Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of a mobile communication security protocol

Cryptographic protocols are used to achieve secure communication over insecure networks. Weaknesses in such protocols are hard to identify, as they can be the result of subtle design flaws. Formal verification techniques provide rigid and thorough means to evaluate security protocols. This paper demonstrates the process of formal verification by applying a logic to a security protocol intended for use in mobile communications. As a result of the verification, 8 failed protocol goals are identified. Further, a new attack on the protocol is outlined. The presence of weaknesses in published protocols highlights the importance of formal verification to prevent insecure protocols reaching the public domain.
An Integrated Approach to Recognition of Lane Marking and Road Boundary

An integrated vision method was proposed for intelligent vehicles to synchronously recognize the lane marking and road boundary in direct or curve road environment. Firstly, with region connectivity analyzing, the method extracted the brightness features of lane markings on input images by self-adaptive threshold segmenting. Not only the gradient magnitude but also the gradient direction features of the road boundary were extracted by the Sobel operator method. Secondly, the 2-D models of road shape were acquired and the features above were matched to them by least-squares fit. With the circular calling of detecting and tracking program block, the whole process showed a fast and exact capability. The experiments have been conducted with the videos captured from real road scenes, and the results proved that it is a real time and robust method to recognize the road for the vision-based navigation of intelligent vehicles.
Design of high performance Multiply-Accumulate Computation unit

In Digital Signal Processing (DSP), Multiply-Accumulate Computation (MAC) unit plays a very important role and lies in the critical path. Multiplier is one of the most important block in MAC unit. The overall performance of the MAC unit depends on the resources used by the multiplier. Therefore, this paper describes the design of a Partial Product Reduction Block (PPRB) that is used in the implementation of multiplier having better area, delay and power performances. PPRB reduces the partial products row wise by using different multi-bit adder blocks instead of conventional coloumn wise reduction. MAC unit consisting of the multiplier realized using the proposed partial product reduction technique has a delay reduction of 46%, power consumption is reduced by 39% and area requirement is reduced by 17% when compared to MAC unit realised using conventional multiplier architecture.
Separations of concerns in the Chiron-1 user interface development and management system

The development of user interfaces for large applications is subject to a series of well-known problems including cost, maintainability, and sensitivity to changes in the operating environment. The Chiron user interface development system has been built to address these software engineering concerns. Chiron introduces a series of layers that insulate components of an application from other components that may experience change. To separate application code from user interface code, user interface agents called artists are attached to application abstract data types. Operations on abstract data types within the application implicitly trigger user interface activities. Chiron also provides insulation between the user interface layer and the underlying system; artist code is written in terms of abstract depiction libraries that insulate the code from the specifics of particular windowing systems and toolkits. Concurrency is pervasive in the Chiron architecture. Inside an application there can be multiple execution threads; there is no requirement for a user interface listening/dispatching routine to have exclusive control. Multiple artists can be attached to a single application abstract data type, providing alternative forms of access by a single user or coordinated access and manipulation by multiple users.
Polyphase and Modulation Descriptions of Multirate Systems - A Systematic Approach

An extended deenition of discrete-time linear periodically time-varying (LPTV) systems is shown to provide an elegant and systematic way of deriving z-domain polyphase and modulation descriptions of LPTV systems. Descriptions of composite systems are obtained from those of their components or basic elements by matrix operations. The results apply to multirate systems as well as to discrete-time wavelet transforms. In particular, matrices of lter banks with rational sampling factors are obtained in a straightforward manner.
On Bayesian Structural Inference in a Simultaneous Equation Model

Econometric issues that are considered fundamental in the development of Bayesian structural inference within a Simultaneous Equation Model are surveyed. The difficulty of specifying prior information which is of interest to economists and which yields tractable posterior and predictive distributions has started this line of research. A major issue is the nonstandard shape of the likelihood due to reduced rank restrictions. It implies that existence of structural posterior moments under vague prior information is a nontrivial issue. The problem is illustrated through simple examples using artificially generated data in a so-called limited information framework where the connection with the problem of weak instruments in classical econometrics is also described. A positive development is Bayesian inference of implied characteristics, in particular, dynamic features of a Simultaneous Equation Model. The potential of Bayesian structural inference, using a predictive approach for prior specification and using Monte Carlo simulation techniques for computational purposes, is illustrated by means of a prior and posterior analysis of the US business cycle in the period of the depression. A structural prior is elicited through investigation of the implied predictive features.
RATE-DEPENDENT ACOUSTIC MODELING FOR LARGE VOCABULARY CONVERSATIONAL SPEECH RECOGNITION

