Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autonomous Behaviors With A Legged Robot

Over the last ten years, technological advancements in sensory, motor, and computational capabilities have made it a real possibility for a legged robotic platform to traverse a diverse set of terrains and execute a variety of tasks on its own, with little to no outside intervention. However, there are still several technical challenges to be addressed in order to reach complete autonomy, where such a platform operates as an independent entity that communicates and cooperates with other intelligent systems, including humans. A central limitation for reaching this ultimate goal is modeling the world in which the robot is operating, the tasks it needs to execute, the sensors it is equipped with, and its level of mobility, all in a unified setting. This thesis presents a simple approach resulting in control strategies that are backed by a suite of formal correctness guarantees. We showcase the virtues of this approach via implementation of two behaviors on a legged mobile platform, autonomous natural terrain ascent and indoor multi-flight stairwell ascent, where we report on an extensive set of experiments demonstrating their empirical success. Lastly, we explore how to deal with violations to these models, specifically the robot's environment, where we present two possible extensions with potential performance improvements under such conditions. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Electrical & Systems Engineering First Advisor Daniel E. Koditschek Second Advisor Alejandro Ribeiro
Adaptive Cross-layer Optimization Based on Markov Decision Process

In order to satisfy QoS demands of wireless multimedia application it is necessary to make an optimization on several ISO-OSI layers in the protocol stack. In this paper an optimization cross-layer algorithm has been applied based on Markov decision process (MDP). The wireless communication system with one user has been optimized by the transmitting policies in order to maximize the throughput along with the optimization of the average value of the engaged power, satisfying the demanded BER and the average value of rejected packets. Simulation results show that the application of cross-layer design based on MDP is justified. Ill. 2, bibl. 9 (in English; abstracts in English and Lithuanian). http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.eee. 108.2. 141
An evaluation of Australian pharmacists' knowledge of glaucoma: Effectiveness of continuous professional development education events

Objectives: We aimed to determine the effectiveness of a series of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) seminars on glaucoma therapy for pharmacists and to identify potential gaps in knowledge. Methods: We evaluated pharmacists’ knowledge using a questionnaire distributed to pharmacists attending a glaucoma seminar conducted by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia or the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia, in conjunction with Glaucoma Australia, before (pre-test) and after (post-test) each seminar. The seminars were conducted at seven locations in Australia and there were 138 respondents. Results: Of the 138 pre-test and 124 post-test responses around Australia, there were 105 matched-pairs. Overall, the seminar significantly improved post- test responses compared with pre-test responses (Wilcoxon Matched Pairs test, p = < 0.05), except for one case-based question. Conclusion: While there was reasonable glaucoma knowledge in pharmacists, improvements are needed for step-up therapy for patients with co-morbidities. One of the case-based style questions highlighted a significant gap in knowledge despite the intervention; thus case-based learning could be useful in assessing participants’ level of understanding and incorporated into educational presentations.
Graph-Based Multi-Modality Learning for Topic-Focused Multi-Document Summarization

Graph-based manifold-ranking methods have been successfully applied to topic-focused multi-document summarization. This paper further proposes to use the multi-modality manifold-ranking algorithm for extracting topic-focused summary from multiple documents by considering the within-document sentence relationships and the cross-document sentence relationships as two separate modalities (graphs). Three different fusion schemes, namely linear form, sequential form and score combination form, are exploited in the algorithm. Experimental results on the DUC benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed multi-modality learning algorithms with all the three fusion schemes.
MCCCSim - A Highly Configurable Multi Core Cache Contention Simulator

Chip multi processors (CMP) are currently taking over the desktop processor market, supplying more computational power than former single core processors could ever achieve. However, a big increase in computational performance automatically widens the processor-memory gap, having the potential to slow down the whole system. Additionally, in multicore systems, the requirements of the memory hierarchy system get multiplied with the number of cores: While, on a system supporting only one thread at the same time, cache contention particularly introduces cache conflicts when switching from one thread to another at the end of a timeslice, in a multicore scenario, the caches are permanently accessed by several cores. This results in an increase of inter-thread conflict misses. Therefore, several techniques have been proposed to overcome inter-thread cache conflict misses and keep memory hierarchy accesstime low. One way to minimize cache interference in CMP systems is to allocate applications to cores in an optimal way, using either run time performance counter information or other prediction methods. In order to verify and refine such methods, a multicore CPU simulator reproducing parallel instruction execution has to be employed. In this paper, we present MCCCSim, an easy to use and highly configurable multicore cache contention simulator.
Computation of term/document discrimination values by use of the cover coefficient

