Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maximizing generalized linear mixed model likelihoods with an automated Monte Carlo EM algorithm

Two new implementations of the EM algorithm are proposed for maximum likelihood fitting of generalized linear mixed models. Both methods use random (independent and identically distributed) sampling to construct Monte Carlo approximations at the E‐step. One approach involves generating random samples from the exact conditional distribution of the random effects (given the data) by rejection sampling, using the marginal distribution as a candidate. The second method uses a multivariate t importance sampling approximation. In many applications the two methods are complementary. Rejection sampling is more efficient when sample sizes are small, whereas importance sampling is better with larger sample sizes. Monte Carlo approximation using random samples allows the Monte Carlo error at each iteration to be assessed by using standard central limit theory combined with Taylor series methods. Specifically, we construct a sandwich variance estimate for the maximizer at each approximate E‐step. This suggests a rule for automatically increasing the Monte Carlo sample size after iterations in which the true EM step is swamped by Monte Carlo error. In contrast, techniques for assessing Monte Carlo error have not been developed for use with alternative implementations of Monte Carlo EM algorithms utilizing Markov chain Monte Carlo E‐step approximations. Three different data sets, including the infamous salamander data of McCullagh and Nelder, are used to illustrate the techniques and to compare them with the alternatives. The results show that the methods proposed can be considerably more efficient than those based on Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms. However, the methods proposed may break down when the intractable integrals in the likelihood function are of high dimension.
Analog front end for multichannel ADC

This paper presents one solution for analog front end circuit of the multi channel ADC. The proposed solution is based on a sample-and-hold circuit that provides multiplexing function as well. Circuit is meant to be custom designed block which will represent analog front end of ADC. ADC is aimed for measurement applications of LF input signals up to 2 kHz bandwidth. The tricky part is multiplexing that should provide data from more than three inputs but with values sampled at the same instant. Practically all the values should be stored on the appropriate capacitors with as small droop as possible. However some signals will wait longer than the other for conversion. The paper explains circuit operation and proposes procedure for circuit parameter evaluation. The complete procedure has been verified by SPICE simulation. KeywordsADC; modulation; multiplexing; modeling; sample & hold
Rotation and Scale Invariant Intrusion Detection for Security Systems

: There are some areas where a very tight security is needed. These areas include Line of Control, Airports, etc. Also, in some areas, it is not possible to appoint human soldiers due to the worst environmental conditions and high risk of attack by enemies. In such cases, a complete independent system is necessary which will automatically detect the intruding objects and destroy them. Thus, such a system will ensure tight security without endangering the precious life of human soldiers. The system proposed here is a complete independent system in which camera, image processing software, supplementary hardware takes care of destroying intruding objects automatically. The system is kept simple from implementation point of view. Total 20 objects of different sizes and shape are tested. From experimental results it is found that system gives good performance for various shapes and sizes. Thus the system is scale invariant as well as rotation invariant. Overall recognition accuracy is 93%.
1200 T CELL HYBRIDS WITH ONE OR TWO ANTIGEN / H-2 SPECIFICITIES

The characterization of the antigen-recognizing structure on the various classes of T cells has been a difficult problem for immunologists. Three aspects of this problem are particularly controversial: first, whether the genes that code for the variable portion of immunoglobulin also code for the antigen-recognizing portion of the receptor on all classes of T cells (1-4); second, whether T cell receptors specific for allo-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) 1 products are unique or are included within the population of receptors for conventional antigens (5-10); and third, how T cells, particularly those of the cytotoxic and helper classes, are able to demonstrate an apparent dual specificity for both a conventional antigen and a product of the M H C such that they function only when confronted with both the appropriate antigen and M H C product (11-16). Various models have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. Some have proposed that antigen and M H C are recognized independently via two receptors on the T cell (17-23). Others have proposed various forms of dependent recognition, involving, for example, a single receptor on the T cell, and /or a physical interaction between antigen and M H C products in antigenpresenting cells (24-26). A number of experimental results have been used by various investigators to argue for one or the other of these models, but there is little evidence that distinguishes the various possibilities. A direct attack on these questions has been hampered by the lack of suitable sources of clonal T cell lines analogous to the B cell myelomas. Recently, two techniques have offered promise in this regard. The first is the establishment of long-term cultures of normal antigen-specific T cells through the use of repeated in vitro antigen stimulation and /o r the growth factor, interleukin 2 (IL-2; formerly, T cell growth factor) (27-30). The second is the production of immortal T cell hybrids between normal antigenspecific T cells and T cell tumor lines (31-36). In the present study, we combined these two methods to produce inducible, antigen-specific, H-2-restricted T cell hy-
NEC and Tokyo Institute of Technology in TAC KBP 2017: Multichannel Encoding and Stochastic Voting for Event Detection Model

