Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Grapes: topology-based hierarchical virtual network for peer-to-peer lookup services

Peer-to-peer systems and applications are distributed systems without any centralized control. The core operation in most peer-to-peer systems is efficient location of data items. The current well-known peer-to-peer systems like Napster and Gnutella have scalability problem in location of data items. To solve the scalability problem, some scalable peer-to-peer lookup services show up, such as CAN, Chord, Pastry and Tapestry. In this paper we propose a self organizing hierarchical virtual network infrastructure, called Grapes, for peer-to-peer lookup services. Hierarchical approach of Grapes brings two benefits. First, a node can find data in its subnetwork with the high probability due to the data replication in its subnetwork. Second, the hierarchical structure makes lookup hops shorter than those of the flat one.
Feature interaction as a satisfiability problem

We present a formal model for the specification of telephone features by means of description logics. Our framework permits the formal definition of the basic telephone system as well as the specification of additional features (call waiting, call forwarding, etc.). Furthermore, by using standard reasoning tasks from description logics, the properties of features can be formally proved and interactions detected. An EXPTIME upper bound for the complexity of detecting feature interaction as a satisfiability problem is provided by exploiting well-known results for expressive description languages.
Active set strategy for high-dimensional non-convex sparse optimization problems

The use of non-convex sparse regularization has attracted much interest when estimating a very sparse model on high dimensional data. In this work we express the optimality conditions of the optimization problem for a large class of non-convex regularizers. From those conditions, we derive an efficient active set strategy that avoids the computing of unnecessary gradients. Numerical experiments on both generated and real life datasets show a clear gain in computational cost w.r. t. the state of the art when using our method to obtain very sparse solutions.
Vector Generation of an Explicitly-defined Multidimensional Semantic Space

Measures of Semantic Relatedness (MSRs) are a recent breed of computational models of text comprehension. MSRs have been successfully used to model human web browsing behavior (Pirolli & Fu, 2003), language acquisition (Landauer & Dumais, 1997), and text comprehension (Lemaire, Denhiere, Bellissens, & JheanIarose, 2006), among other things. MSRs have also been used in the applied domain for augmented search engine technology (Dumais, 2003), ETS essay grading (Landauer & Dumais, 1997), and many other applications. The two most common types of measures of semantic relatedness are vector-based MSRs and probabilistic MSRs. Vector-based MSRs are complex, computationally expensive algorithms that represent words as vectors in a multidimensional semantic space. They work fairly well for small corpora, but the large amount of preprocessing they require makes them unusable for very large or dynamic corpora. Probabilistic MSRs are the opposite: simple metrics that can be used on an extremely large corpus. Their only downside is that they cannot compute the similarity between groups of words (something that vector-based MSRs can do easily). In this paper we are proposing a new MSR that combines the best features of probabilistic and vector-based approaches, while adding flexibility and broadening the range of tasks that MSRs are capable of carrying out. Specifically, this technique allows non-vector-based MSRs to represent words in vector form. This representation gives probabilistic MSRs the ability to measure large multi-word terms without requiring them to perform computationally expensive preprocessing. In addition, the proposed MSR is incremental (allowing the addition of new terms to the corpus without the need for the large-scale recalculations performed by traditional vector-based measures) and has the ability to model domain-specific expertise by explicitly defining the dimensions of the semantic space that it uses. Preliminary results show that the proposed probabilistic-tovector-based MSR conversion produces a measure that surpasses the performance of the original probabilistic MSR.
Defect prediction with bad smells in code

Background: Defect prediction in software can be highly beneficial for development projects, when prediction is highly effective and defect-prone areas are predicted correctly. One of the key elements to gain effective software defect prediction is proper selection of metrics used for dataset preparation. Objective: The purpose of this research is to verify, whether code smells metrics, collected using Microsoft CodeAnalysis tool, added to basic metric set, can improve defect prediction in industrial software development project. Results: We verified, if dataset extension by the code smells sourced metrics, change the effectiveness of the defect prediction by comparing prediction results for datasets with and without code smells-oriented metrics. In a result, we observed only small improvement of effectiveness of defect prediction when dataset extended with bad smells metrics was used: average accuracy value increased by 0.0091 and stayed within the margin of error. However, when only use of code smells based metrics were used for prediction (without basic set of metrics), such process resulted with surprisingly high accuracy (0.8249) and F-measure (0.8286) results. We also elaborated data anomalies and problems we observed when two different metric sources were used to prepare one, consistent set of data. Conclusion: Extending the dataset by the code smells sourced metric does not significantly improve the prediction effectiveness. Achieved result did not compensate effort needed to collect additional metrics. However, we observed that defect prediction based on the code smells only is still highly effective and can be used especially where other metrics hardly be used.
User profile Ontology for the Personalization approach

