Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and Validation of Optimization Methods for the Design of Protein Sequences and Combinatorial Libraries

To facilitate the design of protein sequences with desired properties, simulation techniques have been developed to allow large portions of amino acid sequence space to be evaluated by computer. These computational protein design methods apply optimization algorithms to sort through the enormity of sequence space and find desirable variants. Simple modifications to the stochastic optimization algorithm FASTER enhanced its performance by two orders of magnitude without loss of accuracy, and rendered it more efficient than its major competitor by a factor of 10. These improvements allowed higher-quality amino acid solutions to be found more quickly, and accelerated the pace at which users could perform cycles of design and model adjustment. This success prompted research into techniques for a protein design formulation that allows simulation in the context of multiple states simultaneously. This multi-state design can be used to wield explicit control over structural, binding, or catalytic specificity, and changes the scope of design goals that can be addressed by computation. Evaluation of multi-state FASTER indicated that it performed radically better than its major competitor in a variety of design contexts, and that in most cases it found solutions better than those that could ever be found using a lesser method. Multi-state optimization using FASTER was applied to test the influence of various types of input structural data on the design of a small protein. To facilitate this evaluation, methods for the design and high-throughput stability screening of combinatorial libraries were developed. Screening of libraries based on single structures and structural ensembles indicated the success of multi-state modeling. Our results also suggested that the exhaustive screening of designed libraries can help to elucidate the origins of design model failures. Finally, they showed that success of a design procedure does not hinge on its ability to correlate experimental and simulated measures of fitness, and prompted greater consideration of design methods that target explicitly conformational specificity.
Delay reduction for 802.11e hybrid co-ordinator

A problem of delay reduction for video streams controlled by the 802.11e hybrid co-ordinator is considered. The problem is formulated as optimisation by linear programming that enables the simplex algorithm to be used for its optimal solution. Performance of the linear programming algorithm is evaluated and compared with a simple approach of transmission demand reduction.
Bacterial foraging optimization and tabu search: performance issues and cooperative algorithms

This article presents comparison studies of the search performances between the adaptive bacterial foraging optimization (ABFO), the adaptive tabu search (ATS) and the cooperative algorithms thereof. Assessment scenario adopts some 3D surface optimization problems, one of which contains many global solutions. The computing results are elaborated, and indicate the superiority of the cooperative BF-TS algorithms. The article also presents an application of the proposed algorithms to the control of a hard disk head-stack.
ICT integration in schools: Where are we now and what comes next?

The case for more technology in schools is compelling. The leverage for a school based solution is traceable to the Common and Agreed National Goals for Schooling (AEC, 1989), namely that students will develop skills in 'information processing and computing'. Schools have wrestled with this 'integration challenge' since 1989. This paper is a snapshot of the ICT efforts of 18 regional schools as they come to terms with the challenge of ICT integration. Building on the work of Lim et al (2003), and the JISC (2003) MLE benchmark study, this paper profiles what ICT integration looks like in schools since AEC (1989), identifying 'administrative imperatives' as the key factors underpinning ICT integration decisions in schools. In terms of capacity management, the paper identifies those who plan, design, develop and build school ICT infrastructure. Each school participating in this study is assigned an integration score, identifying them as low, medium or high integration schools based on ICT integration efforts. Evidence from this study indicates a great deal of ICT integration development and activity taking place in schools at all integration levels. The good news is that national and state education initiatives over the last 17 years have delivered an integration (of sorts) of ICTs into compulsory education. The sad news is that the question of ICT pedagogy remains largely unaddressed in our schools.
Information Warfare Principles and Operations

From the Publisher: Here's a systems engineering-level introduction to the growing field of Information Warfare (IW)  the battlefield where information is both target and weapon. This comprehensive book provides engineers, system operators, and information technology users with an understandable overview of rapidly emerging threats to commercial, civil, and military information systems  and shows how these threats can be identified and systems protected. Authored by a leading expert in advanced information-based technologies, this is the first book to detail the component principles, technologies, and tactics critical to success in the three key areas of IW: Information Dominance, Information Defense, and Information Offense. The author explains the quantification of information, describes the deductive, inductive and abductive processes that create knowledge, and provides essential technical background on: ? The knowledge creation processes of data fusion and data mining ? Information security technologies, including: encryption, authentication, authorization, and attack detection ? Information attack technologies, including: physical, infrastructure, and perceptual methods Adding to the book's value are extensive citations to relevant unclassified literature, numerous examples of practical defense-related systems, clear explanations of basic IW theory, and much deeper and broader coverage of security issues than found in typical Internet security books.
Relational learning techniques for natural language information extraction

