Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of the Sign Regressor Least Mean Fourth Adaptive Algorithm

A novel algorithm, called the signed regressor least mean fourth (SRLMF) adaptive algorithm, that reduces the computational cost and complexity while maintaining good performance is presented. Expressions are derived for the steady-state excess-mean-square error (EMSE) of the SRLMF algorithm in a stationary environment. A sufficient condition for the convergence in the mean of the SRLMF algorithm is derived. Also, expressions are obtained for the tracking EMSE of the SRLMF algorithm in a nonstationary environment, and consequently an optimum value of the step-size is obtained. Moreover, the weighted variance relation has been extended in order to derive expressions for the mean-square error (MSE) and the mean-square deviation (MSD) of the proposed algorithm during the transient phase. Computer simulations are carried out to corroborate the theoretical findings. It is shown that there is a good match between the theoretical and simulated results. It is also shown that the SRLMF algorithm has no performance degradation when compared with the least mean fourth (LMF) algorithm. The results in this study emphasize the usefulness of this algorithm in applications requiring reduced implementation costs for which the LMF algorithm is too complex.
Schramm–Loewner evolution in the three-state Potts model—a numerical study

The scaling limit of the spin cluster boundaries of the Ising model with domain wall boundary conditions is Schramm–Loewner evolution (SLE) with κ = 3. We hypothesize that the three-state Potts model with appropriate boundary conditions has spin cluster boundaries which are also SLE in the scaling limit, but with κ = 10/3. To test this, we generate samples using the Wolff algorithm and test them against predictions of SLE: we examine the statistics of the Loewner driving function, estimate the fractal dimension and test against Schramm’s formula. The results are in support of our hypothesis.
Band usage and cancellable transformations for authentication of multibiometrics

A wide variety of systems requires consistency in personal legality to identify an isolated users seeking access to their opted services. The aim of these systems is to make sure that the yield utilities are gained only by the above board. This Consistency can be achieved by using multibiometric which is associated with weaving of unique physiological features of an isolated user. However, these multibiometric systems need more storage to store the templates of each individual. The biometric cryptosystem resolves such a storage problem and provides security to the stored template. This paper propose the new approach in addition to the biometric cryptosystem which helps to achieve the more secure and complex multi-biometric system.
All-Optical Signal Processing for UltraHigh Speed Optical Systems and Networks

With high-bandwidth and on-demand applications continuing to emerge, next-generation core optical networks will likely require significant improvements in reconfigurability and ultra-fast operations. Optical signal processing overcomes the electronic bandwidth limitations with the advantages in terms of transparency and scalability. We review recent progresses in all-optical signal processing potentially for ultrahigh speed systems and networks. Starting from a brief overview of optical signal processing in high-speed optical systems and networks, we highlight a few key network functionalities, including optical logic operations, reconfigurable add/drop multiplexing, optical regeneration, wavelength conversion, format conversion, and phase-sensitive amplification. Different techniques are investigated and discussed, employing a wide range of devices and various nonlinearities. Some of experimental results are presented in both single polarization systems and polarization-division multiplexing systems.
A Framework for Secure Information Flow Analysis in Web Applications

Huge amounts of data and personal information are being sent to and retrieved from web applications on daily basis. Every application has its own confidentiality and integrity policies. Violating these policies can have broad negative impact on the involved company's financial status, while enforcing them is very hard even for the developers with good security background. In this paper, we propose a framework that enforces security-by-construction in web applications. Minimal developer effort is required, in a sense that the developer only needs to annotate database attributes by a security class. The web application code is then converted into an intermediary representation, called Extended Program Dependence Graph (EPDG). Using the EPDG, the provided annotations are propagated to the application code and run against generic security enforcement rules that were carefully designed to detect insecure information flows as early as they occur. As a result, any violation in the data's confidentiality or integrity policies is reported. As a proof of concept, two PHP web applications, Hotel Reservation and Auction, were used for testing and validation. The proposed system was able to catch all the existing insecure information flows at their source. Moreover and to highlight the simplicity of the suggested approaches vs. Existing approaches, two professional web developers assessed the annotation tasks needed in the presented case studies and provided a very positive feedback on the simplicity of the annotation task.
Pulmonary Necrosis Resulting from DNA Vaccination against Tuberculosis

