Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Three-dimensional subband coding techniques for wireless video communications

We present a new 3D subband coding framework that achieves a good balance between high compression performance and channel error resilience. Various data transform methods for video decorrelation were examined and compared. The coding stage of the algorithm is based on a generalized adaptive quantization framework which is applied to the 3D transformed coefficients. It features a simple coding structure based on quadtree coding and lattice vector quantization. In typical applications, good performance at high compression ratios is obtained, often without entropy coding. Because temporal decorrelation is absorbed by the transform, traditional motion compensated prediction becomes unnecessary, resulting in a significant computational advantage over standard video coders. Error-resilience is achieved through classifying the compressed data streams into separated sub-streams with different error sensitivity levels. This enables a good adaptation to different channel models according to their noise statistics and error-protection protocols. Experimental results have shown that the subband video coder is able to achieve highly competitive performance relative to MPEG-2 in both noiseless and noisy environments. Lapped transforms are shown experimentally to outperform other transforms in the 3D subband environment. The subband coding framework provides a practical solution for video communications over wireless channels, where efficiency, error resilience and computational simplicity are vital in providing superior quality of service.
WKB Method and Relativistic Potential Models

Based on the Dirac approach we have developed the relativistic vision of the WKB method for centrally symmetrical potential with mixed Lorenz structure. We have obtained relativistic wavefunctions of light quark and the new rule of quantization containing the spin-orbit interaction. These gives us the possibility of finding the energy levels and decay width of hydrogen-like quark-systems.
An enhanced technique for roller bearing defect detection using an impulse response wavelet based sparse code shrinkage de-noising algorithm

Detection of defects at early stage is crucial to fault prognostics. Periodic impulses indicate the occurrence of faults in roller bearings. However, it is difficult to detect the impulses of initiating defects because they are rather weak and are often immersed in heavy noise. Existing wavelet threshold de-noising methods are not efficient because they use orthogonal wavelets, which do not match correctly the impulse and do not utilize prior information on the impulses. Hence, a Sparse Code Shrinkage (SCS) method based on maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) for thresholding using an adapted wavelet is developed. Based on SCS de-noising, the present method gives an in-depth analysis of the inspected signal even at very low signal to noise ratio (SNR).
Brief Announcement: Labeling Schemes for Power-Law Graphs

A labeling scheme is a method of distributing the information about the structure of a graph among its vertices by assigning short labels, such that a selected function on pairs of vertices can be computed using only their labels. A labeling scheme consists of an encoder that has access to the entire graph and assigns labels to vertices, and a decoder that has access to only the labels of a smaller set of vertices (typically a pair) and returns information about this subset (e.g., whether two vertices are adjacent, or the distance between them in the graph). The main objective is to minimize the maximum label size: the maximum number of bits used in a label of any vertex. Among the applications of labeling schemes are XML search engines, mapping services, and internet routing.
Luminal Localization of α-tubulin K40 Acetylation by Cryo-EM Analysis of Fab-Labeled Microtubules

The αβ-tubulin subunits of microtubules can undergo a variety of evolutionarily-conserved post-translational modifications (PTMs) that provide functional specialization to subsets of cellular microtubules. Acetylation of α-tubulin residue Lysine-40 (K40) has been correlated with increased microtubule stability, intracellular transport, and ciliary assembly, yet a mechanistic understanding of how acetylation influences these events is lacking. Using the anti-acetylated tubulin antibody 6-11B-1 and electron cryo-microscopy, we demonstrate that the K40 acetylation site is located inside the microtubule lumen and thus cannot directly influence events on the microtubule surface, including kinesin-1 binding. Surprisingly, the monoclonal 6-11B-1 antibody recognizes both acetylated and deacetylated microtubules. These results suggest that acetylation induces structural changes in the K40-containing loop that could have important functional consequences on microtubule stability, bending, and subunit interactions. This work has important implications for acetylation and deacetylation reaction mechanisms as well as for interpreting experiments based on 6-11B-1 labeling.
An improved algorithm of the support vector machine

According to the testing speed of the SVM depends on the number of support vector, this paper proposes the reduce vector algorithm to resolve this problem. It can reduce the calculation number of the inner product. Therefore, improve the testing speed (In particular, when a larger number of support vectors). Lastly, simulate with artificial dataset. The experiment results show the RVSVM is effective.
Optimization of the amplify-and-forward in a wireless sensor network using compressed sensing

