Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protection for Geographic Routing in Mobile Ad hoc Networks

Geographic routing protocol is becoming an attractive choice in Mobile Ad Hoc Network. In this protocol the nodes need to maintain their up-to-date position for making effective forwarding decisions. Periodic broadcasting of beacon packets is used to maintain the position of their neighboring nodes. Adaptive Position Update (APU) strategy is used to update the position of nodes and using Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing Protocol (GPSR) the path has been established between these nodes. APU is based on two simple principles: 1) nodes whose movements are harder to predict update their positions more frequently (and vice versa), and (ii) nodes closer to forwarding paths update their positions more frequently (and vice versa). Our theoretical analysis, which is validated by NS2 simulations of a well-known geographic routing protocol, Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing Protocol (GPSR), shows that APU can significantly reduce the update cost and improve the routing performance in terms of packet delivery ratio and average end-to-end delay in comparison with periodic beaconing and other recently proposed updating schemes. The benefits of APU are further confirmed by undertaking evaluations in realistic network scenarios, which account for localization error, realistic radio propagation, and sparse network. Also for security purpose we are also encrypting the data packets during transmission. So that the intermediate nodes are not able to view the data during transmission. For Encryption process, we are using RC4 Algorithm. Index Terms – Geographic routing, positions, Manets, Nodes.
Planning priority conservation areas under climate change for six plant species with extremely small populations in China

The concept of Plant Species with Extremely Small Populations (PSESP) has been employed to guide conservation of threatened plant species in China. Climate change has a high potential to threaten PSESP. As a result, it is necessary to integrate climate change effects on PSESP into conservation planning in China. Here, ecological niche modelling is used to project current and future habitat distributions of six PSESP in China under climate change scenarios and conservation planning software is applied to identify priority conservation areas (PCAs) for these PSESP based on habitat distributions. These results were used to provide proposals for in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures directed at PSESP. It was found that annual precipitation was important for habitat distributions for all six PSESP (with the percentage contribution to habitat distributions ranging from 18.1 % to 74.9 %) and non-climatic variables including soil and altitude have a large effect on habitat suitability of PSESP. Large quantities of PCAs occurred within some provincial regions for these six PSESP (e.g. Sichuan and Jilin for the PSESP Cathaya argyrophylla, Taxus cuspidata, Annamocarya sinensis and Madhuca pasquieri), indicating that these are likely to be appropriate areas for in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures directed at these PSESP. Those nature reserves with large quantities of PCAs were identified as promising sites for in-situ conservation measures of PSESP; such reserves include Yangzie and Dongdongtinghu for C. argyrophylla, Songhuajiangsanhu and Changbaishan for T. cuspidata and Shiwandashanshuiyuanlian for Tsoongiodendron odorum. These results suggest Nature Conservation 25: 89–106 (2018) doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.25. 20063 http://natureconservation.pensoft. net Copyright Hong Qu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journal
Analyzing security protocols with secrecy types and logic programs

We study and further develop two language-based techniques for analyzing security protocols. One is based on a typed process calculus; the other, on untyped logic programs. Both focus on secrecy properties. We contribute to these two techniques, in particular by extending the former with a flexible, generic treatment of many cryptographic operations. We also establish an equivalence between the two techniques.
Optimal sequential sampling with delayed observations and unknown variance

Sequential stochastic optimization has been used in many contexts, from simulation, to e-commerce, to clinical trials. Much of this analysis assumes that observations are made soon after a sampling decision is made, so that the next sampling decision can benefit from the most recent data. This assumption is not true in a number of contexts, including clinical trials. In this paper we extend sequential sampling tools from simulation optimization to be useful when there exists a delay in observing the data from sampling, with a specific focus on the situation in which the sampling variance is unknown. We demonstrate the benefits of doing so by benchmarking the optimization algorithms with data from a published clinical trial.
Component specification in the Cactus Framework: The Cactus Configuration Language

Component frameworks are complex systems that rely on many layers of abstraction to function properly. One essential requirement is a consistent means of describing each individual component and how it relates to both other components and the whole framework. As component frameworks are designed to be flexible by nature, the description method should be simultaneously powerful, lead to efficient code, and be easy to use, so that new users can quickly adapt their own code to work with the framework. In this paper, we discuss the Cactus Configuration Language (CCL) which is used to describe components (“thorns”) in the Cactus Framework. The CCL provides a description language for the variables, parameters, functions, scheduling and compilation of a component and includes concepts such as interface and implementation which allow thorns providing the same capabilities to be easily interchanged. We include several application examples which illustrate how community toolkits use the CCL and Cactus and identify needed additions to the language.
Cultural Transmission in the Paleoindian of Eastern North America

