Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating program analysis and testing tools with the RUGRAT random benchmark application generator

Benchmarks are heavily used in different areas of computer science to evaluate algorithms and tools. In program analysis and testing, open-source and commercial programs are routinely used as bench- marks to evaluate different aspects of algorithms and tools. Unfor- tunately, many of these programs are written by programmers who introduce different biases, not to mention that it is very difficult to find programs that can serve as benchmarks with high reproducibil- ity of results. We propose a novel approach for generating random benchmarks for evaluating program analysis and testing tools. Our approach uses stochastic parse trees, where language grammar production rules are assigned probabilities that specify the frequencies with which instantiations of these rules will appear in the generated pro- grams. We implemented our tool for Java and applied it to generate benchmarks with which we evaluated different program analysis and testing tools. Our tool was also implemented by a major soft- ware company for C++ and used by a team of developers to gener- ate benchmarks that enabled them to reproduce a bug in less than four hours.
User-Level Socket-Based Checkpointing for Distributed and Parallel Computation

We present a preliminary description of a user-level checkpointing package, DMTCP, for Linux. The socket-based approach presents a novel method for checkpointing distributed processes. This includes checkpointing of any dynamically created POSIX threads and forked child processes. It also includes checkpointing of remotel y spawned processes via ssh and other mechanisms. As with all user-level checkpointing, no modification of the kernel is needed, and the application code is not modified. The package also checkpoints signal handlers, ordinary file descriptors, socket descriptors, and c ertain other types of file descriptors. Each checkpointed process has an associated checkpoint file . Hence, process migration, and even migration of an entire computation to a new cluster, are achieved through the simple expedient of copying checkpoint files to a new host. However, process migration adds the additional restriction that the source and destination hos t must be homogeneous.
Analysis of the application of simplified NEO-FFI to undergraduates.

Objective:To study the application of NEO-FFI to undergraduates in China.Methods:By the simplified Chinese version of NEO-FFI,the investigation has surveyed 1255 undergraduates.Results:The NEO-FFI has high alpha reliability coefficient with neuroticism 0.77,extraversion 0.78,openness 0.63,agreeableness 0.72,and conscientiousness 0.74. Moreover,it has satisfactory goodness of fit between the measured data and the model,with χ2/df=3.24,GFI=0.87,AGFI=0.85,TLI=0.80,CFI=0.82,RMSEA=0.04. Conclusion:The NEO-FFI is suitable for measuring personality traits of undergraduates in China.
Evacuation trace Mini Challenge award: Tool integration analysis of movements with Geospatial Visual Analytics Toolkit

The Geospatial Visual Analytics Toolkit intended for exploratory analysis of spatial and spatio-temporal data has been recently enriched with specific visual and computational techniques supporting analysis of data about movement. We applied these and other techniques to the data and tasks of Mini Challenge 4, where it was necessary to analyze tracks of moving people.CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: H.1. 2 [User/Machine Systems]: Human information processing - Visual Analytics; 1.6. 9 [Visualization]: information visualization.
Achievable rates for the three user cooperative multiple access channel

For a three user Gaussian multiple access channel (MAC), we propose a new superposition block Markov encoding based cooperation scheme. Our scheme allows the three users to simultaneously cooperate both in pairs, and collectively, by dividing the transmitted messages into sub-messages intended for each cooperating partner. The proposed encoding and decoding at the transmitters take into account the relative qualities of the cooperation links between the transmitters. We obtain and evaluate the achievable rate region based on our encoding strategy, and compare it with the achievable rates for the two user cooperative MAC. We demonstrate that the added diversity by the presence of the third user improves the region of achievable rates, and this improvement is especially significant as far as the sum rate of the system is concerned.
Educational modelling language and learning design: new opportunities for instructional reusability and personalised learning

Learning technologies offer new opportunities to meet the rapidly growing demand for new, constructivist ways of learning (such as competency-based, collaborative or adaptive learning). They have the potential to act as catalysts for more effective exchange and reuse of learning objects to enable personalised learning. This article examines the extent to which current learning technology specifications contribute to educational change to actual sharing and reuse in educational practice. Furthermore, the article describes the need for an Educational Modelling Language centred on learning activities to give instructional meaning to learning objects. To date, specifications for learning objects have primarily been designed to ensure interoperability at a rather low infrastructural level (e.g., test items, meta-data), focusing on technology issues and reuse of learning objects. We argue that more widespread adoption of e-learning specifications and standards calls for a pedagogical framework at a higher infrastructural level (e.g., a complete course), focusing on the instructional value and reuse of learning activities. Such a framework is offered by the new Learning Design (LD) specification. LD enables the description of both learning content and processes from a variety of pedagogical perspectives, both objectivist and constructivist.
Enhancement of Sinusoidal Model by Adaptive-Length Analysis Frame