Variations in rate of speech (ROS) produce changes in both spectral features and word pronunciations that affect automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. To deal with these ROS effects, we propose to use parallel, rate-specific, acoustic models: one for fast speech, the other for slow speech. Rate switching is permitted at word boundaries, to allow modeling within-sentence speech rate variation, which is common in conversational speech. Due to the parallel structure of ratespecific models and the maximum likelihood decoding method, we do not need high-quality ROS estimation before recognition, which is usually hard to achieve. In this paper, we evaluate our approach on a large-vocabulary conversational speech recognition (LVCSR) task over the telephone, with several minimal pair comparisons based on different baseline systems. Experiments show that on a development set for the 2000 Hub-5 evaluation, introducing word-level ROSdependent models results in a 1.9% absolute win over a baseline system without multiword pronunciation modeling, and a 0.7% absolute win over a baseline system that incorporates a 4.0% absolute win from multiword pronunciation modeling.
Neurosteroids block the increase in intracellular calcium level induced by Alzheimer’s β-amyloid protein in long-term cultured rat hippocampal neurons

The neurotoxicity of β-amyloid protein (AβP) is implicated in the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease. We previously have demonstrated that AβP forms Ca2+-permeable pores on neuronal membranes, causes a marked increase in intracellular calcium level, and leads to neuronal death. Here, we investigated in detail the features of AβP-induced changes in intracellular Ca2+ level in primary cultured rat hippocampal neurons using a multisite Ca2+-imaging system with fura-2 as a fluorescent probe. Only a small fraction of short-term cultured hippocampal neurons (ca 1 week in vitro) exhibited changes in intracellular Ca2+ level after AβP exposure. However, AβP caused an acute increase in intracellular Ca2+ level in long-term cultured neurons (ca 1 month in vitro). The responses to AβP were highly heterogeneous, and immunohistochemical analysis using an antibody to AβP revealed that AβP is deposited on some but not all neurons. Considering that the disruption of Ca2+ homeostasis is the primary event in AβP neurotoxicity, substances that protect neurons from an AβP-induced intracellular Ca2+ level increase may be candidates as therapeutic drugs for Alzheimer’s disease. In line with the search for such protective substances, we found that the preadministration of neurosteroids including dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and pregnenolone significantly inhibits the increase in intracellular calcium level induced by AβP. Our results suggest the possible significance of neurosteroids, whose levels are reduced in the elderly, in preventing AβP neurotoxicity.
MPI at Exascale

With petascale systems already available, researchers are devoting their attention to the issues needed to reach the next major level in performance, namely, exascale. Explicit message passing using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) is the most commonly used model for programming petascale systems today. In this paper, we investigate what is needed to enable MPI to scale to exascale, both in the MPI speciﬁcation and in MPI implementations, focusing on issues such as memory consumption and performance. We also present results of experiments related to MPI memory consumption at scale on the IBM Blue Gene/P at Argonne National Laboratory.
Establishing methodological coherence when using observations, stimulated recall interviews and narrative analysis

Qualitative research is multimodal in focus (Flick, 2014), often to triangulate data findings and to add rigor, complexity, richness and depth to the data analysis. However, critics often question the trustworthiness of data findings. Pre-observation interviews, videoed observations of clinical sessions followed by stimulated-recall interviews were chosen as the data methods for the eight participants in the study. Narrative analysis was chosen as the analytical strategy as it served as a data management mechanism to manage the variety of data sources and the volume of data in order to produce a coherent whole to facilitate the first level of analysis. It is well documented that videoed observations and stimulated recall interviews are compatible in their pairing as research methods however (Rowe, 2009), the compatibility between these research methods and narrative analysis needed to be established. The pre-observation interviews, video observations and the stimulated recall interviews were transcribed and coded. However, a further layering on the methodological and data analysis process was needed. This gap was filled by the use of narrative analysis in the construction of narratives (stories) using the data from the pre-observation interviews, video observations and the stimulated recall interviews. Techniques from creative short story writing were used in developing the narratives which underwent several revisions. Verbatim extracts from transcripts were used to further authenticate the narratives and to enhance the internal validity of the analysis, nevertheless, the construction of the narrative was an interpretive act which meant that different levels of interpretation were used for different data sources. The constructs of trustworthiness (Guba, 1981), were used to allude to the coherence between stimulated recall interviews and narrative analysis. Credibility was achieved through triangulation of the data whereby multiple sources were gathered, i.e. pre-observation interviews, Video recorded observation data and stimulated recall interviews. Transferability was achieved through the narrativising of the data warranted thick descriptions of the empirical data that were presented in the narratives to allude the reader to the context. Dependability of the study was achieved through detailed data production planning and transparency of process. Confirmability was established through triangulation. Triangulation of the data was conducted in an effort to reduce the effect of researcher bias (Shenton, 2004). Although qualitative research is inherently multimodal in focus, the trustworthiness and the coherence of the methods used in a single study needs to be established so that the findings can be dependable and generative. This paper argues that videoed observations, stimulated recall interviews and narrative analysis form a triangulated process to establish methodological coherence and trustworthiness in qualitative research.
Prediction of a caspase-like fold in Tannerella forsythia virulence factor PrtH