personalization is to facilitate the expression of the user's need and enable him to obtain relevant information in these information system accesses. The relevance of information is defined by a set of customizable preferences specific to each user or user community. Data describing users are often grouped as profiles. The content of a user's profile varies according to approaches and applications. Existing approaches solves partially problems related to personalization, but it lacks a model giving a complete overview of all aspects of taking into account the preferences of users. In this paper we propose a generic model of profile that includes all aspects of personalization. The proposed model will be the basis of building an ontology called O'Profil able to store all this information, personalize the content and to instantiate the user profile.
Resolving vertical tectonics in the San Francisco Bay Area from permanent scatterer InSAR and GPS analysis

Using a combination of GPS-measured horizontal velocities of 200 sites and 115,487 range-change rates determined with the permanent scatterer interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) method in the San Francisco Bay Area, we resolve vertical motions in the region at sub-mm/yr precision. The highest displacement rates are due to nontectonic processes, such as active landslides, subsidence and rebound over aquifers, and rapid settling of unconsolidated sediments along the bay margins. Residual displacement rates are determined by removing the contribution of the GPS-derived horizontal velocity field from the InSAR range-change rates. To isolate vertical tectonic rates, we use only those InSAR measurements made on material that was not Quaternary substrate, which is susceptible to nontectonic and seasonally varying ground motions. The InSAR residuals indicate significant uplift over the southern foothills of the active Mount Diablo anticlinorium, the Mission Hills stepover region of the Hayward and Calaveras faults, and the central and southern Santa Cruz Mountains located along a restraining bend of the San Andreas fault.
Chinese International Students' Experiences in American Higher Education Institutes: A Critical Review of the Literature

Using database searches in ProQuest Sociology, Education Research Complete, ERIC, and Google Scholar, this landscape literature review provides research synthesis and analysis on research designs, underlying assumptions and findings of 21 recent peer-reviewed scholarly articles focusing on Chinese international students’ experiences in American higher education institutes. Patterns observed across studies regarding colorblind racism are presented in the discussion. Towards the end, this review closes with implications and directions for future research.
Adding a Deliberative Layer to an Autonomic System

Autonomic systems appear as closed because their internal logic cannot be communicated to their users. This work presents a method to solve this communication problem. The objective is to let the user specify, negotiate and observe the high-level objectives imposed to the autonomic system without affecting the latter's self-management capabilities, but also to enable relevant communication from the system towards the user. A smart micro-grid is the autonomic system used. A procedure that generates relevant arguments is connected at the monitoring level of the grid as a deliberative layer.
THE INFLUENCE OF "DEAD-ENDS" ON PERCEIVED WEBSITE USABILITY

An Internet billing method comprises establishing an agreement between an Internet access provider and a customer, and an agreement between the Internet access provider and a vendor, wherein the Internet access provider agrees with the customer and the vendor to bill the customer and remit to the vendor for products and services purchased over the Internet by the customer from the vendor. The provider creates access to the Internet for the customer. When the customer orders a product or service over the Internet from a vendor, transactional information transmitted between the customer and the vendor is also transmitted to the provider. The provider then bills the transaction amount to the customer and remits a portion of the transaction amount to the vendor, keeping the differential as a fee for providing the service. As a result of this method, there is no need for any customer account numbers or vendor account numbers to be transmitted over the Internet, thereby maintaining the security of that information.
HII Regions in the Pilot Ku-band Galactic Reconnaissance Survey

