Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A probabilistic interpretation of geometric active contour segmentation

Active contours or snakes are widely used for segmentation and tracking. These techniques require the minimization of an energy function, which is typically a linear combination of a data-fit term and regularization terms. This energy function can be tailored to the intrinsic object and image features. This can be done by either modifying the actual terms or by changing the weighting parameters of the terms. There is, however, no sure way to set these terms and weighting parameters optimally for a given application. Although heuristic techniques exist for parameter estimation, often trial and error is used. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic interpretation to segmentation. This approach results in a generalization of state of the art active contour segmentation. In the proposed framework all parameters have a statistical interpretation, thus avoiding ad hoc parameter settings.
FAAST: The Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit

The Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit (FAAST) is middleware to facilitate integration of full-body control with virtual reality applications and video games using OpenNI-compliant depth sensors (currently the PrimeSensor and the Microsoft Kinect). FAAST incorporates a VRPN server for streaming the user's skeleton joints over a network, which provides a convenient interface for custom virtual reality applications and games. This body pose information can be used for goals such as realistically puppeting a virtual avatar or controlling an on-screen mouse cursor. Additionally, the toolkit also provides a configurable input emulator that detects human actions and binds them to virtual mouse and keyboard commands, which are sent to the actively selected window. Thus, FAAST can enable natural interaction for existing off-the-shelf video games that were not explicitly developed to support input from motion sensors. The actions and input bindings are configurable at run-time, allowing the user to customize the controls and sensitivity to adjust for individual body types and preferences. In the future, we plan to substantially expand FAAST's action lexicon, provide support for recording and training custom gestures, and incorporate real-time head tracking using computer vision techniques.
A Bayesian Monte Carlo Markov Chain Method for Parameter Estimation of Fractional Differenced Gaussian Processes

We present a Bayesian Monte Carlo Markov Chain method to simultaneously estimate the spectral index and power amplitude of a fractional differenced Gaussian process at low frequency, in presence of white noise, and a linear trend and periodic signals. This method provides a sample of the likelihood function and thereby, using Monte Carlo integration, all parameters and their uncertainties are estimated simultaneously. We test this method with simulated and real Global Positioning System height time series and propose it as an alternative to optimization methods currently in use. Furthermore, without any mathematical proof, the results from the simulations suggest that this method is unaffected by the stationary regime and hence, can be used to check whether or not a time series is stationary.
Parallelizing a Real-Time Audio Application -- A Case Study in Multithreaded Software Engineering

Multicore hardware is ubiquitous, but billions of lines of code in performance-critical commodity software are still sequential. Although parallel libraries, design patterns, and best practice guidelines are available, thinking parallel is still a big challenge for many software engineers. In this paper we present a case study on parallelizing commodity software using a commercial real-time audio application with over 700,000 lines of code. In contrast to best practice guidelines, our goal is to investigate what parallelization strategy can effectively be used in data stream-intensive applications. Performing an in-depth analysis of the software architecture and its run-time performance, we locate parallelization potential and propose three different parallelization strategies. We evaluate them with respect to their parallel performance impact. Regarding the application's intrinsic real-time requirement and a very short audio cycle turnaround time, a busy-waiting strategy offers the best audio performance of 327 μs per cycle on an eight-core machine. With an efficiency of 99% this is close to the optimal schedule.
Estimation of Change Points in Panel Models

This paper studies a panel data regression setting, where a break occurs at a unknown common date. In this paper, we establish the consistency and rate of convergence of the change point estimator. The break date can be estimated consistently both in xed time horizon and large panels, which indicates that the structural change can be well detected even in short panels. Furthermore, the limiting distribution is derived without the assumption of shrinking magnitude of break. These two features are di¤erent from the time series change point literature. Monte Carlo simulations are presented to investigate the nite sample properties of the panel change point estimator. Keywords: Panel data, Change point, Consistency. JEL Classi cation: C12, C13, C22. Address correspondence to Chihwa Kao, Center for Policy Research, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244-1020, email: cdkao@maxwell.syr. edu. Qu Feng, email: qfeng@maxwell.syr. edu. tμepána Lazarová, email: s.lazarova@qmul.ac. uk.
Gender and Roll Call Voting Behavior in Congress: A Cross-Chamber Analysis

