Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 3D Curve Lane Detection and Tracking System Based on Stereovision

Lane detection is a crucial issue for advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) as well as for autonomous vehicle guidance functions and it is required to have high real-time performance and reliability to avoid lane departure. Taking the curve road as the main interest field, this paper presents a 3D curve lane model to detect, track and reconstruct real roads based on stereovision. The stereovision algorithm defines the 3D curve lane as the vertical and horizontal clothoid, which allows elimination of the common assumption: rectilinear lane, flat road or constant pitch angle. To accurately detect and match the curve lane, this paper proposes an improved real-time ROI setup algorithm. The successive detection results are used to estimate the lane model parameters through Kalman filtering. The experiments show that the algorithm proposed has good real-time performance and robustness. Key word: Stereovision; 3D curve lane parameter; ROI setup; Lane detection.
Accountable Decryption made Formal and Practical

—With the increasing scale and complexity of online activities, accountability, as an after-the-fact mechanism, has become an effective complementary approach to ensure system security. Decades of research have delved into the connotation of accountability. They fail, however, to achieve practical accountability of decryption. This paper seeks to address this gap. We consider the scenario where a client (called encryptor, her) encrypts her data and then chooses a delegate (a.k.a. decryptor, him) that stores data for her. If the decryptor initiates an illegitimate decryption on the encrypted data, there is a non-negligible probability that this behavior will be detected, thereby holding the de-cryptor accountable for his decryption. We make three contributions. First, we review key definitions of accountability known so far. Based on extensive investigations, we formalize new definitions of accountability specifically targeting the decryption process, denoted as accountable decryption , and discuss the (in)possibilities when capturing this concept. We also define the security goals in correspondence. Secondly, we present a novel Trusted Execution Environment(TEE)-assisted solution aligning with definitions. Instead of fully trusting TEE, we take a further step, making TEE work in the “trust, but verify” model where we trust TEE and use its service, but empower users (i.e., decryptors) to detect the potentially compromised state of TEEs. Thirdly, we implement a full-fledged system and conduct a series of evaluations. The results demonstrate that our solution is efficient. Even in a scenario involving 300 , 000 log entries, the decryption process concludes in approximately 5 . 5 ms, and malicious decryptors can be identified within 69 ms.
Upper mantle inhomogeneity beneath New Zealand: Surface manifestations

Volcanism, heat flow, gravity, morphology, and tectonism in the North Island of New Zealand are examined in the light of seismic evidence for inhomogeneity in the upper mantle. The high-frequency attenuating/transmitting boundary underlies the junction between volcanic and nonvolcanic provinces, and the now active andesite volcanoes lie above this boundary. Heat flow is higher than normal over the attenuating zone and lower than normal over the transmitting zone. Gravity anomalies are positive over the attenuating zone and negative over the transmitting zone; a density model is proposed in which the density variations are envelopes of seismicity in the upper mantle. The Hikurangi trench curves in a similar manner to the attenuating/transmitting boundary and shoals in a similar manner to the seismicity. Similar data are examined for northern Japan, and there is good agreement between the two areas. The special importance of New Zealand in testing the Oliver-Isacks model of an active margin is demonstrated.
Magnetic polarity stratigraphy: Stochastic properties of data, sampling problems, and the evaluation of interpretations

A statistical model has been derived which can be used either to test the interpretation of a given magnetic stratigraphy or to make time estimates from the paleomagnetic data. The model is based on the presently accepted statistical properties of the earth's magnetic field and the stochastic nature of the paleomagnetic sampling process. Given knowledge of the number of paleomagnetic sites, the distribution of the sites, an estimate of the geologic time span sampled, and the mean length of the magnetic polarity zones, the expected success of the sampling program can be calculated and compared with its actual performance. In a number of test cases the theoretical results have agreed with realized results. The mean time span for polarity intervals in the late Neogene has been established from existing data at 120,000 years. Once the mean time span for polarity intervals has been established, estimates for stratigraphic time span can be made by means of the statistical model. Of three models studied, a time uniform sampling program is the most efficient for establishing a local magnetic polarity stratigraphy; the least efficient strategy is an exponential distribution of samples.
Evolution, devolution, revolution? An analysis of the legal and administrative arrangements for catchment and water planning in South Australia and New South Wales

