Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential evolution based score level fusion for multi-modal biometric systems

The purpose of a multimodal biometric system is to construct a robust classifier of genuine and imposter candidates by extracting useful information from several biometric sources which fail to perform well in identification or verification as individual biometric systems. Amongst different levels of information fusion, very few approaches exist in literature exploring score level fusion. In this paper, we propose a novel adaptive weight and exponent based function mapping the matching scores from different biometric sources into a single amalgamated matching score to be used by a classifier for further decision making. Differential Evolution (DE) has been employed to adjust these tunable parameters with the objective being the minimization of the overlapping area of the frequency distributions of genuine and imposter scores in the fused score space, which are estimated by Gaussian kernel density method to achieve higher level of accuracy. Experimental results show that, the proposed method outperforms the conventional score-level fusion rules (sum, product, tanh, exponential) when tested on two databases of 4 modalities (fingerprint, iris, left ear and right ear) of 200 and 516 users and thus confirms the effectiveness of score level fusion. The preliminary results provide adequate motivation towards future research in the line of the application of meta-heuristics in score level fusion.
Speech Coding with Wavelet Packet Excitation Signal Compression *

Digital speech coding is important problem in the area of network speech applications where there is a necessity of transmission of big amount of data through limited bandwidth channels. Investigations in this field aim at finding new methods for signal compression and compatibility with the network transfer protocols. Digital speech coding involves sampling and amplitude quantization of the speech signal using minimum number of bits, while preserving the quality of reconstructed speech. For achievement of good compression rates three basic manners in speech coders are used:  representation of frequency-domain characteristic of speech signal  providing waveform coincidence  coder’s optimization according to perceptual properties of the ear According to the coding mechanism there are two types of systems: waveform coders and vocoders. The latter achive better compression rates and work with speech models the most famous type being linear predictive vocoders.
Mobile Crowd Sensing Application for Noise Monitoring in Kuala Lumpur

Mobile Crowd Sensing (MCS) technology enables mobile devices, such as smart-phones or other android-based devices that are equipped with embedded sensors to gather relevant data for research work. Typically, the MCS application field ranges from online social-media monitoring, transportation system monitoring, atmosphere monitoring and etc. The inherent attributes of MCS applications is the ability of the system to monitor and collect data over a huge geographical area. Generally, the planners of MCS select participants based upon the scope of survey or the type of data to be acquired. Consequently, based on user’s movement behaviour and location, the MCS application running on the background is able to discreetly collects data from the proximate areas. In principle, this research work highlights the development of MCS application, using the noise parameter as input. The research work shows the feasibility of MCS for data gathering. However, it is essential that data obtained from smartphone’s sensor i.e. microphone is properly processed. Basically, the MCS application is designed to be able to interact with the sensor components within the smartphone. Data is collected and has to be periodically uploaded to the server, where analytical operation is undertaken to produce meaningful information. In principle, the MCS application is able to provide viable noise data in many different areas in Kuala Lumpur. The main benefit that the MCS application can offer is the ability to provide continuous data collection with minimal resource needed.
Quantitative 3D Association of Geological Factors and Geophysical Fields with Mineralization and Its Significance for Ore Prediction: An Example from Anqing Orefield, China

