Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A multicore-aware von Neumann programming model

An extension to the classic von Neumann paradigms is suggested, which -from the point of view of chip designers- considers modern many-core processors, and -from the point of view of programmers- still remains the classic von Neumann programming model. The work is based on the ideas that 1) the order in which the instructions (and/or code blocks) are executed does not matter, if some constraints do not force a special order of execution 2) a High Level Parallelism for code blocks (similar to Instruction Level Parallelism for instructions) can be introduced, allowing high-level out of order execution 3) discovering the possibilities for out of order execution can be done during compile time rather than runtime 4) the optimization possibilities discovered by the compile toolchain can be communicated to the processor in form of meta-information 5) the many computing resources (cores) can be assigned dynamically to machine instructions. It is shown that the multicore architectures could be transformed to a strongly enhanced single core processor. The key blocks of the proposal are a toolchain preparing the program code to run on many cores, a dispatch unit within the processor making effective use of the parallelized code, and also a much smarter communication method between the two key blocks is needed.
Comparison of Four Ground-Level PM2.5 Estimation Models Using PARASOL Aerosol Optical Depth Data from China

Satellite remote sensing is of considerable importance for estimating ground-level PM2.5 concentrations to support environmental agencies monitoring air quality. However, most current studies have focused mainly on the application of MODIS aerosol optical depth (AOD) to predict PM2.5 concentrations, while PARASOL AOD, which is sensitive to fine-mode aerosols over land surfaces, has received little attention. In this study, we compared a linear regression model, a quadratic regression model, a power regression model and a logarithmic regression model, which were developed using PARASOL level 2 AOD collected in China from 18 January 2013 to 10 October 2013. We obtained R (correlation coefficient) values of 0.64, 0.63, 0.62, and 0.57 for the four models when they were cross validated with the observed values. Furthermore, after all the data were classified into six levels according to the Air Quality Index (AQI), a low level of statistical significance between the four empirical models was found when the ground-level PM2.5 concentrations were greater than 75 μg/m3. The maximum R value was 0.44 (for the logarithmic regression model and the power model), and the minimum R value was 0.28 (for the logarithmic regression model and the power model) when the PM2.5 concentrations were less than 75 μg/m3. We also discussed uncertainty sources and possible improvements.
Automatic Deployment of Robotic Teams

A major goal in robot motion planning and control is to be able to specify a task in a high-level, expressive language and have the robot(s) to automatically convert the specification into a set of low-level primitives, such as feedback controllers and communication protocols, to accomplish the task. The robots can vary from manipulator arms used in manufacturing or surgery, to autonomous vehicles used in search and rescue or in planetary exploration, and to smart wheel chairs for disabled people. They are subject to mechanical constraints (e.g., a carlike robot cannot move sideways,an airplane cannot stop in place) and have limited computation, sensing, and communication capabilities. The environments can be cluttered with possibly moving and shape-changing obstacles and can con tain dynamic (moving, appearing, or disappearing) targets. One of the major challenges in this area is the development of a computationally efficient frame work accommodating both the robot constraints and the complexity of the environment, while, at the same time, allowing for a large spectrum of task specifications.
Mating system and population genetic structure of the bulldog ant Myrmecia pavida (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Understanding the evolution of the alternative mating strategies of monandry and polyandry is a fundamental problem in evolutionary biology because of the cost-benefit trade-offs associated with mating for females. The problem is particularly intriguing in the social insects because queens in most species appear to be obligately monandrous (i.e., only a single male fathers their offspring), while those in a minority of species have evolved high, and sometimes extreme, polyandry. One group which may shed particular insight is the ant subfamily Myrmeciinae (Myrmecia and Nothomyrmecia). Here we examine the population and colony genetic structure of the bulldog ant Myrmecia pavida CLARK, 1951 by genotyping offspring workers from 45 colonies. We find little evidence of geographic structuring or inbreeding in the population, indicating that the species outbreeds, most probably in mating swarms. We also find that queens of M. pavida show moderately high polyandry, with 84% having mated with between two and seven males, and an overall mean observed mating frequency of 3.8. This is significantly higher than previously reported for queens of Nothomyrmecia macrops, in which most females mate singly. This was similar to that of M. pyriformis, M. brevinoda, and M. pilosula, the three congenerics for which mating frequencies have recently been reported. The two genera in the Myrmeciinae therefore appear to show multiple transitions in mating frequency and further investigation of the subfamily may be highly informative for disentangling the forces driving the evolution of alternative mating strategies.
Two Image Compression Schemes Based on Image Inpainting

