Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of aggregate energy intensity with consideration of intra-industry trade

In order to investigate the impact of trade structure on the aggregate energy intensity besides the traditional factors such as price and technology, this paper establishes a regression model with consideration of intra-industry trade, which is a sound symbol for the trade structure. Using panel data covering 25 manufacturing industries and the period of 1996~2005 from China, it finds out that the rising of relative energy price, the enhancing of technology level, and the openness contribute significantly to the falling of the aggregate energy intensity, whereas the development of intra-industry trade seems to stimulate the energy consumption, leading to an increasing aggregate energy intensity. It is a meaningful reference for the government.
Memory characteristics in individuals with savant skills.

In this chapter it is argued that memory performance provides a coherent picture of savant abilities, even though the talents displayed make different demands on memory and learning. The chapter opens with an introduction to savant talent, to issues in relation to domain-specificity and modularity, as well as the role of practice and implicit memory. These topics have been picked out because of their relevance to memory and also because of associations with autism. Three sections then follow which focus on savant memory performance amongst numerical and calendar calculators, musicians and artists, where the evidence from empirical studies is placed in the context of the issues raised in the Introduction. Finally, a theoretical interpretation is presented which, it is argued, provides a convincing account of the development of savant abilities.
Filling Holes in 3D Meshes using Image Restoration Algorithms

This work describes a method for filling holes in a 3D mesh based on 2D image restoration algorithms. Since these algorithms need an image as input, the first stage of the method concerns a 3D to 2D transformation. By projecting the 3D surface onto a squared plane, a 2D image is generated in such a way that the depth information is stored in each grid. The image restoration algorithms are applied to it. Once the image has been repaired, the inverse transformation 2D to 3D is performed and the repaired 3D surface recovered. To test the method, artificial holes have been generated on a set of 3D surfaces. The goodnessof the results has been measured from the comparison between the 3D original surfaces and the 3D repaired ones. An evaluation with commercial software has been carried out to show thevalidityof themethod. Theimage restorationalgorithms have been applied to 3D cultural heritage modeling with good results. Specifically, sculptures of the collection from the National Museum of Roman Art in Spain have been reconstructed.
Resolution problems in calculating landscape metrics

The variation of landscape metrics caused by varying the map input resolution has been investigated. Landscape metrics are spatial indicators used to link spatial patterns with the ecological processes that generate them. An aerial photograph was semi‐automatically classified at different resolutions by superimposing a grid with a variable cell dimension (10, 20 and 40 metres) in a GIS environment. The variation of the mostly used landscape metrics was investigated. This approach allows the up‐scaling of spatial indices, thanks to the objective ('a priori') definition of the Minimum Mapping Unit. Some metrics showed linear trends over the range of examined scales, and other metrics had non‐linear response curves. For the first type of metrics, the translation of information over a wide range of spatial scales seems to be very simple, while for the second this translation appears to be impossible.
The importance of location on trust in mobile networks

Mobile wireless networks introduce new challenges regarding security and privacy of data. On the other hand self-organization and independence of fixed infrastructure make these networks, such as mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) very attractive for military but also civilian application areas. They allow to extend the wireless link into areas with no readily available communication infrastructure. Additionally, these networks can also be used as a subsequent to the common communication environment in order to assure communication on-the-fly even if the regular network is overwhelmed, like for instance during emergency situation or during major sports or cultural events. With the purpose to overcome the security problem accompaingned with these networks, more and more research is launched in the area of Trust establishment in mobile wireless networks. However Trust in mobile network settings introduces new challenges compared to the conventional notions for infrastructure networks. Especially mobile behavior, which is enabled by wireless links, diversifies Trust research in multiple ways. Hence unfortunately, traditional security concepts, such as Public Key Infrastructures are no accurate solutions to protect sensitive communication and data in these autonomous network environments. Our paper discusses the Trust establishment in mobile wireless networks. We introduce the idea of TrustRings which enables the calculation of Trust-Values for nodes in mobile wireless networks based on an egocentric network model. Furthermore, the model takes the location and distance between communicating entities into account in order to obtain the accurate Trust-value.
Climatic variability and vegetation vulnerability in Amazônia

Models of climate change predict close coupling between increases in aridity and conversion of Amazonian forests to savanna. Here we assess the vulnerability and resilience of Amazonian vegetation to climate change by analyzing observed climate‐vegetation relationships using climate data, observed vegetation distributions, and evapotranspiration rates inferred from eddy flux data. We found that drought frequency is an excellent predictor of the forest‐savanna boundary, indicating the key role of extreme climatic events for inducing vegetation change, and highlighting particularly vulnerable regions of Amazônia.
Intact Semantic Priming of Critical Lures in Alzheimer's Disease: Implications for False Memory.

