Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using NetMagic to observe fine-grained per-flow latency measurements

We introduce NetMagic to demonstrate the efficacy of RLI architecture RLI for the fine-grained per-flow latency measurements. In this demo, the main function of RLI is implemented in NetMagic, which is the key component of our experimental network comprising several computers and switches. We are going to show how NetMagic can provide rapid implementation and evaluation of RLI architecture that is difficult with commercial switch or router platforms. In the demo, the estimated fine-grained per-flow latency by RLI is monitored and dynamically presented. Further, the true latency with a resolution of 8ns is also provided by NetMagic for the evaluation. The efficacy of RLI architecture can be observed in a real-time fashion by the difference between estimated latencies and true ones.
POSTER: Revisiting anomaly detection system design philosophy

The inherent design of anomaly detection systems (ADSs) make them highly susceptible to evasion attacks and hence their wide-spread commercial deployment has not been witnessed. There are two main reasons for this: 1) ADSs incur high false positives; 2) Are highly susceptible to evasion attacks (false negatives). While efforts have been made to minimize false positives, evasion is still an open problem. We argue that ADSs design is inherently flawed since it relies on the ADS's detection logic and feature space which is trivial to estimate. In information security e.g. cryptographic algorithms (such as DES), security is inherently dependent upon the key and not the algorithm, which makes these systems very robust by rendering evasion computationally infeasible. We believe there is a need to redesign the anomaly detection systems similar to cryptographic systems. We propose to randomize the feature space of an ADS such that it acts as a cryptographic key for the ADS and hence this randomized feature space is used by the ADS logic for detection of anomalies. This would make the evasion of the ADS computationally infeasible for the attacker.
When Social Influence Meets Item Inference

Research issues and data mining techniques for product recommendation and viral marketing have been widely studied. Existing works on seed selection in social networks do not take into account the effect of product recommendations in e-commerce stores. In this paper, we investigate the seed selection problem for viral marketing that considers both effects of social influence and item inference (for product recommendation). We develop a new model, Social Item Graph (SIG), that captures both effects in the form of hyperedges. Accordingly, we formulate a seed selection problem, called Social Item Maximization Problem (SIMP), and prove the hardness of SIMP. We design an efficient algorithm with performance guarantee, called Hyperedge-Aware Greedy (HAG), for SIMP and develop a new index structure, called SIG-index, to accelerate the computation of diffusion process in HAG. Moreover, to construct realistic SIG models for SIMP, we develop a statistical inference based framework to learn the weights of hyperedges from data. Finally, we perform a comprehensive evaluation on our proposals with various baselines. Experimental result validates our ideas and demonstrates the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model and algorithms over baselines.
A kind of distributed file system based on massive small files storage

With the development of network storage systems, distributed file system has become more and more important. In the storage of the large and medium-sized websites, requirement of storage with mass small file is of extremely importance, especially the small pictures, electronic documents and some other kind of small files. Considering the extremely large number of small files, if we choose the traditional distributed file system without additional improvement, the efficiency will be greatly reduced. QFS is such a distributed file system that focuses on storage of massive small files. The file system has made great improvements in many aspects such as the metadata management, high concurrency access, storage efficiency. Moreover, its design is simple and efficient.
Array placement for storage size reduction in embedded multimedia systems

In this paper we present the second stage of a two-phase strategy for reducing the required background memory sizes for a large class of data-intensive multimedia applications. This strategy is particularly useful in an embedded application context, where memory size and the corresponding power consumption are the main cost factors together with data transfers. Our strategy optimizes the storage order of arrays in memory by trying to improve the reuse of memory locations, as well for elements of the same array as for elements of different arrays. Although size reduction is the main objective, an added benefit is a reduced power consumption due to the decreased capacitive load of the memories. The memory size reduction task is part of an overall memory size and power reduction methodology called ATOMIUM in which other tasks can increase its effectiveness (e.g. loop, transformations), but it can also be used on a stand-alone base. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated by experimental results for some real-life multimedia applications, for which a considerable memory size reduction was obtained.
Assessing representation techniques of programs supported by GreedEx

In systems supporting learning of programming, it is common to use several techniques to represent algorithms, some of textual and graphical nature. This kind of representations is used by the GreedEx system, a system for interactive experimentation with greedy algorithms. The assessment made of this system thus far is based on the use of questionnaires and, therefore, on the subjective perception of the student with respect to the usefulness and/or complexity of the representations provided. This paper presents two empirical evaluations conducted with the aim of learning about both aspects (usefulness and complexity) of each of the representations supported by the GreedEx system. In this evaluation several information sources are combined: subjective perception questionnaires and the metrics provided by an eye-tracking device.
bacon: Linked Data Integration based on the RDF Data Cube Vocabulary