ABSTRACT The use of DNA constructs encoding mycobacterial proteins is a promising new approach to vaccination against tuberculosis. A DNA vaccine encoding the hsp60 molecule of Mycobacterium leprae has previously been shown to protect against intravenous infection of mice with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in both the prophylactic and immunotherapeutic modes. It is shown here, however, that this vaccine was not effective in a more realistic aerosol infection model or in a model of latent tuberculosis in the lungs. Moreover, when given in an immunotherapeutic model the immunized mice developed classical Koch reactions characterized by multifocal discrete regions of cellular necrosis throughout the lung granulomas. Similar and equally severe reactions were seen in mice given a vaccine with DNA coding for the Ag85 antigen of M. tuberculosis. This previously unanticipated safety problem indicates that DNA vaccines should be used with caution in individuals who may have already been exposed to tuberculosis.
Linearly Polarized Millimeter and Submillimeter Continuum Emission of Sgr A* Constrained by ALMA

Our aim is to characterize the polarized continuum emission properties including intensity, polarization position angle, and polarization percentage of Sgr A* at $\sim$100 (3.0 mm), $\sim$230 (1.3 mm), $\sim$345 (0.87 mm), $\sim$500 (0.6 mm), and $\sim$700 GHz (0.43 mm). We report continuum emission properties of Sgr A* at the above frequency bands, based on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations. We measured flux densities of Sgr A* from ALMA single pointing and mosaic observations. We performed sinusoidal fittings to the observed (XX-YY)/I intensity ratios, to derive the polarization position angles and polarization percentages. We successfully detect polarized continuum emission from all observed frequency bands. We observed lower Stokes I intensity at $\sim$700 GHz than that at $\sim$500 GHz, which suggests that emission at $\gtrsim$500 GHz is from optically thin part of a synchrotron emission spectrum. Both the Stokes I intensity and the polarization position angle at our highest observing frequency of $\sim$700 GHz, may be varying with time. However, we do not yet detect variation in the polarization percentage at $>$500 GHz. The polarization percentage at $\sim$700 GHz is likely lower than that at $\sim$500 GHz. By comparing the $\sim$500 GHz and $\sim$700 GHz observations with the observations at lower frequency bands, we suggest that the intrinsic polarization position angle of Sgr A* is varying with time. This paper also reports the measurable polarization properties from the observed calibration quasars. The future simultaneous multi-frequency polarization observations are required for clarifying the time and frequency variation of polarization position angle and polarization percentage.
Real-time stereo matching for depth estimation using GPU

Real-time technology of stereo matching to generate depth map from stereo images is one of the important computer vision challenges in recent years. The depth map are used in various fields such as the robot binocular vision, 3D recognition system, 3D model reconstruction and so on. Because the initial depth estimation method cannot generate good results, most of the methods will accompany a refinement process afterwards. The aim of this paper is to improve the quality of initial depth map estimation without any depth refinement in real time via GPU. This paper proposes a real-time effective stereo matching using adaptive shape window on compute unified device architecture (CUDA). The proposed method estimate depth map by cost aggregation over shape-adaptive regions and generate the accurate initial depth map among the real-time methods by evaluating in Middlebury stereo benchmark.
Virtual Reality as a Tool for Delivering PTSD Exposure Therapy and Stress Resilience Training

The incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in returning Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom military personnel has created a significant behavioral health care challenge. One emerging form of treatment for combat-related PTSD that has shown promise involves the delivery of exposure therapy using immersive virtual reality (VR). Initial outcomes from open clinical trials have been positive, and fully randomized controlled trials are currently in progress. Inspired by the initial success of our research using VR to emotionally engage and successfully treat persons undergoing exposure therapy for PTSD, we have developed a similar VR-based approach to deliver resilience training prior to an initial deployment. The STress Resilience In Virtual Environments (STRIVE) project aims to create a set of combat simulations (derived from our existing virtual Iraq/Afghanistan PTSD exposure therapy system) that are part of a multiepisode interactive narrative experience. Users can be immersed within challenging virtual combat contexts and interact with virtual characters as part of an experiential approach for learning emotional coping strategies believed to enhance stress resilience. This article describes the development and evaluation of the virtual Iraq/Afghanistan exposure therapy system and then details its current transition into the STRIVE tool for predeployment stress resilience training.
Growth and Yield of Shallot (Allium cepa L. Aggregatum group) with Application of Beneficial Microorganisms

