Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Blueswitch: enabling provably consistent configuration of network switches

Previous research on consistent updates for distributed network configurations has focused on solutions for centralized networkconfiguration controllers. However, such work does not address the complexity of modern switch datapaths. Modern commodity switches expose opaque configuration mechanisms, with minimal guarantees for datapath consistency and with unclear configuration semantics. Furthermore, would-be solutions for distributed consistent updates must take into account the configuration guarantees provided by each individual switch - plus the compositional problems of distributed control and multi-switch configurations that considerably transcend the single-switch problems. In this paper, we focus on the behavior of individual switches, and demonstrate that even simple rule updates result in inconsistent packet switching in multi-table datapaths. We demonstrate that consistent configuration updates require guarantees of strong switch-level atomicity from both hardware and software layers of switches - even in a single switch. In short, the multiple-switch problems cannot be reasonably approached until single-switch consistency can be resolved. We present a hardware design that supports a transactional configuration mechanism, and provides packet-consistent configuration: all packets traversing the datapath will encounter either the old configuration or the new one, and never an inconsistent mix of the two. Unlike previous work, our design does not require modifications to network packets. We precisely specify the hardwaresoftware protocol for switch configuration; this enables us to prove the correctness of the design, and to provide well-specified invariants that the software driver must maintain for correctness. We implement our prototype switch design using the NetFPGA-10G hardware platform, and evaluate our prototype against commercial off-the-shelf switches.
Modelling dependent defaults

We consider the modelling of dependent defaults in large credit portfolios using latent variable models (the approach that underlies KMV and CreditMetrics) and mixture models (the approach underlying CreditRisk). We explore the role of copulas in the latent variable framework and show that for given default probabilities of individual obligors the distribution of the number of defaults in the portfolio is completely determined by the copula of the latent variables. We present results from a simulation study showing that, even for fixed asset correlations, assumptions concerning the latent variable copula can have a profound effect on the distribution of credit losses. In the mixture models defaults are conditionally independent given a set of common economic factors affecting all obligors and we explore the role of the mixing distribution of the factors in these models. In homogeneous, one-factor mixture models we find that the tail of the mixing distribution essentially determines the tail of the overall credit loss distribution. We discuss the relationship between latent variable models and mixture models and provide general conditions under which these models can be mapped into each other. Our contribution can be viewed as an analysis of the model risk associated with the modelling of dependence between individual default events. J.E. L. Subject Classification: G31, G11, C15
THE USE OF POLARIZED L-BAND ALOS PALSAR FOR IDENTIFYING FOREST COVER IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Currently there are about 5.89 million ha of forest occur in Peninsular Malaysia, which covers about 44.7% of its land area. Out of this, 4.92 million ha falls under Permanent Reserved Forest (PRF), 0.58 million ha is Totally Protected Area (TPA) and the remaining 0.39 million ha belongs to state/alienated land. These figures are officially used by the Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (FDPM) in its reports. These official figures are derived from several mapping techniques from several responsible departments in Peninsular Malaysia for management and reporting purposes, which are sometimes not representing the forest cover on the ground at real state. Information on the distribution of these forests is critical for decision-making and significant in climate stabilization, biodiversity conservation and social-related issues. The majority of tropical nations need high-resolution, satellitebased maps of their forests managing and maintaining their forests intact and therefore addressing their forests accordingly. This study was conducted to identify the extents of forests in Peninsular Malaysia, which comprise mainly inland dipterocarp, peat swamp and mangroves. Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) featuring the Phased Array L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) was used for this purpose. Fine Beam Dual mosaic of PALSAR images that has spatial resolution of 25 m was acquired in year 2010 and was provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) through Kyoto and Carbon (K&C) Initiatives. A combination of texture measure and polarizations manipulation of dual polarizations, HH and HV from PALSAR was applied to the images. Object-based classification or segmentation method was adapted to classify forest cover in the study area. The ability of PALSAR to support large area of tropical forest cover was assessed. The strong performance achieved indicates that the L-band dual polarization from PALSAR has greatly improved forest identification and classification. The result also indicated that the use of texture measure on dual-polarization were able to average out random speckle noise, and the use of ratio instead of absolute quantities, due to its well known ability to reduce forest structural and terrain effects.
Recognizing multistroke geometric shapes: an experimental evaluation

