Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards Information Assurance for Dynamic Coalitions

Distributed applications for day-to-day operations of corporations and government agencies are composed of inter-operating legacy, COTs, databases, clients, servers, etc. One critical challenge, therein, is information assurance and security, to insure that users are accessing only information to which they have been authorized. In the past three years, we have designed and prototyped a security model and enforcement framework that controls access to the APIs of software artifacts which operate in a distributed environment running middleware (CORBA, JINI, etc.). The effort has concentrated on discretionary access control, to limit, on a role-by-role basis, which users (clients) can access which parts of artifact APIs, constrained by time and data values. In this paper, we extend this work by: incorporating mandatory access control to limit access of users based on security clearance level; and, examining the degree that information assurance can be attained via the characteristics and tools of our model/framework. To facilitate our discussion, we utilize examples involving dynamic coalitions.
Divergence estimation based on deep neural networks and its use for language identification

In this paper, we propose a method to estimate statistical divergence between probability distributions by a DNN-based discriminative approach and its use for language identification tasks. Since statistical divergence is generally defined as a functional of two probability density functions, these density functions are usually represented in a parametric form. Then, if a mismatch exists between the assumed distribution and its true one, the obtained divergence becomes erroneous. In our proposed method, by using Bayes' theorem, the statistical divergence is estimated by using DNN as discriminative estimation model. In our method, the divergence between two distributions is able to be estimated without assuming a specific form for these distributions. When the amount of data available for estimation is small, however, it becomes intractable to calculate the integral of the divergence function over all the feature space and to train neural networks. To mitigate this problem, two solutions are introduced; a model adaptation method for DNN and a sampling approach for integration. We apply this approach to language identification tasks, where the obtained divergences are used to extract a speech structure. Experimental results show that our approach can improve the performance of language identification by 10.85% relative compared to the conventional approach based on i-vector.
Multi-speaker prosodic instance selection for HMM-based speech synthesis

In this paper, we propose a novel parametric speech synthesis based on prosodic instance selection to improve the naturalness of synthesized speech especially in the case of small database. Prosodic instances including F0 and duration are directly selected from the database to preserve rich prosodic variations other than generation from the statistical models. Considering that spectral and prosodic parameters could be modeled separately, prosodic instances from multiple speakers, which are easier to obtain than those of single speaker, are exploited to not only enhance the prosodic models but also enrich the coverage of prosodic context for the synthesized speaker. The results of subjective listening tests on the corresponding databases further show that the proposed method can achieve better performance than both parametric synthesis and waveform concatenation synthesis.
Intraspecific phylogenetic analysis of Siberian woolly mammoths using complete mitochondrial genomes

We report five new complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of Siberian woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), sequenced with up to 73-fold coverage from DNA extracted from hair shaft material. Three of the sequences present the first complete mtDNA genomes of mammoth clade II. Analysis of these and 13 recently published mtDNA genomes demonstrates the existence of two apparently sympatric mtDNA clades that exhibit high interclade divergence. The analytical power afforded by the analysis of the complete mtDNA genomes reveals a surprisingly ancient coalescence age of the two clades, ≈1–2 million years, depending on the calibration technique. Furthermore, statistical analysis of the temporal distribution of the 14C ages of these and previously identified members of the two mammoth clades suggests that clade II went extinct before clade I. Modeling of protein structures failed to indicate any important functional difference between genomes belonging to the two clades, suggesting that the loss of clade II more likely is due to genetic drift than a selective sweep.
A Study on the Impact of Multiple Failures on OSPF Convergence

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a popular link state routing protocol widely used in Internet infrastructure. OSPF implements several timers to limit the protocol overhead. With these timers, it usually takes several tens of seconds for OSPF network to recover from a failure. The convergence time is delayed mainly by the timers of failure detection and routing calculation scheduling. In this paper we analyze OSPF convergence behavior in presence of multiple failures, where the interactions between failure detection and routing calculation scheduling could generate complicated dynamics during convergence process. We also present experimental study to understand the impact of multiple failures on convergence. The results demonstrate that multiple failures have a greater chance to delay the convergence. This suggests that operators should take it into account while configuring OSPF network.
A Comprehensive Approach for Embodiment of Security Activities with Agile Methodologies

