Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Choreography Conformance Checking: An Approach based on BPEL and Petri Nets

Recently, languages such as BPEL and CDL have been proposed to describe the way services can interact from a behavioral perspective. The emergence of these languages heralds an era where richer service descriptions, going beyond WSDL-like interfaces, will be available. However, what can these richer service descriptions serve for? This paper investigates a possible usage of behavioral service descriptions, namely as input for conformance checking. Conformance checking is the act of verifying whether one or more parties stick to the agreed-upon behavior by observing the actual behavior, e.g., the exchange of messages between all parties. This paper shows that it is possible to translate BPEL business protocols to Petri nets and to relate SOAP messages to transitions in the Petri net. As a result, Petri net-based conformance checking techniques can be used to quantify fitness (whether the observed behavior is possible in the business protocol) and appropriateness (whether the observed behavior "overfits" or "underfits" the business protocol). Moreover, non-conformance can be visualized to pinpoint deviations. The approach has been implemented in the context of the ProM framework.
Classifying Scientific Publications Using Abstract Features

With the exponential increase in the number of documents available online, e.g., news articles, weblogs, scientific documents, effective and efficient classification methods are required in order to deliver the appropriate information to specific users or groups. The performance of document classifiers critically depends, among other things, on the choice of the feature representation. The commonly used "bag of words" representation can result in a large number of features. Feature abstraction helps reduce a classifier input size by learning an abstraction hierarchy over the set of words. A cut through the hierarchy specifies a compressed model, where the nodes on the cut represent abstract features. In this paper, we compare feature abstraction with two other methods for dimensionality reduction, i.e., feature selection and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). Experimental results on two data sets of scientific publications show that classifiers trained using abstract features significantly outperform those trained using features that have the highest average mutual information with the class, and those trained using the topic distribution and topic words output by LDA. Furthermore, we propose an approach to automatic identification of a cut in order to trade off the complexity of classifiers against their performance. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach.
GenderPredictor: A Method to Predict Gender of Customers from E-commerce Website

While e-commerce has grown substantially over last several years, more and more people are utilizing this popular channel to purchase products and services. Thus the ability to predict user demographics, including gender, age and location has important applications in advertising, personalization, and recommendation. In this paper, we aim to automatically predict the users' genders based on their product viewing logs. Our study is based on a dataset from PAKDD'15 data mining competition. We propose an architecture for gender prediction, which consists of the "machine learning model" and the "label updating function". The experimental results show that our proposed method significantly outperform baseline methods. A detailed analysis of features provides an entertaining insight into behavior variation on female and male users.
A Study of the Progression of E-Business Maturity in Australian SMEs: Some Evidence of the Applicability of the Stages of Growth for E-Business Model

This paper reports on the results of an empirical study investigating the progression of e business maturity in Australian SMEs and the applicability of the stages concept in explaining that progression. Using multiple case studies within medium-sized manufacturing organisations, the authors explore the issues and challenges experienced by organisations when moving forward with their e-business initiatives. The paper is particularly interested in establishing the applicability of the stages of growth for e-business model for mapping the ebusiness progression faced by these organisations. The cases presented in this paper suggest that the stages of growth model provides a valuable perspective in examining the progression of the organisation’s e-business.
Cellular responses of microcolonial rock fungi to long-term desiccation and subsequent rehydration

Melanised rock-inhabiting fungi are astonishingly resistant to environmental stresses. Also known as micro-colonial fungi (MCF), they are ubiquitous and even colonise bare rocks in deserts. To survive in nutrient poor and extremely stressful conditions, MCF have reduced morphogenetic complexity to a minimum, and rely on a broad spectrum of stress protection mechanisms. Although visual signs of carotenoid presence are masked by heavily melanised black cell-walls, we were able to isolate and characterise a variety of carotenoids (ß-carotene, ζ-carotene, phytoene, torularhodin and torulene) in the rock-inhabiting, relatively fast-growing strain A95. The desiccation/rehydration stress response was used to measure the ability of A95 to adapt to slow or fast changes in external conditions. Revival of MCF after prolonged desiccation and rehydration was documented by biochemical (analyses of lipids and protective pigments), cultivation, and microscopic methods. Survival of MCF is enhanced when desiccation is rapid and mycostasis is instant rather than following prolonged periods of low metabolic activity.
Symmetric interaction in channel allocation for Bi-directional in-band full-duplex network

