Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Algorithm for Image Steganography Based on Effective Channel Selection Technique

This paper introduces, a novel steganographic technique for images is proposed which is a type of spatial domain information hiding technique. To hide the secret information in original image or cover image, the effective channel selection technique is used . In the previous image steganographic technique, we hidden the secret data in to the only two, three or four bits or at most five bits of a pixel in a image which produces the poor value of peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and high value of root mean square errors (RMSE) which are both the image quality parameters. Proposed technique can embed large data than previous technique and shows the better result for image quality parameter.
A Framework for Secure Knowledge Management in Pervasive Computing

A feature common to many pervasive computing scenarios is that devices acquire information about their environment from peers through short-range ad-hoc wireless connections and use it to maintain a model of their current context. A fundamental issue in such situations, is that knowledge obtained from peer devices may vary in reliability with devices providing incorrect data either inadvertently out of ignorance or other limitations or intentionally in pursuit of malicious or self-serving goals. We describe a heuristic based on a Bayesian approach to infer which of the received answers is most likely to be correct. The suggested answers and the reputation values of the sources themselves are used to determine the most likely answer. We have implemented the techniques and evaluated them in a prototype system using the Glomosim network simulator, and show that our scheme improves data accuracy in low trust environments.
Transformative and troublesome: reflective blogging for professional learning about university teaching

ABSTRACT The complexities of being an academic mean that there is often no time or space to reflect on teaching, and on academic life in general. In this study, four academics set up a private blog to share reflections on teaching. While initial commitment to the reflective blogging process was good, over time this declined. After 9 months of intermittent communication, we decided to wrap up the project and examine the experience. A qualitative analysis of the group’s reflective posts and related emails revealed themes related to emotions, space and time in academic experience. We discuss why the blog space did not work as anticipated, and how such ‘troublesome’ spaces may, paradoxically, be viewed as transformative.
Effect of chromatic dispersion on four-wave mixing in optical WDM transmission system

Crosstalk due to four-wave mixing (FWM) is the dominant nonlinear effect in long-haul multi-channel optical communication systems which can severely limit system performance. In this paper, we have simulated the effect of chromatic dispersion on FWM using equal and unequal channel spacing in terms of input/output spectrum, eye diagram and bit error rate. Results show that the effect of FWM reduces with the increasing dispersion coefficient, but the reduction is more effective for unequal channel spacing than equal channel spacing.
Design and Analysis of Multi-level Genetic Algorithm with its Application to the Construction of Clock Binary Tree

Summary Genetic algorithm is an effective methodology for solving combinatorial optimization problems, and numerous researchers have undertaken efforts to many kinds of improvement of GAs in order to solve problems in computer science. The clock signal and clock skew become more and more important for the circuit performance in VLSI layout design. Since there are salient shortcomings in the conventional topology construction algorithms for designing a clock network, the multi-level model of clock binary tree is built in this paper, and the binary tree construction algorithm of clock signal based on multi-level genetic algorithm (MLGA) is presented. The experiments on random test cases and standard benchmark test cases show that multi-level genetic algorithm can produce much better clock network design in most cases when compared with conventional heuristic algorithms.
Entry and Exit Decision Problem with Implementation Delay

We study investment and disinvestment decisions in situations where there is a time lag d > 0 from the time t when the decision is taken to the time t + d when the decision is implemented. In this paper we apply the probabilistic approach to the combined entry and exit decisions under the Parisian implementation delay. In particular, we prove the independence between Parisian stopping times and a general Brownian motion with drift stopped at the stopping time. Relying on this result, we solve the constrained maximization problem, obtaining an analytic solution to the optimal ‘starting’ and ‘stopping’ levels. We compare our results with the instantaneous entry and exit situation, and show that an increase in the uncertainty of the underlying process hastens the decision to invest or disinvest, extending a result of Bar-Ilan and Strange (1996).
CD11b/CD18‐coated microspheres attach to E‐selectin under flow

Neutrophils can attach to E‐selectin under flow. Proposed ligands for E‐selectin carry SLex‐type glycans. The leukocyte β2 integrins are glycosylated with SLex. Thus, we speculated that β2 integrins could support attachment to E‐selectin. To test this hypothesis, we coated 10–diameter microspheres with purified CD11b/CD18 (αMβ2) and investigated the adhesion of the resulting αMβ2 microspheres to E‐selectin. Under in vitro flow conditions, the αMβ2 microspheres attached to Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing E‐selectin (CHO‐E) and 4‐h interleukin‐1 β‐activated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). At a shear stress of 1.8 dynes/cm2, the attachment events were eliminated by pretreatment of the cellular monolayers with a mAb to E‐selectin. microspheres did not attach to untransfected CHO cells or unactivated HUVEC at 1.8 dynes/cm2. Taken together, the results strongly suggest that the CD11b/CD18‐E‐selectin bond has sufficient biophysical properties to mediate attachment of neutro‐phil‐sized particles to E‐selectin under flow. J. Leukoc. Biol. 67: 196–205; 2000.
Invited Paper Special Section on Analog Circuits and Related Soc Integration Technologies Evolutional Trend of Mixed Analog and Digital Rf Circuits

