Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Revised Tropical Cyclone Rapid Intensification Index for the Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific Basins

Abstract A revised rapid intensity index (RII) is developed for the Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins. The RII uses large-scale predictors from the Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme (SHIPS) to estimate the probability of rapid intensification (RI) over the succeeding 24 h utilizing linear discriminant analysis. Separate versions of the RII are developed for the 25-, 30-, and 35-kt RI thresholds, which represent the 90th (88th), 94th (92nd), and 97th (94th) percentiles of 24-h overwater intensity changes of tropical and subtropical cyclones in the Atlantic (eastern North Pacific) basins from 1989 to 2006, respectively. The revised RII became operational at the NHC prior to the 2008 hurricane season. The relative importance of the individual RI predictors is shown to differ between the two basins. Specifically, the previous 12-h intensity change, upper-level divergence, and vertical shear have the highest weights for the Atlantic basin, while the previous 12-h intensity change, symme.
VISA synthesis: Variation-aware Instruction Set Architecture synthesis

We present VISA: a novel Variation-aware Instruction Set Architecture synthesis approach that makes effective use of process variation from both software and hardware points of view. To achieve an efficient speedup, VISA selects custom instructions based on statistical static timing analysis (SSTA) for aggressive clocking. Furthermore, with minimum performance overhead, VISA dynamically detects and corrects timing faults resulting from aggressive clocking of the underlying processor. This hybrid software/hardware approach generates significant speedup without degrading the yield. Our experimental results on commonly used ISA synthesis benchmarks demonstrate that VISA achieves significant performance improvement compared with a traditional deterministic worst case-based approach (up to 78.0%) and an existing SSTA-based approach (up to 49.4%).
Identifying the Location of a Mobile Object in Real-time using PID-controlled Moving Objects Spatio-Temporal Model

Trilateration is a typical method to locate an object, which requires inherently at least three prerecognized reference points. In some cases, owing to out of reachability to communication facilities the target node cannot be reachable always to three base stations. This paper presents a predictive method, which can identify the location of a moving target node in real time even though the target node could not get in touch with all three base stations. The method is based on the PIDcontrolled Moving Objects Spatio-Temporal Model Algorithm. Simulation results verify that this method can predict the moving direction of a moving target, and then combine with its past position information to judge accurately the location.
DC coefficient estimation of intra-predicted residuals in high efficiency video coding

This paper proposes a DC coefficient estimation algorithm for intra-predicted residual blocks in the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. Discarding the DC coefficient in the current coding block leads to a substantial bit-saving but produces at the same time strong discontinuities between this block and its neighboring reconstructed blocks. To overcome this problem, we propose an estimation algorithm for the DC coefficient, which solves an optimal offset in a closed-form in the pixel domain to recover the corresponding block edges. Test results show that our algorithm achieves 1.0% and 1.4% BD-rate reduction on average for luma and chroma as compared with HM-16.6, respectively, when the sign-bit-hiding (SBH) technique is disabled. When SDH is set on, namely under the common test condition (CTC), the BD-rate reduction drops slightly to 0.7% and 1.1% for luma and chroma, respectively. In the meantime, the test results show that both encoding time and decoding time increase only slightly (about 10%, without any special optimization on programming our proposed algorithm).
Competitive effects of the forest tent caterpillar on the gallers and leaf-miners of trembling aspen

ABSTRACT Interspecific competition has been identified as a major structuring force in phytophagous arthropod communities. We would expect to find particularly strong competitive effects in communities with outbreaking components, where the joint food resource is depleted by a single super-abundant species. To assess how arthropod assemblages of the trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides, Salicaceae) respond to outbreaks by the forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria, Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae), we sampled galls and leaf-mines in central Alberta, western Canada. Both the incidence and rank order of sympatric taxa varied with the abundance of M. disstria. While most species were “susceptible” to defoliation by M. disstria, declining in abundance with increasing densities of forest tent caterpillars, two species showed no response and one “resistant” species even increased. These patterns at the landscape scale appear to reflect competitive mechanisms acting at a local scale. In a laboratory choice experiment, M. disstria larvae were found to damage a higher proportion of “susceptible” galls than “resistant” galls. Patterns at the landscape scale were also indicative of large-scale movement of gallers and leaf-miners. Following a year of severe defoliation, population densities within an outbreak area declined with increasing distance from the outbreak edge. This finding identifies regional processes as important in the population dynamics of the target taxa. Our study suggests a major structuring role for M. disstria in local arthropod communities. As outbreaks regularly affect a large proportion of temperate forests, they create ample opportunity for competitive interactions among phytophagous arthropods.
Multi-Class Disease Classification in Brain MRIs Using a Computer-Aided Diagnostic System

