Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic algorithm based resource allocation and interference mitigation for OFDMA macrocell-femtocells networks

In this paper, we propose a base station selection and resource allocation model for OFDMA macro-femtocell networks. Dense deployment of femtocells can cause severe interference for femto and macro users alike. Our framework assumes hybrid-access femtocells to grant access to public user in their vicinity and to reduce interference perceived by femto users. Full spectrum sharing is investigated for the purpose of increasing system capacity. The proposed model aims to maximize the network throughput for a given interference threshold. To do so, the model determines the best serving base station based on link conditions. Genetic Algorithm is used to solve the resource optimization problem by finding the appropriate bandwidth and power assignments for each user. Simulations were conducted and a comparison with a modified version of the Weighted Water Filling algorithm is presented.
Pogostick: A New Versatile piggyBac Vector for Inducible Gene Over-Expression and Down-Regulation in Emerging Model Systems

Background Non-traditional model systems need new tools that will enable them to enter the field of functional genetics. These tools should enable the exploration of gene function, via knock-downs of endogenous genes, as well as over-expression and ectopic expression of transgenes. Methodology We constructed a new vector called Pogostick that can be used to over-express or down-regulate genes in organisms amenable to germ line transformation by the piggyBac transposable element. Pogostick can be found at www.addgene. org, a non-profit plasmid repository. The vector currently uses the heat-shock promoter Hsp70 from Drosophila to drive transgene expression and, as such, will have immediate applicability to organisms that can correctly interpret this promotor sequence. We detail how to clone candidate genes into this vector and test its functionality in Drosophila by targeting a gene coding for the fluorescent protein DsRed. By cloning a single DsRed copy into the vector, and generating transgenic lines, we show that DsRed mRNA and protein levels are elevated following heat-shock. When cloning a second copy of DsRed in reverse orientation into a flanking site, and transforming flies constitutively expressing DsRed in the eyes, we show that endogenous mRNA and protein levels drop following heat-shock. We then test the over-expression vector, containing the complete cDNA of Ultrabithorax (Ubx) gene, in an emerging model system, Bicyclus anynana. We produce a transgenic line and show that levels of Ubx mRNA expression rise significantly following a heat-shock. Finally, we show how to obtain genomic sequence adjacent to the Pogostick insertion site and to estimate transgene copy number in genomes of transformed individuals. Significance This new vector will allow emerging model systems to enter the field of functional genetics with few hurdles.
Towards an efficient routing web processing service through capturing real-time road conditions from big data

The rapidly growing number of crowdsourcing platforms generates huge volumes of volunteered geographic information (VGI), which requires analysis to reveal their potential. The huge volumes of data appear as an opportunity to improve various applications, including routing and navigation services. How existing techniques for dealing with Big Data could be useful for the analysis of VGI remains an open question, since VGI differs from traditional data. In this paper, we focus on examining the latest developments and issues associated with big data from the perspective of the analysis of VGI. This paper notably presents our new architecture for exploiting Big VGI in event service processing in support to optimization of routing service. In addition, our study highlights the opportunities that are created by the emergence of Big VGI and crowdsourced data on improving routing and navigation services, as well as the challenges that remain to be addressed to make this a reality. Finally, avenues for future research on the next generation of collaborative routing and navigation services are presented.
Income and Wealth Heterogeneity in the Macroeconomy

How do movements in the distribution of income and wealth affect the macroeconomy? We analyze this question using a calibrated version of the stochastic growth model with partially uninsurable idiosyncratic risk and movements in aggregate productivity. Our main finding is that, in the stationary stochastic equilibrium, the behavior of the macroeconomic aggregates can be almost perfectly described using only the mean of the wealth distribution. This result is robust to substantial changes in both parameter values and model specification. Our benchmark model, whose only difference from the representative‐agent framework is the existence of uninsurable idiosyncratic risk, displays far less cross‐sectional dispersion and skewness in wealth than U.S. data. However, an extension that relies on a small amount of heterogeneity in thrift does succeed in replicating the key features of the wealth data. Furthermore, this extension features aggregate time series that depart significantly from permanent income behavior.
Performance Analysis of an Improved MUSIC DoA Estimator

This paper addresses the statistical performance of subspace DoA estimation using a sensor array, in the asymptotic regime where the number of samples and sensors both converge to infinity at the same rate. Improved subspace DoA estimators were derived (termed as G-MUSIC) in previous works, and were shown to be consistent and asymptotically Gaussian distributed in the case where the number of sources and their DoA remain fixed. In this case, which models widely spaced DoA scenarios, it is proved in the present paper that the traditional MUSIC method also provides DoA consistent estimates having the same asymptotic variances as the G-MUSIC estimates. The case of DoA that are spaced of the order of a beamwidth, which models closely spaced sources, is also considered. It is shown that G-MUSIC estimates are still able to consistently separate the sources, while this is no longer the case for the MUSIC ones. The asymptotic variances of G-MUSIC estimates are also evaluated.
Building Privacy-Preserving Search Engine Query Logs for Data Monetization

