Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A $q$-Parameterized Deterministic Annealing EM Algorithm Based on Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics

We propose a q-parameterized deterministic annealing expectation maximization (q-DAEM) algorithm for parameter estimation motivated by the concept of Tsallis entropy that originates from the nonextensive statistical mechanics. The q-DAEM algorithm combines the feature of annealing algorithms to reduce initialization sensitivity and that of q-EM algorithms to achieve fast convergence. The q-EM algorithm is a one-parameter generalized EM algorithm that has been previously proposed by the authors. By interpreting the EM algorithm via likelihood lower bound maximization, we build the fundamental interconnections among DAEM, q-DAEM, and statistical mechanics. To illustrate the benefits of using q-DAEM, we investigate two applications: finite mixture model estimation in data clustering; and joint channel estimation and data detection in communication systems, where we show that the q-DAEM algorithm achieves superior performance over the EM algorithm for both applications.
Enabling visual analysis in wireless sensor networks

This demo showcases some of the results obtained by the GreenEyes project, whose main objective is to enable visual analysis on resource-constrained multimedia sensor networks. The demo features a multi-hop visual sensor network operated by BeagleBones Linux computers with IEEE 802.15. 4 communication capabilities, and capable of recognizing and tracking objects according to two different visual paradigms. In the traditional compress-then-analyze (CTA) paradigm, JPEG compressed images are transmitted through the network from a camera node to a central controller, where the analysis takes place. In the alternative analyze-then-compress (ATC) paradigm, the camera node extracts and compresses local binary visual features from the acquired images (either locally or in a distributed fashion) and transmits them to the central controller, where they are used to perform object recognition/tracking. We show that, in a bandwidth constrained scenario, the latter paradigm allows to reach better results in terms of application frame rates, still ensuring excellent analysis performance.
Lightweight virtualized evolved packet core architecture for future mobile communication

The accommodation of machine-to-machine (M2M) terminals in mobile networks is important; therefore, future network architecture supporting M2M services is of intense interest to mobile network operators. We propose an implemental architecture of a virtualized evolved packet core (vEPC) to accommodate M2M services. The proposed architecture deploys dedicated vEPCs based on the functional requirements of services. Every vEPC is optimized by eliminating EPC components or replacing standardized interface protocols with internal application interworking. We confirm the validity of the proposed architecture by experimentally evaluating CPU resource consumption. We also confirm that the proposed architecture reduces CPU time consumption by up to 27% by reducing signaling message volume, and improved performance is observed independently with M2M terminal mobility or communication characteristics.
Measurement of current variations for the estimation of software-related power consumption [embedded processing circuits]

A current measurement configuration for the estimation of the power consumption of processing systems is presented in this work. The problem addressed is to measure the variations of the power supply current of digital circuits (and especially of embedded processing circuits) and to calculate from these measurements the energy consumption variations associated with certain tasks performed by the system software. Accurate monitoring of the instantaneous variations of the power supply current provides the appropriate information for the estimation of the power consumption at different operating situations of the processor (core) and of the overall processing system, as well (consumption of peripheral units). The proposed instantaneous current measuring approach, along with the execution of special test programs for analysis of inter-instruction effects, is expected to provide clear information of the power behavior of single-chip processing systems for low-power applications.
Foundations for approximation based analysis of stability properties of hybrid systems

We discuss pre-orders for reasoning about stability properties of hybrid systems, including Lyapunov stability, asymptotic stability, input-to-state stability and incremental input-to-state stability. We strengthen the classical notion of equivalence between processes, namely, bisimulation with continuity and uniformity conditions and show that the new notions preserve the stability properties for hybrid systems. We demonstrate the usefulness of our results by casting various classical methods for proving stability as constructing simpler systems which are related to the original systems by uniformly continuous notions of pre-orders and proving the simpler systems to be stable.
Distributed under Creative Commons Cc-by 4.0 Recommended Survey Designs for Occupancy Modelling Using Motion-activated Cameras: Insights from Empirical Wildlife Data