SUMMARY This paper describes recent technology trend of mixed analog digital RF circuits. With the progress of CMOS technology, large-scale digital signal process and control function can be integrated in an RF integrated circuit and some analog signal process blocks can be translated to digital signal processing units. At the same time, the design of remaining analog functional blocks becomes very hard. In this paper, those integration techniques for receiver and transmitter in these 20 years are reviewed. As a typical example of digital assisted systems, synthesizer based transmitters are discussed in detail.
Molecular properties and involvement of heparanase in cancer metastasis and angiogenesis.

Studies of the involvement of ECM molecules in cell attachment, growth, and differentiation have revealed a central role of heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans (HSPGs) in early embryogenesis, morphogenesis, angiogenesis, and epithelial-mesenchymal interactions (1–3). HS chains bind a multitude of proteins and ensure that a wide variety of bioactive molecules (e.g., heparin-binding growth factors, chemokines, lipoproteins, and enzymes) cling to the cell surface and ECM. HSPGs can thus influence a variety of normal and pathologic processes, among which are tissue repair, neurite outgrowth, inflammation and autoimmunity, tumor growth and metastasis, vasculogenesis and angiogenesis (1–4). Binding to HS can modulate a tethered molecule’s biological activity or protect it from proteolytic cleavage and inactivation. Transmembrane and phospholipid-anchored HSPGs (syndecans and glypicans, respectively) mediate cell interactions with components of the microenvironment that control cell shape, adhesion, proliferation, survival, and differentiation (2, 3). These species of HSPGs can also serve as coreceptors along with the other cell surface molecules to form functional receptor complexes that transduce signals from various ligands (2, 3). Because of the important and multifaceted roles of HSPGs in cell physiology, their cleavage is likely to alter the integrity and functional state of tissues and to provide a mechanism by which cells can respond rapidly to changes in the extracellular environment. Enzymatic degradation of HS is, therefore, likely to be involved in fundamental biological phenomena, ranging from pregnancy, morphogenesis, and development to inflammation, angiogenesis, and cancer metastasis. Contrary to some early claims, there is no good evidence for more than one endogenous mammalian HS-degrading endoglycosidases. The recent cloning of a single gene by several groups (5–10), together with biochemical studies (11), suggests that mammalian cells express primarily a single dominant heparanase enzyme (12). This Perspective focuses on the molecular properties, expression pattern, biological functions, and clinical significance of this heparanase in normal and pathological processes, with emphasis on tumor metastasis and angiogenesis.
Efficient Data Aggregation in Multi-Hop WSNs

Data aggregation is a primitive communication task in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In this paper, we study designing data aggregation schedules under the Protocol Interference Model for answering queries. Given a network consisting of a set of nodes V distributed in a two-dimensional plane, we address different kinds of queries in this paper. First and foremost, we consider a single one-off query which requires a subset of source nodes V' C V to send data to a distinguished sink node, we propose a delay-efficient algorithm that produces a collision-free schedule and theoretically prove that the delay achieved by our algorithm is nearly a small constant factor of the optimum. We further extend our discussion to the multiple one-off queries case and periodic query case and propose our data aggregation scheduling algorithms respectively with theoretical performance analysis.
Dextrous hand regrasping using hybrid system models

Summary form only given. In this paper we present a novel approach to force planning during multifingered regrasping. Hybrid (discrete-continuous) system models are used for reference generation for the regrasping finger. An impedance control algorithm including a real-time applicable grasping force optimization method implements the regrasping task. Simulation results show the efficiency and simplicity of our approach to regrasping.
Governing interdisciplinary cooperation in Centers of Excellence

ABSTRACT In the past years Centers of Excellence (CoE) has risen to prominence as a funding instrument in science. The idea is that by focusing resources, people and attention within a center environment, and over a substantial time span, excellence in science can be promoted. Similarly, interdisciplinarity is often seen as an enabling condition or even necessary for frontier research. This article builds on a qualitative interview study with Swedish Centers of Excellence (CoE) directors, and asks the question: - how is interdisciplinarity governed and developed within a CoE environment, and what is its effects in terms of research processes and organization. The study presents a detailed account of a number of aspects of interdisciplinary governance, conditions and outcomes, and describes how these relate via specific mechanisms. Together the results illuminate how CoE governance creates pathways to interdisciplinarity, that allow collaboration to go beyond mere interaction, and towards integration of specialisms.
Robust Points Tracking Method Using Euclidean Reconstruction for Augmented Reality