In this paper, we study a novel compressed sensing technique applied to wireless sensor networks with a star topology. In particular, we propose a amplify-and-forward transmission scheme to achieve a distributed compressed sensing framework. The key idea is twofold; the first is to take advantage of time correlation properties present in most of the physical sensing scenarios and produce a sparse version of the measured signal. The second one is to perform random projections by means of the channel matrix that models the path among transmitters, relays and receivers. To reconstruct the signal at the fusion center, we follow a l 1-norm minimization approach. The simulation results show that our proposed distributed algorithm performs close to centralized compressed sensing techniques, presenting a reduction of the number of channel uses and significant energy savings. Furthermore, the trade-off between savings and the mean square error in the reconstruction is evaluated.
The RCK1 domain of the human BKCa channel transduces Ca2+ binding into structural rearrangements

Large-conductance voltage- and Ca2+-activated K+ (BKCa) channels play a fundamental role in cellular function by integrating information from their voltage and Ca2+ sensors to control membrane potential and Ca2+ homeostasis. The molecular mechanism of Ca2+-dependent regulation of BKCa channels is unknown, but likely relies on the operation of two cytosolic domains, regulator of K+ conductance (RCK)1 and RCK2. Using solution-based investigations, we demonstrate that the purified BKCa RCK1 domain adopts an α/β fold, binds Ca2+, and assembles into an octameric superstructure similar to prokaryotic RCK domains. Results from steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy reveal Ca2+-induced conformational changes in physiologically relevant [Ca2+]. The neutralization of residues known to be involved in high-affinity Ca2+ sensing (D362 and D367) prevented Ca2+-induced structural transitions in RCK1 but did not abolish Ca2+ binding. We provide evidence that the RCK1 domain is a high-affinity Ca2+ sensor that transduces Ca2+ binding into structural rearrangements, likely representing elementary steps in the Ca2+-dependent activation of human BKCa channels.
Eye-tracking the own-gender bias in face recognition: Other-gender faces are viewed differently to own-gender faces

ABSTRACT Research on the own-gender bias in face recognition has indicated an asymmetrical effect: an effect found only in women. We investigated the own-gender bias, using an eye-tracker to examine whether the own-gender bias is associated with differential processing strategies. We found an own-gender bias in our female participants. Our eye-tracking analysis indicated different scanning behaviours when processing own- and other-gender faces, with longer and more fixations to the eyes when viewing own-gender faces. Our results favour the socio-cognitive model, whilst acknowledging the role of perceptual expertise in the own-gender bias.
On Searching Relevant Studies in Software Engineering

BACKGROUND: Systematic Literature Review (SLR) has become an important research methodology in software engineering since 2004. One critical step in applying this methodology is to design and execute appropriate and effective search strategy. This is quite time consuming and error-prone step, which needs to be carefully planned and implemented. There is an apparent need of a systematic approach to designing, executing, and evaluating a suitable search strategy for optimally retrieving the target literature from digital libraries. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of the research reported in this paper is to improve the search step of doing SLRs in SE by devising and evaluating systematic and practical approaches to identifying relevant studies in SE. OUTCOMES: We have systematically selected and analytically studied a large number of papers to understand the state-of-the-practice of search strategies in EBSE. Having identified the limitations of the current ad-hoc nature of search strategies used by SE researchers for SLR, we have devised a systematic approach to developing and executing optimal search strategies in SLRs. The proposed approach incorporates the concept of 'quasi-gold standard', which consists of collection of known studies and corresponding 'quasi-sensitivity' into the search process for evaluating search performance. We report the case study and its finding to demonstrate that the approach is able to improve the rigor of search process in an SLR, and can serves as the supplements to the guidelines for SLRs in EBSE. We plan to further evaluate the proposed approach using several case studies with varying topics in software engineering.
On Measurement and Computation

Inspired by the work of Feynman, Deutsch, We formally propose the theory of physical computability and accordingly, the physical complexity theory. To achieve this, a framework that can evaluate almost all forms of computation using various physical mechanisms is discussed. Here, we focus on using it to review the theory of Quantum Computation. As a preliminary study on more general problems, some examples of other physical mechanism are also given in this paper.
Situational Salience of Norms Moderates Cultural Differences in the Originality and Usefulness of Creative Ideas Generated or Selected by Teams

