Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distributed Cryptography Based on the Proofs of Work

Motivated by the recent success of Bitcoin we study the question of constructing distributed crypto- graphic protocols in a fully peer-to-peer scenario (without any trusted setup) under the assumption that the adver- sary has limited computing power. We propose a formal model for this scenario and then we construct the following protocols working in it: (i) a broadcast protocol secure under the assumption that the honest parties have computing power that is some non-negligible fraction of computing power of the adversary (this fraction can be small, in particular it can be much less than 1=2), (ii) a protocol for identifying a set of parties such that the majority of them is honest, and every honest party belongs to this set (this protocol works under the assumption that the majority of computing power is controlled by the honest parties). Our broadcast protocol can be used to generate an unpredictable beacon (that can later serve, e.g., as a genesis block for a new cryptocurrency). The protocol from Point (ii) can be used to construct arbitrary multiparty computation protocols. Our main tool for checking the computing power of the parties are the Proofs of Work (Dwork and Naor, CRYPTO 92). Our broadcast protocol is built on top of the classical protocol of Dolev and Strong (SIAM J. on Comp. 1983). Although our motivation is mostly theoretic, we believe that our ideas can lead to practical imple- mentations (probably after some optimizations and simplifications). We discuss some possible applications of our protocols at the end of the paper. We stress however that the goal of this paper is not to propose new cryptocurrencies or to analyze the existing ones.
International Conference on Multimedia Computing and Systems Submission of Paper Title : Refining the MATILDA Multimedia Authoring Framework with a Visual Formalism

The MATILDA multimedia authoring framework has been developed in an attempt to address a number of issues related to authoring process, information reuse and application maintainabilit y. In particular, the framework addresses information representation and usage issues, and has been used in the development of a series of data models. This paper presents our initial application of the structured graph visual formalism to the MATILDA data models. This has resulted in the introduction of a new group of automatically derivable links in the data models, and highlights some data model distinctions which we believe should be captured. We also discuss the possible use of the scalable editing and browsing operations that are part of the formalism.
Hybrid Client Side Phishing Websites Detection Approach

Phishing tricks to steal personal or credential information by entering victims into a forged website similar to the original site, and urging them to enter their information believing that this site is legitimate. The number of internet users who are becoming victims of phishing attacks is increasing beside that phishing attacks have become more sophisticated. In this paper we propose a client-side solution to protect against phishing attacks which is a Firefox extension integrated as a toolbar that is responsible for checking whether recipient website is trusted or not by inspecting URLs of each requested webpage. If the site is suspicious the toolbar is going to block it. Every URL is evaluated corresponding to features extracted from it. Three heuristics (primary domain, sub domain, and path) and Naive Bayes classification using four lexical features combined with page ranking received from two different services (Alexa, and Google page rank) used to classify URL. The proposed method requires no server changes and will prevent internet users from fraudulent sites especially from phishing attacks based on deceptive URLs. Experimental results show that our approach can achieve 48% accuracy ratio using a test set of 246 URL, and 87.5% accuracy ratio by excluding NB addition tested over 162 URL.
Exact iterative reconstruction algorithm for multivariate irregularly sampled functions in spline-like spaces: The $L^p$-theory

We prove that the exact reconstruction of a function s from its samples s(xi) on any “sufficiently dense” sampling set {xi}i∈Λ can be obtained, as long as s is known to belong to a large class of spline-like spaces in Lp(Rn). Moreover, the reconstruction can be implemented using fast algorithms. Since a limiting case is the space of bandlimited functions, our result generalizes the classical Shannon-Whittaker sampling theorem on regular sampling and the Paley-Wiener theorem on non-uniform sampling.
Comprehensive overview of various haplotype block inference methods

During last years there has been a breakthrough in genetics and biotechnology. Present technology allows large scale association studies between genotypes and diseases. The most powerful methodology of association studies is the analyse of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The estimated number of SNPs in the human genome is 10 million. Therefore, SNP markers provide practical fine-grain map of human genome. Theoretical models and practical experiments suggest that a single strand of DNA is composed from haplotype blocks—sequences of fixed DNA strands. In other words, few suitably chosen SNPs can reveal most of DNA strand and reduce the number of required SNPs for association studies. The following review gives a introduction to basic concepts and models. We analyse pros and cons of various definitions of haplotype blocks, point out advantages and limitations of inference methods. We cover all three main approaches: methods based on marker pairs, combinatorial methods and models with minimal-description length. We also briefly discuss the optimal marker set (OMS) problem that is a common for all methodologies. Good solution can provide high quality of the end results and lower the measurement costs. However, the complete treatment of OMS is out of our scope.
3D Edge Bundling for Geographical Data Visualization