A fast, simple algorithm for recognizing hand drawn geometric shapes is presented and evaluated. The algorithm recognizes (without regard to size) rectangles, ellipses, circles, diamonds, triangles, and lines. Each shape may consist of multiple strokes as long as they are entered without pauses. A pen-based graphic diagram editor employing this algorithm was developed on GO’s PenPoint operating system. The editor will be part of a pen-based notebook system for teaching math to school children. The recognition algorithm was evaluated by ten subjects drawing a total of 200 shapes. It achieved a recognition rate of up to 98Y0.
The Development of Romantic Partner Involvement and Tolerance of Deviance among Juvenile Offenders: Relevance for Offending Behaviors in Early Adulthood

ABSTRACT This study sought to elucidate heterogeneity in developmental patterns of romantic relationship characteristics and examine the relevance of patterns for predicting offending in adulthood. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to elucidate trajectory groups describing developmental heterogeneity of odds of having a romantic partner and romantic partners’ tolerance of deviance. Poisson regression was used to estimate the effects of group assignments for predicting offending. Three- and four-group models best fit the romantic partner characteristics data. Consistently high odds of having a romantic partner and consistently seeking partners with high tolerance for deviance was associated with greater offending frequency in adulthood.
Digital voltage-mode controller for soft-switching ZVT-ON boost converter

In this paper analysis and robust stabilizing digital controller design for a zero-voltage turn-ON boost converter (ZVTBC) is presented. The steady-state performance and zero-voltage switch-ON methodology has been analyzed and then its state-space models are formulated to obtain the small-signal models. These linearized models are then used in the design of digital voltage-mode controller. A loopgain is defined and then adapted while designing the digital controller. The digital controller is designed through redesign procedure and pole-zero placement technique. Closed-loop performance of the ZVTBC is analyzed. Firstly, the results of controller design and closed-loop analysis are illustrated through MATLAB computer simulations for 42 V applications and then verified using time-domain dynamic response analysis results. A 75 Watt, 24 to 42 V, 50 kHz laboratory prototype closed-loop converter has been and then tested to validate the proposed digital controller design of the ZVTBC.
An Enhanced 2 D Buddy Strategy for Submesh Allocation in MeshNetworks

The eecient allocation problem plays an important role in partitionable multiprocessor system. It is critical to the performance of parallel computers, especially for large-scale parallel computers. In this paper, we propose a new Enhanced two-dimensional buddy system (E2DBS) strategy which overcomes the drawbacks of previous two-dimensional buddy system (2DBS) strategy, such as four non-buddy submeshes can be allocated, the requesting tasks and the system needs not be square. In E2DBS, we propose an adaptive data structure, called free submesh matrix (F SM), to maintain the free submeshes, which can allocate and deallocate processors easily. Simulation results indicate that our strategy outper-forms the previous ones, i.e. 2DBS strategy and Best Fit strategy, in terms of system processor utilization and average waiting time under various system loads for rectangle requesting tasks with side lengths are powers of 2.
Simulating transparency and cutaway to visualize 3D internal information for tangible Uls

It is recognized that tangible user interfaces (TUIs), defined and scoped by Ishii, provide more intuitive experience for manipulating and reviewing 3D digital information than conventional graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Although current TUIs for CAD enable users to intuitively manipulate and directly perceive 3D digital information via physical objects, they limit users to obtain only external and surface information. The outer 3D physical bounding shape occludes valuable layered and hierarchical internal information. Only when removing and deforming the external 3D physical volumes can users define a section-cut surface to inspect internal information. We propose a TUI system that enables users to visually inspect 3D internal information without modifying its physical outer shell. We implement two popular illustration techniques, namely transparent and cutaway drawings. Using direct touch, hand gestures and tangible tools, users are capable of specifying the transparency and section cut plane intuitively. The system used a combination of projection mapping and perspective correction techniques. After running a preliminary observation for 50 users, we collect valuable feedback including the advantages and technical issues of our system. Thesis supervisor: Hiroshi Ishii Title: Jerome B. Weisner Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, Program in Media Arts and Sciences
The Exploration of undergraduate Students' Facebook Activities for Collaborative Learning : A case study of International Islamic University Malaysia

One of the major aims of IIUM is to bring about integration and collaboration among students of divers origin and cultures. Due to this, the institution creates avenues for students to work in groups to enhance their cooperative spirit. Therefore, the present research intends to explore how Facebook could create an avenue for students’ group work and collaborative learning. Qualitative method is adopted for the present study based on the nature of the research, while semi-structured interview were conducted for 12 undergraduates IIUM students in a focus group. Based on this, the researcher fund that Facebook could be useful for student’s collaborative learning, and at the same time it can be detrimental to their group learning it is all depends on the reason and how it is used and it cannot totally replace the conventional group discussions for academic purposes.
Biochemical Studies on Active Transport

