Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Micro-architectural support for metadata coherence in multi-core dynamic information flow tracking

Dynamic information flow tracking (DIFT) has shown to be an effective security measure for detecting both memory corruption attacks and semantic attacks at run-time on a wild range of systems from embedded systems and mobile devices to cloud computing. When applying DIFT to multi-thread applications running on multi-core architectures, the data processing and metadata processing are normally decoupled, i.e., being performed in different places at different times. Therefore, if the metadata access is not in the same order as data access, inconsistency issues may arise, which would reduce the security effectiveness of DIFT. Avoiding such inconsistency between data access and metadata access, i.e., maintaining metadata coherence, has become a challenging issue. In this paper, we propose METACE (METAdata Coherence Enforcement). METACE includes architectural enhancement in the memory management unit and leverages the existing cache coherence hardware and protocol to enforce metadata coherence. It introduces minimum changes to cores, coprocessors, and the memory hierarchy. It covers the complete set of data dependencies without deadlocks and is compatible with different memory consistency models. Our approach does not require modification of the source code. METACE supports out-of-order metadata access resulting in less performance degradation than previous approaches.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THERMAL ENVIRONMENTS IN NEW YORK CITY AND KUWAIT CITY

Satellite-derived thermal information over urban areas offers and attractive and inexpensive method which have been utilized in diverse studies including land cover classification, energy flux interactions, and as input for models of urban surface atmosphere exchange. In this study, we utilize Landsat ETM+ imagery to analyze the dependence of energy fluxes on the urban surface properties in York City and Kuwait City, located in temperate and arid environments, respectively. Thermal imagery is used in conjunction with multispectral imagery to interpret the distribution of surface temperatures in the context of vegetation endmember abundances estimated by spectral mixture analysis. In general, the surface temperatures observed for the surrounding desert areas in Kuwait City are higher than the built-up areas. However, in New York City the suburban areas with more vegetation have relatively lower temperatures than the residential and commercial areas. Even though Kuwait City has lower vegetation fractions, the cooling effect is apparent and is clearly defined in the residential areas. Scatterplots of surface temperature and vegetation fractions define the physical limits imposed by the vegetation cover, soil water content, and different combinations of surface materials in each city. More land cover categories are identified in the New York City than the Kuwait City imagery primarily due to the morphology and location of the two cities.
An Adaptive Transmit Antenna Selection and Power Allocation Scheme for V-BLAST System under Imperfect Channel State Information

We propose an adaptive transmit antennas selection and transmit power allocation scheme for Vertical-Bell Laboratories Layered Space–Time system in the presence of channel state information imperfection. At the transmitter, based on imperfect channel state information, the proposed scheme is used to select a subset of transmit antennas and allocate proper power for the selected antennas subjected to the total transmit power constraint. At the receiver the modified minimum mean square error detector which takes into account the error of channel estimation is used to remove the co-antenna interference in order to improve bit error rate performance further. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can improve bit error rate performance significantly.
Exposing copy-move image tampering using forensic method based on SURF

Digital images are displayed and perceived through a wide variety of media channels: newspapers, magazines, TV, Internet etc. When they are used in a sensitive matter such as evidence in a court of law, one major problem arises: the authenticity of the images. Access to complex image-editing software applications gives way to image tampering that is visually imperceptible. A very common way of image tampering is the copy-move attack, where a portion of the image is copied and pasted onto another region in the same image. This copied portion can potentially be rotated and resized before pasting. In order to expose this type of tampering, a forensic method based on SURF is proposed. This method allows the discovery of copy-move attacks and the regions where it occurred, while maintaining rotation and scale robustness.
Finite-difference approximation of free-discontinuity problems

We approximate functionals depending on the gradient of u and on the behaviour of u near the discontinuity points by families of non-local functionals where the gradient is replaced by finite differences. We prove pointwise convergence, Γ-convergence and a compactness result, which implies, in particular, the convergence of minima and minimizers.
Study on ARM Processor based Embedded Intelligent Yield System Controller