Shallot (Allium cepa L. Aggregatum group) is one of the most widely utilized vegetables by Indonesian people. Some technologies have been adapted to improved shallot productivity. One of those are the application of beneficial microorganisms. We applied mycorrhizal fungi, Trichoderma sp. , and Bacillus thuringiensis as well as the combination among these microorganisms were applied in Shallots cultivation and were investigated to improve the growth and development of shallot. A field experiment was arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design with two treatment factors. The first factor consisted of two shallot cultivars, namely Biru Lancor and Crok Kuning; whilst the second factor consisted of six beneficial microorganism treatments, i.e. control, mycorrhizae, Trichoderma sp. , Bacillus thuringiensis, the combination of mycorrhizae and Trichoderma sp. , and the combination of those three microorganisms. The observation was conducted on infection percentage of mycorrhizae, total population of Trichoderma sp. , leaf area, leaf area index, net assimilation rate, crop growth rate, harvest index, and plant yield. The data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and continued with Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% significance level. The results showed the leaf area of shallot was improved as affected by the application of mycorrhizal fungi. The effectiveness and implication of mycorrhizal fungi on shallot growth would decrease if the application of was combined with other microorganisms. However, the application of beneficial microorganisms had not been able to increase component yield and yield of Biru Lancor and Crok Kuning, indicated by bulb weight, number of bulb, bulb diameter, number of bulb per cluster, and bulb yield per hectare.
An Isomap-based kernerl-Knn classifier for hyperspectral data analysis

This paper investigated approaches using Isomap to extract nonlinear intrinsic features for K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) to classify Hyperspectral data, and proposed a new classification method, Isomap-based kernel-KNN (IKNN), based on the kernel function of Isomap and kernelized-KNN classifier. This method takes advantage of the global manifold learning ability of Isomap algorithm directly, without explicitly extracting the coordinates of its intrinsic features. As such, IKNN avoids the challenge to determine the intrinsic dimensionality of the Hyperspectral dataset and bypasses the computational bottlenecks of Isomap algorithm. The proposed approach is compared with the common KNN algorithm classifying on the features explicitly extracted by PCA and Isomap. IKNN shows obvious advantages in computational speed, and consistent classification performance and obtains the highest accuracy.
Search Behaviour Before and After Search Success

Why do users continue searching after reviewing all relevant documents with which they could have completed a work task? If we knew the answer, then a search system may be able to help users learn about their current search processes, which in turn may enable them to make the whole search process more efficient, leading to greater effectiveness and user satisfaction. This paper is a first step towards solving this problem. Using a previously collected data set, we identified the point of success and hence task completion, and investigated the search behaviour before and after users had accessed all relevant documents for answering assigned tasks. We used a set of search behaviour actions derived from Marchionini's (1995) Information Seeking Process model, and modeled the distribution of these actions throughout the entire search process, comparing actions before and after success could have been attained. Our results suggest that six defined actions, namely user-submitted query, system-suggested query, forward to items, evaluate relevant items, reflect, and answer appeared to change according to the stage of the entire search process. Also, users have notably distinct patterns before and after search success was obtained, but not realised by the user. Not all action were affected; user-submitted query and system-suggested query appeared to be unaffected by time in post-success case and presuccess case, respectively.
Why are Chinese mothers more controlling than American mothers? "My child is my report card".

Chinese parents exert more control over children than do American parents. The current research examined whether this is due in part to Chinese parents' feelings of worth being more contingent on children's performance. Twice over a year, 215 mothers and children (Mage = 12.86 years) in China and the United States (European and African American) reported on psychologically controlling parenting. Mothers also indicated the extent to which their worth is contingent on children's performance. Psychologically controlling parenting was higher among Chinese than American mothers, particularly European (vs. African) American mothers. Chinese (vs. American) mothers' feelings of worth were more contingent on children's performance, with this contributing to their heightened psychological control relative to American mothers.
Jelly: a multi-device design environment for managing consistency across devices

When creating applications that should be available on multiple computing platforms, designers have to cope with different design tools and user interface toolkits. Incompatibilities between these design tools and toolkits make it hard to keep multi-device user interfaces consistent. This paper presents Jelly, a flexible design environment that can target a broad set of computing devices and toolkits. Jelly enables designers to copy parts of a user interface from one device to another and to maintain the different user interfaces in concert using linked editing. Our approach lowers the burden of designing multi-device user interfaces by eliminating the need to switch between different design tools and by providing tool support for keeping the user interfaces consistent across different platforms and toolkits.
Diet and isotopic niche of eastern sand darter (Ammocrypta pellucida) near the northern edge of its range: a test of niche specificity

