Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Vegetation Red Edge Spectroscopic Feature as a Surface Biomarker

The search for Earth-like extrasolar planets is in part motivated by the potential detection of spectroscopic biomarkers. Spectroscopic biomarkers are spectral features that are either consistent with life, indicative of habitability, or provide clues to a planet's habitability. Most attention so far has been given to atmospheric biomarkers, gases such as O2, O3, H2O, CO, and CH4. Here we discuss surface biomarkers. Surface biomarkers that have large, distinct, abrupt changes in their spectra may be detectable in an extrasolar planet's spectrum at wavelengths that penetrate to the planetary surface. Earth has such a surface biomarker: the vegetation "red edge" spectroscopic feature. Recent interest in Earth's surface biomarker has motivated Earthshine observations of the spatially unresolved Earth and two recent studies may have detected the vegetation red edge feature in Earth's hemispherically integrated spectrum. A photometric time series in different colors should help in detecting unusual surface features in extrasolar Earth-like planets.
Image Segmentation on IRAMDan

The Computer Vision group at U.C. Berkeley recently developed a novel approach to image segmentation, called the Normalized Cuts algorithm. The current implementation of the algorithm has an execution time on the order of minutes for medium-sized images running on conventional scalar machines. This paper explores the current bottlenecks and seeks to maximize the performance by porting the algorithm to the new IRAM vector architecture and vectorizing the critical routines. Simulation results are presented demonstrating the execution time of the streamlined algorithm to be over 6 times faster than the scalar version.
Formation of illusory 3-D surface by eccentric rotation of dot pattern.

The stereo-kinetic phenomenon reported by Zanforlin, Vallortigara, and Agostini (1991) was observed under the condition of stroboscopic movement. On the CRT display, multiple eccentric circles, drawn by either line pattern or random dot pattern, were rotated. Observing these stimulus figures, the subjects reported the stereo-kinetic effect, namely they perceived clearly the solid cones rotating in depth. The subjects then were asked to judge the height of the perceived stereokinetic cones. The results showed that, despite the difference in pattern components, line or dot, the perceived stereo-kinetic cones were very similar in the appearance of their heights. However, the results revealed that the values of the apparent height did not accord with the formula proposed by Zanforlin et al. The findings in the present study were discussed in terms of a quantitative form it -structure 1rom motion-
Central Programming and Reflex Control of Walking in the Cockroach

1. The activity in identified motor units supplying the coxal levator and depressor muscles of the cockroach have been recorded in intact freely walking animals and in preparations after removal of all sensory input from leg receptors. 2. Reciprocal activity in levator and depressor motoneurones can be evoked, or occurs spontaneously, in the partially de-afferented preparations, thus indicating the existence of a central locomotory rhythm generator. 3. The reciprocal activity patterns recorded in the same motoneurones in intact freely moving animals are not identical to those recorded in partially de-afferented preparations. Thus, the production of normal rhythmic leg movements depends to some extent on sensory input from leg receptors, this input probably exerting tonic and phasic effects on the central rhythm generator. 4. An increase in the resistance to leg retraction during normal walking results in an increase in discharge rate of the levator and depressor motoneurones. This observation further demonstrates that rhythmic leg movements are not exclusively centrally controlled. The receptors responsible for this reflex effect are probably the trochanteral campaniform sensilla.
Cross-layer service rediscovery and reselection in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Due to the mobility of nodes, servers and clients, the reliability of service delivery over MANETs is a major concern. Traditional route discovery based method is to predict and detect breakdown of connectivity and try to find an alternative path from the client to the same server (We call it traditional rerouting method). The introduction of service delivery platform over MANETs enables and facilitates the client to locate different servers (other instances of the same service) at different locations in case of breakdown of connectivity. Therefore, the client may redo service discovery to select other servers for the same service once the current service pair breaks down. Cross-layer service rediscovery and reselection (CSRR) can tap on network topology information to reselect server to further optimize network resource and enhance service reliability during service rediscovery and reselection. We present detailed procedures of CSRR and discuss various policies to trigger CSRR. We conduct extensive simulation on CSRR under various MANET network size, speed of movements, and number of servers. Simulation results have validated the benefits our the proposed CSRR.
What Governance Structure for Non-Contractible Services ? An Empirical Analysis * Preliminary Draft , July 1999

