Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Embedded Zero Tree for Scalable Video Coding

Video streaming over the Internet has gained popularity during recent years mainly due to the revival of video-conferencing and video-telephony applications and the proliferation of (video) content providers. However, the heterogeneous, dynamic, and best-effort nature of the Internet cannot always guarantee a certain bandwidth for an application utilizing the Internet. Scalability has been introduced to deal with such issues (up to a certain point) by adapting the video quality with the available bandwidth. In addition, waveletbased scalability combined with representation methods such as embedded zero trees (EZWs) provides the possibility of reconstructing the video even when only the initial part of the streams have been received. EZW prioritizes the wavelet coefficients based on their energy content. Our experiments however, indicate that giving more priority to low frequency content improves the video quality at a specific bit rate. In this paper, we propose a method to improve on the compression rate of the EZW by prioritizing the coefficients by combining each frequency sub-band with its energy content. Initial experimental show that the first two layers of the generated EZW are about 22.6% more concise.
Characterizing the accuracy of dod operating and support cost estimates

For decades, the Department of Defense (DoD) has employed numerous reporting and monitoring tools for characterizing the acquisition cost estimates of its programs. These tools have led to dozens of studies thoroughly documenting the magnitude and extent of DoD acquisition cost growth. However, little attention has been paid to the behavior of the other main cost component of a system's life cycle cost: Operating and Support (O&S) costs. Consequently, the DoD has little knowledge regarding the accuracy of O&S cost estimates or how that accuracy changes over time. In a previous paper, the authors described an analytical methodology for remedying this deficiency via a study to characterize the historical accuracy of O&S cost estimates. The results are presented here, and indicate there tend to be large errors in DoD O&S cost estimates, and that the accuracy of the estimates improves little over time
STUDIES ON INCLUSION COMPLEXES OF 1-NICOTINOYL-4-ARYL-3-METHYL 3A, 4-DIHYDROPYRAZOLO [3, 4C] PYRAZOLES WITH Β-CYCLODEXTRIN

Some 1-Nicotinoyl-4-aryl-3-methyl 3a, 4-dihydropyrazole [3, 4c] pyrazoles were synthesised and their inclusion complexes were prepared with β-cyclodextrin. The compounds and their inclusion complexes were characterised by the study of their physical and spectral properties. The determination of stability constant of inclusion complexes and other thermodynamic parameters such as change in free energy, change in enthalpy and change in entropy, suggested the inclusion complex formation to be thermodynamically allowed. Further, the compounds and their inclusion complexes were screened for antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli (MTCC 40), Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 441), Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 87) and Proteus vulgaris (MTCC 426). It was found that that the formation of inclusion complex causes an increase in antibacterial activity.
EFFECTS OF CALCIUM ION CONCENTRATION ON THE DEGENERATION OF AMPUTATED AXONS IN TISSUE CULTURE

Light and electron microscope studies were conducted on the nature of the degenerative changes in amputated nerve fibers of cultured rat sensory ganglia and on the effects of media with differing calcium concentrations upon these changes. With glucose-enriched Eagle's media (MEM) containing 1.6 mM calcium, the amputated myelinated and unmyelinated axons undergo a progressive granular disintegration of their axoplasm with collapse and fragmentation of myelin sheaths between 6 and 24 h after transection. With MEM containing only 25–50 µM calcium, the granular axoplasmic degeneration does not occur in transected fibers and they retain their longitudinal continuity and segmental myelin ensheathment for at least 48 h. Addition of 6 mM EGTA to MEM (reducing the estimated Ca++ below 0.3 µM) results in the structural preservation of both microtubules and neurofilaments within transected axons. A transient focal swelling of amputated axons occurs, however, in cultures with normal and reduced calcium. These observations suggest that an alteration in the permeability of the axolemma is a crucial initiating event leading to axonal degenerative changes distal to nerve transection. The loss of microtubules and neurofilaments and the associated granular alterations of the axoplasm in transected fibers appears to result from the influx of calcium into the axoplasm.
A hedging annotation scheme focused on epistemic phrases for informal language

Most existing annotation schemes for hedging were created to aid in the automatic identification of hedges in formal language styles, such as used in scholarly prose. Language with informal tone, typical in much web content, poses a challenge and provides illuminating case studies for the analysis of the use of hedges. We have analysed conversations from a web forum and identified the manners individuals express hedging through expressions which differ slightly regarding to their lexical form from hedges used in formal writing. Based on these observations, we propose an annotation scheme composed of three main categories of hedges where the main class comprises first person epistemic expressions that explicitly note an individual’s involvement in what they express. We provide here an overview of our insights obtained by annotating a dataset of web forum posts according to this scheme. These observations will be useful in the design of automatic methods for the detection of hedges in texts in informal language.
Cloud computing security ( 8 / 8 ) Nigori : Storing secrets in the cloud

