Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A cross-layer framework design for the embedded middleware in mobility applications (EMMA) project

The severe energy constraints of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) require energy-efficient communication protocols in order to fulfill the objectives of the application. Cross-layer design is a technique which can potentially be used to improve the overall performance of WSNs by way of jointly optimizing and exploiting the interactions between various layers of the network protocol stack. In this paper, we propose a cross-layer framework design for the Embedded Middleware in Mobility Applications (EMMA) project. This optimization agent based framework design provides efficient data exchange between the various protocols layers via a state repository to improve the performance of WSN applications in terms of memory consumption and processing overhead.
Influence of Moxifloxacin on Hepatic Redox Status and Plasma Biomarkers of Hepatotoxicity and Nephrotoxicity in Rat

Moxifloxacin is a broad spectrum fluoroquinolone antibacterial agent. We examined the hepatic redox status and plasma biomarkers of nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity in rat following administration of moxifloxacin (MXF). Twenty-four Wistar rats, 180–200 g, were randomized into four groups (I–IV). Animals in group I (control) received 1 mL of distilled water, while animals in groups II, III, and IV received 1 mL each of MXF equivalent to 4 mg/kg b.w. , 8 mg/kg b.w. , and 16 mg/kg b.w. , respectively. After seven days, plasma urea, bilirubin, and creatinine were significantly (P < 0.05) elevated in the MXF-treated animals. Activities of alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase were significantly increased in the plasma of MXF-treated animals compared to control. Also plasma total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides increased significantly in the MXF-treated groups relative to control. Moreover, MXF triggered a significant decrease in hepatic catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione-S transferase activities. Likewise, MXF caused a decrease in the hepatic levels of glutathione and vitamin C. A significant increase in hepatic MDA content was also observed in the MXF-treated animals relative to control. Overall, our data suggest that the half-therapeutic, therapeutic, and twice the therapeutic dose of MXF induced nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and altered hepatic redox balance in rats.
On confidentiality-preserving real-time locking protocols

Coordinating access to shared resources is a challenging task, in particular if real-time and security aspects have to be integrated into the same system. However, rather than exacerbating the problem, we found that considering real-time guarantees actually simplifies the security problem of preventing information leakage over shared-resource covert channels. We introduce a transformation for standard real-time resource locking protocols and show that protocols transformed in this way preserve the confidentiality guarantees of the schedulers on which they are based. Through this transformation, we were able to prove that four out of the seven investigated protocols are information-flow secure.
From coal to knowledge : a history of the VET policies in the European Union

The Treaty of Paris (ECSC, 1951) funded in 1951 the European Coal and Steel Community. This first step was followed by the Treaty of Rome, that created in 1957 the European Economic Community. This Treaty states that the constant improvement of the living and working conditions of their people is an essential objective. In 1963 the Council proposes 10 principles for implementing a common vocational training policy. One of the results of these principles is creation in 1975 of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training – Cedefop. In 1978, the Committee of Education decides to create the network for information and documentation on European education Eurydice and 1984 was the foundation year of the Network of National Academic Recognition Information Centres, NARICs. In the late 80s, European actions begin to foster transnational mobilities. In 1987, the Council of the European Communities adopted the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students, ERASMUS and during the years from 1988 to 1994 the programmes PETRA, EUROTECNET and FORCE promoted the European cooperation in vocational education and training. LEONARDO I and II were the successors of these programmes from 1995 to 2006. LEONARDO was included in the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) in the period 2007-2013 and has ended up as part of the current Erasmus+ education mobility action during the period 2014-2020. As mentioned in the 2000 Lisbon Agenda and in Horizon 2020, Europe pursues the strategic objective of orienting its economy towards knowledge. This knowledge-based economy idea has an influence on the Bologna (1999) and Copenhague (2002) Declarations. The Bologna Declaration is focused on Higher Education and has managed to transform the university studies in Europe. The Copenhagen Declaration has still not managed to minimise the differences of the VET studies in the European Union.
Beyond Traditional NLP: A Distributed Solution for Optimizing Chat Processing - Automatic Chat Assessment Using Tagged Latent Semantic Analysis

With the increasing popularity and evolution of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning systems, the need for developing a tool that automatically assesses instant messaging conversations has become imperative. The main reasons are the high volume of data and the increased amount of time spent for manually assessing conversations. We propose an automated analysis system based on Natural Language Processing (centered on Latent Semantic Analysis and Social Network Analysis) and optimize its runtime performance by means of distributed computing. Moreover, we provide a unique grading mechanism based on a multilayered architecture and induce an increase of speedup by deploying a Replicated Worker architecture. Load balancing and fault tolerance represent key aspects of this approach, besides the actual increase in performance.
A Differential Trellis-Coded Quantization for FDD Massive MIMO Systems in a Spatially Correlated Channel

