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Robust Trajectory and Transmit Power Optimization for Secure UAV-Enabled Cognitive Radio Networks. (arXiv:2005.03091v1 [cs.IT])

Cognitive radio is a promising technology to improve spectral efficiency. However, the secure performance of a secondary network achieved by using physical layer security techniques is limited by its transmit power and channel fading. In order to tackle this issue, a cognitive unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication network is studied by exploiting the high flexibility of a UAV and the possibility of establishing line-of-sight links. The average secrecy rate of the secondary network is maximized by robustly optimizing the UAV's trajectory and transmit power. Our problem formulation takes into account two practical inaccurate location estimation cases, namely, the worst case and the outage-constrained case. In order to solve those challenging non-convex problems, an iterative algorithm based on $mathcal{S}$-Procedure is proposed for the worst case while an iterative algorithm based on Bernstein-type inequalities is proposed for the outage-constrained case. The proposed algorithms can obtain effective suboptimal solutions of the corresponding problems. Our simulation results demonstrate that the algorithm under the outage-constrained case can achieve a higher average secrecy rate with a low computational complexity compared to that of the algorithm under the worst case. Moreover, the proposed schemes can improve the secure communication performance significantly compared to other benchmark schemes.




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Exploratory Analysis of Covid-19 Tweets using Topic Modeling, UMAP, and DiGraphs. (arXiv:2005.03082v1 [cs.SI])

This paper illustrates five different techniques to assess the distinctiveness of topics, key terms and features, speed of information dissemination, and network behaviors for Covid19 tweets. First, we use pattern matching and second, topic modeling through Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to generate twenty different topics that discuss case spread, healthcare workers, and personal protective equipment (PPE). One topic specific to U.S. cases would start to uptick immediately after live White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings, implying that many Twitter users are paying attention to government announcements. We contribute machine learning methods not previously reported in the Covid19 Twitter literature. This includes our third method, Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP), that identifies unique clustering-behavior of distinct topics to improve our understanding of important themes in the corpus and help assess the quality of generated topics. Fourth, we calculated retweeting times to understand how fast information about Covid19 propagates on Twitter. Our analysis indicates that the median retweeting time of Covid19 for a sample corpus in March 2020 was 2.87 hours, approximately 50 minutes faster than repostings from Chinese social media about H7N9 in March 2013. Lastly, we sought to understand retweet cascades, by visualizing the connections of users over time from fast to slow retweeting. As the time to retweet increases, the density of connections also increase where in our sample, we found distinct users dominating the attention of Covid19 retweeters. One of the simplest highlights of this analysis is that early-stage descriptive methods like regular expressions can successfully identify high-level themes which were consistently verified as important through every subsequent analysis.




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Guided Policy Search Model-based Reinforcement Learning for Urban Autonomous Driving. (arXiv:2005.03076v1 [cs.RO])

In this paper, we continue our prior work on using imitation learning (IL) and model free reinforcement learning (RL) to learn driving policies for autonomous driving in urban scenarios, by introducing a model based RL method to drive the autonomous vehicle in the Carla urban driving simulator. Although IL and model free RL methods have been proved to be capable of solving lots of challenging tasks, including playing video games, robots, and, in our prior work, urban driving, the low sample efficiency of such methods greatly limits their applications on actual autonomous driving. In this work, we developed a model based RL algorithm of guided policy search (GPS) for urban driving tasks. The algorithm iteratively learns a parameterized dynamic model to approximate the complex and interactive driving task, and optimizes the driving policy under the nonlinear approximate dynamic model. As a model based RL approach, when applied in urban autonomous driving, the GPS has the advantages of higher sample efficiency, better interpretability, and greater stability. We provide extensive experiments validating the effectiveness of the proposed method to learn robust driving policy for urban driving in Carla. We also compare the proposed method with other policy search and model free RL baselines, showing 100x better sample efficiency of the GPS based RL method, and also that the GPS based method can learn policies for harder tasks that the baseline methods can hardly learn.