This study examines how culture affects the normative processes implicated in cultural differences in creative behaviors. Western norms prioritize originality and Eastern norms usefulness. In a cross-cultural study, we found significant performance differences in terms of originality and usefulness between Americans and Taiwanese only when these norms were salient, as when the task required individuals to select ideas (vs. generate new ideas) or to work in a group (vs. work alone). Compared with Taiwanese, Americans generated more original ideas when they worked in a group or when the task required them to select ideas for further elaboration. When required to select ideas in a group, norms were most salient and Americans’ relative advantage over Taiwanese in originality was most pronounced. In contrast, compared with Americans, Taiwanese generated more useful ideas when they worked in a group or when the task required them to select ideas for further elaboration. When required to select ideas in a group, Taiwanese’s advantage over Americans in usefulness was most pronounced. Moreover, although Americans and Taiwanese were equally capable of generating original and useful ideas, Taiwanese teams tended to express useful ideas and hold back original ones in group discussion. In contrast, American teams tended to hold back useful ideas. The theoretical and future research implications of these findings are discussed.
On Detecting Errors in Dependency Treebanks Adriane Boyd

Dependency relations between words are increasingly recognized as an important level of linguistic representation that is close to the data and at the same time to the semantic functor-argument structure as a target of syntactic analysis and processing. Correspondingly, dependency structures play an important role in parser evaluation and for the training and evaluation of tools based on dependency treebanks. Gold standard dependency treebanks have been created for some languages, most notably Czech, and annotation efforts for other languages are under way. At the same time, general techniques for detecting errors in dependency annotation have not yet been developed. We address this gap by exploring how a technique proposed for detecting errors in constituency-based syntactic annotation can be adapted to systematically detect errors in dependency annotation. Building on an analysis of key properties and differences between constituency and dependency annotation, we discuss results for dependency treebanks for Swedish, Czech, and German. Complementing the focus on detecting errors in dependency treebanks to improve these gold standard resources, the discussion of dependency error detection for different languages and annotation schemes also raises questions of standardization for some aspects of dependency annotation, in particular regarding the locality of annotation, the assumption of a single head for each dependency relation, and phenomena such as coordination.
Supporting Developers in Porting Software via Combined Textual and Structural Analysis of Software Artifacts

This is position paper accepted to the Computational Science & Engineering Software Sustainability and Productivity Challenges (CSESSP Challenges) Workshop, sponsored by the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Software Design and Productivity (SDP) Coordinating Group, held October 15th-16th 2015 in Washington DC, USA. It discusses the role recommendation systems, based on textual and structural information in source code, and further enhanced by mining related applications, can have in improving the portability of scientific and engineering software.
Soft channel encoding; a comparison of algorithms for soft information relaying

Soft Decode and Forward using Soft-Input Soft-Output (SISO) BCJR encoder is a recent relaying technique. The main purpose of employing SISO BCJR encoder in the relay is to combine the benefits of traditional relaying techniques, i.e. “Decode and Forward” and “Amplify and Forward”. We propose a novel approach to derive the estimated BER of the overall system and the equivalent source-relay-destination channel SNR. We consider the loss of mutual information due to applying SISO BCJR encoder in the relay and compare it with the mutual information loss due to applying an equivalent convolutional encoder. We also propose a novel SISO encoder which outperforms existing SISO BCJR encoder.
Modeling of One-Way Transit Time in IP Routers

A novel measurement system is reported for delay measurements in IP routers, which follows specifications of the IETF RFC 2679. The system employs both passive measurements and active probing and offers the possibility to measure and analyze the One-Way Transit Time (OWTT) in routers as well as different delay components of a router, e.g., packet processing delay, packet transmission time and queueing delay at the output link. The reported results are in the form of important summary statistics of the OWTT as well as the associated distributional properties. It is observed that OWTT has several component delays and the component delay distribution that is most dominant and heavy-tailed has a decisive influence on OWTT.
Reproduction and Development of Laboratory and Wild House Dust Mites (Acari: Pyroglyphidae) and Their Relationship to the Natural Dust Ecosystem

Abstract Life histories of “wild” house dust mites, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Trouessart) (Acari: Pyroglyphidae), were compared with laboratory cultures by using a diet consisting of skin and dust or a laboratory diet consisting of dried liver and yeast. Under constant conditions of 25°C and 75% RH, fecundity and rate of reproduction were higher in laboratory cultures on both diets compared with wild mites. There were also trends for a shorter prereproductive period and more rapid egg development of laboratory mites compared with wild mites. Overall, there was little effect of diet on either strain of mites at 75% RH. At low RH (64%), fecundity was significantly lower (for both strains on both diets), and there were also trends for longer prereproductive period, reduced rate of reproduction, reduced adult survival, prolonged egg and juvenile development, or a combination compared with 75% RH. Additionally egg and juvenile mortality were significantly higher on the liver and yeast diet. Overall, the skin and dust diet favored both strains of mites at 64% RH. On the liver and yeast diet at 64% RH, wild mite adults performed significantly better than laboratory mites, and egg mortality was lower. These results suggest that laboratory mites have stronger reproduction and development than wild mites, except when under environmental stress and that diet is a significant factor, particularly in suboptimal conditions. This could have important implications for predictive models of house dust mite populations in their natural habitat. Ideally, such models should be developed using data from wild dust mite populations reared on a natural diet.
Antidepressant-like effect of resveratrol in a subchronic model of depression

