Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The mistaken axioms of wireless-network research

Most research on ad-hoc wireless networks makes simplifying assumptions about radio propagation. The “Flat Earth” model of the world is surprisingly popular: all radios have circular range, have perfect coverage in that range, and travel on a two-dimensional plane. CMU’s ns-2 radio models are better but still fail to represent many aspects of realistic radio networks, including hills, obstacles, link asymmetries, and unpredictable fading. We briefly argue that key “axioms” of these types of propagation models lead to simulation results that do not adequately reflect real behavior of ad-hoc networks, and hence to network protocols that may not work well (or at all) in reality. We then present a set of 802.11 measurements that clearly demonstrate that these “axioms” are contrary to fact. The broad chasm between simulation and reality calls into question many of results from prior papers, and we summarize with a series of recommendations for researchers considering analytic or simulation models of wireless networks.
Nonperturbative renormalization group approach for a scalar theory in higher derivative gravity

A renormalization group study of a scalar theory coupled to gravity through a general functional dependence on the Ricci scalar in the action is discussed. A set of nonperturbative flow equations governing the evolution of the new interaction terms generated in both local potential and wave function renormalization is derived. It is shown for a specific model that these new terms play an important role in determining the scaling behavior of the system above the mass of the inflaton field. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
Creating a Community Classroom: Strategies to Promote Inclusion and Reduce Bullying in Early Childhood

Research suggests that young children with disabilities often fall victim to bullying because of a lack of social competence and social skills necessary for consistent engagement with peers. This article focuses on a comprehensive approach to classroom management and offers important strategies for a multilevel positive behavioral support plan. The positive behavioral support plan is embedded in the daily curriculum and includes strategies that enhance cooperative learning and socialization experiences, increases academic readiness, and supports academic success.
Tasi lectures on D-branes

This is an introduction to the properties of D-branes, topological defects in string theory on which string endpoints can live. D-branes provide a simple description of various nonperturbative objects required by string duality, and give new insight into the quantum mechanics of black holes and the nature of spacetime at the shortest distances. The first two thirds of these lectures closely follow the earlier ITP lectures hep-th/9602052, written with S. Chaudhuri and C. Johnson. The final third includes more extensive applications to string duality.
Wiki-Based Collaborative Learning Activity Design: A Case Study

As a collaborative social tool in web2.0 ear, Wiki has a great potential in supporting learnerspsila collaborative learning. After analyzing the present Wiki research on learning activity, this paper focus on undertaking a case study of using Wiki in a collaborative learning activity, proposes activity design of the wiki activity, then provides some findings on the transformation of studentspsila performance and teacherpsilas role, finally proposes conclusion of this activity and discussion about difficulties faced in present research and aspects that need to be improved in similar further activities.
Research on Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Bayesian Estimation

Two-way mechanism can be able to achieve time synchronization in the wireless sensor network.TPSN (Timing-Sync Protocol for Sensor Networks) is a representative time synchronization algorithm for wireless sensor network. And this algorithm gets synchronization time through exchanging messages by the bi-directional way. Because of the delay in information transmission, its receive time is inaccurate, so the accuracy of synchronization time is affected to a certain extent. This paper will use Bayesian estimation methods to improve the receive time of TPSN synchronization mechanism, which based on "the receive time error subjects to gauss distribution with the mean of 0", to calculate the more accurate receive time, and finally obtains more precise synchronization time offset. The simulation results show that the use of Bayesian estimation method can significantly improve the precision of synchronization algorithm.
Clusters Ages Experiment: Hot Subdwarfs and Luminous White Dwarf Candidates in the Field of the Globular Cluster M4

We present UBV color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) for the globular cluster M4. The CMDs show a sequence of four luminous blue stars (V < 20, U-V < -0.6), which appear to be cluster hot subdwarfs. We present spectra for the three brightest ones. We also note the presence of a population of faint blue objects, likely to be hot, young white dwarfs belonging to the cluster. We have selected five objects above V = 22 mag, bright enough for follow-up ground-based spectroscopy, and present their coordinates and finding charts. We show a spectrum for variable V46, which suggests that it is a hot subdwarf, along with a new light curve obtained with the ISIS image subtraction package. The light curve is unstable, but only one period of variability is apparent. Two new variables have been discovered, both located on the cluster red giant branch. We also present a differential E(B-V) reddening map and a fiducial sequence for the main sequence, subgiant branch, and red giant branch on the V/B-V CMD for a selected region with uniform reddening. Based on a comparison with the M5 fiducial sequence, we obtain a reddening estimate of E(B-V) = 0.41 mag toward M4, consistent with previous determinations.
Systematic mistake analysis of digital computer programs