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Categorical Vector Space Semantics for Lambek Calculus with a Relevant Modality. (arXiv:2005.03074v1 [cs.CL])

We develop a categorical compositional distributional semantics for Lambek Calculus with a Relevant Modality !L*, which has a limited edition of the contraction and permutation rules. The categorical part of the semantics is a monoidal biclosed category with a coalgebra modality, very similar to the structure of a Differential Category. We instantiate this category to finite dimensional vector spaces and linear maps via "quantisation" functors and work with three concrete interpretations of the coalgebra modality. We apply the model to construct categorical and concrete semantic interpretations for the motivating example of !L*: the derivation of a phrase with a parasitic gap. The effectiveness of the concrete interpretations are evaluated via a disambiguation task, on an extension of a sentence disambiguation dataset to parasitic gap phrase one, using BERT, Word2Vec, and FastText vectors and Relational tensors.




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CovidCTNet: An Open-Source Deep Learning Approach to Identify Covid-19 Using CT Image. (arXiv:2005.03059v1 [eess.IV])

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is highly contagious with limited treatment options. Early and accurate diagnosis of Covid-19 is crucial in reducing the spread of the disease and its accompanied mortality. Currently, detection by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the gold standard of outpatient and inpatient detection of Covid-19. RT-PCR is a rapid method, however, its accuracy in detection is only ~70-75%. Another approved strategy is computed tomography (CT) imaging. CT imaging has a much higher sensitivity of ~80-98%, but similar accuracy of 70%. To enhance the accuracy of CT imaging detection, we developed an open-source set of algorithms called CovidCTNet that successfully differentiates Covid-19 from community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and other lung diseases. CovidCTNet increases the accuracy of CT imaging detection to 90% compared to radiologists (70%). The model is designed to work with heterogeneous and small sample sizes independent of the CT imaging hardware. In order to facilitate the detection of Covid-19 globally and assist radiologists and physicians in the screening process, we are releasing all algorithms and parametric details in an open-source format. Open-source sharing of our CovidCTNet enables developers to rapidly improve and optimize services, while preserving user privacy and data ownership.




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Football High: Helmets Do Not Prevent Concussions

Despite the improvements in helmet technology, helmets may prevent skull fractures, but they do not prevent concussions.




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Retired Soccer Star Briana Scurry on What a Concussion Feels Like

After she was hit, retired soccer star Briana Scurry felt off balance, sensitive to light and sound,and felt intense pain in her head and neck.




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Retired Soccer Star Briana Scurry: Message to People Struggling After Concussions

If you don't feel right after a concussion, talk to your parents, your coach, your doctor ... get a second, third, fourth opinion ... Do not accept that you will not get better.




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Retired Soccer Star Briana Scurry on Girls Soccer and Concussion Protocols

One out of two girls will sustain a concussion playing soccer, but most will recover and return to play with ease. Nevertheless, awareness and education are key to keeping players safe.




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Retired Soccer Star Briana Scurry on Her Post-Concussion Depression

Was her depression physiological from the hit to her head or because her professional soccer career was over?




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Why Retired Soccer Star Briana Scurry Is Speaking Out About Concussion

As someone who had a phenomenal career in professional soccer and that had a career-ending head injury, Briana Scurry knows she can help other female — and male — athletes.




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What “Friday Night Tykes” Can Teach Us About Youth Football

Why do some parents and coaches think it's okay to let 9-year-old kids get hit in the head over and over in football practices and games?




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This Concussion Is More Serious Than You Thought

Bob Duncan talks about what happened to his son when he returned to college and to his midterm exams only 24 hours after his concussion.




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Looking at the Risk of Concussion in Sports Head On

Are sports organizations like FIFA taking concussions in sports seriously enough?




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Teen athletes sandbag concussion tests to stay in the game

What happens when the drive to play outweighs the potential risk of injury? Some high school athletes are finding ways around the precautions coaching and medical staff take to ensure their safety.