Web Search Engines (WSEs) keep the record of the queries sent by their users in files named query logs. This kind of data is mainly used to improve the user experience by means of personalizing search results, auto-completing search terms, correcting spelling mistakes, etc. On the other hand, the companies that offer WSE services can also sell this data to obtain economic benefits, this is known as data monetization. Nevertheless, a lot of sensitive data from individuals can be inferred from their past queries (e.g. religion views, sexual preferences, full name, etc.), therefore, the uncontrolled disclosure of query logs may represent a serious privacy risk to the individuals who have participated in their generation. In order to prevent such a dangerous situation, query logs must be anonymized to break the link between any piece of sensitive data, its legitimate owner. This paper proposes a system that allows WSEs to compile privacy-preserving query logs that may be monetized. Well known WSEs such as Google receive, in average, 40000 queries per second, therefore, the proposed scheme has been designed to process queries as fast as possible, in a way that the privacy of the individuals is preserved but the data utility of the anonymized query logs remains maximized.
Algorithmic analysis and implementation of a novel natural gradient adaptive filter for sparse systems

We present analytical results, and details of implementation for a novel adaptive filter incorporating an approximate natural gradient tap-update algorithm, termed the simplified signed sparse LMS algorithm (SSSLMS). Each tap-update equation includes a term proportional to the tap-value, so that larger taps adapt more quickly than for a corresponding least mean square (LMS) update. Results indicate that the algorithm is suited for use in sparse channels. The bounds on its maximum allowable stepsize differ from LMS, and simulations are provided that indicate potentially more robust convergence for larger step-sizes than LMS. A theoretical expression for the excess mean square error (MSE) is also derived, and confirmed by numerical simulation. Fixed point simulations of the algorithm using a proposed hardware architecture are also presented. The computational complexity is of the same order as the standard LMS. Finally, profiling of the power consumption of the SSSLMS implementation indicate that the architecture consumes approximately twice as much power as a standard LMS implementation.
IS Journal Rankings Versus Citation Analysis: Consistency and Concerns

This study investigates relationship between the journal ranking lists reported in previous studies on IS journal quality and the rankings derived based on citation data. Journals are categorized into pure, hybrid, partial, and non-IS journals. A total of 8,023 articles published in 38 journals are analyzed and 27,567 citations made to these articles are collected. Five citation-based indices are derived from the collected citation data. Correlation analyses are conducted to examine the relationship and results show strong relationships only for pure IS journals. Then, a concern regarding which journals should be included on IS journal ranking lists, practical implication, further research, and limitations are discussed. Keyword: Journal ranking, citation analysis, IS discipline, IS research
Active learning strategies for handwritten text transcription

Active learning strategies are being increasingly used in a variety of real-world tasks, though their application to handwritten text transcription in old manuscripts remains nearly unexplored. The basic idea is to follow a sequential, line-byline transcription of the whole manuscript in which a continuously retrained system interacts with the user to efficiently transcribe each new line. This approach has been recently explored using a conventional strategy by which the user is only asked to supervise words that are not recognized with high confidence. In this paper, the conventional strategy is improved by also letting the system to recompute most probable hypotheses with the constraints imposed by user supervisions. In particular, two strategies are studied which differ in the frequency of hypothesis recomputation on the current line: after each (iterative) or all (delayed) user corrections. Empirical results are reported on two real tasks showing that these strategies outperform the conventional approach.
Predicting social-tags for cold start book recommendations

We demonstrate how user ratings can be accurately predicted from a set of tags assigned to a book on a social-networking site. Since a newly-published book is unlikely to have social-tags already assigned to it, we describe a probabilistic model for inferring the most probable tags from the text of the book. We evaluate the proposed approach on a newly-created corpus, involving 146 books and 1060 users. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach is significantly better than a well-tuned collaborative filtering baseline for books with 10 or fewer ratings. We also show how predictions based on social-tags can be combined with the traditional collaborative-filtering methods to yield superior performance with any number of ratings.
Making Progress? Reproducing Hegemony Through Discourses of “Sustainable Development” in the Australian News Media

