Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated Testing using Symbolic Model Checking and Temporal Monitoring

Software testing is typically an ad hoc process where human testers manually write test inputs and descriptions of expected test results, perhaps automating their execution in a regression suite. This process is cumbersome and costly. This paper reports results on a framework to further automate this process. The framework consists of combining automated test case generation based on systematically exploring the program’s input domain, with runtime analysis, where execution traces are monitored and verified against temporal logic specifications, and analyzed by concurrency error detection algorithms. The approach suggests a methodology for generating specifications dynamically for each input instance rather than statically once-and-for-all. This approach of generating properties specific to a single test case is novel. The paper describes an application of this methodology to a planetary rover controller.
Correlation between soil erodibility and satellite data on areas of current desertification: a case study in Senegal.

The purpose of the study is to verify whether some correlation exists between soil erodibility ( i.e. K factor mentioned in RUSLE model) and data obtained from satellite images. This piece of work represents a first attempt towards a model that would predict the risk for soil erosion, from information contained in satellite images. Ouarchoch is a rural community in Ferlo Region, Senegal. It lies in a Sahelian typical arid zone and is affected by desertification processes. Ouarchoch site was the pilot area on which the test was performed. K factor was calculated by using soil textural data (sand, silt and clay) in the top (0 – 5 cm) soil layer (data obtained from the web). Landsat7 satellite images represented different seasonal snapshots (“cool” dry season, warm dry season, rainy season, end of rainy season or beginning of dry season) of the same year, 2014. Calculation used Bands 1 to 7 and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The choice of data, calculation and analysis are detailed. Some positive moderate correlation exists between soil erodibility on the one hand, and NDVI index displayed during the dry season (images in January and May), as well as Band 5 radiations displayed at the beginning of the dry season (post-harvest, image in October) on the other hand.
AUV Control and Communication using Underwater Acoustic Networks

Underwater acoustic networks can be quite effective to establish communication links between autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and other vehicles or control units, enabling complex vehicle applications and control scenarios. A communications and control framework to support the use of underwater acoustic networks and sample application scenarios are described for single and multi-AUV operation.
Measurement and statistical analysis of the wavefront distortions induced by atmospheric turbulence using two-channel moiré deflectometry

Recently, an adjustable, high-sensitivity, wide dynamic range, two-channel wavefront sensor based on moiré deflectometry was proposed by Rasouli et al (2010 Opt. Express 18 23906). In this work we have used this sensor on a telescope for measuring turbulence-induced wavefront distortions. A slightly divergent laser beam passes through turbulent ground level atmosphere and enters the telescope’s aperture. The laser beam is collimated behind the telescope’s focal point by means of a collimator and the beam enters the wavefront sensor. First, from deviations in the moiré fringes we calculate the two orthogonal components of the angle of arrival at each location across the wavefront. The deviations have been deduced in successive frames which allows evolution of the wavefront shape and Fried’s seeing parameter r0 to be determined. Mainly, statistical analysis of the reconstructed wavefront distortions are presented. The achieved accuracy in the measurements and comparison between the measurements and the theoretical models are presented. Owing to the use of the sensor on a telescope, and using sub-pixel accuracy for the measurement of the moiré fringe displacements, the sensitivity of the measurements is improved by more than one order of magnitude. In this work we have achieved a minimum measurable angle of arrival fluctuations equal to 3.7 × 10−7 rad or 0.07 arc s. Besides, because of the large area of the telescope’s aperture, a high spatial resolution is achieved in detecting the spatial perturbations of the atmospheric turbulence.
Inverse Relations Between Amounts of Air Pollution and Orographic Precipitation

Particulate air pollution has been suggested as the cause of the recently observed decreasing trends of 10 to 25% in the ratio between hilly and upwind lowland precipitation, downwind of urban and industrial areas. We quantified the dependence of this ratio of the orographic-precipitation enhancement factor on the amounts of aerosols composed mostly of pollution in the free troposphere, based on measurements at Mt. Hua near Xi'an, in central China. The hilly precipitation can be decreased by 30 to 50% during hazy conditions, with visibility of less than 8 kilometers at the mountaintop. This trend shows the role of air pollution in the loss of significant water resources in hilly areas, which is a major problem in China and many other areas of the world.
Know Your Enemy: Applying Cognitive Modeling in Security Domain