Visualization of graphs containing many nodes and edges efficiently is quite challenging since representations generally suffer from visual clutter induced by the large amount of edge crossings and node-edge overlaps. That problem becomes even more important when nodes positions are fixed, such as in geography were nodes positions are set according to geographical coordinates. Edge bundling techniques can help to solve this issue by visually merging edges along common routes but it can also help to reveal high-level edge patterns in the network and therefore to understand its overall organization. In this paper, we present a generalization of [18] to reduce the clutter in a 3D representation by routing edges into bundles as well as a GPU-based rendering method to emphasize bundles densities while preserving edge color. To visualize geographical networks in the context of the globe, we also provide a new technique allowing to bundle edges around and not across it.
Assessment of Ergonomic and Occupational Health-Related Problems Among Female Prawn Seed Collectors of Sunderbans, West Bengal, India

Abstract Sixty female prawn seed collectors and 60 female control subjects from Sajenakhali and Sandeshkhali blocks of Sunderbans, West Bengal, India, were randomly selected to evaluate and compare musculoskeletal disorders and physiological stress. The control group was engaged in domestic work involving minimum hand-intensive activities. The modified Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire and rapid entire body assessment were used. Most subjects suffered from discomfort in different body parts, especially in the lower back (98%), knees (88%), shoulders (75%), ankles (70%) and feet (67%). This study reveals that female prawn seed collectors suffer from significant physiological load and extreme physiological stress due to prolonged working hours in a standing posture and excessive work pressure. Consequently, all these factors affect female prawn seed collectors ‘ health and work performance.
Measures of Social Cognition The Wechsler ACS Social Perception Subtest : A Preliminary Comparison With Other

Relative to other cognitive areas, there are few clinical measures currently available to assess social perception. A new standardized measure, the Wechsler Advanced Clinical Solutions (ACS) Social Perception subtest, addresses some limitations of existing measures; however, little is known about this new test. The first goal of this investigation was to preliminarily explore the relationship of the ACS Social Perception subtest to five other measures of social perception and cognition in a sample of control subjects and individuals with Asperger Syndrome and schizophrenia. A secondary goal was to preliminarily explore the differences between groups on six measures of social perception and cognition. Results revealed several significant correlations between the ACS Social Perception subtest and other measures of social cognition, and some evidence for the distinguishing abilities of the measure. The ACS Social Perception subtest appears to be a promising measure for the evaluation of social perceptive skills.
The Effect of Exclusive Breastfeeding on Hospital Stay and Morbidity due to Various Diseases in Infants under 6 Months of Age: A Prospective Observational Study

Background. Mother's milk is the best for the babies. Protective and preventive role of breast milk was evaluated in this study by assessing the relation of type of feeding and duration of hospital stay or morbidity. Methods. This prospective study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital and 232 infants in the age group of 14 weeks to 6 months formed the sample. There are two groups of infants, that is, one for breastfed and one for top fed infants. Statistical analysis was done and results were calculated up to 95% to 99% level of significance to find effect of feeding pattern on hospital stay due to various diseases and morbidity. Results. Prolonged hospital stay, that is, >7 days, was lesser in breastfed infants and results were statistically significant in case of gastroenteritis (p value < 0.001), bronchopneumonia (p value = 0.0012), bronchiolitis (p value = 0.005), otitis media (p value = 0.003), and skin diseases (p value = 0.047). Lesser morbidity was seen in breastfed infants with gastroenteritis (p value 0.0414), bronchopneumonia (p value 0.03705), bronchiolitis (p value 0.036706), meningitis (p value 0.043), and septicemia (p value 0.04). Conclusions. Breastfed infants have shorter hospital stay and lesser morbidity in regard to various diseases as compared to top fed infants.
Intelligent home video management system

An integrated intelligent home video management system was proposed in this paper. Five different types of multimedia representative features were computed as the basis of the home video management system. With the aid of some machine learning techniques, such as SVM, neural network, adaboost algorithm, and the K-means clustering algorithm, we develop six main applications based on this system. These applications include detection of abnormal camera operation, shot boundary detection, fast-pan detection, face shot identification, key-frame extraction, and variable length video abstraction. Our system can help inexpert digital camcorder users manage their home video effectively in a smart way.
Capital Gain Tax Overhang and Price Pressure

I study whether the capital gains tax is an impediment to selling by some investors and if so, to what degree associated delayed selling affects stock prices. I find that selling decisions by institutions serving tax-sensitive clients are sensitive to cumulative capital gains, a pattern not observed for institutions with predominantly tax-exempt clients. Moreover, tax-related underselling impacts stock prices during large earnings surprises for stocks held primarily by tax-sensitive investors. The corresponding price reactions are less negative (more positive) with higher cumulative capital gains. This price pressure pattern is more severe when arbitrage is more costly.
The pitch angle paradox and radiative life times in a synchrotron source

