Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recommendation for the Transitioning of Cryptographic Algorithms and Key Sizes

At the start of the 21 st century, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) began the task of providing cryptographic key management guidance, which includes defining and implementing appropriate key management procedures, using algorithms that adequately protect sensitive information, and planning ahead for possible changes in the use of cryptography because of algorithm breaks or the availability of more powerful computing techniques. NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-57, Part 1 was the first document produced in this effort, and includes a general approach for transitioning from one algorithm or key length to another. This Recommendation (SP 800-131) provides more specific guidance for transitions to stronger cryptographic keys and more robust algorithms. Authority This document has been developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in furtherance of its statutory responsibilities under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002, Public Law 107-347. NIST is responsible for developing standards and guidelines, including minimum requirements, for providing adequate information security for all agency operations and assets, but such standards and guidelines shall not apply to national security systems. This guideline is consistent with the requirements of the Office of Management and This Recommendation has been prepared for use by Federal agencies. It may be used by nongovernmental organizations on a voluntary basis and is not subject to copyright. (Attribution would be appreciated by NIST.) Nothing in this document should be taken to contradict standards and guidelines made mandatory and binding on Federal agencies by the Secretary of Commerce under statutory authority. Nor should these guidelines be interpreted as altering or superseding the existing authorities of the Secretary of Commerce, Director of the OMB, or any other Federal official.
A Case Study of Hierarchical Clustering for Maritime Industry

Data in the contemporary world has penetrated into every industry and is increasingly becoming a necessity in enterprises, simultaneously it has also become an important factor of production. Maritime transport is one of the most vital transport systems and maritime big data is attracting increase interest from both the industry and academia. In this paper, we present a case study using hierarchical clustering on a dataset about a vessel’s behavior during operations. We have also produced visually appealing graphs and charts to assist the data analysis.
Event-Based Control and Estimation of Server Systems

Feedback control is increasingly being applied in server systems to make them more robust and efficient. This includes managing quality of service, minimizing power consumption, and adapting to varying workloads. Successful adaptation and control in turn relies on accurate tracking of workload variations and timely detection of changes in the computing infrastructure. Given that server systems are inherently event based, it is natural to consider event-based control and estimation schemes for them. As a prototypical problem, we study a single server system with time-varying arrival rate and derive optimal switching rules for the service rate. The goal is to keep the response time within bounds while minimizing the energy consumption of the server. We also design an event-based estimator of the server states using a particle filter approach. Finally, we outline some research challenges related to event-based control and information fusion in server systems. (Less)
Design and Implementation of the Pedestrian Information Analysis System

In this paper, we proposed a pedestrian information analysis system. It is consisted of the pedestrian detection module and the pedestrian tracking module. Compared with various pedestrian detection methods, the Deformable Part Model (DPM) algorithm is used to detect the pedestrians in the picture. Meanwhile, this paper proposes a pedestrian tracking method. This method uses the pedestrian detection result to calculate the pedestrian’s centroid and uses the video time domain information to track the centroid. It can help us to obtain the pedestrian information that includes the pedestrian moving distance and direction. We set the count line to count the pedestrian’s number and direction in this system. The experiment results show that the system we proposed can analyse pedestrians more accurately.
An in vitro Comparative Evaluation of Volume of Removed Dentin, Canal Transportation, and Centering Ratio of 2Shape, WaveOne Gold, and ProTaper Gold Files Using Cone-Beam Computed Tomography

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the shaping ability of three file systems – 2Shape (2S), WaveOne Gold (WOG), and ProTaper Gold – using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and Methods: Fortyfive freshly extracted mandibular teeth were chosen and instrumented using the following brands of NiTi files: 2S, WOG, and ProTaper Gold. Pre- and postinstrumentation CBCT imaging was performed to measure mesial and distal distance of the dentin walls and calculate the volume of removed dentin, apical transportation, and centering ratio. A statistical analysis of the data was performed using independent ttest. Statistical significance was set at 5%. Results: There were no significant differences between the 2S and WOG in terms of the total volume of removed dentin, apical transportation, and centering ratio, whereas ProTaper showed a greater significant difference when compared to 2S and WOG. Conclusion: Both 2S and WOG maintained the original canal anatomy better and did not remove excess dentin while chemomechanical preparation as compared to ProTaper Gold. Instruments that use rotary movement achieved an effect similar to that of the reciprocating instruments in relation to change in angle. 2S which is a two-file system and WOG which is a single-file system might perform better clinically and might show enhanced shaping ability with less canal transportation and more centered preparation when compared to ProTaper Gold that is a multiple file-system.
Activity of p53 in human amniotic fluid stem cells increases their potentiality as a candidate for stem cell therapy

