function init_figure()
% INIT_FIGURE  Initialize figure.
  
  fwidth       = 4;
  fheight      = 2.4*fwidth / 1.6;
  line_width   = 0.75;        
  font_size    = 8;
      
  % set properties of plots
  clf
  set(gcf, 'Units', 'inches', 'PaperUnits', 'inches')
  psize     = get(gcf, 'PaperSize');
  fpos      = get(gcf, 'Position');

  ppos      = [(psize(1) - fwidth)/2, (psize(2) - fheight)/2, fwidth, fheight];
  fpos      = [fpos(1) fpos(2) fpos(3) fpos(3)*fheight/fwidth];
  set(gcf, 'PaperPosition', ppos, ...
	   'Position', fpos, ...
	   'DefaultLineLineWidth', line_width, ...
	   'DefaultLineMarkerSize', 3, ...
	   'DefaultAxesLineWidth', line_width, ...
	   'DefaultAxesFontSize',  font_size, ...
	   'DefaultAxesLayer', 'top', ...
       'DefaultAxesTickDir', 'out', ...
	   'DefaultAxesPosition', [.135 .15 .805 .7] )
  