Numerous studies have examined the roll call voting behavior of women in Congress. Much of this scholarship has focused on whether female legislators tend to be more liberal than their male colleagues. However, most of this research has examined whether gender differences exist within a specific legislative chamber. This paper seeks to build on this past research by exploring whether the relationship between the descriptive and substantive representation of women is contingent upon the institutional context in which female legislators serve. Using Common Space Scores which estimate the roll call voting behavior of US Senators and US House members on a scale that allows for comparisons across each chamber this study analyzes the voting records of Female Senators, Male Senators, Female House Members and Male House Members in the 109th-111th Congresses. The results show that in the contemporary Congress, gender exerts minimal influence on how legislators cast their votes with the exception of female Republican Senators who are noticeably more liberal than male and female Republicans in both the House and Senate.
An Efficient Key Distribution Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks using polynomial based schemes

Sensor Networks are highly vulnerable to attacks because, it consists of various resourceconstrained devices and they communicate via wireless links. Establishment of pairwise keys between sensor nodes is used to realize many of the security services for Sensor Networks. Hence securely distributing keys among sensor nodes is a fundamental challenge in providing security services. In literature, there are two types of key distribution schemes: probabilistic and deterministic. Probabilistic schemes provide good resilience but the effect of a node capture spreads throughout the network and hence connectivity is affected. While deterministic schemes guarantee the key establishment between any pair of nodes in a network, they are less resilient to node capture. In this paper, we proposed a key distribution scheme based on polynomials that provide full connectivity and very good resilience to node capture. It also has low communication overhead and very less space overhead. We have also proposed a novel method for the addition of new nodes in the network.
Two faces of the self: Actor-self perspective and observer-self perspective are differentially related to agency versus communion

ABSTRACT Communion is evaluated more positively and people are more concerned if their communion is discredited, but their self-esteem is dominated by agency. For reconciling these results we present an extended Dual Perspective Model that distinguishes the actor-self perspective (self-as-identity) and the observer-self perspective (self-as-reputation) and the facets of agency (assertiveness, competence) and communion (warmth, morality). Self-as-identity is expected to be more related to agency, particularly assertiveness, whereas self-as-reputation is expected to be more related to communion, particularly morality. As predicted, participants asked to remember identity- (reputation-) threatening situations listed mainly assertiveness and competence situations (morality situations; Study 1). Identity (reputation) threat was highest after negative agency, especially assertiveness (communion, especially morality) information (Studies 2, 3; 4 with different methodology).
A conceptual framework for network management event correlation and filtering systems

Event correlation is a key functionality of a network management system that is used to determine the root cause of faults in a network, and to filter out redundant and spurious events. A number of event correlation systems have been proposed. The event correlation systems generally combine causal and temporal correlation models with the topology of a network. The power and robustness of the models used and the algorithms developed vary from system to system. However, in the absence of a simple, uniform, and precise presentation of the event-correlation problem, it is impossible to compare their relative power or even analyze them for their properties. In general, causal and temporal-based correlation models have not been rigorously presented or thoroughly investigated. In this paper we formalize the concepts of causal and temporal correlation using a single conceptual framework. We characterize various properties of the framework. We can characterize existing systems based on the formal properties of our framework, and we consider one system as an illustrative example.
Large-Margin Learning of Submodular Summarization Methods

In this paper, we present a supervised learning approach to training submodular scoring functions for extractive multi-document summarization. By taking a structured predicition approach, we provide a large-margin method that directly optimizes a convex relaxation of the desired performance measure. The learning method applies to all submodular summarization methods, and we demonstrate its effectiveness for both pairwise as well as coverage-based scoring functions on multiple datasets. Compared to state-of-the-art functions that were tuned manually, our method significantly improves performance and enables high-fidelity models with numbers of parameters well beyond what could reasonbly be tuned by hand.
Competition and Price Discrimination in Yellow Pages Advertising

This paper examines the effect of competition on second degree price discrimination in display advertising in Yellow Page directories. Recent theoretical work makes conflicting predictions about the effect of competition on curvature. Our main empirical finding is that competition increases the curvature of the price schedule, meaning that purchasers of the largest ads see their prices fall the most in response to competition. We also present evidence of menu costs in adjusting pricing schedules and address this issue in estimation. The magnitudes that we find could be relevant for welfare calculations in the face of price discrimination.
Performance Analysis of Electromagnetic Field Polarizations in MIMO Antenna Systems