Discovering and integrating relevant real-live datasets are essential tasks, when it comes to handling Linked Data. Similar to Data Warehousing approaches, Linked Data can be prepared to enable sophisticated data analysis. The developed open source framework bacon enables interactive and crowed-sourced Data Integration on Linked Data (Linked Data Integration), utilizing the RDF Data Cube Vocabulary and the semantic properties of Linked Open Data. Discovering suitable datasets on-the-fly in local or remote repositories sets up the ensuing integration process. Based on well-known Data Warehousing processes, the semantic nature of the data is taken into account to handle and merge RDF Data Cubes. To do so, structure and content of the cubes must be analyzed and processed. A similarity measure has been developed to find similarly structured cubes. The user is offered a graphical interface, where he can search for suitable cubes and modify their structure based on semantic properties. This process is fostered by a set of automated suggestions to support inexperienced users and also domain experts.
Laboratory models of geophysical flows : lava domes on slopes and wind-driven convection at ocean fronts

Part I: A theoretical solution is presented for the static three-dimensional shape of a fluid having a finite yield strength after it is extruded slowly from a small source on an inclined plane. Th e solution is compared to the shapes obtained in laboratory experiments in which slurries of kaolin in polyethylene glycol wax were ejected, slowly and in small increm ental volumes, onto a slope . This study is aimed at understanding the shape of highly silicic lava flows , such as large rhyolite flows which occur on steep mountain sides or on gentle slopes, and the role of a fin ite yield strength in governing the slow spreading and th e final static shape. Th e results indicate that it is possible to obtain an estimate of the yield strength of a flu id which is emplaced under such circumstances, using only horizontal aspect ratios and the slope of the underlying ground. Part II: A series of experiments was conducted on a rotating table in order to simulate wind driven convection at ocean density fronts . A two layer density stratification was spun so that th e parabolic interface between the two layers outcropped on the lid. Anticyclonic forcing by a differentially rotating lid over short intervals of time drove an Ekman current radially inwards and across the density front . Th eoretical arguments indicate that the stratification was sufficiently weak so that the standard, homogeneous Ekman layer so lution applied. Measurements of the time taken for the onset of convection are found to correlate well with th e non-rotating theory for the growth of the mixed region in standard Rayleigh-Taylor convection. The magnitudes of the times differ by a factor of four, indicating that the addition of rotation slowed the growing instability . Laser induced fluorescence was used to measure the density field before and after the forcing event) and empirical formulas are given for the increase in the mass and volume of mixed fluid, as well as the mixing efficiency of the convection process. The volume of mixed water increased by between 20 % and 81% of the volume of the Ekman transport across the front. Th e convective Rossby number is found to be the most im. Vll portant parameter in determining the dimensionless production of mixed water, with a decrease in the convective Rossby number leading to an increase in the production of mixed water. We believe this is due to the higher levels of vorticity which entrain more surrounding fluid into the convecting plumes for smaller convective Rossby numbers. The much weaker role of rotation in oceanic convection means that estimates of the production of mode water in the ocean can not be made with confidence.
Binary Orientation Trees for Volume and Surface Reconstruction from Unoriented Point Clouds

Given a complete unoriented point set, we propose a binary orientation tree (BOT) for volume and surface representation, which roughly splits the space into the interior and exterior regions with respect to the input point set. The BOTs are constructed by performing a traditional octree subdivision technique while the corners of each cell are associated with a tag indicating the in/out relationship with respect to the input point set. Starting from the root cell, a growing stage is performed to efficiently assign tags to the connected empty sub‐cells. The unresolved tags of the remaining cell corners are determined by examining their visibility via the hidden point removal operator. We show that the outliers accompanying the input point set can be effectively detected during the construction of the BOTs. After removing the outliers and resolving the in/out tags, the BOTs are ready to support any volume or surface representation techniques. To represent the surfaces, we also present a modified MPU implicits algorithm enabled to reconstruct surfaces from the input unoriented point clouds by taking advantage of the BOTs.
Monitoring of forest fire risk conditions in Portugal with NOAA/NESDIS satellite-based Vegetation Health Index

NOAA/NESDIS satellite-based Vegetation Health Index (VHI) was applied to study wildfire favourable environmental conditions for period 2001-2017.VHI consists of two terms: Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), and Temperature Condition Index (TCI), which reflect vegetation moisture conditions and vegetation thermal conditions. Joint analysis of drought conditions (VHI<40) and vegetation stress (VCI,TCI<40) on the one hand and burned area and number of fires on the other hand showed, that 88% of big fires in Portugal have relation with droughts or vegetation stress.
Functional connectivity as revealed by spatial independent component analysis of fMRI measurements during rest