Effective program checkout is imperative to any complex computer program. One or more test eases are always run for a program before it is considered ready for application to the actual problem. Each test ease checks that portion of the program actually used in its computation. To() Often, however, mistakes show up as late as several months (or even years) after a program has been put into operation. This is an indication that portions of the program called upon only by rarely occurring input conditions have not been properly tested during the checkout stage. In order to rely with confidence upon any particular program, it is not sufficient to know that the program works most of the time or even that it has never made a mistake so far. The real question is whether it, can be counted upon to fulfill its functional specifications sueeessfully every single time. This means that, after a program has passed the eheekout stage, there should be no possibility that an unusual combination of input data or conditions ,nay bring to light an unexpected mistake in the program. Every portion of tile program must be utilized during checkout in order/ ,hat its correctness may be confirmed. The purpose of work reported here has been to develop a systematic way in which a programmer may test, all realistic combinations of input data, and hence all portions of a given program. Although at first this seems to be an arduous task, its handling is simplified by an orderly approach, and its reward is a greater assurance of the correctness and reliability of the program. The potential number of test cases is given by 2 n, where B is the number of branchpoints in the flowchart. The computer could be programed to generate all of these cases automatically. However, if the number of branchpoints is at all large,
Synthesis methods for field programmable gate arrays

Field programmable gate arrays (FPGA ’s) reduce the turnaround time of application-spec@c integrated circuits from weeks to minutes. However, the high complexity of their architectures makes manual mapping of designs time consuming and error prone thereby offsetting any turnaround advantage. Consequently, effective design automation tools are needed to reduce design time. Among the most important is logic synthesis. While standard synthesis techniques could be used for FPGA’s, the quality of the synthesized designs is often unacceptable. As a result, much recent work has been devoted to developing logic synthesis tools targeted to different FPGA architectures. The paper surveys this work. The three most popular types of FPGA architectures are considered, namely those using logic blocks based on lookuptables, multiplexers and wide AND/OR arrays. The emphasis is on tools which attempt to minimize the area of the combinational logic part of a design since little work has been done on optimizing performance or routability, or on synthesis of the sequential part of a design. The different tools surveyed are compared using a suite of benchmark designs.
N-dimensional gravitational collapse of Type I matter fields with non-zero radial pressure

We study the gravitational collapse of Type I matter field in $N$ dimensional spacetime with radial pressure $p_{r}$ as a function of $r $. We find that for a given smooth initial data set satisfying physical requirements, naked singularities exist for spacetime dimensions N=4 and 5 while for $N \geq 6$ Cosmic Censorship Conjecture withholds its ground. We, also, study the collapse with linear equation of state and find that, similar to dust collapse with appropriate choice of initial data naked singularities occur in all dimensions.
An energy-efficient configuration management for multi-hop wireless body area networks

In this paper, a heuristic adaptive routing algorithm for an energy-efficient configuration management has been suggested which can reduce energy consumption while guaranteeing QoS for the emergency data in wireless body area networks (WBANs). The priority and vicinity of the nodes are taken into account for the selection of reachable parent nodes, when the nodes are disconnected due to the mobile nature of human body. We derive a mathematical model and presented algorithm for maintaining balanced power consumption with guaranteed QoS. A simulation has been performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed heuristic algorithm.
Corticothalamic Spike Transfer via the L5B-POm Pathway in vivo

The cortex connects to the thalamus via extensive corticothalamic (CT) pathways, but their function in vivo is not well understood. We investigated “top-down” signaling from cortex to thalamus via the cortical layer 5B (L5B) to posterior medial nucleus (POm) pathway in the whisker system of the anesthetized mouse. While L5B CT inputs to POm are extremely strong in vitro, ongoing activity of L5 neurons in vivo might tonically depress these inputs and thereby block CT spike transfer. We find robust transfer of spikes from the cortex to the thalamus, mediated by few L5B-POm synapses. However, the gain of this pathway is not constant but instead is controlled by global cortical Up and Down states. We characterized in vivo CT spike transfer by analyzing unitary PSPs and found that a minority of PSPs drove POm spikes when CT gain peaked at the beginning of Up states. CT gain declined sharply during Up states due to frequency-dependent adaptation, resulting in periodic high gain–low gain oscillations. We estimate that POm neurons receive few (2–3) active L5B inputs. Thus, the L5B-POm pathway strongly amplifies the output of a few L5B neurons and locks thalamic POm sub-and suprathreshold activity to cortical L5B spiking.
Optimization of letter to sound rules construction

