Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lightweight secure global time synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks

Time synchronization is crucial to Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) due to the requirement of coordination between sensor nodes. Existing secure time synchronization protocols of WSNs introduce high overhead when used for global time synchronization. In this paper, we propose a lightweight secure global time synchronization protocol for WSNs. In the proposed protocol, a broadcast synchronization packet makes all sensor nodes in the network synchronize with the trusted source. The synchronization packet is protected by a proposed broadcast authentication algorithm, which introduces asymmetry by transmitting hash values of secret keys in advance. It achieves immediate authentication and does not require the loose time synchronization. To defend the pulse-delay attacks, the arrival time of the synchronization packet is checked according to the estimated arrival time interval. The upper bound on the skew of the proposed protocol is proved. The message complexity in one period of the proposed protocol is O(n) where n represents the number of sensor nodes. The simulation results show that the maximum skew is within tens of milliseconds.
Improved Bounds for Exact Counting of Satisfiability Solutions ∗

An algorithm is presented for exactly solving (in fact, counting) the number of maximum weight satisfying assignments of a 2-SAT formula. The worst case running time of O(1.2461) for formulas with n variables improves on the previous bound of O(1.2561) by Dahllöf, Jonsson, and Wahlström. The weighted 2-SAT counting algorithm can be applied to obtain faster algorithms for combinatorial counting problems, including those of counting maximum weighted independent sets and weighted set packings. The above result when combined with a better partitioning technique for domains, leads to improved running times for counting the number of solutions of binary constraint satisfaction problems for all domain sizes. For large domain size d we approach O((0.6009d)) improving their previous best bound of O((0.6224d)). We further improve this bound for counting 3-colorings in a graph. We also present an algorithm for exactly counting weighted MAX 2-SAT assignments. Improving the trivial bound (even for the decision version) for MAX 2-SAT has been explicitly stated as a open problem ([28, 1, 22]). For a 2-SAT formula F , we have a worst case running time of O∗(2n(1−1/(d̃(F )−1))), where d̃(F ) is the average degree in the constraint graph defined by F . Our algorithm, together with its analysis is much simpler and avoids some tedious enumerations present in previous results. We use α−gadget introduced by Trevisan, Sorkin, Sudan, and Williamson to get the same upper bound for problems like MAX 3-SAT, MAX CUT. We also introduce a notion of strict (α, β)−gadget to provide a framework that allows composition of gadgets. This framework allows us to obtain the same upper bound for MAX NAE-k-SAT, MAX k-SAT, MAX k-LIN-2. In fact, any problem having a strict (α, β)−gadget reduction to MAX 2-SAT has the same upper bound. This opens the possibility of obtaining better bounds for many other problems. Some of the results appeared in a longer version as ECCC Report TR05-033 [16] Research supported in part by NSF Grant CCR-0209099
Skin hyperpigmentation acyl glutathione treatments

A topical composition for skin whitening, treatment of skin lightening, and hyperpigmentation include glutathione S- acyl derivative and an effective amount of a carrier. A method for whitening the skin, treatment of skin lightening, and hyperpigmentation involves applying a composition including in the S- acyl glutathione derivative dermatologically acceptable carrier to the skin tissue. The acyl group as the saturated or unsaturated aliphatic C In a particularly preferred embodiment, glutathione S- acyl derivative is S- palmitoyl glutathione.
A least‐squares method for axisymmetric div–curl systems

We present a negative‐norm least‐squares method for axisymmetric div–curl systems arising from Maxwell's equations for electrostatics and magnetostatics in three dimensions. The method approximates the solution in a two‐dimensional meridian plane. To achieve this dimension reduction, we must work with weighted spaces in cylindrical co‐ordinates. In this setting, a stable pair of approximation spaces is developed and analysed. We also report the results of some numerical experiments, which demonstrate a quasi‐optimal convergence rate and a robustness with respect to the domain and coefficients. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Implication of OTX2 in Pigment Epithelium Determination and Neural Retina Differentiation

The expression pattern of Otx2, a homeobox-containing gene, was analyzed from the beginning of eye morphogenesis until neural retina differentiation in chick embryos. Early on, Otx2 expression was diffuse throughout the optic vesicles but became restricted to their dorsal part when the vesicles contacted the surface ectoderm. As the optic cup forms,Otx2 was expressed only in the outer layer, which gives rise to the pigment epithelium. This early Otx2expression pattern was complementary to that of PAX2, which localizes to the ventral half of the developing eye and optic stalk.Otx2 expression was always observed in the pigment epithelium at all stages analyzed but was extended to scattered cells located in the central portion of the neural retina around stage 22. The number of cells expressing Otx2 transcripts increased with time, following a central to peripheral gradient. Bromodeoxyuridine labeling in combination with immunohistochemistry with anti-OTX2 antiserum and different cell-specific markers were used to determine that OTX2-positive cells are postmitotic neuroblasts undergoing differentiation into several, if not all, of the distinct cell types present in the chick retina. These data indicate thatOtx2 might have a double role in eye development. First, it might be necessary for the early specification and subsequent functioning of the pigment epithelium. Later, OTX2 expression might be involved in retina neurogenesis, defining a differentiation feature common to the distinct retinal cell classes.
Measurement and analysis of the spatial locality of wireless information and mobility patterns in a campus

