Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dirty-paper trellis codes for watermarking

Informed coding is the practice of representing watermark messages with patterns that are dependent on the cover works. This requires the use of a dirty-paper code, in which each message is represented by a large number of alternative vectors. Most previous dirty-paper codes are based on lattice codes, in which each code vector, or pattern, is a point in a regular lattice. While such codes are very efficient to implement, they suffer from inherent weakness against valumetric scaling, such as changes in audio volume or image brightness. In the present paper, we present an alternative to lattice codes that is inherently robust to valumetric scaling. This code is based on a trellis that has been modified so that each bit value may be coded by traversing several alternative arcs. A Viterbi decoder is used in the detector to identify the path with the highest correlation to the input work. Since relative correlation values are unaffected by valumetric scaling, the same message will be detected no matter how the input has been scaled.
Study of the Impact of Initial Moisture Content in Oil Impregnated Insulation Paper on Thermal Aging Rate of Condenser Bushing

This paper studied the impact of moisture on the correlated characteristics of the condenser bushings oil-paper insulation system. The oil-impregnated paper samples underwent accelerated thermal aging at 130 °C after preparation at different initial moisture contents (1%, 3%, 5% and 7%). All the samples were extracted periodically for the measurement of the moisture content, the degree of polymerization (DP) and frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy (FDS). Next, the measurement results of samples were compared to the related research results of transformer oil-paper insulation, offering a theoretical basis of the parameter analysis. The obtained results show that the moisture fluctuation amplitude can reflect the different initial moisture contents of insulating paper and the mass ratio of oil and paper has little impact on the moisture content fluctuation pattern in oil-paper but has a great impact on moisture fluctuation amplitude; reduction of DP presents an accelerating trend with the increase of initial moisture content, and the aging rate of test samples is higher under low moisture content but lower under high moisture content compared to the insulation paper in transformers. Two obvious “deceleration zones” appeared in the dielectric spectrum with the decrease of frequency, and not only does the integral value of dielectric dissipation factor (tan δ) reflect the aging degree, but it reflects the moisture content in solid insulation. These types of research in this paper can be applied to evaluate the condition of humidified insulation and the aging state of solid insulation for condenser bushings.
Somatic mutations of calreticulin in myeloproliferative neoplasms.

BACKGROUND Approximately 50 to 60% of patients with essential thrombocythemia or primary myelofibrosis carry a mutation in the Janus kinase 2 gene (JAK2), and an additional 5 to 10% have activating mutations in the thrombopoietin receptor gene (MPL). So far, no specific molecular marker has been identified in the remaining 30 to 45% of patients. METHODS We performed whole-exome sequencing to identify somatically acquired mutations in six patients who had primary myelofibrosis without mutations in JAK2 or MPL. Resequencing of CALR, encoding calreticulin, was then performed in cohorts of patients with myeloid neoplasms. RESULTS Somatic insertions or deletions in exon 9 of CALR were detected in all patients who underwent whole-exome sequencing. Resequencing in 1107 samples from patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms showed that CALR mutations were absent in polycythemia vera. In essential thrombocythemia and primary myelofibrosis, CALR mutations and JAK2 and MPL mutations were mutually exclusive. Among patients with essential thrombocythemia or primary myelofibrosis with nonmutated JAK2 or MPL, CALR mutations were detected in 67% of those with essential thrombocythemia and 88% of those with primary myelofibrosis. A total of 36 types of insertions or deletions were identified that all cause a frameshift to the same alternative reading frame and generate a novel C-terminal peptide in the mutant calreticulin. Overexpression of the most frequent CALR deletion caused cytokine-independent growth in vitro owing to the activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) by means of an unknown mechanism. Patients with mutated CALR had a lower risk of thrombosis and longer overall survival than patients with mutated JAK2. CONCLUSIONS Most patients with essential thrombocythemia or primary myelofibrosis that was not associated with a JAK2 or MPL alteration carried a somatic mutation in CALR. The clinical course in these patients was more indolent than that in patients with the JAK2 V617F mutation. (Funded by the MPN Research Foundation and Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro.).
The Wiring Economy Principle: Connectivity Determines Anatomy in the Human Brain

Minimization of the wiring cost of white matter fibers in the human brain appears to be an organizational principle. We investigate this aspect in the human brain using whole brain connectivity networks extracted from high resolution diffusion MRI data of 14 normal volunteers. We specifically address the question of whether brain anatomy determines its connectivity or vice versa. Unlike previous studies we use weighted networks, where connections between cortical nodes are real-valued rather than binary off-on connections. In one set of analyses we found that the connectivity structure of the brain has near optimal wiring cost compared to random networks with the same number of edges, degree distribution and edge weight distribution. A specifically designed minimization routine could not find cheaper wiring without significantly degrading network performance. In another set of analyses we kept the observed brain network topology and connectivity but allowed nodes to freely move on a 3D manifold topologically identical to the brain. An efficient minimization routine was written to find the lowest wiring cost configuration. We found that beginning from any random configuration, the nodes invariably arrange themselves in a configuration with a striking resemblance to the brain. This confirms the widely held but poorly tested claim that wiring economy is a driving principle of the brain. Intriguingly, our results also suggest that the brain mainly optimizes for the most desirable network connectivity, and the observed brain anatomy is merely a result of this optimization.
Process Optimisation to Control the Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Biomimetic Nanoscale Hydroxyapatites Prepared Using Wet Chemical Precipitation