Quantitative 3D spatial association of geological factors and geophysical fields with orebodies is critical for ore prediction. The Anqing orefield, a principal Cu–Fe orefield in China, is closely associated with the Yueshan intrusion. By compiling the data from drilling and tunnelling exploration, Controlled Source Audiofrequency Magnetotelluric (CSAMT) surveying and the computational modelling of magmatic intrusion’s cooling process, we constructed models of the Yueshan intrusion, ore-favourable carbonate formation, orebodies, resistivity field and volume strain field. These models are used as evidential factors to analyse their spatial association with mineralization by the weights-of-evidence (WofE) method. The location of orebodies is closely related to the shape of the contact zone of the Yueshan intrusion. The spaces with the distance ≤200 m to the concaves that were selected by minimum principal curvature (|Kmin| ≥ 0.0025) from contact zones, are very favourable for localization of orebodies. Most orebodies are not located in the spaces of the lowest resistivity, suggesting that the lowest resistivity cannot be used as an indicator for mineralization. The spaces with higher positive volumetric strain have higher positive weights with orebodies, implying that the mineralization is positively related to the positive volumetric strain. The spaces of all evidential factors that had positive correlation with mineralization were integrated to create a 3D prospectivity map by calculating posterior probability. Five areas with higher posterior probability, indicating higher prospectivity potential, are selected as targets for future exploration.
Italian Radon mOnitoring Network (IRON): A permanent network for near real-time monitoring of soil radon emission in Italy

We introduce the Italian Radon mOnitoring Network (IRON): a new nationwide permanent network for near real-time measurements of soil radon emissions in Italy. Deployed over the last 8 years, presently IRON consists of 26 stations mainly concentrated in the Central-Southern Apennines, but marginally covering the whole Italian peninsula. At present, most IRON stations have recorded radon concentration time-series for more than 4-5 years. With a standard sampling interval of about two hours, the whole IRON dataset consists of nearly 440,000 single radon concentration measurements. Here we present the network in terms of sites, installations types and collected time-series. The amount of data, together with the systematic methods of measurements, allowed us to evaluate some significant aspects related both to the measurement methodology and to the complex dynamics of soil radon emanations. Two case studies show, respectively, how different observational setups we implemented impact on the features of the recorded signal, and how observed fluctuations in radon concentration may be ascribed to geophysical processes taking place at depth in the crust. We discuss the potential suitability of IRON, in order to study the relation between radon variability and the preparation processes of strong earthquakes.
Linking sketches and diagrams to source code artifacts

Recent studies have shown that sketches and diagrams play an important role in the daily work of software developers. If these visual artifacts are archived, they are often detached from the source code they document, because there is no ad- equate tool support to assist developers in capturing, archiving, and retrieving sketches related to certain source code artifacts. This paper presents SketchLink, a tool that aims at increasing the value of sketches and diagrams created during software development by supporting developers in these tasks. Our prototype implementation provides a web application that employs the camera of smartphones and tablets to capture analog sketches, but can also be used on desktop computers to upload, for instance, computer-generated diagrams. We also implemented a plugin for a Java IDE that embeds the links in Javadoc comments and visualizes them in situ in the source code editor as graphical icons.
Forecasting Value-at-Risk under Different Distributional Assumptions

Financial asset returns are known to be conditionally heteroskedastic and generally non-normally distributed, fat-tailed and often skewed. These features must be taken into account to produce accurate forecasts of Value-at-Risk (VaR). We provide a comprehensive look at the problem by considering the impact that different distributional assumptions have on the accuracy of both univariate and multivariate GARCH models in out-of-sample VaR prediction. The set of analyzed distributions comprises the normal, Student, Multivariate Exponential Power and their corresponding skewed counterparts. The accuracy of the VaR forecasts is assessed by implementing standard statistical backtesting procedures used to rank the different specifications. The results show the importance of allowing for heavy-tails and skewness in the distributional assumption with the skew-Student outperforming the others across all tests and confidence levels.
Observation of Internal Solitary Waves Using an Underwater Glider in the Northern South China Sea

ABSTRACT Ma, W. ; Wang, Y. ; Yang, S. ; Wang, S. , and Xue, Z. , 2018. Observation of internal solitary waves using an underwater glider in the northern South China Sea. Internal solitary waves (ISWs) are frequently observed in the ocean, in particular in the South China Sea. Petrel-II, the autonomous underwater glider developed by Tianjin University, conducted ISW observations in the northern South China Sea in August 2017. With the payload conductivity, temperature, and depth, Petrel-II can obtain the repeating thermohaline profiles from the surface to nearly 1500-m depth. Combined with the analysis of a moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer true-color image, it is verified that the thermohaline fluctuation is caused by the ISWs. The features of the ISW are estimated by calculation of vertical velocity using a glider flight model. The ISW captured by Profile-46 of the glider was a depression wave, with a period of about 24 minutes and an amplitude of about 127 m. The application of underwater gliders will contribute to studies on the features, generation, propagation, and evolution of ISWs in the South China Sea.
An improved CeO2 method for high-precision measurements of 17O/16O ratios for atmospheric carbon dioxide.