The Computer Laboratory's undergraduate and masters programmes provide in-depth teaching of computer security foundations and current research; operating systems, networking and programming languages courses also necessarily consider security. Outside of the classroom, students have access to practical competitive exercises to break protection and anonymity systems in order to concretely understand software and protocol security. Several undergraduates and masters students write security-related dissertations or essays each year. Masters and PhD students frequently publish security-related research. Undergraduate degree in Computer Science • Part I Security is an introductory course providing every student with the basics in security. Material includes the cryptography, protocols, programming language, application, and operating system security. • Part II Security is an advanced course teaching about security policy, security usability, security economics, security protocols, cryptography, hardware security, privacy, anonymity and concurrency vulnerabilities. MPhil in Advanced Computer Science (ACS) • Principles and Foundations of Security is a research readings course reviewing key historic security texts and themes in security research, including tensions between attack and defense, human factors, security economics, reasoning protocols, programming language security, and the evolution of access control and protection models. • Current Application Research in Security is a research readings course exploring contemporary research areas, including supply-chain trojans in hardware, malware analysis, secure processor design, and banking system security. The PhD in Computer Science mentors students in award-winning research and methodology. Recent security-related PhDs include: • Privacy engineering in social networks • Guessing human-chosen secrets • Robust security for the electricity network • Complex network analysis for secure and robust communications • Verification of security protocols based on multicase communication • Distributed virtual environment scalability and security • New approaches to operating system security extensibility • Active electromagnetic attacks on secure hardware Active security and privacy research areas • Anonymous communication • API and protocol security • Application compartmentalisation techniques • Authentication and biometric identification systems • Banking and payment system security • Capability systems • Compromising emanations • Cryptology • Digital forensics • Distributed system and cloud computing security • Economics of information security and cybercrime • Formal methods • Hardware security • Location and positioning systems • Malware analysis • Medical information security • Mobile and embedded system security • Operating system security • Passwords • Privacy and freedom issues • Programming language security • SCADA and the security of industrial control systems • Security and human behaviour • Security protocols • Social networking …
Decline in Performance of Biochemical Reactors for Sulphate Removal from Mine-Influenced Water is Accompanied by Changes in Organic Matter Characteristics and Microbial Population Composition

Successful long-term bioremediation of mining-influenced water using complex organic matter and naturally-occurring microorganisms in sub-surface flow constructed wetlands requires a balance between easily and more slowly degrading material. This can be achieved by combining different types of organic materials. To provide guidance on what mixture combinations to use, information is needed on how the ratio of labile to recalcitrant components affects the degradation rate and the types of microbial populations supported. To investigate this, different ratios of wood and hay were used in up-flow column bioreactors treating selenium- and sulphate-containing synthetic mine-influenced water. The degradation rates of crude fibre components appeared to be similar regardless of the relative amounts of wood and hay. However, the nature of the degradation products might have differed in that those produced in the hay-rich bioreactors were more biodegradable and supported high sulphate-reduction rates. Microorganisms in the sulphate-reducing and cellulose-degrading inocula persisted in the bioreactors indicating that bio-augmentation was effective. There was a shift in microbial community composition over time suggesting that different microbial groups were involved in decomposition of more recalcitrant material. When dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was over-supplied, the relative abundance of sulphate-reducers was low even through high sulphate-reduction rates were achieved. As DOC diminished, sulphate-reducers become more prevalent and their relative abundance correlated with sulphate concentrations rather than sulphate-reduction rate.
QB2OLAP: Enabling OLAP on Statistical Linked Open Data

Publication and sharing of multidimensional (MD) data on the Semantic Web (SW) opens new opportunities for the use of On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP). The RDF Data Cube (QB) vocabulary, the current standard for statistical data publishing, however, lacks key MD concepts such as dimension hierarchies and aggregate functions. QB4OLAP was proposed to remedy this. However, QB4OLAP requires extensive manual annotation and users must still write queries in SPARQL, the standard query language for RDF, which typical OLAP users are not familiar with. In this demo, we present QB2OLAP, a tool for enabling OLAP on existing QB data. Without requiring any RDF, QB(4OLAP), or SPARQL skills, it allows semi-automatic transformation of a QB data set into a QB4OLAP one via enrichment with QB4OLAP semantics, exploration of the enriched schema, and querying with the high-level OLAP language QL that exploits the QB4OLAP semantics and is automatically translated to SPARQL.
Hybrid systems with virtual cathode for high power microwaves generation

