Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Seize Your Moment, My Lovely Trolls”: News, Satire, and Public Opinion About Net Neutrality

This study examines the implications of messages within a fragmented media environment for public opinion about net neutrality. Drawing on media effects theory and an analysis of media messages, it argues that different forms of media use—including consumption of traditional news, partisan cable news, political satire, and streaming video services—can exert distinctive effects on public familiarity with and support for net neutrality. Moreover, it extends research on information subsidy and intertextuality to argue that political satire use can interact with other forms of media use in shaping public responses to complex policy issues such as net neutrality. Using original data from national telephone surveys conducted in 2014 and 2015, the analyses reveal that various forms of media use predicted familiarity with and support for net neutrality. The findings also suggest that exposure to political satire can shape the translation of information obtained from other sources into opinion.
Cotensor products of quantum principal bundles

A cotensor product A\Box_H P of an H-Hopf Galois extension A and a C-coalgebra Galois extension P, such that P is an (H,C)-bicomodule, is analyzed. Conditions are stated, when A\Box_H P is a C-coalgebra Galois extension and when there exists a strong connection on A\Box_H P. Two examples are given, in both, A and P are Matsumoto spheres, and H=C=C(U(1)).
Distributed and Fair Beaconing Congestion Control Schemes for Vehicular Networks

Cooperative inter-vehicular applications rely on the exchange of broadcast single-hop status messages among vehicles, called beacons. The aggregated load on the wireless channel due to periodic beacons can prevent the transmission of other types of messages, what is called channel congestion due to beaconing activity. In this paper we approach the problem of controlling the beaconing rate on each vehicle by modeling it as a Network Utility Maximization (NUM) problem. This allows us to formally define the notion of fairness of a beaconing rate allocation in vehicular networks. The NUM model provides a rigorous framework to design a broad family of simple and decentralized algorithms, with proved convergence guarantees to a fair allocation solution. In this context, we propose the Fair Adaptive Beaconing Rate for Intervehicular Communications (FABRIC) algorithm, which uses a particular scaled gradient projection algorithm to solve the dual of the NUM problem. Simulation results validate our approach and show that, unlike recent proposals, FABRIC converges to fair rate allocations in multi-hop and dynamic scenarios.
Dual blockade of the renin-angiotensin system in type 1 patients with diabetic nephropathy.

BACKGROUND Albuminuria and hypertension are predictors of poor renal and cardiovascular outcome in patients with diabetes. Approximately 30% of type 1 patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN) have albuminuria >1 g/day, and blood pressure >135 and/or >85 mmHg despite antihypertensive therapy with recommended doses of ACE inhibitor (ACEI) and diuretics. We tested the effect of dual blockade of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in these patients. METHODS We performed a randomised double blind crossover trial with 2 months treatment with Irbesartan 300 mg o.d. and placebo added on top of previous antihypertensive treatment. We included 21 type 1 patients with DN responding insufficiently to ACEI and diuretics, as defined above. At the end of each treatment period, albuminuria, 24-h blood pressure and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were measured. RESULTS Addition of 300 mg Irbesartan to the patients' usual antihypertensive therapy induced a mean reduction in albuminuria of 37% (95% CI 20-49, P<0.001); from 1574 mg/24 h (95% CI 1162-2132) to 996 mg/24 h (95% CI 699-1419), a reduction in 24-h blood pressure of 8 mmHg systolic (95% CI -2 to 18) and 5 mmHg diastolic (95% CI 1-9) (P=0.11 and 0.01, respectively) (from placebo, mean (SE) 146 (4)/80 (2) mmHg). GFR remained unchanged. Serum potassium increased (mean 4.3 to 4.6 mmol/l, P=0.02). Intervention to reduce serum potassium was needed in two patients with GFR <35 ml/min/1.73 m(2). Otherwise the dual blockade with Irbesartan was safe and well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS Dual blockade of the RAS may offer additional renal and cardiovascular protection in type 1 patients with DN responding insufficiently to conventional antihypertensive therapy, including recommended doses of ACEI and diuretics.
Utilizing support vector machines in mining online customer reviews

As e-commerce is increasingly becoming popular, the number of customer reviews that a product receives grows rapidly. However, for popular products, many online product reviews exist but for other reviews product reviews are very few. These online discussions about particular products may help other online users to make a decision in buying/ not buying those products, like in amazon.com1 and ebay.com2. Since an enormous number of unstructured and ungrammatical reviews on a product exist, opinion mining is getting a crucial research area for better decision making of buying products. In this paper, we apply an opinion mining approach to summarize the unstructured and ungrammatical users' reviews, based on Support Vector Machine (SVM). Two levels of classification is applied: 1) Features classification and 2) Polarity classification for every feature class. Our approach has been tested on Amazon data with dataset of 535 sentences, where a summary is obtained and analysis of precision (93.15%) and recall (92.41%) illustrate the accuracy of the proposed system.
Competing of Sznajd and voter dynamics in the Watts-Strogatz network