In order to generalize yield detection system, an ARM processor s3c 2440 was used to develop an embedded intelligent yield controller. In this thesis, we extended the ports of s3c 2440 circuit board, and compiled the development of corresponding drivers. Developed the internet applications of the yield distribution detection system, which can run in the embedded controller, and accomplish the receiving and processing of GPS data, the calculating and analyzing of yield sensors and CAN bus node sensors. Yield map was protracted according to the disposed data, which supplied the decision making system of digital agriculture.
ICT as a Technological Tool for the Development of Language Skills in Second Language University Students

This work aimed to make a research and collect information related to the use of ICTs by teachers of language at the School of Literature and Language Sciences (ELCL) of the Universidad Nacional (Costa Rica) and how they incorporate technological tools into the curriculum of their classes. It also provides some ideas on methodological strategies that can be used in the classroom with the use of ICT. To achieve the main objectives of this work, a questionnaire was used to conduct the research from a descriptive point of view, field work, through a qualitative approach. The interpretive/qualitative paradigm, also called phenomenological, naturalist, humanist or ethnographic, was used since it focuses on understanding and interpreting people`s reality, meanings and intention in order to build knowledge. The study takes place in a real context and a questionnaire was applied to 21 ELCL language teachers. The findings revealed that language teachers incorporate technological tools in a few activities in their classrooms; they do not take advantage of their applicability in all class activities. Besides, they really need more training to know, learn, and incorporate these tools in their curriculum, so they will develop an effective teaching and an active learning. This directed researchers to provide a list of recommendations about teaching techniques that will help language teachers improve their skills and incorporate these tools into their teaching strategies.
Phenotypic switching of vascular smooth muscle cells in the ‘normal region’ of aorta from atherosclerosis patients is regulated by miR‐145

Switching of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from a contractile phenotype to an adverse proliferative phenotype is a hallmark of atherosclerosis or vascular restenosis. However, the genetic modulators responsible for this switch have not been fully elucidated in humans nor have they been correlated with clinical abnormalities. This study investigated genetic mechanisms involved in phenotypic switching of VSMCs at non‐defect areas of the aorta in patients with atherosclerosis. Aortic wall samples were obtained from patients with (N = 53) and without (N = 27) atherosclerosis undergoing cardiovascular surgery. Vascular smooth muscle cell cultures were generated, and expression of microRNA‐145 (miR‐145), its target gene Kruppel‐Like Factor 5 (KLF5) and Myocardin (MYOCD, a smooth muscle‐specific transcriptional coactivator) were analysed using RT‐qPCR, along with expression of relevant proteins. Vascular smooth muscle cells were transduced with miR‐145 inhibitor and mimic to determine the effect of miR‐145 expression on VSMC proliferation. miR‐145 expression decreased while KLF5 expression increased in atherosclerotic aortas. Atherosclerotic samples and VSMCs had decreased expression of contractile markers calponin and alpha smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA) and MYOCD. miR‐145 inhibitor‐transduced VSMCs from non‐atherosclerotic patients showed decreased expression of calponin and α‐SMA and increased proliferation compared with non‐transduced controls, and these levels were close to those of atherosclerotic patients. miR‐145 mimic‐transduced VSMCs from atherosclerotic patients showed increased expression of calponin and α‐SMA and decreased proliferation compared with non‐transduced controls, and these levels were close to those found in non‐atherosclerotic patients. These data demonstrate that miR‐145 modulates the phenotypic switch of VSMCs from a contractile to a proliferative state via KLF5 and MYOCD in atherosclerosis.
Immersion and invariance: a new tool for stabilization and adaptive control of nonlinear systems