Tannerella forsythia is a bacterial pathogen involved in periodontal disease. A cysteine protease PrtH has been characterized in this bacterium as a virulence factor. PrtH has the activity of detaching adherent cells from substratum, and the level of PrtH is associated with periodontal attachment loss. No reports exist on the structure, active site, and catalytic mechanism of PrtH. Using comparative sequence and structural analyses, we have identified homologs of PrtH in a number of bacterial and archaeal species. PrtH was found to be remotely related to caspases and other proteases with a caspase-like fold, such as gingipains from another periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis. Our results offer structural and mechanistic insights into PrtH and its homologs, and help classification of this protease family.
Micromachined force sensors for the study of cell mechanics

A technique using micromachined mechanical force sensors to measure the force response of living cells is introduced. The force sensors consist of a probe and flexible beams. The probe is used to indent and stretch the cells, and the flexible beams are used to measure the cell force response. The stiffness of the sensors is designed at several nanonewtons per micrometer, but can be varied over a wide range. The sensors are fabricated by the SCREAM process. The deformation of the cells and the deflection of flexible beams are measured by an optical microscope coupled with a charge-coupled device camera. Experimental demonstrations show the feasibility, simplicity, and versatility of this technique. It addresses several disadvantages of existing related techniques, and is complementary to many of them. We expect that this new technique will attract significant attention and be employed much more in the study of cell mechanics.
A fully automatic hand gesture recognition system for human-robot interaction

Recently, human - machine interaction (HMI) becomes a hot research topic because of its wide applications, ranging from automatic device control to designing and development of assistant robot or even smart building at sparser scale. One of the most important questions in this research field is finding out an efficient and natural method of HMI. Among several channels of communication, hand gestures have been shown to be an intuitive and efficient mean to express an idea or to control something. For a successful hand gesture based interaction between human and robot, a vocabulary of hand gestures needs to be defined. To resolve this problem, in this paper, we propose a framework to study the behavior of Vietnamese in using of hand gesture in communication with robot. This study allows designing a hand gesture vocabulary for human - robot interaction (HRI) applications. In the literature, there are no works similar to ours. This makes our twofold contributions: (1) a proposed framework for hand gesture recognition: hand gesture vocabulary design, feature extraction for hand posture representation, hand posture classification, and hand gesture database construction; (2) some experimentations are realized to evaluate the defined hand gesture set that can be used in general situation of HRI. The experiment results show that the defined hand gesture set satisfies the both criteria: intuitiveness and recognisability.
A pr 2 00 5 Boundary value problems on piecewise smooth domains

Following Range and Siu [12], we define Ω ⊂ R, a bounded domain, to be piecewise smooth by the conditions that there exists a finite open covering {Uj}j=1 of ∂Ω and C functions ρj : Uj → R, 1 ≤ j ≤ k such that Ω ∩ ( ∪j=1Uj ) is the set of all x ∈ ∪j=1Uj which satisfy x / ∈ Uj or ρj(x) < 0, and for 1 ≤ i1 < . < il ≤ k, dρi1 , . , dρil are independent at every point of ⋂l ν=1 Uiν ∩ ∂Ω. We consider the inhomogeneous Dirichlet problem on a piecewise smooth domain, Ω
Learning Mixtures of Gaussians using the k-means Algorithm

One of the most popular algorithms for clustering in Euclidean space is the k-means algorithm; k-means is difficult to analyze mathematically, and few theoretical guarantees are known about it, particularly when the data is well-clustered. In this paper, we attempt to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the behavior of k-means on well-clustered data. In particular, we study the case when each cluster is distributed as a different Gaussian – or, in other words, when the input comes from a mixture of Gaussians. We analyze three aspects of the k-means algorithm under this assumption. First, we show that when the input comes from a mixture of two spherical Gaussians, a variant of the 2-means algorithm successfully isolates the subspace containing the means of the mixture components. Second, we show an exact expression for the convergence of our variant of the 2-means algorithm, when the input is a very large number of samples from a mixture of spherical Gaussians. Our analysis does not require any lower bound on the separation between the mixture components. Finally, we study the sample requirement of k-means; for a mixture of 2 spherical Gaussians, we show an upper bound on the number of samples required by a variant of 2-means to get close to the true solution. The sample requirement grows with increasing dimensionality of the data, and decreasing separation between the means of the Gaussians. To match our upper bound, we show an information-theoretic lower bound on any algorithm that learns mixtures of two spherical Gaussians; our lower bound indicates that in the case when the overlap between the probability masses of the two distributions is small, the sample requirement of k-means is near-optimal.
Pattern Matching and Local Alignment for RNA Structures