among the software is seeking importance during the development phase, as it promotes adaptive planning, incremental and evolutionary development with many other features that are lightweight in nature. Security is one of the major issues in today's highly agile software development industry. More emphasize is on to produce a secure software, so as to minimize the amount of risk and damage caused by the software. Developing secure software with high agile characteristics is always a hard task to do because of heavy weight nature of security activities. This paper proposes a novel approach by which security activities can be integrated with agile activities by calculating the mean agility value of both activities i.e. agile as well as security keeping in mind the factors such as cost, time, recurrence, benefits affecting the agility of the activity. By using fuzzy value compatibility table (FVCT), extend of compatibility of embodiment of both the activities is done with fuzzy values. In this paper, the proposed noble approach for the embodiment the security activity in agile method by calculating the mean agility value (MAV) i.e. compatibility level for the security activities as well as agile activities with various agile characteristics and also the various other factors such as time, cost, benefits and recurrence that affect the embodiment are considered. Moreover, the use of Fuzzy Value Compatibility Table (FVCT) which uses fuzzy value that shows extend to which a security activity can be embodiment into agile activity. In the last this paper proposed an algorithm for the efficient embodiment of security activities with the agile methodology's agile activities.
Arguing the Value of Virtual Worlds: Patterns of Discursive Sensemaking of an Innovative Technology

With the rapid pace of technological development, individuals are frequently challenged to make sense of equivocal innovative technology while being given limited information. Virtual worlds are a prime example of such an equivocal innovative technology, and this affords researchers an opportunity to study sensemaking and the construction of perspectives about the organizational value of virtual worlds. This study reports on an analysis of the written assessments of 59 business professionals who spent an extended period of time in Second Life, a popular virtual world, and discursively made sense of the organizational value of virtual worlds. Through a Toulminian analysis of the claims, grounds, and warrants used in the texts they generated, we identify 12 common patterns of sensemaking and indicate that themes of confirmation, open-ended rhetoric, demographics, and control are evident in the different types of claims that were addressed. Further, we assert that the Toulminian approach we employ is a useful methodology for the study of sensemaking and one that is not bound to any particular theoretical perspective.
Implementation of an Audio Watermarking System Using CDMA Modulations

In this paper, we will present an audio watermarking system based on CDMA modulations. After having presented the watermarking structure and the configuration, we will develop the numerical implementation of our interface programmed under Matlab. Validation tests are conducted and affected in real time acquisition for the verification of the watermarking system performances and the robustness.
A PRSC selection scheme based on PN code for OFDM PAPR reduction

For PAPR (peak-to-average power ratio) reduction in OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) systems, we propose an effective PRSC (PAPR reduction sub-carrier) selection scheme using PN (pseudonoise) code. The conventional PRSC selection scheme using an ideal random sequence may achieve the optimal performance with the lowest PAPR; however, excessive overhead from the transmitter to the receiver is inevitable. The proposed scheme exploits a PN code based PRSC selection sequence which is generated by applying starting points determined by bit reversing and gradually-increasing offsets. Simulation results show that the proposed PRSC selection scheme achieves a performance which is quite good and is closely comparable to the case of the ideal random sequence, while requiring virtually no overhead.
Gene Duplication in the Diversification of Secondary Metabolism: Tandem 2-Oxoglutarate–Dependent Dioxygenases Control Glucosinolate Biosynthesis in Arabidopsis

Secondary metabolites are a diverse set of plant compounds believed to have numerous functions in plant–environment interactions. The large chemical diversity of secondary metabolites undoubtedly arises from an equally diverse set of enzymes responsible for their biosynthesis. However, little is known about the evolution of enzymes involved in secondary metabolism. We are studying the biosynthesis of glucosinolates, a large group of secondary metabolites, in Arabidopsis to investigate the evolution of enzymes involved in secondary metabolism. Arabidopsis contains natural variations in the presence of methylsulfinylalkyl, alkenyl, and hydroxyalkyl glucosinolates. In this article, we report the identification of genes encoding two 2-oxoglutarate–dependent dioxygenases that are responsible for this variation. These genes, AOP2 and AOP3, which map to the same position on chromosome IV, result from an apparent gene duplication and control the conversion of methylsulfinylalkyl glucosinolate to either the alkenyl or the hydroxyalkyl form. By heterologous expression in Escherichia and the correlation of gene expression patterns to the glucosinolate phenotype, we show that AOP2 catalyzes the conversion of methylsulfinylalkyl glucosinolates to alkenyl glucosinolates. Conversely, AOP3 directs the formation of hydroxyalkyl glucosinolates from methylsulfinylalkyl glucosinolates. No ecotype coexpressed both genes. Furthermore, the absence of functional AOP2 and AOP3 leads to the accumulation of the precursor methylsulfinylalkyl glucosinolates. A third member of this gene family, AOP1, is present in at least two forms and found in all ecotypes examined. However, its catalytic role is still uncertain.
A Comparison of Timed Asynchronous Systems and Asynchronous Systems with Failure Detectors

