Sharif Digital Repository

Detecting emotions directly from a speech signal plays an important role in effective human-computer interactions. Existing speech emotion recognition models require massive computational and storage resources, making them hard to implement concurrently with other machine-interactive tasks in embedded systems. In this paper, we propose an efficient and lightweight fully convolutional neural network for speech emotion recognition in systems with limited hardware resources. In the proposed FCNN model, various feature maps are extracted via three parallel paths with different filter sizes. This helps deep convolution blocks to extract high-level features, while ensuring sufficient separability.... 

In this paper, we propose a packet-switched network-on-chip (NoC) architecture which can provide a number of low-power, low-latency virtual point-to-point connections for communication flows. The work aims to improve the power and performance metrics of packet-switched NoC architectures and benefits from the power and resource utilization advantages of NoCs and superior communication performance of point-to-point dedicated links. The virtual point-to-point connections are set up by bypassing the entire router pipeline stages of the intermediate nodes. This work addresses constructing the virtual point-to-point connections at run-time using a light-weight setup network. It involves monitoring... 

We present high-precision photometry of five consecutive transits of WASP-18, an extrasolar planetary system with one of the shortest orbital periods known. Through the use of telescope defocusing we achieve a photometric precision of 0.47-0.83 mmag per observation over complete transit events. The data are analyzed using the JKTEBOP code and three different sets of stellar evolutionary models. We find the mass and radius of the planet to be M b = 10.43 ± 0.30 ±0.24 M Jup and R b = 1.165± 0.055 ±0.014 R Jup (statistical and systematic errors), respectively. The systematic errors in the orbital separation and the stellar and planetary masses, arising from the use of theoretical predictions,... 

Several investigators worked on various aspects of tensile behavior of concrete because of its wide usage in structural design. One of the observable phenomena during tensile failure of concrete is strain softening, i.e. a negative slope in the stress-deformation diagrams. There are many kinds of experiment-based softening curves for concrete. In current research, use of newly introduced concept of fractal geometry and a failure model yields to a new softening curve for concrete. This new curve is denominated "Quasi-fractal" softening curve, which is a theorybased softening model. Comparison of Quasi-fractal softening curve with a set of proposed experimental softening curves has been... 

A finite element analysis of a double layered shell with a circular hole is carried out with the computer aided engineering software Abaqus (Dassault Systèmes, FR). The model proposed has been used to perform a stress analysis on three pipes with different sized hole. Moreover, thermal expansion has been implemented in the testing. For the purpose of the research, the elastic properties of the materials have been considered and the results compared with the ones previously published in literature. The outcome of the investigation will benefit towards the design of optimal and sustainable pipes with circular cut outs  

We present and analyse light curves of four transits of the Southern hemisphere extrasolar planetary system WASP-4, obtained with a telescope defocused so the radius of each point spread function was 17 arcsec (44 pixels). This approach minimizes both random and systematic errors, allowing us to achieve scatters of between 0.60 and 0.88 mmag per observation over complete transit events. The light curves are augmented by published observations and analysed using the jktebop code. The results of this process are combined with theoretical stellar model predictions to derive the physical properties of the WASP-4 system. We find that the mass and radius of the planet are M b = 1.289 +0.090 -0.090... 

The placement of the Last Level Cache (LLC) banks in the GPU on-chip network can significantly affect the performance of memory-intensive workloads. In this paper, we attempt to offer a placement methodology for the LLC banks to maximize the performance of the on-chip network connecting the LLC banks to the streaming multiprocessors in GPUs. We argue that an efficient placement needs to be derived based on a novel metric that considers the latency hiding capability of the GPUs through thread level parallelism. To this end, we propose a throughput aware metric, called Effective Latency Impact (ELI). Moreover, we define an optimization problem to formulate our placement approach based on the... 

Transits in the planetary system WASP-4 were recently found to occur 80 s earlier than expected in observations from the TESS satellite. We present 22 new times of mid-transit that confirm the existence of transit timing variations, and are well fitted by a quadratic ephemeris with period decay dP/dt = −9.2 ± 1.1 ms yr−1. We rule out instrumental issues, stellar activity, and the Applegate mechanism as possible causes. The light-time effect is also not favoured due to the non-detection of changes in the systemic velocity. Orbital decay and apsidal precession are plausible but unproven. WASP-4 b is only the third hot Jupiter known to show transit timing variations to high confidence. We... 

For various types of materials, milling process is extensively used to generate complex shapes with high quality. During the process and to achieve high removal rate, precision and better surface finish, chatter suppression is of great importance. An extended model of the milling process is presented in which the cutting forces are described as a third-order nonlinear function of chip thickness. Uncertainties associated with the process and tool parameters are also included to achieve a more realistic model. To suppress regenerative chatter, an H∞ robust control is designed based on µ-synthesis with DK-iteration algorithm. The controller guarantees the robust stability and performance of... 

We present high-precision photometry of two transit events of the extrasolar planetary system WASP-5, obtained with the Danish 1.54-m telescope at European Southern Obseratory La Silla. In order to minimize both random and flat-fielding errors, we defocused the telescope so its point spread function approximated an annulus of diameter 40 pixel (16 arcsec). Data reduction was undertaken using standard aperture photometry plus an algorithm for optimally combining the ensemble of comparison stars. The resulting light curves have point-to-point scatters of 0.50 mmag for the first transit and 0.59 mmag for the second. We construct detailed signal-to-noise ratio calculations for defocused... 

A solution-processed, bottom-up nanowire network electrode is developed and employed in a bulk heterojunction colloidal quantum dot solar cell. The electrode features a ZnO template which is converted into locally connected, infi ltratable TiO2 nanowires. The new electrode allows the application of a thicker light absorbing fi lm without compromising the charge extraction, as reported by Edward H. Sargent, Ghassan Jabbour, and co-workers on page 1769. The frontispiece shows schematically the electrode shape and the resultant device architecture  

Aims. We present 11 high-precision photometric transitobservations of the transiting super-Earth planet GJ≠1214≠b. Combining these data with observations from other authors, we investigate the ephemeris for possible signs of transit timing variations (TTVs) using a Bayesian approach. Methods. The observations were obtained using telescope-defocusing techniques, and achieve a high precision with random errors in the photometry as low as 1 mmag per point. To investigate the possibility of TTVs in the light curve, we calculate the overall probability of a TTV signal using Bayesian methods. Results. The observations are used to determine the photometric parameters and the physical properties... 

We present newphotometric observations ofWASP-15 andWASP-16, two transiting extrasolar planetary systems with measured orbital obliquities but without photometric follow-up since their discovery papers. Our new data for WASP-15 comprise observations of one transit simultaneously in four optical passbands using GROND on the MPG/European Southern Observatory (ESO) 2.2 m telescope, plus coverage of half a transit from DFOSC on the Danish 1.54 m telescope, both at ESO La Silla. ForWASP-16 we present observations of fourcomplete transits, all from the Danish telescope. We use these new data to refine the measured physical properties and orbital ephemerides of the two systems. Whilst our results... 

We present new ground-based, multi-colour, broad-band photometric measurements of the physical parameters, transmission and emission spectra of the transiting extrasolar planet WASP-19b. The measurements are based on observations of eight transits and four occultations through a Gunn i filter using the 1.54-m Danish Telescope, 14 transits through an Rc filter at the Perth Exoplanet SurveyTelescope (PEST) observatory and one transit observed simultaneously through four optical (Sloan g', r', i', z') and three near-infrared (J,H,K) filters, using the Gamma Ray Burst Optical and Near-Infrared Detector (GROND) instrument on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope. The GROND optical light curves have a...