Motion-activated cameras are a versatile tool that wildlife biologists can use for sampling wild animal populations to estimate species occurrence. Occupancy modelling provides a flexible framework for the analysis of these data; explicitly recognizing that given a species occupies an area the probability of detecting it is often less than one. Despite the number of studies using camera data in an occupancy framework, there is only limited guidance from the scientific literature about survey design trade-offs when using motion-activated cameras. A fuller understanding of these trade-offs will allow researchers to maximise available resources and determine whether the objectives of a monitoring program or research study are achievable. We use an empirical dataset collected from 40 cameras deployed across 160 km 2 of the Western Slope of Colorado, USA to explore how survey effort (number of cameras deployed and the length of sampling period) affects the accuracy and precision (i.e., error) of the occupancy estimate for ten mammal and three virtual species. We do this using a simulation approach where species occupancy and detection parameters were informed by empirical data from motion-activated cameras. A total of 54 survey designs were considered by varying combinations of sites (10–120 cameras) and occasions (20–120 survey days). Our findings demonstrate that increasing total sampling effort generally decreases error associated with the occupancy estimate, but changing the number of sites or sampling duration can have very different results, depending on whether a species is spatially common or rare (occupancy = ψ) and easy or hard to detect when available (detection probability = p). For rare species with a low probability of detection (i.e., raccoon and spotted skunk) the required survey effort includes maximizing the number of sites and the number of survey days, often to a level that may be logistically unrealistic for many studies. For common species with low detection (i.e., bobcat and coyote) the most efficient sampling approach was to increase the number of occasions (survey days). However, for common species that are moderately detectable (i.e., cottontail rabbit and mule deer), occupancy could reliably be estimated with comparatively low numbers of cameras over a short sampling period. We provide general guidelines for reliably estimating occupancy How to cite this article Shannon et al. (2014), Recommended survey designs for occupancy modelling using motion-activated cameras: insights from empirical wildlife data. PeerJ 2:e532; DOI 10.7717/peerj.532 across a range of terrestrial species (rare to common: ψ = 0.175–0.970, …
3D-PIC: Power Iteration Clustering for segmenting three-dimensional models

Segmenting a 3D model is an important challenge since this operation is relevant for many applications. Making the segmentation algorithm able to find relevant and meaningful geometric primitives automatically is a very important step in 3D image processing. In this paper, we adapted a 2D spectral segmentation method, Power Iteration Clustering (PIC), to the case of 3D models. This method is fast and easy to implement. A similarity matrix based on normals to vertices is defined and a modified version of PIC is implemented in order to segment a 3D model. The proposed method is validated on both free-form and CAD (Computer Aided Design) models, on real data captured by handheld 3D scanners, and in the presence of noise. Results demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the method in all cases.
Enhanced Classification to Counter the Problem of Cluster Disjuncts

— This paper presets a rigorous yet practical model dubbed as Cluster Disjunct Minority Oversampling Technique (CDMOTE) for learning from skewed training data. This algorithm provides a simpler and faster alternative by using cluster disjunct concept. We conduct experiments using fifteen UCI data sets from various application domains using five algorithms for comparison on six evaluation metrics. The empirical study suggests that CDMOTE have been believed to be effective in addressing the class imbalance problem .
Formalization and Quantitative Analysis of Controllability on Internet Information Security

Traditional information security models focus on protecting information or information systems. There is little research on controllability of Internet information security. We present network reference monitor (NRM) for access con- trol in Internet environment. Then we propose the defi nition of network reference monitor and Internet information access control. Abstract operation model is put forward for controllability of Internet access control. The model consists of three parts: information discovery model, information analysis model and information control model. Next, we express the intuitive formal specifi cation of controllability by PCTL logic. Then we characterize the process of Internet access control by fi nite state automata and present an evaluation model of controllability. Control Rate and Control Leak Rate are given to analyze access control of Internet information security quantitatively.
Cattail (Typha X Glauca) Invasion in Wetlands of the Great Lakes Region: Are Impacts Time-Dependent?