Background and aim Depression is one of the most serious and common mental diseases with major negative social consequences. Transresveratrol (trans-3,5,4΄-trihydroxystilbene) is a polyphenolic compound with a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities. It has been detected in some fruits and herbs, including the Asian plant Polygonum cuspidatum . The aim of this study was to assess the antidepressant-like effect of transresveratrol in a reserpine subchronic model of depression. Materials and methods Depression-like behaviours were induced in rats by reserpine injection (0.25 mg/kg, subcutaneously) every 48 h, for 20 days. Transresveratrol (60 and 120 mg/kg) and fluoxetine (10 mg/kg) were administered orally daily during the 20 days of the study. Behavioural tests, namely, open-field test and forced swimming test, as well as brain neurotransmitters levels and antioxidant contents and liver functions, were assessed. Results Data revealed that transresveratrol improved the rats' behaviour in both the open-field test and forced swimming test, and also elevated the brain's neurotransmitter content, normalized the liver enzymes level, and improved the antioxidant status of both the brain and liver, compared with those of fluoxetine. Conclusion The present study provided a clear evidence for the antidepressant-like of transresveratrol in the experimental model of depression. Further investigations are required to investigate the mechanism of action of transresveratrol as well as its applicability to be used as an antidepressant.
Developing Students’ Awareness of Network Dynamics by Spreadsheet Environment

This paper deals with the problem of learning in a new digital or networked society. Specifically, the study is focused on the development of students’ network awareness by constructing and investigating the network learning environment. An environment comprising the spreadsheet EXCEL and the visualization tool NodeXL is introduced. Students construct their own models of the network and are able to observe the behavior of the constructed network in the form of a dynamically evolving graph. Models are defined by simple algorithms. The algorithms correspond to different rules of network evolution. Specifically, rules for attaching the next vertex to the existing network are presented. A number of network examples, constructed and studied by using the proposed approach, are presented and discussed.
First INTEGRAL observations of Cygnus X-3

We present the first INTEGRAL results on Cyg X-3 from the PV phase observations of the Cygnus region. The source was clearly detected by the JEM-X, ISGRI and SPI. The INTEGRAL observations were supported by simultaneous pointed RXTE observations. Their lightcurves folded over the 4.8 hour binary period are compatible with the mean RXTE/ASM and CGRO/BATSE light curves. We fit our broad-band X-ray/-ray spectra with a physical model, which represents the first such published model for Cyg X-3. The main physical processes in the source are thermal Comptonization and Compton reflection with parameters similar to those found for black-hole binaries at high Eddington rates.
Right Sizing Quality Assurance

fter a decade of performing process improvement, rework for our organiza-tion's software development projects was dramatically reduced from approximately 75 percent of the total effort to a very low value of 3 percent. When the percentage was high, rework was easily identified; for a small amount of quality assurance (QA) effort, a large quantity of rework was generated. As our production process improved, it became increasingly more difficult to identify defects. With rework now at 3 percent, we began to examine the economics of further improvement and the possibility of reducing the QA effort. Economically, the concept arises of right sizing the QA function with respect to the needs of the customer(s) or the quality goals of the producer organization.
Improving Newton's method for Initialization of Modelica models

Initializing a model written in Modelica translates to finding consistent initial values to the underlying DAE. Adding initial equations and conditions creates a system of non-linear equations that can be solved for the initial configuration. This paper reports an implementation of Newton's method to solve the non-linear initialization system. This implementation also uses a regularization method to deal with singular Jacobians as well as sparse solvers to exploit the sparsity structure of the Jacobian. The implementation is based on the open-source projects JModelica.org and Assimulo, KINSOL from the SUNDIALS suite and SuperLU.
Towards an Ontology Driven Spam Filter

Email's popularity has led to the increase in unsolicited mails. Currently spam filters use the structure and syntax of email body along with training methods to classify email as spam or ham. These include techniques such as word statistics and Bayesian filters. In this paper we propose to extend spam filters to use the semantics of an email as an additional parameter for classification. We suggest a system that uses ontologies to discover relationships between tokens in an email. Using semantics presents challenges such as: building the ontology, relationship discovery, relevancy scoring and so on. We discuss these challenges in detail and propose possible solutions to them.