OBJECTIVES The present study examines the question of the activation of the critical lure (CL) in Alzheimer's patients with a Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM)-like task. More precisely, older adults and Alzheimer's patients performed a lexical decision task in which they were asked to categorize strings of letters as words or nonwords. Contrary to the DRM paradigm in which the activation of the CL is inferred from its production at recall, such a lexical decision task does not require the joint use of intentional recovery strategies and source-monitoring processes that are known to be particularly impaired in Alzheimer's patients. The performance at the lexical decision therefore reflects the activation of the CL without contamination from such strategic processes. METHOD Twenty-nine older adults and 25 Alzheimer's patients performed a lexical decision task with DRM lists intermixed with neutral words and nonwords. RESULTS Analysis indicated that older adults as well as Alzheimer's patients showed shorter lexical decision latencies for CLs than for other types of words. DISCUSSION Contrary to the existing literature, our results suggest that the activation of the CL is preserved in Alzheimer's patients at mild to moderate stages of the disease.
Organization of Cortical and Thalamic Input to Pyramidal Neurons in Mouse Motor Cortex

Determining how long-range synaptic inputs engage pyramidal neurons in primary motor cortex (M1) is important for understanding circuit mechanisms involved in regulating movement. We used channelrhodopsin-2-assisted circuit mapping to characterize the long-range excitatory synaptic connections made by multiple cortical and thalamic areas onto pyramidal neurons in mouse vibrissal motor cortex (vM1). Each projection innervated vM1 pyramidal neurons with a unique laminar profile. Collectively, the profiles for different sources of input partially overlapped and spanned all cortical layers. Specifically, orbital cortex (OC) inputs primarily targeted neurons in L6. Secondary motor cortex (M2) inputs excited neurons mainly in L5B, including pyramidal tract neurons. In contrast, thalamocortical inputs from anterior motor-related thalamic regions, including VA/VL (ventral anterior thalamic nucleus/ventrolateral thalamic nucleus), targeted neurons in L2/3 through L5B, but avoided L6. Inputs from posterior sensory-related thalamic areas, including POm (posterior thalamic nuclear group), targeted neurons only in the upper layers (L2/3 and L5A), similar to inputs from somatosensory (barrel) cortex. Our results show that long-range excitatory inputs target vM1 pyramidal neurons in a layer-specific manner. Inputs from sensory-related cortical and thalamic areas preferentially target the upper-layer pyramidal neurons in vM1. In contrast, inputs from OC and M2, areas associated with volitional and cognitive aspects of movements, bypass local circuitry and have direct monosynaptic access to neurons projecting to brainstem and thalamus.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MARKET ON CURRICULAR PROVISION BY HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN MONGOLIA

This thesis examines the changes in Mongolian higher education in the context of the market and to assess their influence on institutions of higher education, in particular on curricular provision at undergraduate level. There is a sufficient number of theoretical as well as empirical research studies and publications on market-oriented or marketised higher education systems, but the literature reveals that there has been little research specifically addressing the effect of the market on undergraduate curricular provision. In the context of post-communist countries, there is also scant research that addressed the issues that arose in undergraduate provision during the transition period. Employing a multiple case study as a methodological approach, this thesis engages with Clark’s (1983:142) concept of ‘the triangle of coordination’ with, the three elements of coordination - state, market and academe -, and Jongbloed’s (2003) model of ‘the eight conditions for a market’ for higher education institutions. It shows what the nature of changes in Mongolian HE is since the first new democratic Education Law that set the foundation of market practices in higher education, how they came about and what the causes were, in order to understand the influence of this context on the provision. Through the thematic analysis of interviews and document review, the study shows how the higher education reform policy has been interpreted and implemented at the institutional level, and how this context has influenced undergraduate curricular provision. The study finds that, for Mongolian universities, academic programmes were the core factor in the increase of financial resources, consumer attraction and an institution’s reputation. There were two distinctive phenomena in terms of curricular responsiveness. One was the emergence of a wide range of new courses and new fields. The other was conceptual changes in delivering knowledge. The findings of causes for opening new fields were important as these illustrated the strength of the influence over undergraduate provision by either state or market.
The New Routing Algorithm for the ARPANET

