Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Least-squares meshes

In this paper we introduce least-squares meshes: meshes with a prescribed connectivity that approximate a set of control points in a least-squares sense. The given mesh consists of a planar graph with arbitrary connectivity and a sparse set of control points with geometry. The geometry of the mesh is reconstructed by solving a sparse linear system. The linear system not only defines a surface that approximates the given control points, but it also distributes the vertices over the surface in a fair way. That is, each vertex lies as close as possible to the center of gravity of its immediate neighbors. The least-squares meshes (LS-meshes) are a visually smooth and fair approximation of the given control points. We show that the connectivity of the mesh contains geometric information that affects the shape of the reconstructed surface. Finally, we discuss the applicability of LS-meshes to approximation of given surfaces, smooth completion and mesh editing.
Localized reactive badger culling increases risk of bovine tuberculosis in nearby cattle herds

Human and livestock diseases can be difficult to control where infection persists in wildlife populations. Control of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in British cattle is complicated by the maintenance of Mycobacterium bovis (the causative agent of bTB) in badgers, acting as reservoirs of infection. Although over 20 000 badgers were culled to control bTB between 1975 and 1997, the incidence of bTB in cattle has substantially increased in parts of Great Britain in recent decades. Our case-control study, involving 1208 cattle herds, provides further evidence of the detrimental effect of localized reactive badger culling in response to the disclosure of a confirmed bTB herd breakdown in cattle. The presence of any reactive badger culling activity and increased numbers of badgers culled in the vicinity of a herd were associated with significantly increased bTB risk, even after adjusting for other important local risk factors. Such findings may partly explain why some earlier localized approaches to bTB control were ineffective.
Verifiable symmetric polynomial-based key distribution schemes

Symmetric polynomial-based key distribution scheme has been widely adopted in various communication applications. This type of key distribution consists of a server and a set of users, where the server is responsible to distribute shares for each user via a symmetric polynomial. Based on the property of symmetry of this polynomial, each pair of users can compute a common secret key using their shares for establishing a secure communication channel. However, some users may receive faulty shares from the server because of some uncertain factors in the communication environment, such as software failures and transmission errors. As a result, the users who receive faulty shares cannot share common secret keys with other users. To solve this problem, in this paper, we propose two individual verifiable key distribution schemes on the basis of a symmetric polynomial based key distribution. In both our proposed schemes, the server adopts the same approach to distribute shares for users; the users are able to verify the validity of their shares without revealing them before establishing communication channels. If all shares areverified valid, users can ensure that each pair of them possesses a common secret key, they can establishsecurecommunicationchannelswhenneeded;otherwise,allusers cancollaborate toidentifythose userswho possess faulty shares and require the server to distribute a set of valid shares for those users. Furthermore, both our proposed schemes are efficient, because the procedures of verification and identification do not involve any complicated cryptographic operation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Formal ontology, conceptual analysis and knowledge representation

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to defend the systematic introduction of formal ontological principles in the current practice of knowledge engineering, to explore the various relationships between ontology and knowledge representation, and to present the recent trends in this promising research area. According to the "modelling view" of knowledge acquisition proposed by Clancey, the modelling activity must establish a correspondence between a knowledge base and two separate subsystems: the agent's behaviour (i.e. the problem-solving expertise ) and its own environment (the problem domain ). Current knowledge modelling methodologies tend to focus on the former sub-system only, viewing domain knowledge as strongly dependent on the particular task at hand: in fact, AI researchers seem to have been much more interested in the nature of reasoning rather than in the nature of the real world. Recently, however, the potential value of task-independent knowledge bases (or "ontologies") suitable to large scale integration has been underlined in many ways. In this paper, we compare the dichotomy between reasoning and representation to the philosophical distinction between epistemology and ontology. We introduce the notion of the ontological level, intermediate between the epistemological and the conceptual levels discussed by Brachman, as a way to characterize a knowledge representation formalism taking into account the intended meaning of its primitives. We then discuss some formal ontologic distinctions which may play an important role for such purpose.
A cost-based approach to vertical handovers ’ management