RATIONALE The oxygen isotopic composition of carbon dioxide originating at the Earth's surface is modified in the stratosphere by interaction with ozone which has anomalous oxygen isotope ratio (Δ(17)O = 1000 * ln(1 + δ(17)O/1000) - 0.522 * 1000 * ln (1 + δ(18)O/1000) >0). The inherited anomaly provides a powerful tracer for studying biogeochemical cycles involving CO(2). However, the existing methods are either too imprecise or have difficulty in determining the small Δ(17)O variations found in the tropospheric CO(2). In this study an earlier published CeO(2) and CO(2) exchange method has been modified and improved for measuring the Δ(17)O values of atmospheric carbon dioxide with high precision. METHODS The CO(2) fraction from air samples was separated by cryogenic means and purified using gas chromatography. This CO(2) was first analyzed in an isotope ratio mass spectrometer, then artificially equilibrated with hot CeO(2) to alter its oxygen isotopes mass-dependently and re-analyzed. From these data the (17)O/(16)O and (18)O/(16)O ratios were calculated and the Δ(17)O value was determined. RESULTS The validity of the method was established in several tests by using artificially prepared CO(2) with zero and non-zero Δ(17)O values. The published value of the CO(2)-H(2) O equilibrium slope was also reproduced. CONCLUSIONS The CO(2)-CeO(2) equilibration method has been improved to measure the oxygen isotope anomaly (Δ(17)O value) of atmospheric CO(2) with an analytical precision of ±0.12‰ (2σ).
Dose-dependent relationship between oocyte cytoplasmic volume and transformation of sperm nuclei to metaphase chromosomes

We have studied the chromosome condensation activity of mouse oocytes that have been inseminated during meiotic maturation. These oocytes remain unactivated, and in those penetrated by up to three or four sperm, each sperm nucleus is transformed, without prior development of a pronucleus, into metaphase chromosomes. However, those penetrated by more than four sperm never transform any of the nuclei into metaphase chromosomes (Clarke, H. J., and Y. Masui, 1986, J. Cell Biol. 102:1039- 1046). We report here that, when the cytoplasmic volume of oocytes was doubled or tripled by cell fusion, up to five or eight sperm nuclei, respectively, could be transformed into metaphase chromosomes. Conversely, when the cytoplasmic volume was reduced by bisection of oocytes after the germinal vesicle (GV) had broken down, no more than two sperm could be transformed into metaphase chromosomes. Thus, the capacity of the oocyte cytoplasm to transform sperm nuclei to metaphase chromosomes was proportional to its volume. The contribution of the nucleoplasm of the GV and the cytoplasm outside the GV to the chromosome condensation activity was investigated by bisecting oocytes that contained a GV and then inseminating the nucleate and anucleate fragments. The anucleate fragments never induced sperm chromosome formation, indicating that GV nucleoplasm is required for this activity. In the nucleate fragments, the capacity to induce sperm chromosome formation was reduced as compared with whole oocytes, in spite of the fact that the fragments contained the entire GV nucleoplasm. This implies that non-GV cytoplasmic material also was required for chromosome condensation activity. When inseminated oocytes were incubated in the presence of puromycin, the sperm nuclei were transformed into interphase-like nuclei, but no metaphase chromosomes developed. However, when protein synthesis resumed, the interphase nuclei were transformed to metaphase chromosomes. These results suggest that the transformation of sperm nuclei to metaphase chromosomes in the cytoplasm of mouse oocytes requires both the nucleoplasm of the GV and non-GV cytoplasmic substances, including proteins synthesized during maturation.
PEAF: A Power-Efficient Architecture for SRAM-Based FPGAs Using Reconfigurable Hard Logic Design in Dark Silicon Era