This thesis presents data from the Ku-band Galactic Reconnaissance Survey (KuGARS), a large area survey observed on the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA). KuGARS is the first galactic plane survey to explore the sub-arcsecond and sub-mJy regime at 14 GHz. We have described the development of the data reduction procedures in CASA for the On the Fly (OTF) mapping method used for KuGARS. Included in our discussion are the calibration and imaging processes: as the OTF mapping method has not been extensively explored we have gone through several steps to present quality assurance of the calibration. Due to the large volume of data, we focused on a pilot study of the area surrounding the W49A massive star forming region and a subset of the final frequency range. Using an automated source finding algorithm, AEGEAN (Hancock et al., 2012), we have detected 35 islands with 57 components. We compared the brightest of these sources to the literature to determine their nature. In order to carry out a robust analysis, we compared our detections to observations over multiple frequencies. Comparing to GLIMPSE and Herschel showed our sources deeply embedded in 8μm and 70μm emission, respectively, which indicate heated dust and therefore infer star formation. We further, through the SIMBAD database, found several star formation tracers, including: Masers, YSOs, and HII regions, associated with our KuGARS detections. Our comparison with CORNISH and De Pree et al. (1997) revealed previous detections of these sources as HII regions with similar morphologies to KuGARS. We have detected and identified 2 spherical or unresolved HII regions, and 2 irregular HII regions in the ring of HII regions (W49 North), 1 isolated spherical/unresolved HII region, and 1 cometary HII region in W49 South. We find that one of the objects (source B) is recovered by KuGARS and De Pree et al. (1997) but not in CORNISH. This source, which is undetected at 5GHz and below has a steep positive spectrum (α = 1.1) and has broad radio recombination lines with line widths ( > 45kms−1) (De Pree et al., 1997). It, therefore, must be a Hypercompact HII region and thus demonstrates KuGARS capability to detect Hypercompact HII regions.
Social Trove: A Self-Summarizing Storage Service for Social Sensing

The increasing availability of smartphones, cameras, and wearables with instant data sharing capabilities, and the exploitation of social networks for information broadcast, heralds a future of real-time information overload. With the growing excess of worldwide streaming data, such as images, geotags, text annotations, and sensory measurements, an increasingly common service will become one of data summarization. The objective of such a service will be to obtain a representative sampling of large data streams at a configurable granularity, in real-time, for subsequent consumption by a range of data-centric applications. This paper describes a general-purpose self-summarizing storage service, called Social Trove, for social sensing applications. The service summarizes data streams from human sources, or sensors in their possession, by hierarchically clustering received information in accordance with an application-specific distance metric. It then serves a sampling of produced clusters at a configurable granularity in response to application queries. While Social Trove is a general service, we illustrate its functionality and evaluate it in the specific context of workloads collected from Twitter. Results show that Social Trove supports a high query throughput, while maintaining a low access latency to the produced real-time application-specific data summaries. As a specific application case-study, we implement a fact-finding service on top of Social Trove.
GQ : Realizing a System to Catch Worms in a Quarter Million Places

A key tool for detecting new worm outbreaks in their early stages is the honeyfarm, a large collection of honeypots fed Internet traffic by a “network telescope”. However, actual operation of a honeyfarm in a large-scale environment presents difficult scaling challenges. We discuss the structure and implementation of GQ, a honeyfarm system we built to analyze in real-time the scanning probes seen on a quarter million Internet addresses. GQ’s architecture emphasizes high fidelity, scalability, isolation, stringent control, and wide coverage. We examine how the implementation endeavors to achieve each of these, evaluate its effectiveness in doing so, and report on preliminary experiences with operating the system at scale, during which we captured 66 distinct worms over the course of four months.
Measuring the Strength of Human–Animal Bonds in Zoos

ABSTRACT Repeated interactions within individual human and animal dyads can lead to the establishment of human–animal relationships (HARs), which may vary in quality from good to bad, defined in terms of the positivity (e.g., friendly contact, play) or negativity (e.g., aggression) of the interactions on which they are based. Particularly good HARs can be regarded as Human– Animal Bonds (HABs) if they are reciprocal and promote wellbeing in both parties. Although there is extensive evidence of the effects of HARs in agricultural animals and HABs in companion animals, there has been less investigation of these relationships in zoos, even though the development of HARs/HABs between zoo animals and their keepers could have important consequences for the welfare of both. Here we apply a modified version of the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS) in a zoo setting to quantify the strength of attachment of a sample of 22 keepers to the animals in their care at the zoo (ZA), in comparison with their attachment to their companion animals at home (PA). Results showed that mean PA scores (47.54 ± 3.6) were significantly higher than mean ZA scores (32.89 ± 2.6; t = –5.16, df = 13, p < 0.001), indicating stronger attachment to the companion animals. PA scores were lower in keepers who thought it inappropriate to have a bond with a zoo animal, compared with those who deemed it appropriate. Thus, HABs do appear to occur in the zoo context, though they are weaker than those developed in the home. This work also shows that a modified LAPS questionnaire is a suitable instrument for further investigation of HABs in zoos.
Performance of a new fast switching DC-Breaker for meshed HVDC-Grids