5 West Early Paleoindian Clovis Northeast Early Paleoindian Clovis Gainey Bull Brook Vail/Debert Middle Paleoindian Michaud/Neponset Barnes Crowfield Cormier/Nicholas Holcombe Hi-Lo Late Paleoindian Agate Basin Plano Southeast Early Paleoindian Clovis Middle Paleoindian Redstone Folsom Cumberland Late Paleoindian San Patrice Coldwater Beaver Lake Simpson Suwannee Quad Dalton Cluster Wheeler Hardaway Cluster
Saliency based image steganography with varying base SDS and multi-objective genetic algorithm

Hiding secret message into images is known as image steganography. A good image steganography method aims to minimize visual degradation while maximizing embedding capacity. In this paper, visual saliency is used to determine the number of bits which can be embedded in a pixel. The relation between the saliency of a pixel and the number of embedded bits is obtained by solving a multi-objective optimization problem. A genetic algorithm has been developed which gives the optimum relation between saliency values and the number of embedded bits in the pixels. A variation of Single Digit Sum (SDS) based steganography scheme has been used to embed the secret message bits where the base of computing SDS is estimated based on the number of bits being embedded in a pixel. Experimental results reveal that the proposed technique can boast of a good embedding capacity while controlling the visual degradation of stego image.
Peer effects in the adoption of formal property rights : experimental evidence from urban Tanzania

This paper investigates the presence of endogenous peer effects in the adoption of formal property rights. Using data from a unique land titling experiment held in an unplanned settlement in Dar es Salaam, I find a strong, positive impact of neighbor adoption on the household’s choice to purchase a land title. I also show that this relationship holds in a separate, identical experiment held a year later in a nearby community, as well as in administrative data for over 160,000 land parcels in the same city. While the exact channel is undetermined, evidence points towards complementarities in the reduction in expropriation risk, as peer effects are strongest between households living close to each other and there is some evidence that peer effects are strongest for households most concerned with expropriation. The results show that, for better or for worse, households will reinforce each other’s decisions to enter formal tenure systems.
Role of miR-29b on the regulation of the extracellular matrix in human trabecular meshwork cells under chronic oxidative stress

Purpose To investigate the role of miR-29b on the changes in expression of genes involved in the synthesis and deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) induced by chronic oxidative stress in human trabecular meshwork cells (HTM). Methods Changes in gene expression induced by miR-29b in HTM cells were evaluated by gene array analysis using Affymetrix U133A2 arrays and confirmed by quantitative–PCR. Pathway analysis was conducted using Metacore. Targeting of miR-29b to the 3’-untranslated region of three novel putative targets was evaluated using the Psicheck luciferase system. Chronic oxidative stress was induced by incubation at 40% oxygen for 4–5 days, using cultures incubated at 5% oxygen as controls. Changes in expression in microRNA or gene expression were analyzed by Q-PCR. Cell viability was measured by lactate dehydrogenase release. Results Transfection of HTM cells with miR-29b mimic resulted in downregulation of multiple ECM components, including collagens (COL1A1, COL1A2, COL4A1, COL5A1, COL5A2, COL3A1) LAMC1, and FBN as well as several genes involved in ECM deposition and remodeling, such as SPARC/osteonectin. Three additional genes, BMP1, ADAM12, and NKIRAS2, were identified as direct targets of miR-29b. Chronic oxidative stress induced a significant downregulation of miR-29b in two HTM cell lines that was associated with increased expression of several ECM genes known to be regulated by miR-29b. The increase in expression of these genes was inhibited by transfection with miR-29b mimic. MiR-29b increased cell viability under both chronic oxidative stress and physiologic oxygen concentrations. Conclusions MiR-29b negatively regulates the expression of multiple genes involved in the synthesis and deposition of ECM in trabecular meshwork (TM) cells. Downregulation of miR-29b might contribute to increased expression of several ECM genes under chronic oxidative stress conditions. The balance between the activation of ECM production induced by oxidative stress and the protective effects of miR-29b could be a relevant factor in understanding how oxidative damage may lead to increased deposition of ECM in the TM and contribute to the elevation of intra-ocular pressure in glaucoma.
A prospective randomized trial comparing the efficacy of Letrozole and Clomiphene citrate in induction of ovulation in polycystic ovarian syndrome

OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy of letrozole and clomiphene citrate (CC) in patients of anovulatory polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) with infertility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective randomized clinical trial included 204 patients of PCOS. 98 patients (294 cycles) received 2.5–5 mg of letrozole; 106 patients (318 cycles) received 50–100 mg of CC (both orally from Days 3–7 of menstrual cycle). The treatment continued for three cycles in both the groups. Main outcome measures: ovulation rate, endometrial thickness, and pregnancy rate. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 13 software. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The mean number of dominant follicles in letrozole groups and CC groups was 1.86±0.26 and 1.92±0.17, respectively (P=0.126). Number of ovulatory cycle in letrozole group was 196 (66.6%) versus 216 (67.9%) in CC group (P=0.712). The mean mid-cycle endometrial thickness was 9.1±0.3 mm in letrozole group and 6.3±1.1 in CC group, which was statistically significant (P=0.014). The mean Estradiol [E2] level in clomiphene citrate group was significantly higher in CC group (364.2±71.4 pg/mL) than letrozole group (248.2± 42.2 pg/mL). 43 patients from the letrozole group (43.8%) and 28 patients from the CC group (26.4%) became pregnant. CONCLUSION: Letrozole and CC have comparable ovulation rate. The effect of letrozole showed a better endometrial response and pregnancy rate compared with CC.
Architecting graphics processors for non-graphics compute acceleration

This paper discusses the emergence of graphics processing units (GPUs) that contain architecture features for accelerating non-graphics (or GPGPU) applications. It provides an introduction for those interested in undertaking research at the intersection of manycore computing and GPU architecture. First, the motivation for using GPUs for non-graphics processing rather than developing specialized hardware is outlined. Then, the features of GPU architectures and related programming models for non-graphics computing on GPUs are briefly described. Finally, some recent research and architecture challenges related to accelerating non-graphics workloads on GPUs are summarized.
Pipelining for dual supply voltages

Power is one of the most important metrics in the modern integrated circuit design. We optimize the circuit power using a dual-supply voltage (dual-Vdd) approach. In order to achieve an improved power efficiency, we have applied a new type of pipelining to reduce the number of gates need to be assigned to the high supply voltage given a target delay. Compared to the standard pipelining and the standard dual-Vdd assignment, our design achieves the best of the two approaches without compromising any performance. Our overall design is tested on a set of standard ISCAS-85 benchmark circuits using an industrial cell library. Significant power savings (Avg. 10.4%) under a specified target delay are observed.
Multiagent Reinforcement Learning with Adaptive State Focus

In realistic multiagent systems, learning on the basis of complete state information is not feasible. We introduce adaptive state focus Q-learning, a class of methods derived from Q-learning that start learning with only the state information that is strictly necessary for a single agent to perform the task, and that monitor the convergence of learning. If lack of convergence is detected, the learner dynamically expands its state space to incorporate more state information (e.g., states of other agents). Learning is faster and takes less resources than if the complete state were considered from the start, while being able to handle situations where agents interfere in pursuing their goals. We illustrate our approach by instantiating a simple version of such a method, and by showing that it outperforms learning with full state information without being hindered by the deficiencies of learning on the basis of a single agent’s state.
Bayesian Belief Network Model of the Radical Prostatectomy Pathway

A clinical pathway represents sequencing and timing of interventions by clinicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals for a particular clinical presentation. It is designed to minimize delays and resource utilizations and to maximize the quality of tertiary care. A pathway is used to monitor and control patient’s progress that is measured according to standard process and clinical outcomes. We conducted a retrospective chart study and used the Bayesian belief network (BBN) to model a pathway for radical prostatectomy that was developed at The Ottawa Hospital — Civic Campus, and to predict the patient’s length of stay (LOS) given the deviations from pre-determined course of action.
ESTIMATING GENOME SIZE AND CONFIRMING PLOIDY LEVELS OF WILD TETRAPLOID ALFALFA ACCESSIONS ( Medicago sativa subsp . × varia ) USING FLOW CYTOMETRY

The taxonomic group Medicago sativa-falcata continuum includes the important cultivated forage legume, alfalfa, along with a number of other perennial, outcrossing, and morphologically differentiated subspecies at diploid and tetraploid levels. Prior information of morphology, ploidy, and genome size is vital for accurate classification of the taxa included in the complex and thus for effective usage of genetic resources in alfalfa breeding programs. The United States Department of Agriculture-National Plant Germplasm System (USDAGRIN) has an extensive collection of the members of Medicago sativa-falcata continuum gathered from all the centres of diversity. However, accessions classified in the complex are occasionally misidentified. Furthermore, the accessions identified as M. sativa subsp. ×varia (T. Martyn) Arcang. in the USDA GRIN collections have not been evaluated based on morphological traits, ploidy level or genome size. In this study, we evaluated morphological traits and determined ploidy levels and genome size of plants from 25 wild accessions classified as Medicago sativa L. subsp. ×varia using flow cytometry. All of the accessions classified as subsp. ×varia were found to be tetraploid; however, deviations from flower colour, pod shape expectations were observed. This will be a major step toward effective utilization of germplasm resources classified as M. sativa subsp. ×varia.
Formal Specification and Design Techniques for Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks

A current trend in the development and implementation of industrial applications is to use wireless networks to communicate the system nodes, mainly to increase application flexibility, reliability and portability, as well as to reduce the implementation cost. However, the nondeterministic and concurrent behavior of distributed systems makes their analysis and design complex, often resulting in less than satisfactory performance in simulation and test bed scenarios, which is caused by using imprecise models to analyze, validate and design these systems. Moreover, there are some simulation platforms that do not support these models. This paper presents a design and validation method for Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSAN) which is supported on a minimal set of wireless components represented in Colored Petri Nets (CPN). In summary, the model presented allows users to verify the design properties and structural behavior of the system.
Refinement of Strong Stackelberg Equilibria in Security Games

Given the real-world deployments of attacker-defender Stackelberg security games, robustness to deviations from expected attacker behaviors has now emerged as a critically important issue. This paper provides four key contributions in this context. First, it identifies a fundamentally problematic aspect of current algorithms for security games. It shows that there are many situations where these algorithms face multiple equilibria, and they arbitrarily select one that may hand the defender a significant disadvantage, particularly if the attacker deviates from its equilibrium strategies due to unknown constraints. Second, for important subclasses of security games, it identifies situations where we will face such multiple equilibria. Third, to address these problematic situations, it presents two equilibrium refinement algorithms that can optimize the defender's utility if the attacker deviates from equilibrium strategies. Finally, it experimentally illustrates that the refinement approach achieved significant robustness in consideration of attackers' deviation due to unknown constraints.
Nonlinearity in the North Pacific Atmospheric Response to a Linear ENSO Forcing

El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exerts a remote impact on the North Pacific and North American winter climate. Both observational and model studies have suggested nonlinearities in this teleconnection. However, it remains unclear if possible nonlinearities arise from the forcing strength or the forcing location in the tropical Pacific, or from factors external to the tropical Pacific. To separate these factors, an idealized model is forced with seasonally varying sea surface temperature with linearly varying strength at a fixed location. Whereas for moderate events the North Pacific response is more linear, strong events exhibit significant nonlinearity both in terms of the strength and location of the impact. The nonlinearity can be traced back to the relationship between sea surface temperature and tropical convection. Nonlinearity in the North Pacific response can have important impacts for long‐range prediction and for potential changes in the diversity of ENSO with climate change.
On the generalization ability of neural network classifiers

Summary form only given, as follows. An approach for evaluation of the generalization ability of neural network classifiers is discussed, and a minimum error neural network (MENN) classifier is offered. A probabilistic model and an estimation scheme for the input distribution have been defined. After defining and minimizing an error function for the classifier output, a criterion for the MENN classifier was found. The expected MENN classifier performance was then evaluated. It has been shown that the boundaries of the MENN decision surface, in the sense of least mean square error, are equivalent to the boundaries obtained by the Bayes rule. The proposed technique can be used to evaluate the generalization ability of any supervised learning classifier. <<ETX>>
Exploration of a virtual environment: a comparison between tactile and tangible modalities

This paper proposes an experimental protocol that aims to evaluate in a strictly comparable context tactile and tangible modalities for a virtual environment exploration on tablet. We propose four modalities: tactile interaction with sticks, classic tactile interaction, tangible interaction with a 1:2.5 scale factor and tangible interaction with a 1:5 scale factor. We hypothesize that the tangible interactions will provide users a better spatial representation of the virtual environment, with however, a difference depending on the scale factor. Moreover we interest on the subjective evaluation (usability and acceptability) of these modalities.
c-boundary of Taub's plane-symmetric static vacuum spacetime.

To describe singularities using the notion of c-boundary, it is necessary to divide the c-boundary into two portions, one of them represents the singularity while the other represents infinity. By investigating the global structure of Taub's plane-symmetric static spacetime in detail we prove that the singular portion of the c-boundary of this spacetime is a single point. This suggests that it might not be fruitful describing the structure of singularities using the c-boundary construction. The possible difficulty in singling out the ``singular portion'' of the c-boundary is also discussed.
Eclipse‐Induced Changes to Topside Ion Composition and Field‐Aligned Ion Flows in the August 2017 Solar Eclipse: e‐POP Observations

We present in situ ion composition and velocity measurements during the August 2017 solar eclipse from the Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (e‐POP), which crossed the path of totality at ~640‐km altitude within 10 min of totality passing. These measurements reveal two distinct H+ ion populations, an ~40% decrease in topside plasma density, a similar drop in upward but not downward H+ ion flux, and a downward O+ ion velocity of ~100 m/s. These features are directly linked to changes in the H+/O+ composition and in interhemispheric or field‐aligned light ion flow and to a reduction in the negative spacecraft potential. These observed features were absent on the preceding, noneclipse days and corroborate the reduction in F region plasma density and topside total electron content observed by the Global Positioning System receivers on board. They are attributed to the temporary reduction of photoionization in the eclipsed F region.