To implement seamless mobility inside an integrated, multiple (e.g. GPRS/WiFi) access system, a vertical handover policy has to be devised. This is usually done at the mobile terminal, allowing it to be customized from an end-user’s perspective, in order to fit individual needs/preferences. We propose a new approach in taking vertical handover decisions, which are not anymore exclusively based on the knowledge of the available access networks’ characteristics but also on higher level parameters which fall in the transport and application layers. To this extent, in this paper a model has been realized and simulations have been run in order to evaluate the impact of the vertical handover and its frequency on a set of typical user’s network applications/services. We also take into account the user preferences in terms of cost and quality of service. We believe this approach reflects the optimal settings from the user’s point of view with regard to his running services and applications. Our aim is to understand how to define a metric to be used in order to devise a solution which should try to balance the overall cost of vertical handovers with the actual benefits they bring to actual user’s networking needs. This way, each mobile user could autonomously apply the handover decision policy which is more convenient to his
A 2.4GHz ULP OOK single-chip transceiver for healthcare applications

Wireless body-area networks (WBAN) are used for communication among sensor nodes operating on, in or around the human body, e.g. for healthcare purposes. In view of energy autonomy, the total energy consumption of the sensor nodes should be minimized. Because of their low complexity, a combination of the super-regenerative (SR) principle [1–3] and OOK modulation enables ultra-low power (ULP) consumption. This work presents a 2.4GHz ULP OOK singlechip transceiver for WBAN applications. A block diagram of the implemented transceiver is shown in Fig. 26.3. 1. Next to the direct modulation TX [4] and SR RF [5] front-ends, this work integrates analog and digital baseband, PLL functionality and additional programmability for flexible data rates, and achieves ultra-low power consumption for the overall system.
Security evaluation on Simeck against zero-correlation linear cryptanalysis

Since proposed by the National Security Agency in June 2013, two lightweight block ciphers-SIMON and SPECK have attracted the attention of cryptographers from all over the world. At CHES 2015, Simeck, a new block cipher inspired from both SIMON and SPECK is proposed, which is more compact and efficient. However, the security evaluation on Simeck against zero-correlation linear cryptanalysis seems missing from the specification. The main focus of this study is to fill this gap and evaluate the security level of Simeck against zero-correlation linear cryptanalysis. According to the authors' study, 11-, 13- and 15-round zero-correlation linear distinguishers on Simeck32/48/64 are proposed, respectively, then zero-correlation linear cryptanalysis on 21-, 24-, 28-round Simeck32/48/64 are first proposed. As far as they know, for Simeck32, their result is the best result up to date.
Aortic morphometry and microcephaly in hypoplastic left heart syndrome

Microcephaly is a marker of abnormal fetal cerebral development, and a known risk factor for cognitive dysfunction. Patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome have been found to have an increased incidence of abnormal neurodevelopmental outcomes. We hypothesized that reduced cerebral blood flow from the diminutive ascending aorta and transverse aortic arch in the setting of hypoplastic left heart syndrome may influence fetal growth of the brain. The purpose of our study, therefore, was to define the prevalence of microcephaly in full-term infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and to investigate potential cardiac risk factors for microcephaly. We carried out a retrospective review of full-term neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Eligible patients had documented indexes of birth weight, and measurements of length, and head circumference, as well as adequate echocardiographic images for measurement of the diameters of the ascending aorta and transverse aortic arch. We used logistic regression for analysis of the data. A total of 129 neonates met the criterions for inclusion, with 15 (12%) proving to have microcephaly. The sizes of their heads were disproportionately smaller than their weights (p less than 0.001) and lengths (p less than 0.001) at birth. Microcephaly was associated with lower birth weight (p less than 0.001), lower birth length (p equal to 0.007), and a smaller diameter of the ascending aorta (p equal to 0.034), but not a smaller transverse aortic arch (p equal to 0.619), or aortic atresia (p equal to 0.969). We conclude that microcephaly was common in this cohort of neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, with the size of the head being disproportionately smaller than weight and length at birth. Microcephaly was associated with a small ascending aorta, but not a small transverse aortic arch. Impairment of somatic growth may be an additional factor in the development of microcephaly in these neonates.
23Gbps 9.4pJ/bit 80/100GHz band CMOS transceiver with on-board antenna for short-range communication

Fully integrated 80GHz-band and 100GHz-band transceiver ICs using 65nm CMOS technology and on-board antennas for high-speed/short-range wireless communication system are demonstrated. To realize higher speed and lower power consumption than those of a 60GHz-band standard application such as IEEE802.11ad, a simple transceiver architecture with non-coherent amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation method using W-band (75-110GHz) is adopted. The aggregate 80/100GHz-band transceiver modules demonstrate 23Gbps over 10mm wirelessly with power consumption of 216mW. The developed transceiver modules achieve the highest speed of wireless communications above 60GHz-band and show a potential for future applications of 100Gbps high-speed short-range communications.
Visualizing Nonlinear Vector Field Topology