ABSTRACT While numerous studies have investigated discourses of “sustainable development” in a variety of institutional and academic contexts, media discourses on this issue have remained largely unexamined. But considering the intertwined nature of media and society, the construction of sustainable development in the news may be an important factor shaping future ecological and social outcomes. Proceeding from the thesis that the news is a site in which hegemony may be reproduced, this paper critically analyses discourses used to construct sustainable development in news texts published over the 10-year period 2004–2013 across the eight most widely circulated newspapers in Australia. The findings show that sustainable development news is confined to a narrow range of discourses that largely serve to perpetuate the status quo, which is broadly consistent with the media hegemony thesis. Finally, I discuss the implications of these findings, propose possible explanations, and explore avenues for future research.
Gradient Domain HDR Compositing [Extended Abstract]

High dynamic range (HDR) image compositing addresses dynamic range limitations by combining valid information from multiple differently-exposed low dynamic range (LDR) images. Traditional HDR methods (which we will call intensity-based) compute a weighted combination of pixel irradiance after correcting for differences in exposure. These methods require knowledge of the mapping from scene irradiance to image brightness called the camera response function f , as well as the exposure settings (combined information about shutter speed and film sensitivity), k. However, often times neither f nor k are available beforehand; most digital cameras do not have the option to shoot in raw (linear) mode, and do not offer a guarantee that the same processing will be performed on consecutive images.
Power of direct vs. indirect haplotyping in association studies

Haplotype analysis is essential to studies of the genetic factors underlying human disease, but requires a large sample size of phase‐known data. Recently, directly haplotyping individuals was suggested as a means of maximizing the phase‐known data from a sample. Haplotyping, however, is much more labor‐intensive than indirectly inferring haplotypes from genotypes (genotyping). This study uses simulations to compare the power of each methodology to detect associations between a haplotype and a trait or disease locus under conditions of varying linkage disequilibrium. The relative power of haplotyping over genotyping in association studies increases with decreasing sample size, decreasing linkage disequilibrium, decreasing numbers of marker loci, and decreasing numbers of different haplotypes. In addition, the frequency of the haplotype of interest and the magnitude of its association with the disease affect the power. From a cost‐benefit standpoint, genotyping would be favored with large multiplicative risks (relative risk of haplotype >2.5). If case numbers are limiting rather than cost, haplotyping would maximize the information obtained. At small haplotype frequencies (e.g., <0.05), haplotyping is relatively more efficient, but there is little absolute power to detect associations under either methodology. Given the much larger laboratory resources required for direct haplotyping, genotyping would probably be favored under most conditions, but this must be balanced against the unit costs associated with recruitment and phenotyping. In the context of multipurpose, prospective cohort studies (e.g., the UK Biobank study), there may be a general value in establishing a series of directly haplotyped individuals to serve as controls for a number of alternative studies. Genet Epidemiol 26:116–124, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Treating Cattle to Protect People? Impact of Footbath Insecticide Treatment on Tsetse Density in Chad

Background In Chad, several species of tsetse flies (Genus: Glossina ) transmit African animal trypanosomoses (AAT), which represents a major obstacle to cattle rearing, and sleeping sickness, which impacts public health. After the failure of past interventions to eradicate tsetse, the government of Chad is now looking for other approaches that integrate cost-effective intervention techniques, which can be applied by the stake holders to control tsetse-transmitted trypanosomoses in a sustainable manner. The present study thus attempted to assess the efficacy of restricted application of insecticides to cattle leg extremities using footbaths for controlling Glossina m. submorsitans, G . tachinoides and G . f . fuscipes in southern Chad. Methodology/Principal Findings Two sites were included, one close to the historical human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) focus of Moundou and the other to the active foci of Bodo and Moissala. At both sites, a treated and an untreated herd were compared. In the treatment sites, cattle were treated on a regular basis using a formulation of deltamethrin 0.005% (67 to 98 cattle were treated in one of the sites and 88 to 102 in the other one). For each herd, tsetse densities were monthly monitored using 7 biconical traps set along the river and beside the cattle pen from February to December 2009. The impact of footbath treatment on tsetse populations was strong (p < 10-3) with a reduction of 80% in total tsetse catches by the end of the 6-month footbath treatment. Conclusions/Significance The impact of footbath treatment as a vector control tool within an integrated strategy to manage AAT and HAT is discussed in the framework of the “One Health” concept. Like other techniques based on the treatment of cattle, this technology should be used under controlled conditions, in order to avoid the development of insecticide and acaricide resistance in tsetse and tick populations, respectively.
Mobility Patterns : An Alternative Approach to Mobility Management

Software mobile agents provide an efficient method for reducing data traffic and latency in mobile software applications. In this paper, we identify that current systems use two basic methods for facilitating a request for mobility. We define Mobility Patterns, and we argue that there are another 6 mobility patterns that can improve data traffic or latency if applied in specific cases. We also present the principles of a system whose purpose is to assign the most efficient mobility pattern to each act of interaction dynamically, based on pertinent runtime information of the interacting agents. Finally, we contribute the design of two novel algorithms to be used for deciding the best mobility pattern for each case.
X-large virtual workspaces for projector phones through peephole interaction