It is shown that use of a photonic crystal enables to construct several types of hybrid systems with virtual cathode, which could radiate due to different radiation mechanisms (bremsstrahlung and diffraction (transition) radiation) with different frequencies. Also mentioned that photonic crystal makes possible to create phaselocked array of generators.
A Study of Solution-Processed Zinc–Tin-Oxide Semiconductors for Thin-Film Transistors

Thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated using solution-processed zinc–tin-oxide (ZTO) semiconductor thin films as the channel layers are proposed in this paper. Effect of the ZTO annealing temperature on the TFT performance is studied. Significant reduction of oxygen-vacancy and chlorine residue contents in the ZTO semiconductor can be obtained when the annealing temperatures are 500 °C–700 °C. The ZTO semiconductor with the annealing process at 600 °C in air can give an optimal ZTO TFT having a low leakage current of 10<sup>−12</sup> A and a high <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}/{I}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle OFF}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ratio of 3 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times \,\,10^{7}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. The subthreshold swing is 0.39 V/decade corresponding to an interface trap density of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.2\times \,\,10^{12}\,\,$ </tex-math></inline-formula>cm<sup>−2</sup>eV<sup>−1</sup>.
A Cooperative Backup System

We present a novel peer-to-peer backup technique that allows computers connected to the Internet to back up their data cooperatively: Each computer has a set of partner computers, which collectively hold its backup data. In return, it holds a part of each partner’s backup data. By adding redundancy and distributing the backup data across many partners, a highly-reliable backup can be obtained in spite of the low reliability of the average Internet machine. Because our scheme requires cooperation, it is potentially vulnerable to several novel attacks involving free riding (e.g., holding a partner’s data is costly, which tempts cheating) or disruption. We defend against these attacks using a number of new methods, including the use of periodic random challenges to ensure partners continue to hold data and the use of disk-space wasting to make cheating unprofitable. Results from an initial prototype show that our technique is feasible and very inexpensive: it appears to be one to two orders of magnitude cheaper than existing Internet backup services.
Hypoactivity Affects IGF-1 Level and PI3K/AKT Signaling Pathway in Cerebral Structures Implied in Motor Control

A chronic reduction in neuromuscular activity through prolonged body immobilization in human alters motor task performance through a combination of peripheral and central factors. Studies performed in a rat model of sensorimotor restriction have shown functional and biochemical changes in sensorimotor cortex. However, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. Interest was turned towards a possible implication of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1), a growth factor known to mediate neuronal excitability and synaptic plasticity by inducing phosphorylation cascades which include the PI3K–AKT pathway. In order to better understand the influence of IGF-1 in cortical plasticity in rats submitted to a sensorimotor restriction, we analyzed the effect of hindlimb unloading on IGF-1 and its main molecular pathway in structures implied in motor control (sensorimotor cortex, striatum, cerebellum). IGF-1 level was determined by ELISA, and phosphorylation of its receptor and proteins of the PI3K–AKT pathway by immunoblot. In the sensorimotor cortex, our results indicate that HU induces a decrease in IGF-1 level; this alteration is associated to a decrease in activation of PI3K-AKT pathway. The same effect was observed in the striatum, although to a lower extent. No variation was noticed in the cerebellum. These results suggest that IGF-1 might contribute to cortical and striatal plasticity induced by a chronic sensorimotor restriction.
Investigating OS / DB co-design with SharedDB and Barrelfish

Databases and operating systems both operate over the same hardware but they have differing views of how the resources should be managed. As a result databases forgo the system services and implement their own scheduling and memory management which have been refined over several decades. Co-design is an area of research to address this by improving the collaboration between both systems. The idea is to integrate application knowledge in the operating system’s decisions, and for the database to receive notifications and adapt to changes in system state. This thesis presents work in this area which builds upon two research systems. One is Barrelfish OS, a realisation of the multikernel model which treats the machine as a distributed system. The other is SharedDB, an in-memory relational database designed around sharing of computation which delivers predictable performance on large and complex workloads. Our experimental results on Linux show that less than a quarter of the cores are needed to achieve peak performance when running a TPC-W workload. We are interested in resource consolidation and present an approach for utilising application knowledge in spatial and temporal scheduling of operators. We ported SharedDB to run on top of Barrelfish and conclude with discussion that the combined system makes a good foundation for testing new ideas and optimisations which bisect several layers of the system stack.
Microbiocidal formulation comprising essential oils or their derivatives

The present invention relates to an aqueous formulation to kill microorganisms, the formulation comprising: (i) an effective amount of at least one essential oil component or derivatives or mixtures thereof, the essential oil derivative was treated by light irradiation or by oxidation ; and (ii) at least one additional stabilizer, the stabilizer is selected from the group consisting of 10% to about 50% ethanol, emulsifiers, antioxidants, and the group consisting of capsules. The present invention further relates to a method of using the aqueous formulation to kill microorganisms to inhibit the growth of microorganisms.
Generative mixture of networks