The new ARPANET routing algorithm is an improvement over the old procedure in that it uses fewer network resources, operates on more realistic estimates of network conditions, reacts faster to important network changes, and does not suffer from long-term loops or oscillations. In the new procedure, each node in the network maintains a database describing the complete network topology and the delays on all lines, and uses the database describing the network to generate a tree representing the minimum delay paths from a given root node to every other network node. Because the traffic in the network can be quite variable, each node periodically measures the delays along its outgoing lines and forwards this information to all other nodes. The delay information propagates quickly through the network so that all nodes can update their databases and continue to route traffic in a consistent and efficient manner. An extensive series of tests were conducted on the ARPANET, showing that line overhead and CPU overhead are both less than two percent, most nodes learn of an update within 100 ms, and the algorithm detects congestion and routes packets around congested areas.
Estimating the Effect of Disability on Medicare Expenditures

ESTIMATING THE EFFECT OF DISABILITY ON MEDICARE EXPENDITURES David M. E. Burk Department of Statistics Master of Science We consider the effect of disability status on Medicare expenditures. Disabled elderly historically have accounted for a significant portion of Medicare expenditures. Recent demographic trends exhibit a decline in the size of this population, causing some observers to predict declines in Medicare expenditures. There are, however, reasons to be suspicious of this rosy forecast. To better understand the effect of disability on Medicare expenditures, we develop and estimate a model using the generalized method of moments technique. We find that newly disabled elderly generally spend more than those who have been disabled for longer periods of time. Also, we find that increases in expenditures have risen much more quickly for those disabled Medicare beneficiaries who were at the higher ends of the expenditure distribution before the increases.
Updates from the Internet Backbone: An RPKI/RTR Router Implementation, Measurements, and Analysis

A fundamental change in the Internet backbone routing started in January 2011: The Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) has officially been deployed by the Regional Internet Registries. It leverages the validation of BGP prefix updates based on cryptographically verified data and may lead to secure inter-domain routing at last. In this talk, we present RTRlib, a highly efficient reference C implementation of the RPKI router part. We deploy RTRlib and conduct a long-term measurement using live BGP streams to evaluate the current impact of RPKI-based prefix origin validation on BGP routers. We observe that most of the invalid prefixes are most likely the result of misconfiguration. RTRlib is the only openly available tool for monitoring RPKI validation activities in real-time. We measure a relatively small overhead of origin validation on commodity hardware (5% more RAM than required for full BGP table support, 0.41% load in case of ⇡ 92,000 prefix updates per minute).
Visual Representations of Meta-Information

We conducted two studies that investigated display characteristics related to color (hue, saturation, brightness, and transparency) and contrast with a background for displaying information qualifiers (termed meta-information) such as uncertainty, age, and source quality. Level of detail (or granularity) of the meta-information and task demands were also manipulated. Participants were asked to rank and rate colored regions overlaid on different map backgrounds based on the level of meta-information the regions displayed. Results from Study 1 indicated that participants could appropriately rank and rate levels of meta-information across saturation, brightness, and transparency conditions, and results from Study 1 and Study 2 showed that the natural direction of ordering is complex and dependent on the relevance of different information to the task and the contrast of the overlay region with the background.
A simple lock manager for distributed heterogeneous systems

Distributed systems require an efficient way to manage access to shared data and using lock management system is a software-based solution to it. Current locks a re mostly special purpose locks and do not consider the heterogeneity needed for these systems. In this paper, we use the concept of semaphore as a basic structure to manage critical regions in a distributed heterogeneous system. We propose a distributed lock mechanism that is implemented with the aim of simplicity and ability to run on heterogeneous systems. The comparison of this lock mechanism with other comparable mechanisms indicates that it has the necessary and sufficient locking facilities and supports heterogeneous distribution. Besides, we report different average operation times of our implemented lock.
Extensible Video Processing Framework in Apache Hadoop

Digital video is prominent big data spread all over the Internet. It is large not only in size but also in required processing power to extract useful information. Fast processing of excessive video reels is essential on criminal investigations, such as terrorism. This demo presents an extensible video processing framework in Apache Hadoop to parallelize video processing tasks in a cloud environment. Except for video transcending systems, there have been few systems that can perform various video processing in cloud computing environments. The framework employs FFmpeg for a video coder, and OpenCV for a image processing engine. To optimize the performance, it exploits MapReduce implementation details to minimize video image copy. Moreover, FFmpeg source code was modified and extended, to access and exchange essential data and information with Hadoop, effectively. A face tracking system was implemented on top of the framework for the demo, which traces the continuous face movements in a sequence of video frames. Since the system provides a web-based interface, people can try the system on site. In an 8-core environment with two quad-core systems, the system shows 75% of scalability.
Efficient and Privacy-Preserving Min and $k$ th Min Computations in Mobile Sensing Systems

