Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the practical applicability of SDN research

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a de-facto established approach that separates the packet switching functions of a device from its operational logic, which is controlled by a piece of software. Due to its potential for realizing new network architectures and services, a whole thread of scientific literature is devoted to SDN and its most adopted incarnation, OpenFlow. However, limited attention has been put in verifying the viability of the proposed approaches on currently available hardware. We address this deficiency through the following contributions: i) a critical review of the literature about SDN in terms of applicability issues stemming from publicly documented limitations of OpenFlow implementations; ii) a methodology for verifying the support of SDN-related functions in a network device, comprising an OpenFlow compliance test as well as custom targeted tests; iii) an application of the methodology to devices from 7 different vendors, unveiling extensive anomalous behaviors affecting even the most basic features; iv) a discussion of this outcome in terms of relevance of the discovered anomalies and of their implications on the applicability of state-of-the-art contributions on SDN. Besides taking a snapshot of the viability of research results, with this paper we intend to highlight aspects that operators should consider when picking SDN devices.
Reconfiguring Client-Server Systems

An important aspect of the design of distributed systems is the degree to which it is possible to change their configuration as requirements vary. This paper addresses the issues of reconfiguring server software in a distributed system at run-time. In particular, it is concerned with externally imposed reconfigurations, which avoid explicit interactions with the servers being reconfigured or their clients. An analysis is given showing the conditions under which external reconfigurations are feasible. Mechanisms to achieve external reconfigurations are described, including the use of so-called proxy processes, which have been implemented for the Equus distributed operating environment. Finally, this work is compared with related work, and conclusions are drawn about the advantages and limits to externally-imposed reconfiguration techniques.
Group Sparse Bayesian Learning Via Exact and Fast Marginal Likelihood Maximization

This paper concerns the sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) problem for group sparse signals. Group sparsity means that the signal coefficients can be divided into groups and that the entries in one group are simultaneously zero or nonzero. In SBL, each group is controlled by a hyperparameter, which is estimated by solving the marginal likelihood maximization (MLM) problem. MLM is used to maximize the marginal likelihood of a given hyper-parameter by fixing all others. The main contribution of this paper is to extend the fast marginal likelihood maximization (FMLM) method to the group sparsity case. The key process of realizing FMLM in the group sparsity case is solved by finding the roots of a polynomial. Hence, the local maximum of the marginal likelihood can be found exactly, and the final estimation is obtained more efficiently. Furthermore, most large matrix inverses involved in MLM are replaced with the eigenvalue decompositions of much smaller matrices, which substantially reduces the computational complexity. Numerical results with both simulated and real data demonstrate the excellent performance and relatively high computational efficiency of the proposed method.
Automatic Probabilistic Enterprise IT Architecture Modeling: A Dynamic Bayesian Networks Approach

Enterprise architecture modeling and model maintenance are time- consuming and error-prone activities that are typically performed manually. This position paper presents new and innovative ideas on how to automate the modeling of enterprise architectures. We propose to view the problem of modeling as a probabilistic state estimation problem, which is addressed using Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN). The proposed approach is described using a motivating example. Sources of machine-readable data about Enterprise Architecture entities are reviewed.
Comparing Complex Networks: An Application to Emergency Managers' Mental Models

This paper describes an exploratory work that aims to identify a semantic basis underlying a mental model from the field of emergency management using a collaborative approach. An experimental application of the distance ratio measure was used to compare individual networks among themselves and to analyze the aggregated network representing the group mental model. The data was obtained by surveying a group of Civil Protection graduates and aggregating all the answers (shared mental model). The data allowed us to deepen the analysis of the resulting network in order to understand the main group concepts and their relations within this domain.
A method for measuring the jitter of PLLs

Jitter of phase-locked loops (PLLs) is an important parameter of clock system in mixed-signal integrated circuits. An improved method is proposed to measure the jitter on PLLs output clock accurately. In this method, the jitter is measured by an analytic signal which is extended from the real signal of PLL output clock, and a double window functions method is used in the frequency analysis to optimize the performance. The results of simulations validate the satisfactory performance of proposed PLL jitter measurement, and the better performance compared with the other methods.
The Face of the Chameleon: The Experience of Facial Mimicry for the Mimicker and the Mimickee

