Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Survey on Localization in Wireless Sensor networks

Recent technological advances have enabled the development of low-cost, low-power, and multifunctional sensor devices. These nodes are autonomous devices with integrated sensing, processing, and communication capabilities. In general, wireless sensor networks intend to provide information on spatio-temporal characteristics of the observed physical world. Hence, it is necessary to associate sensed data with locations, making data geographically meaningful. A number of applications, such as object tracking, environment monitoring, inherently rely on location information. Besides, location information also supports fundamental network layer services, such as topology control, routing, clustering, and so on. Hence, Localization, a mechanism for autonomously discovering and establishing spatial relationships among sensor nodes, is of great importance in the development of wireless sensor networks. This survey reviews diverse physical measuring abilities of sensor nodes, discusses issues in localization algorithm design, presents the state-of-the-art localization techniques, and finally suggests future directions in localization studies. Many localization approaches are proposed based on diverse positioning principles, environmental constrains, accuracy requirements, etc., making them suitable/unsuitable for different applications. This survey in depth elaborates and compares existing approaches from two aspects: physical measurement and network-wide localization. The design tradeoffs of localization algorithms, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, are emphasized for comparison. Among these localization techniques, no specific algorithm is a clear favorite across the spectrum. In conclusion, localization is a new and exciting field, with new algorithms, hardware, and applications being developed at a feverish pace. A lot of work still needs to be done to realize practical applications for wireless sensor networks.
Snooze: energy management in 802.11n WLANs

Increasingly, mobile devices equipped with 802.11n interfaces are being used for a wide variety of applications including bandwidth-intensive HD video streaming. Recent work has shown that 802.11n interfaces are power-hungry, so energy management is an important challenge. 802.11n implementations have additional power states relative to earlier generations of 802.11 technology, so energy management challenges for 802.11n are qualitatively different compared to that faced by prior work. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of Snooze, an energy management technique for 802.11n which uses two novel and inter-dependent mechanisms: client micro-sleeps and antenna configuration management. In Snooze, the APmonitors traffic on the WLAN and directs client sleep times and durations as well as antenna configurations, without significantly affecting throughput or delay. Snooze achieves 30~85% energy-savings over CAM across workloads ranging from VoIP and video streaming to file downloads and chats.
A ROBUST AND MULTI-SCALE MODAL ANALYSIS

This paper presents a new approach to modal synthesis for rendering sounds of virtual objects. We propose a generic method for modal analysis that preserves sound variety across the surface of an object, at different scales of resolution and for a variety of complex geometries. The technique performs automatic voxelization of a surface model and automatic tuning of the parameters of hexahedral finite elements, based on the distribution of material in each cell. The voxelization is performed with a multi-resolution octree, which easily permits the construction of plausible lower resolution approximations of the modal model. With our approach, we can compute the audible impulse response of a variety of objects. Our solution is robust and can handle non-manifold geometries that include both volumetric and surface parts, such as those used in virtual environments.
The expansion of Phytophthora clade 8b: three new species associated with winter grown vegetable crops

Despite its association with important agricultural crops, Phytophthora clade 8b is a poorly studied group of species. The clade currently consists of three officially described species (Phytophthora porri, P. brassicae and P. primulae) that are host-specific pathogens of leek, cabbages and Primula spp. , respectively. However, over the past few decades, several other clade 8b-like Phytophthoras have been found on a variety of different host plants that were all grown at low temperatures in winter seasons. In this study, a collection of 30 of these isolates was subjected to a phylogenetic study using two loci (the rDNA ITS region and the mitochondrial cox1 gene). This analysis revealed a clear clustering of isolates according to their host plants. To verify whether these isolates belong to separate species, a detailed morphological study was conducted. On the basis of genetic and morphological differences and host specificity, we now present the official description of three new species in clade 8b: Phytophthora cichorii sp. nov., P. dauci sp. nov. and P. lactucae sp. nov. Two other groups of isolates (Phytophthora taxon castitis and Phytophthora taxon parsley) might also represent new species but the data available at this time are insufficient for an official description. This brings Phytophthora clade 8b to a group of six species that are all host-specific, slow-growing and specifically infect herbaceous crops at low temperatures.
Augmented reality in a wide area sentient environment

Augmented reality (AR) both exposes and supplements the user's view of the real world. Previous AR work has focussed on the close registration of real and virtual objects, which requires very accurate real-time estimates of head position and orientation. Most of these systems have been tethered and restricted to small volumes. In contrast, we have chosen to concentrate on allowing the AR user to roam freely within an entire building. At AT&T Laboratories Cambridge we provide personnel with AR services using data from an ultrasonic tracking system, called the Bat system, which has been deployed building-wide. We have approached the challenge of implementing a wide-area, in-building AR system in two different ways. The first uses a head-mounted display connected to a laptop, which combines sparse position measurements from the Bat system with more frequent rotational information from an inertial tracker to render annotations and virtual objects that relate to or coexist with the real world. The second uses a PDA to provide a convenient portal with which the user can quickly view the augmented world. These systems can be used to annotate the world in a more-or-less seamless way, allowing a richer interaction with both real and virtual objects.
Radio–optical flux behaviour and spectral energy distribution of the intermediate blazar GC 0109+224