This is the first time we participate in the KBP evaluation tasks of the Text Analysis Conference (TAC). This year, we developed an event detection system and submitted to Event Nugget Detection task in English. Our system is language independent, and can outperform conventional methods in event detection accuracy without parameter tuning specific to the dataset. This advantage is enabled by combining the following technologies: (1) muti-channel encoding of target token as a modification of conventional single window method to enhance the prediction accuracy of phrase position, (2) stochastic voting to synthesize reliable prediction results based on multiple predictions generated by multiple prediction models.
A Novel Brushless AC Doubly Salient Stator Slot Permanent Magnet Machine

A novel brushless ac, doubly salient, permanent magnet (PM) machine is proposed. It has the novel features of: 1) PMs placed in the stator slots (SSPM) to premagnetize only the stator on open circuit; 2) fail-safe capability during uncontrolled generator operation or winding short circuits; and 3) negligible cogging torque. The basic operating principle, electromagnetic performance, PM demagnetization, and the influence of leading design parameters on the machine losses and efficiency are investigated for the 12/10 stator/rotor pole machine. Finally, the performance of the proposed SSPM machine is predicted by 2-D finite-element analysis and is experimentally validated.
Faculty of Mechatronics, Informatics and Interdisciplinary Studies Institute of Novel Technologies and Applied Informatics An Investigation of Aggregation Models of Magnetic, Zero-valent Iron Nanoparticles

This work focuses on an investigation into the aggregation mechanisms of unstable, nanoscale particles in flowing groundwater. A study and a description of the process of aggregation help to simulate the transport of unstable undissolved nanoparticles. This could be useful when one needs to know how the nanoparticles behave in transit. In the following example a knowledge of this process is helpful. Some contaminants, such as halogenated hydrocarbons, are remediable by zero-valent iron nanoparticles. These are very unstable particles but still have a high potential in remediation field. Thanks to their (nano)size, they can migrate through the ground and are able to decontaminate wide areas. However, they aggregate into microsized entities and lose their migratory ability. Simulation of the transport of iron nanoparticles and their aggregation could be useful in predicting the success of decontamination interventions. The mathematical derivation of iron nanoparticle aggregation is so complex and difficult that this work is focused mainly on them. This work is mainly theoretical. First, an aggregation model is described. The model is based on aggregation due to the heat fluctuation of nanoparticles and due to their different velocities during sedimentation and drifting in groundwater. This model is then extended to include the impact of repulsive electrostatic and attractive magnetic forces that affect the rate of aggregation of magnetic nanoparticles with non-zero surface charge. The coefficients of aggregation are recalculated in order to compute the aggregation not only between single nanoparticles, but also between aggregates of nanoparticles (more simply called “particles”). A study of the possible aggregate structures was performed to be able to compute their mutual reactions. Extended coefficients of aggregation between particles were converted to coefficients of aggregation between “sections” of nanoparticles with similar size and properties. This enabled the simulation of aggregation in real time. The subsequent part of this work is dedicated to the computational aspects of aggregation in order to make the computation faster, but with a small error. At the end of the work, simulations of bentonite and iron nanoparticle aggregation and transport in the ground are presented. Technická univerzita v Liberci Fakulta mechatroniky, informatiky a mezioborových studíı
Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology : Official Journal of the Societa Botanica Italiana

Apomixis, the asexual reproduction via seed, has long been regarded a blind alley of evolution. This hypothesis was based on the assumption that apomixis is an irreversible, phylogenetically derived trait that would rapidly lead to extinction of the respective lineages. However, recent updates of the taxonomic distribution of apomixis in angiosperms suggest an alternative evolutionary scenario. Apomixis is taxonomically scattered and occurs in both early and late branching lineages, with several reversals from apomixis to obligate sex along phylogeny. Genetic control of apomixis is based on altered expression patterns of the same genes that control sexual development; epigenetic changes following polyploidization and/or hybridization may trigger shifts from sexuality to apomixis. Mendelian inheritance confirms the facultative nature and possible reversibility of apomixis to sexual reproduction. Apomixis, therefore, could represent a transition period in the evolution of polyploid complexes, with polyspory in paleopolyploids being a remnant of lost apomixis. In neopolyploids, apomixis helps to overcome sterility and allows for geographical range expansions of agamic polyploid complexes. The facultative nature of apomixis allows for reversal to sexuality and further speciation of paleopolyploid lineages. Thus, apomixis may facilitate diversification of polyploid complexes and evolution in angiosperms.
Allocating Harvests among Polar Bear Stocks in the Beaufort Sea