Natural feature tracking is a very important research topic in computer vision field and has been used widely in Augmented Reality (AR). This paper gives a robust points tracking or transferring method based on the Euclidean reconstruction technique for AR systems. The points to be tracked include the lost natural features, and any points that are specified by the users. The proposed method distinguishes itself in following ways: Firstly, it is stable as it remains effective even when the camera is moved rapidly. Secondly, the proposed method is robust because it can operate normally as long as at least four pairs of reference point correspondences can be found during the augmentation process. Thirdly, we propose an augmented optical flow method by which the registration, annotation and video augmentation can still work even under the circumstances of large changes in illumination and viewpoint during the entire process. Several experiments have been conducted to validate the usability of the proposed approach.
Vocabulary instruction for an English language learner with visual impairment: A multiple-components intervention including tactile representations

English language learners with visual impairment are an underserved, under-researched group. One particular challenge faced by educators is conveying content knowledge in the secondary setting, particularly if students lack the expected background knowledge for coursework. In this study, an English language learner with visual impairment was taught biology vocabulary using tactile representations, along with the more traditional strategies of vocabulary in context and morphology. Using a multiple baselines design, the intervention was found to improve the student’s knowledge. Results support the use of tactile representations along with language-based vocabulary teaching for English language learners with visual impairment.
“We Were Isolated and We Had to Do Whatever They Said”: Violence and Coercion to Keep Adolescents Girls from Leaving the Sex Trade in Two U.S–Mexico Border Cities

ABSTRACT Trafficked adolescent girls are at increased risk for sexual and physical abuse, HIV and STI (sexually transmitted infections) acquisition, mental health, and reproductive issues. While sex trafficking, in relation to adverse health outcomes, has been documented in prior research, this has been mainly explored once girls and women are already in the sex industry. However, less is known about the specific scenarios and contexts related to the recruitment and the different tools used to ensure women and girls remain in the sex trade. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico among 16 current female sex workers who entered the sex industry under 18 years old. Participants reported being forced or coerced into the sex trade by romantic partners, friends, acquaintances, strangers, and/or family members. The main tactics traffickers employed were: violence and threats of violence, use of pregnancy and children, addiction and forced substance use. Certain cultural and social practices facilitate interactions between traffickers and adolescent girls (e.g., older men dating adolescent girls, normalization of violence) that later result in exploitative dynamics (e.g., sexual exploitation). Institutions and social mechanisms are key to maintain and facilitate some of these interactions. Consequences of sexual exploitation go beyond health consequences; they impact women’s emotions, construction of sexuality, identity, and sexual rights among other elements of their lives. The results of this qualitative study may inform potential efforts to prevent coercion of adolescent girls into the sex trade and to assist those who have already been trafficked.
One Right Does Make a Wrong

Algorithmic debugging is a semi-automatic method for locating bugs in programs. An algorithmic debugger asks a user a series of questions about the intended behaviour of the program. Here we present two new methods that reduces the number of questions a user must answer to locate a bug. First, we describe a heuristic based on comparing computations of the same program with different inputs. Besides a computation that exhibits some erroneous behaviour, we use information from computations that produce correct results. The heuristic uses program slices to identify areas of code that are likely to be correct. Secondly, we describe a method of compressing the search tree that guides the questions of an algorithmic debugger. This compression is particularly successful when used in combination with our heuristic. Both heuristic and tree-compression are applicable to algorithmic debugging in general. We have implemented it for locating bugs in Haskell programs.
Peroxisomal polyamine oxidase and NADPH-oxidase cross-talk for ROS homeostasis which affects respiration rate in Arabidopsis thaliana