The potential use of stem cells as a therapeutic treatment for many neurological disorders, such as stroke, has spiked an interest in their properties. Due to limitations of the present-day treatments, regenerative and protective therapies could prove very beneficial if a safe and effective treatment is identified. Using human amniotic fluid stem (hAFS) cells could theoretically provide both neuroprotective and regenerative properties to patients, and knowledge of p53's activity and function could be a key component in understanding the behavior and characteristics of these stem cells to harness their full potential. Many recent studies on p53 have provided new and valuable information that could give rise to new ideas for treatment options. More specifically, p53's activity inside hAFS cells lead them closer to becoming a potential therapeutic stem cell. Other neuroprotective treatments, such as hyperoxia and hypoxia sessions, are showing positive results. In combination, these data are helping to get closer to an effective treatment for neurological disorders.
Towards Mastering Complex Particle Movement and Tracking in Molecular Communication Simulation

Simulation of molecular communication requires rather application-specific channel models for the physical layer, i.e., the movement of molecules in a target environment. There is already a number of simulators available that apply different concepts for this task. We compare them in terms of geometry of the environment, molecular movement and tracking, as well as visual representation. We identified particle movement and tracking as one of the most challenging research questions in this domain. As a possible solution, we suggest the use of vector fields, which are also used in fluid mechanics, to simulate more complex molecular communication channels.
Single-Anchor Localization and Synchronization of Full-Duplex Agents

The position and time of mobile agents are essential information for many wireless network applications. In this paper, we propose a single-anchor localization and synchronization scheme of full-duplex (FD) agents in the line-of-sight scenario, where the anchor is equipped with an antenna array. The agents perform inter-node ranging using the FD radios, while the anchor only receives signals transmitted from the agents. We derive the Cramér-Rao lower bounds for the agent positions and clock offsets based on the frames received by the agents and anchor. In particular, the Fisher information matrix for the positions and clock offsets can be decomposed into the information from the measurements of the arrival angles and arrival times. Then, we design the channel estimation algorithm to obtain the arrival angles, arrival times, and signal-to-noise ratios, based on which we further develop the network localization and synchronization algorithms to obtain the agent positions and clock offsets. The simulation results illustrate the performance of our proposed scheme and algorithms.
Technical report on the IAB Establishment : panel wave 23 (2015)

"For many years external researchers and institutions have access to the IAB Establishment Panel via The Research Data Centre (FDZ) of the German Federal Employment Agency (BA) at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) for scientific research. It has become one of the most commonly used data sets of the FDZ. We want to account for this development by offering a new methodological report starting from wave 2015. So far data users could only look into the printed version at the FDZ to retrieve information on the study design. The new documentation summarizes all fundamental information on the methodological bases of the IAB Establishment Panel in a way that they are in line with data protection and thus can be published and cited. The new methodological report comprises six sections: The sections contain information on the total population and the sample generation, the development of the questionnaire and the pretest, the study design and organization, the establishments' willingness to participate, the data verification and least and finally the provided weighting factors. To give a quick overview on changes, these sections is preceded by a short summary of alterations compared to the previous wave" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
A Novel Animal Detection Technique for Intelligent Vehicles

The animal-vehicle collision has been a topic of concern for years, especially in North America. To mitigate the problem, this thesis focuses on animal detection based on the onboard camera for intelligent vehicles. In the domain of image classification and object detection, the methods of shape matching and local feature crafting have reached the technical plateau for decades. The development of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) brings a new breakthrough. The evolution of CNN architectures has dramatically improved the performance of image classification. Effective frameworks on object detection through CNN structures are thus boosted. Notably, the family of Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks (R-CNN) perform well by combining region proposal with CNN. In this thesis, we propose to apply a new region proposal method—Maximally Stable Extremal Regions (MSER) in Fast R-CNN to construct the animal detection framework. MSER algorithm detects stable regions which are invariant to scale, rotation and viewpoint changes. We generate regions of interest by dealing with the result of MSER algorithm in two ways: by enclosing all the pixels from the resulted pixel-list with a minimum enclosing rectangle (the PL MSER) and by fitting the resulted elliptical region to an approximate box (the EL MSER). We then preprocess the bounding boxes of PL MSER and EL MSER to improve the recall of detection. The preprocessing steps consist of filtering out undesirable regions by aspect ratio model, clustering bounding boxes to merge the overlapping regions, modifying and then enlarging the regions to cover the entire animal. We evaluate the two region proposal methods by the measurement of recall over IoU-threshold curve. The proposed MSER method can cover the expected regions better than Edge Boxes and Region Proposal Network (RPN) in Faster R-CNN. We apply the MSER region proposal method to the framework of R-CNN and Fast R-CNN. The experiments on the animal database with moose, deer, elk, and horses show that Fast R-CNN with MSER achieves better accuracy and faster speed than R-CNN with MSER. Concerning the two ways of MSER, the experimental results show that PL MSER is faster than EL MSER and EL MSER gains higher precision than PL MSER. Also, by altering the structure of network used in Fast R-CNN, we verify that network stacking more layers achieves higher accuracy and recall. In addition, we compare the Fast R-CNN framework using MSER region proposal with the state-of-the-art Faster R-CNN by evaluating the experimental results of on our animal database. Using the same CNN structure, the proposed Fast R-CNN with MSER gains a higher average accuracy of the animal detection 0.73, compared to 0.42 of Faster R-CNN. In terms of detection quality, the proposed Fast R-CNN with MSER achieves better IoU histogram than that of Faster R-CNN.
jViz.RNA 4.0 - Advanced integration methods, pseudoknot visualization, and online editing in the context of RNA secondary structure visualization