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24 Must-Know Graphic Design Terms

Graphic design is everywhere — it’s used in traditional marketing efforts like billboards and fliers, and more importantly, it’s used in nearly every single digital marketing initiative from web design to social media marketing. If you’re a business that’s working with a digital marketing agency for any number of marketing campaigns (especially web design), it’s […]

The post 24 Must-Know Graphic Design Terms appeared first on WebFX Blog.




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7 Examples of Great “About Us” Pages

Your website serves several important purposes for your company — attracting customers, generating leads, and making sales, just to name a few. And as your home on the Internet, it also needs to explain who you are to the world and why they should choose you over your competitors.   However, creating an “About Us” […]

The post 7 Examples of Great “About Us” Pages appeared first on WebFX Blog.




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20 Company Website Designs to Inspire Your Small Business

As a small or midsize business (SMB), your company website is often the first touchpoint for potential clients — and you want it to make a great first impression. The secret to hitting home with your audience is to have a sophisticated and lively website design that’s aesthetically pleasing and provides great user experience (UX). […]

The post 20 Company Website Designs to Inspire Your Small Business appeared first on WebFX Blog.




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Need a Website? 6 Reasons to Have a Website for Your Business

Did you know that over 70% of people will research a company on the web before deciding to buy or visit, yet 46% of small businesses in the U.S. don’t have a website? If you don’t have a site, people can’t research your company and determine if you’re a good fit for their needs. If […]

The post Need a Website? 6 Reasons to Have a Website for Your Business appeared first on WebFX Blog.




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5 Magnificent Examples of Websites That Convert Visitors into Customers

Need some inspiration to build a high converting website? Websites that convert persuade visitors to become customers. These websites drive more revenue, so if you want to increase your site’s revenue, use these examples of websites that convert as inspiration! We’ll go over what makes for the best converting websites and five examples of websites […]

The post 5 Magnificent Examples of Websites That Convert Visitors into Customers appeared first on WebFX Blog.




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Experimental Biomass Harvest a Step Toward Sustainable, Biofuels-Powered Future

By Jeff Mulhollem Penn State News The first harvest of 34 acres of fast-growing shrub willow from a Penn State demonstration field this winter is a milestone in developing a sustainable biomass supply for renewable energy and bio-based economic development, … Continue reading




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Let's Discuss Memoization, or Should I Say Memoisation

“In computing, memoization or memoisation is an optimization technique used primarily to speed up computer programs by storing the results of expensive function calls and returning the cached result when the same inputs occur again” — Wikipedia article on memoization

I've written a two part article in Memoization in JavaScript. The first part explains the concept with basic implementation in JavaScript code. It details a way to apply the technique on function calls. It is generic to handle most JavaScript functions.




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Using Heroku for Static Web Content

In the "Moving Away From AWS and Onto Heroku" article, I provided an introduction of the application I wanted to migrate from Amazon's popular AWS solution to Heroku.  Subsequently, the "Destination Heroku" article illustrated the establishment of a new Heroku account and focused on introducing a Java API (written in Spring Boot) connecting to a ClearDB instance within this new platform-as-a-service (PaaS) ecosystem.  My primary goal is to find a solution that allows my limited time to be focused on providing business solutions instead of getting up to speed with DevOps processes.

Quick Recap

As a TL;DR (too long; didn't read) to the original article, I built an Angular client and a Java API for the small business owned by my mother-in-law.  After a year of running the application on Elastic Beanstalk and S3, I wanted to see if there was a better solution that would allow me to focus more on writing features and enhancements and not have to worry about learning, understanding, and executing DevOps-like aspects inherent within the AWS ecosystem.




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Use Of Ngx-Bootstrap Typehead In Angular 8

Introduction

Ngx-Bootstrap has released a package of open-source tools which are native Angular directives for Bootstrap 3 and 4. It contains all core components powered by Angular. In this article, we will learn about the Typehead component which is a cool feature of Ngx-bootstrap.

What Is Typeahead?

Typeahead — Also known as autocomplete or autosuggest is a language prediction tool that many search interfaces use to provide suggestions for users as they type in a textbox. This is a method for searching and filtering through text. It is also sometimes known as autocomplete, incremental search, search-as-you-type, and inline search.