The recent growth of online information available in the form of natural language documents creates a greater need for computing systems with the ability to process those documents to simplify access to the information. One type of processing appropriate for many tasks is information extraction, a type of text skimming that retrieves specific types of information from text. Although information extraction systems have existed for two decades, these systems have generally been built by hand and contain domain specific information, making them difficult to port to other domains. A few researchers have begun to apply machine learning to information extraction tasks, but most of this work has involved applying learning to pieces of a much larger system. This dissertation presents a novel rule representation specific to natural language and a relational learning system, R scAPIER, which learns information extraction rules. R scAPIER takes pairs of documents and filled templates indicating the information to be extracted and learns pattern-matching rules to extract fillers for the slots in the template. The system is tested on several domains, showing its ability to learn rules for different tasks. R scAPIER's performance is compared to a propositional learning system for information extraction, demonstrating the superiority of relational learning for some information extraction tasks. Because one difficulty in using machine learning to develop natural language processing systems is the necessity of providing annotated examples to supervised learning systems, this dissertation also describes an attempt to reduce the number of examples R scAPIER requires by employing a form of active learning. Experimental results show that the number of examples required to achieve a given level of performance can be significantly reduced by this method.
Learning fuzzy cognitive maps using evolution strategies: a novel schema for modeling and simulating high-level behavior

Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) are recognized as a flexible and powerful modeling and simulating technique. However, it is a relatively new methodology, which exhibits weaknesses mainly in the algorithmic background. Such weaknesses become evident during heuristic evaluations of the cause-effect relationships describing FCM-based systems. External intervention (typically from experts) for the determination and fine-tuning of the FCM parameters cannot be regarded as an accurate and efficient way to design and manage FCMs, especially in the case of highly complicated structures, where even experts meet difficulties in their attempts at a holistic interpretation. The introduction and implementation of a training procedure based on a robust and flexible optimization tool constitutes a promising alternative. This study focuses on evolutionary computation, since this domain encompasses optimization techniques possessing the needed features for this type of problems. Evolution strategies (ESs) appear to be the most appropriate methodology and, as such, they are tested in this work for a potential implementation in FCM-based systems. The proposed approach combines FCM and ES concepts and sets the basis for the establishment and deployment of structural evolution, which broadens the applicability of FCMs.
A Low-Complexity Adaptive Multi-Beam Space-Time Receiver for CCI/ISI Cancellation over Frequency Selective

A space-time (ST) receiver is proposed for combating the cochannel interference (CCI) and intersymbol interference (ISI) in a frequency-selective multipath environment. The scheme involves two stages. First, a set of adaptive beamformers pointed at a prescribed angular sector in space is constructed on an oversampled antenna array, each providing effective suppression of CCI and reception of desired signals. Second, a fractionally-spaced decision feedback equalizer (DFE) follows to eliminate the ISI left in beamformer outputs. In particular, both the beamformers and DFE can be realized in the form of a generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) with the aid of channel estimation, and partial adaptivity is incorporated for reduced complexity processing and improved convergence. The proposed ST receiver can be employed as a multi-beam smart antenna system which is suitable for cellular communications. Computer simulations demonstrate that it can achieve nearly the same performance as the optimal ST minimum mean square error (MMSE) DFE with a much lower implementation complexity.
The role of language in portfolio learning

Within the practice of recognizing prior learning (RPL), language issues –writing, the act of capturing language – are critically important facets of portfolio development. Using data drawn from a study of several postsecondary institutions in three countries, this paper examines the role and impact of language in portfolio development processes. Specifically, it considers the dynamics that contribute to learners’ finding appropriate language and their response to that journey, noting that learners pass through several stages of language growth, beginning with learning the language of academic life and recognizing the importance of that “new” language. The paper also discusses the impact of assessors’ use of language and considers the notion of learners’ transformation as they pass through the portfolio learning process.
Hypermedia and the Teaching of Computer Science: Evaluating an Open System

The authors have been involved in a project to build an open hypermedia system known as Microcosm. This paper examines the reasons why hypermedia has made so little impact on teaching in higher education. The open hypermedia system, Microcosm is introduced, and an experiment to use the system to support the teaching of SML as a first language is described.
PENGARUH VARIASI BENTUK SUDU TERHADAP KINERJA TURBIN AIR KINETIK (Sebagai Alternatif Pembangkit Listrik Daerah Pedesaan)