In this paper, we use the incomplete contract theory and transaction cost theory frameworks as complementary tools. We analyze contractual practices in various types of services for which several dimensions are non-contractible and specific investments appear to be present only at low levels. Starting with an incomplete contract model, we put forth propositions regarding the make or buy decision. We perform econometrical tests on ground services for aeronautical companies in several countries. As far as we know, it is one of the first econometrical tests of the incomplete contract theory’s propositions. Results show that even without a high level of specific investment, vertical integration may be chosen to avoid opportunistic behavior when crucial dimensions of the service are non-contractible. The paper concludes that non-contractibility may be a crucial determinant of cooperation, as important as uncertainty or specific investments. However, we believe that to understand contractual practices when the integration solution is not retained, a transaction cost analysis appears more efficient. Such results lead us to the possible conclusion that the two approaches are complimentary. JEL classification: D23, L22, L93. * We would like to thank M’hand FARES, Eric BROUSSEAU and participants at the “Contracts and Institutions” ATOM working group where a preliminary draft of this paper was presented. ** 21, rue du Mont d’Urville, 75016 Paris, E-mail: dbrechemier@kpmg.com *** 112 bd. De l’Hôpital, 75013 Paris, E-mail: saussier@univ-paris1.fr
Keyword Based Semantic Search for Mobile Data

Most of the mobile platforms provide a keyword based full text search (FTS) for users to find what they want. However, FTS has difficulties in dealing with the cases where a user cannot remember the exact keywords about target data or the number of search results is too many. To overcome these limitations of FTS, we propose a semantically enhanced method of searching for data on mobile devices along with mobile ontology. Experimental results of the proposed method show that our method provides accurate search results and is suitable for a mobile environment.
Using Learning Analytics to Understand the Design of an Intelligent Language Tutor – Chatbot Lucy

the goal of this article is to explore how learning analytics can be used to predict and advise the design of an intelligent language tutor, chatbot Lucy. With its focus on using student-produced data to understand the design of Lucy to assist English language learning, this research can be a valuable component for language-learning designers to improve second language acquisition. In this article, we present students’ learning journey and data trails, the chatting log architecture and resultant applications to the design of language learning systems.
The Directed Anti-Oberwolfach Solution: Pancyclic 2-Factorizations of Complete Directed Graphs of Odd Order

The directed anti-Oberwolfach problem asks for a 2-factorization (each factor has in-degree 1 and out-degree 1 for a total degree of two) of $K_{2n+1}$, not with consistent cycle components in each 2-factor like the Oberwolfach problem, but such that every admissible cycle size appears at least once in some 2-factor. The solution takes advantage of both Piotrowski's decomposition techniques used to solve Oberwolfach problems and the techniques used by the author to solve the undirected anti-Oberwolfach problem.
A high positive end-expiratory pressure, low tidal volume ventilatory strategy improves outcome in persistent acute respiratory distress syndrome: A randomized, controlled trial*

Objective:It has been shown in a two-center study that high positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) and low tidal volume (LTV) improved outcome in ARDS. However, that study involved patients with underlying diseases unique to the study area, was conducted at only two centers, and enrolled a small number of patients. We similarly hypothesized that a ventilatory strategy based on PEEP above the lower inflection point of the pressure volume curve of the respiratory system (Pflex) set on day 1 with a low tidal volume would result in improved outcome in patients with severe and persistent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Design:Randomized, controlled clinical trial. Setting:Network of eight Spanish multidisciplinary intensive care units (ICUs) under the acronym of ARIES (Acute Respiratory Insufficiency: España Study). Patients:All consecutive patients admitted into participating Spanish ICUs from March 1999 to March 2001 with a diagnosis of ARDS were considered for the study. If 24 hrs after meeting ARDS criteria, the Pao2/Fio2 remained ≤200 mm Hg on standard ventilator settings, patients were randomized into two groups: control and Pflex/LTV. Interventions:In the control group, tidal volume was 9–11 mL/kg of predicted body weight (PBW) and PEEP ≥5 cm H2O. In the Pflex/LTV group, tidal volume was 5–8 mL/kg PBW and PEEP was set on day 1 at Pflex + 2 cm H2O. In both groups, Fio2 was set to maintain arterial oxygen saturation >90% and Pao2 70–100 mm Hg, and respiratory rate was adjusted to maintain Paco2 between 35 and 50 mm Hg. Measurements and Main Results:The study was stopped early based on an efficacy stopping rule as described in the methods. Of 103 patients who were enrolled (50 control and 53 Pflex), eight patients (five in control, three in Pflex) were excluded from the final evaluation because the random group assignment was not performed in one center according to protocol. Main outcome measures were ICU and hospital mortality, ventilator-free days, and nonpulmonary organ dysfunction. ICU mortality (24 of 45 [53.3%] vs. 16 of 50 [32%], p = .040), hospital mortality (25 of 45 [55.5%] vs. 17 of 50 [34%], p = .041), and ventilator-free days at day 28 (6.02 ± 7.95 in control and 10.90 ± 9.45 in Pflex/LTV, p = .008) all favored Pflex/LTV. The mean difference in the number of additional organ failures postrandomization was higher in the control group (p < .001). Conclusions:A mechanical ventilation strategy with a PEEP level set on day 1 above Pflex and a low tidal volume compared with a strategy with a higher tidal volume and relatively low PEEP has a beneficial impact on outcome in patients with severe and persistent ARDS.
Increasing Customers' Attention using Implicit and Explicit Interaction in Urban Advertisement