To obtain the beamforming gain of a frequency-division duplex massive multiple-input multiple-output system, extensive channel state information (CSI) should be accurately quantized and fed back to the base station. Trellis-coded quantization (TCQ) can reduce codebook size and codebook-searching complexity that are the main drawbacks of vector-quantization-based CSI feedback schemes. However, the beamforming gain of the conventional TCQ cannot be fully obtained in a spatially correlated channel that is inevitably involved in massive transmit arrays. In this letter, we propose a differential TCQ that exploits the channel correlation by using a compressive constellation and phase difference quantization. We present an algorithm for generating a phase difference constellation and a decoding process for the proposed differential TCQ. The proposed scheme can reduce the overhead of the codebook size problem by trellis decoding and improve the quantization performance at the same feedback rate compared to the conventional TCQ scheme.
Matching and Co-Registration of Satellite Images Using Local Features

Satellite image matching and co-registration are two key stages in image registration, fusion and super-resolution imaging processes where images are taken from different sensors, viewpoints or at different times. This paper presents: (1) An evaluation for the co-registration process using local features, (2) A registration scheme for registering optical images taken from different viewpoints in addition to radar images taken at different times. The selected feature detectors have been tested during the key point extraction, descriptor construction and matching processes. The framework suggests a sub-sampling process which controls the number of extracted key points for a real time processing and for minimizing the hardware requirements. After getting the pairwise matches between the two images, a registered image is composited by applying bundle adjustment and image warping enhancements. The results showed a good performance level for SURF over both SIFT and ORB detectors in terms of higher number of inliers and repeatability ratios. The Experiments were done on different optical and radar images from Rapid-Eye, TerraSAR-X, and ASTER satellite data for some areas in Germany and Egypt.
A New Short Oligonucleotide-Based Strategy for the Precursor-Specific Regulation of microRNA Processing by Dicer

The precise regulation of microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis seems to be critically important for the proper functioning of all eukaryotic organisms. Even small changes in the levels of specific miRNAs can initiate pathological processes, including carcinogenesis. Accordingly, there is a great need to develop effective methods for the regulation of miRNA biogenesis and activity. In this study, we focused on the final step of miRNA biogenesis; i.e., miRNA processing by Dicer. To test our hypothesis that RNA molecules can function not only as Dicer substrates but also as Dicer regulators, we previously identified by SELEX a pool of RNA oligomers that bind to human Dicer. We found that certain of these RNA oligomers could selectively inhibit the formation of specific miRNAs. Here, we show that these specific inhibitors can simultaneously bind both Dicer and pre-miRNAs. These bifunctional riboregulators interfere with miRNA maturation by affecting pre-miRNA structure and sequestering Dicer. Based on these observations, we designed a set of short oligomers (12 nucleotides long) that were capable of influencing pre-miRNA processing in vitro, both in reactions involving recombinant human Dicer and in cytosolic extracts. We propose that the same strategy may be used to develop effective and selective regulators to control the production of any miRNA. Overall, our findings indicate that the interactions between pre-miRNAs and other RNAs may form very complex regulatory networks that modulate miRNA biogenesis and consequently gene expression.
Integration of inertial information with vision

Active vision systems can be used in robotic systems for navigation. The active vision system provides data on the robot's environment. In mobile systems the position and attitude of the cameras relative to the world can be hard to determine. Inertial sensors coupled to the active vision system can provide valuable information to aid the image processing task. In human and other animals the vestibular system plays a similar role. In this article, we explain our steps in the integration of inertial data with an active vision system. The active vision system has a set of stereo cameras capable of vergence, with a common baseline, pan and tilt. A process of visual fixation has already been implemented, enabling symmetric vergence on any selected point. An inertial system prototype, based on low-cost sensors was built. It is used to keep track of the gravity vector, allowing the identification of the vertical in the images. By performing visual fixation of a ground plane point, and knowing the 3D vector normal to level ground, we can determine the ground plane. The image can therefore be segmented, and the ground plane along which the robot can move identified. For on-the-fly visualisation of the segmented images and the detected points a VRML (virtual reality modelling languages) viewer is used.
Properties of the Force Exerted by Filopodia and Lamellipodia and the Involvement of Cytoskeletal Components

