Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sinhala Short Sentence Similarity Calculation using Corpus-Based and Knowledge-Based Similarity Measures

Currently, corpus based-similarity, string-based similarity, and knowledge-based similarity techniques are used to compare short phrases. However, no work has been conducted on the similarity of phrases in Sinhala language. In this paper, we present a hybrid methodology to compute the similarity between two Sinhala sentences using a Semantic Similarity Measurement technique (corpus-based similarity measurement plus knowledge-based similarity measurement) that makes use of word order information. Since Sinhala WordNet is still under construction, we used lexical resources in performing this semantic similarity calculation. Evaluation using 4000 sentence pairs yielded an average MSE of 0.145 and a Pearson correla-tion factor of 0.832.
H∞ based state feedback robust controller for nonlinear tele-operation system with variable time-delays

This paper is devoted to the problem of robust control for a nonlinear tele-operation system with variable time-delay. Proportional (P) control scheme is used to couple the master and slave robotic arms bilaterally. Lyapunov-Krasovskii Functional (LKF) and H∞ design method is used to develop delay-dependent stability conditions that are robust to the variations of the exogenous inputs from the operator and environment in the form of Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI). The stability conditions are solved using Matlab LMI toolbox to obtain the values of the control parameters and the upper bounds of the variable time-delays in the forward and backward communication channels. The designed controller efficiency is demonstrated using simulations.
Fabrication of Hydroxyapatite/Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate/Polyamide 66 Composite Scaffolds by the Injection-Molding Method

This research investigated the injection-molding techniques to produce hydroxyapatite (HA)/ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA)/polyamide 66 (PA66) composite scaffolds. The effects of HA, EVA, azodicarbonamide (AC) content and shot size on the mechanical properties, pore morphology, porosity and crystallization behavior of the composite scaffolds were analyzed by XRD, DSC, SEM and mechanical test. The compressive modulus and strength of the HA/EVA/PA66 scaffolds with a pore size of 200–600 µm are close to the cancellous bone. Compared with common methods to fabricate scaffolds, this process makes the fabrication of composite scaffolds come true in a rapid and convenient manner.
Secure two-party computation in sublinear (amortized) time

Traditional approaches to generic secure computation begin by representing the function f being computed as a circuit. If f depends on each of its input bits, this implies a protocol with complexity at least linear in the input size. In fact, linear running time is inherent for non-trivial functions since each party must "touch" every bit of their input lest information about the other party's input be leaked. This seems to rule out many applications of secure computation (e.g., database search) in scenarios where inputs are huge. Adapting and extending an idea of Ostrovsky and Shoup, we present an approach to secure two-party computation that yields protocols running in sublinear time, in an amortized sense, for functions that can be computed in sublinear time on a random-access machine (RAM). Moreover, each party is required to maintain state that is only (essentially) linear in its own input size. Our approach combines generic secure two-party computation with oblivious RAM (ORAM) protocols. We present an optimized version of our approach using Yao's garbled-circuit protocol and a recent ORAM construction of Shi et al. We describe an implementation of our resulting protocol, and evaluate its performance for obliviously searching a database with over 1 million entries. Our implementation outperforms off-the-shelf secure-computation protocols for databases containing more than 218 entries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) versus The International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Group (IADPSG) diagnostic criteria of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and their associated maternal and neonatal outcomes

Abstract Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common medical complication in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of GDM using the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria and the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Group (IADPSG) criteria in our population. We further compared the incidence of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes in women diagnosed with GDM using these criteria and determined whether the IADPSG criteria is suitable in our population. Methods This randomized controlled trial was conducted at our antenatal clinic involving 520 patients from 1st February 2015 until 30th September 2017. They were randomized into the WHO and the IADPSG groups. All eligible women underwent a standard oral glucose tolerance test with 75 g glucose, their fasting and 2 h post prandial glucose levels were taken. The primary outcome was the prevalence of GDM. The secondary outcomes were the incidence of primary cesarean section, gestational hypertension or preeclampsia, preterm delivery <37 weeks, fetal macrosomia, neonatal hypoglycemia and shoulder dystocia or birth injury. Results The prevalence of GDM in both groups were similar (37.9% vs. 38.6%). GDM women in the WHO group had a significantly higher incidence of gestational hypertension or preeclampsia (p = 0.004) and neonatal hypoglycemia (p = 0.042). In contrast, GDM women in the IADPSG group had a significantly higher incidence of fetal macrosomia (p = 0.027) and cesarean section (p = 0.012). Conclusion The IADPSG diagnostic criteria for GDM may not be suitable for use in our population as it resulted in women being diagnosed later and being undertreated, thus leading to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.
Dumb design, dumber usage of mobile database

