Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immersive Multimedia (video) Structure of the Report ___________________________________________________________3 Fundamental Definitions _________________________________________________________5 Virtual Reality Experience _______________________________________________________6 Visual Perception _

Immersive Multimedia devices constitute the ultimate Virtual Reality technology. In order to operate in real time, they combine the best digital signal processing, computer graphics, machine vision and multimedia communication techniques. Their goal is to provide perception, described as the feeling of " being there ". As this technology evolves, the role of video is becoming increasingly important. Then techniques such as 3D reconstruction and disparity estimation are becoming crucial for the immersive use of video in telepresence applications. With the existence of standards like MPEG-4, video objects can be extracted and efficiently transmitted to the receiving end of the communication. An immersive multimedia device which deploys these concepts is VIRTUE. The aim of this report is to familiarize the reader with the fundamentals of Immersive Multimedia devices in the video domain.
Computational detection and suppression of sequence-specific off-target phenotypes from whole genome RNAi screens

A challenge for large-scale siRNA loss-of-function studies is the biological pleiotropy resulting from multiple modes of action of siRNA reagents. A major confounding feature of these reagents is the microRNA-like translational quelling resulting from short regions of oligonucleotide complementarity to many different messenger RNAs. We developed a computational approach, deconvolution analysis of RNAi screening data, for automated quantitation of off-target effects in RNAi screening data sets. Substantial reduction of off-target rates was experimentally validated in five distinct biological screens across different genome-wide siRNA libraries. A public-access graphical-user-interface has been constructed to facilitate application of this algorithm.
Study on Signal-to-noise ratio algorithms based on no-reference Image quality assessment

No-reference (NR) Image quality assessment is currently a hot research field of image quality evaluation. Since Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is an important indicator of image quality, some representative SNR evaluation algorithms based on NR are introduced in this paper, and are studied focusing on the consistency with subjective perception. The analysis results show that the algorithm based on perceptual masking of human visual system (HVS) has the best evaluation performance than other SNR evaluation algorithms, and the Frequency Domain method can be as the alternative one.
Robust local search for spacecraft operations using adaptive noise

Randomization is a standard technique for improving the performance of local search algorithms for constraint satisfaction. However, it is well-known that local search algorithms are constraints satisfaction. However, it is well-known that local search algorithms are to the noise values selected. We investigate the use of an adaptive noise mechanism in an iterative repair-based planner/scheduler for spacecraft operations. Preliminary results indicate that adaptive noise makes the use of randomized repair moves safe and robust; that is, using adaptive noise makes it possible to consistently achieve, performance comparable with the best tuned noise setting without the need for manually tuning the noise parameter.
Adapting Classification Cascades to New Domains

Classification cascades have been very effective for object detection. Such a cascade fails to perform well in data domains with variations in appearances that may not be captured in the training examples. This limited generalization severely restricts the domains for which they can be used effectively. A common approach to address this limitation is to train a new cascade of classifiers from scratch for each of the new domains. Building separate detectors for each of the different domains requires huge annotation and computational effort, making it not scalable to a large number of data domains. Here we present an algorithm for quickly adapting a pre-trained cascade of classifiers - using a small number of labeled positive instances from a different yet similar data domain. In our experiments with images of human babies and human-like characters from movies, we demonstrate that the adapted cascade significantly outperforms both of the original cascade and the one trained from scratch using the given training examples.
A novel UML profile for representation of a relational database schema

In this paper we propose a novel specification of a UML profile for the representation of a relational database schema. The profile specification is based on the UML class diagram extension that exploits operation signature for the representation of specific relational database concepts, such as single and multi-column primary and foreign keys, indices, etc. The advantages of the proposed approach are: reduction of additional properties in the stereotypes representing the keys, better visualization of database constraints and more efficient forward database engineering. We also present the corresponding profile implementation as an open source development platform plug-in, which allows manual modeling, as well as the automatic (software/program) generation of a relational database scheme in accordance with the defined profile. The application of the implemented profile is illustrated by an example of visualization of a particular relational database schema.
Designing a CD augmentation for mobile phones