During neuronal differentiation, lamellipodia and filopodia explore the environment in search for the correct path to the axon's final destination. Although the motion of lamellipodia and filopodia has been characterized to an extent, little is known about the force they exert. In this study, we used optical tweezers to measure the force exerted by filopodia and lamellipodia with a millisecond temporal resolution. We found that a single filopodium exerts a force not exceeding 3 pN, whereas lamellipodia can exert a force up to 20 pN. Using metabolic inhibitors, we showed that no force is produced in the absence of actin polymerization and that development of forces larger than 3 pN requires microtubule polymerization. These results show that actin polymerization is necessary for force production and demonstrate that not only do neurons process information, but they also act on their environment exerting forces varying from tenths pN to tens of pN.
Legal Corruption, Politically Connected Corporate Governance and Firm Performance

In this paper we present and test a theory of how political corruption, found in many transition and emerging market economies, affects corporate governance and productive efficiency of firms. Our model predicts that underdeveloped democratic institutions that do not punish political corruption result in political connectedness of firms that in turn has a negative effect on performance. We test this prediction on an almost complete population of Slovenian joint stock companies with 100 or more employees. Using the supervisory board structure, together with balance sheet and income statement data for 2000-2010, we show that a higher share of politically connected supervisory board members leads to lower productivity.
Security Mechanisms in UMTS

This contribution presents an overview of the security of the 3 generation mobile radio system UMTS as currently standardised by the 3 Generation Partnership Project 3GPP. We discuss the underlying principles and show to which extent the security of 2 generation systems as GSM is improved and enhanced by UMTS. The UMTS Authentication and Key Agreement protocol, the security algorithms deployed for UMTS and the interworking mechanisms between 2 and 3 generation systems are described in detail.
Submitted to Astrophysical Journal Received; accepted

We present spectroscopic and photometric observations of SN 1992ar, the more distant SN in the Calán/Tololo Survey. We compare its spectrum with those of nearby Type Ia and Ic SNe and conclude that the latter type is a better match to SN 1992ar. Using K–corrections based on the spectra of well observed Type Ic and Ia SNe we compute different possible rest frame light curves of SN 1992ar and compare them with those of representative SNe of each type observed in the nearby universe. From the photometry and the spectra, we are able to conclude that SN 1992ar cannot be matched by any known example of a Type Ia SN. Even though the data set collected is fairly complete (one spectrum and 10 photometric points), it is not possible to decide whether SN 1992ar was a fast Type Ic SN, like SN 1994I, or a slow one, like SN 1983V. The absolute V magnitudes at maximum implied by each of these possibilities are −19.2 and −20.2, respectively. The latter would make SN 1992ar one of the brightest SNe on record. SN 1992ar, hence, illustrates the problem of contamination faced by the high z Type Ia SNe samples whose luminosity distances are used to determine the cosmological parameters of the Universe. We present observational criteria to distinguish the two SN types when the SiIIλ6355 line is redshifted out of the sensitivity range of typical CCD detectors, and discuss the effect that these luminous Type Ic SNe would have on the measured cosmological parameters, if not removed from the High–z Type Ia SN samples. Subject headings: (stars:) supernovae: general — (stars:) supernovae: individual (SN 1992ar) — (cosmology:) observations
Cluster-wide Scheduling of Flexible, Distributed Analytic Applications

This work addresses the problem of scheduling user-defined analytic applications, which we define as high-level compositions of frameworks, their components, and the logic necessary to carry out work. The key idea in our application definition, is to distinguish classes of components, including rigid and elastic types: the first being required for an application to make progress, the latter contributing to reduced execution times. We show that the problem of scheduling such applications poses new challenges, which existing approaches address inefficiently. Thus, we present the design and evaluation of a novel, flexible heuristic to schedule analytic applications, that aim at high system responsiveness, by allocating resources efficiently, thanks to the flexibility of elastic components. Our algorithm is evaluated using a trace-driven simulation approach, with large-scale real system traces: our flexible scheduler outperforms a baseline approach across a variety of metrics, including application turnaround times, and resource allocation efficiency. We also present the design and evaluation of a full-fledged system, which we called Zoe, that incorporates the ideas presented in this paper, and report concrete improvements in terms of efficiency and performance, with respect to prior generations of our system.
Outcome in patients with basilar artery occlusion treated conventionally

