Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning sparse models for image quality assessment

Many successful image quality metrics rely on the structural information in an image to assess its perceptual quality. Extracting the structural information that is perceptually meaningful to our visual system, however, is a challenging task. This paper proposes a new quality assessment metric that relies on a sparse modeling approach to learn the inherent structures of the image. These structures are learnt as a set of basis vectors, such that any structure in the image can be represented by a linear combination of only a few of these basis vectors. This strategy is known to generate basis vectors that are qualitatively similar to the receptive field of the simple cells present in the mammalian primary visual cortex. The perceptual quality of the distorted image is estimated by comparing the structures of the reference and the distorted images in terms of the learnt basis vectors. Our approach is evaluated on five standard subject-rated image quality assessment datasets. The proposed metric exhibits high correlation with the subjective ratings outperforming several well established methods.
Enhancing Web Page Security with Security Style Sheets SCS Technical Report TR-1104 Version : February 10 , 2011 Terri Oda

Although the web security community now has a variety of techniques that could help web developers to defend against common attacks such as cross-site scripting and cross-site request forgery, this work is not in a form suitable for general use. What is needed is a web standard that unites these techniques using syntax and semantics that are easy for web developers to learn and straightforward for browser makers to implement. Here we propose such a standard, Security Style Sheets, a browserenforced policy language modelled on Cascading Style Sheets. Security Style Sheets provides an extensible policy framework that allows for policy to be separated from content and to be specified at both coarse and fine levels of granularity. In this paper we present the syntax and semantics of Security Style Sheets, explain its relationship with past web security proposals and CSS, and give examples of how it could be used to protect mainstream websites such as Facebook. Also in the model of CSS and the Acid3 tests, we present a conformance suite for Security Style Sheets.
HotOM: A SDN based network virtualization for datacenters

Datacenters are in a process of a huge shift by the deep adoption of virtualization. To be economically doable, virtualized datacenters must reach a high level of resource utilization by simultaneously hosting as many tenants as possible. Traditional network virtualization techniques do not scale to accomplish those requirements. Furthermore, new demands are arising like programmable networks leveraged by the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm. This paper introduces HotOM, a network multi-tenancy approach to overcome traditional limitations through redefining a L2 header purpose and introducing a new L2.5 shim protocol, preserving legacy network core's device. Functional explanation and evaluations were done to support the proposal.
AUTOMATED DETECTION OF GALAXY-SCALE GRAVITATIONAL LENSES IN HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGING DATA

We expect direct lens modeling to be the key to successful and meaningful automated strong galaxy-scale gravitational lens detection. We have implemented a lens-modeling “robot” that treats every bright red galaxy (BRG) in a large imaging survey as a potential gravitational lens system. Having optimized a simple model for “typical” galaxy-scale gravitational lenses, we generate four assessments of model quality that are then used in an automated classification. The robot infers from these four data the lens classification parameter H that a human would have assigned; the inference is performed using a probability distribution generated from a human-classified training set of candidates, including realistic simulated lenses and known false positives drawn from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Extended Groth Strip (EGS) survey. We compute the expected purity, completeness, and rejection rate, and find that these statistics can be optimized for a particular application by changing the prior probability distribution for H; this is equivalent to defining the robot's “character. ” Adopting a realistic prior based on expectations for the abundance of lenses, we find that a lens sample may be generated that is ∼100% pure, but only ∼20% complete. This shortfall is due primarily to the oversimplicity of the model of both the lens light and mass. With a more optimistic robot, ∼90% completeness can be achieved while rejecting ∼90% of the candidate objects. The remaining candidates must be classified by human inspectors. Displaying the images used and produced by the robot on a custom “one-click” web interface, we are able to inspect and classify lens candidates at a rate of a few seconds per system, suggesting that a future 1000 deg2 imaging survey containing 107 BRGs, and some 104 lenses, could be successfully, and reproducibly, searched in a modest amount of time. We have verified our projected survey statistics, albeit at low significance, using the HST EGS data, discovering four new lens candidates in the process.
Discovering task constraints through observation and active learning