The sinusoidal model has been applied to speech signal coding, analysis/synthesis, modification, and various other fields. However, one drawback of this model is that the analysis frame size is generally fixed in analyzing the speech signal. As a result, optimal spectral resolution cannot be guaranteed to each sinusoidal component. In this paper, in order to overcome this drawback and to estimate the sinusoidal components more accurately, we propose a sinusoidal model using an adaptive-length analysis frame. In the proposed model, the analysis frame length is varied based on the coarse and refined pitch values. Experimental results have shown that the proposed sinusoidal model can achieve better performance than that of basic and filter bank-based model.
Automatic NMO correction and velocity estimation by a feedforward neural network

We describe a new method of automatic normal moveout (NMO) correction and velocity analysis that combines a feedforward neural network (FNN) with a simulated annealing technique known as very fast simulated annealing (VFSA). The task of the FNN is to map common midpoint (CMP) gathers at control locations along a 2-D seismic line into seismic velocities within predefined velocity search limits. The network is trained while the velocity analysis is performed at the selected control locations. The method minimizes a cost function defined in terms of the NMO-corrected data. Network weights are updated at each iteration of the optimization process using VFSA. Once the control CMP gathers have been properly NMO corrected, the derived weights are used to interpolate results at the intermediate CMP locations. In practical situations in which lateral velocity variations are expected, the method is applied in spatial data windows, each window being defined by a separate FNN. The method is illustrated with synthetic data and a real marine data set from the Carolina Trough area.
Multi-task evolutionary shaping without pre-specified representations

Shaping functions can be used in multi-task reinforcement learning (RL) to incorporate knowledge from previously experienced tasks to speed up learning on a new task. So far, researchers have pre-specified a separate representation for shaping and value functions in multi-task settings. However, no work has made precise what distinguishes these representations, or what makes a good representation for either function. This paper shows two alternative methods by which an evolutionary algorithm can find a shaping function in multi-task RL without pre-specifying a separate representation. The second method, which uses an indirect fitness measure, is demonstrated to achieve similar performance to the first against a significantly lower computational cost. In addition, we define a formal categorisation of representations that makes precise what makes a good representation for shaping and value functions. We validate the categorisation with an evolutionary feature selection method and show that this method chooses the representations that our definitions predict are suitable.
Relationship between web search data and the sales of German car in China

In recent years, auto market of China has achieved a great development, and it's a hot topic to study the sales of German car in China. This paper used a new data resource - queries from search engine, to study the relationship between web search data and the sales of German cars in China, built conceptual framework, selected keywords, composed the keywords into composite index, found a strong correlation, and finally a result of prediction sales was given in the end of the paper.
Acceleration of clustering-based superpixel algorithms with low memory costs

As a pre-processing step of image segmentation, superpixel algorithms are used to produce small, uniform and compact regions, which can be used for region-based image coding, region-based image processing, and object recognition. In order to meet the requirements of real-time applications for embedded computing, it is necessary to reduce the computational costs of superpixel algorithms and increase the processing speed. In this paper, a series of acceleration schemes for superpixels algorithm is proposed. The features and contributions of this work are stated as follows. Firstly, the spatial distances and the color distances are calculated individually, so that the redundant distance computations can be saved. Secondly, by searching the nearest cluster centroids with centroid priority, the nearest clusters can be found at an early stage. Thirdly, the early-termination mechanism can be applied to the search process to speed up the algorithm without decreasing the quality of image segmentation. Fourthly, the storage for label images and distance images is not required since the operations of nearest centroids are processed in the inner loop of the algorithm. The experiments show that the proposed method achieves the same level of performance as the related work with only 75% of distance computations and 33% of memory costs.
On mobile traffic distribution over cellular backhauling network nodes

The rapid growth of mobile traffic and the emergence of advanced mobile services and infrastructures are shifting significant attention toward the cellular network back-hauling infrastructure. At this network segment, there is a growing interest in understanding spatio-temporal mobile traffic distributions at different network levels, in order to better define flexible networking solutions for forthcoming smart 5G infrastructures including, for instance, mobile edge computing features. In this work we study these aspects and characterize the load on cellular access networks using real-world anonymized subscriber data, from the Lyon metropolitan area in France, providing statistical distribution to the research community. We find that the traffic distribution at Node-B level is best fit by a Weibull distribution, and that at the radio network aggregation it is best fit by a hybrid Weibull-Pareto distribution.
A Fuzzy Driven Reliability and Relevancy Map for Web Content Search Optimization

