Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Composing Recommendations Using Computer Screen Images: A Deep Learning Recommender System for PC Users

A new way to train a virtual assistant with unsupervised learning is presented in this thesis. Rather than integrating with a particular set of programs and interfaces, this new approach involves shallow integration between the virtual assistant and computer through machine vision. In effect the assistant interprets the computer screen in order to produce helpful recommendations to assist the computer user. In developing this new approach, called AVRA, the following methods are described: an unsupervised learning algorithm which enables the system to watch and learn from user behavior, a method for fast filtering of the text displayed on the computer screen, a deep learning classifier used to recognize key onscreen text in the presence of OCR translation errors, and a recommendation filtering algorithm to triage the many possible action recommendations. AVRA is compared to a similar commercial state-of-the-art system, to highlight how this work adds to the state of the art. AVRA is a deep learning image processing and recommender system that can collaborate with the computer user to accomplish various tasks. This document presents a comprehensive overview of the development and possible applications of this novel virtual assistant technology. It detects onscreen tasks based upon the context it perceives by analyzing successive computer screen images with neural networks. AVRA is a recommender system, as it assists the user by producing action recommendations regarding onscreen tasks. In order to simplify the interaction between the user and AVRA, the system was designed to only produce action recommendations that can be accepted with a single mouse click. These action recommendations are produced without integration into each individual application executing on the computer. Furthermore, the action recommendations are personalized to the user’s interests utilizing a history of the user’s interaction.
Parmelina quercina (Parmeliaceae, Lecanorales) includes four phylogenetically supported morphospecies

Morphological and phylogenetic relationships of the worldwide Mediterranean lichen forming fungus, Parmelina quercina, have been studied. Specimens from western Europe, western North America and southern Australia were analysed using molecular data (nuITS rDNA, nuLSU rDNA and mtSSU rDNA) and selected morphological features (upper cortex maculae, scanning electron microscopy examination of the epicortex, ascospores and conidia shape and size, and amphithecial retrorse rhizines). The results conclusively reveal that: (1) there is not one single species but four separate species in the Mediterranean or sub Mediterranean areas of the world. Parmelina quercina and Parmelina carporrhizans (Euroasiatic species), Parmelina coleae sp. nov. (North America) and Parmelina elixia sp. nov. (Australia); (2) largely debated P. carporrhizans is not a synonym of P. quercina but supported as a valid species circumscribed to Macaronesic relict sites; (3) the geographical isolation of the Australian population is correlated with a large genetic distance; (4) morphological characters (ascospores and conidial variability and thallus epicortex) correlate with the phylogenetic hypothesis; (5) the new or revalidated species within Parmelina quercina are not cryptic species but morphologically recognizable taxa. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 91, 455–467.
Gamma-ray emission in radio galaxies under the VLBI scope -- II. The relationship between gamma-ray emission and parsec-scale jets in radio galaxies

Following our study of the radio and high-energy properties of $\gamma$-ray-emitting radio galaxies, here we investigate the kinematic and spectral properties of the parsec-scale jets of radio galaxies that have not yet been detected by Fermi-LAT. We take advantage of the regular VLBI observations provided by the TANAMI monitoring program, and explore the kinematic properties of six $\gamma$-ray-faint radio galaxies. We include publicly available VLBI kinematics of $\gamma$-ray-quiet radio galaxies monitored by the MOJAVE program and perform a Fermi-LAT analysis, deriving upper limits. We combine these results with those from our previous paper to construct the largest sample of radio galaxies with combined VLBI and $\gamma$-ray measurements to date. We find superluminal motion up to $\beta_\mathrm{app}=3.6$ in the jet of PKS 2153$-$69. We find a clear trend of higher apparent speed as a function of distance from the jet core on scales of $\sim10^5\,R_s$, corresponding to the end of the collimation and acceleration zone in nearby radio galaxies. We find evidence of subluminal apparent motion in the jets of PKS 1258$-$321 and IC 4296, and no measurable motion for PKS 1549$-$79, PKS 1733$-$565 and PKS 2027$-$308. We compare the VLBI properties of $\gamma$-ray-detected and undetected radio galaxies, and find significantly different distributions of median core flux density, and, possibly, of median core brightness temperature. We find a significant correlation between median core flux density and $\gamma$-ray flux, but no correlation with typical Doppler boosting indicators such as median core brightness temperature and core dominance. Our study suggests that high-energy emission from radio galaxies is related to parsec-scale radio emission from the inner jet, but is not driven by Doppler boosting effects, in contrast to the situation in their blazar counterparts.
A Stabilized GMRES Method for Solving Underdetermined Least Squares Problems