Failure detectors were introduced as a concept to provide processes with information about failures. We show in this paper that failure detectors can also provide information about time. In particular, we demonstrate that one can define a failure detector that provides a process with the same properties as a hardware clock. This allows us to demonstrate that all properties – except process recoveries – of the timed asynchronous system model can be provided with the help of . To prove this, we define a slightly restricted timed model (which is essentially the timed model without process recoveries). Given an algorithm designed for , we show that the set of runs in the timed model is the same as the set of runs of the algorithm using the failure detector in the failure detector model for partitionable systems [1].
A Double-Pulsar System: A Rare Laboratory for Relativistic Gravity and Plasma Physics

The clocklike properties of pulsars moving in the gravitational fields of their unseen neutron-star companions have allowed unique tests of general relativity and provided evidence for gravitational radiation. We report here the detection of the 2.8-second pulsar J0737–3039B as the companion to the 23-millisecond pulsar J0737–3039A in a highly relativistic double neutron star system, allowing unprecedented tests of fundamental gravitational physics. We observed a short eclipse of J0737–3039A by J0737–3039B and orbital modulation of the flux density and the pulse shape of J0737–3039B, probably because of the influence of J0737–3039A's energy flux on its magnetosphere. These effects will allow us to probe magneto-ionic properties of a pulsar magnetosphere.
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior Words as Behavior

87 The article that follows, " Antecedents and Consequences of Word, " is reprinted with permission from the European Journal of Behavior Analysis. It is one more piece of an on-going longer work. The article especially emphasizes the role of multiple causation in verbal behavior in the converging effects of verbal governance, verbal shaping, attention to verbal stimuli, and the replication of verbal behavior. It considers a variety of contingencies, and by way of introduction it may be appropriate to review them here in terms of antecedents , behavior and consequences. Table 1 classifies three-term contingencies by sorting them on the basis of the nonverbal or verbal status of antecedents and responses and the nonso-cial or social status of consequences. The top half of the table (I) shows cases we usually speak of as instances of contingency-governed behavior. When both antecedents and responses are nonverbal, the behavior can be maintained by either nonsocial consequences (A) or social consequences (B). When the behavior is verbal (C and D), it takes social contingencies to create classes of behavior that are occasioned by nonverbal antecedents (D), but once they have been established (as a higher-order classes) they may be maintained by nonsocial contingencies (C), as when a particular situation occasions a description of contingencies that alters someone's subsequent behavior. We speak of verbal governance whenever the antecedents are verbal (II), but the differential contingencies are most obvious when they maintain nonverbal behavior (E and F). Again, the higher-order classes are established by social contingencies, but once established such verbal governance can be maintained either by nonsocial consequences (E), as when someone reaches a destination by following instructions or makes a repair by following a service manual, or by social ones (F), as when someone complies with a request or follows an order. These relations have been distinguished by the respective terms tracking, for instruction following based on correspondences between verbal behavior and environmental events, and pliance, for instruction-following based on social contingencies (Zettle & Hayes, 1982). Verbal governance allows a broad range of possible contingencies when verbal antecedents set the occasion for verbal behavior (G and H), probably because verbal units can serve as any of the terms in a three-term contingency (for discussions of the symmetrical status of Table 1 A classification of verbal and nonverbal contingencies.
A Simple Procedure for Generating Confidence Intervals in Tourist Spending Profiles and Resulting Economic Impacts

This paper presents a simple bootstrap procedure to develop multivariate confidence intervals for tourist expenditure profiles and consequent estimates of economic impacts per thousand tourist vis- its. Mean expenditures from replicated visitor expenditure data in- cluded weights to correct for response bias. A covariance matrix for means of 50 expenditure items is estimated through 2,000 bootstrap replications for two separate visitation seasons. Confidence intervals assume multivariate normality of the expenditure means, and focus on endpoints defined by proportionate increases (and decreases) from the original sample data means. An empirical example is pro- vided from summer and winter visitors to the Florida Keys. Ninety- five percent confidence interval endpoints for spending means were found at 3.87 percent above/below the original sample's point esti- mate for winter visitors and at 6.001 percent for summer visitors.
In Search for the Neural Mechanisms of Individual Development: Behavior-Driven Differential Hebbian Learning