Significant increase of static power in nano-CMOS era and, subsequently, the end of Dennard scaling has put a Power Wall to further integration of CMOS technology in Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). An efficient solution to cope with this obstacle is power gating inactive fractions of a single die, resulting in Dark Silicon. Previous studies employing power gating on SRAM-based FPGAs have primarily focused on using large-input Look-up Tables (LUTs). The architectures proposed in such studies inherently suffer from poor logic utilization which limits the benefits of power gating techniques. This paper proposes a Power-Efficient Architecture for FPGAs (PEAF) based on combination of Reconfigurable Hard Logics (RHLs) and a small-input LUT. In the proposed architecture, we selectively turn off unused RHLs and/or LUTs within each logic block by employing a reconfigurable controller. By mapping a majority of logic functions to simple-design RHLs, PEAF is able to significantly improve power efficiency without deteriorating the performance. Experimental results over a comprehensive set of benchmarks (MCNC, IWLS’05, and VTR) demonstrate that compared with baseline four-LUT architecture, PEAF reduces the total static power and Power-Delay-Product (PDP), on average, by 24.5 and 21.7 percent, respectively. This is while the overall system performance is also improved by 1.8 percent. PEAF increases total area by 18.9 percent, however, it still occupies 22.1 percent less area footprint than the six-LUT architecture with 31.5 percent improvement in PDP.
Theileria parva: taking control of host cell proliferation and survival mechanisms

The intracellular parasite Theileria parva infects and transforms bovine T‐cells, inducing their uncontrolled proliferation and spread in non‐lymphoid as well as lymphoid tissues. This parasite‐induced transformation is the predominant factor contributing to the pathogenesis of a lymphoproliferative disease, called East Coast fever. T. parva‐transformed cells become independent of antigenic stimulation or exogenous growth factors. A dissection of the signalling pathways that are activated in T. parva‐infected cells shows that the parasite bypasses signalling pathways that normally emanate from the T‐cell antigen receptor to induce continuous proliferation. This review concentrates on the influence of the parasite on the state of activation of the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK), NF‐κB and phosphoinositide‐3‐kinase (PI3‐K) pathways in the host cell. Of the MAPKs, JNK, but not ERK or p38, is active, inducing constitutive activation of the transcription factors AP‐1 and ATF‐2. A crucial step in the transformation process is the persistent activation of the transcription factor NF‐κB, which protects T. parva‐transformed cells from spontaneous apoptosis accompanying the transformation process. Inhibitor studies also suggest an important role for the lipid kinase, PI‐3K, in the continuous proliferation of T. parva‐transformed lymphocytes.
Anatomy of a Scalable Software Transactional Memory

Existing software transactional memory (STM) implementations often exhibit poor scalability, usually because of nonscalable mechanisms for read sharing, transactional consistency, and privatization; some STMs also have nonscalable centralized commit mechanisms. We describe novel techniques to eliminate bottlenecks from all of these mechanisms, and present SkySTM, which employs these techniques. SkySTM is the first STM that supports privatization and scales on modern multicore multiprocessors with hundreds of hardware threads on multiple chips. A central theme in this work is avoiding frequent updates to centralized metadata, especially for multi-chip systems, in which the cost of accessing centralized metadata increases dramatically. A key mechanism we use to do so is a scalable nonzero indicator (SNZI), which was designed for this purpose. A secondary contribution of the paper is a new and simplified SNZI algorithm. Our scalable privatization mechanism imposes only about 4% overhead in low-contention experiments; when contention is higher, the overhead still reaches only 35% with over 250 threads. In contrast, prior approaches have been reported as imposing over 100% overhead in some cases, even with only 8 threads.
An approach to numeral recognition based on improved LDA and Bhattacharyya distance

