Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for photogrammetric surveys in rockfall instability studies

L’utilizzo del drone (UAV) per l’esecuzione di rilievi fotogrammetrici nello studio delle frane da crollo.Si riportano i risultati preliminari di uno studio geostrutturale effettuato su due costoni rocciosi per i quali e stato realizzato un rilievo fotogrammetrico (DTP) basato sull'utilizzo di un drone (UAV). Tale rilievo ha consentito di ricostruire in maniera dettagliata la geometria del fronte e di risalire al pattern fessurativo dell'ammasso roccioso individuando un elevato numero di discontinuita, la loro orientazione nello spazio, le famiglie rappresentative nonche i volumi di roccia potenzialmente instabili.Le pareti, localizzate sul promontorio di Posillipo (Napoli) ed in una stretta gola a Praiano (Costiera amalfitana), risultano essere state interessate in passato da numerose frane da crollo. Esse risultano molto articolate con settori posizionati ad altezze elevate e spesso variamente orientati rispetto alla direzione generale del fronte.I risultati preliminari raccolti evidenziano i numerosi vantaggi della tecnica DSP-UAV in quanto consente di ricostruire topograficamente pareti localizzate in zone difficilmente raggiungibili con tecniche tradizionali vuoi per la localizzazione geomorfologica della stessa (Gola di Praiano) vuoi per la quota e la orientazione di alcuni settori rispetto al versante (Coroglio, Capo Posillipo). Il drone puo volare autonomamente su traiettorie di volo prestabilite oppure no ed e per questo molto versatile alla logistica dei luoghi. Esso restituisce coppie di foto stereoscopiche sia zenitali che variamente angolate rispetto al fronte. Infine esso e in grado di raggiungere distanze molto piccole rispetto al fronte (poche decine di metri) e cio si traduce nella restituzione di una nuvola di punti (xyz) molto densa che permette di ricostruire, con tecniche automatiche e/o manuali, la geometria degli elementi geomorfologici (nicchie di frana, diedri e pinnacoli isolati) e geostrutturali (giacitura dei piani di discontinuita) e di definire i volumi delle masse rocciose instabili.
A Trojan-resistant system-on-chip bus architecture

Communications systems are increasingly reliant on system-on-chip (SoC) solutions. As the complexity and size of SoCs continues to grow, so does the risk of ¿Trojan¿ attacks, in which an integrated circuit (IC) design is surreptitiously and maliciously altered at some point during the design or manufacturing process. Despite the risks that such an attack entail, relatively little attention has been given in the literature to methods enabling detection of and response to run-time Trojan attacks. In the present paper, we present a Trojan-resistant system bus architecture suitable across a wide range of SoC bus systems. The system detects malicious bus behaviors associated Trojan hardware, protects the system and system bus from them and reports the malicious behaviors to the CPU. We show that use of this bus and associated embedded software is highly effective in reducing IC Trojan vulnerabilities without loss of bus performance.
SemEval-2013 Task 5: Evaluating Phrasal Semantics

This paper describes the SemEval-2013 Task 5: “Evaluating Phrasal Semantics”. Its first subtask is about computing the semantic similarity of words and compositional phrases of minimal length. The second one addresses deciding the compositionality of phrases in a given context. The paper discusses the importance and background of these subtasks and their structure. In succession, it introduces the systems that participated and discusses evaluation results.
A better internet without ip addresses

The Internet has evolved from a small network of research machines into a world-wide network for sharing information. The importance of the Internet on commerce, industry, and education has become so profound that world leaders have labeled Internet access as a utility vital to civilization. With such a vitally important role, network researchers must ensure that the Internet is able to expand and scale to serve the needs of the generations to come. To do so, we must overcome two of the most pressing technical obstacles. First, we are rapidly running out of available addresses to identify machines on the Internet. The Internet Protocol version 4, or simply IPv 4, can uniquely identify 4.3 billion machines. However, about 88% of the IPv4 address space has been assigned with projections of exhaustion in as little as two years. The second major hurdle is that routers, which forward packets from a source machine to a destination, may soon not be able to store all the required packet forwarding state while still providing expedient packet delivery. While researchers have previously examined these issues, each of the previous works addresses only a subset of these problems rather than addressing the difficulties holistically. In this dissertation, we seek to address these top concerns in a consolidated manner while allowing for Internet evolvability. The architecture we propose uses host names already used by Internet users for identifying machines and translating them to autonomous system numbers (ASNs), a well-accepted identifier for administrative domains in the Internet. While the host names provide a vast number of end-host identifiers, the ASNs offer an order of magnitude faster packet forwarding performance at the routers. Combined, they ensure that the Internet can meet our demands for decades to come.
Graph Pattern Matching for Dynamic Team Formation