The sustainable management of private agricultural land requires a shift in the approach to decision making about natural resources, improved regulation and better integration. There has been substantial legal reform in the area of natural resource management over the last ten years. This reform is particularly evident in the introduction of legal processes for catchment and water planning. Catchment and water planning is concerned with both setting ‘management’ priorities and generating ‘rules’ in relation to access to natural resources. Planning in this context can be viewed as both a process and a product. In broad terms the planning process involves the collection and analysis of environmental, economic and social data and consultation with the community about both needs and means to achieve change. The product i.e. plans, specify parameters, priorities, rules, implementation tools and review mechanisms. This research involved an analysis of the legal and administrative arrangements for catchment and water planning in South Australia and New South Wales and a review of its implementation in two coastal catchments i.e. the Onkaparinga (SA) and the Southern (NSW). The specific questions addressed were: a study the ‘law context’. case study
The Effects of Short-Term Natural Environment Exposure on Preservice Teacher Well-Being

This study explores changes in well-being for 16 preservice teachers in natural and simulated professional development environments. The Rumination Questionnaire and Profile of Mood States (POMS) were used as indicators of well-being. A follow-up survey assessed changes in preservice teachers’ well-being strategies four months later. Compared to the professional development setting, the natural environment positively affected rumination and POMS scales of Tension-Anxiety, Confusion-Bewilderment, Esteem-Related Affect, and Total Mood Disturbance. Follow-up data found that participants agreed that spending time in natural settings improved their well-being; however, time constraints limited doing so. Conclusions suggest that preparation programs consider including nature-based experiences as one strategy for developing teacher well-being.
Kobayashi Type-Based Information Flow Analysis for the Pi-Calculus

We propose a new type system for information flow analysis for the π-calculus. As demonstrated by recent studies, information about whether each communication succeeds is important for precise information flow analysis for concurrent programs. By collecting such information using ideas of our previous type systems for deadlock/livelock-freedom, our type system can perform more precise analysis for certain communication/synchronization patterns (like synchronization using locks) than previous type systems. Our type system treats a wide range of communication/synchronization primitives in a uniform manner, which enabled development of a clear proof of type soundness and a sound and complete type inference algorithm.
Human-Robot Collaboration for Assembling IKEA Furniture through Reinforcement Learning-Based Planning

—In this paper we consider the task planning problem of a Human-Robot collaborative scenario to assemble IKEA furniture. The human is considered an uncontrollable agent and the task planner schedules the optimal actions of the robot in order to complete the full assembly task in the least amount of time. We formalize the problem as a Discrete Event Markov Decision Problem (DE-MDP) which allows to model stochastic events such as human change of mind. While the problem could be solved by creating a graph of all the possible actions, this solution would have computational limitations. However, the proposed formulation allows a solution with Reinforcement Learning to compute an optimal policy for the robot.
Sensitivity of the Simulated Monsoons of 1987 and 1988 to Convective Parameterization Schemes in MM5

Abstract In this study the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) version 3.5. 2 was used to simulate the Indian summer monsoon during the two contrasting years of 1987 and 1988, a dry year and a wet year, respectively. Three different convection parameterization schemes of Betts–Miller–Janjic, Kain–Fritsch, and Grell were used to study the sensitivity of monsoon to cumulus effects. The model was integrated for a period of 6 months, starting from three different initial conditions of 0000 UTC on 1, 2, and 3 May of each year using the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data as input. The 6-hourly reanalysis data were used to provide the lateral boundary conditions, and the observed weekly Reynolds sea surface temperature, linearly interpolated to 6 h, was used as the lower boundary forcing. The results show that all three cumulus schemes were able to simulate the interannual and intraseasonal variabilities in the monsoon with reasonable acc.
Hydrological data management systems within a national river flow archive

The UK National River Flow Archive (NRFA) is the UK’s focal point for hydrometric data. It provides data and expertise on river flow conditions to the public, to government, and to research and commercial organisations. Quality control and improvement of data, through validation and resolution of monitoring and data issues, is an important focus of its work, with the aim of maximising the utility of the national archive for a wide range of end-users. Recent developments in the NRFA have led to innovative systems for data management, analysis and visualisation. These systems increase the capacity to improve data by integrating river flows with rainfall and other time series data, spatial information such as catchment land use, elevation and geology, and metadata providing information on gauging station quality. Flow data are disseminated alongside detailed metadata ensuring that the end-user can exploit the data effectively, and is aware of any limitations. This model for a hydrological data management system could potentially be applied in other hydrological networks and data archives, both in the UK and internationally.
Increasing temperatures can pose an opportunity to recover endemic and endangered oriental sweetgum tree (Liquidambar orientalis Mill.) from extinction