This article falls within the field of speech processing - speech synthesis. The content is focused on phonetic transcription of the text. The transcript rules as well as dictionary of phonetic transcriptions are important tools for the phonetic transcription. The article deals with the transcript rules called LTS (Letter-To-Sound). Automatically generated LTS rules are presented in form of binary decision trees as a solution especially suitable for flexible languages. This article introduces an idea how to improve and optimize the training process of LTS rules (data-driven approach). Optimization consists of two phases. The first phase lies in the training data preprocessing and in the training database preparation. The second phase aims to achieve an optimal size of LTS rules regarding the size of phonetic transcription dictionary. This paper introduces a method how to generate residual dictionary of exceptions. The size of generated LTS rules has a direct impact on the size of residual (delta) dictionary. The paper describes the comparison between individual iterations of LTS rules training process. Iterations differ from each other due to a different threshold parameter. Finally article presents the results achieved using this method to select the most optimal threshold parameter.
ORBS: language-independent program slicing

Current slicing techniques cannot handle systems written in multiple programming languages. Observation-Based Slicing (ORBS) is a language-independent slicing technique capable of slicing multi-language systems, including systems which contain (third party) binary components. A potential slice obtained through repeated statement deletion is validated by observing the behaviour of the program: if the slice and original program behave the same under the slicing criterion, the deletion is accepted. The resulting slice is similar to a dynamic slice. We evaluate five variants of ORBS on ten programs of different sizes and languages showing that it is less expensive than similar existing techniques. We also evaluate it on bash and four other systems to demonstrate feasible large-scale operation in which a parallelised ORBS needs up to 82% less time when using four threads. The results show that an ORBS slicer is simple to construct, effective at slicing, and able to handle systems written in multiple languages without specialist analysis tools.
Genetic Variation in Members of the Leukotriene Biosynthesis Pathway Confer an Increased Risk of Ischemic Stroke: A Replication Study in Two Independent Populations

Background and Purpose— The recent finding that genetic variants in 5-lipoxygenase activating protein and leukotriene A4 hydrolase may confer an increased risk of ischemic stroke has implicated the leukotriene family as potential mediators of cardiovascular disease. Using a case control replication methodology, all members of the leukotriene synthesis pathway and their receptors were examined for genetic variants, which may act as risk factors for all ischemic stroke and stroke subtypes. Methods— A case control methodology using a UK stroke cohort (872 cases, 933 controls) was adopted, with additional 5-lipoxygenase activating protein genotyping and replication of positive findings undertaken in an independent stroke population from Germany (601 cases, 736 controls). Results— Association was identified with variants in 5-lipoxygenase activating protein, leukotriene C4 synthase (leukotriene A4 hydrolase),and the leukotriene B4 receptor complex. Differing risks were identified for ischemic stroke subtypes. A variant in leukotriene C4 synthase was found to confer a 1.5-fold increase in risk of small vessel disease (RR, 1.515; 1.041 to 2.262; P=0.043) with replication in an independent cohort showing a similar risk (RR, 1.687; 1.065 to 2.675; P=0.026). A haplotype in the leukotriene B4 receptor complex was found to confer a 2.3-fold increase in risk of cardioembolic stroke (RR, 2.118; 1.194 to 3.760; P=0.01) and replication in a German cohort revealed a similar risk with a second distinct haplotype (RR, 2.060; 1.162 to 3.665; P=0.013). Conclusions— Genetic variation in leukotriene pathway members and their receptors confer an increased risk of ischemic stroke in 2 independent populations. These risks show different magnitudes depending on ischemic stroke subtype.
A Trust-Based Benchmark for DBMS Configurations

Database Management Systems (DBMS), the central component of many computers applications, are typically immersed in very complex environments. Protecting the DBMS from security attacks requires evaluating a long list of complex configuration characteristics that may impact, in a variety of ways, the applications and people that interact with the database system. Effectively, understanding the impact of different configuration alternatives in terms of security is one of the most difficult problems faced by database administrators nowadays (DBA). In this paper we propose a benchmark that allows DBAs to assess and compare database configurations. The benchmark provides a trust-based security metric, named minimum untrustworthiness, that expresses the minimum level of distrust the DBA should have in a given configuration regarding its ability to prevent attacks. The practical application of the benchmark in four real large database installations shows that it is quite easy to use and is, in fact, a powerful tool for DBAs to make informed security decisions, by taking into account the specifics needs of the environment being managed.
Unifying Internet Services Using Distributed Shared Objects