Protecting the privacy of mobile phone user participants is extremely important for mobile phone sensing applications. In this paper, we study how an aggregator can expeditiously compute the minimum value or the <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="chen-ieq2-2432814.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>th minimum value of all users’ data without knowing them. We construct two secure protocols using probabilistic coding schemes and a cipher system that allows homomorphic bitwise XOR computations for our problems. Following the standard cryptographic security definition in the semi-honest model, we formally prove our protocols’ security. The protocols proposed by us can support time-series data and need not to assume the aggregator is trusted. Moreover, different from existing protocols that are based on secure arithmetic sum computations, our protocols are based on secure bitwise XOR computations, thus are more efficient.
Neural Web Based Human Recognition

-Face detection is one of the challenging problems in the image processing. A novel face detection system is presented in this paper. The approach relies on skin-based color features xtracted from two dimensional Discrete Cosine Transfer (DCT) and neural networks, which can be used to detect faces by using skin color from DCT coefficient of Cb and Cr feature vectors. This system contains the skin color which is the main feature of faces for detection, and then the skin face candidate is examined by using the neural networks, which learn from the feature of faces to classify whether the original image includes a face or not. The processing is based on normalization and Discrete Cosin Transfer. Finally the classification based on neural networks approach. The experiment results on upright frontal color face images from the internet show an excellent detection rate
Proof-relevant pi-calculus

Formalising the pi-calculus is an illuminating test of the expressiveness of logical frameworks and mechanised metatheory systems, because of the presence of name binding, labelled transitions with name extrusion, bisimulation, and structural congruence. Formalisations have been undertaken in a variety of systems, primarily focusing on well-studied (and challenging) properties such as the theory of process bisimulation. We present a formalisation in Agda that instead explores the theory of concurrent transitions, residuation, and causal equivalence of traces, which has not previously been formalised for the pi-calculus. Our formalisation employs de Bruijn indices and dependently-typed syntax, and aligns the "proved transitions" proposed by Boudol and Castellani in the context of CCS with the proof terms naturally present in Agda's representation of the labelled transition relation. Our main contributions are proofs of the "diamond lemma" for residuation of concurrent transitions and a formal definition of equivalence of traces up to permutation of transitions.
Metric reconstruction based on multifocal tensors

Reconstructing the structure of a scene from 2D views has been an important research field in computer vision. By investigating the epipolar geometry between multiple views, this paper deals with the problem of reconstructing metric 3D scenes from calibrated images and develops a uniform reconstructing framework based on multi-linear relations. The framework can reconstruct the scene directly and puts forward no requirements on the beforehand knowledge of camera movements and the scene's 3D structure. First, a multifocal tensor is computed from the normalized images. Then, the tensor is applied to analyze the relative positions of views. Finally, local estimations are unified into an accordant entirety to get optimal approximations for the points in 3D scenes. Experiments with both synthetic and real image data show the validity of the framework in precision and efficiency.
Low cost hot embossing process for plastics microfluidic chips fabrication

In this work, we develop plastic microfluidic chips based on low cost hot embossing process with metal micromold. Metal micromold was formed on aluminum substrates by CNC milling machine and high precision micromachine. The hot embossing system is in-house made with computer aid design by Solid Work program. The system consists of four main parts, structural body, heating system, compressive system and control electronics. The compressive system consists of two top hydraulic single-stage pistons and four middle-stage pistons. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) microfluidic chips were then produced by hot embossing under different applied temperatures and time. It was found that optimum temperature and time for minimum contraction and depth error were 80 degree C and 2–5 minutes. The developed technique offer advantages for microfluidic chip fabrication in term of quality, complexity and cost.
Methodologies of Modeling for Decision Making in the Supply Network/Chain Management (SN/CM) in the Context of Uncertainty

The target this document is to show the process of Decisions Make in the different stages of the SN/CM, from the point of view of a structure Decentralized vs. Centralized (different grades). It’s obviously a simplification and there are many clarifies that they have to see with the type SN/C, where they have to see his different Stages and Hierarchic Levels. In the SN/C it’s difficult to detect and to transmit the Information that it finds dispersed and fragmented that goes from the Supplier of raw material up to the final consumer. For which it tries to study in depth the Methodologies of Modeling in the Hierarchical Planning of the SN/CM and in particular to propose a Preliminary Methodology for the Supply Chain Hierarchical Planning in the Uncertainty Context. More specifically, it: 1. considered decisional visions in the Hierarchical Planning of the Supply Network/Chain 2. performed a literature review of the uncertainty in the Supply Chain 3. studied sources of uncertainty along the Supply Chain 4. took into consideration models of classification for the Hierarchical Planning in the Supply Network/Chain under uncertainty 5. designed a preliminary methodology for the Hierarchical Planning of the Supply Network/Chain.