Niche specificity can predispose species to population declines during periods of resource limitation, yet trophic niche specificity is poorly known for many small-bodied freshwater fishes. Applying a two-tiered approach involving stomach content and stable isotope analyses, we examined the diet and trophic niche of the threatened eastern sand darter (Ammocrypta pellucida (Putnam, 1863)) and co-occurring fishes in the Thames River, Ontario, Canada. As with previous studies, stomach content analysis revealed that eastern sand darter consumed a variety of benthic organisms including Chironomidae, Cladocera, Ostracoda, Oligochaeta, and Ephemeroptera; however, proportional contributions of prey groups differed based on stable isotope analysis, highlighting the potential for seasonal variation in prey consumption. Despite evidence of a generalist strategy, stable isotope analysis indicated eastern sand darter exhibited a relatively narrow trophic niche relative to co-occurring fishes. Trophic niche overlap was relatively minor between eastern sand darter and drift-feeding fishes (spotfin shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera (Cope, 1867)), emerald shiner (Notropis atherinoides Rafinesque, 1818), and buffalo sp. (genus Ictiobus Rafinesque, 1820)), but was more evident between eastern sand darter and benthic and benthopelagic fishes (johnny darter (Etheostoma nigrum Rafinesque, 1820) and blackside darter (Percina maculata (Girard, 1859))), indicating that competition with these species may be more likely during periods of prey scarcity.
On the representation of numbers in a rational base

A new method for representing positive integers and real numbers in a rational base is considered. It amounts to computing the digits from right to left, least significant first. Every integer has a unique such expansion. The set of expansions of the integers is not a regular language but nevertheless addition can be performed by a letter-to-letter finite right transducer. Every real number has at least one such expansion and a countable infinite set of them have more than one. We explain how these expansions can be approximated and characterize the expansions of reals that have two expansions. These results are not only developped for their own sake but also as they relate to other problems in combinatorics and number theory. A first example is a new interpretation and expansion of the constant K(p) from the so-called “Josephus problem”. More important, these expansions in the base pq allow us to make some progress in the problem of the distribution of the fractional part of the powers of rational numbers.
Introns are essential for growth-regulated expression of the mouse thymidylate synthase gene

The thymidylate synthase (TS) gene is expressed at much higher levels in proliferating cells than in quiescent cells. We have been studying the sequences that are important for regulating the mouse TS gene. We previously showed that DNA sequences upstream of the essential promoter elements as well as downstream of the ATG codon are both necessary (but neither is sufficient) for normal regulation in growth-stimulated cells. In the present study, we examined the possible roles of the coding region, polyadenylation signal, and introns as downstream regulatory elements. Minigenes consisting of 1 kb of the TS 5'-flanking region, the coding region (with or without various introns at their normal locations), and polyadenylation signals from the TS gene, the human beta-globin gene, and the bovine growth hormone gene were stably transfected into wild-type mouse 3T6 cells. Minigenes that contained introns 5 and 6, 1 and 2, or 1 alone were regulated regardless of which polyadenylation signal was included. A minigene that contained an internally deleted version of intron 1 was also regulated in response to growth stimulation. However, when all introns were omitted, there was little if any change in the level of minigene expression as cells progressed from G1 through S phase. These observations indicate that TS introns contain sequences that are necessary for normal growth-regulated expression of the mouse TS gene. These sequences appear to be associated with sequences that are important for splicing and to function in cooperation with upstream regulatory elements to bring about normal S-phase-specific expression.
Capacity of the broadcasting phase of time-varying two-way relaying

In this paper, we mainly focus on the problem about the channel capacity and power allocation of the downlink process of a wireless two-way relay channel which is time-varying while the relay node has a total awareness of the channel side information. For situations differing about how receiving nodes know about messages for the other, we accordingly determine the channel capacities and the coding process using techniques such as network coding, superposition coding and nested coding; also the relay node should make corresponding strategies about power allocation with channel side information to attain the best average channel capacity, whose optimal solution in closed form is achieved using KKT conditions.