Effective robot collaborators that work with humans require an understanding of the underlying constraint network of any joint task to be performed. Discovering this network allows an agent to more effectively plan around co-worker actions or unexpected changes in its environment. To maximize the practicality of collaborative robots in real-world scenarios, humans should not be assumed to have an abundance of either time, patience, or prior insight into the underlying structure of a task when relied upon to provide the training required to impart proficiency and understanding. This work introduces and experimentally validates two demonstration-based active learning strategies that a robot can utilize to accelerate context-free task comprehension. These strategies are derived from the action-space graph, a dual representation of a Semi-Markov Decision Process graph that acts as a constraint network and informs query generation.We present a pilot study showcasing the effectiveness of these active learning algorithms across three representative classes of task structure. Our results show an increased effectiveness of active learning when utilizing feature-based query strategies, especially in multi-instructor scenarios, achieving better task comprehension from a relatively small quantity of training demonstrations. We further validate our results by creating virtual instructors from a model of our pilot study participants, and applying it to a set of 12 more complex, real world food preparation tasks with similar results.
Using Q Methodology to Identify Millennials’ Media System Dependency During Mass Disruption Events

This research examined millennials’ Media System Dependency (MSD) for response, mitigation and recovery during and after a mass disruption event (MDE). Q- statements examined traditional and social media preferences during MDEs for information sharing, information seeking, communication of emotion and opinions as well as coordination of action and assistance. Q-sorts took place following an earthquake in the region so researchers could study the actual preferences of millennials following a natural disaster. The use of Q-Methodology allowed for five MSD types to emerge among millennials, which will help researchers understand audience media selection and for what purposes media are used during MDEs.
On the misalignment of jets in microquasars

We discuss the time-scales for alignment of black hole and accretion disc spins in the context of binary systems. We show that for black holes that are formed with substantial angular momentum, the alignment time-scales are likely to be at least a substantial fraction of the lifetimes of the systems. This result explains the observed misalignment of the disc and the jet in the microquasar GRO J 1655-40 and in SAX J 1819-2525 as probably being caused by the Bardeen-Petterson effect. We discuss the implications of these results on the mass estimate for GRS 1915+105, which has assumed the jet to be perpendicular to the orbital plane of the system and may hence be an underestimate. We show that the time-scales for the spin alignment in Cygnus X-3 are consistent with the likely misalignment of disc and jet in that system, and that this is suggested by the observational data.
Narratives of Starting School:: Learning from Aboriginal children, their mothers, and their educators

13 Glossary . 15 List of Abbreviations . 15 Terminology . 17 Chapter 1 . 19 1.1 Locating the research . 20 1.2 Research questions . 27 1.3 Background to the study . 28 1.3. 1 Current policy approaches to Aboriginal education in Australia . 29 ‘Closing the gap’ . 30 ‘Indigenous disadvantage’ . 31 1.3. 2 Transition to school . 34 1.3. 3 Defining transition to school . 35 1.3. 4 Conceptualising transition to school . 36 Applying a ‘transition process’ lens . 36 Applying a social justice lens . 37 1.3. 5 Researching transition to school . 38 1.3. 6 Researching the transition to school for Aboriginal children . 40 1.4 Overview of the thesis . 43 Chapter 2 . 45 2.1 Children’s sense of self – theories and research . 45 2.1.1 Social constructivist perspectives. 46 2.1.2 Developmental psychology perspectives . 47 2.1.3 Cross-cultural perspectives . 48 2.1.4 Indigenous perspectives . 49 2.1. 5 Dimensions of children’s positive sense of self . 49
ALE MANIFOLDS AND CONFORMAL FIELD THEORIES

We address the problem of constructing the family of (4,4) theories associated with the σ model on a parametrized family ℳζ of asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) manifolds. We rely on the ADE classification of these manifolds and on their construction as hyper-Kahler quotients, due to Kronheimer. By so doing we are able to define the family of (4,4) theories corresponding to a ℳζ family of ALE manifolds as the deformation of a solvable orbifold C2/Γ conformal field theory, Γ being a Kleinian group. We discuss the relation between the algebraic structure underlying the topological and metric properties of self-dual four-manifolds and the algebraic properties of nonrational (4,4) theories admitting an infinite spectrum of primary fields. In particular, we identify the Hirzebruch signature τ with the dimension of the local polynomial ring associated with the ADE singularity, with the number of nontrivial conjugacy classes in the corresponding Kleinian group and with the number of short representations of the (4,4) theory minus four.
Phone-based filter parameter optimization for robust speech recognition using likelihood maximization

