Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sharp estimation for the solutions of delay differential and Halanay type inequalities

The present paper develops a framework for a Halanay type nonautonomous delay differential inequality with maxima, and establishes necessary and/or sufficient conditions for the global attractivity of the zero solution. The emphasis is put on the rate of convergence based on the theory of the generalized characteristic equation. The applicability and the sharpness of the results are illustrated by examples. This work aspires to serve as a remarkable step towards a unified theory of the nonautonomous Halanay inequality.
Three-dimensional geometry and topology

Preface Reader's Advisory Ch. 1. What Is a Manifold? 3 Ch. 2. Hyperbolic Geometry and Its Friends 43 Ch. 3. Geometric Manifolds 109 Ch. 4. The Structure of Discrete Groups 209 Glossary 289 Bibliography 295 Index 301
Preseismic ionospheric anomalies detected before the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake

On 15 April 2016, the Kumamoto earthquake (Mw 7.3) occurred in Japan with no warning signals. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers provide useful information on disturbances in the ionosphere by calculating the changes in total electron content (TEC), which is the number of electrons in the ionosphere. Here we show our recently proposed correlation analysis of TEC data which can detect the preseismic ionospheric anomalies from the public GNSS data. Our method detected the ionospheric anomaly several tens of minutes before the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake near its epicenter. Furthermore, we gave an indicator to distinguish between the preseismic TEC anomalies and the medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) by calculating the anomalous area rates. These results support the hypothesis for existence of the preceding phenomena before large earthquakes.
Word Emdeddings through Hellinger PCA

Word embeddings resulting from neural language models have been shown to be successful for a large variety of NLP tasks. However, such architecture might be difficult to train and time-consuming. Instead, we propose to drastically simplify the word embeddings computation through a Hellinger PCA of the word co-occurence matrix. We compare those new word embeddings with some well-known embeddings on NER and movie review tasks and show that we can reach similar or even better performance. Although deep learning is not really necessary for generating good word embeddings, we show that it can provide an easy way to adapt embeddings to specific tasks.
Shallow-to-Deep Transition of Continental Moist Convection: Cold Pools, Surface Fluxes, and Mesoscale Organization

Large-eddy simulation is used to investigate the effects of cold pools driven by rain evaporation on the shallow-to-deep convection transition over land. The physically consistent methodologies are developed to obtain a time-dependent reference ensemble without cold pools and to apply interactive surface heat fluxes without modeling of surface energy and water budgets. Three different simulation ensembles are contrasted. The reference ensemble, in the spirit of one-dimensional single-column models, eliminates cold pools by horizontally homogenizing negative buoyancy production due to rain evaporation. The additional ensembles complement the reference cold-pool-free ensemble by including cold pools and by applying either interactive or prescribed surface fluxes. Contrasting these ensembles suggests possible improvements of convection parameterization in large-scale models of weather and climate. Without cold pools, the reference ensemble preserves key features of buoyancy-driven cellular convection associated with a field of convective plumes, as assumed in a typical convection parameterization. With cold pools, a significant enhancement of surface heat and moisture fluxes and about an hour delay of their daily maximum is simulated. Cold pools enhance near-surface temperature and moisture standard deviations as well as maxima of the near-surface updraft velocity. They also lead to the reduction of cloud lateral entrainment, deeper vertical development of the cloud layer, and a few-times-larger accumulated surface precipitation. Interactive surface fluxes provide a damping mechanism that noticeably suppresses all these effects. Perhaps surprisingly, cold pools do not significantly change the cloud-base convective mass flux that approximately follows the evolution of surface heat fluxes.
GLIB: towards automated test oracle for graphically-rich applications

Graphically-rich applications such as games are ubiquitous with attractive visual effects of Graphical User Interface (GUI) that offers a bridge between software applications and end-users. However, various types of graphical glitches may arise from such GUI complexity and have become one of the main component of software compatibility issues. Our study on bug reports from game development teams in NetEase Inc. indicates that graphical glitches frequently occur during the GUI rendering and severely degrade the quality of graphically-rich applications such as video games. Existing automated testing techniques for such applications focus mainly on generating various GUI test sequences and check whether the test sequences can cause crashes. These techniques require constant human attention to captures non-crashing bugs such as bugs causing graphical glitches. In this paper, we present the first step in automating the test oracle for detecting non-crashing bugs in graphically-rich applications. Specifically, we propose GLIB based on a code-based data augmentation technique to detect game GUI glitches. We perform an evaluation of GLIB on 20 real-world game apps (with bug reports available) and the result shows that GLIB can achieve 100% precision and 99.5% recall in detecting non-crashing bugs such as game GUI glitches. Practical application of GLIB on another 14 real-world games (without bug reports) further demonstrates that GLIB can effectively uncover GUI glitches, with 48 of 53 bugs reported by GLIB having been confirmed and fixed so far.
Calibration of quasi-static aberrations in exoplanet direct-imaging instruments with a Zernike phase-mask sensor. II. Concept validation with ZELDA on VLT/SPHERE

