Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel method of automatic image annotation

Automatic image annotation can improve the performance of image retrieval. Some methods of annotation have been proposed in the past years. In this paper, we introduce a novel annotation method based on non-linear regression model in order to annotate image accurately. Both the visual and the textual modalities are efficiently represented by a continuous feature vector, and are named by the visual blob vector and the semantic description vector, respectively. The task of annotation is to fit a rigorous mapping construction between the visual blob vectors and the semantic description vectors using a method based on least squares estimation. The advantages of the proposed method are conceptually simple, computationally efficient, scalable for huge amount of images and no priori knowledge of images and keywords. With a highly accurate approximation function, the experimental results demonstrate the improvement of annotation performance.
Neural networks for fatigue cracking prediction using outputs from pavement mechanistic-empirical design

ABSTRACT Fatigue cracking (FC) on asphalt pavements is one of the most critical performance indicators in the AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). However, many recent studies have shown that the accuracy of the FC transfer function is unsatisfactory even after local calibration. This study approached this issue using the highly flexible neural networks through the deep learning framework called the Tensorflow. The data involved were extracted from the reports for the project NCHRP 01-37A, on which the calibration of the MEPDG transfer functions was based. The similarity between the FC transfer function and the neural network was discussed. A total of twelve neural network models divided into two groups were constructed. One group had only two nodes in the input layer and was used to represent the transfer function. The other contained an input layer of fourteen nodes that were used to introduce more relevant information for potentially higher predictive performance. The results indicated that, when properly designed, a neural network model could significantly outperform the FC transfer function. Comparing the FC transfer function with the network composed of an input layer of fourteen nodes and four hidden layers, the coefficient was increased from 0.008 to 0.613, while the mean absolute error dropped by 30%. Compared with the best model with an input layer of two nodes, the model with four hidden layers and fourteen nodes in the input layer increased the by 56% while decreased the mean absolute error (MAE) by 29%.
Two methodologies for physical penetration testing using social engineering

Penetration tests on IT systems are sometimes coupled with physical penetration tests and social engineering. In physical penetration tests where social engineering is allowed, the penetration tester directly interacts with the employees. These interactions are usually based on deception and if not done properly can upset the employees, violate their privacy or damage their trust toward the organization and might lead to law suits and loss of productivity. We propose two methodologies for performing a physical penetration test where the goal is to gain an asset using social engineering. These methodologies aim to reduce the impact of the penetration test on the employees. The methodologies have been validated by a set of penetration tests performed over a period of two years.
Online The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Factors for success in customer relationship management ( CRM ) systems

The importance of effective customer relationships as a key to customer value and hence shareholder value is widely emphasised. In order to enhance these relationships, the application of IT to marketing through customer relationship management (CRM) software, e-commerce and other initiatives is growing rapidly. This study examines the factors that influence the successful deployment of CRM applications, with particular emphasis on those factors which are distinct from other areas of application. Using the analytic induction method, success factors were derived from five in-depth case studies. Resulting factors underemphasised in previous literature include: the need for project approval procedures which allow for uncertainty; the need to leverage models of best practice; the importance of prototyping new processes, not just IT; and the need to manage for the delivery of the intended benefits, rather than just implementing the original specification.
Solicitation-based Forwarding for Sensor Networks

Delivering sufficient fidelity to sensor network applications is challenging because unpredictable wireless links, network dynamics, and the presence of transitional regions in sensor networks impact the delivery of packets (i.e., fidelity) to the sink. One of the major reasons for this problem is due to the non-responsive nature of forwarding mechanisms commonly implemented in experimental sensor networks. Existing routing protocols implemented in these networks typically base their forwarding decision-making on some form of statistical observations regarding past communications or the quality of past beacon signals received by communicating nodes. This approach fails, however, to capture the link conditions at the exact time of forwarding packets across the wireless link, limiting the aggregate forwarding capability of the network. In this paper, we argue that the forwarding decision of a sensor device should be based not on historical information but on the instantaneous link conditions at the exact time of packet communications, and propose, solicitation-based forwarding (SOFA), a highly-responsive hop-by-hop routing protocol that results in increased application fidelity. SOFA represents a cost-effective, on-demand scheme that makes use of simple solicitation-based handshakes between a sender and multiple potential receivers at each wireless hop to negotiate the best forwarding path to a target destination (i.e., sink) when events occur in the sensor field. We present the detailed design, implementation, and experimental evaluation of SOFA in a 36-node Mica2 testbed using TinyOS, and discuss its measured performance benefits in comparison to the TinyOS standard routing protocol widely used by the experimental sensor network community
Remote Over-saturation Amplification of Optical fiber Monitoring Pulses