A new method to design asymptotically stabilizing and adaptive control laws for nonlinear systems is presented. The method relies upon the notions of system immersion and manifold invariance and, in principle, does not require the knowledge of a (control) Lyapunov function. The construction of the stabilizing control laws resembles the procedure used in nonlinear regulator theory to derive the (invariant) output zeroing manifold and its friend. The method is well suited in situations where we know a stabilizing controller of a nominal reduced order model, which we would like to robustify with respect to higher order dynamics. This is achieved by designing a control law that asymptotically immerses the full system dynamics into the reduced order one. We also show that in adaptive control problems the method yields stabilizing schemes that counter the effect of the uncertain parameters adopting a robustness perspective. Our construction does not invoke certainty equivalence, nor requires a linear parameterization, furthermore, viewed from a Lyapunov perspective, it provides a procedure to add cross terms between the parameter estimates and the plant states. Finally, it is shown that the proposed approach is directly applicable to systems in feedback and feedforward form, yielding new stabilizing control laws. We illustrate the method with several academic and practical examples, including a mechanical system with flexibility modes, an electromechanical system with parasitic actuator dynamics and an adaptive nonlinearly parameterized visual servoing application.
Acoustic Side-Channel Attacks on Printers

We examine the problemof acoustic emanations of printers. We present a novel attack that recovers what a dot-matrix printer processing English text is printing based on a record of the sound it makes, if the microphone is close enough to the printer. In our experiments, the attack recovers up to 72 % of printed words, and up to 95 % if we assume contextual knowledge about the text, with a microphone at a distance of 10cmfrom the printer. After an upfront training phase, the attack is fully automated and uses a combination of machine learning, audio processing, and speech recognition techniques, including spectrum features, Hidden Markov Models and linear classification; moreover, it allows for feedback-based incremental learning. We evaluate the effectiveness of countermeasures, and we describe how we successfully mounted the attack in-field (with appropriate privacy protections) in a doctor's practice to recover the content of medical prescriptions.
Scalability and Robustness Analysis of IPv6 Mobility Protocols

Fast Mobile IPv6 (FMIP) and Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIP) are enhancements to the standard Mobile IPv6 (SMIP) protocol that have been proposed for reducing handover latency and for localized mobility management. In this paper, we present the results of scalability and robustness study that cover the three protocols as well as two hybrid protocols of FMIP and HMIP. We have simulated user mobility and data traffic for 100,000 mobile users across a largescale experimental network consisting of wireless WAN and hotspot wireless LANs. The simulation results indicate that HMIP incurs considerably less perhandover signaling overhead than FMIP on the wireless link, but HMIP data traffic has a fixed and permanent overhead for all packets to the mobile node even after handover. FMIP achieves the best handover performance exhibiting the lowest latency and data loss. The hybrid protocols achieve similar handover performance to that of FMIP and improve handover signaling overhead but cannot remove tunneling overhead. The hybrid protocols are also more robust to access router and home agent failures.
Prediction of university enrollment using computational intelligence

This work presents a study on prediction of university enrollment using three computational intelligence (CI) techniques. The enrollment forecasting has been considered as a form of time series prediction using CI techniques that include an artificial neural network (ANN), a neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and an aggregated fuzzy time series model. A novel form of ANN, namely, single multiplicative neuron (SMN), as an alternative to traditional multi-layer perceptron (MLP), has been used for time series prediction. A variation of population based heuristic optimization approach, namely, co-operative particle swarm optimization (COPSO), has been used to estimate the parameters for the SMN, the combination is termed here as COPSO-SMN. The second CI technique used for time series prediction is adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) which combines the advantages of ANN and fuzzy logic (FL). The third technique is based on an aggregated fuzzy time series model that utilizes both global trend of the past data and the local fuzzy fluctuations. The first two CI models have been developed for one-step-ahead prediction of time series using the data of the current time and three previous time steps. The models based on these three techniques have been trained using a previously published dataset. The models have been further trained and tested using enrollment data of Georgia Southern University for the period of 1924-2012. The training and test performances of all three CI techniques have been compared for the datasets.
Identification the Content of the Windbox Dust Related to the Formation of PCDD/Fs during the Iron Ore Sintering Process