ABSTRACT This research addressed three questions concerning facial mimicry: (a) Does the relationship between mimicry and liking characterize all facial expressions, or is it limited to specific expressions? (b) Is the relationship between facial mimicry and liking symmetrical for the mimicker and the mimickee? (c) Does conscious mimicry have consequences for emotion recognition? A paradigm is introduced in which participants interact over a computer setup with a confederate whose prerecorded facial displays of emotion are synchronized with participants’ behavior to create the illusion of social interaction. In Experiment 1, the confederate did or did not mimic participants’ facial displays of various subsets of basic emotions. Mimicry promoted greater liking for the confederate regardless of which emotions were mimicked. Experiment 2 reversed these roles: participants were instructed to mimic or not to mimic the confederate’s facial displays. Mimicry did not affect liking for the confederate but it did impair emotion recognition.
Distributed storage of network measurement data on HBase

As traditional network measurement systems store data in relational databases, the storage capacity and computing resource are limited, besides, the extendibility and elasticity are low. The centralized storage scheme will not meet the needs of big data analysis as the data is growing rapidly and continuously. In this paper, we adopt Hadoop and HBase-open source Cloud Computing Frameworks to store network measurement data of non-realtime and realtime applications. The distributed storage scheme is designed to meet the performance demands of storage capacity and computing resource for the mass data.
A New Hardware-Efficient Algorithm and Reconfigurable Architecture for Image Contrast Enhancement

Contrast enhancement is crucial when generating high quality images for image processing applications, such as digital image or video photography, liquid crystal display processing, and medical image analysis. In order to achieve real-time performance for high-definition video applications, it is necessary to design efficient contrast enhancement hardware architecture to meet the needs of real-time processing. In this paper, we propose a novel hardware-oriented contrast enhancement algorithm which can be implemented effectively for hardware design. In order to be considered for hardware implementation, approximation techniques are proposed to reduce these complex computations during performance of the contrast enhancement algorithm. The proposed hardware-oriented contrast enhancement algorithm achieves good image quality by measuring the results of qualitative and quantitative analyzes. To decrease hardware cost and improve hardware utilization for real-time performance, a reduction in circuit area is proposed through use of parameter-controlled reconfigurable architecture. The experiment results show that the proposed hardware-oriented contrast enhancement algorithm can provide an average frame rate of 48.23 frames/s at high definition resolution 1920 × 1080.
A Survey of Text Question Answering Techniques

Question Answering (QA) is a specific type of information retrieval. Given a set of documents, a Question Answering system attempts to find out the correct answer to the question pose in natural language. Question answering is multidisciplinary. It involves information technology, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, knowledge and database management and cognitive science. From the technological perspective, question answering uses natural or statistical language processing, information retrieval, and knowledge representation and reasoning as potential building blocks. It involves text classification, information extraction and summarization technologies. In general, question answering system (QAS) has three components such as question classification, information retrieval, and answer extraction. These components play a essential role in QAS. Question classification play primary role in QA system to categorize the question based upon on the type of its entity. Information retrieval method is get of identify success by extracting out applicable answer post by their intelligent question answering system. Finally, answer extraction module is rising topics in the QAS where these systems are often requiring ranking and validating a candidate’s answer. Most of the Question Answering systems consists of three main modules: question processing, document processing and answer processing. Question processing module plays an important part in QA systems. If this module doesn't work correctly, it will make problems for other sections. Moreover answer processing module is an emerging topic in Question Answering, in which these systems are often required to rank and validate candidate answers. These techniques aiming at discovering the short and precise answers are often based on the semantic classification. QA systems give the ability to answer questions posed in natural language by extracting, from a repository of documents, fragments of documents that contain material relevant to the answer.
Magnetic and structural properties and crystallization behavior of Si-rich FINEMET materials

The magnetic and structural properties of an Si-rich grade FINEMET alloy with a composition of Fe73.5Si16. 1B6.4Nb2. 9Cu1.1 in at% [Fe82.7Si9. 1B1.4Nb5. 4Cu1.4 (wt%)] were investigated after primary and secondary crystallization of ribbon samples. Optimally annealed ribbons exhibited a homogeneous microstructure composed of B7 nm DO3 nanocrystals surrounded by the retained amorphous phase. This is similar to the base FINEMET. Also, a chemical partitioning model, especially of Si, on slowly heated ribbons above the secondary crystallization temperature (B700 C), is presented herein in conjunction with the reaction products and the magnetic transitions. A self-consistent magnetization analysis is presented which for the first time in FINEMET materials correlates a macroscopic approach from the sample magnetization (using experimentally determined microstructural data such as volume fractions of magnetic phases) with an atomistic approach such as nearest-neighbor calculations and the atomic magnetic dipole moments. The estimated magnetic moment exerted by one Fe atom in the as-spun sample isB1.67mB on average, while that in a unit cell of the DO3 phase crystallized from the amorphous is estimated as B1.85mB per Fe atom (B24.2 mB per a unit cell of the DO3 phase). r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Design of SMA Actuator Based Access Device for Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery

An access device using a combination of a compression coil spring made of NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA) and NiTi superelastic strips has been developed. Particular consideration is given to the application of the concept in tran- sanal endocopic microsurgery (TEM), but it could be used in other procedures where tissue expansion is required. In TEM, it could realize the gasless dilation of the rectum with safety and reliability, and facilitate surgeons to perform TEM. The theoretical design procedure to determine the specifications of the NiTi SMA spring and superelastic compo- nents is established. The feasibility and the possible problems associated with this application are discussed generally.
The Antinociceptive Effects of Hydroalcoholic Extract of Borago Officinalis Flower in Male Rats Using Formalin Test

Introduction: Borago officinalis flower (borage) is a known sedative in herbal medicine; the aim of the present study was to evaluate the antinociceptive effect of borage hydroalcoholic extract in formalin test male rats. Methods: Fifty-six adult male albino Wistar rats were randomly divided into seven groups: Control groups of A (intact), B (saline), and C (Positive control) plus test groups of D, E, F, and G (n=8). The groups D, E, and F received 6.25, 12.5, and 25 mg/kg, Borago officinalis flower hydroalcholic extract before the test, respectively but group G received 25 mg/kg borage extract and aspirin before the test. A biphasic pain was induced by injection of formalin 1%. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software ver. 17 employing statistical tests of Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney. The results were expressed as mean±SD. Statistical differences were considered significant at P<0.05. Results: The results revealed that the acute and chronic pain behavior score in test groups of D, E, F, and G significantly decreased compared to groups A and B, but this score did not show any difference compared to group C. Moreover, chronic pain behavior score in group G was significantly lower than all other groups. Discussion: The results indicated that Borago officinalis hydroalcoholic extract affects the acute and chronic pain behavior response in formaline test male rats.
Experimental evidence of condition‐dependent sexual dimorphism in the weakly dimorphic antler fly Protopiophila litigata (Diptera: Piophilidae)

Sexually dimorphic traits have a history of directional selection for exaggeration in at least one sex. Theory suggests that traits targeted by persistent selection should evolve heightened condition dependence whereby their expression reflects the availability and processing efficiency of metabolic resources. This joint dependence of sexual dimorphism and condition dependence on directional selection should result in a positive correlation between the extent of sexual dimorphism and the strength of condition dependence. However, because direct phenotypic evidence is predominately from species with highly exaggerated male traits, it remains unclear whether condition-dependent sexual dimorphism is characteristic of species with more typical levels of dimorphism. We manipulated condition via larval diet and quantified sex-specific responses in adult body size and shape in a moderately dimorphic dipteran species, the antler fly Protopiophila litigata. While dimorphism did not increase with diet quality within any trait, among traits the extent of dimorphism was positively associated with the strength of condition dependence in males but not females, as previously reported for highly dimorphic species. This finding suggests that a shared developmental basis to condition dependence and sexual dimorphism can arise via sexual selection on males even in lineages lacking highly exaggerated male traits. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 116, 211–220.
Constrained Least Squares Estimation for Position Tracking

This paper describes an effective method for mobile location tracking and velocity estimation in a network-based wireless localization system. We propose a constrained least squares estimation algorithm for real-time tracking of the location and dynamic motion of a mobile user using TOA measurements. The tracking problem is formulated in a state-space framework and the constraints on system states are considered explicitly. Simulation results show that the proposed tracking algorithm can improve the accuracy through eliminating spurious position estimates
A two-stage variation-aware placement method for FPGAS exploiting variation maps classification

Technology scaling causes increasing and unavoidable delay variability in FPGAs. This paper proposes a 2-stage variation-aware placement method that benefits from the optimality of a full-chipwise (chip-by-chip) placement but only requires a fraction of total execution time for a large number of FPGAs with different variation patterns. By classifying variation maps into finite number of classes, variation-aware placement only need to be executed based on the median map of each class to produce the placement for the other FPGAs (variation maps) in that class to save execution time. Our proposed method is implemented in a modified version of VPR 5.0 and verified using variation maps measured from 129 DE0 boards equipped with Cyclone III FPGAs. The mean timing gain of 7.36% is observed in 20 MCNC benchmarks with 16 clusters, while reducing execution time by a factor of 8 compared to full-chipwise placement.
Structure of the DNA Duplex d(ATTAAT)2 with Hoogsteen Hydrogen Bonds