Hydroxyapatite nanoscale particles (nHA) were prepared by wet chemical precipitation using four different synthesis methods. Differences in physico-chemical properties including morphology, particle-size, and crystallinity were investigated following alteration of critical processing parameters. The nanoparticles were also studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance mode (FTIR-ATR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) spectrometry. The results showed that the particles obtained were composed of nHA, with different morphologies and aspect ratios (1.5 to 4) and degrees of crystallinity (40% to 70% following calcination) depending on the different process parameters of the synthesis method used, such as temperature, ripening time and pH. This study demonstrated that relatively small adjustments to processing conditions of different wet chemical preparation methods significantly affect the morphological and chemical characteristics of nHA. For the predicable preparation of biomimetic nHA for specific applications, the selection of both production method and careful control of processing conditions are paramount.
Radio-loud Active Galaxies in the Northern ROSAT All-Sky Survey. III. New Spectroscopic Identifications from the RASS-Green Bank BL Lacertae Survey

We present new spectroscopic identifications for 169 objects in the RASS-Green Bank (RGB) catalog of radio- and X-ray-emitting active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The data presented here significantly increase the fraction of bright RGB objects with classifications. Specifically, we report and discuss the classification of 57 radio-loud quasars, eight radio-quiet quasars (QSOs), 53 BL Lacs, 32 broad-line radio galaxies, five narrow-line radio galaxies, three Seyfert I galaxies, and 11 galaxies or galaxies in clusters. Over 78% of the identifications we present here are the first published classifications for these sources. The observations we report were undertaken as part of our targeted search program to identify a new, large unbiased sample of BL Lac objects, and we therefore discuss the BL Lac sample extensively. Unlike many previous surveys, we impose no selection criteria based on optical morphology, color, or broadband spectral energy distribution. Our classifications are based solely on a carefully defined set of self-consistent spectroscopic classification criteria. These criteria are then carefully evaluated, and particular attention is paid to issues involving the classification and description of BL Lacs. The criteria yielded BL Lac classifications for 53 RGB objects, 38 of which were are newly discovered BL Lacs. We show these RGB BL Lacs exhibit transitional properties between normal galaxies and BL Lacs discovered in previous radio and X-ray surveys. We briefly discuss the broadband flux distributions of these new RGB BL Lacs and the range of Ca II H and K break contrasts (Br4000) they exhibit. We show that there is no clear separation in Br4000 between BL Lacs and galaxies detected in the RGB survey, with the distribution of break strengths varying smoothly between 0% and 50%. We also present and use a simple method based on the break strength to estimate the contribution of both the host galaxy and AGN to the 4000 Å flux. We also show that the newly discovered RGB BL Lacs reside in a "zone of avoidance" in the log (Sx/Sr) versus log (So/Sr) diagram. This has important implications for BL Lac search strategies since it shows that RASS BL Lac samples will be severely incomplete if candidates are chosen only from among those objects with the highest Sx/Sr flux ratios.
Amplitude Death Induced by a Global Dynamic Coupling

This paper presents a dynamic connection that can induce amplitude death in globally coupled oscillators. A linear analysis clarifies a local stability condition for global amplitude death. The analysis also indicates that the odd-number property, which is known in delayed feedback control, exists in global dynamic coupled oscillators. Furthermore, global amplitude death is experimentally observed in Chua's circuits coupled by an RC line.
Welcome to the moocspace: a proposed theory and taxonomy for massive open online courses

This paper describes a theoretical framework and feature taxonomy for MOOCs, with the goal of developing a shared language for researchers and designers. The theoretical framework characterizes MOOC design goals in terms of stances towards knowledge, the learner, and assessment practices, taking as a starting point the affordances of the Web and digital learning environments. The taxonomy encompasses features, course structures, and audiences. It can be mapped onto the theoretical framework, used by researchers to identify similar courses for cross-course comparisons, and by instructional designers to guide design decisions in different dimensions. Both the theory and the taxonomy are intended in the spirit of proposal, to be refined based on feedback from MOOC researchers, designers, and technologists.
Image analysis architectures and techniques for intelligent surveillance systems