We investigate the Watts-Strogatz network with the clustering coefficient C dependent on the rewiring probability. The network is an area of two opposite contact processes, where nodes can be in two states, S or D. One of the processes is governed by the Sznajd dynamics: if there are two connected nodes in D-state, all their neighbors become D with probability p. For the opposite process it is sufficient to have only one neighbor in state S; this transition occurs with probability 1. The concentration of S-nodes changes abruptly at given value of the probability p. The result is that for small p, in clusterized networks the activation of S nodes prevails. This result is explained by a comparison of two limit cases: the Watts-Strogatz network without rewiring, where C=0.5, and the Bethe lattice where C=0.
Experiences with Automated Data Center Management

In recent years numerous initiatives have strived for complete automation of data center management. Maturing technologies for controlling the physical and virtual infrastructure combined with the rapid growth of data centers have drastically elevated the real-world importance of automated control. However, the state-of-the-art in industry and academia remains scripts or graphical/shell consoles to simplify common administrative tasks. While there have certainly been advances in automated management, we know of no work that presents substantial experience deploying and maintaining an automated data center. This paper describes our experiences over the last 3 years constructing Shirako, a system for automating management that is suitable for deployment in production data centers. Shirako has been deployed on a significant portion of our cluster (83 physical machines) and used for over 7 months. Additionally, we recently deployed Shirako on a third-party cluster at a major industry research lab to demonstrate its applicability at other data centers.
Direction of arrival estimation of Lamb waves using circular arrays

Uniform circular arrays (UCAs) with 360° azimuthal coverage are very useful for structural health monitoring (SHM) of large planar structures. Difficulties encountered when working with Lamb waves include their dispersive and multi-modal nature. In this article three different methods for estimating the direction-of-arrival (DOA) of incoming Lamb waves are compared and verified using simulated and experimental data. The previously proposed phase-mode excitation-based beamformer is compared with two high-resolution spectral estimation techniques, the Capon method and the multiple signal classification method. Design consideration and guidelines for UCAs are presented. To experimentally evaluate the performance of the considered DOA methods a prototype array consisting of 16 separate pinducers arranged in a ring was constructed. The array was provided with an analog multiplexer that enabled recording signals received by the individual elements using a digital oscilloscope. The array was used for the reception of ultrasonic pulses sent by broadband piezoelectric transmitters and propagating in an aluminum plate. A selection of simulation and experimental results is presented showing the superior performance of the Capon beamformer.
Scaling-Up Techniques for the Nanofabrication of Cell Culture Substrates via Two-Photon Polymerization for Industrial-Scale Expansion of Stem Cells

Stem-cell-based therapies require a high number (106–109) of cells, therefore in vitro expansion is needed because of the initially low amount of stem cells obtainable from human tissues. Standard protocols for stem cell expansion are currently based on chemically-defined culture media and animal-derived feeder-cell layers, which expose cells to additives and to xenogeneic compounds, resulting in potential issues when used in clinics. The two-photon laser polymerization technique enables three-dimensional micro-structures to be fabricated, which we named synthetic nichoids. Here we review our activity on the technological improvements in manufacturing biomimetic synthetic nichoids and, in particular on the optimization of the laser-material interaction to increase the patterned area and the percentage of cell culture surface covered by such synthetic nichoids, from a low initial value of 10% up to 88% with an optimized micromachining time. These results establish two-photon laser polymerization as a promising tool to fabricate substrates for stem cell expansion, without any chemical supplement and in feeder-free conditions for potential therapeutic uses.
A methodology for the enhancement of a hypertext version of a textbook by the automatic insertion of links in the subject index

This paper presents a methodology for the enhancement of a hypertext version of a textbook. The enhancement over the textual version of the textbook is achieved by automatically inserting links between text excerpts of the textbook and the item in the subject index produced by the author of the textbook. These links enable access to parts of the textbook that have not been specifically indexed by the author, but that are semantically related to items in the subject index. Such links are meant to improve the effectiveness of the use of the book in search oriented tasks.
DETECTION AND CLASSIFICATION OF OBFUSCATED MALWARE APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE:

vi List of Figures . xi List of Tables . xii Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 1.1 Problem Statement . 2 1.1.1 Attack Against Static Analysis . 2 1.1.2 Attack Against Dynamic Analysis . 4 1.2 Current Research . 6 1.2. 1 Obfuscation Detection . 6 1.2. 2 Zero-day Malware Detection . 7 1.3 Thesis Contribution . 8 1.4 Thesis Organization . 9 Chapter 2: Instructions-based Detection of Sophisticated Obfuscation and Packing . 11 2.
Senior Dance Experience, Cognitive Performance, and Brain Volume in Older Women