In this work, we captured 36 days of I/O trace from NEXUS 5 and analyzed database usage of each application. We found that 70% of synchronous write I/Os are snet_files_info. db, esO.db, and gmail.com. db. There were 1533 records in snet_files_info. db that has to be updated for Google mobile service which creates write amplification of 6×106. Out of 62 tables in esO.db, only 2 tables were the most frequently used tables, but surprisingly the two tables share almost exact data. mailstore.x@gmail.com. db creates heavy synchronous writes during during checkpoint operation.
A Nonlinear Decoupling Control Approach Using RBFNNI-Based Robust Pole Placement for a Permanent Magnet In-Wheel Motor

This paper presents a novel nonlinear decoupling control scheme for a permanent magnet in-wheel motor (PMIWM), in which both the radial basis function neural network inverse (RBFNNI) and the state feedback robust pole placement (RPP) are employed. First, a theoretical analysis shows the existence of the inverse system of the PMIWM to be modeled mathematically. An inverse system is introduced into the original system of the PMIWM. Then, by cascading the RBFNNI system on the left side of the original PMIWM system, a new decoupling pseudo-linear system is established. Moreover, the RPP theory is employed to design an extra controller which further improves the disturbance rejection and robustness of the whole system. The effectiveness of the proposed control approach is verified by the real-time hardware-in-the-loop experiments under various operations.
Acquaintance or partner? Predicting partnership in online and location-based social networks

Existing approaches to predicting tie strength between users involve either online social networks or location-based social networks. To date, few studies combined these networks to investigate the intensity of social relations between users. In this paper we analyzed tie strength defined as partners and acquaintances in two domains: a location-based social network and an online social network (Second Life). We compared user pairs in terms of their partnership and found significant differences between partners and acquaintances. Following these observations, we evaluated the social proximity of users via supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms and established that homophilic features were most valuable for the prediction of partnership.
Single-shot clothing category recognition in free-configurations with application to autonomous clothes sorting

This paper proposes a single-shot approach for recognising clothing categories from 2.5D features. We propose two visual features, BSP (B-Spline Patch) and TSD (Topology Spatial Distances) for this task. The local BSP features are encoded by LLC (Locality-constrained Linear Coding) and fused with three different global features. Our visual feature is robust to deformable shapes and our approach is able to recognise the category of unknown clothing in unconstrained and random configurations. We integrated the category recognition pipeline with a stereo vision system, clothing instance detection, and dual-arm manipulators to achieve an autonomous sorting system. To verify the performance of our proposed method, we build a high-resolution RGBD clothing dataset of 50 clothing items of 5 categories sampled in random configurations (a total of 2,100 clothing samples). Experimental results show that our approach is able to reach 83.2% accuracy while classifying clothing items which were previously unseen during training. This advances beyond the previous state-of-the-art by 36.2%. Finally, we evaluate the proposed approach in an autonomous robot sorting system, in which the robot recognises a clothing item from an unconstrained pile, grasps it, and sorts it into a box according to its category. Our proposed sorting system achieves reasonable sorting success rates with single-shot perception.
A Large Scale Investigation of Obfuscation Use in Google Play

Android applications are frequently plagiarized or repackaged, and software obfuscation is a recommended protection against these practices. However, there is very little data on the overall rates of app obfuscation, the techniques used, or factors that lead to developers to choose to obfuscate their apps. In this paper, we present the first comprehensive analysis of the use of and challenges to software obfuscation in Android applications. We analyzed 1.7 million free Android apps from Google Play to detect various obfuscation techniques, finding that only 24.92% of apps are obfuscated by the developer. To better understand this rate of obfuscation, we surveyed 308 Google Play developers about their experiences and attitudes about obfuscation. We found that while developers feel that apps in general are at risk of plagiarism, they do not fear theft of their own apps. Developers also report difficulties obfuscating their own apps. To better understand, we conducted a follow-up study where the vast majority of 70 participants failed to obfuscate a realistic sample app even while many mistakenly believed they had been successful. These findings have broad implications both for improving the security of Android apps and for all tools that aim to help developers write more secure software.
Improving detection accuracy utilizing super-resolution

In this paper, we propose a method for detecting a specific object that has been determined in advance. Further, we aim to improve recognition accuracy by utilizing a super-resolution method to generate a high-resolution image from a low-resolution image. To achieve these goals, our proposed method employs a total variation regularization filter, a shock filter, and a pulse enhancement filter. The experimental results show that our method generates accurate high resolution images, and improves the accuracy of distant object detection.
State estimation in discrete-time nonlinear stochastic systems subject to random data loss