Warm or massive gas giant planets, brown dwarfs, and debris disks around nearby stars are now routinely observed by dedicated high-contrast imaging instruments on large, ground-based observatories. These facilities include extreme adaptive optics (ExAO) and state-of-the-art coronagraphy to achieve unprecedented sensitivities for exoplanet detection and spectral characterization. However, differential aberrations between the ExAO sensing path and the science path represent a critical limitation for the detection of giant planets with a contrast lower than a few $10^{-6}$ at very small separations (<0.3\as) from their host star. In our previous work, we proposed a wavefront sensor based on Zernike phase contrast methods to circumvent this issue and measure these quasi-static aberrations at a nanometric level. We present the design, manufacturing and testing of ZELDA, a prototype that was installed on VLT/SPHERE during its reintegration in Chile. Using the internal light source of the instrument, we performed measurements in the presence of Zernike or Fourier modes introduced with the deformable mirror. Our experimental and simulation results are consistent, confirming the ability of our sensor to measure small aberrations (<50 nm rms) with nanometric accuracy. We then corrected the long-lived non-common path aberrations in SPHERE based on ZELDA measurements. We estimated a contrast gain of 10 in the coronagraphic image at 0.2\as, reaching the raw contrast limit set by the coronagraph in the instrument. The simplicity of the design and its phase reconstruction algorithm makes ZELDA an excellent candidate for the on-line measurements of quasi-static aberrations during the observations. The implementation of a ZELDA-based sensing path on the current and future facilities (ELTs, future space missions) could ease the observation of the cold gaseous or massive rocky planets around nearby stars.
The connection characteristics of flux pinned docking interface

This paper presents the mechanism and potential advantages of flux pinned docking interface mainly composed of a high temperature superconductor and an electromagnet. In order to readily assess the connection characteristics of flux pinned docking interface, the force between a high temperature superconductor and an electromagnet needs to be investigated. Based on the magnetic dipole method and the Ampere law method, the force between two current coils can be compared, which shows that the Ampere law method has the higher calculated accuracy. Based on the improved frozen image model and the Ampere law method, the force between high temperature superconductor bulk and permanent magnet can be calculated, which is validated experimentally. Moreover, the force between high temperature superconductor and electromagnet applied to flux pinned docking interface is able to be predicted and analyzed. The connection stiffness between high temperature superconductor and permanent magnet can be calculated based on the.
Letter: Entrapment and interaction of an air bubble with an oscillating cavitation bubble

The mechanism of the formation of an air bubble due to an oscillating cavitation bubble in its vicinity is reported from an experimental study using high-speed imaging. The cavitation bubble is created close to the free surface of water using a low-voltage spark circuit comprising two copper electrodes in contact with each other. Before the bubble is created, a third copper wire is positioned in contact with the free surface of water close to the two crossing electrodes. Due to the surface tension at the triple point (wire-water-air) interface, a small dip is observed in the free surface at the point where the wire is immersed. When the cavitation bubble is created, the bubble pushes at the dip while expanding and pulls at it while collapsing. The collapse phase leads to the entrapment of an air bubble at the wire immersion point. During this phase, the air bubble undergoes a “catapult” effect, i.e., it expands to a maximum size and then collapses with a microjet at the free surface. To the best of our knowledge, this mechanism has not been reported so far. A parametric study is also conducted to understand the effects of wire orientation and bubble distance from the free surface.The mechanism of the formation of an air bubble due to an oscillating cavitation bubble in its vicinity is reported from an experimental study using high-speed imaging. The cavitation bubble is created close to the free surface of water using a low-voltage spark circuit comprising two copper electrodes in contact with each other. Before the bubble is created, a third copper wire is positioned in contact with the free surface of water close to the two crossing electrodes. Due to the surface tension at the triple point (wire-water-air) interface, a small dip is observed in the free surface at the point where the wire is immersed. When the cavitation bubble is created, the bubble pushes at the dip while expanding and pulls at it while collapsing. The collapse phase leads to the entrapment of an air bubble at the wire immersion point. During this phase, the air bubble undergoes a “catapult” effect, i.e., it expands to a maximum size and then collapses with a microjet at the free surface. To the best of our kn.
Non-binary deep transfer learning for imageclassification