Physical activity is positively related to cognitive functioning and brain volume in older adults. Interestingly, different types of physical activity vary in their effects on cognition and on the brain. For example, dancing has become an interesting topic in aging research, as it is a popular leisure activity among older adults, involving cardiovascular and motor fitness dimensions that can be positively related to cognition. However, studies on brain structure are missing. In this study, we tested the association of long-term senior dance experience with cognitive performance and gray matter brain volume in older women aged 65 to 82 years. We compared nonprofessional senior dancers (n = 28) with nonsedentary control group participants without any dancing experience (n = 29), who were similar in age, education, IQ score, lifestyle and health factors, and fitness level. Differences neither in the four tested cognitive domains (executive control, perceptual speed, episodic memory, and long-term memory) nor in brain volume (VBM whole-brain analysis, region-of-interest analysis of the hippocampus) were observed. Results indicate that moderate dancing activity (1-2 times per week, on average) has no additional effects on gray matter volume and cognitive functioning when a certain lifestyle or physical activity and fitness level are reached.
Support Vector Machines for Insolvency Prediction of Irish Companies

This study explores experimentally the potential of linear and non-linear support vector machines with three kernels to predict insolvency of Irish firms. The dataset used contains selected financial features based on information collected from 88 companies for a period of six years. Experiments show that non-linear support vector machines (SVM) with polynomial kernel gives highest prediction accuracy and outperforms all other techniques used so far with the same dataset. SVM performance is estimated by various metrics, receiver operating characteristics analysis, and results are validated by the leave-one-out cross-validation technique.
Obstacle guided RRT path planner with region classification for changing environments

The Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT) has been widely used to solve path planning problems and well suited to lots of problem domains for its probabilistically complete. However, it is not so rapid in changing environments, troubled with moving obstacles and difficult regions. In this paper, a variant of RRT is proposed which is called obstacle guided RRT (OG-RRT), aiming to plan a path in changing environments efficiently. By preserving a group of invalid configurations blocked by obstacles, an entropy value is introduced to label every state in the tree with region classification information. Then a differentiation strategy is adopted to the framework for extending. Finally, with recording the change between invalid and valid nodes, a fuzzy estimation for obstacles' movements and an opportunistic strategy for reusing information from previous queries will be used to replan a solution fast. In plentiful experiments, OG-RRT is very effective in changing environment.
Quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle controller design and synthesis

The field of UAVs is quit rich of applications and it can be considered as one of the major fields that can have great future potential. For the four motors vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft known as the quadcopter specially. it have drawn great attention of the scientific researchers nowadays. It is considered as a prospective solution to a quit variety of applications. This paper is concerned with modeling and control basics that are of huge concern due to unmanned aerial vehicle model complications, nonlinearity, coupling, inherent instability and parameter values ambiguity. Two types of controllers are designed to reach a stable compensated system around the hovering point. Enhanced PID controller is designed first for the unmanned quadcopter aerial vehicle. Then, Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference controller (ANFIS) is refined for the nonlinear system. Input-output data of the enhanced PID controlled among the entire range of operation are gathered. These informations are used for the ANFIS controller design as learning and checking data. The controller achieved using ANFIS, as a nonlinear controller, are correlated with the enhanced PID controller results achieved at the hovering point of operation. The conclusion from these results affirm the efficiency of the ANFIS as quadcopter nonlinear controller.
On the stabilization of linear discrete-time hybrid automata

The problem of stabilizing linear discrete-time hybrid automata is considered. A synthesis methodology is obtained by extending to hybrid systems the stabilization techniques based on stable convex combinations, originally developed for switching systems. The key idea is exploiting the underlying automaton structure by restricting the control actions to the ones corresponding to cycles in the automaton, which are identified using regular language tools. The so obtained system is equivalent to a regular switching system on which classical stabilization techniques can be applied. An algorithm to explore the candidate stabilizing controller actions is proposed and an application to an automotive engine control problem is described.
Hardware Implementation of Image Compression Technique using Wavelet