Due to correlation behavior of the electromagnetic wave components, there is an immense need of deploying impressive polarization techniques in wireless communication systems which could boost the channel capacity. MultipleInput-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna system holds a lot of promise to enhance the spectral efficiency. The diversity and signal processing employed with MIMO transforms a pointto-point single channel into multiple parallel channels, hence in effect multiplying the capacity. This paper highlights the importance of electromagnetic field polarization to enhance capacity of the communication channel. In this paper a simulation study to investigate the capacity of orthogonallypolarized MIMO channel under various parameters has been presented. The parameters of study include number of antenna elements, element spacing and eigenvalue analysis of the received signal. We find that the capacity is increased by increasing the number of antenna elements and spacing between them. Furthermore, Simulation result reveals that capacity can be tripled by incorporating MIMO communication techniques to access the entire discernible electric and magnetic polarized fields.
Voices of leadership: A narrative study of four Vermont superintendents and their experience with policy governance

In 2006, the Vermont School Board's Association launched a pilot implementation of Policy Governance® in four Vermont school districts. Policy Governance is a coherent governance model that requires boards to establish policy in four policy quadrants (Carver, 2006). Key features of Policy Governance include the clear delineation of roles and responsibilities between a board and its CEO and the articulation of Ends policies which describe the desired outcomes for the organization from a future-oriented perspective (Carver, 2006). These characteristics of Policy Governance are in many ways antithetical to traditional Vermont public school governance practices which are grounded in a long-standing tradition of local control (Cate, 2006). This study focused on the experiences of the four superintendents involved in the 2006 pilot implementation of Policy Governance in Vermont as they attempted to reconcile the coherence of Policy Governance with local school board practices. The purpose of the study was to understand the beliefs and perceptions of these superintendents about Policy Governance, and to understand to what extent Policy Governance implementation created ethical dilemmas for their leadership. A series of in-depth interviews was conducted with the superintendents, and data from the interviews were analyzed using a narrative inquiry approach. The findings of this study suggest superintendent beliefs and perceptions about Policy Governance can be categorized into three themes: responsibility, trust, and vision. Using a theoretical ethical framework based on the work of Starratt (2003, 2004), a further analysis of the findings suggested a series of ethical dilemmas were confronted by the superintendents when implementing Policy Governance. These dilemmas included: developing an organizational vision through ends policies which transfer control over vision from the superintendent to the school board, assisting school boards with engaging their communities in the development of ends policies while at the same time ensuring those ends meet the moral purposes of schooling in serving the needs of all students and the larger public good, enforcing a clear delineation of roles and responsibilities while also serving a school board in its work, and assuming responsibility for transforming school systems to meet the future needs of students while at the same time supporting the success of students and educators in the current organizational structures. This study concluded that Policy Governance can provide an intellectual and practical framework for educational leaders to engage in the necessary ethical action to ensure the success of public schooling in postmodern society.
In situ stress analysis of multilayer environmental barrier coatings

The biaxial stress and thermal expansion of multilayer doped-aluminosilicate environmental barrier coatings were measured in situ during cooling using microfocused high-energy X-rays in transmission. Coating stresses during cooling from 1000 °C were measured for as-sprayed and thermally cycled samples. In the as-sprayed state, tensile stresses as high as 75 MPa were measured in the doped-aluminosilicate topcoat at 375 °C, after which a drop in the stress occurred accompanied by through-thickness cracking of the two outermost layers. After thermally cycling the samples, the stress in the topcoat was reduced to approximately 50 MPa, and there was no drop in stress upon cooling. This stress reduction was attributed to a crystallographic phase transformation of the topcoat and the accompanying change in thermal expansion coefficient. The addition of a doped aluminosilicate to the mullite layer did not lower the stress in the topcoat, but may offer increased durability due to an increased compressive stress.
A Novel Method for Speech Data Mining

Text-to-Speech (TTS) system is one to translate given text to speech which can be used in various applications such as information releasing systems, voice response devices, voice services in E-mail and reading machines for the blind. Great progress has been made in the research on Chinese TTS systems and several Chinese TTS systems have been published. However, because of the complexity of Chinese, the current available speech patterns are not very fine. The speech quality of those systems developed from these patterns is not good enough to meet the needs of users. The main purpose of this paper is to gain a refined prosodic model of Chinese speech. Traditional methods are not used in this thesis and data mining techniques are employed. Data mining is the process of discovering advantageous patterns in database. There are now many data mining algorithms, one of which is neural network. This paper presents a data mining system using clustering algorithm to find useful patterns from Chinese speech database. Study on the tone changes of Chinese two- word phrases has been made and good results have been achieved. They are helpful to develop high quality Chinese TTS systems.
Successive interference cancellation with SISO decoding and EM channel estimation