The current standard for a variety of computer vision tasks using smaller numbers of labelled training examples is to ﬁne-tune from weights pre-trained on a large image classiﬁcation dataset such as ImageNet. The application of transfer learning and transfer learning methods tends to be rigidly binary. A model is either pre-trained or not pre-trained. Pre-training a model either increases performance or decreases it, the latter being deﬁned as negative transfer. Application of L2-SP regularisation that decays the weights towards their pre-trained values is either applied or all weights are decayed towards 0. This paper re-examines these assumptions. Our recommendations are based on extensive empirical evaluation that demonstrate the application of a non-binary approach to achieve optimal results. (1) Achieving best performance on each individual dataset requires careful adjustment of various transfer learning hyperparameters not usually considered, including number of layers to transfer, different learning rates for different layers and different combinations of L2SP and L2 regularization. (2) Best practice can be achieved using a number of measures of how well the pre-trained weights ﬁt the target dataset to guide optimal hyperparameters. We present methods for non-binary transfer learning including combining L2SP and L2 regularization and performing non-traditional ﬁne-tuning hyperparameter searches. Finally we suggest heuristics for determining the optimal transfer learning hyperparameters. The beneﬁts of using a non-binary approach are supported by ﬁnal results that come close to or exceed state of the art performance on a variety of tasks that have traditionally been more difﬁcult for transfer learning.
Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice Ageing of a Data-intensive Legacy System: Symptoms and Remedies

SUMMARY This study generalizes some of the symptoms of ageing of a legacy system. Each symptom is specified by metrics and the results of the measurements made suggest what operations should be undertaken to renew the software. The study is based on retrospective analysis of data collected during the execution of a large renewal process of a very old legacy system. It therefore provides evidence of the expected efficacy of such renewal processes and can be used to decide how best to plan them and manage them in order to increase their efficacy. It can also be used to define the reengineering requirements to ensure long life to the system despite successive evolutions of the application and the operation domain. The metrics can provide a basis for monitoring a software system to ensure that its quality does not degrade to such an extent that the most costly and risky renewal processes then have to be performed to improve it. Finally, the paper points out the problems with renewal processes that still remain open.
On the Logical Inconsistency of Einstein's Time Dilation

Time dilation is a principal feature of the Special Theory of Relativity. It is purported to be independent of position, being a function only of uniform relative velocity, via the Lorentz Transformation. However, it is not possible for a 'clock-synchronised stationary system' of observers K to assign a definite time to any 'event' relative to a 'moving system' k using the Lorentz Transformation. Consequently, the Theory of Relativity is false due to an insurmountable intrinsic logical contradiction.
The impact of media reputation on customers behavioral intention - the contextual stepwise approach

This study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to discuss the impacts of media reputation on customers behavioral intentions. A total of 322 completed questionnaires were analyzed, and found that theoretical framework and uncovered strong links between a numbers of hypothesized antecedent and behavioral intentions. The variable which made the largest contribution to prediction of media reputation from customers is social responsibility. Moreover, fifteen qualitative interviews were conducted. The owner-managers, however, have different points of view, they have thought about their restaurants reputation, but it not come from the media. The main contribution drawn from this study is to connect the media reputation from both sides, one side being the customers and the other the owner-managers of Chinese restaurants.
Reflectance and texture of real-world surfaces

In this work, we investigate the visual appearance of real-world surfaces and the dependence of appearance on imaging conditions. We present a BRDF (bidirectional reflectance distribution function) database with reflectance measurements for over 60 different samples, each observed with over 200 different combinations of viewing and source directions. We fit the BRDF measurements to two recent models to obtain a BRDF parameter database. These BRDF parameters can be directly used for both image analysis and image synthesis. Finally, we present a BTF (bidirectional texture function) database with image textures from over 60 different samples, each observed with over 200 different combinations of viewing and source directions. Each of these unique databases has important implications for a variety of vision algorithms and each is made publicly available.
The water entry of multi-droplet streams and jets

Water entry has been studied for over a century, but few studies have focused on multiple droplets impacting on a liquid bath sequentially. We connect multi-droplet streams, jets and solid objects with physical-based scaling arguments that emphasize the intrinsically similar cavities. In particular, the cavities created by the initial impact of both droplet streams and jets on an initially quiescent liquid pool exhibit the same types of cavity seal as hydrophobic spheres at low Bond number, some of which were previously unseen for jets and droplet streams. Low-frequency droplet streams exhibit an additional three new cavity seal types unseen for jets or solid spheres that can be predicted with a new non-dimensional frequency. The cavity depth and cavity velocity for both droplet and jet impact are rationalized by an energy scaling analysis and the Bernoulli equation.
Credible sets in nonparametric regression