For the future demand of electrical energy, both a reliable and an environmental friendly solution is of high importance. The integration of many widely dispersed regenerative energy sources imposes a great challenge for the existing HVAC grids. A meshed, multiterminal HVDC-SuperGrid is considered to be the best and most efficient solution. This concept would be realized as an overlay grid alongside existing AC-grids, which enables large and controllable energy exchanges over long distances. Extremely high reliability and availability of this HVDC-Grid will become a key point in future, obviously. Fast acting, robust DC-Breakers will be necessary for this purpose, too. This paper presents a new thyristor based DC-Breaker of high switching speed and robustness. The generic requirements for HVDC-Breakers are discussed alongside with known proposed concepts. Afterwards, the characteristics and the dimensioning of the new DC-Breaker is presented and investigated in detail. Measuring results from a test setup show the capabilities and advantages of the new topology.
A New Speed-Varying Ellipse Voltage Injection Method for Sensorless Drive of Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motors With Pole Saliency—New PLL Method Using High-Frequency Current Component Multiplied Signal

This paper proposes a new sensorless vector control method for salient-pole permanent-magnet synchronous motors. With regard to phase estimation, the sensorless vector control method is featured by a new high-frequency voltage injection method (i.e., carrier modulation method), which is distinguished from the conventional ones by a unique ellipse shape of spatially rotating high-frequency voltage, and by a new phase-locked-loop method as a demodulation method whose input is a high-frequency current component multiplied signal. The new vector control method established by two innovative technologies for modulation/demodulation can have the following high-performance and attractive characteristics. 1) It can allow 250% rated torque at standstill. 2) It can operate from zero to the rated speed under the rated motoring or regenerating load. 3) It accepts instant injection of the rated load even for zero-speed control. 4) Phase estimation is robust against inverter dead time, and proper phase estimate can be obtained even under circumstances where stator current crosses the zero at high frequency. 5) Computational load for estimating rotor phase is very small. Usefulness of the proposed new vector control method is verified through extensive experiments.
A Review on PAPR Reduction Techniques in MIMO OFDM Transmission

-Wireless Communication is one of the major aspects of life. The progression in age and its growing demands, there has been rapid development in the field of communication. For better transmission system single carrier waves are being replaced by multi carrier waves techniques as MIMO OFDM is implemented now days. As increasing the demand for high performance wireless is enabled by using the multiple antennas at both base station and users ends. Multiple antenna technology enables high capacity especially for internet and multimedia services it also increases range and reliability. In the Multiple Inputs Multiple Outputs OFDM system, Peak – to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of these signal have some undesirable effects on the system performance. In this research paper we have reviewed the various PAPR reduction technologies for achieving the optimum system performance of MIMO OFDM Transmission.
A microfluidic approach for screening submicroliter volumes against multiple reagents by using preformed arrays of nanoliter plugs in a three-phase liquid/liquid/gas flow.

Plugging a gap in screening: Arrays of nanoliter-sized plugs of different compositions can be preformed in a three-phase liquid/liquid/gas flow. The arrays can be transported into a microfluidic channel to test against a target (see schematic representation), as demonstrated in protein crystallization and an enzymatic assay.
Analyzing the utility of a support pin in sequential robotic manipulation

Pick-and-place regrasp is an important manipulation skill for a robot. It helps a robot accomplish tasks that cannot be achieved within a single grasp, due to constraints such as kinematics or collisions between the robot and the environment. Previous work on pick-and-place regrasp only leveraged flat surfaces for intermediate placements, and thus is limited in the capability to reorient an object. In this paper, we extend the reorientation capability of a pick-and-place regrasp by adding a vertical pin on the working surface and using it as the intermediate location for regrasping. In particular, our method automatically computes the stable placements of an object leaning against a vertical pin, finds several force-closure grasps, generates a graph of regrasp actions, and searches for the regrasp sequence. To compare the regrasping performance with and without using pins, we evaluate the success rate and the length of regrasp sequences while performing tasks on various models. Experiments on reorientation and assembly tasks validate the benefit of using support pins for regrasping.
Dynamics of the Vocal Imitation Process: How a Zebra Finch Learns Its Song

Song imitation in birds provides good material for studying the basic biology of vocal learning. Techniques were developed for inducing the rapid onset of song imitation in young zebra finches and for tracking trajectories of vocal change over a 7-week period until a match to a model song was achieved. Exposure to a model song induced the prompt generation of repeated structured sounds (prototypes) followed by a slow transition from repetitive to serial delivery of syllables. Tracking this transition revealed two phenomena: (i) Imitations of dissimilar sounds can emerge from successive renditions of the same prototype, and (ii) developmental trajectories for some sounds followed paths of increasing acoustic mismatch until an abrupt correction occurred by period doubling. These dynamics are likely to reflect underlying neural and articulatory constraints on the production and imitation of sounds.