Background: An accurate and automatic computer-aided multi-class decision support system to classify the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the human brain as normal, Alzheimer, AIDS, cerebral calcinosis, glioma, or metastatic, which helps the radiologists to diagnose the disease in brain MRIs is created. Methods: The performance of the proposed system is validated by using benchmark MRI datasets (OASIS and Harvard) of 310 patients. Master features of the images are extracted using a fast discrete wavelet transform (DWT), then these discriminative features are further analysed by principal component analysis (PCA). Different subset sizes of principal feature vectors are provided to five different decision models. The classification models include the J48 decision tree, k-nearest neighbour (kNN), random forest (RF), and least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) with polynomial and radial basis kernels. Results: The RF-based classifier outperformed among all compared decision models and achieved an average accuracy of 96% with 4% standard deviation, and an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 99%. LS-SVM (RBF) also shows promising results (i.e., 89% accuracy) when the least number of principal features was used. Furthermore, the performance of each classifier on different subset sizes of principal features was (80%–96%) for most performance metrics. Conclusion: The presented medical decision support system demonstrates the potential proof for accurate multi-class classification of brain abnormalities; therefore, it has a potential to use as a diagnostic tool for the medical practitioners.
The QOL approach for optimizing distributed queries without complete knowledge

This paper concerns the integration of the Case Based Reasoning (CBR) paradigm in query processing, providing a way to optimize queries when there is no prior knowledge on queried data sources and certainly no related metadata such as data statistics. Our Query Optimization by Learning (QOL) approach optimizes queries using cases generated from the evaluation of similar past queries. A query case comprises: (i) the query, (ii) the query plan and (iii) the measures (computational resources consumed) of the query plan. The work also concerns the way the CBR process interacts with the query plan generation process. This process uses classical heuristics and makes decisions randomly (e.g. when there is no statistics for join ordering and selection of algorithms, routing protocols); It also (re)uses cases (existing query plans) for similar queries parts, improving the query optimization and evaluation efficiency.
Association between Upper Extremity Musculoskeletal Disorders and Psychosocial Factors at Work: A Review on the Job DCS Model's Perspective

Over years it has been increasingly concerned with how upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders (UEMSDs) are attributed to psychosocial job stressors. A review study was conducted to examine associations between UEMSDs and psychosocial work factors, and to recommend what to consider for the associations. For studies in which the job demand-control-support (DCS) model or its variables were specifically employed, published papers were selected and reviewed. A number of studies have reported relationships between UEMSDs symptoms and psychosocial exposure variables. For example, the findings are: higher numbness in the upper extremity was significantly attributed to by less decision latitude at work; work demands were significantly associated with neck and shoulder symptoms while control over time was associated with neck symptoms; and the combination of high psychosocial demands and low decision latitude was a significant predictor for shoulder and neck pain in a female working population. Sources of bias, such as interaction or study design, were discussed. UEMSDs were shown to be associated with psychosocial work factors in various studies where the job DCS model was addressed. Nonetheless, this review suggests that further studies should be conducted to much more clarify the association between UEMSDs and psychosocial factors.
Cyclosporin exposure correlates with 1 year graft function and histological damage in renal transplanted patients.

BACKGROUND Cyclosporin (CsA) level obtained 2 h after the morning dose (C(2)) has been shown to accurately predict total CsA exposure and acute rejection (AR) risk, whereas conventional trough levels (C(0)) do not. The impact of C(2) monitoring on long-term kidney graft function, independent from AR risk, is still unclear, however, and it was assessed in the present study. METHODS We enrolled 39 CsA-treated renal transplant recipients and used 1 year graft function and histological structure as surrogate markers of graft outcome. CsA dose was adjusted according to C(2) levels. RESULTS In the first 7 days after grafting, 40-51% of patients failed to reach target C(2) levels; nevertheless, at 1 year the incidence of AR was only 2.5% and graft and patient survival was 100%. The decrease of serum creatinine (12-6 months) was associated with significantly higher C(2) levels over time (P = 0.0003) and lower intrapatient variability of CsA relative absorption (CV) (P = 0.0006). One year graft biopsy showed chronic tubulointerstitial lesions in 54.5% of patients. Both C(2) mean levels and the percentage CV independently predicted the severity of chronic histological lesions (R = 0.69, P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Higher C(2) levels, within the proposed target range values, seem to be associated with better renal function and structure.
Model-based Integration of Past & Future in TimeTravel