Web System architecture is one of complex distributed environment. But this search system is having the criticalities in terms of fast and reliable search. In this work, a fuzzy integrated search under user and the content perspective is defined. The search model is divided is applied as the global keyword map at the earlier stage. In this stage, the hierarchical tree based keyword search is applied under fuzzy based parameters. These parameters are relevancy, access time and prime keyword map. After short listing the content search, the user feedback driven indexing is applied under requirement and interest vectors. The work is applied in global public environment. The results show that the work model has presented the effective results for common keywords. The comparative efficiency driven results are presented in this work.
Pelvic inflammatory disease isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae are distinguished by C1q-dependent virulence for newborn rats and by the sac-4 region

The virulence mechanism of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is not well understood, and an objective diagnostic method to identify patients with PID is lacking. We investigated the hypothesis that development of PID was associated with a C1q-dependent virulence property of gonococcal strains. Recent development of a C1q-dependent experimental model of gonococcal infection (S. Nowicki, M. Martens, and B. Nowicki, Infect. Immun. 63:4790-4794, 1995) created an opportunity to evaluate this hypothesis in vivo. Therefore, the virulence of 32 clinical isolates (18 PID isolates and 14 local infection [LI] isolates) was evaluated in experimental rat pups. A serum bactericidal assay was used to characterize a gonococcal serum-resistant (ser(r)) phenotype. PCR primers designed to amplify a suitable-size gonococcal sac-4 DNA fragment (unique for serum-resistant donor JC1) were used to evaluate the association of serum-resistant genotype sac-4 with two phenotypes: C1q-dependent virulence expressed in vivo and resistance to bactericidal activity of human serum expressed in vitro. Strains were also characterized by auxotyping and serotyping. Of 32 gonococcal strains, 15 (46.7%) caused C1q-dependent bacteremia in rat pups and were sac-4 positive and ser(r). However, of the 15 isolates, 13 (87%) represented strains associated with human PID and 2 (13%) were associated with LI. None of the strains that were completely serum-sensitive (ser(s)) and sac-4 negative produced C1q-dependent bacteremia in rat pups, suggesting that both ser(r) and sac-4 were required for infection. The serum-resistant recombinant recipient of sac-4 produced C1q-dependent bacteremia in the rat model similarly to the serum-resistant donor of sac-4; the serum-sensitive parent strain did not produce bacteremia. These data suggest that sac-4-mediated serum resistance conferred C1q-dependent virulence and is a unique characteristic associated with PID. These newly identified features may contribute to the understanding of the pathogenic mechanism of PID-associated strains and open perspectives for establishing novel diagnostic methods.
An Immune Basis for Lung Parenchymal Destruction in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Emphysema

ABSTRACT Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema are a frequent result of long-term smoking, but the exact mechanisms, specifically which types of cells are associated with the lung destruction, are unclear. Methods and Findings We studied different subsets of lymphocytes taken from portions of human lungs removed surgically to find out which lymphocytes were the most frequent, which cell-surface markers these lymphocytes expressed, and whether the lymphocytes secreted any specific factors that could be associated with disease. We found that loss of lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema was associated with a high percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes that expressed chemokine receptors CCR5 and CXCR3 (both markers of T helper 1 cells), but not CCR3 or CCR4 (markers of T helper 2 cells). Lung lymphocytes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema secrete more interferon gamma—often associated with T helper 1 cells—and interferon-inducible protein 10 and monokine induced by interferon, both of which bind to CXCR3 and are involved in attracting T helper 1 cells. In response to interferon-inducible protein 10 and monokine induced by interferon, but not interferon gamma, lung macrophages secreted macrophage metalloelastase (matrix metalloproteinase-12), a potent elastin-degrading enzyme that causes tissue destruction and which has been linked to emphysema. Conclusions These data suggest that Th1 lymphoctytes in the lungs of people with smoking-related damage drive progression of emphysema through CXCR3 ligands, interferon-inducible protein 10, and monokine induced by interferon.
ENSO variability and prediction in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model

Over the last two decades or so, a large volume of literature has been written on the phenomenon known as El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The ENSO cycle is a quasioscillation of the coupled atmospheric-oceanic system and is one of the most significant climate variations associated with seasonal to interannual time-scales (Philander 1990). ENSO has a profound impact globally on the climate and is associated with global and regional-scale atmospheric circulation (e.g. Frederiksen and Zheng 2004, 2007) and precipitation variability (Ropelewski and Halpert 1987, 1989; Trenberth et al. 1998) and consequently affects the economies of many countries. Many different types of models of varying complexity have been proposed to model and/or forecast the essential dynamics and thermodynamics of ENSO. Prediction of the tropical oceanic state, and in particular the sea-surface temperature (SST), at long lead times up to several seasons, is thought to be possible because the characteristic timescales of ocean variability are much longer than those of the atmosphere. Models used to date include entirely statistical (e.g. Graham et al. 1987), dynamical prognostic ocean with diagnostic/statistical atmosphere (e.g. Cane and Zebiak 1985; Cane et al. 1986; Zebiak and Cane 1987; Battisti and Hirst 1989; Kleeman 1993; Neelin and Dijkstra 1995) and entirely dynamical (e.g. Latif et al. 1993; Rosati et al. 1997; Kirtman et al. 1997, 2001; Stockdale et al. 1998; Schneider et al. 1999) models. The complexity of these models varies from low resolution models with fairly simple physENSO variability and prediction in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model
A Flexible Bayesian Generalized Linear Model for Dichotomous Response Data with an Application to Text Categorization