Cortical functional connectivity, as indicated by the concurrent spontaneous activity of spatially segregated regions, is being studied increasingly because it may determine the reaction of the brain to external stimuli and task requirements and it is reportedly altered in many neurological and psychiatric disorders. In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), such functional connectivity is investigated commonly by correlating the time course of a chosen “seed voxel” with the remaining voxel time courses in a voxel‐by‐voxel manner. This approach is biased by the actual choice of the seed voxel, however, because it only shows functional connectivity for the chosen brain region while ignoring other potentially interesting patterns of coactivation. We used spatial independent component analysis (sICA) to assess cortical functional connectivity maps from resting state data. SICA does not depend on any chosen temporal profile of local brain activity. We hypothesized that sICA would be able to find functionally connected brain regions within sensory and motor regions in the absence of task‐related brain activity. We also investigated functional connectivity patterns of several parietal regions including the superior parietal cortex and the posterior cingulate gyrus. The components of interest were selected in an automated fashion using predefined anatomical volumes of interest. SICA yielded connectivity maps of bilateral auditory, motor and visual cortices. Moreover, it showed that prefrontal and parietal areas are also functionally connected within and between hemispheres during the resting state. These connectivity maps showed an extremely high degree of consistency in spatial, temporal, and frequency parameters within and between subjects. These results are discussed in the context of the recent debate on the functional relevance of fluctuations of neural activity in the resting state. Hum. Brain Mapp. 22:165–178, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Phenotypic and Genotypic Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of Campylobacter jejuni Isolated from Cattle, Sheep, and Free-Range Poultry Faeces

Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 13 antimicrobial agents were determined by broth microdilution for 72 Campylobacter jejuni strains from livestock. Twenty-three (31.9%) isolates were fully susceptible; all isolates were susceptible to erythromycin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, gentamicin, sulfamethoxazole, and meropenem, and all but one to kanamycin. Resistance to quinolones was highest (52.8%), reaching similar values among poultry, dairy cattle, and sheep, but lower in beef cattle. Resistance to tetracyclines (48.6%) was mainly associated to dairy cattle and β-lactams (26.4%) to poultry. Multidrug resistance was mainly detected in dairy cattle (28.6%) and poultry (21.0%), whereas beef cattle had the highest percentage of fully susceptible isolates. Two real-time PCR assays to detect point mutations associated to quinolone (C257T in the gyrA gene) and macrolide (A2075G in the 23S rRNA genes) resistance were developed and validated on these strains. The analysis of a further set of 88 isolates by real-time PCR confirmed the absence of macrolide resistance and demonstrated the reproducibility and processability of the assay.
Robust optimization of a traction PMASR motor according to given driving cycles

In the coming years, the electrification and the deployment of the electric motors in the urban transports will become a reality more and more widespread. The optimization stage of the electric motors usually does not consider in detail the real driving conditions of the car in which the motor is installed. It follows that the actual motor performance in operating points, especially as regards the torque ripple and the efficiency, might be worsen than expected. A robust solution is a required target. This paper deals with the design and optimization of a high speed permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor for traction applications, according to both city and highway driving cycles. A procedure is employed in order to evaluate the most representative operating points, which have to be considered for the global optimization. An analysis of the robustness of the solutions has been performed. Both results and advantages of the adopted methodology are highlighted.
Experimental determination of beam quality factors, kQ, for two types of Farmer chamber in a 10 MV photon and a 175 MeV proton beam

Absorbed doses determined with a sealed water calorimeter operated at 4 °C are compared with the results obtained using ionization chambers and the IAEA TRS-398 code of practice in a 10 MV photon beam (TPR20,10 = 0.734) and a 175 MeV proton beam (at a depth corresponding to the residual range, Rres = 14.7 cm). Three NE 2571 and two FC65-G ionization chambers were calibrated in terms of absorbed-dose-to-water in 60Co at the Swedish secondary standard dosimetry laboratory, directly traceable to the BIPM. In the photon beam quality, calorimetry was found to agree with ionometry within 0.3%, confirming the kQ values tabulated in TRS-398. In contrast, a 1.8% deviation was found in the proton beam at 6 g cm−2 depth, suggesting that the TRS-398 tabulated kQ values for these two ionization chamber types are too high. Assuming no perturbation effect in the proton beam for the ionization chambers, a value for (wair/e)Q of 33.6 J C−1 ± 1.7% (k = 1) can be derived from these measurements. An analytical evaluation of the effect from non-elastic nuclear interactions in the ionization chamber wall indicates a perturbation effect of 0.6%. Including this estimated result in the proton beam would increase the determined (wair/e)Q value by the same amount.
Continuous profiling: where have all the cycles gone?

