Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Massively Parallel Data Processing on Infrastructure as a Service Platforms

In recent years, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) clouds have emerged as a promising new platform for massively parallel data processing. By eliminating the need for large upfront capital expenses, operators of IaaS clouds offer their customers the unprecedented possibility to acquire access to a highly scalable pool of computing resources on a short-term basis and enable them to execute data analysis applications at a scale which has been traditionally reserved to large Internet companies and research facilities. However, despite the growing popularity of these kinds of distributed applications, the current parallel data processing frameworks, which support the creation and execution of large-scale data analysis jobs, still stem from the era of dedicated, static compute clusters and have disregarded the particular characteristics of IaaS platforms so far. This thesis revisits the design of a parallel data processing framework against the background of the new possibilities and challenges of IaaS clouds with the objective of improving the processing efficiency on these platforms in terms of both time and cost. In particular, the thesis analyzes how parallel data processing frameworks can take advantage of the cloud’s ability for rapid resource provisioning and presents a new parallel data processing framework called Nephele, which explicitly exploits these new cloud features. Moreover, several approaches are presented to reduce the increased risk of I/O bottlenecks during the job execution which results from the cloud’s use of hardware virtualization. In order to underline their effectiveness, all contributions of this thesis are evaluated through various practical experiments and, whenever possible, contrasted to the state of the art in the respective field.
Water Absorption Behaviour and Mechanical Performance of Pineapple Leaf Fibre Reinforced Polylactic Acid Composites

Fast-growing scientific work is focusing on alternative sources to replace modern synthetic fibre materials due to the adverse effects caused by petroleum-based materials. Natural fibre possesses high potential as a replacement for synthetic fibre and petroleum-based products. These materials are not only greener and environmental-friendly, but also safe for human health. As such, this study investigated the influence of compatibilising agent of maleated anhydride polyethylene (MAPE) on mechanical performance of pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) reinforced polylactic acid (PLA). The raw materials, such as PALF, PLA, and MAPE, were mixed by using a hot roller mixer machine and hot compression moulding at 190ºC. The specimens were then tested for water absorption and flexibility. The specimens were submerged in water for 0, 7, 14, and 21 days. Three types of tests were conducted, namely water absorption, tensile, and flexural assessments. The results of water absorption, tensile, and flexural tests for the untreated PALF composite (UPALF) and treated PLAF composite (TPALF) were recorded and explained. As a conclusion, composite materials based on hydrophilic natural fibre may reduce the tensile and flexural properties of the composite.
Spectral feature based automatic tonal and non-tonal language classification

A Language Identification (LID) System finds out the language of a given speech utterance. Languages can be divided into tonal and non-tonal categories based on whether the meaning of the same word will change or not with the change in pitch variation. Classifying languages into tonal and non-tonal categories before the individual language identification stage will reduce the complexity of the LID system. Though state of the art systems use prosodic features for this purpose, this work is focused on analysing the performance of spectral features for tonal and non-tonal classification of languages. Performance analysis of different spectral feature combinations namely, Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), MFCC along with Shifted Delta Cepstral (SDC) Coefficients, Mean Hilbert Envelope Coefficients (mHeC) and MHEC along with SDC Coefficients is carried out in this study. Experiments have been performed on Oregon Graduate Institute-Multilingual Telephone Speech Corpus (OGI-MLTS) and NITS Language database using GMM-UBM modelling technique. Results show that MHEC with SDC and MFCC with SDC features, at syllabic level, give comparable performance of 33.97% Equal Error Rate (EER) for this classification task.
A Robust Carrier Frequency Offset Estimation Algorithm in Burst Mode Multicarrier CDMA based Ad Hoc Networks

The future wireless communication systems demand very high data rates, anti-jamming ability and multiuser support. People want large amount of data to be continuously accessible in their personal devices. Direct Sequence (DS) spread spectrum based techniques such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) fulfil these requirements but, at the same time, suffer from the Intersymbol Interference (ISI). Multicarrier CDMA (MC-CDMA) is an emerging technology to be used in mobile devices operating in an ad hoc setting due to its immunity towards ISI and having all the advantages of spread spectrum communication. One of the major problems with MC-CDMA is the high sensitivity towards carrier frequency offsets caused due to the inherent inaccuracy of crystal oscillators. This carrier frequency offset destroys the orthogonality of the subcarriers resulting in Intercarrier Interference (ICI). In this paper, we propose a computationally efficient algorithm based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and biquadratic Lagrange interpolation. The FFT is based on the use of overlapping windows for each frame of the data instead of non-overlapping windows. This gives a coarse estimate of the frequency offset which is refined by the successive application of Lagrange quadratic interpolation to the samples in the vicinity of FFT peak. The proposed algorithm has been applied to the multiuser ad hoc network and simulated in Stanford University Interim (SUI) channels. It has been shown by simulations that the proposed algorithm provides better performance of almost 1~2 dB as compared to the well-known algorithms.
SEChecker: A Sequential Equivalence Checking Framework Based on ${K}$th Invariants