Background: Most data on the outcome of basilar artery occlusion are from recent case series of patients treated with intra-arterial thrombolysis. The limited knowledge on the outcome after a conventional treatment approach comes from a few small case series of highly selected patients. Objective: To provide more data on the outcome of conventional treatment. Methods: Data were analysed on patients from three centres with symptomatic basilar artery occlusion treated conventionally. Conventional therapy was defined as treatment with antiplatelets, anticoagulation, or both. Results: Data were available on 82 patients. The case fatality was 40%. Among survivors, 65% remained dependent (Rankin score 4–5). Patients younger than 60 years (odds ratio = 3.1 (95% confidence interval, 1.0 to 9.5)) and those with a minor stroke (OR = 3.1 (1.0 to 9.6)) were more likely to have a good outcome (Rankin score 0–3). Patients with a progressive stroke were less likely to have a good outcome (OR = 0.3 (0.08 to 1.2)) than patients with a maximum deficit at onset or fluctuating symptoms at presentation. Conclusions: Conventional treatment of symptomatic basilar artery occlusion is associated with a poor outcome in almost 80% of patients, which emphasises the importance of the search for a more effective treatment approach.
School Working Papers Series 2002 SWP 2002 / 64 End-User Control in Wed-based Electronic Services : a Case Study

This paper reports a case study of end-user control in delivery of web-based electronic services. The case study concentrates the adoption of a web-based electronic system being implemented in processing student’s admission applications on website. The end-user’s control interface provides information on the detail existing in the web-based electronic service. This insight into end-user synesis in developing effective control in web service environment relates to ease of use in doing the task. To assume the leverage of end-user control strictly on the basis of the web service usage would limit the purpose of understanding. Rather it is suggested that it would be better to develop an approach to study the end-user ease of use interface in doing the task with the users perception towards web-based interactivity.
Sex differences in the attentional networks: ERP components and behavioural indices

Sex differences associated with attentional processes have been evidenced in the academic literature, however, the research is limited. The current study aimed to clarify the inconsistencies regarding sex differences in attentional processes examining behavioural performance (RT) and neuronal indices of attentional networks using event related potentials (ERPs). The participants, 13 females and 15 males (mean age of 22.1 years) completed an attentional network task (ANT) to examine sex differences in the alerting, orienting and executive control networks (P1, N1 and N2 ERP components). The ANT involved an alerting condition followed by a cueing condition which included a valid, invalid and no cue trial. The cue either correctly or incorrectly indicated the spatial location of a following target that was either congruent or incongruent. Males had a trend for faster RT for no cue and invalid trials as well as greater N1 amplitudes, indicating an overall orienting effect. Sex differences in the P1 and N2 ERP components, while preliminary, suggest that there may be sex differences associated with the electrophysiological activity of the attentional networks. Importantly, sex differences in the interaction between the three networks warrants further research and may help to explain the findings of the current study.
Strategy-Proofness in the Stable Matching Problem with Couples

Stable matching problems (SMPs) arising in real-world markets often have extra complementarities in the participants' preferences. These complementarities break many of the theoretical properties of SMP and make it computationally hard to find a stable matching. A common complementarity is the introduction of couples in labor markets, which gives rise to the stable matching problem with couples (SMP-C). A major concern in markets is strategy-proofness since markets that are easily manipulated often unravel. In this paper we provide some key insights into the issue of strategy-proofness in SMP-C. We provide theoretical results that relate the set of resident Pareto optimal stable matchings (ℜ℘opt) admitted by an SMP-C instance to the ability of the residents to manipulate. We show that a mechanism returning an ℜ℘opt matching is, in certain cases, strategy-proof against residents attempting to manipulate by truncating their preference lists. We provide an algorithm for finding an ℜ℘opt matching when one exists. And finally, we study empirically the frequency of multiple stable and multiple ℜ℘opt matchings as the market sizes grows, and under different proportions of couples in the market. Our empirical results indicate that SMPC becomes less susceptible to manipulation as both the size of the market grows and the fraction of couples in the market shrinks.
A myoelectric interface for robotic hand control using support vector machine

This paper reports a new myoelectric interface for robotic hand control consisting of two main parts. The first part concerns the motion classification using electromyogram (EMG) signals of a support vector machine (SVM). Because there has been little research on the application of the SVM to motion classification using EMG signals, its effectiveness has not yet been established. The SVM has some advantages with respect to generalization and computational complexity, and therefore, we used the SVM to examine its classification ability. The second part concerns the estimation of an operator's joint angle corresponding to the motion determined by the first part. Estimation of the operator's joint angles is based on EMG-Joint angle models, which express the linear relationships between the EMG signals and joint angles. To verify the effectiveness of our interface, we performed off-line hand motion classification and real-time robotic hand control experiments with eight subjects. The experimental results showed that seven hand motions achieved a classification rate of more than 90% for all subjects. In addition, a three-dimensional computer graphics robotic hand was controlled in real-time (62.5 Hz) without delay.