The traditional Watson-Crick base pairs in DNA may occasionally adopt a Hoogsteen conformation, with a different organization of hydrogen bonds. Previous crystal structures have shown that the Hoogsteen conformation is favored in alternating AT sequences of DNA. Here we present new data for a different sequence, d(ATTAAT)2, which is also found in the Hoogsteen conformation. Thus we demonstrate that other all-AT sequences of DNA with a different sequence may be found in the Hoogsteen conformation. We conclude that any all-AT sequence might acquire this conformation under appropriate conditions. We also compare the detailed features of DNA in either the Hoogsteen or Watson-Crick conformations.
Chapter 19 : Gene : A Directory of Genes

A major goal of genomic sequencing projects is to identify and characterize genes. Gene (1) has been implemented at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) (2) to organize information about genes, serving as a major node in the nexus of genomic map, sequence, expression, protein structure, function, and homology data. Each Gene record is assigned a unique identifier, the GeneID, that can be tracked through revision cycles. Gene records are established for known or predicted genes, which are defined by nucleotide sequence or map position. Not all taxa are represented, and the current scope matches that of NCBI's Reference Sequences group (3) and NIH's Mammalian Gene Collection (4).
Modularly Certified Dynamic Storage Allocation in SCAP

Critical applications and increasing scale of software has made software assurance a big problem. Currently, programmers can write type-safe codes in typed languages with sound type systems, such as Java, Cyclone, even typed assembly language (TAL). But high assurance does mean not only type safe, but also correctness and security. Since type is not expressive enough, there are still no high assurance software released in typed language, especially operating system and runtime library, which are infrastructure software in the computing system. Logic predicates are more expressive than types, thus substituting types with logic predicates as program specification seems a good idea. In this paper, we present a certified dynamic storage allocation library (malloc/free) in SCAP, which is a new MIPS-like assembly language with expressive and power specification structure. And we encode the SCAP language and the certified library in a modern higher-order logic (HOL) proof assistant Coq. In this work, we confirm the expressiveness and modularity of SCAP. So we can expect SCAP to be a expressive target language for some safe high-level languages in the future
Effects of noise, nonlinear processing, and linear filtering on perceived music quality

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the relative impact of different forms of hearing aid signal processing on quality ratings of music. Design: Music quality was assessed using a rating scale for three types of music: orchestral classical music, jazz instrumental, and a female vocalist. The music stimuli were subjected to a wide range of simulated hearing aid processing conditions including, (1) noise and nonlinear processing, (2) linear filtering, and (3) combinations of noise, nonlinear, and linear filtering. Study sample: Quality ratings were measured in a group of 19 listeners with normal hearing and a group of 15 listeners with sensorineural hearing impairment. Results: Quality ratings in both groups were generally comparable, were reliable across test sessions, were impacted more by noise and nonlinear signal processing than by linear filtering, and were significantly affected by the genre of music. Conclusions: The average quality ratings for music were reasonably well predicted by the hearing aid speech quality index (HASQI), but additional work is needed to optimize the index to the wide range of music genres and processing conditions included in this study. Sumario Objetivo: El propósito de este estudio fue determinar el impacto relativo de diferentes formas de procesamiento de señal de los auxiliares auditivos en cuanto a la calificación cualitativa de la música. Diseño: la calidad de la música se evaluó utilizando una escala de calificación para tres tipos de música: clásica orquestral, jazz instrumental y mujer vocalista. Los estímulos musicales estuvieron sujetos a un amplio número de simulaciones de procesamiento de los auxiliares auditivos, incluyendo (1) ruido y procesamiento no-linear, (2) filtración linear y (3) combinaciones de ruido, no-linear y filtración linear. Mestra: Se obtuvieron los índices de calidad en un grupo de 19 sujetos normoyentes y otro grupo de 15 sujetos con hipoacusia sensorineural. Resultados: Las calificaciones cualitativas en ambos grupos fueron generalmente comparables, confiables en las diferentes sesiones, fueron más alteradas por el ruido y por el procesamiento no linear de la señal que por la filtración linear y fueron afectadas significativamente por el género de la música. Conclusiones: El índice de calidad del lenguaje de los auxiliares auditivos (HASQI), pronosticó razonablemente bien el promedio de calificación de la calidad de la música, pero todavía es necesario continuar la investigación para optimizar el índice para que éste pueda cubrir una gama más amplia de géneros y condiciones de procesamiento incluidas en este estudio.