper presents the concept of applying large voltage ripple for energy storage into the Boost-Flyback Single -Stage PFC converter for the elimination of the electrical capacitor. Following proposed design procedure, the single stage PFC circuit with small energy storage capacitance can still achieve good output voltage regulation while preserving desired input power factor. The detailed theoretical analysis and design procedure of the Single-Stage PFC converter is presented. The experimental results obtained on a 60W prototype converter along with waveforms are presented.

Multilevel single-phase inverter based on TNPC-type <=SEP=> A new single-phase 7-level pulse-width modulation (PWM) inverter using T-type Neutral-point-clamped (TNPC) celIs is presented to obtain high quality output voltage minimizing the number of switching devices. It includes two TNPC cells series-connected together and connected to with different voltage levels. To avoid inherent problems caused by voltage unbalance, modified Buck-boost converters are added at DC-link side to make DC voltage sources for the proposed inverter. Operational principles and the switching pattern are analyzed in this paper. To verify the performance of the proposed inverter, PSIM simulation and experimental results are also shown in this paper.

Development of a helical climbing modular snake robot <=SEP=> This research aims to study the grasping torque profile of the helical climbing robot on the cylindrical pole with constant radius. The modular snake robot is formed into a helical shape which can be described by various parameters such as the helical pitch angle, the radius and the pitch distance. The torque in each axis of rotation is affected by the helical pitch angle parameter. Five grasping configurations with different helical pitch angle were tested on the 18 degree of freedoms, 7 modules wheeled snake robot. The experimental result showed that the torque around yaw axis transferred to the pitch axis when the helical pitch angle was increasing. The profile of torque magnitude along the robot's body resulted in parabolic shape due to the unbalanced grasping force of the discrete points of contact between the robot and the pole.

Privacy and human behavior in the age of information <=SEP=> This Review summarizes and draws connections between diverse streams of empirical research on privacy behavior. We use three themes to connect insights from social and behavioral sciences: people’s uncertainty about the consequences of privacy-related behaviors and their own preferences over those consequences; the context-dependence of people’s concern, or lack thereof, about privacy; and the degree to which privacy concerns are malleable—manipulable by commercial and governmental interests. Organizing our discussion by these themes, we offer observations concerning the role of public policy in the protection of privacy in the information age.