Turbin air kinetik adalah salah satu turbin yang memanfaatkan potensi energi kinetik berupa kecepatan aliran, dimana penelitian ini menggunakan turbin kinetik poros vertikal yang bersudu mangkuk. Penelitian dilakukan dengan menggunakan suatu instalasi turbin kinetik, dan dilakukan pengukuran terhadap gaya dan putaran dengan variasi bentuk sudu. Bentuk sudu turbin air kinetik merupakan salah satu variabel yang mempengaruhi putaran dan gaya tangensial suatu turbin, sehingga efeknya terhadap nilai daya dan efisiensi sebuah turbin air kinetik. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode eksperimen dengan rancangan percobaan berskala laboratorium. Hasil penelitian menunjukan adanya pengaruh bentuk sudu terhadap daya dan efisiensi yaitu bentuk sudu lengkung memiliki efisiensi lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan bentuk sudu datar dan mangkuk. Daya dan efisiensi turbin maksimum terjadi pada sudu lengkung dengan nilai sebesar 4,699 Watt dan 29,659 %, kemudian menurun pada sudu mangkuk dengan nilai daya dan efisiensi sebesar 4,508 Watt dan 28,457 %. Sedangkan daya dan efisiensi turbin terendah terjadi sudu datar dengan nilai daya dan efisiensi sebesar 3,080 Watt dan 19,439 %.
Lossless compression of ionogram data

A method for lossless compression of binary data is presented. To remove the redundancies among the data points, a linear predictive scheme is proposed and the coefficients are optimised in the sense of minimum mean square error. An arithmetic coder is then used to code the prediction errors. Experiments with real data files from a digisonde have been performed and the results show that the proposed method can compress the ionogram data with a high compression ratio while remains computationally simple.
The Internet ‐ the Educational Medium of Today

Abstract The Internet is increasingly used in all education. In January 1993 the University College of Education in Reykjavik launched a distance education BEd programme. This article gives a brief overview of an evaluation of the programme that was carried out in the years 1993‐96. Selected findings are introduced with special emphasis on the use of the Internet. At the end there are some speculations about the future use of the Internet in education. But at the outset, there are a few words about distance education in general. Abstract francais: On utilise de plus en plus Internet dans toute education. En janvier 1993 le College Universitaire d'Education de Reykjavik a lance un programme d'education a distance ‘BEd’. Larticle donne un apercu d'une evaluation du programme qui a ete mene durant les annees 1993‐96. Des resultats de recherches selectionnes sont presentes, l'accent etant mis sur l'emploi d'Internet. A la fin de l'article il y a des considerations sur l'emploi futur d'Internet dans l'educatio.
Test Driven Development: A Practical Guide

Test-Driven Development: A Practical Guide presents TDD from the perspective of the working programmer: real projects, real challenges, real solutions, . real code. Dave Astels explains TDD through a start-to-finish project written in Java and using JUnit. He introduces powerful TDD tools and techniques; shows how to utilize refactoring, mock objects, and "programming by intention"; even introduces TDD frameworks for C++, C#/. NET, Python, VB6, Ruby, and Smalltalk. Invaluable for anyone who wants to write better code. and have more fun doing it!
IMPLEMENTING A COMPUTERIZED TUTOR IN A STATISTICAL REASONING COURSE: GETTING THE BIG PICTURE

Many schools, like Carnegie Mellon University, are now teaching introductory statistical reasoning courses in a way that emphasizes conceptual understanding of the basic ideas of data analysis. There are several challenges in teaching such a course; foremost among them is the difficulty of conveying a sense of the "Big Picture. " This paper describes a computerized learning tool that we have developed to help overcome this obstacle. This tool is a cognitive tutor in which students solve data-analysis problems and receive individually tailored feedback. We discuss our cognitive tutor's use in the course and its measured effectiveness in a controlled experiment.
Training vs. Performance Support: Inadequate Training is Now Insufficient