Game Theory -based decision aids have been successfully employed in real-world policing, anti-terrorism, and wildlife conservation efforts (Tambe, Jiang, An, & Jain, 2013). Cognitive modeling, in concert with model tracing and dynamic parameter fitting techniques, may be used to improve the performance of such decision aids by predicting individual attacker behavior in repeated security games. We present three simulations, showing that (1) cognitive modeling can aid in greatly improving decision-aid performance in the security domain; and (2) despite the fact that individual attackers will differ in initial preferences and in how they learn, model parameters can be adjusted dynamically to make useful predictions for each attacker.
Study on gross streambank sediment erosion from the Godavari Khola, southeast Kathmandu Valley, Central Nepal

The fifth order Godavari Khola is flowing from the South to the North direction and is one of the major tributaries from the southern part of the Kathmandu Valley. As the urbanization is growing in the Kathmandu Valley the banks of the streams are being targeted for the housing and roads, therefore it is important to know the characteristic of the river behavior, nature of erosion and sediment production along its banks. This study accesses the stream bank erosion characteristics and sediment production by erosion along the Godavari Khola. It was conducted by surveying and accessing hydraulic parameters, Bank Erosion and Lateral Instability status, streambank recession rates and gross sediment erosion from the bank. The Godavari Khola has high bank erodibility and lateral instability as the hazard level of Bank Erosion and Lateral Instability (BELI) and width/depth ratio are quite high. Since the slope and the bankfull depth exceed the critical slope and critical depth values, respectively, the Godavari Khola is competent enough to mobilize its sediments. The apparent recession rate of the banks of the Godavari Khola is 0.66 m per year yielding 85 m3 volume of the displaced material which weighs 141 tonnes. The estimated bank erosion rate is in between 0.02 to 0.235 m/y and the gross erosion is estimated to be 320 tonnes per year. Similar to the other river of the Kathmandu Valley, the Godavari Khola is very disturbed by the anthropogenic activities. Riparian vegetation clearing and bad agricultural practice is one of the major causes for the high bank erosion and instability of the Godavari Khola.
Control of a Wind Energy Conversion System based on an induction generator fed by a matrix-converter

In this paper the control of a grid-connected wind energy conversion system (WECS) based on a sensorless vector controlled cage induction machine fed by a matrix converter is presented. The machine is vector controlled using a model reference adaptive system (MRAS) observer to estimate the rotational speed and rotor position. The electrical torque of the induction generator is regulated to drive the WECS to the operating point where the wind turbine aerodynamic efficiency is maximised. Stability issues related to the operation of a WECS connected to the grid using a matrix converter are also discussed in this work. Experimental results, obtained with a 2.5 kW prototype are presented and fully discussed in this paper.
On classification of source cameras: A graph based approach

Many existing source camera classification methods involve either training a classifier or computing the reference pattern noise of a camera, which means a set of images of known origins have to be pre-acquired. However, such requirement can not always be satisfied in real-world forensic applications. In this work, we propose a graph based approach that requires no extra auxiliary images nor a prior knowledge about the constitution of the image set. By formulating the classification task as a graph partitioning problem, a set of images can be classified according to their source cameras in an entirely blind way, with the number of source cameras automatically estimated. Experimental results have verified the validity of the proposed approach.
Performance analysis of optical wireless communication system with a decode and forward relay

In this paper, we analyze the performance of the cooperative optical wireless communication (OWC) systems under the effect of atmospheric turbulence. We consider a dual-hop OWC system having a relay-assisted link between source and destination using a decode and forward (DF) relaying protocol. The atmospheric turbulence channels are modeled by independent but not necessarily identically distributed (i.n.i.d) gamma-gamma fading statistics. The exact closed form expressions of outage probability and average bit-error rate (BER) are derived using the power series representations of the modified bessel function of second kind and illustrated through numerical plots.
PicoServer: using 3D stacking technology to enable a compact energy efficient chip multiprocessor

In this paper, we show how 3D stacking technology can be used to implement a simple, low-power, high-performance chip multiprocessor suitable for throughput processing. Our proposed architecture, PicoServer, employs 3D technology to bond one die containing several simple slow processing cores to multiple DRAM dies sufficient for a primary memory. The 3D technology also enables wide low-latency buses between processors and memory. These remove the need for an L2 cache allowing its area to be re-allocated to additional simple cores. The additional cores allow the clock frequency to be lowered without impairing throughput. Lower clock frequency in turn reduces power and means that thermal constraints, a concern with 3D stacking, are easily satisfied.The PicoServer architecture specifically targets Tier 1 server applications, which exhibit a high degree of thread level parallelism. An architecture targeted to efficient throughput is ideal for this application domain. We find for a similar logic die area, a 12 CPU system with 3D stacking and no L2 cache outperforms an 8 CPU system with a large on-chip L2 cache by about 14% while consuming 55% less power. In addition, we show that a PicoServer performs comparably to a Pentium 4-like class machine while consuming only about 1/10 of the power, even when conservative assumptions are made about the power consumption of the PicoServer.
The facial animation engine: toward a high-level interface for the design of MPEG-4 compliant animated faces