In recent years, considerable research efforts have been devoted to utilizing circuit structural information to improve the efficiency of Boolean satisfiability (SAT) solving, resulting in several efficient circuit-based SAT solvers. In this paper, we present a sequential equivalence checking framework based on a number of circuit-based SAT solving techniques as well as a novel invariant checker. We first introduce the notion of kth invariants. In contrast to the traditional invariants that hold for all cycles, k th invariants are guaranteed to hold only after the kth cycle from the initial state. We then present a bounded model checker (BMChecker) and an invariant checker (IChecker), both of which are based on circuit SAT techniques. Jointly, BMChecker and IChecker are used to compute the kth invariants, and are further integrated in a sequential circuit SAT solver for checking sequential equivalence. Experimental results demonstrate that the new sequential equivalence checking framework can efficiently verify large industrial designs that cannot be verified by existing solutions.
Distributed Prognostics Based on Structural Model Decomposition

Within systems health management, prognostics focuses on predicting the remaining useful life of a system. In the model-based prognostics paradigm, physics-based models are constructed that describe the operation of a system, and how it fails. Such approaches consist of an estimation phase, in which the health state of the system is first identified, and a prediction phase, in which the health state is projected forward in time to determine the end of life. Centralized solutions to these problems are often computationally expensive, do not scale well as the size of the system grows, and introduce a single point of failure. In this paper, we propose a novel distributed model-based prognostics scheme that formally describes how to decompose both the estimation and prediction problems into computationally-independent local subproblems whose solutions may be easily composed into a global solution. The decomposition of the prognostics problem is achieved through structural decomposition of the underlying models. The decomposition algorithm creates from the global system model a set of local submodels suitable for prognostics. Computationally independent local estimation and prediction problems are formed based on these local submodels, resulting in a scalable distributed prognostics approach that allows the local subproblems to be solved in parallel, thus offering increases in computational efficiency. Using a centrifugal pump as a case study, we perform a number of simulation-based experiments to demonstrate the distributed approach, compare the performance with a centralized approach, and establish its scalability.
Greater parallel heterogeneity of airway narrowing and airway closure in asthma measured by high-resolution CT

Background Heterogeneous airway narrowing and closure are characteristics of asthma. However, they have never been quantified by direct measurements of parallel sister airways obtained from image data, and the anatomical basis of these processes remains unknown. Methods Seven normal and nine asthmatic subjects underwent high-resolution CT, before and after methacholine challenge. Mean lumen areas of the entire airways were measured in 28 and 24 parallel sister airway pairs (a pair of airways arising from the same bifurcation) respectively (range 1.0–8.7 mm diameter). Heterogeneous narrowing was defined as the median difference in percentage narrowing between parallel sister airways. Forced oscillatory respiratory resistance (Rrs) and spirometry were measured before and after methacholine challenge conducted while supine. Results The airways of asthmatics were smaller at baseline, and following bronchoconstriction there were similar decreases in FEV1, increases in Rrs and mean narrowing of airways for asthmatic and non-asthmatic groups. Non-asthmatics required higher doses of methacholine than asthmatics to achieve the same changes. However, parallel heterogeneity (median (IQR) 33% (27–53%) vs 11% (9–18%), p<0.001) and airway closure (24.1% and 7.7%, p=0.001, χ2) were greater in asthmatics versus non-asthmatics. Conclusion We found clear evidence of differences in airway behaviour in the asthmatic group. Asthmatic airways were narrower at baseline and responded to inhaled methacholine by more heterogeneous narrowing of parallel sister airways and greater airway closure.
Macro controlling of copper oxide deposition processes and spray mode by using home-made fully computerized spray pyrolysis system

Thin Films of Copper Oxide (CuO) absorption layer have been deposited using home-made Fully Computerized Spray Pyrolysis Deposition system FCSPD on glass substrates, at the nozzle to substrate distance equal to 20,35 cm, and computerized spray mode (continues spray, macro-control spray). The substrate temperature has been kept at 450 °c with the optional user can enter temperature tolerance values ± 5 °C. Also that fixed molar concentration of 0.1 M, and 2D platform speed or deposition platform speed of 4mm/s. more than 1000 instruction program code, and specific design of graphical user interface GUI to fully control the deposition process and real-time monitoring and controlling the deposition temperature at every 200 ms. The changing in the temperature has been recorded during deposition processes, in addition to all deposition parameters. The films have been characterized to evaluate the thermal distribution over the X, Y movable hot plate, the structure and optical energy gap, thermal and temperature.
Weighted spherical soft assignment and optimization for image content representation and retrieval