We present our results on the visualization of nonlinear vector field topology. The underlying mathematics is done in Clifford algebra, a system describing geometry by extending the usual vector space by a multiplication of vectors. We started with the observation that all known algorithms for vector field topology are based on piecewise linear or bilinear approximation, and that these methods destroy the local topology if nonlinear behavior is present. Our algorithm looks for such situations, chooses an appropriate polynomial approximation in these areas, and, finally, visualizes the topology. This overcomes the problem, and the algorithm is still very fast because we are using linear approximation outside these small but important areas. The paper contains a detailed description of the algorithm and a basic introduction to Clifford algebra.
X10-FT: transparent fault tolerance for APGAS language and runtime

The emergence of multicore machines has made exploiting parallelism a necessity to harness the abundant computing resources in both a single machine and clusters. This, however, may hinder programming productivities as threaded and distributed programming is hard to use correctly and concurrency/distributed bugs are hard to spot. Asynchronous partitioned global address space (APGAS) model is a programming model aiming at unifying programming for multicore and clusters at good productivity. Unfortunately, the current implementation of APGAS programming model lacks support for fault tolerance and a single transient failure may render hours to months of computation useless. In this paper, we make the first attempt to add fault tolerance support to APGAS programming models by integrating advances in fault-tolerant distributed systems to an APGAS language called X10. We thoroughly analyze the feasibility of providing fault tolerance for X10. Based on the analysis, we design and implement a fault-tolerance framework called X10-FT that leverages advances in distributed systems like distributed file systems and PAXOS, as well as specific solutions based on the characteristics of the APGAS model to make checkpoints and consensus, which allows transparently handling machine failures in different granularities. Using the features of the APGAS model, we extend the X10 compiler to automatically locate execution point to checkpoint program states without intervention from the user. We also provide a preliminary evaluation show the cost of providing fault-tolerance in X10-FT.
Signal Space Representation of Chipless RFID Tag Frequency Signatures

A novel approach to decode information in a chipless RFID tag using signal space representation (SSR) is presented. SSR represents 2^b possible tag signatures of a b-bit tag as linear combinations of a small set of $L$ orthonormal basis functions. Each signature encoding a binary bit sequence is represented by a point in an $L$-dimensional constellation. Prototype 3-bit chipless RFID tags are used to validate the detection technique. The proposed method gives a solid mathematical framework to develop detection and decoding methods for more complicated tag reading scenarios.
Enterprise Agile Transformation: The Two-Year Wall

As Agile is adopted by large enterprises, the number of transformation success stories has grown. But, transformation is an ongoing process, and maintaining organizational change is difficult. So, what happens after the success stories have been told? What can IT leaders expect once the Agile transformation honeymoon is over? This paper addresses these questions head-on, sharing Borland’s transformation experiences and the challenges that emerged after the initial phases gave way to a new stage in our journey.
Gravitational clustering: an overview

We discuss the differences and analogies of gravitational clustering in finite and infinite systems. The process of collective, or violent, relaxation leading to the formation of quasi‐stationary states is one of the distinguished features in the dynamics of self‐gravitating systems. This occurs, in different conditions, both in a finite than in an infinite system, the latter embedded in a static or in an expanding background. We then discuss, by considering some simple and paradigmatic examples, the problems related to the definition of a mean‐field approach to gravitational clustering, focusing on role of discrete fluctuations. The effect of these fluctuations is a basic issue to be clarified to establish the range of scales and times in which a collision‐less approximation may describe the evolution of a self‐gravitating system and for the theoretical modeling of the non‐linear phase.
Mapping the Field of “AR”: Adventure Racing and Bourdieu’s Concept of Field

Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of field, this paper explores the particular stakes and struggles that animate both the relationships among adventure racing (AR) participants and the competition among race organizers in order to highlight the social dynamic and power structure of this new “lifestyle” sport. Our investigation relies on a diversity of qualitative data, namely semi-structured interviews with 37 AR participants. Adventure Racing Association Listserve discussion, and participant observation of Eco-Challenge Argentina 1999. Our analysis demonstrates that what is at stake in the AR field is both the definition of the sport practice’s legitimate form as well as its orientation with respect to two dominant delineating forces: “authenticity” and “spectacularization” of the adventure. These two forces currently constitute the specific forms of capital (sources of prestige) that define the AR field.
Visual Lifting Approach for Bipedal Walking with Slippage