Finding a list of k teams of experts, referred to as top-k team formation, with the required skills and high collaboration compatibility has been extensively studied. However, existing methods have not considered the specific collaboration relationships among different team members, i.e., structural constraints, which are typically needed in practice. In this study, we first propose a novel graph pattern matching approach for top-k team formation, which incorporates both structural constraints and capacity bounds. Second, we formulate and study the dynamic top-k team formation problem due to the growing need of a dynamic environment. Third, we develop an unified incremental approach, together with an optimization technique, to handle continuous pattern and data updates, separately and simultaneously, which has not been explored before. Finally, using real-life and synthetic data, we conduct an extensive experimental study to show the effectiveness and efficiency of our graph pattern matching approach for (dynamic) top-k team formation.
1 ORIENT : An Inter-Cultural Role-Play Game

This paper provides a high level overview of a game called ORIENT which aims at cultural and emotional learning by engaging adolescents in a role-play with virtual characters in a virtual world. The paper focuses on defining and explaining the learning objectives, and gives an overview of how we intend to achieve these objectives using narrative concepts, affective characters, and innovative technologies for interaction.
Compact CPW-Fed Tri-Band Antenna for WLAN/WiMAX Applications

In this paper, A novel compact co-planar waveguide (CPW)-fed tri-band antenna with dual band-notched characteristic is proposed. This antenna consists of a circular element, two inverted L-shaped slots, and a T-shaped slot etched into the circular element, which lead to the desired high attenuation at the two notch frequencies: 2.56 GHz – 3.25 GHz and 3.8 GHz – 4.96 GHz. The proposed tri-band antenna is CPW-fed and printed on an low-cost FR-4 substrate with only 20 mm × 28 mm surface area. The antenna is successfully simulated by the full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulator HFSS and measured to cover the bandwidth for WLAN and WiMAX (2.40 GHz – 2.54 GHz, 3.24 GHz – 3.76 GHz, 4.96 GHz – 6.65 GHz) applications. Experimental results show that, the proposed tri-band antenna is obtained with promising performances, including omnidirectional radiation patterns and stable gains across its whole operation bands.
Mitigating the effects of atmospheric distortion using DT-CWT fusion

This paper describes a new method for mitigating the effects of atmospheric distortion on observed images, particularly airborne turbulence which degrades a region of interest (ROI). In order to provide accurate detail from objects behind the distorting layer, a simple and efficient frame selection method is proposed to pick informative ROIs from only good-quality frames. We solve the space-variant distortion problem using region-based fusion based on the Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DT-CWT). We also propose an object alignment method for pre-processing the ROI since this can exhibit significant offsets and distortions between frames. Simple haze removal is used as the final step. The proposed method performs very well with atmospherically distorted videos and outperforms other existing methods.
Uncovering signatures of geomorphic process through high resolution topography

The measurement of topography is a key aspect of geomorphology research, and the prevalence of high resolution topographic data predominantly from Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) in the past decade has facilitated a revolution in the quantitative study of planetary surface processes. From this increased quality of data, many techniques have been developed to quantify processes occurring at diverse spatial and temporal scales; from the flow of material down a hillslope to the uplift and subsequent erosion of mountain ranges. Such insights have identified signatures of processes imprinted on landscapes. These include physical processes such as wildfires and landslides, biological processes such as animal burrowing and tree throw, in addition to tectonic uplift and large scale sediment transport. These signatures are observed in both the morphology of hillslopes and their connection to the channel network, thereby allowing measures of topography to provide quantitative measures of the rates of processes shaping the Earth’s surface. This thesis is concerned with the development and application of reproducible topographic analysis techniques, to yield new insights into hillslope sediment transport and to provide accurate metrics for quantifying hillslope properties, including hillslope length (LH) and relief (R). The measurement of hillslope length can be performed through the inversion of drainage density, or the analysis of slope-area plots. However, in Chapter 3 I present a method which quantifies the length of hillslopes through the generation
Molecular assessment of predation by hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in Mediterranean lettuce crops.