The primary structure of a ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule can be represented as a sequence of nucleotides (bases) over the alphabet {A, C, G, U}. The secondary or tertiary structure of an RNA is a set of base pairs which form bonds between A-U and G-C. For secondary structures, these bonds have been traditionally assumed to be one-to-one and non-crossing. This paper considers pattern matching as well as local alignment between two RNA structures. For pattern matching, we present two algorithms, one for obtaining an exact match, the other for approximate match. We then present an algorithm for RNA local structural alignment.
Asthma from birth to age 23: incidence and relation to prior and concurrent atopic disease.

BACKGROUND: Few studies present prospective data on the incidence of asthma. Its associations with sex and with prior and concurrent hay fever and eczema were examined in a nationally representative sample followed from birth to 23 years of age (British 1958 birth cohort). METHODS: Reports of asthma or wheezy bronchitis, hay fever and eczema were obtained by interview of parents of children at ages 7, 11, and 16 years, and of cohort members at age 23 years. Linked data from all four interviews were available on 7225 subjects (43% of the original birth cohort). RESULTS: The cumulative incidence of asthma or wheezy bronchitis was 18.2%, 21.8%, 24.5%, and 28.6% by the ages of 7, 11, 16, and 23 years respectively. Over the four incidence periods examined (0 to 7 years, 8 to 11 years, 12 to 16 years, 17 to 23 years) the average annual incidence of new cases was 2.6%, 1.1%, 0.71%, and 0.76% respectively. The male:female incidence ratio rose from 1.23 in the 0 to 7 year period to 1.48 at 12 to 16 years but had reversed to 0.59 at 17 to 23 years. A prior report of hay fever or eczema each increased the subsequent incidence of asthma or wheezy bronchitis by a factor of 1.7 to 2.0 independently of sex. This effect of prior atopic illness, however, was largely explained by the strong independent association of incidence of asthma and wheezy bronchitis with atopic disease at the end of each incidence period (odds ratios 2.0 to 2.5 per atopic condition, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Gender differences in the incidence of asthma or wheezy bronchitis vary with age and are not explained by atopy. The incidence of asthma or wheezy bronchitis can be predicted from a clinical history of hay fever or eczema but is more strongly associated with the presence of atopic disease at the time of onset.
Pedestrian detection using shape context and PHOG

This paper describes a new method for pedestrian detection. The focus of the proposed method is to enhance the number of detected pedestrian and to achieve high accuracy with low rates of false negative detection. The method has two stages: the first stage detects pedestrians using part based detector (poselet) while the second stage further detects people by combine top-down recognition with bottom-up image segmentation. For feature extraction, Pyramid Histogram of Orientation Gradient (PHOG) and Shape Context (SC) are used. The proposed method was tested on a popular pedestrian detection benchmark dataset “INRIA person data set” and experimental results show that the detection method achieves high accuracy with low rates of false negative detection.
Circulating Angiogenic Factors in Patients with Thromboangiitis Obliterans

Background Thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO, also known as Buerger's disease) is a non-atherosclerotic inflammatory vascular disease that primarily affects arteries in the extremities of young adult smokers. Since the etiology of TAO is still unknown, therapeutic options are limited. Recent attempts in therapeutic angiogenesis have been promising. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate angiogenic processes and factors including circulating progenitor cells in TAO. Methodology/Principal Findings TAO patients with critical limb ischemia and age- and gender-matched nonsmokers and smokers without cardiovascular disease (n = 12 in each group) were enrolled in the study. Flow cytometric analysis of peripheral blood showed significantly decreased levels of circulating CD45dimCD34+ progenitor cells in TAO patients and in smokers compared to nonsmokers. In contrast to both control groups, the proportion of CD45dimCD34+ progenitor cells co-expressing VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR2) was significantly elevated in TAO patients. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of common angiogenic factors (such as VEGF) did not clearly point to pro- or antiangiogenic conditions in serum or plasma of TAO patients. Serum of TAO patients and controls was evaluated in proliferation, migration (scratch assay) and spheroid sprouting assays using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Serum of TAO patients exhibited a diminished sprouting capacity of HUVECs compared to both control groups. Proliferation and migration of endothelial cells were impaired after treatment with serum of TAO patients. Conclusion Levels of circulating progenitor cells were altered in TAO patients compared to healthy nonsmokers and smokers. Furthermore, serum of TAO patients exhibited an antiangiogenic activity (impaired endothelial cell sprouting, migration and proliferation) on endothelial cells, which may contribute to vascular pathology in this patient population.