Consider using the right-preconditioned generalized minimal residual (AB-GMRES) method, which is an efficient method for solving underdetermined least squares problems. Morikuni (Ph.D. thesis, 2013) showed that for some inconsistent and ill-conditioned problems, the iterates of the AB-GMRES method may diverge. This is mainly because the Hessenberg matrix in the GMRES method becomes very ill-conditioned so that the backward substitution of the resulting triangular system becomes numerically unstable. We propose a stabilized GMRES based on solving the normal equations corresponding to the above triangular system using the standard Cholesky decomposition. This has the effect of shifting upwards the tiny singular values of the Hessenberg matrix which lead to an inaccurate solution. Thus, the process becomes numerically stable and the system becomes consistent, rendering better convergence and a more accurate solution. Numerical experiments show that the proposed method is robust and efficient for solving inconsistent and ill-conditioned underdetermined least squares problems. The method can be considered as a way of making the GMRES stable for highly ill-conditioned inconsistent problems.
Independence of synthetic curvature dimension conditions on transport distance exponent

The celebrated Lott-Sturm-Villani theory of metric measure spaces furnishes synthetic notions of a Ricci curvature lower bound $K$ joint with an upper bound $N$ on the dimension. Their condition, called the Curvature-Dimension condition and denoted by $\mathrm{CD}(K,N)$, is formulated in terms of a modified displacement convexity of an entropy functional along $W_{2}$-Wasserstein geodesics. We show that the choice of the squared-distance function as transport cost does not influence the theory. By denoting with $\mathrm{CD}_{p}(K,N)$ the analogous condition but with the cost as the $p^{th}$ power of the distance, we show that $\mathrm{CD}_{p}(K,N)$ are all equivalent conditions for any $p>1$ -- at least in spaces whose geodesics do not branch. We show that the trait d'union between all the seemingly unrelated $\mathrm{CD}_{p}(K,N)$ conditions is the needle decomposition or localization technique associated to the $L^{1}$-optimal transport problem. We also establish the local-to-global property of $\mathrm{CD}_{p}(K,N)$ spaces.
Adaptive Traffic Control with Deep Reinforcement Learning: Towards State-of-the-art and Beyond

In this work, we study adaptive data-guided traffic planning and control using Reinforcement Learning (RL). We shift from the plain use of classic methods towards state-of-the-art in deep RL community. We embed several recent techniques in our algorithm that improve the original Deep Q-Networks (DQN) for discrete control and discuss the traffic-related interpretations that follow. We propose a novel DQN-based algorithm for Traffic Control (called TC-DQN+) as a tool for fast and more reliable traffic decision-making. We introduce a new form of reward function which is further discussed using illustrative examples with comparisons to traditional traffic control methods.
Verification and Parameter Synthesis for Real-Time Programs using Refinement of Trace Abstraction

We address the safety verification and synthesis problems for real-time systems. We introduce real-time programs that are made of instructions that can perform assignments to discrete and real-valued variables. They are general enough to capture interesting classes of timed systems such as timed automata, stopwatch automata, time(d) Petri nets and hybrid automata. We propose a semi-algorithm using refinement of trace abstractions to solve both the reachability verification problem and the parameter synthesis problem for real-time programs. All of the algorithms proposed have been implemented and we have conducted a series of experiments, comparing the performance of our new approach to state-of-the-art tools in classical reachability, robustness analysis and parameter synthesis for timed systems. We show that our new method provides solutions to problems which are unsolvable by the current state-of-the-art tools.
GarNet++: Improving Fast and Accurate Static 3D Cloth Draping by Curvature Loss