An adaptive channel allocation scheme for bidirectional in-band full-duplex networks is proposed by modifying a channel allocation scheme for half-duplex networks on the basis of the property of bilateral symmetric interaction. To adapt schemes for half-duplex networks to full-duplex networks, we modify them so that channel update process successfully converges to a Nash equilibrium, i.e., it does not cycle. Specifically, the sum of products of transmission power and received interference power (instead of the sum of received interference power) at a communication pair is used as the novel payoff function. Then, the proposed channel allocation scheme is proved to be a potential game, and thus, the game is guaranteed to converge in a finite number of steps. Simulation results reveal that the proposed scheme is able to effectively allocate channels in bi-directional in-band full-duplex networks.
The Design and Analysis of Constraint Networks for Uncertain Temporal Interval Relations

In recent years, many new backtracking algorithms for solving constraint satisfaction problems have been proposed. We adopt the Probabilistic Temporal Interval Network, which is based on characterizations of the set of search tree nodes visited by the backtracking algorithms. A Temporal Interval Network is a constraint satisfaction problem where the nodes are temporal intervals and the edges are uncertain interval relations. We attach a degree to each of Allenpsilas basic interval relations. An uncertain relation between two temporal intervals is represented as a disjunction of Allenpsilas probabilistic basic relations. We also discuss heuristic methods for optimizing the performance of the backtracking algorithm.
Given the Web, What is Intelligence, Really?: Given the Web, What is Intelligence, Really?

This article argues that existing systems on the Web cannot approach human-level intelligence, as envisioned by Descartes, without being able to achieve genuine problem solving on unseen problems. The article argues that this entails committing to a strong intensional logic. In addition to revising extant arguments in favor of intensional systems, it presents a novel mathematical argument to show why extensional systems can never hope to capture the inherent complexity of natural language. The argument makes its case by focusing on representing, with increasing degrees of complexity, knowledge in a first-order language. Nevertheless, the attempts at representation fail to achieve consistency, making the case for an intensional representation system for natural language clear.
The Event-related Potential P300 in Patients with Migraine

Objective: Recording of event-related potentials by using oddball paradigm of auditory P300 has yielded conflicting results in migraine. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that migraine patients have reduced P300 amplitude and prolonged P300 latency, suggesting alterations of the cognitive-evaluative component. Methods: We recruited 29 migraine patients (24 females; median age 40 years) and 29 healthy age- and gender-matched participants. Participants were subjected to the same testing procedures of auditory P300 by discrimination the target auditory stimulus from the frequent stimulus, and analyzing P300 target/frequent stimulus amplitudes, and P300 target/frequent stimulus latencies. Results: Patients with migraine don’t have prolonged P300 target stimulus latency, but have a longer P300 frequent stimulus latency for 17.5ms. Out of 29 participants with migraine 8 had pathological P300 target stimulus amplitude, and 19 had pathological P300 frequent stimulus amplitude. Conclusion: People with migraine have altered the P300 which indicates the presence of cognitive dysfunction in these patients and importance of early diagnosis and intervention to preventing any deterioration in cognitive functions.
A Chip-level Redundant Threading (CRT) scheme for shared-memory protection

Chip-level Redundant Threading (CRT) is a generic approach employed in multi-core architectures to meet reliability or functional safety requirements of applications. Critical tasks are concurrently executed on several processing elements (PEs). Most approaches follow the fault detection and containment approach by employing a Sphere-of-Replication (SoR) on a fixed and hard-wired set of elements (PEs, memory regions). Execution and verification of tasks is bounded to this SoR set. The rigidity of design-time chosen PEs has a number of disadvantages. To enable more flexibility, in this work Flexible CRT Sets (FCRTS) are used. FCRTS are a hardware-based and run-time configurable approach. Three arbitrary PEs, which execute the same task set, are chosen at run-time. The verification functionality is implemented within shared components. In order to protect shared-memory, an extended memory controller is introduced. The method is architecture independent i.e. choice of PEs or target memory technology. It has a small footprint of just 7.2% in registers and 6.2% in LUTs when synthesized for a FPGA. Moreover, the performance penalty for critical tasks is only 17% and uncritical tasks do not experience any performance degradation.
Photoreceptors at a glance

ABSTRACT Retinal photoreceptor cells contain a specialized outer segment (OS) compartment that functions in the capture of light and its conversion into electrical signals in a process known as phototransduction. In rods, photoisomerization of 11-cis to all-trans retinal within rhodopsin triggers a biochemical cascade culminating in the closure of cGMP-gated channels and hyperpolarization of the cell. Biochemical reactions return the cell to its ‘dark state’ and the visual cycle converts all-trans retinal back to 11-cis retinal for rhodopsin regeneration. OS are continuously renewed, with aged membrane removed at the distal end by phagocytosis and new membrane added at the proximal end through OS disk morphogenesis linked to protein trafficking. The molecular basis for disk morphogenesis remains to be defined in detail although several models have been proposed, and molecular mechanisms underlying protein trafficking are under active investigation. The aim of this Cell Science at a Glance article and the accompanying poster is to highlight our current understanding of photoreceptor structure, phototransduction, the visual cycle, OS renewal, protein trafficking and retinal degenerative diseases. Summary: Rod and cone photoreceptors contain a unique light-sensitive outer segment compartment that has a central role in phototransduction, the visual cycle, membrane renewal, protein trafficking and many retinal degenerative diseases.
The Delta-Scoring Method of Tests With Binary Items: A Note on True Score Estimation and Equating