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A toker's musical guide through pop history

The Cannabis Issue People have been enjoying cannabis for recreational purposes for centuries, including in the United States since the early 1900s. That means weed was in America a good 50 years or so before the invention of rock 'n' roll.…




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In Washington's rural pot shops, the effects of the coronavirus scare can be dramatic

The Cannabis Issue During normal times, I-90 Green House is like a destination resort for marijuana lovers.…




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Regional summer camps hope the pandemic doesn't put activities on pause, but have backup plans ready if it does

[IMAGE-1]After having their school year totally disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, a return to some semblance of normalcy come summer is all many school-age kids and their families are looking forward to. For many, this anticipation includes annual summer camp traditions, from sleep-away adventures on the lake to fun-filled day camps for arts, learning or team sports.…




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Music

Summer Camps 2020 WSU Horn Camp Student musicians work with WSU faculty to improve musical skill and technique, focusing on group techniques, horn ensemble, private lessons, chamber music and more.…




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The cannabis industry is putting people to work

Legal marijuana might be putting dealers out of work, but it's definitely not harming the job market in general.…



  • News/Green Zone

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Key Missteps at the CDC Have Set Back Its Ability to Detect the Potential Spread of Coronavirus

The CDC designed a flawed test for COVID-19, then took weeks to figure out a fix so state and local labs could use it. New York still doesn’t trust the test’s accuracy By Caroline Chen, Marshall Allen, Lexi Churchill and Isaac Arnsdorf Propublica…



  • News/Nation & World

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Coronavirus update: UW busy with testing, new guidelines for visiting grandma and other COVID-19 headlines

Coronavirus Family Tree The University of Washington Virology lab, which is testing samples for coronavirus, tweeted last night.…



  • News/Local News

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With a new coronavirus sweeping the world, how much should you really worry?

Since late last year, a new coronavirus, now dubbed COVID-19, has been sweeping the globe, sickening more than 114,000 with flu- and cold-like symptoms and killing more than 4,000 so far.…



  • News/Local News

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Should I quarantine because of coronavirus? It depends on who you ask

Agencies, local authorities and national governments do not agree on who should be quarantined or what that should actually look like. Here’s what we do know. By Maya Miller, Caroline Chen and Joshua Kaplan ProPublica People who have been exposed to the coronavirus are being given incomplete or misleading information about whether they should quarantine themselves, exposing major gaps in the public health response to the pandemic and illuminating disagreement among officials about how useful the tactic even is at this point in the disease’s spread.…



  • News/Nation & World

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How South Korea scaled coronavirus testing while the U.S. fell dangerously behind

By learning from a MERS outbreak in 2015, South Korea was prepared and acted swiftly to ramp up testing when the new coronavirus appeared there. Meanwhile, the U.S., plagued by delay and dysfunction, wasted its advantage. By Stephen Engelberg, Lisa Song and Lydia DePillis ProPublica…



  • News/Nation & World

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Coronavirus: The latest news on COVID-19

We at the Inlander are committed to keeping people informed and connected throughout the coronavirus outbreak. We'll continue to update this page with the latest headlines.…



  • News/Local News

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The cruelest part of the coronavirus: It's cut us off from community and solace

There’s a cliche that always follows a big tragedy — something we say after natural disasters, economic collapses, school shootings, acts of terrorisms.…



  • Comment/Columns & Letters

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Rationing Protective Gear Means Checking on Coronavirus Patients Less Often. This Can Be Deadly

Low on essential supplies and fearing they’ll get sick, doctors and nurses told ProPublica in-person care for coronavirus patients has been scaled back. In some cases, it’s causing serious harm. By Joshua Kaplan, Lizzie Presser and Maya Miller, ProPublica Every morning, between 7 and 8, at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, several coronavirus patients are pronounced dead.…



  • News/Nation & World

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Privacy is disappearing faster than we realize, and the coronavirus isn't helping