BACKGROUND Hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are generalist predators of a great variety of pests. Nasonovia ribisnigri (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) are two common pests in Mediterranean lettuce crops, where they occur alongside alternative prey (e.g., Collembola). A semi-field experiment was conducted in an experimental lettuce plot where hoverfly predation on N. ribisnigri, F. occidentalis and Collembola was studied by conventional PCR and qPCR using specific primers, as well as by next-generation sequencing (NGS) in order to reveal other potential trophic interactions. RESULTS Trophic linkages between hoverflies and N. ribisnigri were the strongest both in spring and summer. F. occidentalis and Collembolans were also detected in both seasons, but with less frequency. qPCR detected a higher frequency of consumption than conventional PCR when both tests were run at optimal conditions. NGS analyses showed intraguild predation on other hoverfly species, as well as on anthocorids, spiders and even aphid parasitoids. CONCLUSIONS Conventional PCR and qPCR provided important insights into Mediterranean hoverfly species predation on target pest and non-pest prey. NGS gave a complementary approach revealing a broader diet of these predators within the studied ecosystem.
Molecular Variability of Fusarium verticillioides (Sacc.) in Maize from Three Agro-Ecological Zones of Southwest Nigeria

This study investigated the characterisation of Fusarium verticillioides strains using Amplified Fragments Length Polymorphism (AFLP) EcoR1-G/Mse1-C primer combination. This was done to determine the amount of genetic variability present in F. verticillioides population. The objective of this study is to carry out molecular characterization of F. verticillioides strains from infected ear of maize. Six isolates were obtained in maize ear from 10 locations in three agro-ecological zones of Southwest Nigeria. Polymorphic bands detected were 164 from one base extension of EcoR1 and Mse1 primers in the selective amplification. Primer combination EC + MC produced the highest polymorphic bands of 58, while primer combination ET + MC had the highest percentage polymorphism (100%). Genetic similarity (67%) was observed among strains from Ibadan (IBD) (34, 36), Igbooho (IGH) (39), Ado-Ekiti (EKT) (46, 47), Saki (SAK) (52) and Igboora (IGB) (57, 58, 59 and 60). Strains 19 and 20 from Ilesha (ILH) had the highest pairwise similarity coefficient at 97% grouped in cluster II. The dendrogram delineated F. verticillioides strains into four major cluster groups with 77% similarity and other sub-groups within. Fusarium verticillioides strains could therefore be heterogeneous, and thus amplified fragment length polymorphism is an ideal tool for distinguishing the pathogenic variants of Fusarium verticillioides.
Nucleotide Substrate Specificity of Anti-Hepatitis C Virus Nucleoside Analogs for Human Mitochondrial RNA Polymerase

ABSTRACT Nucleoside analog inhibitors (NAIs) are an important class of antiviral agents. Although highly effective, some NAIs with activity against hepatitis C virus (HCV) can cause toxicity, presumably due to off-target inhibition of host mitochondrial RNA polymerase (POLRMT). The in vitro nucleotide substrate specificity of POLRMT was studied in order to explore structure-activity relationships that can facilitate the identification of nontoxic NAIs. These findings have important implications for the development of all anti-RNA virus NAIs.
Defensive programming

This paper describes a toolkit to help improve the robustness of code against DoS attacks. We observe that when developing software, programmers primarily focus on functionality. Protecting code from attacks is often considered the responsibility of the OS, firewalls and intrusion detection systems. As a result, many DoS vulnerabilities are not discovered until the system is attacked and the damage is done. Instead of reacting to attacks after the fact, this paper argues that a better solution is to make software defensive by systematically injecting protection mechanisms into the code itself. Our toolkit provides an API that programmers use to annotate their code. At runtime, these annotations serve as both sensors and actuators: watching for resource abuse and taking the appropriate action should abuse be detected. This paper presents the design and implementation of the toolkit, as well as evaluation of its effectiveness with three widely-deployed network services.
Utilizing different word representation methods for twitter data in adverse drug reactions extraction

With the advancement of technology and development of social media, patients discuss medications and other related information including adverse drug reactions (ADRs) with their friends, family or other patients. Although, there are various pros and cons of using social media for automatic ADR monitoring, information on social media provided by patients about drugs are widely considered a valuable resource for post-marketing drug surveillance. In this study, we developed a named entity recognition (NER) system based on conditional random fields to identify ADRs-related information from Twitter data. The representation of words for the input text is one of the crucial steps in supervised learning. Recently, the word vector representation is becoming popular, which uses unlabeled data to provide a generalization for reducing the data sparsity in word representation. This study examines different word representation methods for the ADR recognition task, including token normalization, and two state-of-the-art word embedding methods, namely word2vec and the global vectors (GloVe). The experimental results demonstrate that all of the studied representation scheme can improve the recall rate and overall F-measure with the cost of the reduced precision. The manual analysis of the generated clusters demonstrates that word2vec has stronger cluster trends compared to GloVe.
Combining Risk Difference and Risk Ratio in Noninferiority Trials of Safety