This article presents some new developments in the methodology of an approach to scoring and equating of tests with binary items, referred to as delta scoring (D-scoring), which is under piloting with large-scale assessments at the National Center for Assessment in Saudi Arabia. This presentation builds on a previous work on delta scoring and adds procedures for scaling and equating, item response function, and estimation of true values and standard errors of D scores. Also, unlike the previous work on this topic, where D-scoring involves estimates of item and person parameters in the framework of item response theory, the approach presented here does not require item response theory calibration.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors selectively suppress expression of HDAC7

There are 18 histone deacetylases (HDAC) generally divided into four classes based on homology to yeast HDACs. HDACs have many protein substrates in addition to histones that are involved in regulation of gene expression, cell proliferation, and cell death. Inhibition of HDACs can cause accumulation of acetylated forms of these proteins, thus altering their function. HDAC inhibitors (HDACi), such as the hydroxamic acid–based vorinostat (suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid), inhibit the zinc-containing classes I, II, and IV, but not the NAD+-dependent class III, enzymes. HDACis are a group of novel anticancer agents. Vorinostat is the first HDACi approved for clinical use in the treatment of the cancer cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Factors affecting expression of HDACs are not well understood. This study focuses on the effect of the HDACi vorinostat on the expression of class I and class II HDACs. We found that vorinostat selectively down-regulates HDAC7 with little or no effect on the expression of other class I or class II HDACs. Fourteen cell lines were examined, including normal, immortalized, genetically transformed, and human cancer-derived cell lines. Down-regulation of HDAC7 by vorinostat is more pronounced in transformed cells sensitive to inhibitor-induced cell death than in normal cells or cancer cells resistant to induced cell death. Modulation of HDAC7 levels by small interfering RNA–mediated knockdown or by HDAC7 overexpression is associated with growth arrest but without detectable changes in acetylation of histones or p21 gene expression. Selective down-regulation of HDAC7 protein may serve as a marker of response of tumors to HDACi. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(9):2525–34]
On the security of RFID authentication protocols

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system has found its enormous application in healthcare, consumer electronics and home appliances. It is also assumed that RFID system along with sensing devices would act as central roles in the Internet of Everything paradigm. In RFID system, the tag and reader interact with radio waves, so security and privacy issues are important concerns in RFID system. In RFIDSec 2014, Li et al proposed a privacy preserving RFID authentication protocols [1]. In this paper, we show that Li et al's protocols suffer from security weaknesses, in particular, the protocols fails to achieve authentication of tag. We provide countermeasures to fix the flaws in [1] with providing additional efficiency.
Estimating the welfare loss to households from natural disasters in developing countries: a contingent valuation study of flooding in Vietnam

Background: Natural disasters have severe impacts on the health and well-being of affected households. However, we find evidence that official damage cost assessments for floods and other natural disasters in Vietnam, where households have little or no insurance, clearly underestimate the total economic damage costs of these events as they do not include the welfare loss from mortality, morbidity and reduced well-being experienced by the households affected by the floods. This should send a message to the local communities and national authorities that higher investments in flood alleviation, reduction and adaptive measures can be justified since the social benefits of these measures in terms of avoided damage costs are higher than previously thought. Methods: We pioneer the use of the contingent valuation (CV) approach of willingness-to-contribute (WTC) labour to a flood prevention program, as a measure of the welfare loss experienced by household due to a flooding event. In a face-to-face household survey of 706 households in the Quang Nam province in Central Vietnam, we applied this approach together with reported direct physical damage in order to shed light of the welfare loss experienced by the households. We asked about households’ WTC labour and multiplied their WTC person-days of labour by an estimate for their opportunity cost of time in order to estimate the welfare loss to households from the 2007 floods. Results: The results showed that this contingent valuation (CV) approach of asking about willingness-to-pay in-kind avoided the main problems associated with applying CV in developing countries. Conclusion: Thus, the CV approach of WTC labour instead of money is promising in terms of capturing the total welfare loss of natural disasters to households, and promising in terms of further application in other developing countries and for other types of natural disasters.
Vision based SLAM for humanoid robots: A survey