About 20 years of radio observations of the BL Lac object GC 0109+224 (S2 0109+22, RGB J0112+227) in five bands (from 4.8 to 37 GHz) are presented and analysed together with optical data. Over the past 10 years this blazar has exhibited enhanced activity. There is only weak correlation between radio and optical flare delays, usually protracted on longer time-scales in the radio with respect to the optical. In some cases no radio flare counterpart was observed for the optical outbursts. The radio variability, characterized by peak superposition, shows hints of some characteristic time-scales (around the 3‐4 yr), and a fluctuation mode between the flickering and the shot noise. The reconstructed spectral energy distribution, poorly monitored at high energies, is preliminarily parametrized with a synchrotron‐self-Compton description. The smooth synchrotron continuum, peaked in the near-infrared‐optical bands, strengthens the hypothesis that this source could be an intermediate blazar. Moreover, the intense flux in millimetre bands, and the optical and X-ray brightness, might suggest a possible detectable γ -ray emission.
Revisiting the Impacts of Teachers

Chetty, Friedman, and Rockoff (2014a, 2014b) study value-added (VA) measures of teacher effectiveness. CFR (2014a) exploits teacher switching as a quasi-experiment, concluding that student sorting creates negligible bias in VA scores. CFR (2014b) finds VA scores are useful proxies for teachers’ effects on students’ long-run outcomes. I successfully reproduce each in North Carolina data. But I find that the quasi-experiment is invalid, as teacher switching is correlated with changes in student preparedness. Adjusting for this, I find moderate bias in VA scores, perhaps 10-35% as large, in variance terms, as teachers’ causal effects. Long-run results are sensitive to controls and cannot support strong conclusions.
Low Potency Homeopathic Remedies and Allopathic Herbal Medicines: Is There an Overlap?

Classical homeopathy is based on the therapeutic application of highly diluted homeopathic stocks. The indications of such medicines are determined by proving, i.e. by applying the remedies in healthy subjects. However, there are several complex homeopathic medicinal products on the market with approved therapeutic indications. The efficacy of these medicines has been assessed in clinical trials on patients. There is no upper limit of dosing for such homeopathic remedies, and these products often contain undiluted mother tincture. The aim of our study was to compare an allopathic herbal medicine and a homeopathic product containing undiluted mother tincture based on the same plant. Two products (an allopathic herbal medicine and a homeopathic product) containing Vitex agnus-castus extract were analyzed by HPLC-DAD for their agnuside and casticin contents. The agnuside content of the allopathic product was approximately four times higher, while the amount of casticin was in the same order of magnitude. Our experiments revealed the presence of active ingredients in allopathic quantity in a homeopathic preparation, highlighting the controversy between the principles of classical and practice of contemporary homeopathy. According to the principles of classical homeopathy these remedies cannot be considered as homeopathic remedies but rather as (allopathic) herbal ones. This phenomenon necessitates a case-by-case approach towards the possible adverse effects and drug interactions of homeopathics in the daily medical practice. Homeopathic products containing active agents in allopathic doses should be treated the same way as allopathic medicines from the point of view of quality assurance and pharmacovigilance.
Size-Dependent Characterization of Atmospheric Particles during Winter in Beijing

Two real-time instruments, NCSA (Nanoparticle Chemical Speciation Analyzer) and ACSA (Aerosol Chemical Speciation Analyzer), were both deployed in Beijing, China to explore the sized-dependent characterization of atmospheric particles. The mass concentrations of PM1, PM2.5, PM10, and sulfate and nitrate in the three size fractions were hourly measured in situ from 13 December 2013 to 7 January 2014. Generally, “sawtooth cycles” are common during winter in Beijing, with the PM concentrations increasing slowly over a few days, then falling to a low level abruptly in only a few hours. The secondary species, sulfate and nitrate, play important roles in haze formation and account for 10.5% and 11.1% of total PM1 mass on average. Based on the variation of PM1 mass concentrations, we classify the study periods into three categories, clean, slightly polluted, and polluted. The oxidation ratios of sulfur and nitrogen both increase from clean to polluted periods, indicating the significant contribution of secondary transformation to haze evolution. While the PM2.5/PM10 ratio shows high dependence on PM pollution level, the ratio of PM1/PM2.5 remains almost stable during the entire study, with an average of 0.90. With respect to the mass-size distribution of chemical components, both sulfate and nitrate show dominant contributions in PM1 size fraction, accounting for 80.7% and 60.3% of total sulfate and nitrate, respectively. Our results also reveal that the elevated sulfate in PM1, and the enhanced nitrate in PM1 and PM2.5–1 size fraction, prompt the formation of haze pollution.
The impact on general practitioners of the changing balance of care for elderly people living in institutions

