Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An organisation infrastructure for Multi-Agent Systems based on Agent Coordination Contexts

We present an organisation infrastructure for open Multi-Agent Systems built upon a role-based access control model (RBAC), which provides agents with means to enable and control actions toward the other entities in the MAS (agents and resources). In particular, an Agent Coordination Context (ACC) is created and assigned to an agent as it enters the MAS, which acts as a sort of private interface for the agent towards the environment: any agent action is thereafter enabled and controlled by that ACC, which prevents those behaviours that are incorrect with respect to the role(s) played by the agent. To this end, each role is assigned a policy that flexibly specifies possible/allowed actions and perceptions over time.
An adjustable p-exponential clustering algorithm

This paper proposes a new exponential clustering algorithm (XPFCM) by reformulating the clustering objective function with an additional parameter p to adjust the exponential behavior for membership assignment. The clustering exper- iments show that the proposed method assign data to the clusters better than other fuzzy C-means (FCM) variants.
FLAGdb/FST: a database of mapped flanking insertion sites (FSTs) of Arabidopsis thaliana T-DNA transformants

A large collection of T-DNA insertion transformants of Arabidopsis thaliana has been generated at the Institute of Agronomic Research, Versailles, France. The molecular characterisation of the insertion sites is currently performed by sequencing genomic regions flanking the inserted T-DNA (FST). The almost complete sequence of the nuclear genome of A.thaliana provides the framework for organising FSTs in a genome oriented database, FLAGdb/FST (http://genoplante-info.infobiogen.fr). The main scope of FLAGdb/FST is to help biologists to find the FSTs that interrupt the genes in which they are interested. FSTs are anchored to the genome sequences of A.thaliana and positions of both predicted genes and FSTs are shown graphically on sequences. Requests to locate the genomic position of a query sequence are made using BLAST programs. The response delivered by FLAGdb/FST is a graphical representation of the putative FSTs and of predicted genes in a 20 kb region.
Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation of Ankle Plantar Flexors Spasticity: A 3-Month Study with Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation

In this paper, we aim to investigate the effect of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF)-based rehabilitation for ankle plantar flexors spasticity by using a Robotic Ankle–foot Rehabilitation System (RARS). A modified robot-assisted system was proposed, and seven poststroke patients with hemiplegic spastic ankles participated in a 3-month robotic PNF training. Their impaired sides were used as the experimental group, while their unimpaired sides as the control group. A robotic intervention for the experimental group started from a 2-min passive stretching to warming-up or relaxing the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles and also ended with the same one. Then a PNF training session including 30 trials was activated between them. The rehabilitation trainings were carried out three times a week as an addition to their regular rehabilitation exercise. Passive range of motion, resistance torque, and stiffness were measured in both ankles before and after the interventions. The changes in Achilles tendon length, walking speed, and lower limb function were also evaluated by the same physician or physiotherapist for each participant. Biomechanical measurements before interventions showed significant difference between the experimental group and the control group due to ankle spasticity. For the control group, there was no significant difference in the 3 months with no robotic intervention. But for the experimental group, passive dorsiflexion range of motion increased (p < 0.01), resistance torque under different dorsiflexion angle levels (0°, 10°, and 20°) decreased (p < 0.05, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively), and quasi-static stiffness under different dorsiflexion angle levels (0°, 10°, and 20°) also decreased (p < 0.01, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively). Achilles’s tendon length shortened (p < 0.01), while its thickness showed no significant change (p > 0.05). The robotic rehabilitation also improved the muscle strength (p < 0.01) and muscle control performance (p < 0.001). In addition, improvements were observed in clinical and functional measurements, such as Timed Up-and-Go (p < 0.05), normal walking speed (p > 0.05), and fast walking speed (p < 0.05). These results indicated that the PNF-based robotic intervention could significantly alleviate lower limb spasticity and improve the motor function in chronic stroke participant. The robotic system could potentially be used as an effective tool in poststroke rehabilitation training.
Characterization of Atomic Layer Deposited Thin Films: Conformality in High Aspect Ratio Pores and the Electrical Properties of Capacitors