Recognition that polar bears are shared by hunters in Canada and Alaska prompted development of the “Polar Bear Management Agreement for the Southern Beaufort Sea. ” Under this Agreement, the harvest of polar bears from the southern Beaufort Sea (SBS) is shared between Inupiat hunters of Alaska and Inuvialuit hunters of Canada. Quotas for each jurisdiction are to be reviewed annually in light of the best available scientific information. Ideal implementation of the Agreement has been hampered by the inability to quantify geographic overlap among bears from adjacent populations. We applied new analytical procedures to a more extensive radiotelemetry data set than has previously been available to quantify that overlap and thereby improve the efficacy of the Agreement. We constructed a grid over the eastern Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea and used twodimensional kernel smoothing to assign probabilities to the distributions of all instrumented bears. A cluster analysis of radio relocation data identified three relatively discrete groups or “populations” of polar bears: the SBS, Chukchi Sea (CS), and northern Beaufort Sea (NBS) populations. With kernel smoothing, we calculated relative probabilities of occurrence for individual members of each population in each cell of our grid. We estimated the uncertainty in probabilities by bootstrapping. Availability of polar bears from each population varied geographically. Near Barrow, Alaska, 50% of harvested bears are from the CS population and 50% from the SBS population. Nearly 99% of the bears taken by Kaktovik hunters are from the SBS. At Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada, 50% are from the SBS and 50% from the NBS population. We displayed the occurrence of bears from each population as probabilities for each cell in our grid and as maps with contour lines delineating changes in relative probability. This new analytical approach will greatly improve the accuracy of allocating harvest quotas among hunting communities and jurisdictions while assuring that harvests remain within the bounds of sustainable yield.
AppIS: Protect Android Apps Against Runtime Repackaging Attacks

Apps repackaged through reverse engineering pose a significant security threat to the Android smart phone ecosystem. Previous solutions have mostly focused on the detection and identification of repackaged apps. Nevertheless, current app anti-repackaging services can only protect applications at a coarse level and get a significant performance overhead. These approaches can neither meet the performance requirements of Android nor achieve fine-grained protection against cumulative attack 1 at the same time. Specifically, these solutions rely on a fix-structure detecting engine and then will execute the same path at different times, which lead to the entire protection performs poorly when faced with dynamic cumulative attack, which is typical in real-world attack. This paper introduces AppIS, a reinforced anti-repackaging immune system, that is robust to app-repackaging attack scenarios. Unlike prior work, which mostly focuses on simple protection only from just one respect, our design exploits an interlocking guarding net with time diversity for the tamper-proofing of Android applications. The intuition underlying our design is that a dynamic and static combining method can provide a multi-level protection for the codes, core algorithm and sensitive data. We analyze and classify the existing threats on Android platform and furthermore abstract then model the repackaging attack scenarios. We then adopt a random controller used by the dispatcher to randomly construct guarding net with different structure every time. We have built a prototype of our design using Java Native Interface cross-layer calling mechanism for performance requirement. Results from a deployment of AppIS on several kinds of popular apps demonstrate that the new design can prevent our apps from cumulative attack without extra performance cost.
A novel pflua-based OpenFlow implementation for VOSYSwitch

Software Defined Network (SDN) along with Network Function Virtualization (NFV) paradigms are emerging as a viable alternative to traditional network architecture. The Fog and Mobile Edge computing network and the Internet of Things infrastructure are adopting these concepts as well. In this context, virtual and SDN-enabled switches are crucial. This paper presents the novel OpenFlow software implementation of VOSYSwitch, the high performance virtual switch solution developed by Virtual Open Systems. Written in Lua, such OpenFlow implementation takes advantage of the library pflua and of the LuaJIT just-in-time trace compiler to translate OpenFlow flows into Lua code via the PCAP Filter language. As a consequence, the code executed to perform the flow matching and actions is generated on demand and tailored to the flow entries of the forwarding tables of the dataplane. Benchmarking activities, whose results are included in this paper, have been performed to compare this new OpenFlow switch implementation with the de-facto standard OpenFlow switch solution OVS-DPDK. The results show that VOSYSwitch OpenFlow implementation is superior to OVS-DPDK for environments with simple flow configurations and low number of entries, typical of Edge Computing.
A study of 3D model construction method with photogrammetry and laser scanning