Indexing in information retrieval (IR) is used to obtain a suitable vocabulary of index terms and optimum assignment of these terms to documents for increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of an IR system. The concept of term discrimination value (TDV) is one of the criteria used for index‐term selection. In this article a new concept called the cover coefficient (CC) will be used in computing TDVs. After a brief introduction to the theory of indexing and the CC concept, an efficient way of computing TDVs by use of the CC concept, index‐term selection, and weight modification are discussed. It is also shown that the computational cost of the CC approach in the calculation of TDVs is favorably comparable to the cost of a different approach that uses similarity coefficients. Furthermore, the TDVs obtained by the CC approach are consistent with those of the latter approach. © 1987 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Grey relational analysis evaluation of digital video recorder

The surveillance market includes various digital video recorder (DVR) systems. Six criteria – feasibility, economy, service, equipment functionality, management, and past achievements – are considered to assess DVRs made by three companies. This study evaluates the quality of three digital video recorder systems using grey relational analysis (GRA). Finally, a case study is presented to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Postoperative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization for multinodular hepatocellular carcinoma within the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer early stage and microvascular invasion.

Background The survival benefit of postoperative adjuvant transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (PA-TACE) remained controversial. We aimed to investigate the prognosis effect of PA-TACE on the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) early stage multinodular hepatocellular carcinoma (MHCC) patients with/without microvascular invasion (MVI). Methods Two hundred and seventy-one patients from January 2010 to December 2014 undergoing curative hepatectomy were included in this study. Disease-free survival (DFS) rates and overall survival (OS) rates as well as prognostic factors were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method, the log-rank test and the Cox proportional hazard model. Results Thirty-four point four percent (44/128) MVI positive and 55.2% (79/143) MVI negative patients underwent PA-TACE. Multivariate analysis revealed that HBV DNA load >103 copy/mL, >three tumors, MVI, and without PA-TACE were independent risk factors for poor DFS. Higher alkaline phosphatase (ALP), three tumors, MVI, and without PA-TACE were independent risk factors for poor OS. Both DFS and OS were significantly improved in patients with MVI who received PA-TACE as compared to those who underwent hepatic resection alone (5-year DFS, 26.3% vs. 20.7%, P=0.038; 5-year OS, 73.6% vs. 47.7%, P=0.005). No differences were noted in DFS and OS among MVI negative patients with or without PA-TACE (5-year DFS, 33.7% vs. 33.0%, P=0.471; 5-year OS, 84.1% vs. 80.3%, P=0.523). Early recurrence was more likely to occur in patients without PA-TACE (P=0.001). Conclusions PA-TACE was a safe intervention and could effectively prevent tumor recurrence and improve the survival of the BCLC early stage MHCC patients with MVI.
Mobile ticketing using Bluetooth low energy technology