In this work the characterization of atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al2O3, TiO2 and ZnO thin films is presented by introducing their conformality in high-aspect ratio pores and their electrical properties in capacitors, followed by the experimental results. In addition, a literature survey on thin films and ALD technology is presented. Trimethyl aluminium (TMA), titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), diethyl zinc (DEZ) and water vapor (H2O) were used as precursors. The conformality of high aspect ratio pores was studied by deposition of Al2O3, TiO2 and ZnO films in closed and open end pores and analysis by using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The ALD deposition process was confirmed conformal in closed pores, but in open end pores the conformal deposition process was non-ideal. The electrical properties of Al2O3 and Al2O3-TiO2 laminates in planar capacitors were studied by deposition of the thin films as the dielectric layer in capacitors with varying deposition temperature, film thickness, surface area and TiO2 content in the laminate films. The results were analyzed by measuring the capacitance value, leakage current and breakdown strength of the planar capacitors. The higher deposition temperature increases growth rate and produces thicker films, which have lower capacitance values than thinner films. However, higher deposition temperature resulted in low leakage current. The smaller surface area of the capacitor resulted in low leakage current density. Laminates with low TiO2 content resulted in low leakage current. The key finding was that capacitors prepared with TiO2 in the dielectric thin film layer exhibited ability to short energetic peaks without irreversible failure. Also, low leakage current in ALD Al2O3 dielectric capacitors was achieved with use of relatively low deposition temperature. Date: 20 of September, 2014 Language: English Number of pages: 87
Induction of fuzzy-rule-based classifiers with evolutionary boosting algorithms

This paper proposes a novel Adaboost algorithm to learn fuzzy-rule-based classifiers. Connections between iterative learning and boosting are analyzed in terms of their respective structures and the manner these algorithms address the cooperation-competition problem. The results are used to explain some properties of the former method. The evolutionary boosting scheme is applied to approximate and descriptive fuzzy-rule bases. The advantages of boosting fuzzy rules are assessed by performance comparisons between the proposed method and other classification schemes applied on a set of benchmark classification tasks.
Data remapping for design space optimization of embedded memory systems

In this article, we present a novel linear time algorithm for data remapping, that is, (i) lightweight; (ii) fully automated; and (iii) applicable in the context of pointer-centric programming languages with dynamic memory allocation support. All previous work in this area lacks one or more of these features. We proceed to demonstrate a novel application of this algorithm as a key step in optimizing the design of an embedded memory system. Specifically, we show that by virtue of locality enhancements via data remapping, we may reduce the memory subsystem needs of an application by 50%, and hence concomitantly reduce the associated costs in terms of size, power, and dollar-investment (61%). Such a reduction overcomes key hurdles in designing high-performance embedded computing solutions. Namely, memory subsystems are very desirable from a performance standpoint, but their costs have often limited their use in embedded systems. Thus, our innovative approach offers the intriguing possibility of compilers playing a significant role in exploring and optimizing the design space of a memory subsystem for an embedded design. To this end and in order to properly leverage the improvements afforded by a compiler optimization, we identify a range of measures for quantifying the cost-impact of popular notions of locality, prefetching, regularity of memory access, and others. The proposed methodology will become increasingly important, especially as the needs for application specific embedded architectures become prevalent. In addition, we demonstrate the wide applicability of data remapping using several existing microprocessors, such as the Pentium and UltraSparc. Namely, we show that remapping can achieve a performance improvement of 20% on the average. Similarly, for a parametric research HPL-PD microprocessor, which characterizes the new Itanium machines, we achieve a performance improvement of 28% on average. All of our results are achieved using applications from the DIS, Olden and SPEC2000 suites of integer and floating point benchmarks.
The Death and Life of Great Italian Cities: A Mobile Phone Data Perspective

The Death and Life of Great American Cities was written in 1961 and is now one of the most influential book in city planning. In it, Jane Jacobs proposed four conditions that promote life in a city. However, these conditions have not been empirically tested until recently. This is mainly because it is hard to collect data about "city life". The city of Seoul recently collected pedestrian activity through surveys at an unprecedented scale, with an effort spanning more than a decade, allowing researchers to conduct the first study successfully testing Jacobs's conditions. In this paper, we identify a valuable alternative to the lengthy and costly collection of activity survey data: mobile phone data. We extract human activity from such data, collect land use and socio-demographic information from the Italian Census and Open Street Map, and test the four conditions in six Italian cities. Although these cities are very different from the places for which Jacobs's conditions were spelled out (i.e., great American cities) and from the places in which they were recently tested (i.e., the Asian city of Seoul), we find those conditions to be indeed associated with urban life in Italy as well. Our methodology promises to have a great impact on urban studies, not least because, if replicated, it will make it possible to test Jacobs's theories at scale.
Hardware Architecture for the Montgomery Modular Multiplication