With the development and popularity of digital multimedia, content-based image retrieval (CBIR) has been a hot research topic in retrieval field. However, the multimedia information, especially in the picture and the image, is increasing rapidly, which presents a huge challenge to image retrieval systems. In order to obtain accurate and creditable results, the image representation is the key point. In some previous publications, the vector of locally aggregated descriptors (VLAD) is a new technology which enhances the image representation. However, the use of hard assignment in VLAD does not consider code word uncertainty and plausibility. In this paper, the spherical soft assignment (SSA) is used to enhance the image representation. Since SSA does not consider the gap between low-level features and high-level semantics, relevance feedback has been applied in SSA. The first retrieval results are used as training samples. Users mark positive and negative cases and treat them as class labels of the training samples by SVM learning. Then a classifier is constructed that suits for user's query intention and with which all the images in the image database can be classified with the classifier. If images are divided into positive class, the distance between each image and the hyper plane is calculated. Then we will remark weights which are used to retrieve again. Results show that it can improve the precision of retrieval results.
Availability of endogenous peptides limits expression of an M3a-Ld major histocompatibility complex class I chimera

Taking advantage of our understanding of the peptide specificity of the major histocompatibility complex class I-b molecule M3a, we sought to determine why these molecules are poorly represented on the cell surface. To this end we constructed a chimeric molecule with the alpha 1 and alpha 2 domains of M3a and alpha 3 of Ld thereby allowing use of available monoclonal antibodies to quantify surface expression. Transfected, but not control, B10.CAS2 (H-2M3b) cells were lysed readily by M3a-restricted monoclonal cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Thus, the chimera bound, trafficked, and presented endogenous mitochondrial peptides. However, despite high levels of M3a-Ld mRNA, transfectants were negative by surface staining. This finding was consistent with inefficient trafficking to the cell surface. Incubation at 26 degrees C, thought to permit trafficking of unoccupied heavy (H) chains, resulted in detectable cell surface expression of chimeric molecules. Incubation with exogenous peptide at 26 degrees C (but not at 37 degrees C) greatly enhanced expression of M3a-Ld molecules in a dose- dependent manner, suggesting stabilization of unoccupied molecules. Stable association of beta 2-microglobulin with the chimeric H chain was observed in labeled cell lysates only in the presence of exogenous specific peptide, indicating that peptide is required for the formation of a ternary complex. These results indicate that surface expression of M3a-Ld is limited largely by the steady-state availability of endogenous peptides. Since most known M3a-binding peptides are N- formylated, native M3a may normally be expressed at high levels only during infection by intracellular bacteria.
Biomimetic Graphene Actuators Enabled by Multiresponse Graphene Oxide Paper with Pretailored Reduction Gradient

The strong interaction between water molecules and graphene oxide (GO) enables moisture‐responsive graphene actuators, revealing great potential for soft robots. However, current strategies for developing smart graphene actuators fail to tailor their material property gradient in a controlled manner, and the driving manner is usually limited to single stimulus actuation. Here, a facile preparation of humidity/thermal/light multiresponsive graphene actuators by sequential vacuum filtration of GO and reduced GO (RGO) aqueous solutions is reported. The photoreduction degree of RGO layer is tuned precisely beforehand by changing ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation time, and thus a pretailored reduction gradient along the normal direction of the GO/RGO bilayer paper would form in a highly controlled manner. Taking advantage of the competitive water adsorption between the GO and RGO layers, as well as the thermal‐, light‐promoted desorption, the GO/RGO bilayers deform in response to moisture, light, and temperature changes; and the deformation degree can be modulated by controlling the gradient of oxygen‐containing groups (OCGs). As a proof of principle, a humidity‐responsive graphene mimosa and a humidity/thermal/light multiresponsive graphene actuators are fabricated. The GO/RGO bilayer paper with pretailored reduction gradient holds great promise for easy fabrication of biomimetic actuators that enable performing predictable deformation.
Cardiovascular Risk Predictors Estimation via Carotid Tonometry and Ankle Cuff Oscillation Measurement

This paper reports initial results from our study on the use of non-invasive proximal and distal arterial waveforms to estimate cardiovascular risk predictors while minimizing patient discomfort. We used a pressure wave decomposition technique on carotid tonometry and ankle cuff oscillation waveforms so as to estimate pulse transit time, reflection magnitude and reflection index. We showed that the risk predictors estimated from these waveforms correlated reasonably well with those measured from carotid-femoral tonometry. The results illustrate that ankle cuff oscillation waveform may serve as a viable alternative to femoral tonometry, which requires probe contact near a patient's private area and accompanies inconvenience and discomfort.
The effect of improved modelling of plasma clearance in paediatric patients with expanded body spaces on estimation of the glomerular filtration rate