We propose a method for implementing a high-level interface for the synthesis and animation of animated virtual faces that is in full compliance with MPEG-4 specifications. This method allows us to implement the simple facial object profile and part of the calibration facial object profile. In fact, starting from a facial wireframe and from a set of configuration files, the developed system is capable of automatically generating the animation rules suited for model animation driven by a stream of facial animation parameters. If the calibration parameters (feature points and texture) are available, the system is able to exploit this information for suitably modifying the geometry of the wireframe and for performing its animation by means of calibrated rules computed ex novo on the adapted somatics of the model. Evidence of the achievable performance is reported at the end of this paper by means of figures showing the capability of the system to reshape its geometry according to the decoded MPEG-4 facial calibration parameters and its effectiveness in performing facial expressions.
pKa values of the monohydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls (OH-PCBs), polybrominated biphenyls (OH-PBBs), polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (OH-PCDEs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (OH-PBDEs)

The SPARC software program aqueous pKa prediction module was validated against corresponding experimental acidity constants for chlorinated and brominated phenols and the limited experimental aqueous pKa data sets for monohydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls (OH-PCBs), polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (OH-PCDEs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (OH-PBDEs). pKa values were then estimated for all 837 monohydroxylated mono- through nona-halogenated congeners in each of the OH-PCB, OH-PCDE, and OH-PBDE classes, as well as for the monohydroxylated polybrominated biphenyls (OH-PBBs), giving a total of 3348 compounds. Large intrahomolog pKa variation by up to six units is expected within each contaminant class, with pKa values ranging from about 4 to 11 dependent on the degree and pattern of halogenation. Increasing halogenation generally decreased the average pKa within each homolog group. Significant intrahomolog differences in pKa values exist between OH-PCB, OH-PBB, OH-PCDE, and OH-PBDE congeners, including large acidity constant variation between isomers with equivalent halogenation patterns but varying location of the hydroxy moiety. Congener specific pH dependent investigations into the partitioning and degradation behaviors of these compounds are necessary, including greater consideration of analyte ionization effects during their extraction and analysis.
Ultrasound guided neural stem cell transplantation through the lateral ventricle for treatment of cerebral palsy in children

A total of 24 children with cerebral palsy were enrolled in this study and underwent ultrasound guided transplantation of neural stem cells through the lateral ventricle. Neural stem cells (3.8 × 106–7.3 × 107) were injected into the lateral ventricles. Mild injury of lateral ventricular blood vessels occurred in only two cases (8.3%). Seven cases (29.2%) experienced a fever. Clinical manifestations were improved to varying degrees in eight cases (28.0%) within 3 months after transplantation. Patient condition did not worsen, and no patient experienced severe adverse reactions.
Disinhibition of the Premotor Cortex Contributes to a Maladaptive Change in the Affected Hand After Stroke

Background and Purpose— The mechanism of reorganization after stroke remains uncertain. Several studies that have measured reaction time (RT) delay by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) have revealed some substrates responsible for the reorganization of motor recovery. In this study, we evaluated the RT delay and inhibitory functions by examining the silent period (SP) in the primary motor cortex (M1) and premotor cortex (PMC) of the affected hemisphere. Using these data, we investigated whether a change in the inhibitory system might influence motor recovery. Methods— This study was performed in 20 patients with chronic subcortical stroke. To evaluate the RT delay, TMS was applied to the affected hemisphere 100 ms after showing the cue that indicated paretic finger movement. The SP was induced by TMS over the affected hemisphere during voluntary contraction of the paretic hand. Results— The RT delays of the PMC were more prominent in patients with greater disability. The ratio of SP duration to RT delay in the PMC decreased with the decline in motor function. Moreover, upper arm function was better than hand function in patients with a decreased SP in the PMC. Conclusions— The inhibitory function of the PMC was disturbed in patients with poor motor function. Stroke patients with poor motor ability appeared to depend not only on the motor pathway from M1 but also on other parallel motor circuits to move the paretic side. However, this brain reorganization might result in the sacrifice of function of the affected hand.
Carbon Sequestration Potentials for Agro-forestry System and Grasslands in Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro Landscape