Summary Three of the five prerequisites for change to a performance support system orientation exist: (a) Need and sponsor dissatisfaction with the status quo; (b) available and affordable alternatives; and (c) mindsets. The missing conditions are the development of a critical mass of people with vision who have the knowledge and skill to proceed, and the development of a sufficient transition and implementation strategy. Currently, a limited few are sufficiently familiar with the new alternatives—and while they have made the required mindset shifts, they are insufficient in number and not at sufficient organizational levels to sponsor the development of performance support systems. The key to developing effective performance support system strategy development and implementation is achieving the mindset or frame of reference shifts among those persons who can sponsor and fund the change and among the functional representatives who must participate in the change. The performance system view must be sold with benefits to the employees involved, to the overall organization, and to the functional participants in mind. Our current business problem is inadequate employee performance. Throwing in more traditional training events, regardless of whether they are interactive or not, will not solve it. The outcomes of traditional training are simply inadequate. And inadequate is now (and probably always was) insufficient. We have the technological means to develop and implement alternatives, but in order to accomplish the results we need, our view must shift from training to learning and then to performance. The focus must shift from rigidly defined content and training program structure, created by an instructional designer, to truly individualized learning experiences created by the learner. We must get out of our historical mindset and organizational boxes and take the broader and longer view. The future requires it. We must make a difference by affecting employee performance.
A synchronization scheme for distributed multimedia information systems

The authors propose a synchronization scheme for distributed multimedia information systems. The scheme consists of two layer synchronization: inter-stream synchronization and intra-stream synchronization. The inter-stream synchronization layer provides a temporal relationship between media and presents media to the user in the required synchronization fashion. The intra-stream synchronization provides functionality to establish and maintain individual medium connections with some specified synchronization characteristics. The proposed scheme can provide synchronization of media with arbitrary temporal relationships which could be originated from one or more sources on the network. Synchronization is also maintained in the event of user interaction, such as to pause and resume a multi-stream presentation. <<ETX>>
ltm: An R Package for Latent Variable Modeling and Item Response Analysis

The R package ltm has been developed for the analysis of multivariate dichotomous and polytomous data using latent variable models, under the Item Response Theory approach. For dichotomous data the Rasch, the Two-Parameter Logistic, and Birnbaum's Three-Parameter models have been implemented, whereas for polytomous data Semejima's Graded Response model is available. Parameter estimates are obtained under marginal maximum likelihood using the Gauss-Hermite quadrature rule. The capabilities and features of the package are illustrated using two real data examples.
Detecting unintended gesture in real-time video for mental state prediction

Research on Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) technology is gaining popularity from last few years. In this paper, the results of our proposed low-level gesture detection module have been presented. This module may serve as a building block for a real-time gesture identification and mental state prediction system. The system has four major processing modules such as skin blob detection module, skin blob tracking module, gesture recognition module and mental state prediction module.
Alternative flight route generator by genetic algorithms

This paper presents a new air traffic route generator based on genetic algorithms. Due to traffic growth, direct (and near direct) routes are becoming increasingly congested and there is a real need for spreading traffic on new alternative routes. Those routes have to be different from several operational criteria and must not generate too much extra distance compared to the direct route. To reach this goal, a GA has been implemented with efficient sharing which automatically allows the emergence of different alternative routes. This algorithm has been tried on French air space and gives realistic operational results.
A Hybrid Document Recommender Algorithm Based on Random Walk

Research shows that recommendations comprise a valuable service for users of a digital library. We proposed a hybrid document recommender system based on random walk. It builds correlation network among users based on the conditional probability in order to solve the sparsity of collaborative filtering. On the other hand, it computes the rating of source user for target item not only based on the neighborhoods’ ratings for target item but also based on the neighborhoods’ ratings for item which is most similar to target item. This can solve the cold start problem of recommender systems. We performed an evaluation on the dataset of National Science and Technology Library. Experimental results illustrate the superiority of the proposed method.
UniLogistic: A SAS Macro for Descriptive and Univariable Logistic Regression Analyses

Descriptive and univariable logistic regression analyses are essential before constructing multivariable models, but are very time consuming, particularly if a large number of explanatory variables are to be evaluated. A macro UniLogistic is described in this paper that conducts descriptive and univariable logistic regression analyses (binomial, ordinal or nominal, as required) in SAS and presents results in formatted tables in Excel and graphics in PDF files. Implementation of the macro is illustrated in this paper using example datasets from statistics and epidemiology textbooks.
Transformations for polyhedral process networks

We use the polyhedral process network (PPN) model of computation to program and map streaming applications onto embedded Multi-Processor Systems on Chip (MPSoCs) platforms. The PPNs, which can be automatically derived from sequential program applications, do not necessarily meet the performance/resource constraints. A designer can therefore apply the process splitting transformations to increase program performance, and the process merging transformation to reduce the number of processes in a PPN. These transformations were defined, but a designer had many possibilities to apply a particular transformation, and these transformations can also be ordered in many different ways. In this dissertation, we define compile-time solution approaches that assist the designer in evaluating and applying process splitting and merging transformations in the most effective way.