Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic Construction of Large Scale Image Data Set from Web Using Ontology and Deep Learning Model

General object recognition requires a large scale image data set and recognition accuracy depends on the image data set used for the learning. This paper proposes a method to collect only the target images using Ontology and features obtained from obtained from Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The proposed approach constructs large scale data set automatically by expanding the range of collected images. It is shown that the proposed approach is effective by collecting the image data set and a mean accuracy 88.6% was obtained from the subjective evaluation in experiments. Keywords–Image data set; Web image mining; Image processing; Web intelligence.
Data-Driven Tools for Introductory Computer Science Education

The software industry spends a tremendous amount of e↵ort and resources on software testing and maintenance to improve the quality of software. However, a large portion of the cost may be saved by training high-quality software developers with better Computer Science education. Skilled software developers can not only produce code of fewer bugs and better design but also identify and fix issues more e↵ectively. Therefore, in this thesis, we researched building useful educational tools for facilitating Computer Science education, particularly in introductory programming courses. Since understanding the code execution is the first step of writing high-quality code and software testing, in the first study, we built a web-based interactive tool to teach students necessary comprehension and analysis skills to understand the program execution. Secondly, we built an automated tool for students to interactively practice writing test cases and debugging programs. The tool gauges the test coverage of students’ test sets using a large corpus of buggy programs we collected in our previous course sessions. The tool returns the buggy programs as immediate feedback which students’ test sets failed to catch. Students need to study those returned buggy programs to gradually improve the testing coverage of their test sets. In the third project, we built a tool that automatically generates high-quality test cases to construct concise test sets for testing students’ coding assignment solutions. The tool utilizes heterogeneous historical student incorrect implementations to guide the test case search process. Its generated test cases are expected to provide better test
Review on UHF RFID Localization Methods

With the wide spread of the Internet of Things (IoT), wireless localization technology has provided various location-based applications and services. Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been widely used in objects’ identification and tracking. Combining with its excellent identification ability, RFID is also a promising technique for indoor localization. This paper provides the state-of-the-art of UHF RFID localization and gives an introduction of methods and applications. The major methods of UHF RFID localization have two types: 1) range-based and 2) range-free, reported in previous literature. The range-based methods obtain the distance or angle between the antenna and tag utilizing the received signal strength indicator (RSSI), time information or signal phase and estimate tag location further combining the scheme geometrical characteristics. The methods based on fingerprinting and non-fingerprinting are mainly discussed in the range-free domain. Finally, a comparative study of these surveyed works are presented and concluded with a future trend.
Taking the lab on the road and bringing the road to the lab: On using mixed-methods and virtual reality to study a location-based task

In earlier work, a lab and field study were employed to evaluate participants who used a digital map to complete a surveying task. The lab incorporated photos to simulate various scenarios within the task environment. It had a high degree of experimental control, strengths in quantitative data collection, and it could be easily replicated. Whereas the field study took place in the task’s natural setting (a neighborhood); it afforded participants to navigate the environment on foot, which allowed for more ecologically valid task outcomes and rich qualitative data collection. The strengths of the lab method were desired, but the rich context and the ecological validity of the field study proved to be critical to outcomes. In this research, three follow-up experiments were conducted. The first two field experiments explored differences in task outcomes between fieldworkers with high spatial visualization ability and low spatial visualization ability. Participants completed a series of surveying tasks using paper maps while navigating a neighborhood. The results indicated that task performance outcomes and behavior could be linked to participants' spatial visualization ability, their map usage patterns, and environmental factors. In the third experiment, a VR lab was used to replicate a field experiment on the task as it was performed by digital map users. An approach is highlighted to recreate the task environment—a neighborhood that was large in extent—using an immersive virtual environment (IVE). Outcomes from the field are compared to those of the VR lab, which enabled participants to move through the simulated neighborhood using a hands-free interface. Using this approach, strengths of the lab method (i.e., its experimental control) are combined with the ecological validity afforded to natural setting research. The results
Strategies for incorporating nouns and verbs in code-mixing: the case of Pashto-English bilingual speech

A recurring issue in the analysis of code-mixed speech concerns the strategies for incorporating nouns and verbs. How can nouns and verbs from one language be felicitously incorporated into sentences from another language? This paper analyses this question with a case study of English-Pashto bilingual speech. English nouns appear in determiner phrases marked with Pashto case endings, and English verbs have an associated light verb with Pashto inflections. Code-mixing and lexical borrowing have led to a large amount to indigenized English elements in Pashto. Code-mixing is a device of indigenization whereby Pashto speakers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have adopted and nativized the English elements in their local use.
Hydrogen generation by Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U.001 using pretreated waste barley