This paper focuses on observer design problem in discrete-time nonlinear stochastic systems subject to random data loss. A sufficient condition is derived which guarantees exponential mean-square stability of the estimation error. An efficient algorithm is also proposed to obtain the observer gain. The effectiveness of the proposed observer design technique is evaluated by applying it to a multi-input multi-output aerodyne flight system.
Evaluation of Boron Ore in Cement Production

A new genre of high belite cement named boron-modified active belite (BAB) cement that was developed using byproduct of boric acid production was investigated. The cement proved superior in compressive strength and permeability characteristics in the previous studies. Long term storage of cement is known to alter the mechanical properties of concrete made with the aged cement. The article investigated the BAB cement in aged condition—stored in silos for about three years—variations of mechanical and physical properties of specimens during a one-year period. An additional comparison is also performed with specimens cast using fresh Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) of the same grade in order to present the development of mechanical and physical properties in a qualitative manner. Lower 28 day compressive strength values are observed for BAB cement compared to OPC specimens; however, higher rate of strength development of BAB cement resulting from high belite content led to comparable long term strength values with OPC specimens.
A Resolution Method for Temporal Logic

In this paper, a resolution method for propositional temporal logic is presented. Temporal formulae, incorporating both past-time and future-time temporal operators, are converted to Separated Normal Form (SNF), then both non-temporal and temporal resolution rules are applied. The resolution method is based on classical resolution, but incorporates a temporal resolution rule that can be implemented efficiently using a graph-theoretic approach.
The investigation and development of gas sensors with carbon nanomaterials

The Investigation and Development of Gas Sensors with Carbon Nanomaterials N.J. de Jager Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering University of Stellenbosch Private Bag X1, 7602 Matieland, South Africa Thesis: MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) December 2011 In this research the possible utilization of carbon nanomaterials in gas sensing applications are investigated. These materials include the 2-dimensional honeycomb-lattice carbon structure called graphene, and the 1-dimensional structures referred to as carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The extraordinary properties and unique morphology of these nanomaterials, make them excellent candidates for sensory applications. This research thus entails the investigation and development of gas sensors with these carbon nanomaterials. This includes the synthesis of CNTs via a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique and the fabrication of resistive thin film sensors with the various materials. The functionalization of carbon nanomaterials is also explored, which delivers promising results for sensing gases at room temperature, especially acetylene (C2H2). Furthermore, a unique method is developed to fabricate ultra thin aluminium microstructures. These metallic electrodes are found to be ideal for nanomaterial integration. An experiment is performed to manufacture an integrated sensor with MWCNTs and following the results, a refinement of the procedure and the investigation of FET-based devices are recommended. The results obtained during this work, indicate that engineered carbon nanostructures, such as CNTs and graphene, can potentially be applied in future sensing technologies. iii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
Keeping stem cells under control: New insights into the mechanisms that limit niche‐stem cell signaling within the reproductive system

Adult stem cells reside in specialized microenvironments, called niches, that maintain stem cells in an undifferentiated and self‐renewing state. Defining and understanding the mechanisms that restrict niche signaling exclusively to stem cells is crucial to determine how stem cells undergo self‐renewal while their progeny, often located just one cell diameter away from the niche, differentiate. Despite extensive studies on the signaling pathways that operate within stem cells and their niches, how this segregation occurs remains elusive. Here we review recent progress on the characterization of niche‐stem cell interactions, with a focus on emerging mechanisms that spatially restrict niche signaling. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 83: 675–683, 2016 © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Back-Calculated Pavement Layer Modulus Values of Geogrid Reinforced Test Sections

A study was conducted on full-scale pavement test sections to assess base reinforcement with geogrid in flexible pavements. Two thicknesses of asphalt and two thicknesses of base course were tested. Four test sections were reinforced with geogrid placed at the base/subgrade interface, and there were four matching control sections constructed on one subgrade. A heavy vehicle simulator loaded all the test sections. After construction, the subgrade was conditioned to a lower modulus value by adding water to the test sections, and the response was monitored using falling weight deflectometer (FWD) testing. In addition, FWD testing was also performed immediately prior to and after traffic loading in order to monitor the modulus of the subgrade and base layers. The subgrade modulus values were greatly affected by water content, but also experienced a significant decrease from immediately before to immediately after application of traffic. The modulus values then recovered over time. The base modulus values demonstrated a similar response when traffic was applied. The average modulus values for the base courses reinforced with geogrid were on average 1.34 times those for the base courses in the control sections throughout the project.
XGBoost-Based Android Malware Detection