The apps and devices you use are conducting surveillance with your every move Sure, you lock your home, and you probably don't share your deepest secrets with random strangers.…



  • News/Local News

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Someone's dead and everyone's a suspect in the slight but engaging all-star whodunit Knives Out

[IMAGE-1] Watching Rian Johnson's Knives Out, I was reminded of my middle school English teacher Mrs. Soderbergh, who loved Agatha Christie books almost as much as she loved diagramming sentences. There was a week when she brought in a box stacked high with her own Christie paperbacks, set it down in front of the classroom and had each of us pick a book based solely on the plot summary on the back.…



  • Film/Film News

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You might feel anxious watching Uncut Gems, or you might simply be annoyed by one man's bad decisions

Uncut Gems is one of those "his own worst enemy" capers. You know, the kind of movie where you sit there for two hours watching some doofus constantly trip over his own laces — usually figuratively, sometimes literally — on the way to a personal epiphany about how all his bad choices and lack of useful self-awareness have led him to whatever unpleasant place they lead him to.…



  • Film/Film News

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Based on a powerful true story, Just Mercy examines racial injustice within the American legal system

[IMAGE-1] I honestly don't know how people like Bryan Stevenson keep up the fight. Just Mercy is the true origin story of a literal social justice warrior, a Harvard-educated lawyer who, in the late 1980s, launched the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, to take on the neediest, most desperate cases.…



  • Film/Film News

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1917 is designed to look like a single take. Here are some other films that use similar tricks to great effect

Sam Mendes' 1917, which took Best Picture and Best Director awards at the Golden Globes earlier this week, looks like a standard period piece.…



  • Film/Film News

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Spokane musician Eliza Johnson brought her quirky style — and tinned fish — to American Idol Sunday night. Watch the clip

Back in November, we wrote about local singer-songwriter Eliza Johnson's musical project Eliza Catastrophe and her new album You, which she released on pre-loaded MP3 players. One thing we weren't able to mention in our interview — for contractual reasons — is that she had only a couple months prior auditioned for American Idol, and her performance finally aired on the ABC reality competition show Sunday night.…



  • Music/Music News

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In reimagining a beloved novel, Emma understands what made Jane Austen so special in the first place

[IMAGE-1] Before smartphones and Instagram, there were influencers, and they could be as shallow, overconfident and pejorative as they are today. This new adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma — the feature debuts of photographer and music-video director Autumn de Wilde and Man Booker Prize-winning novelist turned screenwriter Eleanor Catton — brings that sort of modern frisson to its retelling of the tale of a very rich young woman who amuses herself by interfering in the romantic lives of those around her.…



  • Film/Film News

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How Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly wrestled with the moral dilemma of canceling Mass for coronavirus

This is hardly the first time the Catholic Church has to deal with a plague. Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly knows that well.…



  • News/Local News

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Coronavirus concerns have put our live music scene on hold. What do we do now?

On any other week, you can rely on the Inlander for information on live shows happening in Spokane and North Idaho, and to read about the artists and music festivals that we think are worth your time.…




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Portland's Jenny Don't and the Spurs are back with new music after a quiet 2019

Jenny Don't and the Spurs were right in the middle of recording their third full-length album when a vocal polyp put a halt to the process.…




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While the coronavirus decimated Spokane's spring concert season, there's hope for summer

You'll be forgiven if, during the daily deluge of COVID-19-related updates, you didn't notice that some seriously great musicians recently booked shows in and around Spokane for later in the year.…




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Musicians are posting live streams and personal concerts to make your self-isolation a bit more tuneful

Celebrities: They're just like us! Along with everyone else, famous people are self-isolating at home, and some of them have taken to social media to alleviate the stress of the outside world. We don't need to tell you that events everywhere are canceled, so a few big-time musicians are putting on personal concerts for their fans and followers, and a lot of them — save for that cringe-inducing, star-studded cover of "Imagine" that was going around yesterday — are actually pretty good.…




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New music and live streams for your self-isolation pleasure, and ways to support the local music scene

Welcome to the quarantine.…