In the present study, valorization of waste barley by producing hydrogen (H 2 ) and 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) using Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U. 001 was aimed. Firstly, 3 % (w/v) waste barley hydrolysate was prepared by treating 3 g of powdered waste barley with H 2 SO 4 in a total volume of 100 mL mixture and then autoclaving this mixture at 121 oC for 30 min. Upon generation of fermentable simple sugars by pretreatment and analytical examination of the hydrolysate in terms of ammonium content, element composition and light transmittance, various types of growth media containing various concentrations of sugar (5 - 6 - 7 - 8 g/L) were prepared. The cells were cultivated in these media under photo-heterotrophic conditions which favor H 2 and 5-ALA generations. pH changes, growth, H 2 production and 5-ALA generation were monitored in the media. The results showed that all the media prepared from 3 % (w/v) waste barley hydrolysate sustained the cell growth appreciably. The highest OD value (OD 660 : 1.71) was attained when using 8 g/L sugar. Furthermore, biological H 2 evolution was seen in each bioreactor. In particular, the highest hydrogen accumulation (0.29 L H 2 /L) was achieved in 6 g/L sugar-containing medium. However, 5-ALA was not detected in any of the media. To conclude, considerable cell growth and biological hydrogen production was achieved using 3 % (w/v) waste barley hydrolysate under the conditions tested but there was no detectable 5-ALA generation.
SNA: Sourceless Network Architecture

Why are there source addresses in datagrams? What alternative architecture can one conceive to provide all of the current, and some new functionality, currently dependant on a conflicting set of uses for this field. We illustrate how this can be achieved by re-interpreting the 32-bit field in IPv4 headers to help the Internet solve a range of current and future problems.
Study on optimization and robust control of active power decoupling circuit based converters

As the use of electrical energy increases, the range of use of electric energy conversion devices is expanding. In particular, automobiles that have used internal combustion engines have been replaced by electric transducers and motors. Unlike in the past when thermal power generation and nuclear power generation have accounted for the majority of electric power production, more stable and environmentally friendly wind power and solar power generation are increasing. These devices require converters that effectively convert various types of energy into electrical energy. Efficiency, miniaturization and stability of these power converters have been important research topics. Recently, many researchers have been studying increasing reliability and life expectancy. The life expectancy of actuators such as solar panels and light-emitting diodes(LEDs) has been increased due to the development of material technologies. However, power conversion devices have limitations in increasing lifespan due to manufacturing cost and failure rate increase. AC / DC converters require large capacitors to smooth the ripple power generated from the power source. Electrolytic capacitors(E-Caps.) have been used in many applications as they have advantages in volume and price when compared with other types of capacitors. However, there is a problem that it is susceptible to temperature and ripple current due to the structure including high equivalent series resistance(ESR) and electrolyte. This has the shortest lifespan of the components and limits the life of the power inverter. Therefore, in order to increase the lifetime of the electric energy conversion device, it is necessary to replace it with another types of capacitor having high reliability. In recent years, research has been conducted to replace E-Caps with film capacitors having relatively long lifetime and high reliability in order to improve the lifetime and failure rate of power conversion devices. Film capacitors have a relatively long lifetime compared to E-Caps due to their low ESR, self-healing and stable structure. However, there are problems that it is difficult to apply to actual products due to the large volume and high price compared to the same capacity. To solve this problem, it is necessary to reduce the capacity of the film capacitor. Single-phase AC/DC converters are approaching two ways: capacitorless inverter control and active power decoupling(APD) method. In the case of capacitor-less inverter control, power is controlled at the inverter side so that the motor behaves like a resistive load. This method has the advantage that
Sentiment Analysis on User-Based Reviews: Movie Recommendation Case

Many people use the Internet as a place for seeking opinions. With the increasing amount of user-based content on the web, there has been an emergence of research fields that uses sentiment analysis to take advantage of, and process this data. This could result in more satisfied customers, as relevant information will be easier to find. In this research, we present a new method, based on extracting and analyzing adjectives from user-based reviews. We exploit the idea that adjectives often contain a sentiment, and present a system entirely based on adjectives as sentiment deciders. Our experiments uses classical machine learning techniques like Random Forest and Support Vector Machines to predict the sentiment orientation of the reviews. Compared to baseline, our system improved results in all our experiments. Results also shows that with an accuracy of 94.7%, our system performs better than state-of-the-art approach on a large dataset consisting of 50 000 movie reviews.
Models for Predicting Moisture Diffusivity During Osmotic Dehydration of Two Cocoyam Varieties ( Colocasia spp and Xanthosoma spp )