The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is used clinically to assess renal function. The most accurate estimation technique is tracer clearance where deterministic compartment pharmacokinetic models are most widely used. The aim of this study was to assess the viability of alternative pharmacokinetic models to describe tracer clearance, and in turn, measure GFR. This study was carried out on 126 clearance datasets obtained from 44 patients with large solid tumours; these were fitted to four pharmacokinetic models with superiority of model determined by Akaike Information Criteria. A fractal model was found to be superior to the best deterministic compartment model (70% of datasets, P < 0.0020) as was a gamma-distributed residence time model (93% of datasets, P < 0.0020); both models also gave greater mean weighted coefficients of determination than deterministic compartment models. These results suggest that gamma-distributed residence time and fractal models better describe tracer clearance than deterministic compartment models and therefore should allow more accurate estimation of GFR.
Bounds on Traceability Schemes

The Stinson–Wei traceability scheme (known as traceability scheme) was proposed for broadcast encryption as a generalization of the Chor–Fiat–Naor traceability scheme (known as traceability code). Cover-free family was introduced by Kautz and Singleton in the context of binary superimposed code. In this paper, we find a new relationship between a traceability scheme and a cover-free family, which strengthens the anti-collusion strength from <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$t$ </tex-math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$t^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, i.e., a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$t$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-traceability scheme is a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$t^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-cover-free family. Based on this interesting discovery, we derive new upper bounds for traceability schemes. By using combinatorial structures, we construct several infinite families of optimal traceability schemes, which attain our new upper bounds. We also provide a constructive lower bound for traceability schemes, the size of which has the same order of magnitude as our general upper bound. Meanwhile, we consider parent-identifying set systems, an anti-collusion key-distributing scheme requiring weaker conditions than traceability scheme but stronger conditions than cover-free family. A new upper bound is also given for parent-identifying set systems.
Automatic categorization algorithm for evolvable software archive

The number of software systems is increasing at a rapid rate. For example, SourceForge currently has about sixty thousand software systems registered, twenty-two thousand of which were added in the past twelve months. It is important for software evolution to search and use existing similar software systems from software archive. An evolution history of an existing similar software system is useful. We may even evolve a software system based on an existing one instead of creating it from scratch. We propose automatic software categorization algorithm to help finding similar software systems in software archive. At present, we leave open the issue about the nature of the categorization, and explore several known approaches including code clones-based similarity metric, decision trees, and latent semantic analysis. The results from applying each of the approaches gives us some insights into the problem space, and sets some directions for further work.
Religious Coping and Posttraumatic Growth Among Family Caregivers of Cancer Patients in India

Growing attention has focused on relationships between religious coping and health outcomes among cancer patients. However, surprisingly little is known about religious coping among family caregivers. Moreover, few studies have been conducted outside of Western developed nations. This investigation evaluated family caregivers in Pune, India. The authors examined discrete dimensions of cancer-specific religious coping, and their associations with posttraumatic growth, among families at a similar phase of treatment. As hypothesized, posttraumatic growth was associated with increased use of positive religious coping strategies and diminished use of negative coping strategies. In multivariate analyses, the strongest predictors were benevolent religious reappraisals and punishing God reappraisals. Findings underscore the importance of meaning-focused religious coping.
Ethanol extract of Psoralea corylifolia L. and its main constituent, bakuchiol, reduce bone loss in ovariectomised Sprague–Dawley rats

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether ethanol extracts of Psoralea corylifolia L. (PCE) and its active component protect against bone loss in ovariectomised rats. We screened oestrogenic activities of the main extract fractions using in vitro assays and identified bakuchiol as the most active oestrogenic component by HPLC and LC/MS, and then demonstrated that bakuchiol had strong binding affinity for oestrogen receptor (ER) α. Seventy female Sprague–Dawley rats were assigned to either a sham-operated group (n 10) or an ovariectomised group (n 60). The ovariectomised group was subdivided into six groups, each containing ten rats: vehicle group, two bakuchiol-treated groups (dose of 15 mg/kg per d or 30 mg/kg per d; ten rats for each group), two PCE-supplemented groups (0·25 % or 0·5 % extracts of diets; ten rats for each group) and a 17β-oestradiol (E2)-treated group (20 μg/kg per d). We recorded weight and feed intake every week, and killed all animals after 6 weeks. Blood was collected, and the uterus, kidneys and livers were removed. Bakuchiol has a three-fold higher binding affinity for ERα than for ERβ. Bakuchiol and PCE treatments had no uterotrophic activity even though they demonstrated oestrogenic activity in the in vitro assays. Bakuchiol and PCE treatments reduced postmenopausal bone loss by increasing alkaline phosphatase, Ca concentrations, serum E2 concentration and bone mineral density, and by decreasing the inorganic P level. The present study indicated that bakuchiol and PCE treatments could protect against bone loss.