Prior to marketing, the long-term safety profile of a new therapy is often uncertain. One recommendation for premarket safety studies is to compare the new therapy to an appropriate control to determine whether the 95% confidence interval of the risk ratio is entirely less than a prespecified threshold (e.g., 1.8). The restriction to the risk ratio, however, has consequences that may not be intended. Risk difference may be a more appropriate measure of risk in this setting when event rates are very low. We propose using a suitable combination of risk ratio and risk difference in demonstrating noninferiority.
Loss of autophagy causes a synthetic lethal deficiency in DNA repair

Significance It is known that autophagy plays a major role in cellular homeostasis and impaired autophagy has been implicated in various forms of human disease. Here we investigate one way in which autophagy is critically connected to cellular integrity by showing that autophagy loss diminishes DNA repair by the error-free process, homologous recombination. As a result, this causes reliance on the error-prone process of nonhomologous end joining for repair of DNA double-strand breaks, providing one explanation of why autophagy-deficient cells accumulate genomic damage. These findings therefore have important implications for diseases in which autophagy is impaired and for therapeutic strategies designed to inhibit autophagy, particularly if autophagy inhibition is undertaken in combination with agents that cause genomic damage. (Macro)autophagy delivers cellular constituents to lysosomes for degradation. Although a cytoplasmic process, autophagy-deficient cells accumulate genomic damage, but an explanation for this effect is currently unclear. We report here that inhibition of autophagy causes elevated proteasomal activity leading to enhanced degradation of checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1), a pivotal factor for the error-free DNA repair process, homologous recombination (HR). We show that loss of autophagy critically impairs HR and that autophagy-deficient cells accrue micronuclei and sub-G1 DNA, indicators of diminished genomic integrity. Moreover, due to impaired HR, autophagy-deficient cells are hyperdependent on nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) for repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Consequently, inhibition of NHEJ following DNA damage in the absence of autophagy results in persistence of genomic lesions and rapid cell death. Because autophagy deficiency occurs in several diseases, these findings constitute an important link between autophagy and DNA repair and highlight a synthetic lethal strategy to kill autophagy-deficient cells.
A strategy to develop advanced pharmacy practice experiences.

OBJECTIVE To establish statewide medication, disease management, and other clinical programs to serve as advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) training sites for the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy, and to guarantee year-round support for the programs by providing pharmacy students with the necessary competencies to carry a significant proportion of each program's workload. METHODS Partnerships with pharmacies willing to use students to expand their scope of clinical practice or support existing programs were established. Partners were asked to choose the clinical program(s) they wished implemented or supported and were guaranteed that APPE students would contribute to carrying each program's clinical service workload for 48 week/year under the supervision of the partners' pharmacists. In addition, partners implementing new programs were offered other support, including equipment, supplies, and training and mentoring for their pharmacists. EVALUATION Twenty-two partnerships involving anticoagulation, diabetes, immunization, medication reconciliation, and other clinical programs were established with hospital, community, and community health center pharmacies. The partnerships provided 213 APPE placements in the 2006-2007 academic year. CONCLUSION This work demonstrates that by using innovative approaches, a pharmacy school can form new partnerships with hospital, community health center, and community pharmacies, as well as work with existing clinical programs, to create a variety of medication, disease management, and other APPEs to meet its increasing placement needs and evolving accreditation standards.
Debugging optimized code with dynamic deoptimization

SELF's debugging system provides complete source-level debugging (expected behavior) with globally optimized code. It shields the debugger from optimizations performed by the compiler by dynamically deoptimizing code on demand. Deoptimization only affects the procedure activations that are actively being debugged; all other code runs at full speed. Deoptimization requires the compiler to supply debugging information at discrete interrupt points; the compiler can still perform extensive optimizations between interrupt points without affecting debuggability. At the same time, the inability to interrupt between interrupt points is invisible to the user. Our debugging system also handles programming changes during debugging. Again, the system provides expected behavior: it is possible to change a running program and immediately observe the effects of the change. Dynamic deoptimization transforms old compiled code (which may contain inlined copies of the old version of the changed procedure) into new versions reflecting the current source-level state. To the best of our knowledge, SELF is the first practical system providing full expected behavior with globally optimized code.
Testing Domestic Rainwater Harvesting as a Measure to Improve Drinking Water Access in a Remote Water-Insecure Community: A Case Study of Black Tickle – Domino, Labrador

This report presents findings from a study that investigated domestic rainwater harvesting [DRWH] as a measure to improve water-access in a remote water-insecure Indigenous community, Black Tickle – Domino, on the southern coast of Labrador. Water security refers to the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate qualities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development (UN Water, 2014). DRWH, or harvesting rainwater for general purpose or drinking water, has been promoted by previous researchers as way to improve water security in areas with restricted access, especially in Africa (Helmreich & Horn, 2009).