RNA visualization software tools have traditionally presented a static visualization of RNA molecules with limited ability for users to interact with the resulting image once it is complete. Only a few tools allowed for dynamic structures; one such tool is jViz.RNA 2.0. Currently, jViz.RNA 2.0 employs a unique method for the creation of the RNA molecule layout by mapping the RNA nucleotides into vertexes in a graph, which we call the detailed graph, and then utilizes a Newtonian mechanics inspired system of forces to calculate a layout for the RNA molecule. The work presented here focuses on improvements to jViz.RNA 2.0 in four areas: First, the drawing of RNA secondary structures according to common drawing conventions employing a new underlying graph representation. Second, employing advanced numerical integration methods (the Backward Euler Method) to achieve dramatic run-time performance improvements utilizing the new graph implementation. Third, the ability to classify and visualize pseudoknots was added to jViz.RNA in order to extend the set of RNA structures that can be visualized. Finally, online base-pair removal and addition capabilities were incorporated into jViz.RNA in the interest of providing users with the capacity to modify, edit, and create RNA molecules from existing alternative representations (e.g. images or drawings). With regards to results, comparing the compressed graph and detailed graph implementations, it was found that the compressed graph produces results more consistent with RNA drawing conventions, and does so noticeably faster. Additionally, the advantages of the Backward Euler method as a more stable approach to mitigate interactions between users and the RNA model, allowing users to better and faster manipulate the RNA model, have been shown conclusively. The incorporation of pseudoknot visualization capacities demonstrated a new high degree of utility and flexibility since users are now able to visualize the majority, if not entirety, of biologically known RNAs, as well as modify the given pseudoknot representation. The implementation of online structure editing functionality allows users to construct related or theoretical molecules from existing ones, as well as construct arbitrary RNA structures from their primary nucleotide sequence.
Changes of Soil Erosion and Possible Impacts from Ecosystem Recovery in the Three-River Headwaters Region, Qinghai, China from 2000 to 2015

Abstract: Soil erosion poses a great threat to the sustainability of the ecological environment and the harmonious development of human well-being. The revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) was used to quantify soil erosion in the Three-River Headwaters region (TRH), Qinghai, China from 2000 to 2015. The possible effects of an ecosystem restoration project on soil erosion were explored against the background of climatic changes in the study area. The model was validated with on-ground observations and showed a satisfactory performance, with a multiple correlation coefficient of 0.62 from the linear regression between the estimations and observations. The soil erosion modulus in 2010–2015 increased 6.2%, but decreased 1.2% compared with those in the periods of 2000–2005 and 2005–2010, respectively. Based on the method of overlay analysis, the interannual change of the estimated soil erosion was dominated by climate (about 64%), specifically by precipitation, rather than by vegetation coverage (about 34%). Despite some uncertainties in the model and data, this study quantified the relative contribution of ecological restoration under global climatic change; meanwhile the complexity, labor-intensiveness and long-range character of ecological restoration projects have to be recognized. On-ground observations over the long-term, further parameterization, and data inputs with higher quality are necessary and essential for decreasing the uncertainties in the estimations.
New Distribution Records and Ecological Notes for Seven Species of Onthophagus Latreille (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Oaxaca, Mexico, with Description of the Female of Onthophagus howdeni Zunino and Halffter and Redescription of Onthophagus zapotecus Zunino and Halffter