In peephole interaction a window to a virtual workspace is moved in space to reveal additional content. It is a promising interaction technique for mobile projector phones to display large workspaces which contain more information than can be appropriately displayed on a small smartphone screen. In this paper we describe a projector phone prototype that implements peephole pointing without instrumenting the environment or using any additional hardware besides a smartphone and a handheld projector. This device allows for the first time to perform peephole interaction in the wild. Moreover, we demonstrate some applications we have built to exploit and investigate the full potential of peephole interaction with projector phones.
Designing for Advanced Personalization in Personal Task Management

Many applications provide personalization mechanisms through which users can make changes to adapt a system to better fit their needs or preferences. However, advanced personalization, such as extending system functionality, is often only available to programmers. Building on ideas from end-user programming and personalization literature, we developed an adaptable task management tool that allows advanced personalization using a self-disclosing mechanism and a guided scripting mechanism, ScriPer. We present our design process, its outcome, and the results of a user study (n=24). Participants, even those with no to some background in programming, were able to use ScriPer to perform advanced personalization (in 142 of 144 trials). We also found error patterns differed across programming expertise.
Towards Monitoring Biodiversity in Amazonian Forests: How Regular Samples Capture Meso-Scale Altitudinal Variation in 25 km2 Plots

Background Ecological monitoring and sampling optima are context and location specific. Novel applications (e.g. biodiversity monitoring for environmental service payments) call for renewed efforts to establish reliable and robust monitoring in biodiversity rich areas. As there is little information on the distribution of biodiversity across the Amazon basin, we used altitude as a proxy for biological variables to test whether meso-scale variation can be adequately represented by different sample sizes in a standardized, regular-coverage sampling arrangement. Methodology/Principal Findings We used Shuttle-Radar-Topography-Mission digital elevation values to evaluate if the regular sampling arrangement in standard RAPELD (rapid assessments (“RAP”) over the long-term (LTER [“PELD” in Portuguese])) grids captured patters in meso-scale spatial variation. The adequacy of different sample sizes (n = 4 to 120) were examined within 32,325 km2/3,232,500 ha (1293×25 km2 sample areas) distributed across the legal Brazilian Amazon. Kolmogorov-Smirnov-tests, correlation and root-mean-square-error were used to measure sample representativeness, similarity and accuracy respectively. Trends and thresholds of these responses in relation to sample size and standard-deviation were modeled using Generalized-Additive-Models and conditional-inference-trees respectively. We found that a regular arrangement of 30 samples captured the distribution of altitude values within these areas. Sample size was more important than sample standard deviation for representativeness and similarity. In contrast, accuracy was more strongly influenced by sample standard deviation. Additionally, analysis of spatially interpolated data showed that spatial patterns in altitude were also recovered within areas using a regular arrangement of 30 samples. Conclusions/Significance Our findings show that the logistically feasible sample used in the RAPELD system successfully recovers meso-scale altitudinal patterns. This suggests that the sample size and regular arrangement may also be generally appropriate for quantifying spatial patterns in biodiversity at similar scales across at least 90% (≈5 million km2) of the Brazilian Amazon.
Réduction de graphes pour l ’ analyse de protocoles de routage sécurisés

Les réseaux ad-hoc sont des réseaux organisés pour des agents mobiles et connectés sans fils. La structure de communication de ce type de réseau est construite de façon distribuée : chaque agent du réseau dispose d’un rôle important de routage, de façon autonome. Une de ses application est notamment militaire, où le système de communication doit être construit sans structure hiérarchisée initiale. On appelle protocoles de routage les protocoles qui permettent de mettre en place cette structure de communication et qui fournissent à tous les agents le pouvoir de communiquer entre eux, en découvrant les noeuds intermédiaires situés entre deux interlocuteurs éloignés. Les protocoles de routage ont initialement été conçus sans notions de sécurité. Or des travaux ont mis en avant que cette hypothèse n’était pas réaliste. Des protocoles de routage sécurisés ont alors vu le jour. Les protocoles sécurisés sont des protocoles dans lesquels des primitives cryptographiques interviennent, comme le chiffrement symétrique, les signatures ou le chiffrement asymétrique, et qui visent à garantir certaines propriétés comme l’authentification ou le secret. On peut par exemple citer la technique SRP [19] qui a pour but de sécuriser les protocoles de routage existants en rajoutant une couche de chiffrement entre l’expéditeur et la destination, ou des nouveaux protocoles comme Ariadne [15] conçus avec des ambitions de sécurité.