Interacting with physical CDs can be a very tangible and explorative experience. However, physical objects can't provide access to the digital services we are used to when using with digital music collections. In this paper we develop user interfaces for mobile phones that augment physical CDs to provide access to digital services. The most important functionalities of the music player are derived from a user study. Design sketches for the augmentation shown on the phone's display are collected from 10 participants. Participants' ideas are subsumed by four concepts that are implemented as prototypes for the Android platform.
The Implementation Degree Effect of Contextual Learning on Accounting Subjects in Senior High School toward Students’ Learning Outcomes in Terms of Students’ Learning Approach

This research was aimed to find out: (1) the implementation degree effect of contextual learning on accounting subjects toward students’ learning outcomes; 2) the implementation degree effect of contextual learning on accounting subjects toward students’ learning outcomes in terms of students’ learning approach. This was descriptive-exploratory research. The research was conducted from February to July 2016. The research population were senior high school students of social program of class XII that have studied accounting learning materials in the academic year 2015/2016 in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. The sampling technique was cluster sampling. The sample of this research was 16 schools with the total number of respondents were 954 students. Questionnaire was employed as the data collection technique. The data analysis technique was based on regression by Chow’s test. The results of this study showed that: 1) there is a significant effect of the implementation degree of contextual learning on accounting subjects toward students’ learning outcomes; 2) students who applied deep approach learning significantly reinforced the implementation degree of contextual learning on accounting subjects toward their learning outcomes, while the students who applied surface approach learning did not significantly reinforce the implementation
Towards a more efficient and personalised advertisement content in on-line social networks

Knowing what potential clients want, is the most important issue for companies. The current situation of social communication is generating a lot of information about users, such as favourite sites, food, politic tendencies, hopes or needs. This information has an incalculable value for marketing interests but, unfortunately, it is not trivial to process it. One way to obtain this information without disturbing the users is to store their searches, used words on the Internet and clicked items, to construct specific profiles. But, the problem with these techniques is that they do not retrieve current information about the targeted user because they gather information that may or may not be up to date. In light of this background, we propose a methodology to obtain up to date information about user's interests, likes and needs by analysing users conversations in social networks and instant messaging systems to generate personalised and interesting advertisement with better impact and higher success rates.
Phylogeny, specialization, and brood parasite--host coevolution: some possible pitfalls of parsimony

Coevolutionary hypotheses (COEV) predict that parasitic birds become more specialized in host selection over time as more host species evolve defenses. A contrasting model, PHYLO, suggests that brood parasites exhibit a phylogenetic trajectory toward increasing generalization because there is a positive correlation between present-day numbers of host species and the branching order of parasitic cowbird species in a DNA-based phylogeny. However, this apparent phylogenetic pattern does not conflict with COEV, as some have concluded. Assuming allopatric speciation, which is supported by an area cladogram, COEV predicts a correlation between branching order and host number because the potential hosts of the earliest cowbirds to branch off have had the greatest amount of time to evolve defenses. Although PHYLO is more parsimonious than COEV, the difference is trivial, with the latter requiring only one more evolutionary change in the entire cowbird clade to produce the pattern that exists today. Support for COEV over PHYLO comes from brood parasitic cuckoos, which are much more specialized than parasitic cowbirds and represent an older clade, as shown by new DNA data. Cuckoos also have lower interspecific variance in host numbers than do cowbirds, which conflicts with PHYLO. Unlike COEV, which assumes that the number of hosts a parasite uses is related at least as much to present ecological conditions as to phylogenetic history, PHYLO assumes that current host numbers reflect historical character states. However, host number is labile, with as much variation within as between species. Nor are published host numbers reliable measures of parasite host selectivity, as they are due in part to researcher effort and range size. Although the comparative approach can provide insights into evolutionary history, some coevolved features may be too dynamic to retain a phylogenetic signature, and, in the case of parasitic birds, neither PHYLO nor COEV can be invalidated, although the latter is more consistent with available evidence. Strict adherence to parsimony may often be inappropriate when assessing coevolved characters. Copyright 2002.
The DoF Region of the Multiple-Antenna Time Correlated Interference Channel with Delayed CSIT

We consider the time-correlated multiple-antenna interference channel where the transmitters have (i) delayed channel state information (CSI) obtained from a latency-prone feedback channel as well as (ii) imperfect current CSIT, obtained e.g. from prediction on the basis of these past channel samples. We derive the degrees of freedom (DoF) region for the two-user multiple-antenna interference channel under such conditions. The proposed DoF achieving scheme exploits a particular combination of the space-time alignment protocol designed for fully outdated CSIT feedback channels (initially developed for the broadcast channel by Maddah-Ali et al, later extended to the interference channel by Vaze et al. and Ghasemi et al.) together with the use of simple zero-forcing (ZF) precoders. The essential ingredient lies in the quantization and feedback of the residual interference left after the application of the initial imperfect ZF precoder. Our focus is on the MISO setting albeit extensions to certain MIMO cases are also considered.
I-Cluster : Intense computing with untapped resources