Video security is becoming more and more important today, as the number of installed cameras can attest. There are many challenging commercial applications to monitor people or vehicle traffic. The work reported here has both research and commercial motivations. Our goals are first to obtain an efficient intelligent system that can meet strong industrial surveillance system requirements and therefore be real-time, distributed, generic and robust. Our second goal is to have a development platform that allows researchers to conceive and easily test new vision algorithms thanks to its modularity and easy set-up. This paper focuses on the image analysis modules. It considers the different kind of inputs, algorithm models in addition to delay and the need of generality.
A New and Efficient Algorithm for the Removal of High Density Salt and Pepper Noise in Images and Videos

A new and efficient algorithm for high-density salt and pepper noise removal in images and videos is proposed. The existing non-linear filter like Standard Median Filter (SMF), Adaptive Median Filter (AMF), Decision Based Algorithm (DBA) and Robust Estimation Algorithm (REA) shows better results at low and medium noise densities. At high noise densities, their performance is poor. A new algorithm to remove high-density salt and pepper noise using modified sheer sorting method is proposed. The new algorithm has lower computation time when compared to other standard algorithms. Results of the algorithm is compared with various existing algorithms and it is proved that the new method has better visual appearance and quantitative measures at higher noise densities as high as 90%.
Software Orchestrated Flash Array

Because of the explosive growth of flash disk usage in portable computers and mobile devices, building data center storage systems using these commodity flash disks has become a compelling option. A vanilla approach to integrating multiple flash disks into a storage system is to put them under the control of a RAID controller. However, this approach incurs longer write latency than necessary and leads to reduction in the overall system lifetime. This paper describes a log-structured flash array architecture called SOFA (Software Orchestrated Flash Array), in which the flash translation layer (FTL) sits on top of rather than below disk array management logic, and is judiciously partitioned between a central control server and the on-disk controllers. By directly managing the resource usage in individual flash disks, SOFA is able to avoid the load and wear imbalance problems associated with existing flash disk array systems. Empirical measurements of an industrial-strength SOFA prototype show it could execute more than 7,000 random 8KB writes per second per SATA-2 flash disks, and sustains the same per-disk random write performance when the system holds up to 24 flash disks.
The Most Massive Distant Clusters: Determining Ω and σ8

The existence of the three most massive clusters of galaxies observed so far at z > 0.5 is used to constrain the mass density parameter of the universe, Ω, and the amplitude of mass fluctuations, σ8. We find Ω=0.2−0.1+0.3 and σ8=1.2−0.4+0.5 (95%). We show that the existence of even the single most distant cluster at z = 0.83, MS 1054-03, with its large gravitational lensing mass, high temperature, and large velocity dispersion, is sufficient to establish powerful constraints. High-density, Ω = 1 (σ8 ≃ 0.5-0.6) Gaussian models are ruled out by these data (≲10-6 probability); the Ω = 1 models predict only ~10-5 massive clusters at z > 0.65 (~10-3 at z > 0.5) instead of the one (three) clusters observed.
Source Transmit Antenna Selection for MIMO Decode-and-Forward Relay Networks

Transmit antenna selection (TAS) is usually applied to multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems because it does not require additional radio frequency (RF) chains which are quite expensive. In MIMO decode-and-forward (DF) relay networks, both source-destination and source-relay-destination paths should be simultaneously considered to find an effective source TAS (STAS). In this paper, a new STAS is proposed based on both channel state information and transmission scheme for the MIMO DF relay networks. It is also shown that the proposed STAS which selects <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$M_{SS}$</tex></formula> antennas among <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$M_{S}$</tex></formula> transmit antennas at the source can achieve full diversity regardless of the value of <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$M_{SS}$</tex></formula>. Simulation results show that the proposed STAS has better average bit error probability (BEP) performance than other STASs. Also, the proposed STAS with <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$M_{SS}=1$</tex></formula> has lower cost, complexity, overhead, and BEP than the STAS with <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$M_{SS}>1$</tex> </formula> using full-rate full-diversity space-time block codes with the same total transmit power.
Fundamental tradeoffs and evaluation methodology for future green wireless networks

To meet the global challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the exponentially growing data traffic, green design of cellular network is becoming a urgent issue for wireless network operators. In this paper, we first discuss the performance evaluation methodology for future wireless networks from the viewpoint of five basic metrics, i.e., throughput, power consumption, deployment cost, bandwidth, and latency. We then study the fundamental tradeoffs from Shannon's perspective based on the five metrics. Furthermore, we extend the tradeoff relation from point-to-point link to a heterogeneous network scenario taking into account realistic base station power model. Our study provides useful insights for the evaluation, modeling and deployment of future green wireless networks.
Microbial diversity associated with copepods in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre.

