Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Terrain feature identification by modeling radar image statistics

We propose a new statistical model for SAR images. According to this model, the SAR image amplitude follows a product of Rayleigh and Bessel functions. We derive the maximum likelihood feature detector for extracting terrain features from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The terrain features are classified as ridges and ravines according to their statistical properties and surrounding neighborhood. These salient features are used as constraints for estimating the SAR terrain surface.
UI Testing Cross-Device Applications

The increasing number of devices available to a user has prompted the research community to explore how these can be used in combination. Frameworks and toolkits have been proposed to facilitate the design and implementation of these cross-device applications. Still, implementing cross-device applications remains complex because of the fragmentation of the user interface and logic across devices and the flexibility required to adapt to different combinations of devices. Testing in particular has been identified as a critical challenge. To address these issues, we introduce XD-Testing, a library that provides explicit and implicit device selectors, device templates and scenarios, as well as a visualiser for application screenshots. In a case study, we demonstrate how we used the library to author human-readable tests for a cross-device gallery that verify if a UI distributes correctly and if it works as expected despite being distributed.
Universal Engineering Model for Cooling Towers

This paper presents a universal engineering model, which can be used to formulates both counter-flow and cross-flow cooling towers. By using fundamental laws of mass and energy balance, the effectiveness of heat exchange is approximated by a second order polynomial equation. Gauss -Newton and Levenberg-Marquardt methods are then used to determine the coefficients from manufactures data. Compared with the existing models, the new model has two main advantages: (1) As the engineering model is derived from engineering perspective, it involves fewer input variables and has better description of the cooling tower operation; (2) There is no iterative computation required, this feature is very important for online optimization of cooling tower performance. Although the model is simple, the results are very accurate. Application examples are given to compare the proposed model with commonly used models.
Load-Balanced Routing Scheme for Energy-Efficient Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) require appropriate protocols that make judicious use of the finite energy resources of the sensor nodes. In this paper, we investigate the potential energy conservation achieved by balancing the traffic throughout the WSN. We show that distributing the traffic generated by each sensor node through multiple paths instead of using a single path allows significant energy savings. In order to quantitatively evaluate the benefits of the proposed load balancing technique, a new analytical model for load-balanced systems is elaborated and approved by simulations.
A framework for experimenting distributed connectivity strategies in DVEs

A key challenge in Distributed Virtual Environments' (DVE) research has always been the possibility to compare new connectivity strategies with state of the art solutions without having to re-implement it. Indeed, when considering distributed connectivity strategies that allow multiple processes (eventually the end-user processes) to distribute the computation of a specific DVE task (i.e., objects discovery, neighbors discovery, positions updates, etc.), it has always been very difficult to efficiently compare the already proposed solutions with the new ones on the same exact implementation and assumption bases. Our Open Virtual Environment (OVE) project aims at being among the first very easy to use open source C++ GPL v3 frameworks that answer this need by providing all the necessary tools for an easy implementation of new propositions. Three spatially organized peer-to-peer network overlays are given as an example, thus laying down the bases for other connectivity strategies to be implemented and compared.
Cleansing Noisy Data Streams

In this paper, we identify a new research problem on cleansing noisy data streams which contain incorrectly labeled training examples. The objective is to accurately identify and remove mislabeled data, such that the prediction models built from the cleansed streams can be more accurate than the ones trained from the raw noisy streams. For this purpose, we first use bias-variance decomposition to derive a maximum variance margin (MVM) principle for stream data cleansing. Following this principle, we further propose a local and global filtering (LgF) framework to combine the strength of local noise filtering (within one single data chunk) and global noise filtering (across a number of adjacent data chunks) to identify erroneous data. Experimental results on six data streams (including two real-world data streams) demonstrate that LgF significantly outperforms simple methods in identifying noisy examples.
Modeling species invasions using thermal and trophic niche dynamics under climate change