In synchrotron radiation there is a paradox whether or not the pitch angle of a radiating charge varies. The conventional wisdom is that the pitch angle does not change during the radiation process. The argument is based on Larmor's radiation formula, where in a synchrotron case the radiation power is along the instantaneous direction of motion of the charge. Then the momentum loss will also be parallel to that direction and therefore the pitch angle of the charge would remain unaffected. The accordingly derived formulas for energy losses of synchrotron electrons in radio galaxies are the standard text-book material for the last 50 years. However, if we use the momentum transformation laws from special relativity, then we find that the pitch angle of a radiating charge varies. While the velocity component parallel to the magnetic field remains unaffected, the perpendicular component does reduce in magnitude due to radiative losses, implying a change in the pitch angle. This apparent paradox is resolved when effects on the charge motion are calculated not from Larmor's formula but from Lorentz's radiation reaction formula. We derive the exact formulation by taking into account the change of the pitch angle due to radiative losses. From this we first time derive the characteristic decay time of synchrotron electrons over which they turn from highly relativistic into mildly relativistic ones.
Program for Double-Dummy Bridge Problems—A New Strategy for Mechanical Game Playing

This paper introduces a new programming technique which has met with considerable success in solving no-trump double-dummy bridge problems and checking solutions which have been generated by humans. Heuristic programs first attempt to locate some branch of the solution. When they succeed, a proof-checking program examines the heuristic line a~id dete~Tnines whether or not the proposed solution is correct. The proof-checking program is able to generalize the conditions under which the heuristic strategy works and to construct rigorous proofs by non-exhaustive met, hods. This paper describes a new approach to mechanical game playing. Excellent heuristic programs have previously been written to play checkers [10], qubic [3], chess [4], ka lah [6], and regular contract bridge [2]. Some of these programs can even beat their authors, but only the kalah and checkers programs can beat human experts and even they do not play a perfect game. Because of the extreme complexities of these games, exhaustive solution by machine is prohibitively t imeconsuming, and rigorous solution by human experts is prohibitively difficult. Thus, it has been necessary to settle for "good" moves instead of guaranteed ~vhming moves. Until now, rigorous solutions have been a t t empted only for a . few simple games, such as tic-tac-toe. Double -dummy bridge is intermediate in complexity. Like tic-tac-toe, all known positions can apparent ly be analyzed accurately by humans. However, for most deals, the size of the complete tree of legal moves is about 102°. Like the chess tree, the bridge tree is too large for an exhaustive search. We show here how new programming techniques enable rigorous solution of double-dummy problems by non-exhaustive methods. The vast major i ty of the different branches in the complete tree of legal moves is unimportant . Mos t of them occur only when each side blunders several times. Many of the others are equivalent, such as playing ace-king or king-ace. H u m a n problem solvers do not distinguish between these trivial branches, but concentrate on the essential branches. These are branches in North-South s t ra tegy caused by impor tan t ~ variat ions in the defense. On some easy hands, where North-South are dealt an adequate supply of high cards, the winning s t ra tegy * Received September, 1962. This paper is a condensed version of a thesis which was submitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in partial fulfillment of %he requirements for the degree of Master of Science. This work was done while the author was on cooperative assignment ~¢ Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. He is presently ~ graduate student in ~he Department of Electrical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 39, Massachusetts. We define an important defensive variation as one which forces the offense to alter its play.
A Comparison of Panic Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder in an Arab Culture

This study was coriducted with the aim of exaniiriirig clinical characterisrics o/ paiiic disorder conipared to those o f generalized aiixiety disorder as eiicouriiered in aft Arab culture (Saudi Arabia). 33 corrsecutive referrals diagriosed as patiic disorder ( N = 20) or generalized arixiety disorder ( N = 13) were subjected to a structured iriterview as well as psychometric evaluatioti. Fiiidiiigs generally support the diagnostic validity o f patiic disorder and its distirrctiori f rom generalized atixiely disorder. Besides the typical dramatic episodic attacks the patterri iri patierits with pairic di5order showed more rtitetise arixiety, more proniirietit somatic syniploms, more preoccupatiori with ideas about illtiess arid dyirig arid possibly ati overall episodic course o f illness. Anioiig associated features, depression arid hypochondriasis were particularly proniirrerit. lNTRODUCTlON Panic attacks have traditionally been considered as part of the neurotic anxiety syndrome, a conception which dates back to early descriptions of Freud over 90 years ago (Gelder, 1986). Recently, it has been suggested that such attacks characterize a distinct form of anxiety disorders. This new distinction has particularly materialized in the DSM-111 (Americati Psychialric Association, 1980), in which a "Panic Disorder" and a "Generalized Anxiety Disorder" are separately described in terms of operationalized diagnostic criteria. Interest in this nosological issue has directly stemmed from pharmacotherapeutic research indicating that panic anxiety is moderated specifically by tricyclic drugs and by monoamine oxidase inhibitors in contrast to
DEPENDENT EVENTS AND CHANGES OF TIME∗

