1,721,017 research outputs found

    Detection and motion parameters estimation techniques in Forward Scatter Radar

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    Forward scatter Radar systems designed to take advantage of the greater radar cross section, that is robust to Radar Absorbing Material and other stealth technology, and of the long integration times, due to the little phase and amplitude fluctuations, are attractive for a variety of applications. Many of which fit well with the needs of augmentation of the surveillance capabilities of low-observable targets that may have a small backscatter RCS when observed with the conventional radar systems. This thesis reports on research into this field of radar systems with additional contributions to target detection and motion parameters estimation. Particularly, the first part of the thesis deals with the detection of moving targets that follow a linear trajectory in a single node FSR configuration. The detection scheme based on a square-law detector followed by an appropriate matched filter, here addressed as Crystal Video Detector (CVD) following the traditional terminology (Crystal Video Receiver), has already been put forward in the literature. Performance prediction and FSR system design were key motivator to analytically characterize the detection performance of CVD in terms of both, probability of false alarm and probability of detection. The derived closed-form expressions were validate from Monte Carlo simulations under different geometrical conditions and from experimental data acquired by a passive FSR based on FM signals. Furthermore, new detection schemes based on the CVD ensuring the constant false alarm rate (CFAR) condition were devised and analytically characterized. The performance analysis showed quite small losses of the CFAR-CVD detectors compared to the fixed threshold CVD. The second part of the thesis still handles the problem of target detection through the derivation of innovative detection schemes based on the Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT). A comparison with the detection performance of the CVD has proven the better performance of the GLRT-based detectors. In most cases the improvement has an upper bound of 3 dB. However, there are specific circumstances where the standard FSR detector shows significant losses while the GLRT schemes suffer a much smaller degradation. Moreover the possibility to have a set of secondary data assumed target free, drove to the devising of new GLRT schemes. The results demonstrated a non-negligible further improvement over the previous GLRT schemes when the operation conditions get close to the near field transition point. The detection performance of the derived detectors without and with secondary data were analytically characterized. This analytical performance allowed to derive simplified equivalent SNR expressions that relate the GLRT detection performance to the main system and target parameters. These expressions showed to be useful for the design of effective FSR geometries that guarantee desired detection performance for specific targets. In the third part of the thesis the focus is moved to the motion parameters estimation through both, a single baseline and a dual baseline FSR configuration. Accordingly, the Doppler signature extracted from the Crystal Video based scheme is exploited. Following motion parameters estimation approaches already introduced in the literature, a two dimensional filter bank technique was proposed. The main target parameters encoding Doppler rate, main lobe width and crossing time instant were estimated from such technique. The accuracy of the proposed technique was investigated from a theoretical point of view through the derivation of simplified closed-form expression of the Cramer Rao Lower Bound (CRLB). The analysis proved that unbiased estimates of the desired target parameters can be obtained that approach the derived CRLB in the high SNR region. After the dependence of the kinematic parameters on the parameters estimated from the bank was exploited. The cross baseline velocity in a single baseline configuration was estimated under the assumption that the baseline crossing point is known. Meanwhile the dual baseline configuration ensures the possibility to estimate also the baseline crossing point without a priori knowledge on the other target kinematic parameters. Once more, the CRLB of the target motion parameters for both reference scenarios was derived. The analysis proved that unbiased estimates of the target motion parameters can be obtained with high accuracy even for low SNR conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was also shown from experimental data acquired by a passive FSR based on FM signals

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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