Optical fibers constitute a staggering portion of the physical layer underlying modern communication networks. To extend the reach of such networks around the globe, long-haul links are necessary. In this context, establishing a connection between two remote locations is only possible due to signal booster stations interspersed along the way. Supervision of such long distance links is of the utmost importance for their reliable operation. For multiplexed networks, high-ratio optical splitters are necessary to distribute the optical signal to multiple users, diminishing severely the transmitted power for each network. In this work, an automated signal boosting remote station for monitoring signals is presented. A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is part of the remote station and grants its autonomous operation. Making use of a topology capable of reaching over-saturation amplification of semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA), a higher portion of the optical loss experienced in the splitter is precompensated in the remote node allowing for supervision reach-extension. Approximately 0.5 dB of increased dynamic range is experimentally achieved when comparing the proposed remote station with another one using the same optical amplifier. Even though the obtained extra gain is a minor improvement, the proposed topology paves the way for scalable amplification, allowing for longer reaches.
Databases for interval probabilities

We present a database framework for the efficient storage and manipulation of interval probability distributions and their associated information. Although work on interval probabilities and on probabilistic databases has appeared before, ours is the first to combine these into a coherent and mathematically sound framework including both standard relational queries and queries based on probability theory. In particular, our query algebra allows users not only to query existing interval probability distributions, but also to construct new ones by means of conditionalization and marginalization, as well as other more common database operations. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 19: 789–815, 2004.
PDE5 Inhibition With Sildenafil Improves Left Ventricular Diastolic Function, Cardiac Geometry, and Clinical Status in Patients With Stable Systolic Heart Failure: Results of a 1-Year, Prospective, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study

Background—In heart failure (HF), a defective nitric oxide signaling is involved in left ventricular (LV) diastolic abnormalities and remodeling. PDE5 inhibition, by blocking degradation of nitric oxide second-messenger cyclic guanosine monophosphate, might be beneficial. In a cohort of systolic HF patients, we tested the effects of PDE5 inhibition (sildenafil) on LV ejection fraction, diastolic function, cardiac geometry, and clinical status. Methods and Results—Forty-five HF patients (New York Heart Association class II-III) were randomly assigned to placebo or sildenafil (50 mg three times per day) for 1 year, with assessment (6 months and 1 year) of LV ejection fraction, diastolic function, geometry, cardiopulmonary exercise performance, and quality of life. In the sildenafil group only, at 6 months and 1 year, LV ejection fraction, early diastolic tissue Doppler velocities (E′) at the mitral lateral (from 4.62 to 5.20 and 5.19 m/s) and septal (from 4.71 to 5.23 and 5.24 m/s) annuli significantly increased, whereas the ratio of early transmitral (E) to E′ lateral decreased (from 13.1 to 9.8 to 9.4) (P<0.01). Changes were accompanied by a reverse remodeling of left atrial volume index (from 32.0 to 29.0 and 29.1 mL/m2; P<0.01) and LV mass index (from 148.0 to 130.0 and 128.0 g/m2; P<0.01). Furthermore, sildenafil improved exercise performance (peak VO2), ventilation efficiency (ventilation to CO2 production slope), and quality of life (P<0.01). Minor adverse effects were noted: flushing in 4 and headache in 2 treated patients. Conclusions—Findings confirm that in HF, sildenafil improves functional capacity and clinical status and provide the first human evidence that LV diastolic function and cardiac geometry are additional targets of benefits related to chronic PDE5 inhibition. Clinical Trial Registration—URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT00975494.
Early immune responses accompanying human asymptomatic Ebola infections

In a recent study we identified certain asymptomatic individuals infected by Ebola virus (EBOV) who mounted specific IgG and early and strong inflammatory responses. Here, we further characterized the primary immune response to EBOV during the course of asymptomatic infection in humans. Inflammatory responses occurred in temporal association with anti‐inflammatory phase composed by soluble antagonist IL‐1RA, circulating TNF receptors, IL‐10 and cortisol. At the end of the inflammatory process, mRNA expression of T‐cell cytokines (IL‐2 and IL‐4) and activation markers (CD28, CD40L and CTLA4) was up‐regulated, strongly suggesting T‐cell activation. This T‐cell activation was followed by EBOV‐specific IgG responses (mainly IgG3 ang IgG1), and by marked and sustained up‐regulation of IFNγ, FasL and perforin mRNA expression, suggesting activation of cytotoxic cells. The terminal down‐regulation of these latter markers coincided with the release of the apoptotic marker 41/7 NMP in blood and with the disappearance of viral RNA from PBMC, suggesting that infected cells are eliminated by cytotoxic mechanisms. Finally, RT‐PCR analysis of TCR‐Vβ repertoire usage showed that TCR‐Vβ12 mRNA was never expressed during the infection. Taken together, these findings improve our understanding about immune response during human asymptomatic Ebola infection, and throw new light on protection against Ebola virus.
Non-clairvoyant speed scaling for batched parallel jobs on multiprocessors