This paper is a survey work for designing a Vision based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (VSLAM) humanoid robot to generate a map of an unknown environment. A lot of factors have to be considered while designing a VSLAM robot. Vision Sensors are very attractive for application in SLAM because of their rich sensory output and cost effectiveness. Different issues are involved in the problem of vision based SLAM and many different approaches exist in order to solve these issues. Similarly the type of environment determines the suitable feature extraction method. The main objective of this survey is to conduct a comparative study among the current vision sensing methods in terms of imaging systems used for performing VSLAM, feature extraction algorithms used in some recently published papers, and initialization of landmarks, and to figure out the best for our work.
Cell contacts orient some cell division axes in the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo

Cells of the early Caenorhabditis elegans embryo divide in an invariant pattern. Here I show that the division axes of some early cells (EMS and E) are controlled by specific cell-cell contacts (EMS-P2 or E-P3 contact). Altering the orientation of contact between these cells alters the axis along which the mitotic spindle is established, and hence the orientation of cell division. Contact-dependent mitotic spindle orientation appears to work by establishing a site of the type described by Hyman and White (1987. J. Cell Biol. 105:2123-2135) in the cortex of the responding cell: one centrosome moves toward the site of cell-cell contact during centrosome rotation in both intact embryos and reoriented cell pairs. The effect is especially apparent when two donor cells are placed on one side of the responding cell: both centrosomes are "captured," pulling the nucleus to one side of the cell. No centrosome rotation occurs in the absence of cell-cell contact, nor in nocodazole-treated cell pairs. The results suggest that some of the cortical sites described by Hyman and White are established cell autonomously (in P1, P2, and P3), and some are established by cell-cell contact (in EMS and E). Additional evidence presented here suggests that in the EMS cell, contact-dependent spindle orientation ensures a cleavage plane that will partition developmental information, received by induction, to one of EMS's daughter cells.
Security management system for 4G heterogeneous networks

In recent years, there have been major developments in, and deployment of, diverse mobile technology. Security issues in mobile computing are now presenting significant challenges. The ability to move from one network to another, and from one provider to another creating thus vertical and horizontal handoffs, has increased the complexity of mobile security. There are many research groups, such as Hokey and Y-Comm, working on the design of security architectures for 4G networks. Heterogeneous networks are the convergence of wired and wireless networks, other diverse end user devices and other communication technologies which provide very high speed connections. Major security challenges in 4G heterogeneous networks are inherent in current internet security threats and IP security vulnerabilities. These new challenges are: IP address spoofing, user ID theft, Theft of Service, Denial of Service, and intrusion attacks. Therefore, it is necessary to design security solutions which are independent from the network, provider, and end user devices. Existing technique in 4G heterogeneous security networks has not achieved major mobile security requirements such as protecting the mobile equipment; integrity of the hardware, and software. They do not prevent access to the mobile data and the mobile equipment can be used as an attack tool. In addition, current researches in security 4G heterogeneous network do not consider a security management system based on ITU-T M.3400 TMN management functions or any other related standards. In this paper, we propose a management system which is responsible for enforcing security policies and ensuring that security policies continued to be followed. The objective of this security management system is to prevent the mobile equipment from being abused or used as a malicious attack tool. The proposed security management system is consistent with the security specifications defined by ITU-T recommendation M.3400 TMN management functions. Finally, this paper will present a policy-based architecture for the security management system of 4G heterogeneous networks focusing on detection and prevention of malicious attacks. This architecture will consist of intelligent agent, security engine, security policies database, and security administrator.
Precautionary Learning , Endogenously Asymmetric Loss Functions and Inflationary Biases ∗

We consider a canonical model of monetary policy in which the central bank learns about underlying fundamentals by estimating the parameters of a Phillips curve while disregarding the role of the public’s expectations. We show that the bank’s loss function is endogenously asymmetric with respect to these estimates such that overestimates may be more or less costly than underestimates, introducing a precautionary motive in estimation. This motive implies the use of a variance-adjusted least-squares estimator for learning about the inflationunemployment trade-off. Under such ‘precautionary learning’the central bank sets low inflation targets, and the economy settles near a Ramsey equilibrium. ∗We thank Jess Benhabib, John Duffy, John Leahy, Tom Sargent and seminar participants at New York University (Abu Dhabi), the Southern Economics Association Conference, Society for Nonlinear Dynamics and Econometrics Conference, the Federal Reserve Banks of Dallas and Richmond, and the Computational Economics and Finance Conference for insightful comments. We also thank Wouter den Haan and two referees for outstanding advice. The usual disclaimer applies. †Address: New York University (Abu Dhabi), PO Box 903, New York, NY, 10276, USA. E-mail: cdave@nyu.edu. ‡Address: Utah State University, Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, 3565 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT. , 84322. E-mail: j.feigen@aggiemail.usu. edu.