Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Resilience and Knowledge in a Metric for Heterogeneous Wireless Connectivity

Complex networks’ metrics and minimum cut trees have been used in different network contexts in order to describe and learn from the Internet and Web structure, or to identify the maximum ﬂow capacity in routes. In wireless networks, user nodes’ mobility, cryptographic key management, and network connectivity have been characterized using complex networks models. In the past, the use of complex network models in telecommunications has not been extensively considered to analyze resilience in networks. However, nowadays, with the increasing computation capacity of modern devices, complex networks and minimum cut trees may be employed to identify or predict failures. In this paper, we present connectivity antifragility , a new network measure that quantiﬁes the impact of each node or failure in network connectivity and provides knowledge to the network learn from failures and redesign connections online. Moreover, this measure allows the identi-ﬁcation of a set of more vulnerable connections under failures. In addition, two applications of this measure are presented, considering real traces from heterogeneous wireless networks available at the CRAWDAD web repository and from a cellular network. Results show that connectivity antifragility can assist in identifying the most vulnerable connections in the network and quantify them.
Execution Times of Small Limit Orders: A Simpler Modeling Approach

In an electronic stock market, an equity trader can submit two kinds of orders: a market order or a limit order. In a market order, the trade occurs at the best available price on the opposite side of the book. In a limit order, on the other hand, the trader specifies a price (lower limit in case of sell orders and higher limit in case of buy orders) beyond which they are not willing to transact. Limit orders supply liquidity to the market and aid in price discovery since they indicate the prices that traders are willing to pay at any point of time. One of the risks that a trader placing a limit order faces is the risk of delayed execution or non-execution. If the execution is delayed, then the trader also faces a “picking-off” risk, in the event of the arrival of new information. With these issues in the background, a trader placing a limit order at a certain price, given various economic variables such as recent price movements as well as characteristics of the company in question, is interested in the probability of execution of the order as a function of subsequent elapsed time. For example, if she places a small sell order at 0.5 percent above the last traded price for a given stock, what is the probability that the order will be executed in the next t minutes? With this motivation, this paper considers execution times of small limit orders in an electronic exchange, specifically the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India. Order execution times have been studied in several other works, where they are modeled by reconstructing the history of the order book using high-frequency data. Here, for the first time, the much simpler approach of small hypothetical orders placed at certain prices at certain points of time has been used. Given that an order has been placed at a certain price, subsequent price movements determine the lower and upper bounds of the time to execution based on when (and if) the order price is first reached and when it is first crossed. Survival analysis with interval censoring is used to model the execution probability of an order as a function of time. Several Accelerated Failure Time models are built with historical trades and order book data for 50 stocks over 63 trading days. Additionally, choice of distributions, relative importance of covariates, and model reduction are discussed; and results qualitatively consistent with studies that did not use hypothetical orders are obtained. Interestingly, for the data, the differences between the above-mentioned bounds are not very large. Directly using them without interval censoring gives survival curves that bracket the correct curve obtained with interval censoring. The paper concludes that this approach, though data- and computation-wise much less intensive than traditional approaches, nevertheless yields useful insights on execution probabilities of small limit orders in electronic exchanges.
Distortion conspicuity on stereoscopically viewed 3D images may correlate to scene content and distortion type

We describe two studies that were aimed towards increasing our understanding of how the visibility of distortions on stereoscopically viewed 3D images is affected by scene content and distortion types. By assuming that subjects' performance would be highly correlated with the visibility of local distorted patches, we analyzed subjects' performance in locating distortion patches when viewing stereoscopic 3D images. Subjects' performances are measured by whether they successfully locate a local distorted patch, the times they spent to finish the task, and subjective quality ratings given by subjects. The visual data used in this work are co‐registered stereo images with co‐registered “ground truth” range (depth) data. Varied statistical analysis methods were used to discuss the significance of our observations. Three observations are drawn from our analyses. First, blur, JPEG, and JP2K distortions in stereo 3D images may be suppressed if one of the left or right views is undistorted. Second, contrast masking does not occur, or is reduced, while viewing white noise distorted stereo 3D images. Third, there is no depth/disparity masking effect when viewing stereo 3D images, but there may be (conversely) depth‐related facilitation effects for blur, JPEG, and JP2K distorted stereo 3D images.
From principles to practice: Implementing an English language proficiency model at UniSA