In this paper, we tackle the problem of static 3D cloth draping on virtual human bodies. We introduce a two-stream deep network model that produces a visually plausible draping of a template cloth on virtual 3D bodies by extracting features from both the body and garment shapes. Our network learns to mimic a physics-based simulation (PBS) method while requiring two orders of magnitude less computation time. To train the network, we introduce loss terms inspired by PBS to produce plausible results and make the model collision-aware. To increase the details of the draped garment, we introduce two loss functions that penalize the difference between the curvature of the predicted cloth and PBS. Particularly, we study the impact of mean curvature normal and a novel detail-preserving loss both qualitatively and quantitatively. Our new curvature loss computes the local covariance matrices of the 3D points, and compares the Rayleigh quotients of the prediction and PBS. This leads to more details while performing favorably or comparably against the loss that considers mean curvature normal vectors in the 3D triangulated meshes. We validate our framework on four garment types for various body shapes and poses. Finally, we achieve superior performance against a recently proposed data-driven method.
The Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Recent transformations in communication and information exchange have created new opportunities for researchers in the humanities and social sciences. It is not self-evident, however, in what ways scholars can best use these possibilities while maintaining and further developing their specific roles in academia and society. This new KNAW programme, The Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences, aims to support researchers in the humanities and social sciences in the Netherlands in the creation of new scholarly practices, termed here e-research, as well as in their reflection on e-research in relation to the development of their fields. A core feature of the Virtual Knowledge Studio is the integration of design and analysis in a close cooperation between social scientists, humanities researchers, information technology experts and information scientists. This integrated approach should provide insight in the way e-research can contribute to new research questions and methods in the humanities and social sciences. Mission The Virtual Knowledge Studio has the following goals: to contribute to the design and conceptualisation of novel scholarly practices in the humanities and social sciences to support scholars in their experimental play with new ways of doing research and emerging forms of collaboration and communication to facilitate the travel of new methods, practices, resources and techniques across different disciplines to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of knowledge creation. The humanities and social sciences are no backwater with respect to e-research. This is demonstrated by a host of new initiatives in the areas of digitisation, Web based repositories and archives, digital libraries, and collaboratories, in the Netherlands as well as abroad. A number of fields have undergone radical transformations through the use of novel analytical techniques and related shifts in research paradigms. Yet, a systematic and critical interrogation of the potential of e-research paradigms and methodologies for the humanities and social sciences is hampered by disciplinary boundaries between fields, by a relative lack of resources and research infrastructures, and by the dominance of particular computational approaches in the world of e-science. The Studio will address these problems by: demonstrating and exploring the potential of additional, non-computational as well as computational, ways of doing e-research making disciplinary boundaries more permeable for new scholarly practices pooling resources that are available to the scholarly communities in the Netherlands and abroad. Because the research projects in the Studio will not be developed for but with scholars in the humanities …
Speed-Ups to Isothermality: Enhanced Quantum Thermal Machines through Control of the System-Bath Coupling

Isothermal transformations are minimally dissipative but slow processes, as the system needs to remain close to thermal equilibrium along the protocol. Here, we show that smoothly modifying the system-bath interaction can significantly speed up such transformations. In particular, we construct protocols where the overall dissipation $W_{\rm diss}$ decays with the total time $\tau_{\rm tot}$ of the protocol as $W_{\rm diss} \propto \tau_{\rm tot}^{-2\alpha-1}$, where each value $\alpha > 0$ can be obtained by a suitable modification of the interaction, whereas $\alpha=0$ corresponds to a standard isothermal process where the system-bath interaction remains constant. Considering heat engines based on such speed-ups, we show that the corresponding efficiency at maximum power interpolates between the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency for $\alpha =0$ and the Carnot efficiency for $\alpha \to \infty$. Analogous enhancements are obtained for the coefficient of performance of refrigerators. We confirm our analytical results with two numerical examples where $\alpha = 1/2$, namely the time-dependent Caldeira-Leggett and resonant-level models, with strong system-environment correlations taken fully into account. We highlight the possibility of implementing our proposed speed-ups with ultracold atomic impurities and mesoscopic electronic devices.
The interiors of Uranus and Neptune: current understanding and open questions

Uranus and Neptune form a distinct class of planets in our Solar System. Given this fact, and ubiquity of similar-mass planets in other planetary systems, it is essential to understand their interior structure and composition. However, there are more open questions regarding these planets than answers. In this review, we concentrate on the things we do not know about the interiors of Uranus and Neptune with a focus on why the planets may be different, rather than the same. We next summarize the knowledge about the planets’ internal structure and evolution. Finally, we identify the topics that should be investigated further on the theoretical front as well as required observations from space missions. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Future exploration of ice giant systems’.
Vibrational sum frequency scattering in absorptive media: A theoretical case study of nano-objects water

The structures of interfaces of nano- and microscale objects in aqueous solution are important for a wide variety of physical, chemical and biological processes. Vibrational sum frequency scattering has emerged as a useful and unique probe of the interfacial structure of nano- and microscale objects in water. However, the full surface vibrational stretch mode spectrum has not been measured yet, even though it would be extremely informative to do so. The reason for this is that probing the vibrational modes of interfacial water requires a full understanding of how the linear absorptive properties of the bulk aqueous medium influence the sum frequency scattering process. Here, we have simulated vibrational sum frequency scattering spectra of the interface of nanoscale objects dispersed in water. We analyzed the effect of the infrared pulse absorption on the outcome of surface vibrational sum frequency scattering measurements. We find that both infrared absorption as well as the type of optical detection can drastically modify the measured vibrational interfacial spectrum. The observed changes comprise spectral distortion, frequency shifting of the main vibrational stretch mode and the introducing of a new high frequency peak. This last feature is enhanced by non-resonant interactions.
A nonnegativity preserving scheme for the relaxed Cahn-Hilliard equation with single-well potential and degenerate mobility