Accuracy of speech recognition systems decreases when the distance between talker and microphone increases. By the using of microphone arrays and appropriate filtering of received signals, the accuracy of recognizer can be increased. Many different methods have been proposed. These methods can be classified in two main approaches: Systems that perform in two independent stages of array processing and recognition, and systems that use the likelihood acoustic information of recognition stage to calibrate the parameters of array processing stage on an utterance-based manner. In this paper a new approach to microphone array processing is proposed in which the parameters of array processing are adjusted based on phones used in language. Optimized filter parameters are stored and used during recognition phase. Persian language is used to find any improvement in speech recognition accuracy.
The Effect of Temporal Focus on Affective Forecasts Regarding the Outcome of the 2004 Presidential Election

s of the winning papers, as well as photographs and brief biographies of the top three winners, are published in Eye on Psi Chi. The deadline for this award is May 1. Allyn & Bacon Awards The Psi Chi/Allyn & Bacon Psychology Awards, sponsored by Allyn & Bacon Publishers, are open to all undergraduate Psi Chi members and are awarded to those who submit the best overall empirical research papers. The awards are $1,000 for first place, $650 for second place, and $350 for third place. In addition, all winners and their faculty research advisors receive award certificates. The abstracts of the winning papers, as well as photographs and brief biographies of the top three winners, are published in Eye on Psi Chi. The deadline for this award is May 1.
Strong vs. weak approaches to systems development

S ystems development is, fundamentally, a problem-solving activity. A problem in an application domain is transformed by the systems development process into a solution in the computer’s implementation domain. What can systems development specialists borrow from the traditional literature on problem solving? Are there ideas in this older discipline that can be reused? There is one particularly vital notion that has important implications for both the theory and practice of systems development. The problem-solving literature distinguishes between “strong” and “weak” problemsolving approaches. Strong methods are those designed to address a specific type of problem, while weak methods are general approaches that may be applied to many types of problems [7]. The words “strong” and “weak” are deliberately chosen. A strong method, like a specific size of wrench, is designed to fit and do an optimal job on one kind of problem; a weak method, like a monkey wrench, is designed to adjust to a multiplicity of problems, but solve none of them optimally. It is the purpose of this article to pursue this notion of “strong” and “weak” problem-solving approaches more thoroughly from a systems development point of view. Are we making use of this notion in today’s theory and in today’s practice? If not, how can we change what we are doing to make use of strong problem-solving approaches?
The effect of sibling delinquency on risky behaviors during emerging adulthood

This study examines the relationship between sibling delinquency and respondent risky behavior of emerging adults. This study attempts to understand the influence a sibling has on deviant behavior, sexual permissiveness, and substance use. Sibling support and sibling contact were the two components of a sibling relationships that were examined. A social learning theory framework was used to organize the hypotheses and to discuss findings. It was hypothesized that an individual who has high contact and support from a deviant sibling would be more likely to engage in deviant behavior, be more sexually permissive, and have increased alcohol use. The sample was comprised of over 700 undergraduates enrolled in a large state university. A test of the mediating and moderating effects of sibling support and contact was conducted. Results indicate that there is a mediating effect and a moderating relationship between the influence of sibling delinquency and respondent deviance, sexual permissiveness, and alcohol use for females. This means that as contact and support with a delinquent sibling increases, the level of respondent deviance, sexual permissiveness, and alcohol use also increases. INDEX WORDS: Emerging Adulthood, Siblings, Delinquency, Alcohol Use, Sexual Permissiveness, Mediating, Moderating THE EFFECT OF SIBLING DELINQUENCY ON RISKY BEHAVIORS DURING EMERGING ADULTHOOD: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE MEDIATING AND MODERATING INFLUENCES
Emerging Rumor Identification for Social Media with Hot Topic Detection

A rumor is commonly defined as a statement whose true value is unverifiable. As rumor can spread misinformation around people, causing social problems such as panic, and the rapid growth of online social media has made it possible for rumors to spread more quickly, it is important to automatically identify rumors for social media. Existing methods on rumor detection always concentrate on telling rumor from truth with handcrafted regular expressions, dealing with out of date rumor related message. To solve this problem, we introduce a novel hot topic detection method combining bursty term identification and multi-dimension sentence modeling to automatically detect emerging hot topics for rumor identification. We conduct a comprehensive set of experiments on two data sets from real-world social media. Experiment results show that our emerging rumor identification for social media with hot topic detection work well both in news data set and twitter data set, and combining the hot topic detection with the rumor detection is possible to finish real-time rumor identification. We believe our method to automatically detect rumor will open new dimensions in analyzing online misinformation and other aspects of social media mining.
Telex: A Semantic Platform for Cooperative Application Development