We present a class of sparse generalized linear models that include probit and logistic regression as special cases and offer some extra flexibility. We provide an EM algorithm for learning the parameters of these models from data. We apply our method in text classification and in simulated data and show that our method outperforms the logistic and probit models and also the elastic net, in general by a substantial margin.
N-Terminal Domain–Mediated Homodimerization Is Required for Photoreceptor Activity of Arabidopsis CRYPTOCHROME 1

Cryptochromes (CRY) are blue light receptors that share sequence similarity with photolyases, flavoproteins that catalyze the repair of UV light–damaged DNA. Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings expressing the C-terminal domains of the Arabidopsis CRY fused to β-glucuronidase (GUS) display a constitutive photomorphogenic (COP) phenotype, indicating that the signaling mechanism of Arabidopsis CRY is mediated through the C-terminal domain. The role of the Arabidopsis CRY N-terminal photolyase-like domain in CRY action remains poorly understood. Here, we report the essential role of the Arabidopsis CRY1 N-terminal domain (CNT1) in the light activation of CRY1 photoreceptor activity. Yeast two-hybrid assay, in vitro binding, in vivo chemical cross-linking, gel filtration, and coimmunoprecipitation studies indicate that CRY1 homodimerizes in a light-independent manner. Mutagenesis and transgenic studies demonstrate that CNT1-mediated dimerization is required for light activation of the C-terminal domain of CRY1 (CCT1). Transgenic data and native gel electrophoresis studies suggest that multimerization of GUS is both responsible and required for mediating a COP phenotype on fusion to CCT1. These results indicate that the properties of the GUS multimer are analogous to those of the light-modified CNT1 dimer. Irradiation with blue light modifies the properties of the CNT1 dimer, resulting in a change in CCT1, activating CCT1, and eventually triggering the CRY1 signaling pathway.
Normal Modified Stable Processes

This paper discusses two classes of distributions, and stochastic processes derived from them: modified stable (MS) laws and normal modified stable (NMS) laws. This extends corresponding results for the generalised inverse Gaussian (GIG) and generalised hyperbolic (GH) or normal generalised inverse Gaussian (NGIG) laws. The wider framework thus established provides, in particular, for added flexibility in the modelling of the dynamics of financial time series, of importance especially as regards OU based stochastic volatility models for equities. In the special case of the tempered stable OU process an exact option pricing formula can be found, extending previous results based on the inverse Gaussian and gamma distributions.
Face decorating system based on improved active shape models

This paper presents a face decorating system, which can do makeup on a face image, such as wearing glass, beard or lipstick. In the framework, an improved face alignment method is proposed to localize the key landmarks of a face, which would be used to locate decorations. Active Shape Models(ASMs), as a robust image alignment method is employed to localize such landmarks. In this work, the authors review the conventional ASMs algorithm for face alignment, and present several improvements on it. It's believed that traditional ASMs is heavily dependent on initial states and prone to local minima. To improve the stability as well as its efficiency, much work is done. First, the eyes are roughly localized in the face area, which are used to initialize the shape model and evaluate the result. Then conventional point distribution model(PDM) is replaced by a newly proposed combined PDM. Experiments on a database containing 200 labelled face images show that the proposed method performs significantly better than traditional ASMs. Finally, the improved method was used to implement a face decorating system.
Development of an intelligent monitoring and control system for a heterogeneous numerical propulsion system simulation

The NASA Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) project is exploring the use of computer simulation to facilitate the design of new jet engines. Several key issues raised in this research are being examined in an NPSS-related research project: zooming, monitoring and control, and support for heterogeneity. The design of a simulation executive that addresses each of these issues is described. In this work, the strategy of zooming, which allows codes that model at different levels of fidelity to be integrated within a single simulation, is applied to the fan component of a turbofan propulsion system. A prototype monitoring and control system has been designed for this simulation to support experimentation with expert system techniques for active control of the simulation. An interconnection system provides a transparent means of connecting the heterogeneous systems that comprise the prototype. <<ETX>>