We derive a low-complexity receiver scheme for joint multiuser decoding and parameter estimation of code division multiple access signals. The resulting receiver processes the users serially and iteratively and makes use of soft-in soft-out single-user decoders, of soft interference cancellation and of expectation-maximization parameter estimation as the main building blocks. Computer simulations show that the proposed receiver achieves near single-user performance at very high channel load (number of users per chip) and outperforms conventional schemes with similar complexity.
A simple model host for identifying Gram-positive virulence factors

We demonstrate the use of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a facile and inexpensive model host for several Gram-positive human bacterial pathogens. Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus, but not Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium, or Streptococcus pyogenes, kill adult C. elegans. Focusing our studies on the enterococcal species, we found that both E. faecalis and E. faecium kill C. elegans eggs and hatchlings, although only E. faecalis kills the adults. In the case of adults, a low inoculum of E. faecalis grows to a high titer in the C. elegans intestine, resulting in a persistent infection that cannot be eradicated by prolonged feeding on E. faecium. Interestingly, a high titer of E. faecium also accumulates in the nematode gut, but does not affect the longevity of the worms. Two E. faecalis virulence-related factors that play an important role in mammalian models of infection, fsr, a putative quorum-sensing system, and cytolysin, are also important for nematode killing. We exploit the apparent parallels between Gram-positive infection in simple and more complex organisms by using the nematode to identify an E. faecalis virulence factor, ScrB, which is relevant to mammalian pathogenesis.
Analysis and research of network measurement technologies

In this article, the chief research and analysis of the network performance measurement and its research trend in the world are introduced. The network measurement technologies are classified according to consultative layer and other method. Measurement technologies of network layer are emphasized. The advantages/disadvantages of the bandwidth measurement technologies and traffic measurement technologies are analyzed. The future research emphasis of the measurement technologies is summarized.
Normalized maximum likelihood models for genomics

We present NML models for discrete models and show how to apply the minimum description principle to them to obtain structure information. Then we summarize methods derived in our previous works, and we treat in a unified manner all the usual discrete models. In the last part we describe important applications of the proposed models to disease classification.
Intra-firm wage inequality and firm performance: first evidence from German linked employer-employee-data

Economic theory suggests both positive and negative relationships between intrafirm wage inequality and productivity. This paper contributes to the growing empirical literature on this subject. We combine German employer-employee-data for the years 1995-2005 with inequality measures using the whole wage distribution of a firm and rely on dynamic panel-data estimators to control for unobserved heterogeneity, simultaneity problems and possible state dependence. Our results indicate a relative minor influence of intra-firm wage inequality on firm productivity. If anything, they provide some support for a view suggesting that some inequality may be beneficial, while too much leads to a detrimental effect on productivity.
Peripheral Nerve Transplantation Combined with Acidic Fibroblast Growth Factor and Chondroitinase Induces Regeneration and Improves Urinary Function in Complete Spinal Cord Transected Adult Mice

The loss of lower urinary tract (LUT) control is a ubiquitous consequence of a complete spinal cord injury, attributed to a lack of regeneration of supraspinal pathways controlling the bladder. Previous work in our lab has utilized a combinatorial therapy of peripheral nerve autografts (PNG), acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF), and chondroitinase ABC (ChABC) to treat a complete T8 spinal cord transection in the adult rat, resulting in supraspinal control of bladder function. In the present study we extended these findings by examining the use of the combinatorial PNG+aFGF+ChABC treatment in a T8 transected mouse model, which more closely models human urinary deficits following spinal cord injury. Cystometry analysis and external urethral sphincter electromyograms reveal that treatment with PNG+aFGF+ChABC reduced bladder weight, improved bladder and external urethral sphincter histology, and significantly enhanced LUT function, resulting in more efficient voiding. Treated mice’s injured spinal cord also showed a reduction in collagen scaring, and regeneration of serotonergic and tyrosine hydroxylase-positive axons across the lesion and into the distal spinal cord. Regeneration of serotonin axons correlated with LUT recovery. These results suggest that our mouse model of LUT dysfunction recapitulates the results found in the rat model and may be used to further investigate genetic contributions to regeneration failure.