Abstract Onthophagus howdeni Zunino and Halffter was originally described from two male specimens collected in Oaxaca, Mexico. Thirty years later, this species is collected again in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, the previously unknown female is described, and information about its biology is given. Onthophagus zapotecus Zunino and Halffter was originally described based on three specimens. A redescription of this species is based on newly collected specimens. New data are provided on the distribution of Onthophagus howdenorum Zunino and Halffter, Onthophagus oaxacanus Zunino and Halffter, Onthophagus aureofuscus Bates, and O. zapotecus. The International Union of Conservation of Nature's status of O. aureofuscus and Onthophagus undulans Bates are examined. The affinities with other species of the species- group are discussed, and information about their biology and capture method is presented. An identification key is given, in English and Spanish, for the species of Onthophagus Latreille recorded in Sierra Norte and Sierra Sur of Oaxaca.
Using the Outlier Detection Task to Evaluate Distributional Semantic Models

In this article, we define the outlier detection task and use it to compare neural-based word embeddings with transparent count-based distributional representations. Using the English Wikipedia as a text source to train the models, we observed that embeddings outperform count-based representations when their contexts are made up of bag-of-words. However, there are no sharp differences between the two models if the word contexts are defined as syntactic dependencies. In general, syntax-based models tend to perform better than those based on bag-of-words for this specific task. Similar experiments were carried out for Portuguese with similar results. The test datasets we have created for the outlier detection task in English and Portuguese are freely available.
An estimation strategy to protect against over-estimating precision in a LiDAR-based prediction of a stand mean

A prediction of a forest stand mean may be biased and its estimated variance seriously underestimated when a model fitted for an ensemble of stands (stratum) does not hold for a specific stand. When the sampling design cannot support a stand-level lack-of-fit analysis, an analyst may opt to seek a protection against a possibly serious over-estimation of precision in a predicted stand mean. This study propose an estimation strategy to counter this risk by an inflation of the standard model-based estimator of variance when model predictions suggest non-trivial random stand effects, a spatial distance-dependent autocorrelation in model predictions, or both. In a simulation study, the strategy performed well when it was most needed, but equally over-inflated variance in settings where less protection was appropriate.
Visualization is crucial for understanding microbial processes in the ocean

Recent developments in community and single-cell genomic approaches have provided an unprecedented amount of information on the ecology of microbes in the aquatic environment. However, linkages between each specific microbe's identity and their in situ level of activity (be it growth, division or just metabolic activity) are much more scarce. The ultimate goal of marine microbial ecology is to understand how the environment determines the types of different microbes in nature, their function, morphology and cell-to-cell interactions and to do so we should gather three levels of information, the genomic (including identity), the functional (activity or growth), and the morphological, and for as many individual cells as possible. We present a brief overview of methodologies applied to address single-cell activity in marine prokaryotes, together with a discussion of the difficulties in identifying and categorizing activity and growth. We then provide and discuss some examples showing how visualization has been pivotal for challenging established paradigms and for understanding the role of microbes in the environment, unveiling processes and interactions that otherwise would have been overlooked. We conclude by stating that more effort should be directed towards integrating visualization in future approaches if we want to gain a comprehensive insight into how microbes contribute to the functioning of ecosystems. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Single cell ecology’.
Prevalence of malocclusion and orthodontic treatment needs among 12-15 years old school children in Patna, Eastern India

Context: The people around the world are concerned about the aesthetic oral-facial structures as it is more important in interpersonal interactions and dictates vocal, physical, and emotional communication. Aims: The present study was conducted to assess the severity of malocclusion and orthodontic treatment need among 12-15-year-old school children of Patna, Eastern India. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the severity of malocclusion using Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) index among 12-15-year-old school-going children. Methods and Material: A specially prepared and pretested format, exclusively designed for recording all the required and relevant general information and other clinical findings was used in the study. The sample size consisted of 902 children from middle schools (Government and Private) in Patna. Statistical Analysis Used: Chi-square test was done for the categorical data to compare differences between two independent groups. Data were presented as Mean ± SD and “P” value of less than 0.05 was accepted as indicating significance. Results: Around 5.3% had a DAI score of ≤25 which signifies that there is “no abnormality or may have minor malocclusion”; 15.3% had a DAI score of 26-30 which signifies that there is “definite malocclusion”; 6% had a DAI score of 31-35 which signifies that there is “severe malocclusion” and 4% had a DAI score of ≥36 which signifies that there is “very severe or handicapping malocclusion”. The finding was more commonly seen among 14 years age group. Conclusions: It can be concluded from the present study that the prevalence of malocclusion is reasonable high in this part of the region, and it is very important to bring in more awareness at the school level as primary prevention can be the most effective tool in control this menace.