Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The SmartVision local navigation aid for blind and visually impaired persons

The SmartVision prototype is a small, cheap and easily wearable navigation aid for blind and visually impaired persons. Its functionality addresses global navigation for guiding the user to some destiny, and local navigation for negotiating paths, sidewalks and corridors, with avoidance of static as well as moving obstacles. Local navigation applies to both inand outdoor situations. In this article we focus on local navigation: the detection of path borders and obstacles in front of the user and just beyond the reach of the white cane, such that the user can be assisted in centering on the path and alerted to looming hazards. Using a stereo camera worn at chest height, a portable computer in a shoulder-strapped pouch or pocket and only one earphone or small speaker, the system is inconspicuous, it is no hindrence while walking with the cane, and it does not block normal surround sounds. The vision algorithms are optimised such that the system can work at a few frames per second.
Web service provider selection under QoS and security constraints

In pervasive computing environment, web services are widely adopted in dynamic business processes. When selecting service providers, quality of service (QoS) and security constraints should be considered simultaneously. However, most current research works about provider selection either focus on quality of service, or just take into account security constraints. In this paper, we propose an evaluation model for business process, which considers the above two factors at the same time. Two key criterias are introduced to measure the overall cost and benefit of QoS parameters respectively. Typical security constraints, such as separation of duty (SoD) constraints and binding of duty (BoD) constraints, are also considered. We define the service provider selection problem and present a linear programming based solution. Some experiments are performed to evaluate our model and the results show that our approach is effective in solving the problem.
Faculty Epistemological Beliefs as a Mediator to Attitudes toward Persons with Disabilities.

Previous research has indicated that university faculty members‟ attitudes towards students with disabilities varies depending on specific background qualities of those faculty, including gender, type of field (soft or hard science), and type of study (pure or applied). We examined epistemological beliefs as a possible mediator between faculty background qualities and attitudes towards individuals with disabilities. 223 faculty members at a large, public research intensive university in the Southwestern, United States, were surveyed to evaluate their attitudes and epistemological beliefs as well as to collect background information. Structural equation modeling was utilized to compare two competing models, one with background directly impacting attitudes and a second with epistemological beliefs acting as a mediator of this relationship. The mediating model provided a significant improvement over the fit of the first model, which supported the mediating role of epistemological beliefs in predicting faculty members‟ attitudes towards students with disabilities. The number of college students with disabilities has tripled over the past twenty-five years as an estimated nine percent of all entering college freshman report having a disability (Olney, Kennedy, Brockelman, & Newsom, 2004; Palombi, 2000). Since the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, this population of students continues to increase in step with legislative mandates such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requiring inclusive primary and secondary education for students with disabilities (HEATH Resource Center, 1999). While this population of students continues to increase in its enrollment in institutions of higher education, faculty member, disability service providers, and administrators in higher education must have an orientation to serve this special population of students beyond those tangible accommodations such as cement curb cuts and accessible building entrances but in fostering an attitudinal environment of trust and respect where these students can achieve their academic potential (Aune, 2000). Upon entering institutions of higher education, college students with disabilities encounter a unique set of issues and concerns that their able-bodied peers do not confront. Among these issues and concerns are faculty attitudes towards them and their disabilities. The attitudes and beliefs of educators in particular have been indicated as being associated with their future behavior towards students. In the K-12 educational setting, teacher beliefs have been associated with both the quality and delivery of instruction (Pajares, 1992). In the postsecondary
Tap and transmit antenna correlation based precoding for MIMO-OFDM systems

Spatial Multiplexing (SM) is an effective means for enhancing the transmission data rate in Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems, particularly when used in combination with precoding. Precoding based on the knowledge of the slow-varying statistics of the channel exploits this information at the transmitter to combat the effect of fading in SM systems. Moreover, this technique requires little feedback overhead and can therefore be used in fast fading environments. In this paper, we consider a MIMO-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system. We exploit the knowledge of the tap correlation and the transmit antenna correlation present in the frequency-selective channel to propose a low-complexity precoding scheme that minimizes the sum of the symbol Mean Square Errors (MSEs) over all subcarriers. Simulations show that exploiting the knowledge of both the tap and the spatial correlation improves the performance of the MIMO-OFDM system.
Communities in Preference Networks: Refined Axioms and Beyond