Changing marine temperatures modify the distributional ranges of natural populations, but the success of invasion of new areas depends on local physical and ecological conditions. We explore the invasion by thermophilic species and their ecosystem effects by simulating a sea surface temperature increase using a trophodynamic model for the northern Adriatic Sea (NAS), in which thermal and trophic niches are explicitly represented for each thermophilic non-indigenous species and native species. The NAS acts as a cul-de-sac for local species, preventing a further poleward migration as a response to temperature rise. In this situation, model results showed that effects of warming and invasion produced complex, non-linear changes on biomasses but never resulted in a complete overturn of a group of native species and/or a bloom of invasive ones. Despite this, the diversity index stabilizes at increased values after simulating invasion, possibly indicating that in such enclosed systems the establishment of invasive species could represent enrichment in ecosystem structure. In addition, the absence of complete species substitution clearly showed the contribution of resident species towards increasing the resilience, i.e. the capability of the system to cope with invasion without changing substantially. Contrasting scenarios highlighted that changes in ecosystem primary production and species adaptation had secondary effects in ecosystem structure, while results for scenarios with different exploitation levels indicated that fishing can destabilize community structure in these change contexts, e.g. reducing community resilience. The results confirmed the importance of an ecological niche approach to analyze possible effects of invasion and highlighted the complexity of dynamics linked to temperature-driven species invasion’, in terms of both the predicted strength of impacts and the direction of biomass change.
A scalable test strategy for network-on-chip routers

Network-on-chip has recently emerged as alternative communication architecture for complex system chip and different aspects regarding NoC design have been studied in the literature. However, the test of the NoC itself for manufacturing faults has been marginally tackled. This paper proposes a scalable test strategy for the routers in a NoC, based on partial scan and on an IEEE 1500-compliant test wrapper. The proposed test strategy takes advantage of the regular design of the NoC to reduce both test area overhead and test time. Experimental results show that a good tradeoff of area overhead, fault coverage, test data volume, and test time is achieved by the proposed technique. Furthermore, the method can be applied for large NoC sizes and it does not depend on the network routing and control algorithms, which makes the method suitable to test a large class of network models
Deriving Ontology-Based Metadata for E-Learning form the ACM Computing Curricula

Using metadata is very important for achieving best results in finding and reusing e-learning material. Metadata are howe ver effective only if there is a common agreement on the terminology used. Defining an ontology is a way out, but creating a good ontology and reaching a consensus on it is a non trivial task. In this paper, we claim that an ontology for Computer Science can be extracted as a side-result from the work made by an ACM committee on Computer Science curricula. We extracted the ontology, and we suggest that it could/should be used for defining metadata on e -learning material that is concerned with the Computer Science domain. We provide both an XML and a DAML+OIL representation of the ontology. Also, we suggest a possible way to navigate the metadata that allows enriching each lesson with a set of related material automatically extracted from the repository of e-learning material. Finally, we discuss possible additional uses of the ontology, and the exportability of our approach to other disciplines.
NEPAL : A Tool for Never-Ending Paraphrase Learning

Use different words to express/convey the same message is an ordinary task in any language and one of the best ways to do so is using paraphrases. As a consequence, a proper treatment of paraphrases is crucial for several NLP applications, such as Machine Translation, Multidocument Summarization and Natural Language Generation. This paper describes NEPAL, an automatic system capable of learning paraphrases in Brazilian Portuguese. The extraction is made from a bilingual parallel corpus composed of news that are available online. To do so, NEPAL applies the [5]’s never-ending machine learning approach together with the paraphrase extraction method proposed by [2]. The experiment described in this paper show promising results achieving 86% of correctly extracted paraphrases.
A Comparative analysis of information seeking behaviour of Canadian and international secondary school graduates entering a university

The importance of acquiring information literacy (IL) knowledge and skills in high schools as a prerequisite to entering colleges and universities has been well-documented in the literature (e.g., Cahoy, 2002; Fitzgerald, 2004; Saunders, Severyn, & Caron, 2017). This paper investigates the IL knowledge of Canadian and international high school graduates, as they enter a university in Canada. More specifically, the focus is on information seeking behaviour (ISB), part of the Access and Evaluation stages of the IL spectrum (Sparks, Katz, & Beile, 2016).
Communicating Mission and Building Library Brand Using Taglines, Slogans, or Logos

We librarians can capitalize on this visual trend to promote effectively our library’s programs, services, and collections. We hear and read a lot about visibly marketing our libraries and services through branding and building brand. Other strategies include merchandizing collections, segmenting customers into user groups, and other similar concepts to demonstrate, instruct, and advertise what we do.
Experimental study to compare the use of metamorphic testing and assertion checking