Recently, digital image inpainting technique based on variational and partial differential equation has been researched widely. In this paper, we present two image compression schemes based on image inpainting technologies. One compression scheme in spatial domain is based on the image edge character. The Harmonic inpainting is applied in this scheme. The other compression scheme is in wavelet domain. In the scheme, the p-Laplace operator is used in the wavelet domain inpainting. In these two compression schemes, we mainly focus on the decoding step using the inpainting technology. Experimental results showthe feasibility of two compression schemes. Compared with JPEG2000, our scheme could save a few the image storage spaces under the accepted visual effect.
An integrated approach to interactive and personalized TV advertising

Following the case of the Internet, Interactive TV can be expected to revolutionise marketing practices and lead to a paradigm shift in the way advertising is developed, conducted, and analysed. Interactive TV, combines the appeal and mass audience of traditional TV with the interactive features such as those currently available on the Web and offers new possibiliti es for the viewer, who can directly access relevant information and other services being just ‘one-click’ away. In this context, personalisation of advertisements refers to the use of technology and viewer information in order to tailor commercials and their respective interactive content to each individual viewer profile. In this paper we deal with the topic of advertising over digital interactive TV and describe a specific approach to the delivery of personalised interactive advertisement content to viewers based on their individual profile, focusing on the necessary architecture, mechanisms and user interface issues which reveal a challenging research domain.
Dynamic Graph Visualization with Multiple Visual Metaphors

Visualizing dynamic graphs is challenging due to the many data dimensions to be displayed such as graph vertices and edges with their attached weights or attributes and the additional time dimension. Moreover, edge directions with multiplicities and the graph topology are also important inherent features. However, in many dynamic graph visualization techniques each graph in a sequence is treated the same way, i.e., it is visually encoded in the same visual metaphor or even in the same layout. This visualization strategy can be problematic if the graphs are changing topologically over time, i.e., if a sparse graph becomes denser and denser over time or a star pattern is changing into a dense cluster of connected vertices. Such a dynamic graph data scenario demands for a visualization approach which is able to adapt the applied visual metaphor to each graph separately. In this paper we show an idea to solve this problem by using multiple visual metaphors for dynamic graphs which are computed automatically by algorithms analyzing each individual graph based on a given repertoire of graph features. The biggest issue in this technique for the graph dynamics, however, is the preservation of the viewer's mental map at metaphor changes, i.e., to guide him through the graph changes with the goal to explore the data for time-varying patterns. To reach this goal we support the analyst by an interactive highlighting feature.
Burnout académico y síntomas relacionados con problemas de salud mental en universitarios colombianos

This research aimed to identify the participation of the dimensions of the academic burnout syndrome in the variability of mental health problems in a group of young university students from the Colombian Caribbean. Through an explanatory cross - sectional study, a sample of 204 students of a public university that was administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey and the 90-R Symptom Inventory. The results indicate that the more exhaustion, cynicism and ineffectiveness increase the symptoms related to mental health problems, the same way, the severity or level of burnout is proportional to mental health problems. It is concluded that the exhaustion is relevant in the presence of symptoms, and the high level of academic burnout is of great clinical importance, coexisting with different symptoms.
An Evaluation Method of Web Search Engines Based on Users' Sense

It is not easy to obtain the useful information from the Web space because the space is increasing and large. Therefore, the Web search system becomes indispensable and the improvement of its performance is required. Then, the researches on search engine’s evaluation methods are being important. The evaluation based on the conventional evaluation methods, however, is not always equal to the user’s evaluation. The reason is most of the conventional evaluation methods are based on precision and recall, which do not take users’ sense for search engines into consideration. In this paper, we propose “a user oriented evaluation criterion” that evaluates the performance of Web search systems by considering users’ actions when they retrieve Web pages. We also evaluate the proposed criterion in comparison with the conventional methods by measuring the time spent on search as the users’ satisfaction degree.
Spatial Patterns of HWA Damage and Impacts on Tree Physiology and Water Use in the Black Rock Forest, Southern New York