We propose and analyze a finite element approximation of the relaxed Cahn-Hilliard equation [32] with singular single-well potential of Lennard-Jones type and degenerate mobility that is energy stable and nonnegativity preserving. The Cahn-Hilliard model has recently been applied to model evolution and growth for living tissues. Although the choices of degenerate mobility and singular potential are biologically relevant, they induce difficulties regarding the design of a numerical scheme. We propose a finite element scheme, and we show that it preserves the physical bounds of the solutions thanks to an upwind approach adapted to the finite element method. We propose two different time discretizations leading to a non-linear and a linear scheme. Moreover, we show the well-posedness and convergence of solutions of the non-linear numerical scheme. Finally, we validate our scheme by presenting numerical simulations in one and two dimensions.
Taxonomic revision and phylogenetic position of the flying squirrel genus Biswamoyopterus (Mammalia, Rodentia, Sciuridae, Pteromyini) on the northern Indo-China peninsula

Abstract The flying squirrel genus Biswamoyopterus (Rodentia: Sciuridae: Pteromyini) was once considered to contain three species, Biswamoyopterus biswasi from northeastern India, B. laoensis from central Laos and B. gaoligongensis from southwest China, all identified from morphological characteristics of one or two specimens. However, based on similar morphological characteristics of two samples of the genus Biswamoyopterus collected recently from northern Laos and northern Myanmar, and the small genetic distances on mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA between them, the results strongly support these two samples as representatives of the same species. The phylogenetic analyses strongly support Biswamoyopterus as an independent genus of Pteromyini, as a sister group to Aeromys. Biswamoyopterus biswasi is distributed in the northern Indo-China peninsula, where it is exposed to a series of threats, such as intense hunting activity, illegal trade, and rapid habitat loss; this should warrant its classification as critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. Here, the molecular data for genus Biswamoyopterus and two new specimen records from northern Laos and northern Myanmar are presented.
Time-reversal symmetry breaking in the noncentrosymmetric 
Zr3Ir
 superconductor

The Zr${}_{3}$Ir superconductor exhibits the coexistence of two exotic, and normally distinct, features: mixed singlet-triplet pairing and broken time-reversal symmetry. Mixed singlet-triplet pairing can take place in superconductors whose crystal lattices lack inversion symmetry. This relativistic effect, which does not require the breaking of additional symmetries, nor an unconventional pairing mechanism, is often quite small. Broken time-reversal symmetry, on the other hand, means that the superconducting state is magnetic and necessitates an unconventional pairing mechanism. The coexistence of these two phenomena makes Zr${}_{3}$Ir a very unusual material, opening up new perspectives for their understanding.
newsSweeper at SemEval-2020 Task 11: Context-Aware Rich Feature Representations for Propaganda Classification

This paper describes our submissions to SemEval 2020 Task 11: Detection of Propaganda Techniques in News Articles for each of the two subtasks of Span Identification and Technique Classification. We make use of pre-trained BERT language model enhanced with tagging techniques developed for the task of Named Entity Recognition (NER), to develop a system for identifying propaganda spans in the text. For the second subtask, we incorporate contextual features in a pre-trained RoBERTa model for the classification of propaganda techniques. We were ranked 5th in the propaganda technique classification subtask.
Super-resolution enhancement of flash LADAR range data

Flash LADAR systems are becoming increasingly popular for robotics applications. However, they generally provide a low-resolution range image because of the limited number of pixels available on the focal plane array. In this paper, the application of image super-resolution algorithms to improve the resolution of range data is examined. Super-resolution algorithms are compared for their use on range data and the frequency-domain method is selected. Four low-resolution range images which are slightly shifted and rotated from the reference image are registered using Fourier transform properties and the super-resolution image is built using non-uniform interpolation. Image super-resolution algorithms are typically rated subjectively based on the perceived visual quality of their results. In this work, quantitative methods for evaluating the performance of these algorithms on range data are developed. Edge detection in the range data is used as a benchmark of the data improvement provided by super-resolution. The results show that super-resolution of range data provides the same advantage as image super-resolution, namely increased image fidelity.