Borgs et al. [2016] investigated essential requirements for communities in preference networks. They defined six axioms on community functions, i.e., community detection rules. Though having elegant properties, the practicality of this axiomsystem is compromised by the intractability of checking twocritical axioms, so no nontrivial consistent community functionwas reported in [Borgs et al., 2016]. By adapting the two axioms in a natural way, we propose two new axioms that are efficiently-checkable. We show that most of the desirable properties of the original axiom system are preserved. More importantly, the new axioms provide a general approach to constructing consistent community functions. We further find a natural consistent community function that is also enumerable and samplable, answering an open problem in the literature.
Neuroimage: Clinical Characterizing the Microstructural Basis of " Unidentified Bright Objects " in Neurofibromatosis Type 1: a Combined in Vivo Multicomponent T2 Relaxation and Multi-shell Diffusion Mri Analysis

Keywords: Myelin water imaging (MWI) Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) Unidentified bright objects (UBOs) a b s t r a c t Introduction: The histopathological basis of " unidentified bright objects " (UBOs) (hyperintense regions seen on T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) brain scans in neurofibromatosis-1 (NF1)) remains unclear. New in vivo MRI-based techniques (multi-exponential T2 relaxation (MET2) and diffusion MR imaging (dMRI)) provide measures relating to microstructural change. We combined these methods and present previously unreported data on in vivo UBO microstructure in NF1. Methods: 3-Tesla dMRI data were acquired on 17 NF1 patients, covering 30 white matter UBOs. Diffusion tensor, kurtosis and neurite orientation and dispersion density imaging parameters were calculated within UBO sites and in contralateral normal appearing white matter (cNAWM). Analysis of MET2 parameters was performed on 24 UBO–cNAWM pairs. Results: No significant alterations in the myelin water fraction and intra-and extracellular (IE) water fraction were found. Mean T2 time of IE water was significantly higher in UBOs. UBOs furthermore showed increased axial, radial and mean diffusivity, and decreased fractional anisotropy, mean kurtosis and neurite density index compared to cNAWM. Neurite orientation dispersion and isotropic fluid fraction were unaltered. Conclusion: Our results suggest that demyelination and axonal degeneration are unlikely to be present in UBOs, which appear to be mainly caused by a shift towards a higher T2-value of the intra-and extra-cellular water pool. This may arise from altered microstructural compartmentalization, and an increase in 'extracellular-like ' , intracellular water, possibly due to intramyelinic edema. These findings confirm the added value of combining dMRI and MET2 to characterize the microstructural basis of T2 hyperintensities in vivo.
“One Ring to Bind Them All”—Part II: Identification of Promising G-Quadruplex Ligands by Screening of Cyclophane-Type Macrocycles

A collection of 26 polyammonium cyclophane-type macrocycles with a large structural diversity has been screened for G-quadruplex recognition. A two-step selection procedure based on the FRET-melting assay was carried out enabling identification of macrocycles of high affinity (ΔT 1/2 up to 30°C) and high selectivity for the human telomeric G-quadruplex. The four selected hits possess sophisticated architectures, more particularly the presence of a pendant side-arm as well as the existence of a particular topological arrangement appear to be strong determinants of quadruplex binding. These compounds are thus likely to create multiple contacts with the target that may be at the origin of their high selectivity, thereby suggesting that this class of macrocycles offers unique advantages for targeting G-quadruplex-DNA.
A Performance Comparison of Ad Hoc Network Routing Protocols

Ad Hoc Networks are characterized by multi hop wireless connectivity, frequently changing network topology and the need for efficient dynamic routing protocols. In this project, we make a performance analysis of two of the protocols proposed for ad hoc networks using the extended ns-2 simulator Keywords— Ad Hoc Networks, Routing protocols, Global State Routing, Dynamic Source Routing
Automatic 3D Facial Feature Extraction Algorithm

This paper presents a novel algorithm for automatic facial feature extraction from 3D facial data. The proposed algorithm is found to be pose and expression invariant. It is successfully tested on 3D face database from the State University of New York, Binghamton, USA. In order to test the algorithm, the images have been regenerated using these extracted features. Bezier surface algorithm has been used for regeneration.
Conservation of useful plants: An evaluation of local priorities from two indigenous communities in Eastern Panama