An environment is characterized by spatial locality of queries and information when it is likely that users in close geographic proximity query for similar data. Information exhibits spatial locality when it is coupled to a real-world place. For example, play reviews are most relevant in a theater; and users in a Dental school may be particularly interested in web sites on related subjects. The prevalence of such spatial locality is related directly to the feasibility of deploying locationdependent services. Intuition suggests that a high degree of spatial locality of information exists because people often gather to exchange information. As such, we expect that appropriate location-dependent services may harness the spatial locality effectively. The web is not primarily a location-dependent service, but it provides a ready testbed to study the prevalence of spatial locality and mobile users. This paper results from a three-week study of spatial locality phenomena among mobile web users on a major university campus using the 802.11 [11] wireless infrastructure. We show that users are often near other users with similar interests. In addition, we categorize the urls and present a classification of the wireless information as a function of the location from which it was accessed. We also model the associations of wireless users to access points. Finally, we discuss the implications on the feasibility of location-dependent services and potential improvements of the wireless access using caching mechanisms.
Design and Implementation of a P2P-Based Media Streaming System

P2P together with media streaming technology brings a new method for video service. This paper proposes a design to deploy video service on commercial systems with authentication servers. The design combines C/S charging model, and provides video contents in a P2P way. According to the address information registered on authentication servers, a media management server helps new peers to find their partners, which effectively avoids the route lookup delay in a pure P2P overlay. In this paper, we focus on the video system¿s architecture design and its functional entities¿ module implementation. Finally, we give examples to show how the system works.
Change and Bug Tracking System: Anjung Penchala Sdn. Bhd.

Defects or bugs have been existed as a problem in the system and they are normally inevitable in software development. Most software bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's source code or its technical design. Huge amount of bugs could be found in system development. It was relatively difficult to manage bugs in simple word documents or remember everything in one’s head. Thus Change and Bug Tracking (CBT) System has been introduced in order to keep track of the reported bug in the system. By using this tracking system, every user can report and follow up the issue in the system. This system provided a platform for users from different departments to report issues and understand the latest progress in a product. It consolidated and organized information in single system and centralized data repository for the changes and bugs in system. Besides, this system could be accessed by team members concurrently to improve efficiency and they can search particular information in the system easily. It made communication between teams more effective and all the bugs and changes are recorded in web based system and hence the system is scalable. General Terms Security, system development.
Implicit Feature Detection via a Constrained Topic Model and SVM

Implicit feature detection, also known as implicit feature identification, is an essential aspect of feature-specific opinion mining but previous works have often ignored it. We think, based on the explicit sentences, several Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers can be established to do this task. Nevertheless, we believe it is possible to do better by using a constrained topic model instead of traditional attribute selection methods. Experiments show that this method outperforms the traditional attribute selection methods by a large margin and the detection task can be completed better.
Toxicology and humoral immunity assessment of decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) following a 1-month whole body inhalation exposure in Fischer 344 rats.

D5 is a low-molecular-weight cyclic siloxane used for industrial and consumer product applications. The objective of the present study was to assess potential toxic and immunomodulatory consequences of inhalation exposure to D5. Male and female Fischer 344 rats (25/group) were exposed by whole body inhalation to 0, 10, 25, 75, or 160 ppm D5 6 h/day, 7 days/week for 28 days. Clinical signs, body weights, and food consumption were recorded. On the day following the final exposure, 10 rats/group/sex were euthanized and a complete necropsy performed. Following a 14-day nonexposure recovery period, the remaining 5 rats/sex/group were necropsied. Body and organ weights were obtained and a complete set of tissues was taken for histopathology. Samples were also collected for serum chemistry, hematology, and urinalysis. Immunotoxicology-designated rats (10/sex/group) were immunized with sheep erythrocytes (sRBC) 4 days prior to euthanasia and cyclophosphamide (CYP) was administered i.p. to positive controls on days 24 through 28. The anti-sRBC antibody-forming cell (AFC) response was evaluated in a standard plaque assay. Blood was also collected for examination in the anti-sRBC enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). D5 exposure did not modulate humoral immunity, while the internal control, CYP, produced the expected suppression of the AFC response. D5 exposure caused no adverse effects on body weight, food consumption, or urinalysis parameters. Serum alkaline phosphatase (SAP) was significantly decreased in females at terminal (12%, 160 ppm) and recovery sacrifice. A significant increase in the liver-to-body weight ratio was observed in female animals at the end of exposures (13%, 160 ppm), but was not noted in recovery animals from the same exposure group. In males, significant increases in liver-to-body weight (5%) and thymus-to-body weight (14%) ratios were also noted at the high dose at terminal sacrifice and were not present at recovery. At recovery only, a significant increase in spleen-to-body weight ratios (14 and 17%; 25 and 160 ppm, respectively) was noted. At the end of exposure, histopathological analysis indicated an increased incidence and severity of nasal (Level 1) goblet cell proliferation. Focal macrophage accumulation in the lung was also observed to be increased in incidence in both sexes at 160 ppm. At the end of the recovery period, the effects in both of these organs appeared to be reversible. In summary, D5 inhalation exposure did not alter humoral immunity and caused only minor, transient changes in hematological, serum chemistry, and organ weight values. Histopathological changes were confined to the respiratory tract and appeared to be reversible. The no observed effect level for systemic toxicity, based primarily on the liver weight changes, was 75 ppm.
Multifocus image fusion based on region selection