This study was designed to document spatial patterns in HWA damage in three hemlock stands in the Black Rock Forest, southeastern New York, 4 to 8 years after adelgid infestation, and to quantify HWA impact on hemlock operating physiology and water use. In all three stands, damage was more severe along the stream courses and less severe away from the streams. A similar negative relationship was found between damage and distance from the forest/stand exterior. The data suggest that damage from HWA to large, native eastern hemlock stands progresses through stands in a linear manner over a course of several years, but these spatial differences in damage lessen over time. It is not known whether the pattern of lower damage away from stream channels is related to adelgid dispersal or to topoedaphic conditions. Managers can expect that mortality in hemlock stands will first occur at initial areas of contact on stand exteriors, potentially allowing more time to implement control strategies in interior locations. HWA damage reduces tree sap flow and transpiration but not simply as a linear function of defoliation damage class. During the summer, heavily damaged trees exhibited only 50% of the sap flow of other trees, but trees with lighter levels of damage showed no significant reduction. During the fall, however, sapflow drops precipitously in trees with moderate or high levels of damage compared to trees with lighter damage. Stand productivity and water use appear little impacted until an intermediate threshold of damage has occurred. Enhanced soil moisture availability may first be noticed toward the end of the growing season. Once trees reach heavily damaged status, water uptake and transpiration are severely reduced throughout the growing season, leaving substantially more water available for evaporation, runoff, and/or use by other plant species.
Differential activation of transcription versus recombination of transgenic T cell receptor beta variable region gene segments in B and T lineage cells

We have tested the ability of the T cell receptor beta (TCR-beta) transcriptional enhancer (E beta) to confer transcriptional activation and tissue-specific V(D)J recombination of TCR-beta V, D, and J segments in a transgenic minilocus recombination substrate. We find that the minimal E beta element, as previously shown for a DNA segment that contained the E mu element, promotes a high level of substrate D to J beta rearrangement in both B and T cells, but only promotes V beta to DJ beta rearrangement in T cells. Thus, both the E mu and E beta elements similarly direct V(D)J recombination of this substrate in vivo, supporting a general role for transcriptional enhancers in the normal regulation of this rearrangement process. Surprisingly, however, we found that both the V beta and DJ beta portion of the constructs were transcribed in an enhancer-dependent fashion (conferred by either E mu or E beta) in both B and T lineage cells, including normal precursor B cells propagated in culture. These findings indicate that, at least in some contexts, transcriptional activation, per se, is not sufficient to confer V(D)J recombinational accessibility to a substrate V gene segment.
A Layered Control Architecture for Humanoid Robot

In this paper, we propose a layered control architecture called “CBR augmented GP” to evolve robust control programs for humanoid robots. The key idea in our approach is to represent target task with abstract behaviors by Genetic Programming in simplified simulation and get a prototype of the control program then interpret it with Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) in the real world environments. Accordingly, our proposed approach consists of two stages: the evolution stage and the adaptation stage. In the first stage, the prototype of the control program is evolved based on abstract behaviors in a highly simplified simulation. In the second stage, the best control program is applied to a physical robot thereby adapting it to the real world environments by using CBR. Experimental results show that this approach can generate robust control programs that can easily overcome gaps between simplified simulation and real world.
Wireless sensor networks for underground railway applications: case studies in Prague and London

There is increasing interest in using structural monitoring as a cost effective way of managing risks once an area of concern has been identified. However, it is challenging to deploy an effective, reliable, large-scale, long-term and real-time monitoring system in an underground railway environment (subway / metro). The use of wireless sensor technology allows for rapid deployment of a monitoring scheme and thus has significant potential benefits as the time available for access is often severely limited. This paper identifies the critical factors that should be considered in the design of a wireless sensor network, including the availability of electrical power and communications networks. Various issues facing underground deployment of wireless sensor networks will also be discussed, in particular for two field case studies involving networks deployed for structural monitoring in the Prague Metro and the London Underground. The paper describes the network design, the radio propagation, the network topology as well as the practical issues involved in deploying a wireless sensor network in these two tunnels.
Covariance intersection in track-to-track fusion with memory

In several practical applications, an economical processing of multi-sensor data is realised by the fusion of estimates. A very cheap solution, which is also very conservative, is the Covariance Intersection (CI) fusion. Basic information configurations of the estimation system have been inspected by the authors in a preceding paper [1]. This paper provides an extension of the previous discussion to the fusion with memory. It shows that the adding of memory cannot improve the fusions without memory given by partial or full information feedback. Conversely, it shows that the fusion without memory and no information feedback can be in some cases improved by the adding of memory.
Implementing an Intelligent Multimedia Presentation Planner using an Agent Based Architecture

This paper describes the implementation of an intelligent Multimedia Presentation Planner (MPP) in a multimodal dialogue system. Following the development of an architecture based on the Standard Reference Model, designed specifically for FOCAL, this implementation has been integrated with an earlier spoken dialogue system. The design now ensures that the framework is portable to other multimodal environments.
The next generation of Nucleus® fitting: A multiplatform approach towards universal cochlear implant management