I-Cluster is a research initiative from HP Labs Grenoble in partnership with INRIA (ID-IMAG Laboratory). It provides a distributed Peer-to-Peer framework of tools that transparently take advantage of unused network resources and federate them to crystallize into specific virtual functions. These functions are compute-inten sive services, which are statically decomposed to fit the ICluster framework, then dynamically recomposed upon users needs. Typical I-Cluster functions are supercomputing, content rendering, content distribution. The I-Cluster experimentation platform, based on 225 typical desktop machines has been benchmarked as the 385th most powerful supercomputer in the world using Linpack, making it the first cluster based on mainstream technologies to enter the TOP500 in May 2001. This paper introduces the I-Cluster initiative and its overall architecture, and describes the prospects addressed by the research team. These include scaling conventional clustering tools to large number of machines, solving Peer-to-Peer computing security issues using OS sandboxing, self-organization and resilience to unanticipated disconnections of a large and heterogeneous community of computers, and automatic resource collection. 1. Problem statement A lot of computer resources are available on enterprise networks nowadays, often used as commodity tools for user productivity. As nearly each worker has his own individual computer, there are lots of machines connected on the network. Users typically spend just few hours a day using their machines, so there are idle periods where the resources such as processing power, memory, and connectivity remain unused. The I-Cluster research project aims at building a framework that gathers such idle resources from an intranet and federates them into a system able to perform compute-intensive tasks. Typical I-Cluster functions are supercomputing, content rendering, content distribution. Additional requirements for the I-Cluster project are that the framework smoothly adapts to the existing infrastructure; it transparently takes advantage of each existing machine of the network without requiring user actions or system changes ; it adapts to machine and network heterogeneity and tries to make an efficient overall use of the community resources available at execution time; it is selforganized hence does not require administrator intervention; it has some resilience to environment changes such as unexpected connections and disconnections; and it leverages standard cluster applications (such as PovRay or Linpack) without code modifications required.
Capturing Industrial Experiences of Software Maintenance Using Product Metrics

Many of successes in maintaining legacy software in Japan are due to low turnover rate of maintainers. However, future successes are not guaranteed because the wages system in Japan has begun changing and people are now getting to move between companies. Here, the organizations' demands for capturing and quantifying the maintainers' experiences in software evolution are growing much important today. Especially, an objective criterion for deciding whether a software module is to be reengineered or not is needed. Based on interviews to maintainers, this paper first illustrates maintainers' activity patterns, and, proposes a process model that can represent how maintainers' decisions affect maintainability of each software module. Then we introduce a snapshot model that maps software maintainability to product metrics. The snapshot model indicates a critical line – a criterion that can be used for deciding whether a module should be reengineered or not. We found that some of software metrics, measured from 20 years old system, fit the snapshot model; i.e., values of these metrics seem to be proportional to the degree of maintainability.
Fiche B : Description technique détaillée du projet Acronyme du projet : ATROCO

1 Résumé du projet en français . 2 Summary in English . 3 Introduction . 4 Contexte et état de l’art / Context and state-of-the art . 5 Partenaires / Partnership . 6 Organisation et management du projet / Project organization and management . 7 Structure du projet – Description des sous-projets / Structure of the project – Work-packages . 8 Liste des livrables / List of deliverable . 9 Résultats escomptés – perspectives / Expected results and perspectives . 9.1 Retombées scientifiques et techniques . 9.2 Retombées industrielles et économiques escomptées (le cas échéant) . 10 Propriété intellectuelle / Intellectual property . 11 Moyens financiers demandés / Financial resources . 12 Experts / Experts .
A QoE-Based Scheduling Algorithm for UGS Service Class in WiMAX Network