: Evidence suggests that past climatic oscillations caused many species to drastically change their distribution range and had significant impacts on their survival capabilities. There is significant evidence suggesting that today’s changing climate threatens many species to face a rapid extinction period in the coming decades and centuries. Understanding the changing range patterns provides significant input on biodiversity and conservation biology studies. However, warming climatic conditions may also present an opportunity for some species to expand their habitats—particularly those adapted to warmer environments. In this study, we asked how near-future climate change will affect the distribution range of the oriental sweetgum tree ( Liquidambar orientalis Miller, 1867) which is a deciduous tertiary relict endemic species that forms the riparian forest ecosystems across southwestern Türkiye and Rhodes Island (Greece). Oriental sweetgum is on the verge of extinction due to past climate changes and current anthropogenic pressures such as deforestation and improper farming practices as well as insufficient conservation policies and efforts in place. As a result, sweetgum trees only survive in fragmented forest patches. To understand the species’ possible response to globally rising temperatures, we explored the ecological and climatic factors that drive the distribution changes using a species distribution modeling approach. We predicted species’ past (Mid-Holocene, approximately 6000 years ago), current, and future (2070) distribution ranges using maximum-entropy (MaxEnt) niche models built with WorldClim Version 1.4 climatic data. We found that regular water and warmer temperatures are particularly crucial for this species. The models showed a past (Mid-Holocene) expansion in suitable habitats in response to warmer conditions followed by a contraction as temperatures cooled down to the current climate. Most importantly, our future predictions showed that the species can possibly expand its distribution range to newly suitable habitats exhibiting a similar past response to the increasing temperatures. In this scenario, however, we suggest that it is extremely important to take necessary restoration and conservation steps for fragmented sweetgum forests to ensure species survival in the next centuries. We also believe that further research must be conducted to better understand species’ ecological requirements and to provide crucial knowledge for future conversation approaches.
Spatial and seasonal variability of raindrop size distributions in southeast India

[1] Long-term measurements of raindrop size distribution (DSD) made with the Joss-Waldvogel disdrometers at two sites (Gadanki, an inland station, and Cuddalore, a coastal station) in southeast India are utilized to study the seasonal and spatial variations of DSD. The stratified DSD data (based on rain rate R) show significant seasonal variation at both sites. Smaller-drop concentration is higher in the northeast monsoon (NEM) than in the southwest monsoon (SWM) for the same R. Paucity of smaller drops in SWM increases the mass weighted mean diameter (Dm) considerably. The seasonal differences are pronounced at Gadanki. The seasonal differences are found to be a regular feature at these locations as they are observed in all the years. The DSD has also shown clear diurnal variation with large Dm values in evening hours. The possible causative mechanisms for the observed spatial and seasonal DSD differences are investigated in detail using satellite and radiosonde observations. In particular, the research attempted to address the following question: Are the observed seasonal differences in DSD arising at the cloud formation level or related to the microphysical processes occurring in the evolution of DSD. The low-level wind pattern and cloud effective radius and Dm distributions in these seasons reveal that the cloud systems in SWM and NEM are continental and maritime, respectively, in nature. However, the microphysical and dynamical processes related to evaporation and convection also seem to play an important role in modifying the DSD. These processes are found predominantly in SWM and are, primarily, responsible for the changes in DSD during their evolution.
Wi-Fi offloading on mobile data communication in the office, the measurement study

Based on gender grouping, internet use in the office is 3.82 hours per day for women and 2.53 hours per day for men. The amount of data accessed by female users is 255.61 MB, while for males, it is smaller at 221.35 MB. The research results show that the average user of offloading Wi-Fi is a Medium User. In the Male group, 2.53% of users are classified as Extreme users with an offloading capacity of more than 30 GB per month. The average amount of temporal coverage of Wi-Fi use in offices for the Female group is
Forecasting Long-Run Causal Effects

I investigate the accuracy of forecasts for short and long-run treatment effects of seven randomized experiments, collecting over 25,000 forecasts from 1,400 respondents, including academics, expert forecasters and nonexperts. I explore the accuracy of different types of forecasters, forecasts over different time horizons, the wisdom-of-crowds effect and gains from aggregation, and forecast calibration. I explore mechanisms driving forecast accuracy by looking randomising additional information on forecasting, and the contexts and interventions under study, as well as looking at how vertical and horizontal expertise, familiarity and effort are correlated with accuracy. I study the process by which forecasters update their long-run forecasts after receiving short-run information. I show that expert forecasters outperform academics and provide evidence that better forecast calibration is what drives this. I show that measures of horizontal expertise and experience with the context under study are more correlated with accuracy than vertical expertise. I show that forecasters strongly overestimate the strength of the relationship between short and long-run outcomes. Finally, I show that although forecasters act like Bayesian updaters when considering the uncertainty around their prior long-run forecasts, they do not appropriately consider the uncertainty around the short-run information signal they receive.
Air fractionation in plate-like inclusions within the EPICA-DML deep ice core