The influence of process variables on the kinetics of water loss during osmotic dehydration of Cocoyam varieties ( Colocasia spp and Xanthosoma spp ) slices in sugar solutions were investigated to provide information necessary for further drying and to enable processors maintain quality of cocoyam. Mass transfers during Osmotic dehydration of cocoyam slices in sucrose solutions were quantitatively investigated. Cocoyam tubers were cut into 20mm x 50mm x10mm, 20mm x50mm x15mm and 20mm x 50mm x 20mm, and were osmotically dehydrated in sucrose solution of 44°B, 52°B, 60°B and 68°B for 14 hr, maintained in water bath at 20°C, 30°C and 40°C. Data obtained were used to develop a model, validate and evaluate moisture diffusivity. Mean values recorded for moisture diffusivities were 17.31 x 10 –9 m 2 /s and 14.99 x 10 –9 m 2 /s for Colocasia and Xanthosoma spp respectively. However, no significance difference was recorded at 5% level of significance using t-Test and F-Test. Second order polynomial models for the two varieties of cocoyam produced good fit. High values of coefficients of determination R 2 (0.986) and (0.981) were recorded for Colocasia and Xanthosoma spp respectively. This has shown that the models can be used to determine and predict degree of influence of sucrose solution concentration, slices thickness and temperature of solution on moisture movement in osmotic dehydration. Validation of the model gave errors of 3.91 and 4.25% for Colocasia and Xanthosoma spp respectively.
A Review on Performance Evaluation Criteria and Tools for Lightweight Block Ciphers

Internet of Things (IoT) has become a powerful paradigm that has made significant progress in almost all areas. It has attracted worldwide attention in the smart computing environment. Security is considered as one of the most important concerns of constraint end nodes. Providing solutions to these resource constraint devices through ordinary cryptographic solutions is not sufficient. To fulfill this gap, a relatively new field of cryptography called lightweight cryptography came into existence. Besides, ISO/IEC provides various standards related to ICT. There are several parameters for both hardware and software implementations that are set to assess the ciphers. This paper presents criteria posed by these standards that can be considered by a cipher designer so as to include cipher in this standard. A software implementation of security algorithms consider some evaluation parameters. Such performance evaluation criteria, some metrics and performance evaluation tools relevant in this context are also presented in this paper
Trust based Privacy Policy Enforcement in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing offers opportunities for organizations to reduce IT costs by using the computation and storage of a remote provider. Despite the benefits offered by cloud computing paradigm, organizations are still wary of delegating their computation and storage to a cloud service provider due to trust concerns. The trust issues with the cloud can be addressed by a combination of regulatory frameworks and supporting technologies. Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PET) and remote attestation provide the technologies for addressing the trust concerns. PET provides proactive measures through cryptography and selective dissemination of data to the client. Remote attestation mechanisms provides reactive measures by enabling the client to remotely verify if a provider is compromised. The contributions of this work are three fold. This thesis explores the PET landscape by studying in detail the implications of using PET in cloud architectures. The practicality of remote attestation in Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) scenarios is also analyzed and improvements have been proposed to the state of the art. This thesis also propose a fresh look at trust relationships in cloud computing, where a single provider changes its configuration for each client based on the subjective and dynamic trust assessments of clients. We conclude by proposing a plan for expanding on the completed work.
How Different Tangible and Virtual Objects Can Be While Still Feeling the Same?

Tangible objects are used in Virtual Reality to provide human users with distributed haptic sensations when grasping virtual objects. To achieve a compelling illusion, there should be a good correspondence between the haptic features of the tangible object and those of the corresponding virtual one, i.e., what users see in the virtual environment should match as much as possible what they touch in the real world. This paper aims at quantifying how similar tangible and virtual objects need to be, in terms of haptic perception, to still feel the same. As it is often not possible to create tangible replicas of all the virtual objects in the scene, it is important to understand how different tangible and virtual objects can be without the user noticing. This paper reports on the just-noticeable difference (JND) when grasping, with a thumb-index pinch, a tangible object which differ from a seen virtual one on three important haptic features: width, local orientation, and curvature. Results show JND values of 5.75%, 43.8%, and 66.66% of the reference shape for the width, local orientation, and local curvature features, respectively. These results will enable researchers in the field of Virtual Reality to use a reduced number of tangible objects to render multiple virtual ones.
Role of the inward rectifying potassium channel, Kir4.1, in astrocyte physiology and neuronal excitability

