196,148 research outputs found
Dividend reinvestment plans and the reinvestment discount
No full textCanil, Jean M. and Rosser, Bruce A
RadNet: A Testbed for mmWave Radar Networks
No full textHuman sensing with millimeter waves (mmWaves) is rapidly gaining momentum. In particular, mmWave radars are becoming the technology of choice in applications like contactless vital signs monitoring, people tracking, or activity recognition, when preserving the users privacy is a concern. However, single mmWave radar sensors have limited range (up to 6 - 8 m) and are affected by occlusions. For this reason, covering medium to large indoor spaces requires the deployment of multiple radar devices, i.e., radar networks. Because of the complexity of reflections produced by people moving in real life environments, the development and validation of algorithms for mmWave radar networks can only be fulfilled through extensive experimental campaigns. In this work, we present RadNet, the first experimental testbed for the easy deployment and testing of radar network algorithms. We describe its architecture and functioning and we show experimental results of a multi-radar people tracking algorithm implemented on the RadNet experimental platform
Production and testing of canIL-13.E13K and canIL-13.E13K based cytotoxin.
No full text<p>Superimposition of canIL-13 and huIL-13 molecules, (3D reconstruction using JMol), <b><i>A.</i></b> Purified canIL-13.E13K and canIL-13.E13K cytotoxin, (10% SDS-PAGE), <b><i>B</i><i> and </i><i>C</i></b>. Activation of TF-1 cells proliferation by cytokines, <b><i>D</i></b>. Cytotoxicity of canIL-13 cytotoxin and its neutralization on BTCOE 4795 human GBM cells, <b><i>E</i></b>. P<0.015 and <0.007 for differences between the cytokines (in <b><i>D</i></b>) and the cytotoxin killing vs. neutralization with canIL-13.E13K alone (in <b><i>E</i></b>) using an unpaired t-test. Cytotoxicity of canIL-13.E13K cytotoxin on canine GBM G06-A cells, <b><i>F</i></b>. Cytotoxicity of canIL-13.E13K cytotoxin on human GBM established (U-251 MG), <b><i>G</i></b>, and low passage human GBM cells (BTCOE 4795), <b><i>H</i></b>. CTL – control. Vertical bars represent SEM and if not seen, they are smaller than the points.</p
milliTRACE-IR: Contact Tracing and Temperature Screening via mmWave and Infrared Sensing
No full textSocial distancing and temperature screening have been widely employed to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic, sparking great interest from academia, industry and public administrations worldwide. While most solutions have dealt with these aspects separately, their combination would greatly benefit the continuous monitoring of public spaces and help trigger effective countermeasures. This work presents milliTRACE-IR, a joint mmWave radar and infrared imaging sensing system performing unobtrusive and privacy preserving human body temperature screening and contact tracing in indoor spaces. milliTRACE-IR combines, via a robust sensor fusion approach, mmWave radars and infrared thermal cameras. It achieves fully automated measurement of distancing and body temperature, by jointly tracking the subjects's faces in the thermal camera image plane and the human motion in the radar reference system. Moreover, milliTRACE-IR performs contact tracing: a person with high body temperature is reliably detected by the thermal camera sensor and subsequently traced across a large indoor area in a non-invasive way by the radars. When entering a new room, a subject is re-identified among several other individuals by computing gait-related features from the radar reflections through a deep neural network and using a weighted extreme learning machine as the final re-identification tool. Experimental results, obtained from a real implementation of milliTRACE-IR, demonstrate decimeter-level accuracy in distance/trajectory estimation, inter-personal distance estimation (effective for subjects getting as close as 0.2 m), and accurate temperature monitoring (max. errors of 0.5 degrees C). Furthermore, milliTRACE-IR provides contact tracing through highly accurate (95%) person re-identification, in less than 20 seconds
mmSCALE: Self-Calibration of mmWave Radar Networks from Human Movement Trajectories
No full textWe present mmSCALE, a practical self-calibration method that automatically estimates the relative position and orientation of a network of millimeter wave (mmWave) radars by post-processing the trajectories of detected targets that move within the radars' fields of view (FoVs). This is a key component of multi-device mmWave radar deployments for indoor human sensing. As commercial mmWave radars have limited range (up to 6-8 m) and are subject to occlusion, covering large indoor spaces requires multiple radars. A fully self-contained system should estimate the location and orientation of each radar with no intervention by a human operator. To solve this problem, mmSCALE fuses target detections from multiple radars, yielding median errors of 0:18 m and 2:86 degrees for radar location and orientation estimates, respectively. For this, mmSCALE requires no specific target trajectories or controlled conditions, it autonomously assesses the calibration quality over time, and is robust to occlusion and to the presence of multiple subjects
Collaborative Human Sensing with mmWave Systems
No full textRemote perception of human movements has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with technology, enabling an unprecedented integration in everybody's daily life.