To satisfy the increasing demand for multimedia services in broadband Internet networks, the WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Acces) technology has emerged as an alternative to the wired broadband access solutions. It provides an Internet connection to broadband coverage area of several kilometers in radius by ensuring a satisfactory quality of service (QoS), it's an adequate response to some rural or inaccessible areas. Unlike DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or other wired technology, WiMAX uses radio waves and can provide point-to-multipoint (PMP) and point-to-point (P2P) modes. In parallel, it's observed that in the opposite of the traditional quality evaluation approaches, nowadays, current researches focus on the user perceived quality, the existing scheduling algorithms take into account the QoS and many other parameters, but not the Quality of Experience (QoE). In this paper, we present a QoE-based scheduling solution in WiMAX network in order to make the scheduling of the UGS connections based on the use of QoE metrics. Indeed, the proposed solution allows controlling the packet transmission rate so as to match with the minimum subjective rate requirements of each user. Simulation results show that by applying various levels of mean opinion score (MOS) the QoE provided to the users is improved in term of throughput, jitter, packet loss rate and delay.
Decomposing Bilexical Dependencies into Semantic and Syntactic Vectors

Bilexical dependencies have been commonly used to help identify the most likely parses of a sentence. The probability of a word occurring as the dependent of a given head within a particular structure provides a measure of semantic plausibility that complements the purely syntactic part of the parsing model. Here, we attempt to use the distributional information within these bilexical dependencies to construct representations that decompose into semantic and syntactic components. In particular, we compare two different approaches to composing vectors to explore how syntactic and semantic representations should interact within such a model. Our results suggest a tensor product approach has advantages, which we believe could be exploited in making more effective use of the information captured in these bilexical dependencies.
RR Lyrae Variable Stars in the Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy Leo I

We report the discovery of a significant population of RR Lyrae variable stars in the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I. Based on 40 V and 22 B images of the galaxy taken using the ESO Wide-Field Imager, we have so far identified 74 candidate RR Lyrae stars in two CCDs hosting the main body of the galaxy. Full coverage of the light variations and pulsation periods have been obtained for 54 of them, 47 of which are Bailey ab-type RR Lyrae (RRab) stars and seven are c-type RR Lyrae (RRc) stars. The period distribution of the presently confirmed sample of RRab stars peaks at P = 0.60 days, with a minimum period of 0.54 days. The pulsational properties indicate an intermediate Oosterhoff type for Leo I, similar to other dwarf galaxies in the Local Group and the LMC. However, the rather long minimum period of the ab-type variable stars, and the significant number of RRab stars with long period and large amplitude, suggest that the bulk of the old population in Leo I is more like the Oosterhoff type II globular clusters. The most straightforward interpretation is that a range in metallicity is present among the RR Lyrae stars of Leo I, with a significant population of very metal-poor stars. Alternatively, these Oosterhoff type II variable stars could be more evolved. The average apparent magnitude of the RR Lyrae stars across the full cycle is ⟨V(RR)⟩ = 22.60 ± 0.12 mag, yielding a distance modulus (m-M)V, 0 = 22.04 ± 0.14 mag for Leo I on the "long" distance scale.
Robust delta-sigma modulators based on variable-structure control

We present a new delta-sigma modulator architecture based on variable-structure control theory. Our approach augments the conventional modulator design with switchable feedback gains and complementary logic. Stability is proved for arbitrary-order continuous-time loop filters in the idealized case of infinite sampling rate, under moderate assumptions. The proposed design achieves the peak performance of comparable traditional modulators and is also more robust, as shown in simulations. Our approach accommodates multi-level quantization, a dither signal channel and suggests a low-cost hardware implementation.
A Direct Algorithm to Compute the Switching Curve for Time-Optimal Motion of Cooperative Multi-Manipulators Moving on a Specified Path

For more than two decades it has been known that the solution to the time-optimal problem for a manipulator along a specified path is bang–bang in terms of acceleration along the path and the switching points can be found by phase plane analysis. Despite great advances, no direct method is available for finding the switching points and constructing a switching curve specially for cooperative multi-manipulator systems (CMMSs). So far, all proposed methods are based on search algorithms in which one has to: (i) search the whole phase plane to establish the boundary of the non-feasible area in which the end-effector cannot follow the path and (ii) find the critical points by numerical calculation of the slope of the non-feasible boundary. Although this search algorithm can give the solution, it is very tedious and time consuming, and the problem gets worse for CMMSs. This paper is concerned with developing a direct method to find the critical points and construction of the switching curve for non-redundant CMMSs. To this end, a rigorous study of the characteristics of the critical points and the switching curve is presented, and based on that a direct algorithm is introduced.