In 2012, the University of South Australia launched the “English language model”: a university-wide strategy aimed at developing the English language proficiency of all coursework students. While it responded directly to the Good Practice Principles for English Language Proficiency for International Students in Australian Universities (2009), the model required changes to academic language and learning (ALL) practice that were contentious with staff and students, including the introduction of a new post-entry English language assessment, and the recasting of ALL work within an English language frame. Six months into the model, minor revisions were required, as many staff resisted implementing the model as it was originally conceived. This paper reports on research conducted one year into the model that aimed to understand whether, and to what extent, the model’s conceptualisation of English language proficiency, and its corresponding reconceptualisation of ALL practice, had been subsequently understood and put into practice by staff and students. A mixed-methods approach was used drawing primarily on staff interview transcripts, triangulated where possible with student survey feedback, and ALL team individual consultation records. Findings suggest that while staff are highly supportive of particular aspects of the model, and the idea of a model more broadly, they have actively resisted the way it sought to refocus certain ALL practices on a narrow construct of English language. The findings discussed here offer insights into some of the complexities that can emerge when implementing an English language strategy.
Aerosolized albuterol sulfate delivery under neonatal ventilatory conditions: in vitro evaluation of a novel ventilator circuit patient interface connector.

BACKGROUND Aerosolized medications that have been used in infants receiving ventilatory support have not been shown to be effective clinically among the smallest patients. The aim of this study was to characterize the delivery of aerosolized albuterol sulfate in vitro under simulated neonatal ventilatory conditions using a novel ventilator circuit/patient interface connector. METHODS A Babylog(®) ventilator (VN500(®); Draeger), a novel ventilator circuit/patient interface (VC) connector (Afectair(®); Discovery Laboratories, Inc.), a TwinStar(®) HME (Draeger) low-volume filter, and either a test lung (Draeger) or lung simulator ASL 5000(®) (IngmarMed) were used. Intermittent mandatory ventilation conditions were set to replicate the most typical ventilation conditions for premature infants. Continuous positive airway pressure was also used to measure aerosol delivery with active respiratory drive from the patient. Albuterol sulfate (0.5 mg/mL) was loaded into the drug reservoir of a Misty Finity(®) nebulizer (Airlife(®); Cardinal Health) and connected to the ventilator circuit either via a "T" connector as described by the manufacturer [standard of care (SoC)] or via the VC connector. Albuterol extracted from the filters was analyzed using qualified high-performance liquid chromatography. In addition, a laser diffraction spectrometry (Spraytec(®); Malvern) and white-light spectrometry (Welas model 2100; Palas GmbH) were used to determine particle size distribution (PSD). RESULTS Compared with SoC, the amount of albuterol delivered using the VC connector was significantly greater (p<0.001) under simulated neonatal ventilatory conditions. Additionally, the PSD profile of albuterol sulfate delivered using the VC connector was more representative of the PSD profile directly from the nebulizer. CONCLUSIONS The use of the VC connector increased the delivery of albuterol sulfate and resulted in a PSD profile at the patient interface that is more consistent with the PSD profile of the selected nebulizer when compared with SoC. This VC connector may be a useful, new approach for the delivery of aerosolized medications to neonates requiring positive pressure ventilatory support.
Effects of lexical simplification and elaboration of ESP texts on Iranian EFL university students' reading comprehension

This study investigates effects of the two techniques of lexical modification, namely, simplification and elaboration, on reading comprehension of ESP texts. For this purpose, three texts in the field of management in one of the forms of original, simplified, and elaborated were presented to 349 students of Management whose comprehension was assessed by a 17-item multiple-choice test. The data were analyzed by applying the OneWay ANOVA and multiple comparisons of post hoc tests. Results indicated that lexical simplification and elaboration are both helpful in enhancement of comprehension. However, there was no significant difference between simplification and elaboration in enhancing the rate of reading comprehension as subjects performed nearly the same on simplified and elaborated reading passages. However, since elaborated texts preserve the authenticity and naturalness of the language to a large extent and do not deprive the language learners of being exposed to the L2 forms, they are preferable to the simplified texts.
Validating the Use of AP® Exam Scores for College Course Placement. Research Report 2013-2.

Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge Priyank Patel's assistance in the review of introductory credit and placement–granting policy data and Mylene Remigio's thoughtful review of the data and analyses. We also appreciate Michael Chajewski's perspective on the validation of propensity score models. This manuscript also benefited from the helpful feedback of Ben Kelcey, and we are grateful for his contributions. The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world's leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT ® and the Advanced Placement Program ®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools. For further information, visit www.collegeboard. org. Subject Tests are trademarks owned by the College Board. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation. All other products and services may be trademarks of their respective owners. Visit the College Board on the Web: www.collegeboard. org. Executive Summary The Advanced Placement Program ® (AP ®) was created to provide access to rigorous, college-level curricula to motivated and prepared high school students. This study evaluated whether the AP Exam scores from the summative exams associated with 10 courses were valid for the placement of students into higher-level college courses in the subject area of the exam. We based this study on a sample of 53 four-year institutions with publicly available AP Exam credit and placement policies that had a total of 95,518 first-time, first-year students entering college in fall 2006. Using a multilevel propensity score–matching approach, we constructed groups of AP and non-AP students who were comparable on a number of key characteristics, including gender, racial/ethnic identity, anticipated college major, high school grade point average, PSAT/NMSQT ® section scores, and mean AP course enrollment at students' high schools. The results showed that after matching AP and non-AP students on those important covariates, the AP students performed as well as or better than comparable non-AP students in terms of subsequent college course grades.
Analysis of Advanced Aggregation Techniques for Software Metrics

A popular approach to assessing software maintainability and predicting its evolution involves collecting and analyzing code metrics. However, metrics are usually defined on a micro-level (e.g., method, class), and should therefore be aggregated in order to provide insights in the evolution at the macro-level (system). In addition to traditional aggregation techniques such as the mean, median, or sum, econometric aggregation techniques on the one hand , such as the Gini, Theil, MLD, Kolm, Atkinson, and Hoover inequality indices, and threshold-based aggregation techniques on the other hand, such as the approaches in the quality models set forth by the SIG company or Squale consortium, have been proposed and applied to software metrics. In this thesis we study several main econometric and threshold-based aggregation techniques for code metrics, with the goal of distilling requirements for future aggregation techniques for software metrics. We perform our study along two directions. In the first part we assume a theoretical standpoint and study properties of these techniques relevant to aggregation of code metrics. Additionally, we show that root-cause analyses can be performed efficiently using the Theil index, and that the aggregation technique in Squale shares common properties with inequality indices, and has a formal relation to the Kolm index. In the second part we present the results of a series of empirical studies of all three categories of aggregation techniques considered (i.e., traditional, econometric, and threshold-based) using different metrics and aggregation levels. For example, we observe consistently high and statistically significant correlation between the Gini, Theil, MLD, Atkinson, and Hoover inequality indices for all metrics considered, i.e., aggregation values obtained using these techniques convey the same information regardless of the metric. However, even though it might seem that all these indices are equally appropriate, this is not true since different indices have different application domains, emphasize different dimensions of inequality and possess different decomposability properties. Finally, based on our theoretical and empirical analyses, in the third part we propose requirements for future aggregation techniques for software metrics.
Understanding gender differences in m-health adoption: a modified theory of reasoned action model.

Abstract Background: Mobile health (m-health) services are becoming increasingly popular in healthcare, but research on m-health adoption is rare. This study was designed to obtain a better understanding of m-health adoption intention. Materials and Methods: We conducted an empirical research of a 481-respondent sample consisting of 44.7% women and 55.3% men and developed a modified theory of reasoned action (TRA) model by incorporating the nonlinearities between attitude and subjective norms and the moderating effect of gender. Results: The results indicate that, based on the study population in China: (1) facilitating conditions, attitude, and subjective norms are significant predictors of m-health adoption intention; (2) the model including the nonlinearities enhances its explanatory ability; (3) males enjoy a higher level of m-health adoption intention compared with females; (4) the modified TRA model can predict men's behavior intention better than that of women; and (5) males have an Edgeworth–Paret.
Adaptive friction compensation for industrial robot control

We deal with the friction compensation in the model-based trajectory tracking control of an industrial robot manipulator. First it is shown that the variations of the friction term might significantly affect the control performances during the robot operations. Then, a simple adaptive scheme is proposed to solve the problem, allowing us to keep the trajectory tracking errors at a constant low level. Experimental results, obtained in a typical industrial environment, show the effectiveness of the method and how it is comparable with known neural-network-based techniques.
Modified distributed quality-of-service routing in wireless mobile ad-hoc networks