Developing wide area applications such as those for sharing data across the Internet is unnecessarily difficult. The main problem is the widespread use of a communication paradigm that is too low level. We will show how wide area application development can be made easier when using distributed shared objects instead of a communication-oriented model. An object in our model is physically distributed, with multiple copies of its state on different machines. All implementation aspects such as replication, distribution, and migration of state, are hidden from users through an object’s interface. In this paper, we concentrate on the application of distributed shared objects, by providing an outline of a middleware solution that permits integration of the Internet services for e-mail, News, file transfer, and Web documents. Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
Acoustic Modeling With Hierarchical Reservoirs

Accurate acoustic modeling is an essential requirement of a state-of-the-art continuous speech recognizer. The Acoustic Model (AM) describes the relation between the observed speech signal and the non-observable sequence of phonetic units uttered by the speaker. Nowadays, most recognizers use Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) in combination with Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) to model the acoustics, but neural-based architectures are on the rise again. In this work, the recently introduced Reservoir Computing (RC) paradigm is used for acoustic modeling. A reservoir is a fixed - and thus non-trained - Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) that is combined with a trained linear model. This approach combines the ability of an RNN to model the recent past of the input sequence with a simple and reliable training procedure. It is shown here that simple reservoir-based AMs achieve reasonable phone recognition and that deep hierarchical and bi-directional reservoir architectures lead to a very competitive Phone Error Rate (PER) of 23.1% on the well-known TIMIT task.
Prolonged shedding of the canine influenza H3N2 virus in nasal swabs of experimentally immunocompromised dogs

Purpose The avian origin canine influenza virus H3N2 has been recently isolated and found to be currently in dog population in South Korea and China. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between immunosuppressive glucocorticoids used in veterinary clinical practice and viral shedding pattern of influenza in dogs. Materials and Methods Eight conventional beagle dogs were divided into control infection group and immunocompromised group. Dogs of both groups were infected with H3N2 canine influenza virus (2×106.0 EID50/0.1 mL). Dogs in immunocompromised group were given orally 3.0 mg/kg prednisolone for 7 days. Virus shedding was monitored using real-time polymerase chain reaction. After necropsy, histopathologic lesions were compared. Results We found that immunocompromised dogs exhibited more prolonged (8 days vs. 13 days) and higher magnitude viral shedding than control group (peak titer of viral shedding 4.6 vs. 5.5 EID50). Conclusion Restricted use of immunosuppressive drugs in the clinical setting might help control the rapid spread of H3N2 through local dog populations.
Privacy-utility trade-off under continual observation

In the online setting, a user continuously releases a time-series that is correlated with his private data, to a service provider to derive some utility. Due to correlations, the continual observation of the time-series puts the user at risk of inference attacks against his private data. To protect the user's privacy, the time-series is randomized prior to its release according to a probabilistic privacy mapping. This mapping should be designed in a way that balances privacy and utility requirements over time. First, we formalize the framework for the design of utility-aware privacy mappings for time-series, under both online and batch models. We introduce two threat models, for which we respectively show that under the log-loss cost function, the information leakage can be modeled by the mutual or directed information between the randomized time-series and the private data. Second, we prove that the design of the privacy mapping can be cast as a convex optimization. We provide a sequential online scheme that allows to design privacy mappings at scale, that accounts for privacy risk from the history of released data and future releases to come. Third, we prove the equivalence of the optimal mappings under the batch and the online models, in the case of a Hidden Markov Model. Evaluations on real-world time-series data show that smart-meter data can be randomized to prevent disaggregation of per-device energy consumption, while maintaining the utility of the randomized series.
Toward a Knowledge Creation Perspective on Design Science Research

At present, the Information Systems (IS) community is debating the relevance of its research results. Design ScienceResearch (DSR) is considered a promising approach to advance the scientific body of knowledge while, at the same time,resulting in research results of high practical utility. As a consequence, a number of guidelines and recommendations havebeen proposed to support the researcher in conducting DSR. Interestingly, though, almost no contribution can be found so farwhich investigates the transfer of knowledge between researchers and practitioners in DSR. Without efficient and effectivetransfer of knowledge between those two communities, DSR projects will not be able to achieve their goals. Motivated bythis research gap the paper at hand takes a knowledge creation perspective on DSR. It proposes an integrated modelconsisting of five different knowledge transfer activities between researchers and practitioners and vice-versa. The model isdiscussed on the basis of three recent DSR cases. The paper shows the general applicability of knowledge creation theory toDSR and lays the foundation for future research, in particular for further evaluation and elaboration of the model