Energy consumption and heat dissipation have become key considerations for modern high performance computer systems. In this paper, we focus on non-clairvoyant speed scaling to minimize flow time plus energy for batched parallel jobs on multiprocessors. We consider a common scenario where the total power consumption cannot exceed a given budget and the power consumed on each processor is sα when running at speed s. Extending the EQUI processor allocation policy, we propose two algorithms: U-EQUI and N-EQUI, which use respectively a uniform-speed and a non-uniform speed scaling function for the allocated processors. Using competitive analysis, we show that U-EQUI is O(Pα-1)/α2)-competitive for flow time plus energy, and N-EQUI is O(α√lnP)-competitive for the same metric when given sufficient power, where P is the total number of processors. Our simulation results confirm that U-EQUI and N-EQUI achieve better performance than a straightforward fixed-speed EQUI strategy. Moreover, moderate power constraint does not significantly affect the performance of our algorithms.
Cochlear Implantation in Inner Ear Malformations — A Review Article

Abstract Inner ear malformations constitute about 20% of congenital sensorineural hearing loss. In this review article an updated classification of cochlear malformations is provided. Incomplete partition and cochlear hypoplasia cases are each divided further into three groups. There are two main difficulties in the surgery of inner ear malformations; gusher and facial nerve abnormalities. Radiological features of malformations necessary to identify these problems preoperatively are discussed. Facial nerve abnormalities that may occur are described. Two different types of cerebrospinal fluid leakage are defined and necessary measures to prevent leakage are described. Standard and modified surgical approaches to overcome the described problems are described with literature findings. Finally meningitis which may occur with and without cochlear implantation in this special group of patients is emphasized. This is common in incomplete partition type I patients and is usually due to a fistula in one of the windows (usually oval window) which occurs as a result of cerebrospinal fluid pressure. This is a medical emergency leading to potential meningitis and measures that should be taken to stop the leak as soon as possible are described.
On the Convergence of Asynchronous Parallel Iteration with Arbitrary Delays

Recent years have witnessed the surge of asynchronous parallel (async-parallel) iterative algorithms due to problems involving very large-scale data and a large number of decision variables. Because of asynchrony, the iterates are computed with outdated information, and the age of the outdated information, which we call delay , is the number of times it has been updated since its creation. Almost all recent works prove convergence under the assumption of a ﬁnite maximum delay and set their stepsize parameters accordingly. However, the maximum delay is practically unknown. This paper presents convergence analysis of an async-parallel method from a probabilistic viewpoint, and it allows for arbitrarily large delays. An explicit formula of stepsize that guarantees convergence is given depending on delays’ statistics. With p + 1 identical processors, we empirically measured that delays closely follow the Poisson distribution with parameter p , matching our theoretical model, and thus the stepsize can be set accordingly. Simulations on both convex and nonconvex optimization problems demonstrate the valid-ness of our analysis and also show that the existing maximum-delay induced stepsize is too conservative, often slowing down the convergence of the algorithm.
Fiber-Optic Sensing Interrogation System for Simultaneous Measurement of Temperature and Transversal Loading Based on a Single-Passband RF Filter

In this paper, a fiber-optic sensing interrogation system for simultaneous measurement of temperature and transversal loading based on a single-passband RF filter has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. This sensing interrogation system consists of a fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer (FMZI) as the sensing device and a dispersive medium. The FMZI also acts as the spectrum slicer to induce continuous sampling, which results in the single-passband frequency response together with the dispersive medium. Two arms of the FMZI are used to measure the temperature and transversal loading respectively. The temperature change on one arm introduces the variation of fiber refractive index, which will change the central frequency of the RF filter’s passband, while the transversal loading induces the change of polarization state of the light, and thus, the amplitude of the RF filter’s passband will be changed accordingly. By tracking the central frequency and amplitude changes of the passband, temperature, and transversal loading can be monitored simultaneously. With the proposed fiber-optic sensing interrogation system, the temperature and transversal loading variation-induced optical spectra changes can be converted to the variation of frequency and amplitude of the RF filter’s passband in electronic domain, which greatly facilitates the measurement.
Mapping the biosphere: exploring species to understand the origin, organization and sustainability of biodiversity