Biped locomotion generated by control methods based on Zero-Moment Point (ZMP) has been achieved and its efficacy for stable walking, where ZMP-based walking does not include the falling state, has been verified extensively. The walking control that does not depend on ZMP – we call it dynamical walking – can be used in walking that utilizes kicks by toes, which looks natural but is vulnerable to turnover. Therefore, keeping the walking of dynamical motion stable is indispensable to the realization of human-like natural walking – the authors perceive the human walking, which includes toe off states, as natural walking. Our research group has developed a walking model, which includes slipping, impact, surface-contacting and line-contacting of foot. This model was derived from the Newton-Euler (NE) method. The “Visual Lifting Approach” (VLA) strategy inspired from human walking motion utilizing visual perception, was used in order to enhance robust walking and prevent the robot from falling, without utilizing ZMP. The VLA consists of walking gate generation visual lifting feedback and feedforward. In this study, simulation results confirmed that bipedal walking dynamics, which include a slipping state between foot and floor, converge to a stable walking limit cycle.
Effects of load on good morning kinematics and EMG activity

Many strength and conditioning coaches utilize the good morning (GM) to strengthen the hamstrings and spinal erectors. However, little research exists on its electromyography (EMG) activity and kinematics, and how these variables change as a function of load. The purpose of this investigation was to examine how estimated hamstring length, integrated EMG (IEMG) activity of the hamstrings and spinal erectors, and kinematics of the lumbar spine, hip, knee, and ankle are affected by changes in load. Fifteen trained male participants (age = 24.6 ± 5.3 years; body mass = 84.7 ± 11.3 kg; height = 180.9 ± 6.8 cm) were recruited for this study. Participants performed five sets of the GM, utilizing 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90% of one-repetition maximum (1RM) in a randomized fashion. IEMG activity of hamstrings and spinal erectors tended to increase with load. Knee flexion increased with load on all trials. Estimated hamstring length decreased with load. However, lumbar flexion, hip flexion, and plantar flexion experienced no remarkable changes between trials. These data provide insight as to how changing the load of the GM affects EMG activity, kinematic variables, and estimated hamstring length. Implications for hamstring injury prevention are discussed. More research is needed for further insight as to how load affects EMG activity and kinematics of other exercises.
Multiple Transport Pathways for Mediating Intracellular pH Homeostasis: The Contribution of H+/ion Exchangers

Intracellular pH homeostasis is an essential process in all plant cells. The transport of H+ into intracellular compartments is critical for providing pH regulation. The maintenance of correct luminal pH in the vacuole and in compartments of the secretory/endocytic pathway is important for a variety of cellular functions including protein modification, sorting, and trafficking. It is becoming increasingly evident that coordination between primary H+ pumps, most notably the V-ATPase, and secondary ion/H+ exchangers allows this endomembrane pH maintenance to occur. This article describes some of the recent insights from the studies of plant cation/H+ exchangers and anion/H+ exchangers that demonstrate the fundamental roles of these transporters in pH homeostasis within intracellular compartments.
Directional leads for deep brain stimulation: Opportunities and challenges

Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland APHP, INSERM, ICM, Centre d’Investigation Clinique CIC 1422, D epartement de Neurologie, Hôpital Piti e-Salpêtrière, Paris, France Clinique de Neurochirurgie, CHU de Grenoble, Grenoble, France Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital W€ urzburg, W€ urzburg, Germany Department of Neurosurgery, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland Department of Neurology, University Hospital W€ urzburg, W€ urzburg, Germany Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg, Marburg, Germany Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany Department of Neurosurgery, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The CREC Reconfigurable Computer

The world of Reconfigurable Computing has known a significant development in the past years. The main research done in this field was oriented towards applications involving low granularity operations and high intrinsic parallelism. CREC is an original, low-cost General-Purpose Reconfigurable Computer whose architecture is generated through Hardware/Software CoDesign. The main idea of the CREC computer is to generate the best-suited hardware architecture for each software application. The Parallel Compiler parses the source code and generates the hardware architecture, based on multiple Execution Units. The hardware architecture is described in VHDL code that is generated by a program, written in ANSI C. Finally, CREC is implemented in an FPGA device. Its great flexibility makes the CREC system interesting for a wide class of applications that mainly involve high intrinsic parallelism, but also other kinds of computations.