Meyer (1971) showed that any point process whose compensator has continuous paths that increase to ∞ can be time-scaled to a standard Poisson process. In this article we consider the converse to this result. We construct a time change with continuous paths increasing to ∞ that transforms a standard Poisson process into a general point process with totally inaccessible arrivals and compensator given by the time change. The time change generates path-dependent or self-affecting point processes whose dynamics depend on the information generated by the arrivals of the process as well as other observable information describing the state of the random environment. The classical Hawkes and doubly stochastic processes are special cases. Timechanged Hawkes processes are shown to combine the best features of these classical families is a flexible and tractable way. We conclude by introducing time-change techniques to multi-name credit modeling. We describe the economy-wide default process as a time-changed Poisson process, whose arrivals are temporally clustered due to contagion and depend on the economic environment. Random thinning generates sub-models for individual firms and portfolios of firms. ∗This research is supported by grants from the Global Derivatives Research Group at JP Morgan Chase & Co, and from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, for which we are very grateful. We would like to thank Andrew Abrahams, Eymen Errais, Lionel Pradier and Gael Riboulet for stimulating discussions. †School of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3801, USA, Phone (607) 255 9140, Fax (607) 255 9129, email: giesecke@orie.cornell. edu. ‡School of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3801, USA, Phone (607) 255 8842, Fax (607) 255 9129, email: pascal@orie.cornell. edu.
Novel, Low Cost, Highly Effective, Handmade Steroid Pellets for Experimental Studies

The basic component of Silastic® glue (Dow Corning) used to prepare Silastic® pellets is polydimethylsiloxane. This compound is also present in other commercial adhesives such as FASTIX® (Akapol SA) that are available in any store for that category. In the present study we developed low cost, easy to prepare handmade steroid pellets (HMSP) by mixing 17β-estradiol, progesterone or other synthetic steroids with FASTIX® adhesive. We assessed serum levels of 17β-estradiol, progesterone, prolactin and luteinizing hormone in ovariectomized mice treated for 24 and 48 h or 7, 14 and 28 days with 20 µg or 5 mg of 17β-estradiol or 5 mg progesterone HMSP. We found a time dependent and significant increase in the levels of both natural hormones, and a downregulation of serum luteinizing hormone levels, while both 17β-estradiol doses increased serum prolactin. Uterine weights at sacrifice and histological examination of the uteri and the mammary glands correlated with estrogen or progestin action. Finally, we evaluated the biological effects of HMSP compared to commercial pellets or daily injections in the stimulation or inhibition of hormone dependent mammary tumor growth, and found that HMSP were as effective as the other methods of hormone administration. These data show that HMSP represent a useful, low cost, easily accessible method for administering steroids to mice.
The Case for a Task-Teach-Task (TTT) Approach in the Japanese University EFL Speaking Context

This forum paper proposes that an active learning methodology, specifically TTT or test/task-teach-test/teach (see Willis and Willis, 2007), should be employed when teaching EFL speaking to Japanese university ELL’s. The rationale for this position extends from pedagogical grounds to also include the affective and cognitive arenas. Leveraging relevant theory, the paper outlines how a TTT approach could address the noted lack of returns on Japan’s substantial investment in ELT by promoting student buy-in while also corresponding to the latest trends emerging from greater applied linguistic thought vis-a-vis proficiency development and progression.
Intermediate Tyrosyl Radical and Amyloid Structure in Peroxide-Activated Cytoglobin

We characterized the peroxidase mechanism of recombinant rat brain cytoglobin (Cygb) challenged by hydrogen peroxide, tert-butylhydroperoxide and by cumene hydroperoxide. The peroxidase mechanism of Cygb is similar to that of myoglobin. Cygb challenged by hydrogen peroxide is converted to a Fe4+ oxoferryl π cation, which is converted to Fe4+ oxoferryl and tyrosyl radical detected by direct continuous wave-electron paramagnetic resonance and by 3,5-dibromo-4-nitrosobenzene sulfonate spin trapping. When organic peroxides are used as substrates at initial reaction times, and given an excess of peroxide present, the EPR signals of the corresponding peroxyl radicals precede those of the direct tyrosyl radical. This result is consistent with the use of peroxide as a reducing agent for the recycling of Cygb high-valence species. Furthermore, we found that the Cygb oxidation by peroxides leads to the formation of amyloid fibrils. This result suggests that Cygb possibly participates in the development of degenerative diseases; our findings also support the possible biological role of Cygb related to peroxidase activity.