Today in the age of technology the use of digital visual system increasing at tremendous rate for information entertainment and education purpose therefore it has become essential to reduce the cost of image transmission and storage as this application have become increasingly importance we give attention towards image compression major objective of image compression is to represent the image as few bit as possible while preserving level of quality and intelligibility regards for given application. Wavelet based image compression provides substantial improvement in picture quality at higher compression ratio. Over the past few years a variety of powerful and sophisticated wavelet based scheme for image compression have been developed and implemented. Because of the many advantages in the upcoming jpeg-2000 standard are all wavelet based compression algorithms. Discrete wavelet transforms is the most popular transformation technique adopted for image compression. Complexity of DWT is always high due to large number of arithmetic operations. The resulting downsampled pre filtered image remains a conventional square sample grid, and, thus, it can be compressed and transmitted without any change to current image coding standards and systems. The decoder first decompresses the low-resolution image and then up converts it to the original resolution in a constrained least squares restoration process, using a 2-D piecewise autoregressive model and the knowledge of directional low-pass pre filtering. The proposed compression approach of collaborative adaptive down-sampling and up conversion (CADU) outperforms JPEG 2000 in PSNR measure at low to medium bit rates and achieves superior visual quality, as well.
Osteoclast-mediated bone resorption is stimulated during short-term administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor but is not responsible for hematopoietic progenitor cell mobilization.

The cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) mobilization from bone marrow (BM) into peripheral blood after administration of cytokines such as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) are still unknown. In this study we show that high concentrations of soluble calcium induce the detachment of BM CD34(+) HPC adherent on fibronectin, a major component of BM extracellular matrix. Because G-CSF has been shown to induce osteoporosis in patients with congenital neutropenia and in G-CSF-overexpressing transgenic mice, we hypothesized that short-term G-CSF administration may be sufficient to induce bone resorption, resulting in the release of soluble calcium in the endosteum leading in turn to the inhibition of attachment to fibronectin and the egress of HPC from the BM. We show herein that in humans, serum osteocalcin concentration, a specific marker of bone formation, is strongly reduced after 3 days of G-CSF administration. Furthermore, in patients mobilized with G-CSF either alone or in association with stem cell factor or interleukin-3, the reduction of serum osteocalcin is significantly correlated with the number of HPC mobilized in peripheral blood. Urine levels of deoxypyridinoline (DPyr), a specific marker of bone resorption, gradually elevated during the time course of G-CSF administration until day 7 after cessation of G-CSF, showing a simultaneous stimulation of bone degradation during G-CSF-induced HPC mobilization. In an in vivo murine model, we found that the number of osteoclasts was dramatically increased paralleling the elevation of DPyr after G-CSF administration. When pamidronate, an inhibitor of osteoclast-mediated bone resorption, was administered together with G-CSF in mice, the G-CSF-induced increase of DPyr levels was completely abolished whereas the numbers of colony-forming cells mobilized in peripheral blood were not decreased, but unexpectedly increased relative to the numbers elicited by G-CSF alone. Collectively, our data therefore show that short-term administration of G-CSF induces bone degradation by a simultaneous inhibition of bone formation and an enhanced osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. This increased bone resorption is inhibited by pamidronate without reducing G-CSF-induced HPC mobilization, suggesting that the activation of bone resorption after G-CSF administration is not the direct cause of HPC mobilization as initially hypothesized, but a parallel event.
On using a quantum physics formalism for multidocument summarization

Multidocument summarization (MDS) aims for each given query to extract compressed and relevant information with respect to the different query-related themes present in a set of documents. Many approaches operate in two steps. Themes are first identified from the set, and then a summary is formed by extracting salient sentences within the different documents of each of the identified themes. Among these approaches, latent semantic analysis (LSA) based approaches rely on spectral decomposition techniques to identify the themes. In this article, we propose a major extension of these techniques that relies on the quantum information access (QIA) framework. The latter is a framework developed for modeling information access based on the probabilistic formalism of quantum physics. The QIA framework not only points out the limitations of the current LSA-based approaches, but motivates a new principled criterium to tackle multidocument summarization that addresses these limitations. As a byproduct, it also provides a way to enhance the LSA-based approaches. Extensive experiments on the DUC 2005, 2006 and 2007 datasets show that the proposed approach consistently improves over both the LSA-based approaches and the systems that competed in the yearly DUC competitions. This demonstrates the potential impact of quantum-inspired approaches to information access in general, and of the QIA framework in particular. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Medial axis based solid representation

The medial axis (MA) of an object and medial axis transform (MAT) have many applications in solid modeling, computer graphics and other areas. Exact computation of MA is complex and various medial axis approximation algorithms were studied. One of the most successful is based on the computation of the Voronoi diagram of a set of sample points on the boundary of the object. Based on this method we present a novel representation of solids, which we call a pair-mesh. The pair-mesh is a deformable manifold surface triangulation where each node deforms between a pair of vertices one on the MA approximation and one on the boundary. Consequently, it provides a continuous map between the inner Voronoi based structure and the boundary of the shape, encompassing the topological structures of them both. This representation can also be seen as a partitioning of the volume between the two, where each element in the partition is either a tetrahedron or a pyramid and includes vertices from both the MA approximation and the reconstructed boundary.