The active transport process, so important in cell function, has been studied in the past with intact cells. Models which have arisen from this work all depend on: first, a specific protein to recognize the substrate; second, translocation of the substrate across the cell membrane; third, release of substrate within the cell and restoration of the system to its initial state. These steps are adequate for facilitated transport, but in active transport an energy input is required to maintain a concentration gradient. Parts of transport systems have been isolated recently. A protein which specifically recognizes β-galactosides has been partially purified. In another case, a protein that appears to be the recognition part of the sulfate transport system of Salmonella typhimurium has been crystallized, and many of its properties have been described. The role of this protein in recognition and in translocation is discussed. Also proteins that phosphorylate a variety of sugars as they enter the cell's interior provide a mechanism for concentrating sugars as their phosphates, against a gradient.
The explicit representation of flat Lagrangian H-umbilical submanifolds in quaternion Euclidean spaces

In [2], B.Y. Chen proved that the Lagrangian H-umbilical submanifolds in complex Euclidean space C are Lagrangian pseudo-spheres and complex extensors of the unit hypersphere of E, except the flat ones. Similar to this, we can define the Lagrangian H-umbilical submanifold in quaternion space forms. The main purpose of this paper is to classify the Lagrangian H-umbilical submanifolds in quaternion Euclidean space H.
Emotional States and Realistic Agent Behaviour

In this paper we discuss some of the relations between cognition and emotion as exemplified by a particular type of agent architecture, the CogAff agent architecture. We outline a strategy for analysing cognitive and emotional states of agents along with the processes they can support, which effectively views cognitive and emotional states as architecture-dependent. We demonstrate this architecture-based research strategy with an example of a simulated multi-agent environment, where agents with different architectures have to compete for survival and show that simple affective states can be surprisingly effective in agent control under certain conditions. We conclude by proposing that such investigations will not only help us improve computer entertainments, but that explorations of alternative architectures in the context of computer games may also lead to important new insights in the attempt to understand natural intelligence and evolutionary trajectories.
The Role of Mitochondrial Porins and the Permeability Transition Pore in Learning and Synaptic Plasticity*

Mitochondrial outer membrane permeability is conferred by a family of porin proteins. Mitochondrial porins conduct small molecules and constitute one component of the permeability transition pore that opens in response to apoptotic signals. Because mitochondrial porins have significant roles in diverse cellular processes including regulation of mitochondrial ATP and calcium flux, we sought to determine their importance in learning and synaptic plasticity in mice. We show that fear conditioning and spatial learning are disrupted in porin-deficient mice. Electrophysiological recordings of porin-deficient hippocampal slices reveal deficits in long and short term synaptic plasticity. Inhibition of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore by cyclosporin A in wild-type hippocampal slices reproduces the electrophysiological phenotype of porin-deficient mice. These results demonstrate a dynamic functional role for mitochondrial porins and the permeability transition pore in learning and synaptic plasticity.
Short vector code generation and adaptation for DSP algorithms

Most recent general purpose processors feature short vector SIMD instructions, like SSE on Pentium III/4. We automatically generate platform-adapted short vector code for DSP transform algorithms using SPIRAL. SPIRAL represents and generates fast algorithms as mathematical formulas, and translates them into code. Adaptation is achieved by searching in the space of algorithmic and coding alternatives for the fastest implementation on the given platform. We explain the mathematical foundation that relates formula constructs to vector code, and overview the vector code generator within SPIRAL. Experimental results show excellent speed-ups compared to ordinary C code for a variety of transforms and computing platforms. For the DFT on Pentium 4, our automatically generated code compares favorably with the hand-tuned Intel MKL vendor library.
A ug 2 00 6 An impact of stochastic dynamic boundary conditions on the evolution of the Cahn-Hilliard system 1 Abbreviated Title : Impact of stochastic dynamic boundary conditions

Nonlinear systems are often subject to random influences. Sometimes the noise enters the system through physical boundaries and this leads to stochastic dynamic boundary conditions. A dynamic, as opposed to static, boundary condition involves the time derivative as well as spatial derivatives for the system state variables on the boundary. Although stochastic static (Neumann or Dirichet type) boundary conditions have been applied for stochastic partial differential equations, not much is known about the dynamical impact of stochastic dynamic boundary conditions. The purpose of this paper is to study possible impacts of stochastic dynamic boundary conditions on the long term dynamics of the CahnHilliard equation arising in the materials science. We show that the dimension estimation of the random attractor increases as the coefficient for the dynamic term in the stochastic dynamic boundary condition decreases. However, the dimension of the random attractor is not affected by the corresponding stochastic static boundary condition. Date: July 25, 2006. MSC 2000: Primary-60H15, 37L55; secondary-35R60,37H10.
Researching Social Capital and Community Capacity in Child and Family Hubs: Insights for Practitioner-Researchers, Policy Makers and Communities