Modular multiplication is the most dominant part of the computation performed in public-key cryptography systems such systems. The operation is time consuming for large operands. This paper examines the characteristics of yet another architecture to implement modular multiplication using the fast Montgomery algorithm. An experimental Montgomery modular multiplier prototype is described and simulated. The simulation results are presented. Key-Words:modular multiplication, Montgomery algorithm, simulation, cryptosystems.
Monocular Object Instance Segmentation and Depth Ordering with CNNs

In this paper we tackle the problem of instance-level segmentation and depth ordering from a single monocular image. Towards this goal, we take advantage of convolutional neural nets and train them to directly predict instance-level segmentations where the instance ID encodes the depth ordering within image patches. To provide a coherent single explanation of an image we develop a Markov random field which takes as input the predictions of convolutional neural nets applied at overlapping patches of different resolutions, as well as the output of a connected component algorithm. It aims to predict accurate instance-level segmentation and depth ordering. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on the challenging KITTI benchmark and show good performance on both tasks.
Investigation of Spatial Distribution of Radiocesium in a Paddy Field as a Potential Sink

Surface soils, under various land uses, were contaminated by radionuclides that were released by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Because paddy fields are one of the main land uses in Japan, we investigated the spatial distribution of radiocesium and the influence of irrigation water in a paddy field during cultivation. Soil core samples collected at a paddy field in Fukushima showed that plowing had disturbed the original depth distribution of radiocesium. The horizontal distribution of radiocesium did not show any evidence for significant influence of radiocesium from irrigation water, and its accumulation within the paddy field, since the original amount of radiocesium was much larger than was added into the paddy field by irrigation water. However, it is possible that rainfall significantly increases the loading of radiocesium.
Covalent dye attachment influences the dynamics and conformational properties of flexible peptides

Fluorescence spectroscopy techniques like Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) have become important tools for the in vitro and in vivo investigation of conformational dynamics in biomolecules. These methods rely on the distance-dependent quenching of the fluorescence signal of a donor fluorophore either by a fluorescent acceptor fluorophore (FRET) or a non-fluorescent quencher, as used in FCS with photoinduced electron transfer (PET). The attachment of fluorophores to the molecule of interest can potentially alter the molecular properties and may affect the relevant conformational states and dynamics especially of flexible biomolecules like intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP). Using the intrinsically disordered S-peptide as a model system, we investigate the impact of terminal fluorescence labeling on the molecular properties. We perform extensive molecular dynamics simulations on the labeled and unlabeled peptide and compare the results with in vitro PET-FCS measurements. Experimental and simulated timescales of end-to-end fluctuations were found in excellent agreement. Comparison between simulations with and without labels reveal that the π-stacking interaction between the fluorophore labels traps the conformation of S-peptide in a single dominant state, while the unlabeled peptide undergoes continuous conformational rearrangements. Furthermore, we find that the open to closed transition rate of S-peptide is decreased by at least one order of magnitude by the fluorophore attachment. Our approach combining experimental and in silico methods provides a benchmark for the simulations and reveals the significant effect that fluorescence labeling can have on the conformational dynamics of small biomolecules, at least for inherently flexible short peptides. The presented protocol is not only useful for comparing PET-FCS experiments with simulation results but provides a strategy to minimize the influence on molecular properties when chosing labeling positions for fluorescence experiments.
Auxiliary matrices for the six-vertex model at qN = 1: II. Bethe roots, complete strings and the Drinfeld polynomial

The spectra of recently constructed auxiliary matrices for the six-vertex model respectively the spin s = 1/2 Heisenberg chain at roots of unity are investigated. Two conjectures are formulated both of which are proved for N = 3 and are verified numerically for several examples with N > 3. The first conjecture identifies an Abelian subset of auxiliary matrices whose eigenvalues are polynomials in the spectral variable. The zeros of these polynomials are shown to fall into two sets. One consists of the solutions to the Bethe ansatz equations which determine the eigenvalues of the six-vertex transfer matrix. The other set of zeros contains the complete strings which encode the information on the degeneracies of the model due to the loop symmetry present at roots of 1. The second conjecture then states a polynomial identity which relates the complete string centres to the Bethe roots allowing one to determine the dimension of the degenerate eigenspaces. Its proof for N = 3 involves the derivation of a new functional equation for the auxiliary matrices and the six-vertex transfer matrix. Moreover, it is demonstrated in several explicit examples that the complete strings coincide with the classical analogue of the Drinfeld polynomial. The latter is used to classify the finite-dimensional irreducible representations of the loop algebra . This suggests that the constructed auxiliary matrices not only enable one to solve the six-vertex model but also completely characterize the decomposition of its eigenspaces into irreducible representations of the underlying loop symmetry.
TDMA Scheduling in Long-Distance WiFi Networks