This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact ecommons@luc.edu. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my thesis advisor and mentor, Dr. Nancy Tuchman, who inspired me and gave me guidance throughout. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Berg for their help in project setup and overall statistical brilliance. Thank you Michal Olszewski, Owen McKenna, and Lane Vail for all your great ideas and help with field and lab work. Thanks also to David Treering and Dave Miceli for all of your work on method development, aging, and graphics. Thanks to all of the field and lab assistants, and staff who guided me through the twists and turns of the program, especially Gina wife, Abby Miller, who picked me up when I was down and always checked me for ticks.
The structural impact of DNA mismatches

The structure and dynamics of all the transversion and transition mismatches in three different DNA environments have been characterized by molecular dynamics simulations and NMR spectroscopy. We found that the presence of mismatches produced significant local structural alterations, especially in the case of purine transversions. Mismatched pairs often show promiscuous hydrogen bonding patterns, which interchange among each other in the nanosecond time scale. This therefore defines flexible base pairs, where breathing is frequent, and where distortions in helical parameters are strong, resulting in significant alterations in groove dimension. Even if the DNA structure is plastic enough to absorb the structural impact of the mismatch, local structural changes can be propagated far from the mismatch site, following the expected through-backbone and a previously unknown through-space mechanism. The structural changes related to the presence of mismatches help to understand the different susceptibility of mismatches to the action of repairing proteins.
Complex routes into HIV care for migrant workers: a qualitative study from north India

ABSTRACT Migrant workers are designated a bridge population in the spread of HIV and therefore if infected, should be diagnosed and treated early. This study examined pathways to HIV diagnosis and access to care for rural-to-urban circular migrant workers and partners of migrants in northern India, identifying structural, social and individual level factors that shaped their journeys into care. We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with HIV-positive men (n = 20) and women (n = 13) with a history of circular migration, recruited from an antiretroviral therapy centre in one district of Uttar Pradesh, north India. Migrants and partners of migrants faced a complex series of obstacles to accessing HIV testing and care. Employment insecurity, lack of entitlement to sick pay or subsidised healthcare at destination and the household's economic reliance on their migration-based livelihood led many men to continue working until they became incapacitated by HIV-related morbidity. During periods of deteriorating health they often exhausted their savings on private treatments focused on symptom management, and sought HIV testing and treatment at a public hospital only following a medical or financial emergency. Wives of migrants had generally been diagnosed following their husbands' diagnosis or death, with access to testing and treatment mediated via family members. For some, a delay in disclosure of husband's HIV status led to delays in their own testing. Diagnosing and treating HIV infection early is important in slowing down the spread of the epidemic and targeting those at greatest risk should be a priority. However, despite targeted campaigns, circumstances associated with migration may prevent migrant workers and their partners from accessing testing and treatment until they become sick. The insecurity of migrant work, the dominance of private healthcare and gender differences in health-seeking behaviour delay early diagnosis and treatment initiation.
A first step toward a pervasive and smart ZigBee sensor system for assistance and rehabilitation

This paper shows the general concept and the primary implementation of a pervasive intelligent system for rehabilitation. The scope of this work is to highlight the possibility to join two important research fields, i.e. rehabilitation and ambient assisted living, to enhance the capabilities and independence of disable and aged people. The described system was composed of a ZigBee network, with coordinator, sensor and actuator nodes, able to identify and control patient's activities and send warning to caregiver if requests in warning functionality, and of a software interface to manage the whole network and to monitor patient in outdoor environment.
A virtual overlay network for integrating home appliances

Various home appliances and personal appliances are expected to be connected to the Internet in the near future. However, the conventional IP protocol is not expected to be sufficient for connecting these appliances without protocol translation. Since adding new functionalities to the IP protocol is too generic for most applications, we believe that future networks should be customized according to the characteristics of the respective applications. We propose a virtual overlay network for integrating networked home appliances. Virtual overlay networks enable new application-specific networks to be built on existing networks. The proposed virtual overlay network is designed to access a variety of appliances on home networks from personal or home appliances on other home networks. The paper describes the motivation of our work, and the design and the current status of the proposed virtual overlay network. We think that the approach proposed will also be useful for building virtual overlay networks for other applications such as continuous media streaming or peer-to-peer storage systems.
A Secure Communication Protocol for Drones and Smart Objects