On both theoretical and practical grounds, respect for, and inclusion of, local decision-making processes is advocated in conservation, yet little is known about the conservation priorities on local territories. We employed interviews and ecological inventories in two villages in order to (1) evaluate the local perception of the conservation status of important plant resources; (2) compare patterns of plant use; and (3) compare perceived conservation status with population structure and abundance in the field. One-third of the 35 species examined were perceived to be threatened or declining. These were predominantly used locally for construction or sold commercially, but were not necessarily rare in the field. The destructiveness of harvest was the most consistent predictor of conservation status in both villages. Contrasting patterns were found in the two villages for the frequency of plant harvest and the relationship of this variable with conservation status. We suggest that local knowledge is an efficient means to rapidly assess the status of a large number of species, whereas population structure analysis provides an initial evaluation of the impact of harvest for selected species.ResumenTanto desde una perspectiva teórica como práctica el respeto e inclusión de los procesos locales de toma de decisiones es una forma en que la conservación puede ser promovida. Sin embargo, poco se sabe sobre las prioridades de conservación en territorios indígenas. En el presente estudio se emplearon entrevistas e inventarios ecológicos en dos localidades indígenas para (1) evaluar la percepción de los habitantes locales sobre el estado de conservación de recursos vegetales importantes; (2) comparar los patrones de uso de plantas; y (3) comparar la percepción del estado de conservación con la estructura de las poblaciones y la abundancia de las especies en el campo. Una tercera parte de las 35 especies estudiadas fueron percibidas como amenazadas o en proceso de declinación. Se trata de plantas utilizadas principalmente como materiales de construcción o que aportan productos que son comercializados, pero que no son necesariamente escasas en el campo. En ambas localidades la variable que predijo el estado de conservación de forma más consistente fue el grado de destrucción de las plantas asociado a las prócticas de cosecha. Encontramos patrones contrastantes entre las dos localidades con respecto a la frecuencia de cosecha y ala relación de esta variable con el estado de conservación de las plantas. Sugerimos que el uso de conocimientos locales es una forma eficiente de evaluar con rapidez el estado de un gran número de especies, en tanto que el análisis de la estructura de poblaciones aporta una evaluación inicial sobre el impacto de la cosecha para algunas especies de inters’e.
Integrity Policies via a Library in Haskell

Protecting confidentiality of data has become increasingly important for computing systems. Information-flow techniques have been developed over the years to achieve that purpose, leading to special-purpose languages that guarantee information-flow security in programs. However, rather than producing a new language from scratch, informationflow security can also be provided by a library. This paper proposes a library in Haskell that, besides confidentiality, considers another important aspect of security: integrity of data. Integrity of data seeks to prevent that programs destroy, accidentally or maliciously, information. We describe how to enforce different integrity policies by access control, data invariants, and information-flow integrity. To the best of our knowledge, a library that combines confidentiality and integrity policies has not been previously considered. Augmenting the set of enforceable policies develops further the changes for the library to be attractive for programmers. To evaluate our ideas, we implement an administrator of passwords that involves confidentiality and integrity policies in an interesting manner.
Final Report " Spatial Assessment, Sex-specific Habitat Use and Vulnerability of Spawning Populations of Squaretail Coralgrouper, Plectropomus Areolatus, in Pohnpei, Fsm "

The aim of the current study was to determine for adult squaretail coralgrouper (Plectropomus areolatus) spatial requirements for effective and biologically meaningful marine protected area (MPA) design, based on reproductive and non-reproductive habitat use. To determine movement relative to spawning sites and identify non-reproductive home range areas, P. areolatus were re-located or tracked following acoustic tagging at a fish spawning aggregation (FSA) site within a small-scale MPA. Active tracking over 75 days showed variability in both the distance and timing of movement from FSA sites following spawning. Tagged P. areolatus used highly confined non-reproductive home range habitats, with individuals attached to specific coral reef areas outside and inside the barrier reef. No sex-specific variations in distance of movement or home range habitat were apparent. Six of the seven individuals that were re-located were found within 2-8 km of the FSA. Results support previous findings of small catchment areas for reproductive populations of P. areolatus relative to FSA sites and suggest that FSA loss could negatively impact local fish and fishing communities. To adequately protect adult populations of P. areolatus, large-scale, biologically meaningful MPAs are needed that include both reproductive and non-reproductive habitats.
A Simple and Efficient Method to Mitigate the Hot Spot Problem in Wireless Sensor Networks

Much work on wireless sensor networks deals with or considers the hot spot problem, i.e., the problem that the sensor nodes closest to the base station are critical for the lifetime of the sensor network because these nodes need to relay more packet than nodes further away from the base station. Since it is often assumed that sensor nodes will become inexpensive, a simple solution to the hot spot problem is to place additional sensor nodes around the base stations. Using a simple mathematical model we discuss the possible performance gains of adding these supplementary nodes. Our results show that for certain networks only a limited number of additional nodes are required to fourfold network lifetime. We also show that the possible gain depends heavily on the fraction of nodes already present in the vicinity of the base station.
A Simulation Study on the Walking Hydraulic System for Tracked Nodule Collector for Sea Floor Mining on the Basis of AMESim Platform