In the last few years, long-distance WiFi networks have been used to provide Internet connectivity in rural areas. The strong requirement to support real-time applications in these settings leads us to consider TDMA link scheduling. In this paper, we consider the FRACTEL architecture for long-distance mesh networks. We propose a novel angular interference model, which is not only practical, but also makes the problem of TDMA scheduling tractable. We then consider delay-bounded scheduling and present an algorithm which uses at most 1/3rd more time-slots than the optimal number of slots required without the delay bound. Our evaluation on various network topologies shows that the algorithm is practical, and more efficient in practice than its worst-case bound.
Flash visual evoked potential monitoring of optic tract function during macroelectrode-based pallidotomy.

Posteroventral pallidotomy (PVP) has received renewed interest as an ablative procedure for the symptomatic treatment of Parkinson's disease. In previous reports, the proximity of the optic tract to the lesion target in the globus pallidus internus has resulted in the occurrence of visual field deficits in as much as 14% of patients. The authors have used intraoperative visual evoked potentials (VEPs) during PVP to reduce this risk. All procedures were performed in awake patients. Flash stimuli were delivered to each eye via fiberoptic sources. Baseline flash VEPs were recorded at O1/Cz (left visual cortex to vertex), Oz/Cz (midline visual cortex to vertex), and O2/Cz (right visual cortex to vertex) for OS, OU, and OD stimulation. Epochs were acquired before and after localization, after macroelectrode stimulation, after temporary thermal lesioning, and after permanent thermal lesioning. Forty-seven patients underwent a total of 59 procedures. Visual evoked potentials were recorded reproducibly in all patients. In 11 procedures, VEP changes were reported, including six amplitude changes (10-80%), six latency shifts (3-10 msec), and one report of "variability. " In four procedures, VEP changes prompted a change in target coordinates. One false-positive and one false-negative VEP change were encountered. The only confirmed visual deficit was a superior quadrantanopsia, present on formal fields, but clinically asymptomatic. The authors conclude that VEPs may be useful for procedures performed in the awake patient because of the lack of anesthetic-induced variability. The 1.7% visual morbidity reported here (one in 59 patients) compares favorably with other series using microelectrodes. Visual evoked potentials may be a useful monitoring technique to reduce the incidence of clinically significant visual morbidity during pallidotomy, especially during formal lesioning of the ventral pallidum adjacent to the optic tract.
Simple and robust direct-model predictive current control technique for PMSGs in variable-speed wind turbines

This paper presents a simple and robust direct-model predictive current control (DMPCC) scheme for surface-mounted permanent-magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) in variable-speed wind turbines (VSWTs). The proposed DMPCC is based on computing the reference voltage vector (VV) directly from the demanded reference current using a deadbeat-like function. Then, the location of this reference VV is identified based on its angle. Finally, a certain cost function is evaluated for only three times to get the optimal voltage vector to be applied in the next sampling instant. However, the proposed DMPCC is a model-based control system, and accordingly, sensitive to parameter variations of the PMSG. To mitigate such limitation, a simple observer is designed to enhance the robustness of the proposed DMPCC scheme to variations of the PMSG parameters. The proposed DMPCC strategy has been experimentally implemented and its performance has been compared with that of the conventional DMPCC.
On the Optimality of WLAN Location Determination Systems

This report presents a general analysis for the performance of WLAN location determination systems. In particular, we present an analytical method for calculating the average distance error and probability of error of WLAN location determination systems. These expressions are obtained with no assumptions regarding the distribution of signal strength or the probability of the user being at a specific location, which is usually taken to be a uniform distribution over all the possible locations in current WLAN location determination systems. We use these expressions to find the optimal strategy to estimate the user location and to prove formally that probabilistic techniques give more accuracy than deterministic techniques, which has been taken for granted without proof for a long time. The analytical results are validated through simulation experiments. We also study the effect of the assumption that the user position follows a uniform distribution over the set of possible locations on the accuracy of WLAN location determination systems. The results show that knowing the probability distribution of the user position can reduce the number of access points required to obtain a given accuracy. However, with a high density of access points, the performance of a WLAN location determination system is consistent under different probability distributions for the user position.