Patchiness of marine microbial communities has an important influence on microbial activities in the ocean, particularly in the oligotrophic open ocean where bioavailable nutrients are otherwise scarce. Such spatial heterogeneity is present in associations with dead and living particles, including zooplankton. The microbial community composition of mesozooplankton was investigated from the Sargasso Sea using 16S rRNA amplicon pyrosequencing. Zooplankton microbiomes were studied on the copepods Undinula vulgaris, Pleuromamma spp. , Sapphirina metalina, Pseudocalanus spp. and Tigriopus sp. , and an amphipod, Phrosina semilunata. The overall richness was lower in the zooplankton than in the seawater, and zooplankton-specific bacterial communities were distinct from the communities in seawater. Gammaproteobacteria dominated in all zooplankton studied, with Vibrio spp. highly represented. Firmicutes were detected in all copepods, providing evidence for anaerobic conditions present on the copepods. Bacterial groups known to grow on concentrated organic substrates or to prevent biofouling were highly represented in association with copepods, suggesting they benefit from copepod-derived nutrients or carbon. The described copepod microbiome has similarities to communities previously described in coastal copepods, suggesting some aspects of the copepod microbiome are not habitat specific. The communities are distinct of that in seawater, demonstrating significant microbial patchiness in association with marine zooplankton in the oligotrophic open ocean.
Supplemental Data Structure of a Multipartite Protein-Protein Interaction Domain in Splicing Factor Prp 8 and Its Link to Retinitis Pigmentosa

We have shown here that the Jab1/MPN-like domain embodies an important protein-protein interaction platform in Prp8 orthologs, primarily due to inserted and appended structural elements. Elements outside the Jab1/MPN core apparently also sustain adaptor functions in other family members (Fu et al., 2001). Indeed, these additions to the core may generally serve to incorporate Jab1/MPN proteins into multi-subunit macromolecular machineries. Sequence alignments reveal some aromatic and aliphatic residues in similar positions in the appendices, suggesting that they could adopt similar structures and attach to the Jab1/MPN core in a similar fashion as seen in scPrp8p 2147-2397. On the other hand, certain evolutionary remodeling events, such as conversion of the substrate channel to a permanent binding site for an inserted element, seem unlikely for Jab1/MPN domain proteins that remain enzymatically active. We used established bioinformatics tools to address the question, whether all expanded Jab1/MPN domains structurally conform to a homologous 'macro'-Jab1/MPN domain as represented by scPrp8p 2147-2397. The sequences of selected proteins (scRpn11p, hCsn5, hBRCA1/BRCA2-containing complex subunit 3 [hBRCC3], and subunit 5ε of heIF3) were
Three techniques for improving automatic synchronization between music and lyrics: Fricative detection, filler model, and novel feature vectors for vocal activity detection

Three techniques are described that improve a previously developed system for automatically synchronizing lyrics with musical audio signals. Although this system achieves state-of-the-art accuracy by extracting vocal vowels from polyphonic sound mixtures and using forced alignment between those vowels and a phoneme network of the lyrics, there was still room for improvement. The first technique detects nonexistence regions in which fricative consonant sounds do not exist, which were not utilized in the previous system, and prohibits the alignment of the fricative phonemes to those regions. The second technique inserts a filler model between phrases of the phoneme network. This model improves the accuracy of the forced alignment by ignoring inter-phrase vowel utterances not included in the lyrics. The third technique introduces novel feature vectors for vocal activity detection that enable a distance calculation between two sets of the harmonic structure without estimating their spectral envelopes. Experimental results showed that all three techniques contribute to improved synchronization.
Retrieving images combining saliency detection with IRM

The research from cognitive psychology and neurobiology suggests that people have a strong ability to perceive objects before identifying them, and the human vision system (HVS) processes some salient regions of an image while leaving others nearly unprocessed. Based on this observation, we assume people prefer to pay more attention to salient regions when judging whether images are matched. A novel saliency detection based on reconstruction residual is proposed to calculate saliency maps and generate salient regions, which helps decrease the interference from irrelevant regions in image retrieval. The introduction of integrated region matching (IRM) can better characterize the spatial constraints among salient regions to conduct similarity measurement. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed saliency detection has a good performance. At the same time, the combination of salient regions and IRM can help improve the state-of-the-art retrieval algorithms.
Extending XData to kill SQL query mutants in the wild

SQL queries are usually tested for correctness by executing them on one or more datasets, to see if they give the desired results on each dataset. Erroneous queries are often the result of small changes, or mutations, of the correct query. Earlier work on the XData system showed how to generate datasets that kill all mutations in a class of mutations that included join type and comparison operation mutations. However, the system could not handle a number of commonly used SQL features. In this paper we extend the XData data generation techniques to handle features such as null values, string constraints, aggregation with constraints on aggregation results, and a class of subqueries, amongst others. We present a study of the effectiveness of our data generation approach for correcting student SQL assignments that were part of a database course. The datasets generated by XData outperform publicly available datasets, as well as manual grading done earlier by teaching assistants.