Homeostasis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the intracellular compartments is of critical importance as ROS have been linked with nearly all cellular processes and more importantly with diseases and aging. PAs are nitrogenous molecules with an evolutionary conserved role in the regulation of metabolic and energetic status of cells. Recent evidence also suggests that polyamines (PA) are major regulators of ROS homeostasis. In Arabidopsis the backconversion of the PAs spermidine (Spd) and spermine to putrescine and Spd, respectively, is catalyzed by two peroxisomal PA oxidases (AtPAO). However, the physiological role of this pathway remains largely elusive. Here we explore the role of peroxisomal PA backconversion and in particular that catalyzed by the highly expressed AtPAO3 in the regulation of ROS homeostasis and mitochondrial respiratory burst. Exogenous PAs exert an NADPH-oxidase dependent stimulation of oxygen consumption, with Spd exerting the strongest effect. This increase is attenuated by treatment with the NADPH-oxidase blocker diphenyleneiodonium iodide (DPI). Loss-of-function of AtPAO3 gene results to increased NADPH-oxidase-dependent production of superoxide anions (O2•− ), but not H2O2, which activate the mitochondrial alternative oxidase pathway (AOX). On the contrary, overexpression of AtPAO3 results to an increased but balanced production of both H2O2 and O2•− . These results suggest that the ratio of O2•− /H2O2 regulates respiratory chain in mitochondria, with PA-dependent production of O2•− by NADPH-oxidase tilting the balance of electron transfer chain in favor of the AOX pathway. In addition, AtPAO3 seems to be an important component in the regulating module of ROS homeostasis, while a conserved role for PA backconversion and ROS across kingdoms is discussed.
Mapping Highly Cost-Effective Carbon Capture and Storage Opportunities in India

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG). India’s CO2 emissions are expected to increase 70% by 2025. Geologic carbon storage (GCS) offers a way to reduce CO2 emissions. Here we present the results of a search for the most cost-effective GCS opportunities in India. Source-Sink matching for large and concentrated CO2 sources near geological storage in India indicates one very high priority target, a fertilizer plant in the city of Narmadanagar in Bharuch District of Gujarat Province, India that is 2 sources are
Development of Ozone Reactivity Scales for Volatile Organic Compounds

Abstract This paper discusses methods for ranking photochemical ozone formation reactivities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Photochemical mechanisms for the atmospheric reactions of 118 VOCs were used to calculate their effects on ozone formation under various NOx conditions in model scenarios representing 39 different urban areas. Their effects on ozone were used to derive 18 different ozone reactivity scales, one of which is the Maximum Incremental Reactivity (MIR) scale used in the new California Low Emission Vehicle and Clean Fuel Regulations. These scales are based on three different methods for quantifying ozone impacts and on six different approaches for dealing with the dependencies of reactivity on NOx. The predictions of the scales are compared, the reasons for their similarities and differences are discussed, and the sensitivities of the scales to NOx and other scenario conditions are examined. Scales based on peak ozone levels were highly dependent on NOx, but those based on integrated .
Hacking Chinese Touclick CAPTCHA by Multi-Scale Corner Structure Model with Fast Pattern Matching

In this paper, we tackle the challenge of hacking CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart), which is widely used to identify machine and human in webpage registration and authorization [17]. More specially, we target at touclick Chinese CAPTCHA that is recently popular in mobile application scenario. Hacking such CAPTCHA is much more challenging and left unexploited in the literature. Our main idea is a multi-scale Corner based Structure Model, termed CSM, with a very efficient pattern matching scheme. CSM can accurately capture the intrinsic statistics of touclick Chinese CAPTCHA against background clutters. We demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach by extensive experiments on a Chinese touclick CAPTCHA dataset collected from Internet forums. We report encouraging results with an overall success rate of almost 100% and an averaged detection speed of 170 millisecond. Upon our work, we also provide suggestions on improving the current CAPTCHA-based human-machine identification systems.
An Improvement of a Fuzzy Logic-Controlled Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm for Photovoltic Applications

This paper presents an improved maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm using a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) in order to extract potential maximum power from photovoltaic cells. The objectives of the proposed algorithm are to improve the tracking speed, and to simultaneously solve the inherent drawbacks such as slow tracking in the conventional perturb and observe (P and O) algorithm. The performances of the conventional P and O algorithm and the proposed algorithm are compared by using MATLAB/Simulink in terms of the tracking speed and steady-state oscillations. Additionally, both algorithms were experimentally validated through a digital signal processor (DSP)-based controlled-boost DC-DC converter. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performs with a shorter tracking time, smaller output power oscillation, and higher efficiency, compared with the conventional P and O algorithm.
Time sensitive sequential myopic information gathering

DIGS (Decision Support Information Gathering System) uses the value of information to guide the information gathering process and uses the gathered information to provide the decision recommendations to the human users. DIGS uses an influence diagram as a modeling tool. In this paper, we create a model to represent the investment scenario of a novice stock investor. By using the sequential myopic information gathering technique, DIGS generates a sequence of information gathering actions. The actions are dependent on each other in that the action DIGS executes at time t/sub 1/ will be based on the results of the pervious action at time t/sub 0/. DIGS also employs a stopping mechanism for the information gathering actions based on the information value and time constraints. Thus, DIGS can be used as an anytime system. Compared to a pre-generated sequence of actions, our technique has the flexibility to react to the gathered information, and to use it to guide the subsequent gathering actions. Therefore, our system can adapt to the newly acquired information and avoid the computational complexity of planning the series of actions in advance.