Abstract Objective: This article provides a detailed description and evaluation of the next Nucleus® cochlear implant fitting suite. A new fitting methodology is presented that, at its simplest level, requires a single volume adjustment, and at its advanced level, provides access to 22-channel fitting. It is implemented on multiple platforms, including a mobile platform (Remote Assistant Fitting) and an accessible PC application (Nucleus Fitting Software). Additional tools for home care and surgical care are also described. Design: Two trials were conducted, comparing the fitting methodology with the existing Custom Sound™ methodology, as fitted by the recipient and by an experienced cochlear implant audiologist. Study sample:Thirty-seven subjects participated in the trials. Results: No statistically significant differences were observed between the group mean scores, whether fitted by the recipient or by an experienced audiologist. The lower bounds of the 95% confidence intervals of the differences represented clinically insignificant differences. No statistically significant differences were found in the subjective program preferences of the subjects. Conclusions: Equivalent speech perception outcomes were demonstrated when compared to current best practice. As such, the new technology has the potential to expand the capacity of audiological care without compromising efficacy.
The Distribution of Maximum Relative Gravitational Torques in Disk Galaxies

The maximum value of the ratio of the tangential force to the mean background radial force is a useful quantitative measure of the strength of nonaxisymmetric perturbations in disk galaxies. Here we consider the distribution of this ratio, called Qg, for a statistically well-defined sample of 180 spiral galaxies from the Ohio State University Bright Galaxy Survey and the Two Micron All Sky Survey. The ratio Qg can be interpreted as the maximum gravitational torque per unit mass per unit square of the circular speed and is derived from gravitational potentials inferred from near-infrared images under the assumptions of a constant mass-to-light ratio and an exponential vertical density law. In order to derive the most reliable maximum relative torques, orientation parameters based on blue-light isophotes are used to deproject the galaxies, and the more spherical shapes of bulges are taken into account using two-dimensional decompositions that allow for analytical fits to bulges, disks, and bars. Also, vertical scale heights hz are derived by scaling the radial scale lengths hR from the two-dimensional decompositions, allowing for the type dependence of hR/hz indicated by optical and near-infrared studies of edge-on spiral galaxies. The impact of dark matter is assessed using a "universal rotation curve" parameterization and is found to be relatively insignificant for our sample. In agreement with a previous study by Block et al., the distribution of maximum relative gravitational torques is asymmetric toward large values and shows a deficiency of low-Qg galaxies. However, because of the above refinements, our distribution shows more low-Qg galaxies than that of Block et al. We also find a significant type dependence in maximum relative gravitational torques, in the sense that Qg is lower on average in early-type spirals than in late-type spirals. The effect persists even when the sample is separated into bar-dominated and spiral-dominated subsamples and also when near-infrared types are used, as opposed to optical types.
Periodic defects in steel strips: Detection through a vision-based technique

This article proposes a technique to detect the defects caused by defective work roll. This system inspects the surface (top and bottom) of each strip. The images captured by the cameras are then processed. It includes a way to store the information necessary for detection as well as a flexible algorithm that uses this information efficiently. To train the algorithm to obtain the best possible outcome for a set of test strips, a way to quantify each solution is also proposed. Finally, the results obtained are compared with those obtained by a commercial tool, and the improvement achieved using the new technique is discussed.
Does human-induced hybridization have long-term genetic effects? Empirical testing with domesticated, wild and hybridized fish populations

Current conservation practices exclude human‐generated hybridized populations from protection, as the genetic effects of hybridization in the wild have been observed to be long‐lasting based on neutral genetic markers and are considered potentially irreversible. Theory, however, predicts otherwise for genes under selection. We transplanted combinations of wild, domesticated and hybridized populations of a fish species to new environments. We then compared survival, phenotypic variation and plasticity to determine whether hybridization affects adaptive potential after multiple generations of selection in the wild. Although the fitness of our hybridized populations at the onset of hybridization cannot be assessed, our results suggest that within five to eleven generations, selection can remove introduced foreign genes from wild populations that have hybridized with domesticated conspecifics. The end result is hybridized populations that, in terms of survival, phenotypic plasticity, mean trait expression and overall general responses to environmental change, closely resemble neighbouring wild populations. These results have important implications for considering the potential conservation value of hybridized populations and illustrate the effectiveness of selection in a local environment.