The QoS routing is a key function for the transmission and distribution of multimedia traffic across networks. However, their application in ad hoc networks is difficult because of the ever-changing nature of the network topology, and the inherently imprecision of routing state information. In this paper an efficient distributed routing algorithm based on the ticket based probing algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm presents an efficient solution for the problem of message overhead through the application of two modified termination strategies and data structures. Simulation results have shown better performance over the original algorithm.
Exploiting Host Availability in Distributed Systems

As distributed systems become more decentralized, fluctuating host availability is an increasingly disruptive phenomenon. Older systems such as AFS used a small number of well-maintained, highly available machines to coordinate access to shared client state; server uptime (and thus service availability) were expected to be high. Newer services scale to larger number of clients by increasing the number of servers. In these systems, the responsibility for maintaining the service abstraction is spread amongst thousands of machines. In the extreme, each client is also a server who must respond to requests from its peers, and each host can opt in or out of the system at any time. In these operating environments, a non-trivial fraction of servers will be unavailable at any give time. This diffusion of responsibility from a few dedicated hosts to many unreliable ones has a dramatic impact on distributed system design, since it is difficult to build robust applications atop a partially available, potentially untrusted substrate. This dissertation explores one aspect of this challenge: how can a distributed system measure the fluctuating availability of its constituent hosts, and how can it use an understanding of this churn to improve performance and security? This dissertation extends the previous literature in three ways. First, it introduces new analytical techniques for characterizing availability data, applying these techniques to several real networks and explaining the distinct uptime patterns found within. Second, this dissertation introduces new methods for predicting future availability, both at the granularity of individual hosts and clusters of hosts. Third, my dissertation describes how to use these new techniques to improve the performance and security of distributed systems.
Plant Leaf Disease Image Retrieval Using Color Moments

This paper presents a Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR)method for plant leaf image retrieval, intended for identification of leaf diseases. We used color features to extract the contents of leaf images. The color features are extracted using first three color moments. For similarity measurement median value of moment feature vectors is used. The method is studied for three different color spaces i.e. RGB, HSV & YCbCr. The experimental result shows that HSV color space provides better results for plant leaf disease retrieval
Topics in Complexity: From Physical to Life Science Systems

of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor Neil F. Johnson. No. of pages in text. (158) Complexity seeks to unwrap the mechanisms responsible for collective phenomena across the physical, biological, chemical, economic and social sciences. This thesis investigates real-world complex dynamical systems ranging from the quantum/natural domain to the social domain. The following novel understandings are developed concerning these systems’ out-of-equilibrium and nonlinear behavior. Standard quantum techniques show divergent outcomes when a quantum system comprising more than one subunit is far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Abnormal photon inter-arrival times help fulfill the metabolic needs of a terrestrial photosynthetic bacterium. Spatial correlations within incident light can act as a driving mechanism for an organisms adaptation toward more ordered structures. The group dynamics of non-identical objects, whose assembly rules depend on mutual heterogeneity, yield rich transition dynamics between isolation and cohesion, with the cohesion regime reproducing a particular universal pattern commonly found in many real-world systems. Analyses of covert networks reveal collective gender superiority in the connectivity that provides benefits for system robustness and survival. Nodal migration in a network generates complex contagion profiles that lie beyond traditional approaches and yet resemble many modern-day outbreaks. To God and my beloved family for their selfless love, understanding, support and encouragement
Error Performance for Adaptive Transmission on Fading Channels

A communication system is analyzed in which the transmission power and/or rate are adjusted to the observed state (attenuation) of a slowly fading channel. The optimum control of power and rate with channel attenuation is determined. Some suboptimum control rules are also investigated. The average probability of error is evaluated for various types of adaptive transmission, imposing different constraints on power, rate, and bandwidth. It is shown that rate control is superior to power control and that simultaneous power and rate control further improves the performance. The most effective power and rate control presupposes a high peakpower-average-power ratio and a high peak-rate-peak-rate-average-rate ratio; with no peak power and bandwidth limitation, arbitrary small error probability is attainable for a given power and average rate.