This article describes the Digital Continuous Profiling Infrastructure, a sampling-based profiling system designed to run continuously on production systems. The system supports multiprocessors, works on unmodified executables, and collects profiles for entire systems, including user programs, shared libraries, and the operating system kernel. Samples are collected at a high rate (over 5200 samples/sec. per 333MHz processor), yet with low overhead (1–3% slowdown for most workloads). Analysis tools supplied with the profiling system use the sample data to produce a precise and accurate accounting, down to the level of pipeline stalls incurred by individual instructions, of where time is bring spent. When instructions incur stalls, the tools identify possible reasons, such as cache misses, branch mispredictions, and functional unit contention. The fine-grained instruction-level analysis guides users and automated optimizers to the causes of performance problems and provides important insights for fixing them.
A Decision Tree Based Approach Towards Adaptive Profiling of Cloud Applications

Cloud computing has allowed applications to allocate and elastically utilize massive amounts of resources of different types, leading to an exponential growth of the applications' configuration space and increased difficulty in predicting their performance. In this work, we describe a novel, automated profiling methodology that makes no assumptions on application structure. Our approach utilizes oblique Decision Trees in order to recursively partition an application's configuration space in disjoint regions, choose a set of representative samples from each subregion according to a defined policy and returns a model for the entire configuration space as a composition of linear models over each subregion. An extensive experimental evaluation over real-life applications and synthetic performance functions showcases that our scheme outperforms other state-of-the-art profiling methodologies. It particularly excels at reflecting abnormalities and discontinuities of the performance function, allowing the user to influence the sampling policy based on the modeling accuracy, the space coverage and the deployment cost.
Effect of Various Inoculum Levels of Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella enterica Serovar Heidelberg (2011 Ground Turkey Outbreak Isolate) on Cecal Colonization, Dissemination to Internal Organs, and Deposition in Skeletal Muscles of Commercial Turkeys after Experimental Oral Challenge

Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg (S. Heidelberg) is a major foodborne pathogen colonizing poultry. The pathogen is associated with a significant number of foodborne outbreaks through contaminated poultry meat, including turkeys. Recently, multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of S. Heidelberg have emerged as a threat to human public health in the United States. The objective of this study was to determine the cecal colonization, dissemination to internal organs, and the potential for skeletal muscle deposition of an MDR S. Heidelberg isolate from the 2011 ground turkey outbreak in the United States after the experimental oral challenge of poults (young turkeys) and adult turkey hens. In the poult study, two separate experiments using day-old, straight-run, commercial hybrid converter poults were randomly assigned to five challenge groups (0, 10∧2, 10∧4, 10∧6, 10∧8 CFU groups; 12 poults/group; N = 60/experiment) and a week after, treatment groups were challenged separately with 0-, 2-, 4-, 6-, and 8- log10 CFU of S. Heidelberg orally. After 14 days post-challenge, the poults were euthanized, and samples were collected to determine MDR S. Heidelberg colonization in the cecum, dissemination to liver and spleen, and deposition in the thigh, drumstick, and breast muscles. A similar experimental design was followed for the adult turkey hens. In two separate experiments, 11-week-old commercial Hybrid Converter turkey hens (4 hens/group; N = 20/experiment) were challenged with MDR S. Heidelberg and on day 16 post-challenge, birds were euthanized and samples were collected to determine Salmonella populations in the samples. The results indicated that, in turkey poults, the recovery of MDR S. Heidelberg was highest in the cecum followed by spleen, liver, thigh, drumstick, and breast. All tested inoculum levels resulted in more than 3.5 log10 CFU/g colonization in the poult cecum. The cecal colonization, dissemination to internal organs, and tissue deposition of MDR S. Heidelberg were high in poults. The pathogen recovery from the cecum of adult turkey hens ranged from 37.5 to 62.5% in the challenge groups. The results signify the importance of controlling MDR S. Heidelberg in turkeys at the farm level to improve the safety of turkey products.
Applying Dataflow Analysis to Dimension Buffers for Guaranteed Performance in Networks on Chip

A network on chip (NoC) with end-to-end flow control is modelled by a cyclo-static dataflow graph. Using the proposed model together with state-of-the-art dataflow analysis algorithms, we size the buffers in the network interfaces. We show, for a range of NoC designs, that buffer sizes are determined with a run time comparable to existing analytical methods, and results comparable to exhaustive simulation.