In this panorama, RADAR devices working in the mmWave region of the radio spectrum have sparked great interest from academia to industry, as they combine highly accurate sensing capabilities with appealing properties of mmWaves, such as insensitivity to extreme light conditions and to the presence of dust, smoke, or rain. Moreover, mmWave RADARs raise less privacy concerns than vision-based monitoring systems, as no image of the surroundings is captured.
However, commercial mmWave radar devices have limited range (up to 6-8 m) and are subject to occlusion, which may constitute a significant drawback in large, crowded rooms containing furniture and walls. Thus, covering large indoor spaces requires multiple RADARs, with known relative position and orientation and algorithms to combine their output information.
In this thesis, we focus on providing practical solutions for the adoption of mmWave RADARs in real-world settings. In particular, we devise algorithms for the automatic deployment of RADAR networks and for their use for human sensing.
Initially, we develop a method for the self-calibration of RADAR sensor networks. The problem is to automatically estimate the relative position and orientation of the RADARs to enable data fusion. The proposed solution works by leveraging the trajectories of people moving freely in the common field of view (FoV) of the RADARs, requiring no human intervention. Then, we develop an experimental testbed for the easy deployment and testing of RADAR network algorithms.
Subsequently, we tackle the problem of data fusion in the context of mmWave monitoring systems. We address this in three ways: (i) considering a system where multiple RADARs' data are fused to provide a unique and unified people tracking, (ii) contemplating the cooperation of mmWave RADARs with other sensors, and (iii), exploiting communication devices for sensing purposes.
In (i), each node of the RADAR network is endowed with resource-constrained computational capabilities, performs people tracking independently, and shares its tracking information with a fusion center that fuses data providing an enhanced, unified tracking among all sensors.In (ii), a thermal camera (TC) is used in conjunction with a mmWave RADAR to provide concurrent contact tracing and body temperature screening.
Finally, in (iii), the use of communication devices is considered in an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) scenario. In the latter, human sensing parameters are extracted from the communication packets exchanged between one transmitter (TX) and multiple receivers (RXs)
Tests of two optimal incentive models for executive stock options
No full textUsing a unique data set, we test theoretical propositions relating to grant size and exercise price in determination of optimal executive compensation. For Hall and Murphy, pay-performance sensitivity does not behave as predicted with respect to CEO risk aversion and diversification, but the latter supports observed grant size while ATM grants exhibit positive abnormal returns as predicted. Consistent with Choe, exercise price is found inversely related to leverage. The unexpected positive relation between grant size and stock volatility is conjectured driven by CEOs’ influencing large grants, which are found associated with weak corporate governance but ameliorated by outside directors.Jean M. Canil, Bruce A. Rosse
Is there an optimum grant size and exercise price for incentivizing executives?
No full textThis study tests the Hall and Murphy (2000, 2002) propositions using a dataset wherein in-the money and out-of-the-money option grants are just as prevalent as at-the-money option grants. The choice of grant size and exercise price in determining optimal pay-performance sensitivity, reveals an over prescription of at-the-money options at the expense of in-the-money options, particularly for high risk-averse CEOs. Also, pay-performance sensitivity is found unexpectedly negatively related to the exercise price, which is attributed to an equally unexpected inverse relation between risk aversion and grant size.Jean M. Canil and Bruce A. Rosse
Modeling executive pay as a barrier call
No full textCriticism by the Administration at the height of the global financial crisis of ‘excessive’ company bonuses rekindles debate on the link between executive pay and firm performance. We model the relationship between realized CEO pay and an earnings-adjusted barrier call as the dependent variable. We employ both externally- and internally-derived metrics of target financial performance. Pay components are found strongly interrelated. Salary sensitivities to the dependent variable are broadly consistent with determination of a reservation wage set by the executive labor market, while annual bonuses are paid for expected above-target performance, but are also capped. Long-term incentive plans are used to mitigate noise in earnings only when above-target performance is expected. Hence, we find no evidence of excessive’ bonuses, at least during the interval ending in fiscal 2005. Rather, we document evidence that the ‘excessiveness’ may in fact be present in salaries.Jean M. Canil, Bruce A. Rosse
Executive bonuses
No full textCriticism by the Administration at the height of the global financial crisis of ‘excessive’ company bonuses rekindles debate on the link between executive pay and firm performance. We model the relationship between realized CEO pay and an earnings-adjusted barrier call as the dependent variable. We employ both externally- and internally-derived metrics of target financial performance. Pay components are found strongly interrelated. Salary sensitivities to the dependent variable are broadly consistent with determination of a reservation wage set by the executive labor market, while annual bonuses are paid for expected above-target performance, but are also capped. Long-term incentive plans are used to mitigate noise in earnings only when above-target performance is expected. Hence, we find no evidence of ‘excessive’ bonuses, at least during the interval ending in fiscal 2005. Rather, we document evidence that the ‘excessiveness’ may in fact be present in salaries.Jean M. Canil and Bruce A. Rosse
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