The time is ripe for a comprehensive mission to explore and document Earth's species. This calls for a campaign to educate and inspire the next generation of professional and citizen species explorers, investments in cyber-infrastructure and collections to meet the unique needs of the producers and consumers of taxonomic information, and the formation and coordination of a multi-institutional, international, transdisciplinary community of researchers, scholars and engineers with the shared objective of creating a comprehensive inventory of species and detailed map of the biosphere. We conclude that an ambitious goal to describe 10 million species in less than 50 years is attainable based on the strength of 250 years of progress, worldwide collections, existing experts, technological innovation and collaborative teamwork. Existing digitization projects are overcoming obstacles of the past, facilitating collaboration and mobilizing literature, data, images and specimens through cyber technologies. Charting the biosphere is enormously complex, yet necessary expertise can be found through partnerships with engineers, information scientists, sociologists, ecologists, climate scientists, conservation biologists, industrial project managers and taxon specialists, from agrostologists to zoophytologists. Benefits to society of the proposed mission would be profound, immediate and enduring, from detection of early responses of flora and fauna to climate change to opening access to evolutionary designs for solutions to countless practical problems. The impacts on the biodiversity, environmental and evolutionary sciences would be transformative, from ecosystem models calibrated in detail to comprehensive understanding of the origin and evolution of life over its 3.8 billion year history. The resultant cyber-enabled taxonomy, or cybertaxonomy, would open access to biodiversity data to developing nations, assure access to reliable data about species, and change how scientists and citizens alike access, use and think about biological diversity information.
Force and dynamic manipulability for cooperating robot systems

The theory of force and dynamic manipulability for general systems of multiple co-operating robot manipulators is developed. Manipulability analysis refers to the study of the performance of the system regarding to the mechanical transformation of inputs (forces and torques at actuated joints) into outputs (forces and torques exchanged with the environment or accelerations of a reference member), in relation to different configurations of the system and different directions in the input and output spaces. For this purpose, the concept of manipulability ellipsoids for single robot arms is generalized so as to encompass multi-limb co-operating systems with general kinematic structure.
clpB, a Novel Member of the Listeria monocytogenes CtsR Regulon, Is Involved in Virulence but Not in General Stress Tolerance

ABSTRACT Clp-HSP100 ATPases are a widespread family of ubiquitous proteins that occur in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes and play important roles in the folding of newly synthesized proteins and refolding of aggregated proteins. They have also been shown to participate in the virulence of several pathogens, including Listeria monocytogenes. Here, we describe a member of the Clp-HSP100 family of L. monocytogenes that harbors all the characteristics of the ClpB subclass, which is absent in the closely related gram-positive model organism, Bacillus subtilis. Transcriptional analysis of clpB revealed a heat shock-inducible σA-type promoter. Potential binding sites for the CtsR regulator of stress response were identified in the promoter region. In vivo and in vitro approaches were used to show that expression of clpB is repressed by CtsR, a finding indicating that clpB is a novel member of the L. monocytogenes CtsR regulon. We showed that ClpB is involved in the pathogenicity of L. monocytogenes since the ΔclpB mutant is significantly affected by virulence in a murine model of infection; we also demonstrate that this effect is apparently not due to a defect in general stress resistance. Indeed, ClpB is not involved in tolerance to heat, salt, detergent, puromycin, or cold stress, even though its synthesis is inducible by heat shock. However, ClpB was shown to play a role in induced thermotolerance, allowing increased resistance of L. monocytogenes to lethal temperatures. This work gives the first example of a clpB gene directly controlled by CtsR and describes the first role for a ClpB protein in induced thermotolerance and virulence in a gram-positive organism.
A distributed ladder transportation algorithm for two robots in a corridor

We consider the problem of transporting a long object, such as a ladder, through a 90 degree corner in a corridor using two omnidirectional robots that do not necessarily have identical characteristics. A distributed algorithm is presented in which each robot computes its own motion based on the current and goal positions of the ladder, the locations of the walls, and the motion of the other robot observed indirectly through the link between the robot and the ladder. We evaluate the performance and robustness of the algorithm using extensive computer simulation by changing several parameter values that affect the key characteristics of the robots, including the maximum speed, the guide path through a corner, and the sensitivity and reaction to the motion of the other robot. The simulation results indicate that if the parameter values are chosen within certain reasonable ranges, then overall the algorithm works quite well even for robots having difficult characteristics. It is also shown that the robustness of the algorithm critically depends on the differences between the robots in the values of two parameters.