Online advertising campaigns are gaining customers' attention in comparison to advertisement campaigns in the urban space. How to bring back users' attention to advertisement in the urban space by using implicit and explicit interactions of the user is investigated in this publication. We have used age, gender and position estimates to automatically customize the advertisement campaign and 3D gestures to allow the customer to interact with the shown content. To evaluate the overall acceptability and particular aspects of such kind of targeted and interactive advertisement we have developed a prototypical implementation and placed it into a crowded shopping mall. In total 98 random visitors of the mall have experienced the system and answered a questionnaire afterwards.
Academic Achievement and Demographics of International Undergraduates

Are international undergraduates whose native language is not English less prepared to succeed academically at an American four-year institution after transferring from an American community college than ones who are first-time freshmen (NFRS) or exchange visitors (EAPR)? This question’s answer was no at an American West Coast public university where five cohorts of international transfer undergraduates (TRAN) earned mean first-year grade point averages (GPA) between Band B. Less than 12% of these students earned GPAs below C, and less than 15% were in bad academic standing (probation, subject to disqualification, or dismissed). In comparison, five parallel cohorts of NFRS and EAPR earned mean first-year GPAs averaging between B and B+ to A-. Less than 10% earned GPAs below C or were in bad academic standing. Thus, a minority of this university’s international undergraduates struggled academically regardless of whether they were TRAN, NFRS, or EAPR.
Detecting Discrimination

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Reinventing virtual appliances

Today, data centers are being built with more entities on a larger scale in order to satisfy the rapid growth of services and the demand for efficient service delivery and management. These data centers are facing scalability, manageability, and consumability challenges that require breakthrough technology for design and management. This paper extends previous work that focused on using virtual appliances for service management, by describing the following areas: 1) rapid provisioning, which simplifies and accelerates the deployment and activation of virtual appliances by checking parameter dependencies and coordinating execution sequences; 2) selective presentation, which provides flexible interfaces to present meaningful information through customized metrics; 3) simplified operation, which enables different operation granularities by coordinating the operation sequences across virtual appliances; and 4) automated consolidation, which enables automated service performance management by automatically monitoring and optimizing resource allocations. In addition, we describe the design and prototype of an extendable management framework, virtualization integrator (VSI), which enables an appliance builder to easily fulfill the key features of virtual appliances and coordinate management function across components located in multiple virtual appliances. By reinventing virtual appliances with built-in management capability, data center management is radically simplified and automated. The results, improved server utilization and simplified system manipulation, demonstrate the potential for virtual appliances to be fundamental building blocks for large-scale data centers and potentially for cloud-based new enterprise data centers.
Analysis of dynamic memory access using amorphous slicing

Problems associated with understanding, verifying and re-engineering the way in which a system allocates and releases dynamic memory present significant challenges to the software maintainer. Because the questions underlying these problems are undecidable, no system can provide a completely fail safe certification. For example, in checking for memory leaks, a system can only warn of potential problems, but cannot guarantee that no leaks remain. We present an approach to modelling the dynamic memory access properties of a program using amorphous program slicing to create a Dynamic Memory Model (DMM). The slices are constructed from a transformed version of the original program in which heap access has been made explicit using a pseudo variable to denote the top of the heap. The DMM is a simplified version of the original program which is concerned solely with the dynamic memory access behaviour of the original. We illustrate the use of DMMs in problems of comprehension, verification and re-engineering. We introduce a proof-of-concept DMM construction algorithm, showing how slicing simplification power can be dramatically improved using domain-specific transformation rules.
2-Sided Best Fitting Hyperplane Classifier