In many envisioned drone-based applications, drones will communicate with many different smart objects, such as sensors and embedded devices. Securing such communications requires an effective and efficient encryption key establishment protocol. However, the design of such a protocol must take into account constrained resources of smart objects and the mobility of drones. In this paper, a secure communication protocol between drones and smart objects is presented. To support the required security functions, such as authenticated key agreement, non-repudiation, and user revocation, we propose an efficient Certificateless Signcryption Tag Key Encapsulation Mechanism (eCLSC-TKEM). eCLSC-TKEM reduces the time required to establish a shared key between a drone and a smart object by minimizing the computational overhead at the smart object. Also, our protocol improves drone's efficiency by utilizing dual channels which allows many smart objects to concurrently execute eCLSC-TKEM. We evaluate our protocol on commercially available devices, namely AR.Drone2. 0 and TelosB, by using a parking management testbed. Our experimental results show that our protocol is much more efficient than other protocols.
The Measurement of Depreciation in the U.S. National Income and Product Accounts

As part of the recent comprehensive revision of the nipa’s, bea introduced an improved methodology for calculating depreciation. The improved methodology uses empirical evidence on the prices of used equipment and structures in resale markets, which has shown that depreciation for most types of assets approximates a geometric pattern. Previously, the depreciation estimates were derived using straight-line depreciation and assumed patterns of retirements. This article describes the theoretical and empirical literature that supports the new bea methodology. The author, a professor of economics at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, drafted the article while she was serving as a consultant to bea for this project. The views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of bea.
Long memory or shifting means? A new approach and application to realised volatility

It is now recognised that long memory and structural change can be confused because the statistical properties of times series of lengths typical of financial and econometric series are similar for both models. We propose a new set of methods aimed at distinguishing between long memory and structural change. The approach, which utilises the computational efficient methods based upon Atheoretical Regression Trees (ART), establishes through simulation the bivariate distribution of the fractional integration parameter, d, with regime length for simulated fractionally integrated series. This bivariate distribution is then compared with the data for the time series. We also combine ART with the established goodness of fit test for long memory series due to Beran. We apply these methods to the realized volatility series of 16 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We show that in these series the value of the fractional integration parameter is not constant with time. The mathematical consequence of this is that the definition of H self-similarity is violated. We present evidence that these series have structural breaks.
A privileged intraphagocyte niche is responsible for disseminated infection of Staphylococcus aureus in a zebrafish model

The innate immune system is the primary defence against the versatile pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus. How this organism is able to avoid immune killing and cause infections is poorly understood. Using an established larval zebrafish infection model, we have shown that overwhelming infection is due to subversion of phagocytes by staphylococci, allowing bacteria to evade killing and found foci of disease. Larval zebrafish coinfected with two S. aureus strains carrying different fluorescent reporter gene fusions (but otherwise isogenic) had bacterial lesions, at the time of host death, containing predominantly one strain. Quantitative data using two marked strains revealed that the strain ratios, during overwhelming infection, were often skewed towards the extremes, with one strain predominating. Infection with passaged bacterial clones revealed the phenomenon not to bedue to adventitious mutations acquired by the pathogen. After infection of the host, all bacteria are internalized by phagocytes and the skewing of population ratios is absolutely dependent on the presence of phagocytes. Mathematical modelling of pathogen population dynamics revealed the data patterns are consistent with the hypothesis that a small number of infected phagocytes serve as an intracellular reservoir for S. aureus, which upon release leads to disseminated infection. Strategies to specifically alter neutrophil/macrophage numbers were used to map the potential subpopulation of phagocytes acting as a pathogen reservoir, revealing neutrophils as the likely ‘niche’. Subsequently in a murine sepsis model, S. aureus abscesses in kidneys were also found to be predominantly clonal, therefore likely founded by an individual cell, suggesting a potential mechanism analogous to the zebrafish model with few protected niches. These findings add credence to the argument that S. aureus control regimes should recognize both the intracellular as well as extracellular facets of the S. aureus life cycle.
Exploring the Design-Space: The Authorial Game Evolution Tool Case-Study

This paper describes a case-study on the use of AGE, the Authorial Game Evolution approach, a creativity support tool designed to assist game designers. AGE allows designers to conduct a systematic process of generation and evaluation of game-prototypes, as well as automatically evolve a game-prototype until it mediates a desired form of game-play experience. To assess the tool, a design case study was held where a designer used AGE to create a game. We used a convergent mixed methods experimental design, and analysed quantitative and qualitative data resulting from four design sessions. Creativity Support Index self-report shows the designer found AGE very good in supporting his design, especially for exploration of the design-space. However, he appropriated it exclusively for exploration, not optimization. These show AGE has potential for exploring the design-space, though issues remain before it is an effective medium for high-quality designs.