The tracked nodule collector for sea floor mining is one of the key technologies for a deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining system, this paper builds a simulation model of walking hydraulic system for a tracked nodule collector on the basis of AMESim platform, a closed loop control system is constituted in the paper according to the negative feedback of the hydraulic motor angular velocity, a stimulation analysis is also made on the response characteristics of pedrail speed and motor pressure. Through the comparative study between the results of experiment and simulation, this paper verifies the validity of modeling a walking hydraulic system for tracked nodule collector for sea floor mining, manifesting that the created walking hydraulic system meets the demand of China's polymetallic nodule mining system on benthal tracked nodule collector.
Dynamics in a Kinetic Model of Oriented Particles with Phase Transition

Motivated by a phenomenon of phase transition in a model of alignment of self-propelled particles, we obtain a kinetic mean-field equation which is nothing else than the Doi equation (also called Smoluchowski equation) with dipolar potential. In a self-contained article, using only basic tools, we analyze the dynamics of this equation in any dimension. We first prove global well-posedness of this equation, starting with an initial condition in any Sobolev space. We then compute all possible steady-states. There is a threshold for the noise parameter: over this threshold, the only equilibrium is the uniform distribution, and under this threshold, there is also a family of non-isotropic equilibria. We give a rigorous prove of convergence of the solution to a steady-state as time goes to infinity. In particular we show that in the supercritical case, the only initial conditions leading to the uniform distribution in large time are those with vanishing momentum. For any positive value of the noise parameter, and any initial condition, we give rates of convergence towards equilibrium, exponentially for both supercritical and subcritical cases and algebraically for the critical case.
Discretization Based Convergence Results for Euler Approximations of Bang-Bang Controls

Abstract We consider Euler discretizations to a class of linear-quadratic optimal control problems. Assuming that the discrete controls are of bang-bang type and define switching functions with a uniform structure independent of the discretization we show, that the discrete controls converge to a bang-bang control, which is a solution of the original problem. linear-quadratic optimal control, bang-bang solutions, Euler approximation, convergence.
Content Based Video Identification in Peer-to-Peer Networks : Requirements and a Novel Solution

has until now been achieved by using metadata or cryptographic hashes. However, with increasing number of duplicates in different names and formats especially in (unmanaged) P2P networks, these tools have become insufficient for proper content finding and access right management. A complementary possible approach is to identify the content in P2P networks by using perceptual hashes (or fingerprints) extracted from the perceptual features of the content robust to typical processing. In this paper, we first discuss the essential differences in fingerprint size, fingerprint extraction complexity, and fingerprint search methodology for a distributed video identification system in P2P networks compared with traditional central database implementations. Then, we propose a novel method optimized for P2P networks that uses only differences of video frame means. The proposed method reduces the fingerprint sizes into kilobytes, extraction time to seconds, and search duration into milliseconds, and achieves more than 90 % detection rates with 1-4 minutes granularities. Furthermore, the uniform distribution of the extracted fingerprints enables the usage of existing DHT-based keyword search mechanisms for fingerprint queries.
Chinese herbal medicine Xiaoyao san (XYS) for chronic hepatitis B (CHB): A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Objective: To assess the beneficial and adverse effects of XYS for CHB. Methods: Seven databases were searched to retrieve RCTs evaluating clinical effectiveness of XYS. Primary outcome measures were negative conversion of serum HBeAg and/or serum HBV-DNA. Secondary outcome measures were serum ALT, AST, and clinical comprehensive effect. All data were analyzed using Review Manager 5.1 software. 9 RCTs were included. Most of the RCTs were of poor methodological quality. Results: Four trails reported XYS plus hepatoprotective drugs showed significant difference on the normalization of AL T (OR: 4.26 11.26, 14.411; P=0.02) and clinical comprehensive effect (OR: 4.55 [2.03, 10.19]; P=0.0002). Four RCTs reported XYS plus antivirus drugs versus antivirus drugs. As compared to antivirus drugs, XYS showed significant beneficial on the reduced amount of serum AL T (MD: -18.65 1-22.29, -15.011; P<;0.00001) and clinical comprehensive effect (OR: 2.56 [1.30, 5.03]; P=0.006). One trail compared XYS plus hepatoprotective and antivirus drugs versus hepatoprotective and antivirus drugs. It showed that the former therapy has significant beneficial on the reduced amount of serum AL T (MD: -40.52 [-45.51, -35.53]; P<;0.00001), AST (MD: -36.70 [-40.83, -32.571; P<;0.00001). Most studies did not mention adverse events. Conclusion: There is no convincing evidence of XYS for CHB because of low methodological quality. Rigorously designed trials are warranted to justify their clinical use.