A test oracle in software testing is a mechanism for checking whether the program under test behaves correctly for any execution.In some practical situations,oracles can be unavailable or too expensive to apply.Metamorphic testing(MT) was proposed to alleviate this problem so that software can be delivered under the time-to-market pressure.However,the effectiveness of MT has not been studied adequately.This paper conducts a controlled experiment to investigate the cost effectiveness of using MT.The fault detection capability and time cost of MT are compared with the standard assertion checking method.The results show that MT has potentials to detect more faults than the assertion checking method.The experimental results also show a trade-off between the two testing methods:MT can be less efficient but more effective,and can be defined at a coarser level of granularity than the assertion checking method.
The Extended Principle of the Common Cause

The Principle of the Common Cause is usually understood to provide causal explanations for probabilistic correlations obtaining between causally unrelated events. In this work, an extended interpretation of the principle is proposed, according to which common causes should be invoked to explain positive correlations whose values depart from the ones that one would expect to obtain in accordance to her probabilistic expectations. In addition, a probabilistic model for common causes is tailored which satisfies the generalized version of the principle, at the same time including the standard conjunctive-fork model as a special case.
From Long-Run Utopia to Technical Expertise: Solow's Growth Model as a Multipurpose Design

Combining concrete policy-oriented modeling strategies of World War II with what was received as traditional neoclassical theory, in 1956 Robert Solow constructed a simple, clean, and smooth-functioning “design” model that served many different purposes. As a working object it enabled experimentation with long-run equilibrium growth. As an instrument of measurement it was applied to time series data. As a prototype it was supposed to feed into larger-scale econometric models that were, in turn, thought of as technologies for policy advice. Used as a teaching device, Solow’s design became a medium of “spreading the technique,” and one of the symbols for neoclassical macroeconomics that soon became associated with MIT.
Using Secure Multiparty Computation for Collaborative Information Exchange

In this paper we describe an extension of the Secure Multiparty Computation (MPC) library SEPIA that allows mutual information exchange and distribution of warnings among a group of participating peers within an Information Sharing Network. This extension has been implemented and can be used to communicate security incident related data in an anonymous and privacy-preserving manner within IT early warning systems. More concrete: it allows for anonymous distribution of arbitrary binary input data to participating peers. It hence addresses several obstacles, e.g., concerning reputation loss, that are nowadays reasons for a reluctant attitude regarding information sharing across different administrative domains.
CLASSY 2009: Summarization and Metrics

This year the CLASSY team participated in the update summary task and made four submissions to summarization evaluation (AESOP). Our AESOP submissions used combinations of ROUGE scores along with an update (or newness) score. We also use these new metrics, which we call Nouveau ROUGE, to help train our system and evaluate new ideas on computing update summaries. CLASSY (Clustering, Linguistics, and Statistics for Summarization Yield) is the summarization system developed mainly 1 by IDA/Center for Computing Sciences. Before describing the Nouveau ROUGE update metrics, we describe improvements made to CLASSY in data preparation, redundancy removal, and sentence selection.
Interdisciplinary Technologies in Socio-Political Rehabilitation

The purpose of the research is to develop a technology of socio-political rehabilitation of the individuals who experienced a traumatic event or suffer from PTSP. The technology is supposed to use a modern diagnostic device system to measure psychological and psychophysiological characteristics of an individual. The research allowed verification of the assumption that control of the dynamics of the changes occurring in the state of the patient under the influence of the rehabilitation measures increases effectiveness of the psychological support. The control is mainly performed immediately after the completion of the whole set of rehabilitation measures and/or in a certain period after their completion (in order to determine the action after effect). To develop the ability to regulate emotional states of the individuals who experienced a posttraumatic event it is suggested to apply the technology of socio-psychological rehabilitation, which can be implemented with the help of special equipment. Therefore, one of the tasks of the study was to develop a diagnostic system to perform step-by-step control of effectiveness of the rehabilitation procedures.
WDM Switching Module Based on Active Microring Resonators: Applications to Metro Networks

The switching properties of a resonator consisting of two serially cascaded active micro rings are reported. The switching is achieved through the variation of the refractive index and the losses of the micro rings with current injection, which alters the overall output spectral response. The switch is suitable for optical burst switching systems and metro architectures as it provides fast optical switching in the ns scale with contrast ratio higher than 30 dB for 10 Gbps intensity modulated signals. Its potential applications to a metro network node are discussed.
DNA Synthesis during Endomitosis Is Stimulated by Insulin via the PI3K/Akt and TOR Signaling Pathways in the Silk Gland Cells of Bombyx mori