The information to express object surfaces is provided as a three-dimensional coordinate point cloud by laser scanning or photogrammetry. Single laser scanning can directly acquire a large-scale point cloud of an object surface in the three-dimensional coordinate. However, mea­surement of multiple view points takes time and may cause some troubles. Otherwise, photogrammetry can obtain surfaces of small sections such as gaps or the back side of pillars, and measurement itself is handy since what is required is just taking pictures. Generally, laser scanning takes longer time than photogrammetry.
Metrolgy for smart grids

Over the last two decades, metrology in the field electrical power and energy has evolved from plain metering to advanced measurement systems. This evolution reflects the profound changes that have taken place and continue to take place in the power industry and in electrical networks. Modern metrology laboratories must therefore have the capability to calibrate and certify instruments such as smart meters, power quality analyzers, phasor measurement units and other equipment based on the IEC 61850 standard. To fulfill these requirements, metrology laboratories must develop traceability for complex signals whose frequency spectrum span from DC to 150 kHz. As the time of occurrence of these signals is often important, traceability to time is also essential. This paper presents the infrastructure of the Power and Energy laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology METAS and its strategy for the coming years.
Empirical research on human behavior changes and digital intervention by one-way car-sharing

In this paper, we summarize our ongoing project called ISˆ3 (Incentive-based Intelligent Intervention for Smart and Sustainable Societies), which was started in February 2016. This project is empirical research that aims to utilize human behavior changes for solving social problems and sustainably maintaining society. As a sample society, we prepared a one-way car-sharing system between our campus and the neighboring train station. Our society’s main problem is the cost of ferrying cars to balance the number of vehicles parked in each parking lot. To solve this problem, we encourage potential users to move cars to address imbalances. In this paper, we explain the overview of this project and its challenging points.
AN ARBITRAGE-FREE APPROACH TO QUASI-OPTION VALUE; Proceedings of the Fifth Joint Conference on Agriculture, Food, and the Environment, June 17-18, 1996, Padova, Italy

In the presence of uncertainty and irreversibility, dynamic decision problems should not be solved using expected net present value analysis. The right to delay a decision can be valuable. We show that the value of this right equals Arrow and Fishers (1974) quasi-option value. In a discrete model we show how to derive quasi-option value using methods from finance, methods that remove altogether the need to take expected values of future stochastic variables. Two main findings are presented. First, if the stochastic dynamic process underlying the problem is known, the Arrow and Fisher and Henry (1974) result that improper use of net present value leads to too much early development, is correct. Second, if the process is not known perfectly, their result can be incorrect in the sense that net present value methods lead to the correct outcome while the dynamic rule does not.
CAPITALIZATION AND PUNCTUATION RESTORATION FOR ROMANIAN LANGUAGE

The text generated by an Automatic Speech Recognition system is usually characterized by low reading intelligibility. Capitalization, also known as truecasing, is the process of restoring case information to badly-cased or noncased text. Punctuation recovery or restoration is the process of inserting punctuation marks (at least periods and commas) in a punctuation-lacking text. In this paper, we present an integrated capitalization and punctuation restoration solution for a Romanian ASR system. The solution implements both tasks in a single system (framework) and uses statistical information from a set of tri-gram language models as a post-processing stage. The integrated system is evaluated in terms of precision, recall and f-measure.
An effective parallel ALPG using instruction unrolling for high speed memory testing

This paper presents the design and implementation of a new parallel Algorithmic Pattern Generator (ALPG) of Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) for the high speed memory testing. We implemented the Instruction Analyzer (IA) that unrolls the instructions using simple instructions. And, unrolled instruction memory is also implemented to reduce the delay of the IA. These implementations allow the ALPG to operate flexible algorithms at high speed. For high speed, we also designed the ALPG of multiple Pattern Generators (PG) with phase-shifting clocks. Therefore, the ALPG has expandability and operates at high speed with the high flexibility of the algorithms.
Adaptive RED for Cross-layer DVB-S2 systems

Systems with an adaptive physical layer make use of the channel conditions information in order to adapt their transmission to the channel with adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) techniques. These systems present a challenge in providing quality-of-service since the capacity is not constant. Previous work has covered capacity allocation solutions that provide service guarantees and fairness in terms of bandwidth allocation. In this paper, we present active queue management techniques that provide delay guarantees. We analyse the adaptive RED algorithm and present the required changes for implementing RED over an adaptive physical layer system. We show through simulations that there is an optimal operating point in the trade-off between packet marking and maximum queuing delay.