Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Contextual Approach to Dynamic Search and Topic Change

In this thesis, we propose a unique approach to dynamic search that uses a LinUCB contextual bandit algorithm to automatically search topics and change queries when finished. The algorithm models actions that a user might utilize when querying a search engine, including the action of ending one topic search and starting another by completely changing the query, and uses the context surrounding the current state of the search to choose one action each iteration with which to interact with the search engine. By using a contextual approach to reinforcement learning to select an action at each iteration, this process fully automates the search from beginning to end, choosing both how to search the topic and how long to search for, leading to a more effective retrieval with varied numbers of queries for each topic. This experiment is conducted using the data from TREC 2016 Dynamic Domain Track. Our results show that using the context features of the current search iteration to select the next action in the search allows the system to retrieve enough relevant documents for a complex search task and also that allowing the algorithm to decide how long to search each topic does not negatively affect the search process’s ability to satisfy a user’s information need. Index words: Information retrieval, Dynamic search, Machine learning, Contextual bandit, Multi-armed bandit
Detecting Ransomware with Honeypot Techniques

Attacks of Ransomware are increasing, this form of malware bypasses many technical solutions by leveraging social engineering methods. This means established methods of perimeter defence need to be supplemented with additional systems. Honeypots are bogus computer resources deployed by network administrators to act as decoy computers and detect any illicit access. This study investigated whether a honeypot folder could be created and monitored for changes. The investigations determined a suitable method to detect changes to this area. This research investigated methods to implement a honeypot to detect ransomware activity, and selected two options, the File Screening service of the Microsoft File Server Resource Manager feature and EventSentry to manipulate the Windows Security logs. The research developed a staged response to attacks to the system along with thresholds when there were triggered. The research ascertained that witness tripwire files offer limited value as there is no way to influence the malware to access the area containing the monitored files.
Web Tool for Object Oriented Design Metrics

An open source web application to calculate metrics from UML class diagrams is presented. The system can process any class diagram encoded in XMI format. After processing the XMI document, a complete report can be obtained in two different formats, HTML and spreadsheet file. The application can be accessed freely in a website. Source code is available for downloading.
An improved video coding scheme for depth map sequences based on compressed sensing

Compressed Sensing (CS) is an emerging theory in signal processing. The CS framework suggests that the signal can be reconstructed from the sub-samples by some recovery algorithm when the signal is sparse. We propose an improved video coding scheme to compress the depth map by Total Variation (TV) minimization in the pixel domain from the quantized/dequantized transform coefficients due to the extremely sparse gradient of depth maps. We keep all the frequency coefficients to avoid introducing noise to the reconstruction results. The TV minimization solver is integrated into the standard encoder, and the proposed coding scheme chooses the optimal recovery method by using the Rate-distortion Optimization (RDO) method. The experimental results show that our proposed scheme is highly efficient for the depth map sequences.
Evaluating Intracochlear Trauma after Cochlear Implant Electrode Insertion through Middle Fossa Approach in Temporal Bones

Objective To evaluate cochlear trauma after cochlear implant insertion through a middle fossa approach by means of histologic and imaging studies in temporal bones. Study Design Prospective cadaveric study. Setting University-based temporal bone laboratory. Subjects and Methods Twenty fresh-frozen temporal bones were implanted through a middle cranial fossa basal turn cochleostomy. Ten received a straight electrode and 10 a perimodiolar electrode. Samples were fixed in epoxy resin. Computed tomography (CT) scans determined direction, depth of insertion, and the cochleostomy to round window distance. The samples were polished by a microgrinding technique and microscopically visualized to evaluate intracochlear trauma. Descriptive and analytic statistics were performed to compare both groups. Results The CT scan showed intracochlear insertions in every bone, 10 directed to the middle/apical turn and 10 to the basal turn. In the straight electrode group, the average number of inserted electrodes was 12.3 vs 15.1 for the perimodiolar group (U = 78, P = .0001). The median insertion depth was larger for the perimodiolar group (14.4 mm vs 12.5 mm, U = 66, P = .021). Only 1 nontraumatic insertion was achieved and 14 samples (70%) had important trauma (Eshraghi grades 3 and 4). No differences were identified comparing position or trauma grades for the 2 electrode models or when comparing trauma depending on the direction of insertion. Conclusion The surgical technique allows a proper intracochlear insertion, but it does not guarantee a correct scala tympani position and carries the risk of important trauma to cochlear microstructures.
An Inexact Implementation of Smoothing Homotopy Method for Semi-Supervised Support Vector Machines