In this paper, a novel multifocus image fusion method based on region selection is proposed. The basic idea is to select sharply focused regions from source images and to combine them together to reconstruct the resultant image. Region Acutance as a kind of superior sharpness criterion is introduced here for region segmentation. In view of the inevitably errors of selection, morphological operations are used to eliminate the discontinuity in the interior of regions. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms traditional fusion methods both in visual effect and objective evaluation.
A droplet near the critical point: the divergence of Tolman's length

Application of "complete scaling" [Kim et al., Phys. Rev. E 67, 061506 (2003); Anisimov and Wang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 25703 (2006)] to the interfacial behavior of fluids shows that Tolman's length, a curvature correction to the surface tension, diverges at the critical point of fluids much more strongly than is commonly believed. The amplitude of the divergence depends on the degree of asymmetry in fluid phase coexistence. A new universal amplitude ratio, which involves this asymmetry, is introduced. In highly asymmetric fluids and fluid mixtures the Tolman length may become large enough near criticality to be detected in precise experiments with microcapillaries and in simulations.
A Within-Subject Comparison of Bimodal Hearing, Bilateral Cochlear Implantation, and Bilateral Cochlear Implantation With Bilateral Hearing Preservation: High-Performing Patients

Objective To compare speech understanding with bimodal hearing and bilateral cochlear implants (CIs). Study Design Within-subjects, repeated-measures. Methods Speech understanding was assessed in the following conditions: unilateral hearing aid (HA) in the non-implanted ear, unilateral CI, bimodal (CI + HA), and bilateral CI. In addition, three participants had bilateral hearing preservation and were also tested with bilateral CIs and bilateral HAs (BiBi). Setting Tertiary academic CI center. Patients Eight adult sequential bilateral recipients who, despite achieving incredibly high performance with the first CI, self-selected for bilateral cochlear implantation. Intervention(s) Bilateral cochlear implantation. Main Outcome Measure(s) Speech understanding for the adult minimum speech test battery as well as sentences in semidiffuse noise using the R-SPACE system. Results Bilateral CIs afforded significant individual improvement in a complex listening environment even for individuals demonstrating near perfect sentence scores with both the first CI alone as well as the bimodal condition. The 3 BiBi participants demonstrated additional significant benefit over the bilateral CI condition–presumably because of the availability of interaural time difference cues. Conclusions These data suggest that, for noisy environments, adding a second implant can significantly improve speech understanding—even for high-performing unilateral CI with bimodal hearing. In diffuse noise conditions, bilateral acoustic hearing can yield even greater benefits beyond that offered by bilateral implantation.
Exploring Individual Differences in the Relationship Between Cultural Identity Processes and Well-Being

Although studies have explored how cultural identity impacts young people’s daily lives, these studies have exclusively focused on daily variability in cultural identity salience, overlooking daily variability in the underlying developmental processes. In the present study, we used a 12-day daily assessment conducted with 873 Hispanic college students to address these gaps by examining daily variability in ethnic and U.S. belonging, exploring between-person variability in the daily associations of ethnic and U.S. belonging with well-being, and identifying whether centrality predicts between-person variability in daily levels of these processes and their relation to well-being. Results indicated significant changes in ethnic and U.S belonging on a daily basis. Despite the positive average within-person associations between ethnic belonging and well-being, results indicated significant variability. Finally, centrality also significantly predicted between-person variability in the daily levels of these cultural processes and the within-person associations. Implications for future research are discussed.
Resistive switching of carbon-based RRAM with CNT electrodes for ultra-dense memory