O sector dos transportes publicos tem um papel importante na maioria das cidades, algo que se evidencia quanto maior for a sua dimensao. Ao longo dos ultimos anos, varias cidades tomaram medidas no sentido de reduzir o numero de carros a circular nas ruas, e incentivar a populacao a utilizar os transportes publicos. Esta evolucao da forma como a populacao faz as suas deslocacoes diarias e viaja dentro das cidades, associada com a atual evolucao tecnologica, beneficiaria de uma solucao que conseguisse motivar a populacao a utilizar os transportes publicos, atraves de um processo de compra e validacao de bilhetes mais simples e de facil utilizacao.O rapido crescimento de solucoes de pagamentos moveis e a sua aceitacao pela populacao constituem uma oportunidade para utilizar este conceito nos transportes publicos. A solucao proposta nesta tese toma partido do uso de beacons Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), que atualmente sao compativeis com quase todos os dispositivos moveis (com tecnologia Bluetooth), e espera-se que se tornem mais acessiveis e com melhor desempenho num futuro proximo.A solucao apresentada e uma plataforma que os utilizadores acedem atraves de uma aplicacao nos seus dispositivos moveis, e que se integra numa rede intermodal de transportes publicos (que inclui autocarros, metro e comboio) e que funciona atraves de um sistema check-in/be-out. A aplicacao movel funciona atraves do uso da tecnologia Bluetooth nos smartphones para detetar beacons BLE, que estao instalados nos veiculos (autocarros), ou nas estacoes (metro e comboio), e que permitem o acompanhamento das viagens dos utilizadores desde o inicio ate ao fim. Esta plataforma tambem sugere a implementacao de pos-pagamento integrado com um algoritmo de otimizacao de tarifario baseada nas viagens mensais de cada utilizador. Este processo requer interacao minima por parte de todas as partes envolvidas, resultando numa experiencia mais simples quer para o utilizador, quer para as operadoras, tornando os transportes publicos mais atrativos para todos.O principal foco deste trabalho e a avaliacao da viabilidade do uso de beacons BLE em cenarios reais, onde todas as comunicacoes wireless estao sujeitas a interferencias por parte de outros dispositivos. Para alem da descricao de uma plataforma que tira partido do uso de beacons BLE integrados num sistema de bilhetica movel, tambem os desafios do processo, assim como as metodologias de teste e resultados sao descritos. A validacao da solucao proposta esta integrada num estudo piloto conduzido na cidade do Porto.
Prognostic Markers and Mechanisms of Chemotherapy Resistance in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive and heterogeneous disease. Identification of prognostic and predictive markers is important to design individualised and effective treatment strategies. This thesis describes different approaches to search for molecular prognostic markers and an attempt to overcome chemotherapy resistance in DLBCL. In the first study it was investigated whether immunohistochemical expression of CD40, previously associated with a favourable prognosis in DLBCL, had any prognostic impact after the addition of rituximab to anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Results showed better prognosis in CD40-positive patients receiving this combined treatment. An inflammatory stromal process was observed in CD40-expressing tumours when using gene expression profiling, possibly contributing to a better prognosis in CD40-positive patients. A study about the effect of inhibited protein prenylation on the response to CHOP therapy, using an in vitro cell-line-based model, showed that treatment with geranylgeranylation inhibitors in DLBCL cell lines had a chemo-sensitising effect. This indicates that inhibition of geranylgeranylation may prove a useful strategy for overcoming CHOP resistance in DLBCL. A recombinant antibody microarray was used to search for prognostic protein profiles in plasma from DLBCL patients in an attempt to identify new candidate markers for the prognosis and treatment response in DLBCL and to provide a basis for future investigations and validation. The results of this work indicated that the tumour microenvironment and host immune response contribute to the prognosis in DLBCL, and suggest a potential novel strategy to overcome chemotherapy resistance. Further molecular profiling is important for improved treatment of patients with DLBCL.
Rethinking the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art in the Internet Age

Abstract The formation and perpetuation of intellectual canons – as consensually agreed upon corpora considered most significant and representative of a time, place or person – rely heavily on closed systems of knowledge. The bound-paper book exemplifies such a closed system and has been a primary form of constructing and disseminating canons of ancient works. The Internet, however, challenges the very structuring principles of knowledge production inherent in books, offering potentially boundless networks of unorchestrated knowledge bits. As scholars, teachers, and students turn more to the Internet for publication, research, and learning, sharply defined canons face disruption. This article analyzes some of the structuring principles of knowledge production and dissemination in the specific case of ancient Near Eastern art, first considering traditional book-based textbooks. These textbooks follow a model of linear temporal development that unfolds from the first to the last page. It then explores the academic trend toward edited, multi-authored compendia as a concurrent development with the open-ended, networked structure of the Internet. Both vehicles of knowledge production offer more diverse sets of works and multivocality; the Internet in particular permits a radical break from authored and edited narratives. Last, the article considers some of the possibilities, as well as limitations, inherent in the Internet, presenting several existing Internet-based platforms with a specific focus on pedogogy, in order to consider the implications and consequences for knowledge production and dissemination in the Digital Age.
Construction et validation de l'échelle de motivation relative aux jeux de hasard et d'argent : Jeux de hasard et d'argent

Le but de la presente serie d'etudes etait de construire et de valider une echelle de motivation appliquee a un type particulier de loisir, soit les comportements de jeu, pouvant servir a expliquer certaines notions comme celle du « paradoxe du jeu ». L'Echelle de Motivation relative aux Jeux de Hasard et d'Argent (EMJHA) a pour fondement theorique la Theorie de l'Autodermination. L'EMJHA est formee de sept sous-echelles mesurant les elements suivants : 1) trois types de motivation intrinseque : a la connaissance, a l'accomplissement et a la stimulation; 2) trois formes de motivation extrinseque : regulation identifiee, regulation introjectee et regulation externe; et 3) l'amotivation
Visibility Computations in Densely Occluded Polyhedral Environments