Malware remains the most significant security threat to smartphones in spite of the constantly upgrading of the system. In this paper, we introduce an Android malware detection method based on XGBoost model. We subsequently discuss the effect of feature selection on the classification. In the end, we verify the high efficacy and good accuracy of this model through the experiment, which achieves similar results to the SVM while spending less time.
Molecular characterization of unusual bovine rotavirus A strains having high genetic relatedness with human rotavirus: evidence for zooanthroponotic transmission

We report here the genomic characterization of two rare rotavirus A (RVAs) G1P[11] and G9P[X] strains detected in cattle calves from two different geographical locations in India during routine rotavirus surveillance. These strains possessed unusual G types (VP7 gene) on a bovine/artiodactyl genotype constellation, G1‐P[11]‐I2‐Rx‐Cx‐Mx‐Ax‐N2‐T6‐E2‐H3 (HR‐B91) and G9‐P[X]‐I2‐Rx‐Cx‐Mx‐Ax‐N2‐T6‐E2‐H3 (WB‐H2). This is the first report on molecular characterization of G9 in cattle, and second report on G1 in cattle. The VP7 gene of HR‐B91 occupied lineage IIc within G1 while that of WB‐H2 occupied IIIb within G9 genotype. The latter was found to be very diverse from other RVA strains of G9 genotype, and this may emerge as a new genotype in due course. The study provides evidence of zooanthroponotic transmission of human G1 and G9 RVA genes to calves. Of note, the G9 genotype was found to serve as the ancestral genotype for G1. Phylogenetic analysis of remaining gene segments revealed close relatedness to artiodactyl or artiodactyl‐like human RVA strains. The findings of this study highlight the potential role of interspecies transmission and reassortment events in generating the rare rotavirus strains.
How do Mobile Apps Violate the Behavioral Policy of Advertisement Libraries?

Advertisement libraries are used in almost two-thirds of apps in Google Play. To increase economic revenue, some app developers tend to entice mobile users to unexpectedly click ad views during their interaction with the app, resulting in kinds of ad fraud. Despite some popular ad providers have published behavioral policies to prevent inappropriate behaviors/practices, no previous work has studied whether mobile apps comply with those policies. In this paper, we take Google Admob as the starting point to study policy-violation apps. We first analyze the behavioral policies of Admob and create a taxonomy of policy violations. Then we propose an automated approach to detect policy-violation apps, which takes advantage of two key artifacts: an automated model-based Android GUI testing technique and a set of heuristic rules summarized from the behavior policies of Google Admob. We have applied our approach to 3,631 popular apps that have used the Admob library, and we could achieve a precision of 86% in detecting policy-violation apps. The results further show that roughly 2.5% of apps violate the policies, suggesting that behavioral policy violation is indeed a real issue in the Android advertising ecosystem.
Effect of NaOH Treatments on Jute and Coir Fiber PP Composites

Changes occurring in jute and coir fiber composites with 2–8% concentration of a NaOH treatment for 24 h were investigated, respectively, for void content, microscopy images, mechanical properties and water absorption. The jute and coir fibers were vacuum dried before molding composite specimens. Mechanical properties indicated good adhesion between natural fibers and PP. Jute fibers, when alkali-treated with 2% concentration for 24 h, showed best improvement in tensile strength by 40% and modulus by 9%, respectively, while coir fibers, when alkali-treated with 6% concentration for 24 h, showed best improvement in tensile strengths by 62% and modulus by 17%, respectively. With 2% concentration of alkali-treatments, the elongation of jute and coir composites reached 8% and 13.5%, respectively. Moisture absorption for jute and coir composites are 50% and 60% lower than untreated fiber composites, respectively.
Characterization of the sampling in optical measurements of machined surface textures

This work investigates the areal effect, a smoothing of the surface areal topography in measurements from optical instruments that arises from the use of discrete pixels. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional models for the process of acquiring areal topography data were developed and applied to three-dimensional reference surface textures of various traditional machined surfaces that were measured by an atomic force microscope. Sets of reference surface areal data were stitched by a three-dimensional stitching method prior to their use in simulations. Roughness parameters and cumulative power spectra of areal topography of the specimen surfaces measured by coherence scanning interferometry were calculated and compared to the results from the simulated profiles. The results from the simulated data profiles showed good agreement with profiles measured by a coherence scanning interferometry microscope. Finally, the relationship between the pixel size of the optical instruments and the resulting reliability of the high-frequency components of the acquired surface profiles was investigated with spectral analysis. Selection criteria for the magnification of the objective lens are proposed, which allow determination of the appropriate sensor spatial resolution for measurements based on the surface texture characteristics of the specimen.