Semi-supervised Support Vector Machines is an appealing method for using unlabeled data in classification. Smoothing homotopy method is one of feasible method for solving semi-supervised support vector machines. In this paper, an inexact implementation of the smoothing homotopy method is considered. The numerical implementation is based on a truncated smoothing technique. By the new technique, many “non-active” data can be filtered during the computation of every iteration so that the computation cost is reduced greatly. Besides this, the global convergence can make better local minima and then result in lower test errors. Final numerical results verify the efficiency of the method.
Development of assurance techniques for information quality on technical advice

The Maritime Division (MD) of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), undertakes the development of platform models to support the provision of technical advice to Royal Australian Navy (RAN) acquisition projects. This requires the synthesis of different types and sources of information into the advice given. The information can include pure scientific data through to technical data from industry and may even include rules of thumb. This variation in the data source and types has led DSTO to seek methods to assess the quality of the information used in the advice they provide. In this paper, a method is presented for the selection of dimensions, their categorisation and development of a rating scale for information quality. The research does not consider database data quality issues, as these are outside the scope of the problem. A scale is developed from weighted values of 15 quality dimensions considered important for this work. The quality dimension weightings were developed using a pair-wise comparison.
Superior Sagittal Sinus Thrombosis Associated with Raised Intracranial Pressure in Closed Head Injury with Depressed Skull Fracture

A case of delayed signs of intracranial hypertension following closed head injury with a depressed cranial fracture and superior sagittal sinus thrombosis is reported. Conservative treatment of intracranial hypertension, including just repeated lumbar puncture and oral acetazolamide, was performed. Spontaneous recanalization of the superior sagittal sinus was observed. Pathogenesis and different modalities of treatment are discussed.
Description of a “Trans-Saharan” Strain of Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 in West Africa

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and the molecular epidemiology of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) in a group of pregnant women living in Guinea Bissau. We studied 427 consecutive pregnant women attending 10 centers for HIV-1 infection monitoring in Bissau. HTLV-1 infection was found in 2.6% of the patients. Phylogenetic analysis of the long terminal repeat region showed that 10 isolates were of the cosmopolitan subtype (HTLV-1a) and that only 1 was of the widespread Central African subtype (HTLV-1b). All the cosmopolitan isolates belonged to the HTLV-1aD subgroup, which was first described in North Africa and clustered with other Senegal and Guinea isolates to form a significant West African clade. Our data show a high prevalence of HTLV-1 in Guinea Bissau and suggest the existence of a trans-Saharan strain distributed in North and West Africa, which probably crossed the desert in the past as a result of contacts between nomadic and sedentary populations or along trading routes.
Resonant tunnelling diode terahertz sources for broadband wireless communications

This paper will discuss resonant tunnelling diode (RTD) sources being developed on a European project iBROW (ibrow.project.eu) to enable short-range multi-gigabit wireless links and microwave-photonic interfaces for seamless links to the optical fibre backbone network. The practically relevant output powers are at least 10 mW at 90 GHz, 5 mW at 160 GHz and 1 mW at 300 GHz and simulation and some experimental results show that these are feasible in RTD technology. To date, 75 - 315 GHz indium phosphide (InP) based RTD oscillators with relatively high output powers in the 0.5 – 1.1 mW range have been demonstrated on the project. They are realised in various circuit topologies including those that use a single RTD device, 2 RTD devices and up to 4 RTD devices for increasingly higher output power. The oscillators are realised using only photolithography by taking advantage of the large micron-sized but broadband RTD devices. The paper will also describe properties of RTD devices as photo-detectors which makes this a unified technology that can be integrated into both ends of a wireless link, namely consumer portable devices and fibre-optic supported base-stations (since integration with laser diodes is also possible).
The role of selected lexical factors on confrontation naming accuracy, speed, and fluency in adults who do and do not stutter.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate whether lexical access in adults who stutter (AWS) differs from that in people who do not stutter. Specifically, the authors examined the role of 3 lexical factors on naming speed, accuracy, and fluency: word frequency, neighborhood density, and neighborhood frequency. If stuttering results from an impairment in lexical access, these factors were hypothesized to differentially affect AWS performance on a confrontation naming task. METHOD Twenty-five AWS and 25 normally fluent comparison speakers, matched for age and education, participated in a confrontation naming task designed to explore within-speaker performance on naming accuracy, speed, and fluency based on stimulus word frequency and neighborhood characteristics. Accuracy, fluency, and reaction time (from acoustic waveform analysis) were computed. RESULTS In general, AWS demonstrated the same effects of lexical factors on their naming as did adults who do not stutter. However, accuracy of naming was reduced for AWS. Stuttering rate was influenced by word frequency but not other factors. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that AWS could have a fundamental deficit in lexical retrieval, but this deficit is unlikely to be at the level of the word's abstract phonological representation. Implications for further research are discussed.
Bayesian Modeling of Measurement Errors and Pesticide Concentration in Dietary Risk Assessments