This thesis investigates the extent to which precomputation and storage of visibility information can be utilized to accelerate on-line culling and rendering during an interactive visual simulation of a densely occluded geometric model. An alternative to standard graphics rendering schemes is to precompute superset visibility information about the model, by determining what portions of the model will definitely be invisible for an observer in certain locations. The visibility precomputation phase first subdivides the model into cells by partitioning the space embedding the model along the planes of large opaque polygonal occluders, such as walls, floors, and ceilings. The remainder of the geometric data, for example furniture and wall trim, are considered to be non-occluding detail objects. For each cell, a coarse visibility determination is first made as to what other cells might be visible from it. The detail objects are then inserted into the subdivision, and a finer-grain visibility determination is made for these objects and stored with each cell. The on-line culling phase dynamically tracks the position and field of view of the simulated observer through the cells of the spatial subdivision. The precomputed visibility information is subjected to further on-line culling operations that use the observer's exact position and field of view. The resulting reduced set of objects is issued to graphics hardware, where a discrete depth-buffer solves the hidden-surface problem in screen space. The visibility framework is defined generally in terms of conforming spatial subdivisions that support a small number of abstract operations. All visibility determinations are proven to produce a superset of the objects actually visible to the observer. This is crucial, since omitting any visible object would cause an erroneous display. The generally small set of invisible objects produced by the on-line culling operation is then removed by the graphics rendering hardware. We implemented these abstract notions for several interesting and realistic input classes. The test data was a complex, three-dimensional architectural model comprising ten thousand detail objects and almost three-quarters of a million polygons. On-line frame times decreased from about ten seconds for the unprocessed model, to a tenth of a second, thus accelerating frame rates by a factor of about one hundred. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
On the Performance of  $k$ -Anonymity Against Inference Attacks With Background Information

Internet of Things (IoT) applications bring in a great convenience for human’s life, but users’ data privacy concern is the major barrier toward the development of IoT. <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-anonymity is a method to protect users’ data privacy, but it is presently known to suffer from inference attacks. Thus far, existing work only relies on a number of experimental examples to validate <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-anonymity’s performance against inference attacks, and thereby lacks of a theoretical guarantee. To tackle this issue, in this paper we propose the first theoretical foundation that gives a nonasymptotic bound on the performance of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-anonymity against inference attacks, taking into consideration of adversaries’ background information. The main idea is to first quantify adversaries’ background information, and from the point of the view of adversaries, classify users’ data into four kinds: 1) independent with unknown data values; 2) local dependent with unknown data values; 3) independent with certain known data values; and 4) local dependent with certain known data values. We then move one step further, theoretically proving the bound on the performance of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-anonymity corresponding to each of the four kinds of users’ data through cooperating with the noiseless privacy. We argue that such a theoretical foundation links <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-anonymity with noiseless privacy, theoretically proving <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-anonymity provides noiseless privacy. Additionally, this paper theoretically explains why <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-anonymity is vulnerable to inference attacks using the modified Stein method. Simulations on real check-in dataset from the location-based social network have validated our results. We believe that this paper can bridge the gap between design and evaluation, enabling a designer to construct a more practical <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-anonymity technique in real-life scenarios to resist inference attacks.
Topic distillation on hierarchically categorized Web documents

As an alternative to search capability, many search engines are providing directory servers containing categorized Web documents for users to navigate and browse through. We are investigating three issues in portal site construction given a large collection of categorized Web documents: (1) distillation of important topics for each category of documents; (2) distillation of important documents/sites for these topics; and (3) automation of these two tasks. We have developed an automated technique for topics and Web site distillation. Our technique integrates Web document content analysis and link structure analysis. It considers local importance of keywords and their global distribution statistics on a given Web document category hierarchy.
LDPC-based joint source-channel coding scheme for multimedia communications

Joint source-channel coding schemes have been proven to be effective ways for reliable multimedia communications. In this paper, we develop a joint source-channel coding scheme that well combines the hidden Markov source (HMS) estimation and the powerful low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes with an iterative estimation/decoding scheme. With this coding method, the source redundancy could be accurately extracted by the hidden Markov estimation without using any priori information about the source. Moreover, the interleaver that is likely used to separate the source coding and channel coding is exempted by exploiting the randomizing property of the LDPC codes, while the channel decoding procedure may be implemented in parallel, resulting in good performance with a fairly low decoding complexity and delay. Simulation results have shown that the proposed scheme may achieve a much better performance than that of the standard coding scheme over the binary input additive white Gaussian noise (BIAWGN) channels.