In this paper, we propose a novel method that is more appropriate than classical large-margin classifiers for open set recognition and object detection problems. The proposed method uses the best fitting hyper planes approach, and the main idea is to find the best fitting hyper planes such that each hyper plane is close to the samples of one of the two classes and as far as possible from the other class samples. As opposed to the most common hyper plane fitting classifiers in the literature, the proposed classifier allows the negative samples to lie on both sides of the fitting hyper plane and hence it is based on a non-convex optimization problem. We use concave-convex procedure to solve this non-convex problem. Then, the method is extended to the nonlinear case by using the kernel trick. The proposed method is also suitable for large-scale problems, and it returns sparse solutions in contrast to the other hyper plane fitting methods in the literature. The experiments on several databases show that our proposed method typically outperforms other hyper plane fitting classifiers in term of classification accuracy, and it performs as good as the SVM classifier if not any better.
The Clean Development Mechanism: History, Status, and Prospects

The Clean Development Mechanism, or CDM, was a late invention in the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol—so late, in fact, that it has been called the ‘‘Kyoto surprise’’ (Werksman 1998). In June 1997, only six months before the Kyoto negotiations, the Brazilian delegation proposed to create a Green Development Fund (GDF) that would be supported by countries out of compliance with their commitments, and that would support mitigation projects in developing countries. Though endorsed by the G77 and China, this proposal did not fly because developed countries were strongly opposed to penalties for noncompliance. Developing countries, on the other hand, were strongly opposed to any mechanism that would replicate the logic of the Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (i.e., any mechanism whereby Annex I countries1 could offset some of their commitments through emission-reducing projects in developing countries). To reach an agreement, the United States and Brazilian negotiators suggested in November 1997 that the GDF be turned into a ‘‘positive’’ scheme whereby countries with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol would be allowed to exceed their emissions quotas
Input-to-state stabilizing controller for nonlinear systems on manifolds

In this paper, we propose an input-to-state stabilizing controller for nonlinear systems on differentiable manifolds based on input-to-state locally semiconcave practical control Lyapunov functions (ISS-LS-PCLFs). We show that the proposed controller input-to-state stabilize the desired equilibrium in the sense of sample and hold solution. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is confirmed by a numerical example.
When Deeds Speak, Words are Nothing: A Study of Ethical Leadership in Colombia

Using a sample of 124 managers and 248 subordinates, this study examines the mediating effect of subordinates’ job satisfaction in the relationship between ethical leadership and subordinate organizational citizenship and counter‐productive work behaviour in the Colombian context. We additionally analyse the effect of ethical leadership on subordinates’ perception of leaders’ performance. Factor analyses of the ethical leadership scale revealed two factors, ethical person (EP) and ethical guidance (EG), which were differentially associated to the outcomes. We offer an explanation from three cultural dimensions (in‐group collectivism, institutional collectivism, and power distance) by which Colombian employees seem to be more willing to follow leaders’ ethical example as a way to strengthen their membership to the leader's group, than leaders ethical disciplining by which norms are imposed. These findings have a number of implications for organizations and managers who aim to improve their employees’ behaviour. Our advice to them is that leaders’ deeds have a greater impact than their ethical words.
Retransmitted Jamming Method to LFM Radar Based on Compressed Sensing

The compressed sensing (CS) theory is a novel way to break through the existent difficulty in ultra-wideband jamming method development. In this paper, the application of the CS theory in linear frequency modulated signal processing is introduced, a new retransmitted jamming system based on CS is designed with its composition and workflow. Then, two generation modes of jamming signal are illustrated, i.e. the sensing matrix transformation and recovery atomic processing. At last, due to the comparative analysis through a simulation in these two modes, the feasibility and efficiency of this method are verified. Keywords-Compressed Sensing; LFM Radar; Retransmitted Jamming; Sensing Matrix Transformation; Recovery Atomic Processing
Growth of 15-inch diameter sapphire boules

The world's largest sapphire boules up to 340-mm diameter are produced by the Heat Exchanger Method (HEM). In order to meet all applications, the highest purity crackle is used so the product has impurity levels very near the detectability limit of Glow Discharge Mass Spectroscopy (GDMS). The charge size of production 340-mm diameter sapphire boules was increased from 55-kg to 70-kg, and larger 380-mm diameter, 84-kg boules were produced. These boules were used to produce 315-mm diameter, 132-mm high sapphire cylinders to meet customer requirements. Efforts have been taken to produce a nearly flat top surface of HEM-grown boules with minimal undulations along the sidewalls to allow fabrication of larger sapphire pieces for production boules.
Local Radon transforms via generalized deconvolution

The Radon transform is a powerful method that has been used to filter coherent noise from seismic records and to reconstruct seismic data. In addition, it has a long history in image processing as a tool for feature extraction. An important shortcoming in exploration seismology, however, is the requirement of simple integration paths that often do not match well enough the spatio-temporal structure of seismic waveforms. The latter can be avoided by adopting local Radon transforms.