We propose new models for dealing with various sources of variability and uncertainty that influence risk assessments for dietary exposure. The uncertain or random variables involved can interact in complex ways, and the focus is on methodology for integrating their effects and on assessing the relative importance of including different uncertainty model components in the calculation of dietary exposures to contaminants, such as pesticide residues. The combined effect is reflected in the final inferences about the population of residues and subsequent exposure assessments. In particular, we show how measurement uncertainty can have a significant impact on results and discuss novel statistical options for modeling this uncertainty. The effect of measurement error is often ignored, perhaps due to the laboratory process conforming to the relevant international standards, for example, or is treated in an ad hoc way. These issues are common to many dietary risk analysis problems, and the methods could be applied to any food and chemical of interest. An example is presented using data on carbendazim in apples and consumption surveys of toddlers.
The Contribution of Problem Drinking to the Level of Psychiatric Morbidity in the General Hospital

Of 331 patients admitted to a general hospital to whom the CAGE questionnaire was administered, those who scored 2 or more for alcoholism scored higher on a number of measures of psychiatric morbidity than those with a CAGE score of O. Those patients who scored 1 showed less psychiatric morbidity than those who scored 0. Among the male patients who scored at least one question positively, those who had abstained from alcohol for at least a year showed higher levels of psychiatric morbidity than those still drinking.
PVad: Privacy-Preserving Verification for Secure Routing in Ad Hoc Networks

Routing security has a great importance to the security of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). There are various kinds of attacks when establishing routing path between source and destination. The adversaries attempt to deceive the source node and get the privilege of data transmission. Then they try to launch the malicious behaviors such as passive or active attacks. Due to the characteristics of the MANETs, e.g. dynamic topology, open medium, distributed cooperation, and constrained capability, it is difficult to verify the behavior of nodes and detect malicious nodes without revealing any privacy. In this paper, we present PVad, an approach conducting privacy-preserving verification in the routing discovery phase of MANETs. PVad tries to find the existing communication rules by association rules instead of making the rules. PVad consists of two phases, a reasoning phase deducing the expected log data of the peers, and a verification phase using Merkle Hash Tree to verify the correctness of derived information without revealing any privacy of nodes on expected routing paths. Without deploying any special nodes to assist the verification, PVad can detect multiple malicious nodes by itself. To show our approach can be used to guarantee the security of the MANETs, we conduct our experiments in NS3 as well as the real router environment, and we improved the detection accuracy by 4% on average compared to our former work.
Simulation of ultrasonic wave propagation in anisotropic poroelastic bone plate using hybrid spectral/finite element method

This paper deals with the modeling of guided waves propagation in in vivo cortical long bone, which is known to be anisotropic medium with functionally graded porosity. The bone is modeled as an anisotropic poroelastic material by using Biot's theory formulated in high frequency domain. A hybrid spectral/finite element formulation has been developed to find the time‐domain solution of ultrasonic waves propagating in a poroelastic plate immersed in two fluid halfspaces. The numerical technique is based on a combined Laplace–Fourier transform, which allows to obtain a reduced dimension problem in the frequency–wavenumber domain. In the spectral domain, as radiation conditions representing infinite fluid halfspaces may be exactly introduced, only the heterogeneous solid layer needs to be analyzed by using finite element method. Several numerical tests are presented showing very good performance of the proposed procedure. A preliminary study on the first arrived signal velocities computed by using equivalent elastic and poroelastic models will be presented.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Truth Serum for Non-Bayesians: Correcting Proper Scoring Rules for Risk Attitudes*

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Molecular mycology: DNA probes and applications of PCR technology.