Worldwide evidence pinpoints the importance of effective early care and education services. Initiatives such as Head Start (United States) and Sure Start (United Kingdom) suggest that access to, awareness and responsiveness of community services are enhanced when services are integrated. We propose that service integration can also contribute to social capital and sense of community. This paper reports on research by a partnership of government and non-government agencies into the impact of Child Care and Family Support Hubs in Queensland, Australia. These community-driven hubs are a recent state government initiative designed to improve and integrate service provision, particularly in rural and disadvantaged communities. The paper reports on findings from the pilot work, the ACCESS Study (2000-2001), as well the ongoing three-year Queensland Hubs Study.
FloatNet : An Intelligent Environment for Tobacco Transplants Production

A web environment has been designed for managing float system tobacco transplants cultivation. The environment is called FloatNET and includes an integrated interface supports Tobacco transplants cultivation. The float system is located in a greenhouse and consists of floor beds so called ‘wet beds’ – were filled with nutrient solution. Transplants are developed on float Styrofoam trays filled with a soil mixture. The system is controlled for solution temperature, electrical conductivity and pH. The air temperature and relative humidity are also important for the development of transplants. The aim is to give the producer the opportunity to access for the first time float system consulting services for tobacco transplants cultivation that meet his/her particular needs over the web. Also, official managers or cooperative stations in a regional or a state level can give their work a surplus-value. Overall the design of this environment aims at encouraging the development and support of tobacco transplants float system in Greece.
Error Correction in Learning using SVMs

This paper is concerned with learning binary classifiers under adversarial label-noise. We introduce the problem of error-correction in learning where the goal is to recover the original clean data from a label-manipulated version of it, given (i) no constraints on the adversary other than an upper-bound on the number of errors, and (ii) some regularity properties for the original data. We present a simple and practical error-correction algorithm called SubSVMs that learns individual SVMs on several small-size (log-size), class-balanced, random subsets of the data and then reclassifies the training points using a majority vote. Our analysis reveals the need for the two main ingredients of SubSVMs, namely class-balanced sampling and subsampled bagging. Experimental results on synthetic as well as benchmark UCI data demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach. In addition to noise-tolerance, log-size subsampled bagging also yields significant run-time benefits over standard SVMs.
Numerical study of the random transverse-field Ising spin chain.

We study numerically the critical region and the disordered phase of the random transverse-field Ising chain. By using a mapping of Lieb, Schultz, and Mattis to noninteracting fermions, we can obtain a numerically exact solution for rather large system sizes, L\ensuremath{\le}128. Our results confirm the striking predictions of earlier analytical work and, in addition, give results for some probability distributions and scaling functions. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Team Understanding A Successor of the Process Improvement Paradigm ?

This paper is based on studies of industrial de velopment projects over a period of more than a decade. The findings are in terms of recognizable patterns rather than in terms of numbers. The most important conclusion is that understanding the application domain problem is one of the most important success f actors in the de velopment of comple x systems. The ne xt conclusion is that, in most cases, knowledge and experience from man y disciplines will be needed to find an acceptable solution. So, solving the application domain problem will require team understanding and team learning. It is described ho w the Team Learning Paradigm for system de v lopment can be b uilt from experience in other fields, and how methods and ideas from different disciplines can be combined to a new model for system development. Section 2 presents the contrib utions from the areas of System Architecture and System Development Models. Section 3 compares the Incremental Impro vement paradigm with the T echnology Shift phenomenon; the Kaizen and theKairyo strategies in Japanese. In Section 4 the general requirements on education in society are discussed and also ho w these are related to system de velopment. In Section 5 the pieces are put together to the T eam Learning Strate gy for system design and development. Related w ork in Section 6, and Conclusions in Section 7 complete the paper . As ideas and e xperience from man y different areas ha ve been used, there are almost 30 references.
Kinetic typography for ambient displays

We propose the use of kinetic typography for displaying text information on ambient displays. We conducted a preliminary experiment on the readability of kinetic typography in a dual-task situation. The results showed that kinetic typography might be less readable but was effective for catching the user's attention and gave an aesthetically pleasing impression. We implemented our AmbientMailer system that notifies the user of e-mail messages in ubiquitous environments using the characteristics of kinetic typography.