This study aimed mainly to determine the biomass accumulation and carbon sequestration of grassland ecosystem in Barangay Pualas Bukidnon. Sample plots were established throughout the one-hectare area for data collection. The measurement of biometrics and biomass of each plant in the canopy was computed using allometric regression equation for the above ground biomass, estimated below ground biomass, necromass from the canopy, layer and carbon density, or estimated carbon content / stock of biomass of trees using (IPCC) model. Other inputs were climatic data, physiographic and soil chemical properties. General findings revealed that trees (woody vegetation) have more carbon stocks compared to grassland/ pastureland per unit area. The estimated carbon stocks for grassland was 2.78 Mg, discrete patches was 10.9 Mg and 0.4731 Mg for litter layer. Agro-forestry system using alley cropping or hedgerow intercropping are dominated by fruit trees, palm and rubber which normally do not grow are big as forest trees, thus lesser carbon stock. This study generates an essential information in the implementation relevant to the expanded. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) as payment for environmental services for transforming grassland into an agro-forestry system. This system design is a potential restoration of watershed quality of water devastated during flashflood from the tragic typhoon “Sendong’ and typhoon “Pablo”.
The complex interplay between pain intensity, depression, anxiety and catastrophising with respect to quality of life and disability

Purpose. To identify subgroups of patients with chronic pain based on the occurrence of depression, anxiety and catastrophising and the duration of pain and pain intensity. In addition to this, the relationship between the subgroups with respect to background variables, diagnosis, pain-related disability and perceived quality of life are investigated. Methods. This study used 433 patients with chronic pain including 47 patients with spinal cord injury-related pain, 150 with chronic whiplash associated disorders and 236 with fibromyalgia. The participants answered a postal questionnaire that provided background data, pain intensity and duration and psychological and health-related items. Results. On the basis of depression, anxiety, catastrophising, pain intensity and duration, we identified subgroups of patients with chronic pain that differed with respect to perceived quality of life, disability and diagnosis. The psychological factors, especially depression, significantly influenced perceived quality of life and disability. Pain intensity and duration play a minor role with respect to quality of life, although pain intensity is associated to perceived disability. Conclusions. The results of this study highlight the importance of not looking at patients with chronic pain as a homogenous entity. A detailed assessment, including psychological factors with emphasis on depressive symptoms, might be essential for planning and carrying through treatment and rehabilitation.
A Method of Stacking AltiKa Repeat Cycle Data that May Reveal 75,000+ Possible Small Seamounts

The SARAL AltiKa radar altimeter measured sea surface height along ground tracks that were regularly revisited by repeating cycles. We devised an automated method of “stacking” the repeat cycles that aligns them to common positions along a model track, selects segments that pass quality criteria, removes the non‐geoidal height and height error from each repeat profile, and calculates the median height profile. This procedure reinforces geoid signals while reducing measurement noise and height signals produced by ocean dynamics. A seamount detection filter applied to the median profiles reveals 75,208 possible small seamounts along AltiKa ground tracks globally. Of these, 4824 are located over multibeam surveys. Seamount heights estimated by subtracting regional depths from the multibeam depths follow a Poisson statistical distribution that suggests at least 84% are less than 2 km tall. A 1 km along‐track sampling of the stacked repeat cycles is available from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) data repository.
Two Parameter Fracture Mechan-ics: Theory and Applications

Fire-retardant walls composed of construction elements, especially for use in shipbuilding, in which wall plates have each two covering panels. One or several fire-retardant layers are located between the two covering panels. The vertical edges of the covering panels are shaped into profiles and provided with slits for the insertion of hooks located on vertical supports.
Cholesterol Induces Uneven Curvature of Asymmetric Lipid Bilayers

A remarkable flexibility is observed in biological membranes, which allows them to form the structures of different curvatures. We addressed the question of intrinsic ability of phospholipid membranes to form highly curved structures and the role of cholesterol in this process. The distribution of cholesterol in the highly curved asymmetric DOPC/DOPS lipid bilayer was investigated by the coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations in the membrane patches with large aspect ratio. It is shown that cholesterol induces uneven membrane curvature promoting the formation of extended flattened regions of the membrane interleaved by sharp bends. It is shown that the affinity of cholesterol to anionic DOPS or neutral DOPC lipids is curvature dependent. The cholesterol prefers DOPS to DOPC in either planar or highly curved parts of the membrane. In contrast, in the narrow interval of moderate membrane curvatures this preference is inverted. Our data suggest that there is a complex self-consistent interplay between the membrane curvature and cholesterol distribution in the asymmetric lipid bilayers. The suggested new function of cholesterol may have a biological relevance.