This paper presents a novel pattern classification approach-improved LDA and Bhattacharyya distance based classifier for numeral recognition. Improved LDA is used as a dimensionality reduction technique that can estimate the within-class covariance and between-class matrices more accurately for classification purposes. Bhattacharyya distance utilizes the distribution characteristics of the samples in each class to improve the recognition performance. Experimental results conducted on UCI database show that the improved LDA combined with Bhattacharyya distance process achieves a good recognition performance using low feature dimensions.
Hybrid MPI/StarSs -- A Case Study

Hybrid parallel programming models combining distributed and shared memory paradigms are well established in high-performance computing. The classical prototype of hybrid programming in HPC is MPI/OpenMP, but many other combinations are being investigated. Recently, the data-dependency driven, task parallel model for shared memory parallelisation named StarSs has been suggested for usage in combination with MPI. In this paper we apply hybrid MPI/StarSs to a Lattice-Boltzmann code. In particular, we present the hybrid programming model, the benefits we expect, the challenges in porting, and finally a comparison of the performance of MPI/StarSs hybrid, MPI/OpenMP hybrid and the original MPI-only versions of the same code.
Self-calibration of the distortion of a zooming camera by matching points at different resolutions

This paper presents a new method for the self-calibration of the lens distortion of a zooming camera, which appears for short focal lengths. The proposed technique does not need any special calibration pattern nor any prior knowledge about the environment. The key idea is to match points between a distorted image and an undistorted image taken at different resolutions. A new method for automatically matching points in the two images is proposed. The scale factor between the images is not needed for the matching algorithm. Matched points are used to compute invariants to the pinhole camera parameters. Then, lens distortion parameters are estimated in order to obtain the same invariants in both images. This approach is well suited to autonomous robotic vision applications. In fact, the self-calibration of the camera is done before moving the robot. Experiment with ground truth and tests on real images provide good results.
Development of task-oriented high power field robot platform with humanoid upper body and mobile wheeled base

We present a field robot platform HRP2G with humanoid upper body and a high power mobile wheeled base that focus on outdoor tasks. We assemble the hardware of both parts and create a software bridge between the humanoid upper body and the mobile wheeled base through popular robotics software ROS. For the humanoid upper body, we use HRP2 robot and for the mobile wheeled base we buy individual parts and create our own control unit with both hardware and software. The kinematics of the robot is well modelled and we design the corresponding control law. We will apply this robot platform to participate in the second task of MBZIRC(Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge) in 2017. In the experiment we show how our platform accomplished certain tasks with customize designed gripper and sensor equipments, which demonstrates the feasibility of our integrated system.
Shifting DOC concentration and quality in the freshwater lakes of the Kangerlussuaq region: An experimental assessment of possible mechanisms

ABSTRACT Since 2003, concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in lakes in the Kangerlussuaq region declined by 14–55 percent, with these decreasing DOC concentrations potentially altering lake ecology and reflecting changes in regional carbon (C) cycling. To evaluate possible mechanisms responsible for this shift, we performed experiments to test the effects of dust addition, bacterial activity, or photodegradation on DOC concentration and two DOC quality metrics: the specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA254) and the chromophoric DOC spectral slope coefficient (S275–295). Lake-water DOC concentrations did not decline in any treatments, but there were changes in DOC quality. Dust addition increased SUVA254 and decreased the magnitude of S275–295 in one lake, the impacts of bacterial activity were variable, and sunlight exposure elicited a decline in SUVA254 and an increase in the magnitude of S275–295 in all lakes. These results suggest that DOC pools in the study lakes are photoreactive, even though the lakes are characterized by long residence times, but that declining DOC concentration did not result from this mechanism. While the tested mechanisms did not explain the decline in DOC concentration observed in recent years, they did yield new information about how dust, bacterial activity, or light can influence DOC quality in the lakes of the Kangerlussuaq region.