We demonstrate TimeTravel, an efficient DBMS system for seamless integrated querying of past and (forecasted) future values of time series, allowing the user to view past and future values as one joint time series. This functionality is important for advanced application domain like energy. The main idea is to compactly represent time series as models. By using models, the TimeTravel system answers queries approximately on past and future data with error guarantees (absolute error and confidence) one order of magnitude faster than when accessing the time series directly. In addition, it efficiently supports exact historical queries by only accessing relevant portions of the time series. This is unlike existing approaches, which access the entire time series to exactly answer the query. To realize this system, we propose a novel hierarchical model index structure. As real-world time series usually exhibits seasonal behavior, models in this index incorporate seasonality. To construct a hierarchical model index, the user specifies seasonality period, error guarantees levels, and a statistical forecast method. As time proceeds, the system incrementally updates the index and utilizes it to answer approximate and exact queries. TimeTravel is implemented into PostgreSQL, thus achieving complete user transparency at the query level. In the demo, we show the easy building of a hierarchical model index for a real-world time series and the effect of varying the error guarantees on the speed up of approximate and exact queries.
De Facto Fiscal Space and Fiscal Stimulus: Definition and Assessment

We define the notion of a 'de facto fiscal space' of a country as the inverse of the tax-years it would take to repay the public debt. Specifically, we measure the outstanding public debt relative to the de facto tax base, where the latter measures the realized tax collection, averaged across several years to smooth for business cycle fluctuations. We apply this concept to account for the cross-country variation in the fiscal stimulus associated with the global crisis of 2009-2010. We find that greater de facto fiscal space prior to the global crisis, higher GDP/capita, higher financial exposure to the US, and lower trade openness were associated with a higher fiscal stimulus/GDP during 2009-2010. Joint estimation indicates that higher trade openness was associated with lower fiscal stimulus and higher depreciation rate during 2009-2010.
Visualization of High Dimensional Data using an Automated 3D Star Co-ordinate System

This paper presents a 3D star coordinate-based visualization technique for exploratory data analysis. To improve the data visualization and reveal the hidden patterns in complex high dimensional data sets, first the 2D star coordinate system is extended to the 3D star coordinate system. An autonomous procedure is defined to find the best configuration for the 3D star coordinate system based on cluster validation measures. To illustrate the efficacy of the proposed techniques, empirical analysis were conducted on a number of synthetic (Five dimensional Gaussian distribution with three classes) and real (Fisher's IRIS, Leukemia, Gastric cancer and Petroleum datasets) databases. Empirical analyses shows that automated 3D star coordinate system helps in better visualization of the complex high dimensional data when compared to 2D star coordinate system and also other projection-based visualization techniques. Also the automated configuration for 3D star coordinate system reveals the hidden patterns in the complex datasets without human intervention.
Characterization of a Multilevel HV-IGBT Module for Distribution Applications

A newly proposed 3-level high-voltage insulated-gate-bipolar-transistor (HV-IGBT) module has been developed and tested under static conduction, dynamic switching, and system level pulse-width-modulation (PWM) operation. The conduction voltage drops and switching turn-on and -off energies were measured for loss estimation. Switching voltage and current waveforms were used for parasitic inductance and output capacitance estimation. With sufficiently low parasitic inductance and fast switching speed, the module was successfully operating at 20-kHz switching for a multilevel converter based intelligent universal transformer (IUT), and the proposed multilevel HV-IGBT module is evidently the enabling technology for future utility distribution-level power electronics applications
Statistical selection of compiler options

Compilers have many switches or options that enable certain code optimizations. However, it is well known that the optimal set of options to be turned on is dependent on both the application and the target architecture. In many cases, standard settings, like -O3, produce suboptimal results due to negative interference of some of the options they contain. We propose an automatic iterative procedure to turn on or to turn off compiler options. This procedure is based on orthogonal arrays that are used for a statistical analysis of profile information to calculate the main effect of the options. We show that our approach outperforms -O3 of GCC on six SPEC benchmarks.
Verifying Physical Presence of Neighbors against Replay-based Attacks in Wireless Networks