A generative model based on training deep architectures is proposed. The model consists of K networks that are trained together to learn the underlying distribution of a given data set. The process starts with dividing the input data into K clusters and feeding each of them into a separate network. After few iterations of training networks separately, we use an EM-like algorithm to train the networks together and update the clusters of the data. We call this model Mixture of Networks. The provided model is a platform that can be used for any deep structure and be trained by any conventional objective function for distribution modeling. As the components of the model are neural networks, it has high capability in characterizing complicated data distributions as well as clustering data. We apply the algorithm on MNIST hand-written digits and Yale face datasets. We also demonstrate the clustering ability of the model using some real-world and toy examples.
Employee Attitudes about the Impact of Visitation Dogs on a College Campus

ABSTRACT Therapy and visitation dogs are becoming more common on college campuses to provide comfort and support to students, but little attention has been given to the concerns of faculty and staff who share space with the dogs in their workplaces. The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of faculty and staff with regard to both the benefits and the hazards (e.g., dander, bites, fleas) and risks associated with the presence of visitation dogs in their workplaces. One hundred and thirty-eight employees who worked in buildings with resident visitation dogs completed an online survey about their perceptions of the hazards and risks of the dogs and the effects of dogs on the wellbeing of both students and employees. In general, employees perceived that the dogs presented minimal risks, and most employees believed that they can reduce stress and provide comfort to students on campus. There were a few employees, however, who reported that the dogs did not improve the work environment and conferred no benefits to the staff or students. The findings of the present survey support the mostly positive attitudes that people have for dogs in the workplace, but they also highlight a potential challenge: accommodating individuals who believe very strongly that dogs do not belong in work environments.
Vulnerability and child sexual exploitation: Towards an approach grounded in life experiences

As child sexual exploitation (CSE) has risen towards the top of the UK’s political agenda, the concept of vulnerability has become a central frame through which to understand and address the issue. This article analyses problems with the concept of vulnerability as it is commonly understood in relation to CSE, taking first steps towards developing an empirically-grounded account of the notion which is more sensitive to the lived realities of victimhood for sexually exploited young people. Drawing on data from participatory qualitative research into life stories of ‘moving on’ from CSE in a large Northern city in England, the article illustrates how vulnerability is shaped through individual factors, situational dynamics and structural forces, connected by human agency through time. It argues that to respond effectively to vulnerability within the field of CSE, we need to move beyond discussion of ‘risk factors’ and denial of agency, towards an understanding of intersectional social divisions, social marginality, ‘critical moments’ and how these shape the investments and actions of vulnerable young people.
Testing a mindset intervention as a resilience factor among Latino/a students in science

ABSTRACT Latinos/as experience underachievement and underrepresentation in science. Mindset beliefs contribute to positive academic outcomes among students generally, but are understudied among Latinos/as in science. In this quasi-experimental study, Latino/a students expressed initial mindset-related beliefs shown to be less generative of success in science than their non-Latino/a classmates. A six-week mindset intervention positively influenced Latinos/as’ mindset beliefs and self-perceptions compared to a control group. Gains were generally similar in magnitude for Latino/a and non-Latino/a students, suggesting that mindset may be compensatory rather than protective among Latino/a youth. Gender differences in initial mindset beliefs and response to the intervention are discussed.
Evidence That Cysteine String Proteins Regulate an Early Step in the Ca2+-Dependent Secretion of Neurotransmitter atDrosophila Neuromuscular Junctions

Previous work indicated that the temperature-dependent block of synaptic transmission in cysteine string protein (csp) mutants ofDrosophila was attributable to a failure of nerve impulses to trigger transmitter release. The current investigations were undertaken to resolve in more detail the mechanism of this transmission deficit. Our studies reveal that the spider venom toxin α-latrotoxin can trigger a sustained discharge of quanta at neuromuscular junctions of csp mutant larvae at nonpermissive temperature. The same is true of the calcium ionophore ionomycin. However, solutions with an elevated concentration of K or Ca ions fail to circumvent the block of quantal secretion in these mutants. Likewise, 4-aminopyridine, which augments transmitter release at permissive temperature in csp mutants, fails to reverse the inhibition of impulse-evoked transmitter release at elevated temperature. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that there is a deficit either in Ca ion entry or in the ability of Ca ions to trigger exocytosis in csp mutants at nonpermissive temperatures. In part, because of previous work showing that csps are important for the functional expression of N-type Ca channels in frog oocytes, we favor the idea that csps participate in a regulatory interaction involving presynaptic Ca channels.