Objectives: To describe utilisation of general practitioners by elderly people resident in communal establishments;to examine variations in general practitioner utilisation and estimate the likely impact of the “downsizing” of long stay provision in NHS hospitals. Design: Secondary analyses of the survey of disability among adults in communal establishments conducted by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in 1986, and projection to present day. Setting: Nationally representative sample of communal establishments in Great Britain. Subjects: Disabled residents aged 65 or more without mental handicap. Results: Residents with higher levels of disability, disorders of the digestive system, resident in smaller local authority homes or larger voluntary residential homes were more likely to consult a general practitioner. For those who consulted, higher levels of disability and morbidity and residence in a private nursing home or a larger private residential home were all associated with greater general practitioner utilisation. Overall, when residents' characteristics and size of home was controlled for, residents in nursing homes had greater predicted utilisation than those in residential care homes. People who would previously have been cared for in NHS hospitals and are now cared for in nursing homes have high predicted utilisation due to their greater morbidity and disability. Conclusion: The “downsizing” of NHS provision for elderly people has increased demand on general practitioners by 160 whole time equivalents per year in Britain.
Individual Case Analysis of Postmortem Interval Time on Brain Tissue Preservation

At autopsy, the time that has elapsed since the time of death is routinely documented and noted as the postmortem interval (PMI). The PMI of human tissue samples is a parameter often reported in research studies and comparable PMI is preferred when comparing different populations, i.e., disease versus control patients. In theory, a short PMI may alleviate non-experimental protein denaturation, enzyme activity, and other chemical changes such as the pH, which could affect protein and nucleic acid integrity. Previous studies have compared PMI en masse by looking at many different individual cases each with one unique PMI, which may be affected by individual variance. To overcome this obstacle, in this study human hippocampal segments from the same individuals were sampled at different time points after autopsy creating a series of PMIs for each case. Frozen and fixed tissue was then examined by Western blot, RT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry to evaluate the effect of extended PMI on proteins, nucleic acids, and tissue morphology. In our results, immunostaining profiles for most proteins remained unchanged even after PMI of over 50 h, yet by Western blot distinctive degradation patterns were observed in different protein species. Finally, RNA integrity was lower after extended PMI; however, RNA preservation was variable among cases suggesting antemortem factors may play a larger role than PMI in protein and nucleic acid integrity.
The Advanced Computing Systems Association Flash: an Efficient and Portable Web Server Flash: an Efficient and Portable Web Server

This paper presents the design of a new Web server architecture called the asymmetric multi-process event-driven (AMPED) architecture, and evaluates the performance of an implementation of this architecture, the Flash Web server. The Flash Web server combines the high performance of single-process event-driven servers on cached workloads with the performance of multi-process and multi-threaded servers on disk-bound work-loads. Furthermore, the Flash Web server is easily portable since it achieves these results using facilities available in all modern operating systems. The performance of different Web server architec-tures is evaluated in the context of a single implementation in order to quantify the impact of a server's con-currency architecture on its performance. Furthermore, the performance of Flash is compared with two widely-used Web servers, Apache and Zeus. Results indicate that Flash can match or exceed the performance of existing Web servers by up to 50% across a wide range of real workloads. We also present results that show the contribution of various optimizations embedded in Flash.
Non-local evidence for expert finding

The task addressed in this paper, finding experts in an enterprise setting, has gained in importance and interest over the past few years. Commonly, this task is approached as an association finding exercise between people and topics. Existing techniques use either documents (as a whole) or proximity-based techniques to represent candidate experts. Proximity-based techniques have shown clear precision-enhancing benefits. We complement both document and proximity-based approaches to expert finding by importing global evidence of expertise, i.e., evidence obtained using information that is not available in the immediate proximity of a candidate expert's name occurrence or even on the same page on which the name occurs. Examples include candidate priors, query models, as well as other documents a candidate expert is associated with. Using the CERC data set created for the TREC 2007 Enterprise track we identify examples of non-local evidence of expertise. We then propose modified expert retrieval models that are capable of incorporating both local (either document or snippet-based) evidence and non-local evidence of expertise. Results show that our refined models significantly outperform existing state-of-the-art approaches.
Membrane fusion of secretory vesicles of the sea urchin egg in the absence of NSF