Developing write-sharing applications is challenging. Remote and offline data sharing are increasingly important. We propose a generic platform called Telex to ease development and to provide guarantees. Telex is driven by application semantics. Telex takes care of replication and persistence, drives application progress, and ensures that replicas eventually agree on a correct, common state. We show by example how application design proceeds from high-level application invariants to application-provided parameters that guides Telex. The main data structure of Telex is a large, replicated, highly dynamic graph; we discuss the engineering trade-offs for such a graph and our solutions. Finally, we report an experimental evaluation of Telex based on a cooperative calendar application and on benchmarks.
The Subcellular Localisation of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) 16 E7 Protein in Cervical Cancer Cells and Its Perturbation by RNA Aptamers

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract, affecting both men and women. High-risk oncogenic types are responsible for almost 90% of anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers including cervical cancer. Some of the HPV “early” genes, particularly E6 and E7, are known to act as oncogenes that promote tumour growth and malignant transformation. Most notably, HPV-16 E7 interacts with the tumour suppressor protein pRb, promoting its degradation, leading to cell cycle dysregulation in infected cells. We have previously shown that an RNA aptamer (termed A2) selectively binds to HPV16 E7 and is able to induce apoptosis in HPV16-transformed cervical carcinoma cell lines (SiHa) through reduction of E7 levels. In this study, we investigated the effects of the A2 aptamer on E7 localisation in order to define its effects on E7 activity. We demonstrate for the first time that E7 localised to the plasma membrane. In addition, we show that A2 enhanced E7 localisation in the ER and that the A2-mediated reduction of E7 was not associated with proteasomal degradation. These data suggest that A2 perturbs normal E7 trafficking through promoting E7 ER retention.
Towards Alignment Independent Quantitative Assessment of Homology Detection

Identification of homologous proteins provides a basis for protein annotation. Sequence alignment tools reliably identify homologs sharing high sequence similarity. However, identification of homologs that share low sequence similarity remains a challenge. Lowering the cutoff value could enable the identification of diverged homologs, but also introduces numerous false hits. Methods are being continuously developed to minimize this problem. Estimation of the fraction of homologs in a set of protein alignments can help in the assessment and development of such methods, and provides the users with intuitive quantitative assessment of protein alignment results. Herein, we present a computational approach that estimates the amount of homologs in a set of protein pairs. The method requires a prevalent and detectable protein feature that is conserved between homologs. By analyzing the feature prevalence in a set of pairwise protein alignments, the method can estimate the number of homolog pairs in the set independently of the alignments' quality. Using the HomoloGene database as a standard of truth, we implemented this approach in a proteome-wide analysis. The results revealed that this approach, which is independent of the alignments themselves, works well for estimating the number of homologous proteins in a wide range of homology values. In summary, the presented method can accompany homology searches and method development, provides validation to search results, and allows tuning of tools and methods.
Enriching music with synchronized lyrics, images and colored lights

We present a method to synchronize popular music with its lyrics at the stanza level. First we apply an algorithm to segment audio content into harmonically similar and/or contrasting progressions, i.e. the stanzas. We map the stanzas found to a sequence of labels, where stanzas with a similar progression are mapped to the same label. The lyrics are analyzed as well to compute a second sequence of labels. Using dynamic programming, an optimal match is found between the two sequences, resulting in a stanza-level synchronization of the lyrics and the audio. The synchronized lyrics can be used to compute a synchronized slide show to accompany the music, where the images are retrieved using the lyrics. For an additional enrichment of the experience, colored light effects are synchronized with the music that are computed from the sets of images. The song segmentation can be done reliably, while the mapping of the audio segments and lyrics gives encouraging results.
Cost-sensitive Boosting with p-norm Loss Functionsand its Applications

In practical applications of classification, there are often varying costs associated with different types of misclassification (e.g. fraud detection, anomaly detection and medical diagnosis), motivating the need for the so-called ”cost-sensitive” classification. In this paper, we introduce a family of novel boosting methods for cost-sensitive classification by applying the theory of gradient boosting to p-norm based cost functionals, and establish theoretical guarantees as well as their empirical advantage over existing algorithms.
Geometry Independent Wirelength Estimation Method in VLSI Routing

VLSI routing imposes a major challenge with shrinking dimension and enhanced functionality of a chip. In this paper, we propose a partition driven wire length estimation technique that generates routing solution without any prior knowledge of placement, and pin locations. The proposed geometry independent method is guided by construction of a quad tree of multiple nets, and estimation of wire length value using modified Rent rule, and rent exponent. Two types of partition, namely inter net and intra net partitions are adopted of a quad tree, followed by two different rent factor calculations. The final wire length estimation is the summation of all the rent factors of the nodes having no ancestor in the constructed quad tree. We compared our experimental results with an exact global router values, and the accuracy of our result is quite encouraging.