We demonstrate the nonvolatile resistive switching of an amorphous carbon (a-C) layer with carbon nanotube (CNT) electrodes for ultra-dense memory. The use of CNT as electrode leads to the ultimately scaled cross-point area (∼1 nm2), and the use of a-C results in an all-carbon memory. Carbon-based complementary resistive switching (CRS) is shown for the first time, enabling cross-point memory without cell selection devices.
High-Efficiency Wideband Rectifier for Single-Chip Batteryless Active Millimeter-Wave Identification (MMID) Tag in 65-nm Bulk CMOS Technology

This paper presents the development and demonstration of a high-efficiency rectifier for millimeter-wave-to-dc energy conversion. It is a critical circuit block that renders possible the use of a single CMOS chip die with no substrate and wiring, as the implementation of a batteryless, yet active tag for next-generation high data-rate millimeter-wave identification technologies. We also propose an architecture of a reader-tag system that addresses the underlying technical challenges. The rectifier is based on a differential drive cross-coupled topology that has been shown to work at UHF frequencies only so far. In this paper, we investigate significant challenges in implementing this topology at millimeter-wave frequencies with good power conversion efficiency (PCE). The analyses, design, and results presented in this work demonstrate the feasibility of achieving this by minimizing simultaneously the small on-resistance and the reverse leakage current in the MOS transistors, and by reducing losses and parasitic capacitances through proper transistor sizing and layout optimization. Using a standard 65-nm bulk CMOS process, a chip was designed, fabricated, and tested under different input and output loading conditions. The rectifier exhibits an overall PCE of 20% at 24 GHz, 18% at 35 GHz, and 11% at 60 GHz under RF available driving power of 6, 6, and 3 dBm, respectively, and output load resistance of 1, 1, and 2 kΩ, respectively. These PCE performances at millimeter-wave frequencies have never been reported in the literature.
Ocean Acidification and Increased Temperature Have Both Positive and Negative Effects on Early Ontogenetic Traits of a Rocky Shore Keystone Predator Species

The combined effect of ocean acidification and warming is expected to have significant effects on several traits of marine organisms. The gastropod Concholepas concholepas is a rocky shore keystone predator characteristic of the south-eastern Pacific coast of South America and an important natural resource exploited by small-scale artisanal fishermen along the coast of Chile and Peru. In this study, we used small juveniles of C. concholepas collected from the rocky intertidal habitats of southern Chile (39°S) to evaluate under laboratory conditions the potential consequences of projected near-future levels of ocean acidification and warming for important early ontogenetic traits. The individuals were exposed long-term (5.8 months) to contrasting pCO2 (ca. 500 and 1400 μatm) and temperature (15 and 19°C) levels. After this period we compared body growth traits, dislodgement resistance, predator-escape response, self-righting and metabolic rates. With respect to these traits there was no evidence of a synergistic interaction between pCO2 and temperature. Shell growth was negatively affected by high pCO2 levels only at 15°C. High pCO2 levels also had a negative effect on the predator-escape response. Conversely, dislodgement resistance and self-righting were positively affected by high pCO2 levels at both temperatures. High tenacity and fast self-righting would reduce predation risk in nature and might compensate for the negative effects of high pCO2 levels on other important defensive traits such as shell size and escape behaviour. We conclude that climate change might produce in C. concholepas positive and negative effects in physiology and behaviour. In fact, some of the behavioural responses might be a consequence of physiological effects, such as changes in chemosensory capacity (e.g. predator-escape response) or secretion of adhesive mucous (e.g. dislodgement resistance). Moreover, we conclude that positive behavioural responses may assist in the adaptation to negative physiological impacts, and that this may also be the case for other benthic organisms.
Collaborative swarm for multi-task pairing in unknown environment

Remotely operating teams of autonomous mobile robots for multi-task allocations in an unknown environment is an important and challenging task in many real world applications. However, a few of existing teleoperation methods have been aimed at finishing multiple tasks simultaneously when the environment that the robots are navigating is unknown. In real life, in order to achieve this, a teleoperated team of mobile robots can be split into several collaborative sub-teams according to their characteristics about different tasks. Each sub-team is formed by pairing team robots to a specific task to make sure of an enough capability of automatically sensing environments and accomplishing the specific task. Moreover, the robot-task pairing strategy based on the capability list of robots in a weighted attack guidance table (WAGT) is developed from the proven auction algorithm for multi-robot multi-task cases, which optimizes effects-based allocations based on a heuristic algorithm. In this paper, a control method to teleoperate teams or sub-teams of robots involving the robot-task pairing strategy is proposed to deal with different tasks simultaneously in an unknown environment. Simulation studies illustrate the efficacy of a teleoperator with the proposed control method for multi-task scenarios in an unknown environment.