BILJANA DJUKIC: Role of the Inward Rectifying Potassium Channel, Kir4.1, in Astrocyte Physiology and Neuronal Excitability (Under the direction of Ken D. McCarthy, Ph.D.) During neuronal activity extracellular potassium concentration ([K]out) becomes elevated and if uncorrected causes neuronal depolarization, hyperexcitability, and seizures. Clearance of K from the extracellular space, termed K spatial buffering, is considered to be an important function of astrocytes. Results from a number of studies suggest that maintenance of [K]out by astrocytes is mediated by K uptake through Kir4.1 channels. Furthermore, a missense variation in the Kir4.1 gene is linked to seizure susceptibility in mice and humans. To study the role of this channel in astrocyte physiology and neuronal excitability we have generated a conditional knockout (cKO) of Kir4.1 directed to astrocytes via human GFAP promoter, gfa2. Kir4.1 cKO mice die prematurely and display severe ataxia and stressinduced seizures. Histological analysis of Kir4.1 cKO brain and spinal cord revealed white matter vacuolization suggestive of oligodendrocyte pathology. Immunostaining studies confirmed removal of Kir4.1 from cKO astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, indicating that these cell types arise from a common GFAP-expressing precursor. Passive astrocytes in Kir4.1 cKO hippocampus appeared normal in morphology and coupling ability; however, we observed a significant loss of complex astrocytes suggestive of Kir4.1 role in astrocyte development. Whole-cell patch clamp revealed large depolarization (>35 mV) of Kir4.1 cKO astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Complex cell depolarization appears to be a direct
Association Rule Mining Using Firefly Algorithm

Data mining is the process of extracting previously unknown patterns from large amount of data. Association rule mining is one of very important data mining models. Swarm intelligence is a new subfield of artificial intelligence which studies the collective behavior of groups of simple agents. In this paper, a new efficient approach is proposed for exploring high-quality association rules. The proposed approach is based on firefly algorithm, which is an optimization algorithm used in swarm optimization. The proposed approach mines interesting and understandable association rules in single run without using the minimum support and the minimum confidence thresholds. The proposed approach was implemented using Microsoft Visual Studio 4.0 to prove its efficiency in terms of computation time.
Comparing System-response Retrieval Models for Open-domain and Casual Conversational Agent

This paper studies corpus-based process to select a system-response usable both in chatterbot or as a fallback strategy. It presents, evaluates and compares two selection methods that retrieve and adapt a system-response from the OpenSubtitles2016 corpus given a human-utterance. A corpus of 800 annotated pairs is constituted. Evaluation consists in objective metrics and subjective annotation based on the validity schema proposed in the RE-WOCHAT shared task. Our study indicates that the task of assessing the validity of a system-response given a human-utterance is subjective to an important extent, and is thus a difficult task. Comparisons show that the selection method based on word embedding performs objectively better than the one based on TF-IDF in terms of response variety and response length.
Détection de coréférences de bout en bout en français (End-to-end coreference resolution for French)

Notre objectif est l’élaboration d’un système de détection automatique de relations de coréférence le plus général possible, pour le traitement des anaphores pronominales et les coréférences directes. Nous décrivons dans cet article les différentes étapes de traitement des textes dans le système que nous avons développé : (i) l’annotation en traits lexicaux et syntaxiques par le système Macaon ; (ii) le repérage des mentions par un modèle obtenu par apprentissage sur le corpus ANCOR ; (iii) l’annotation sémantique des mentions à partir de deux ressources : le DEM et le LVF ; (iv) l’annotation en coréférences par un système à base de règles. Le système est évalué sur le corpus ANCOR.
A Hybrid Particle Swarm Algorithm with Roulette Selection Operator

In this paper,a novel Particle Swarm Optimizer combined with the roulette selection operator is proposed,which provides a mechanism to restrain the predominating of super particles in early stage and can effectively avoid the premature problem.Variety experiments are conducted on several test functions taken from the literature.The computational results demonstrate that the modified algorithm is promising to achieve faster convergence and better solutions,especially for multimodal function optimization.
Special Issue: Speaker and Language Recognition [Guest Editorial]

This special issue on Speaker and Language Recognition is intended for a wide audience that includes the experienced researcher, product development engineer and graduate student. Speaker and language recognition technologies have many very important practical applications. Speaker recognition [1] is an example of a biometric system that is applicable to border and immigration control, controlled access to transportation systems, restricted access to facilities and information systems, cybersecurity, crime investigations and forensic analysis as used by commercial, government and law enforcement agencies.
110th Anniversary: The Epoxidation of Polybutadiene via Reaction-Controlled Phase-Transfer Catalysis

By using an aqueous H2O2 solution and the reaction-controlled phase-transfer catalyst CPC-PW4O16, polybutadiene (PBD) was epoxidized quantitatively and efficiently up to an epoxy ratio of 20 mol %. During the epoxidation, the catalyst first interacted with H2O2 to generate an amphiphilic intermediate, which made the reaction mixture become a two-phase emulsion. The epoxidation of PBD occurred in the interface of two phases. With the consumption of H2O2, the catalyst was self-precipitated out of the emulsion, thereby becoming recyclable. The starting material of PBD can be either the commercial block rubber or the original rubber solution directly from the polymerization reactor. When using the latter, many processes consuming time and energy in preparation of PBD solid rubber and in preparation of EPBD could be removed. The recycle test indicated that the activity of catalyst still remained high, compared with the fresh one.