On ice samples from the ice core recovered in the frame of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica at the deep drilling site in Dronning Maud Land (75°00S; 00°04E) micro-Raman spectrochemical analysis was applied to typical relaxation features appearing after the extraction of an ice core. Essentially, these relaxation microinclusions are little planar polygonal cavities possessing hexagonal symmetry i.e. thin negative crystals lying on the basal plane of the hosting ice crystallite. Usually named plate-like inclusions, PLIs, they tend to change their aspect ratio becoming in general rounder, thicker or thinner depending on the equilibrium established between the structure-composition of the ice and the minute environmental temperature-pressure conditions around a specific PLI, but still preserving a very large aspect ratio (typically 20:1). Muguruma and others (1966) and Mae (1968) have reported studies on plate hexagonal voids, i.e. PLIs, produced (only) in tensile deformation tests of natural and artificial single ice crystals while the first report of PLIs in Antarctic ice cores was presented by Gow (1971). In spite of these early studies and the abundance of PLIs in stored ice core samples, extended investigations of these relaxation features are scarce. We present the results of the first successful study of the chemical composition of PLIs using microfocus Raman spectroscopy (Nedelcu and others, in press). We observe that the relaxation features contain mainly O2 and N2 in their interior, with N2/O2 ratios smaller than 3.7 (the nowadays atmospheric air N2/O2 ratio), indicating a general oxygen enrichment that is not so different from O2 enrichments reported in other investigations on polar ice samples (Nakahara and others, 1988, Ikeda and others, 1999). These results seem to lend support to the current hypothesis that O2 diffuses faster than N2 through the ice matrix (Ikeda-Fukazawa and others, 2001, 2005; Severinghaus and Battle, 2006). More than this, they suggest that the diffusion of chemical traces in the ice matrix may not be negligible, at least locally, on a timescale of few years. These results could be important for the interpretation of ice-core paleoclimate records.
Measuring Data Quality of Theses and Dissertations in the Data Preparation Stage of Registration Systems

Today, academic research plays a very influential role in the economic development of countries. These researches are often recorded and disseminated in the form and structure of theses and dissertations in scientific institutes. The better the quality of this data in the systems that collect and distribute it, the more it can be used and exploited by organizations and businesses. Therefore, providing this data requires proper monitoring to put the output of the recording and dissemination process in good condition. This paper offers a framework for evaluating theses and dissertation data quality. In the framework, the data inconsistency coding structure is introduced and presented in Word and PDF files and in the form of metadata (bibliographic information). The approaches presented in data quality methodologies (TDQM and DWQ) are also used to provide solutions to improve data quality in the provisioning phase. At this stage, approaches such as owner attribution to data or process, root cause analysis, process control, and continuous monitoring are considered. The focus group method determines the operational strategies for quality improvement. Finally, process-oriented techniques, such as quality control checklists and image processing, and data-driven approaches, such as data cleansing, are localized and developed in this section to improve the quality of theses/dissertation documents. The provided improvement solutions were categorized into two different groups. Guiding the user in the "Theses/Dissertations" registration process is identified as a process-driven category. On the other hand, introducing a specific format for "Theses/Dissertations" files and resolving the quality issues of PDF files were among the data-driven solutions.
Mechanotransduction in Lateral Root Initiation: A Model Integrating Growth Mechanics and Auxin Signaling

Plant development relies on the precise coordination of cell growth, which is influenced by the mechanical constraints imposed by rigid cell walls. The hormone auxin plays a crucial role in regulating this growth by altering the mechanical properties of cell walls. During the post-embryonic formation of lateral roots, pericycle cells deep within the main root are triggered by auxin to resume growth and divide to form a new root. This growth involves a complex interplay between auxin, growth, and the resolution of mechanical conflicts. However, the exact mechanisms by which this coordination is achieved are still unknown. Here, we propose a model that integrates tissue mechanics and auxin transport, revealing a connection between the auxin-induced relaxation of mechanical stress in the pericycle and auxin signalling in the endodermis. We show that the growth of pericycle cells is initially limited by the endodermis, resulting in a modest initial growth. However, this modest growth is sufficient to redirect auxin to the overlying endodermis, which then actively accommodates the growth, allowing for the subsequent development of the lateral root. Our model uncovers the mechanical parameters that underlie endodermal accommodation and how the structure and shape of the endodermis influence the formation of the new root. These findings highlight the interconnected relationship between mechanics and auxin flow during lateral root initiation, emphasizing the vital role of the endodermis in shaping root development through mechanotransduction and auxin signalling.