Silk gland cells undergo multiple endomitotic cell cycles during silkworm larval ontogeny. Our previous study demonstrated that feeding is required for continued endomitosis in the silk gland cells of silkworm larvae. Furthermore, the insulin signaling pathway is closely related to nutritional signals. To investigate whether the insulin signaling pathway is involved in endomitosis in silk gland cells, in this study, we initially analyzed the effects of bovine insulin on DNA synthesis in endomitotic silk gland cells using 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling technology, and found that bovine insulin can stimulate DNA synthesis. Insulin signal transduction is mainly mediated via phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt, the target of rapamycin (TOR) and the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathways in vertebrates. We ascertained that these three pathways are involved in DNA synthesis in endomitotic silk gland cells using specific inhibitors against each pathway. Moreover, we investigated whether these three pathways are involved in insulin-stimulated DNA synthesis in endomitotic silk gland cells, and found that the PI3K/Akt and TOR pathways, but not the ERK pathway, are involved in this process. These results provide an important theoretical foundation for the further investigations of the mechanism underlying efficient endomitosis in silk gland cells.
Design and analysis of ultra wide band hemispherical dielectric resonator antenna

A very high efficiency Ultra wide band(UWB) hemispherical dielectric resonator antenna is simulated. The antenna is excited by commonly used feeding technique known as microstrip feeding. The dielectric resonator (DR) is inserted in the vertical edge of the substrate, which covers almost entire UWB bands(3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz). A high impedance bandwidth of 3.74 GHz to 10.49 GHz is achieved in simulation. Compared to normal hemispherical dielectric resonator antenna, this design shows large volume reduction. A significant result analysis is also given in the paper.
A Virtualized Hybrid Distributed File System

We have designed a virtualized hybrid distributed file system for large scale data storage. It ensembles the characteristic of fault tolerance based on inexpensive commodity hardware inherited from the classic Google File System but also integrates the advantage of the P2P network. While sharing many of the same goals as previous distributed file systems, this new system design aims to reduce the scale and previously necessary space, bandwidth and energy consumptions of the data center and reduces the cost of running a large-scale distributed file system. Traditionally, only local or inner-enterprise servers are used for constructing cloud-computing network for a certain enterprise. This new design tries to induce a new method of integrating leisure hard-disk space, bandwidth and CPU capacity of from external sources. With a distributed data storage network and an inner-enterprise server system as a central controller, large clusters of data can be managed in a classic C/S like way and data can be transmitted like the P2P network. To ensure security, more stratified virtualization is required to ensure the isolation between realistic file owner and storage space provider. Workload estimations have been conducted to test the efficiency of time and space in this design.
Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Crude Extracts and Essential Oils of Syzygium cumini Leaves

This research highlights the chemical composition, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of essential oils and various crude extracts (using methanol and methylene chloride) from Syzygium cumini leaves. Essential oils were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The abundant constituents of the oils were: α-pinene (32.32%), β-pinene (12.44%), trans-caryophyllene (11.19%), 1, 3, 6-octatriene (8.41%), delta-3-carene (5.55%), α-caryophyllene (4.36%), and α-limonene (3.42%). The antioxidant activities of all extracts were examined using two complementary methods, namely diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing power (FRAP). In both methods, the methanol extract exhibited a higher activity than methylene chloride and essential oil extracts. A higher content of both total phenolics and flavonoids were found in the methanolic extract compared with other extracts. Furthermore, the methanol extract had higher antibacterial activity compared to methylene chloride and the essential oil extracts. Due to their antioxidant and antibacterial properties, the leaf extracts from S. cumini may be used as natural preservative ingredients in food and/or pharmaceutical industries.
Renormalization group and spontaneous compactification of a higher-dimensional scalar field theory in curved spacetime.

The renormalization group (RG) is used to study the asymptotically free � 3 -theory in curved spacetime. Several forms of the RG equations for the effective potential are formulated. By solving these equations we obtain the one-loop effective potential as well as its explicit forms in the case of strong gravitational fields and strong scalar fields. Using zeta function techniques, the one-loop and corresponding RG improved vacuum energies are found for the Kaluza-Klein backgrounds R 4 ×S 1 ×S 1 and R 4 ×S 2 . They are given in terms of exponentially convergent series, appropriate for numerical calculations. A study of these vacuum energies as a function of compactification lengths and other couplings shows that spontaneous compactification can be qualitatively different when the RG improved energy is used.