Verifying physical presence of a neighbor in wireless ad hoc networks is one of the key components in developing protocols resilient to replay-based attacks. For this, we first consider the RTT-based verification and revise it along with a probabilistic approach. We then consider a power-based approach and couple it with RTT-based approach to design an effective neighbor verification protocol (NVP). Using some actual experiments, we support the ideas in this paper and eliminate the impractical solutions. In theory, we always see some room for replay-based attacks. However, our proposed protocol significantly limits the effectiveness of replay-based attacks by restricting the range where they might be launched and thus makes such attacks practically impossible.
A framework for incremental modelling and verification of on-chip protocols

Arguing formally about the correctness of on-chip communication protocols is an acknowledged verification challenge. We present a generic framework that tackles this problem using an incremental approach that interleaves model construction and verification. Our protocol models are based on abstract state machines formalized in Isabelle/HOL. We provide abstract building blocks and generic composition rules to support incremental addition of protocol features to a parameterized endpoint model. This structured approach controls model complexity. We can refine data structures and develop control independently, to create a concrete instantiation. To make the verification effort feasible, we combine interactive theorem proving with symbolic model checking using NuSMV. The theorem prover is used to reason about generic correctness properties of the abstract models given some local assumptions. We can use model checking to discharge these assumptions for a specific instantiation. We show the utility and breadth of the framework by sketching two case studies: modelling a bus protocol, and modelling the PCI Express point-to-point protocol.
EXPLOITING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SIP AND RAS : THE ROLE OF THE RAS PROVIDER IN INTERNET TELEPHONY

Most of the attention on Internet telephony has concentrated on interworking between the Internet and the traditional telephone network. However, this paper considers the use of Voice over IP services by remote access users. It focuses on the service scenarios and protocols involved in initiating and receiving calls from a host connected to the Internet, typically via a narrowband dial-up service or an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) connection. The paper investigates the similarities between the scenarios and protocols for remote access services and for Internet telephony, and explores opportunities for value-added services associated with connection establishment. It then takes a closer look at the business environment for these two service categories. Based on the results of two studies, a number of business and technical opportunities are identified for integrating Voice over IP services with the overall service offer of a Remote Access Service provider. Because they have a first hand, trustworthy relationship with users, access providers have a significant advantage in deploying and commercializing these new services. The paper highlights the new functions required to support this service, and describes how intelligence can be distributed over the various network elements involved. At the end, some conclusions are formulated. EXPLOITING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SIP AND RAS: THE ROLE OF THE RAS PROVIDER IN INTERNET TELEPHONY
A new scheduling algorithm for dynamic task and fault tolerant in heterogeneous grid systems using Genetic Algorithm

In this paper with studying of all parameters in grid environment a new scheduling algorithm for independent task is introduced according to Genetic Algorithm. This algorithm can be more efficient and more dependable than similar previous algorithms. The simulated results and reasons for reaching to better makespan and more efficiency in the grid environment. In the grids with high fault with high fault rate for fault tolerant is used from check point method that has more efficiency that other methods such as retry, migration and replication. This method maintains effective efficiency in these situations. So the servicing quality increases in various grid environments and also the average time of task recoveries decreases considerably The main purpose of this paper is reducing the repeating of the generations in Genetic Algorithm for reaching higher speed and also considering the communications costs (available in fitness function) with maintaining the fitness efficiency. The simulations are done with Gridsim for showing the created improvement at proposed algorithm rather than previous algorithms.
A ringing metric to evaluate the quality of images restored using iterative deconvolution algorithms

Iterative deconvolution algorithms exhibit increased ringing artifacts at higher number of iterations. Quantitative image analysis techniques such as optical flow algorithms are sensitive to these artifacts. We propose to use an image quality metric to identify the terminal step of iterative restoration algorithms. Frequency based metrics have difficulties in distinguishing the ringing artifacts from the image features. Spatial analysis techniques require extensive processing making them unsuitable for real-time image quality measurement as needed in iterative image restoration. We propose a novel ringing metric using binary morphological operators and demonstrate the method on the images of random cotton fibers acquired using white light confocal microscope.
SNOW COVER

Snow cover is a layer of snow on the earth’s surface, which is mainly results from snowfalls. The snow cover can be temporary, when a snow melts during several hours or days after its formation, and it can be stable, when it remains for the whole winter or with short interruptions. The snow cover formation on the globe is determined (conditioned) by the geographical zonality, surface relief, and general circulation of the atmosphere. Solid precipitation is a source of snow cover; it remains on the earth surface at negative temperatures. Wind-blown snow transport results in sharp irregularity of its deposition, especially in mountains.