The role of cytosolic ATPases such as N-ethylmaleimide (NEM)-sensitive fusion protein (NSF) in membrane fusion is controversial. We examined the physiology and biochemistry of ATP and NSF in the cortical system of the echinoderm egg to determine if NSF is an essential factor in membrane fusion during Ca2+-triggered exocytosis. Neither exocytosis in vitro, nor homotypic cortical vesicle (CV) fusion required soluble proteins or nucleotides, and both occurred in the presence of non-hydrolyzable analogs of ATP. While sensitive to thiol-specific reagents, CV exocytosis is not restored by the addition of cytosolic NSF, and fusion and NSF function are differentially sensitive to thiol-specific agents. To test participation of tightly bound, non-exchangeable NSF in CV-CV fusion, we cloned the sea urchin homolog and developed a species-specific antibody for western blots and physiological analysis. This antibody was without effect on CV exocytosis or homotypic fusion, despite being functionally inhibitory. NSF is detectable in intact cortices, cortices from which CVs had been removed and isolated CVs treated with ATP-γ-S and egg cytosol to reveal NSF binding sites. In contrast, isolated CVs, though all capable of Ca2+-triggered homotypic fusion, contain less than one hexamer of NSF per CV. Thus NSF is not a required component of the CV fusion machinery.
Fuxi: a Fault-Tolerant Resource Management and Job Scheduling System at Internet Scale

Scalability and fault-tolerance are two fundamental challenges for all distributed computing at Internet scale. Despite many recent advances from both academia and industry, these two problems are still far from settled. In this paper, we present Fuxi, a resource management and job scheduling system that is capable of handling the kind of workload at Alibaba where hundreds of terabytes of data are generated and analyzed everyday to help optimize the company's business operations and user experiences. We employ several novel techniques to enable Fuxi to perform efficient scheduling of hundreds of thousands of concurrent tasks over large clusters with thousands of nodes: 1) an incremental resource management protocol that supports multi-dimensional resource allocation and data locality; 2) user-transparent failure recovery where failures of any Fuxi components will not impact the execution of user jobs; and 3) an effective detection mechanism and a multi-level blacklisting scheme that prevents them from affecting job execution. Our evaluation results demonstrate that 95% and 91% scheduled CPU/memory utilization can be fulfilled under synthetic workloads, and Fuxi is capable of achieving 2.36T-B/minute throughput in GraySort. Additionally, the same Fuxi job only experiences approximately 16% slowdown under a 5% fault-injection rate. The slowdown only grows to 20% when we double the fault-injection rate to 10%. Fuxi has been deployed in our production environment since 2009, and it now manages hundreds of thousands of server nodes.
Efficient approximation algorithms for the economic lot-sizing in continuous time

We consider a continuous-time variant of the classical Economic Lot-Sizing (ELS) problem. In this model, the setup cost is a continuous function with lower bound $K_min > 0$, the demand and holding costs are integrable functions of time and the replenishment decisions are not restricted to be multiples of a base period. Starting from the assumption that certain operations involving the setup and holding cost functions can be carried out efficiently, we argue that this variant admits a simple approximation scheme based on dynamic programming: if the optimal cost of an instance is OPT, we can find a solution with cost at most $(1 + e)OPT$ using no more than $O ({1\over e^2} {OPT \over K_min} log {OPT \over K_min}$ of these operations. We argue, however, that this algorithm could be improved on instances where the setup costs are “generally” very large compared with $K_min$. This leads us to introduce a notion of input-size σ that is significantly smaller than $OPT/K_min$ on instances of this type, and then to define an approximation scheme that executes $O({1\over e^2}σ^2 ({OPT \over K_min}))$ operations. Besides dynamic programming, this second approximation scheme builds on a novel algorithmic approach for Economic Lot Sizing problems.
Machine learning techniques for automatic opinion detection in non-traditional textual genres

This paper has been supported by the next projects: “Question Answering Learning technologies in a multiLingual and Multimodal Environment (QALL-ME)” (FP6 IST-033860) and “Intelligent, Interactive and Multilingual Text Mining based on Human Language Technologies (TEXT-MESS)”(TIN2006-15265-C06-01).
False sharing elimination by selection of runtime scheduling parameters

False sharing can be a source of significant overhead on shared-memory multiprocessors. Several program restructuring techniques to reduce false sharing have been proposed in past work. In this paper, we propose an approach for elimination of false sharing based solely on selection of runtime schedule parameters for parallel loops. This approach leads to more portable code since only the schedule parameters need to be changed to target different multiprocessors. Also, the guarantee of elimination (rather than reduction) of false sharing in a parallel loop can significantly reduce the bookkeeping overhead in some memory consistency mechanisms. We present some preliminary experimental results for this approach.