When Donald Hebb published his 1949 book ``The Organization of Behavior'' he opened a new way of thinking in theoretical neuroscience which, in retrospective, is very close to contemporary ideas in self-organization. His metaphor of ``wiring'' together what ``fires together'' matches very closely the common paradigm that global organization can derive from simple local rules. While ingenious at his time and inspiring the research over decades, the results still fall short of the expectations. For instance, unsupervised as they are, such neural mechanisms should be able to explain and realize the self-organized acquisition of sensorimotor competencies. This paper proposes a new synaptic law which replaces Hebb's original metaphor by that of ``chaining together'' what ``changes together''. Starting from differential Hebbian learning, the new rule grounds the behavior of the agent directly in the internal synaptic dynamics. Therefore, one may call this a behavior-driven synaptic plasticity. Neurorobotics is an ideal testing ground for this new, unsupervised learning rule. This paper focuses on the close coupling between body, control, and environment in challenging physical settings. The examples demonstrate how the new synaptic mechanism induces a self-determined ``search and converge'' strategy in behavior space, generating spontaneously a variety of sensorimotor competencies. The emerging behavior patterns are qualified by involving body and environment in an irreducible conjunction with the internal mechanism. The results may not only be of immediate interest for the further development of embodied intelligence. They also offer a new view on the role of self-learning processes in natural evolution and in the brain. Videos and further details may be found under \url{http://robot.informatik. uni-leipzig.de/research/supplementary/NeuroAutonomy/}.
Peripheral Galanin Receptor 2 as a Target for the Modulation of Pain

The neuropeptide galanin is widely expressed in the nervous system and has an important role in nociception. It has been shown that galanin can facilitate and inhibit nociception in a dose-dependent manner, principally through the central nervous system, with enhanced antinociceptive actions after nerve injury. However, following nerve injury, expression of galanin within the peripheral nervous system is dramatically increased up to 120-fold. Despite this striking increase in the peripheral nervous system, few studies have investigated the role that galanin plays in modulating nociception at the primary afferent nociceptor. Here, we summarise the recent work supporting the role of peripherally expressed galanin with particular reference to the dual actions of the galanin receptor 2 in neuropathic pain highlighting this as a potential target analgesic.
The landing problem of a VTOL Unmanned Aerial Vehicle on a moving platform using optical flow

This paper presents a nonlinear controller for hovering flight and landing control on a moving platform for a Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) by exploiting the measurement of the average optical flow. The VTOL vehicle is assumed to be equipped with a minimum sensor suite (a camera and an IMU), manoeuvring over a textured flat target plane. Two different tasks are considered in this paper: the first one concerns the stability of hovering flight and the second one concerns regulation of automatic vertical landing on a moving platform using the divergent optical flow as feedback information. Simulation and experimental results performed on a quad-rotor UAV demonstrate the performance of the proposed control strategy.
Bulge microlensing optical depth from EROS 2 observations

We present a measurement of the microlensing optical depth toward the Galactic bulge based on the analysis of 15 contiguous1 square degrees fields centered on (l=2.5 deg, b=-4.0 deg) and containing 1.42 million clump-giant stars (belonging to the extended clump area) monitored during almost three bulge seasons by EROS (Experience de Recherche d'Objets Sombres). We find a microlensing optical depth towards the bulge tau_bulge=0.94 +/- 0.29 10^-6 averaged over all fields, based on 16 microlensing events with clump giants as sources. This value is substantially below several other determinations by the MACHO and OGLE groups and is more in agreement with what is expected from axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric bulge models.
School of Business Administration A Panel-analytic View on Core Service Buying in Customer Relationships : An Example from the Airline Industry

In this paper, we examine the effects of a customer’s relationship duration, customer satisfaction and revealed past behavior on the purchase amount of core services and up-buying in the airline industry. We formulate research hypotheses and test them via a panel analytic regression model using longitudinal data from the frequent flyer program of a major European airline. We show that the proposed effects for the development of purchase amount over time and up-buying can basically be supported. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our model could be an adequate instrument for the airline’s managers to forecast their customers’ purchase amount and up-buying patterns in the future. We contribute to literature by shedding further light on the questions whether and why customer relationship managers can expect an increased relationship depth over time.
Secured IPsec Multicast Architecture Based on Quantum Key Distribution

Multicasting reveals to the delivery of a message or information from one source to multiple recipients simultaneously through a single transmission channel. Securing the transmitted multicast information can be achieved through IPsec multicast architecture. The process of IPsec involves the sender and destinations to agree on IPsec keys. These keys are used for protection transmitted information among communicated peers over IPsec network. IPsec depends on classical algorithm for key generation and distribution. These algorithms proved their conditional security which means intruder can break the algorithm and intercept the communication process. In this paper, a new IPsec multicast architecture is proposed. The proposed architecture is divided into five main processes. The most important process is key generation and distribution. The key generation and distribution through IPsec multicast network is achieved using quantum algorithms. Quantum keys proved their unconditional security according to their physical characteristics. Sender and receivers communicate through two channels which quantum and classical. Encryption and decryption processes depend on agreed quantum keys and classical cryptographic algorithms. IPsec depends on quantum key distribution for creating keys for IPsec security associations. The confidentiality and authentication of proposed architecture is analyzed