Future clinical mycology laboratories will increasingly utilize DNA-based methods for the recognition of pathogenic fungi in patient specimens and for the identification of fungal isolates. Although the reagents and protocols vary greatly, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and oligonucleotide probes are central to these procedures. This article will review concepts and strategies for the design of DNA probes and primers for the PCR, practical considerations for the implemention of DNA-based laboratory procedures, the application of DNA methods to population studies and epidemiology, and current identification of fungi in clinical material and in culture. Molecular evolutionary basis of DNA primer and probe design PCR, with or without subsequent oligonucleotide probe detection, can be used to detect and identify a group of target organisms to the exclusion of all other species [26]. The objective is to design PCR primers, which are usually oligonucleotides about 20-25 bases in length, that exactly complement DNA sequences shared by all members of the target group (the target group can consist of one or many species), but which contain at least one base mismatch to the species that must be excluded from detection. The greater the number of mismatches to the non-target organisms, the easier it is to discriminate them from the target group. These considerations are the basis for the design of both oligonucleotide probes and amplification primers. Any molecular diagnostic system should be designed to address clinically relevant questions to avoid spending effort on making fine but unnecessary distinctions. Understanding the kinds of questions that DNA-based systems can resolve will assist the physician and clinical laboratorian in discussions with the molecular researcher. The design of PCR primers and probes is fundamentally dependent on evolution at the DNA level. In general, the more time that has elapsed since two species shared a common ancestor, the more different they will be at the DNA level and the easier it will be to find a primer binding site that can distinguish between them. If species are close relatives (i.e. recently shared a common ancestor), it may be more difficult to detect one of them while excluding the other. A group of organisms that share a common ancestor will share mutations that arose during the descent of that common ancestor, assuming that at least some of those mutations have remained unchanged while the group diversified into separate species. The regions of these mutations, which distinguish the
Affordable avionic networks with Gigabit Ethernet assessing the suitability of commercial components for airborne use

A variety of networking standards have been proposed and implemented to provide real-time network performance guarantees in embedded systems. These standards all focus on bounding individual message latency; however, we argue that this is not the most important measure for a large class of avionic systems. We show the key metric for this class of architectures, and present the results of an experiment using standard commercial-grade Gigabit Ethernet equipment to assess the suitability of COTS components in this environment. The path to more affordable future avionic architectures may be open now.
Nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation in experimental brain edema: Effects of water concentration, protein concentration, and temperature

Proton relaxation times T1 and T2 of macromolecular solutions, bovine brain tissues, and experimental cat brain edema tissues were studied as a function of water concentration, protein concentration, and temperature. A linear relation was found between the inverse of the weight fraction of tissue water and the spin‐lattice relaxation rate, R1, based on a fast proton exchange model for relaxation. This correlation was also found for the spin‐spin relaxation rate, R2, of gray matter samples and macromolecular solutions at low concentrations. Concentrated solutions of protein‐water samples showed an enhanced relaxation due to viscosity effects. The T2 of white matter was considerably lengthened with elevated water concentration, but showed no straightforward relation with the total tissue water content. The relaxation times of all samples increased with temperature, supporting the assumption of fast proton exchange in the model for relaxation. This was not found for white matter, in which T2 decreased with increasing temperature, which indicated that intermediate or even slow exchange was present. The relation found between relaxation times and tissue water content can be used to predict the amount of and/or increase in tissue water due to water‐elevating processes such as edema. © 1988 Academic Press, Inc.
Improved phoneme recognition by integrating evidence from spectro-temporal and cepstral features

Gabor features have been proposed for extracting spectro-temporal modulation information, and yielding significant improvements in recognition performance. In this paper, we propose the integration of Gabor posteriors with MFCC post-eriors, yielding a relative improvement of 14.3% over an MFCC Tandem system. We analyze for different types of acoustic units the complementarity between Gabor features with long-term spectro-temporal modulation information in the mel-spectrogram and MFCC features with short-term temporal information in the cepstral domain. It is found that Gabor features are better for vowel recognition while MFCCs are better for consonants. This explains why their integration offers improvements.