A common problem in Bayesian statistics is to determine whether a quantity obtained from a Bayesian posterior distribution is also meaningful in a frequentist context. In this thesis, we try to answer this question for credible sets in the so-called fixed design model. Taking a specific prior distribution, we study whether credible sets based on this prior can also be used as confidence intervals. In particular, our aim is to construct a credible set for a parameter function. Under certain assumptions on the smoothness of the function, it turns out that we can obtain meaningful results about both the frequentist coverage and the width of the credible set. We consider several different classes of functions in this thesis, each with a different set of assumptions. In the first chapter, we assume that we know rather a lot about the structure of the function, and use this to obtain a useful method. In chapter 2, we extend this to a method that adapts to the structure of the function. Finally, in the last chapter, we extend this to so-called credible bands, that describe the behaviour of the entire function, rather than at a specific point.
STRUCTURAL OPTIMISATION OF A COMPOSITE AIRCRAFT FRAME FOR A CHARACTERISTIC RESPONSE CURVE

In this paper an heuristic optimisation technique for a characteristic response curve of CFRP z-frames used in aerospace applications is investigated. Therein, the focus is to identify a dynamic response being most suitable to map onto a specified reference curve. For that purpose a parametric finite element model was established. Discrete laminate stacks and continuous geometry parameters were used as design variables for structural optimisation. In order to solve the nonlinear unconstrained optimisation task, a mixed-integer distributed ant colony algorithm was selected and applied. Within the solution space, a structural layout of the z-frame was identified from a set of pareto optimal solutions being the best solution with respect to the optimisation objectives. Ultimately, the best solution of the response curve approach is compared to the solution of a response value approach.
Emotional Selection in Memes : The Case of Urban Legends Chip Heath

This article explores how much memes like urban legends succeed on the basis of informational selection (i.e., truth or a moral lesson) and emotional selection (i.e., the ability to evoke emotions like anger, fear, or disgust). The article focuses on disgust because its elicitors have been precisely described. In Study 1, with controls for informational factors like truth, people were more willing to pass along stories that elicited stronger disgust. Study 2 randomly sampled legends and created versions that varied in disgust; people preferred to pass along versions that produced the highest level of disgust. Study 3 coded legends for specific story motifs that produce disgust (e.g., ingestion of a contaminated substance) and found that legends that contained more disgust motifs were distributed more widely on urban legend Web sites. The conclusion discusses implications of emotional selection for the social marketplace of ideas.
A Two-Dimensional Model That Employs Explicit and Implicit Attitudes to Characterize Prejudice

In the authors’ 2-dimensional model of prejudice, explicit and implicit attitudes are used to create 4 profiles: truly low prejudiced (TLP: double lows), aversive racists (AR: low explicit modern racism/high implicit prejudice), principled conservatives (PC: high explicit modern racism/low implicit prejudice), and modern racists (MR: double highs). Students completed an Asian Modern Racism Scale and an Asian/White Implicit Association Test. The authors compared the 4 groups’ prejudice-related ideologies (i.e., egalitarianism/humanism and social conservatism) and economic/political conservatism (Study 1, N 132). The authors also tested whether MR but not PC (Study 2, N 65) and AR but not TLP (Study 3, N 143) are more likely to negatively evaluate an Asian target when attributional ambiguity is high (vs. low). In support of the model, TLP did not hold prejudice-related ideologies and did not discriminate; AR were low in conservatism and demonstrated the attributional-ambiguity effect; PC did not strongly endorse prejudice-related ideologies and did not discriminate; MR strongly endorsed prejudice-related ideologies, were conservative, and demonstrated the attributional-ambiguity effect. The authors discuss implications for operationalizing and understanding the nature of prejudice.
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND GROUP PROCESSES From Power to Action

Three experiments investigated the hypothesis that power increases an action orientation in the power holder, even in contexts where power is not directly experienced. In Experiment 1, participants who possessed structural power in a group task were more likely to take a card in a simulated game of blackjack than those who lacked power. In Experiment 2, participants primed with high power were more likely to act against an annoying stimulus (a fan) in the environment, suggesting that the experience of power leads to the performance of goal-directed behavior. In Experiment 3, priming high power led to action in a social dilemma regardless of whether that action had prosocial or antisocial consequences. The effects of priming power are discussed in relation to the broader literature on conceptual and mind-set priming.