ABSTRACTThis study measured the contents of the ionic and elemental constituents, and the chemical compounds containing in windbox (WB) dusts collected from a commercial iron ore sintering plant, then the results were used to identify possible PCDD/Fs formation pathways in the WB. We found that the abundance in both KCl and NaCl may provide a suitable condition for de novo synthesis of PCDD/Fs in the WB. Al, Fe, K, Ca, and Pb were the top five contents in WB16 dusts, but the co-existence of the above five metal contents warrants the need for further investigation on their roles in PCDD/F formation processes in the future. Although a low concentration of Cu was detected, it might be of importance to PCDD/Fs formation inside the WB. A total of 29 chemical compounds were identified. Among them, several oxygenated organic compound might be associated with PCDD/F formations at the beginning stage, but the roles of aromatic oxygenates on the formation of PCDD/Fs required further investigation. Finally, possible de novo synthesis pathways of PCDD/Fs were proposed based on the above findings. However, the above pathways are required further laboratory studies for validation before possible formation suppression approaches can be determined.
Training-Induced Modification of Auditory Sensory Processing in Schizophrenia : Evidence from Event-Related and Time-Frequency Analysis

i Zusammenfassung . iii Abbreviations . v Conducted Studies & Own Research Contributions . vii 1 Introduction.1 1.1 Neuroplasticity: Brain’s Sensitivity for Change. 6 1.2 Methods of Tracing Neuroplasticity in the Human Brain in vivo . 9 1.2.1 Basic Principles of Magnetoencephalography: time vs. frequency domain analyses . 9 1.2.2 Evidence of functional neuroplasticity from magnetoencephalographic brain signals. 11 1.3 Neuroplasticity-Based Treatment Approaches in Schizophrenia: The Evidence so far . 13 1.4 The Present Project . 15 2 Studies on Training-induced Modification of Auditory Sensory Processing in Schizophrenia . 16 2.1 Study 1: Specific Cognitive Training Normalizes Auditory Sensory Gating in Schizophrenia: A Randomized Trial. 16 2.1.1 Introduction. 16 2.1.2 Methods and Materials . 18 2.1.3 Results . 23 2.1.4 Discussion . 28 2.2 Study 2: Evoked and Induced Oscillatory Activity Contributes to Abnormal Auditory Sensory Gating in Schizophrenia. 32 2.2.1 Introduction. 32 2.2.2 Methods. 33 2.2.3 Results . 37 2.2. 4 Discussion . 43 2.3 Study 3: Training-induced Modification of Ongoing Oscillatory Activity During the Double-Click Paradigm in Schizophrenia . 47 2.3. 1 Introduction. 47 2.3. 2 Methods and Materials . 48 2.3. 3 Results . 51 2.3. 4 Discussion . 57 3 General Discussion . 59 4 Limitations and Future Directions . 67 5 References . 69 6 Figure Index . 81 7 Table Index . 85
Control of chaos in unidimensional maps

For the case ofone-dimensional iterated mapswe present a new method for controlling deterministic chaos by the stabilization of one ofthe underlying unstable periodic orbits. The method works by applying a series of regular proportional feedbacks in the variable and does not require that the particular dynamical law is known. The method is illustrated with an application to the logistic and exponential maps. The last 30 years have seen a growing interest in having typically embedded within it an infinite num-the study of low-dimensional non-linear dynamical ber ofunstable periodic orbits, the latter being dense systems. The study of systems whose interaction laws in the attractor [51.This method needs the knowl-are no longer linear offers a new integrated frame-edge of a Poincaré return map of the system and work for the study and interpretation of many nat-works by perturbing the system state in such a way ural phenomena. One ofthe best known effects is de-that it is led to the fixed point, and has been applied terministic chaos, characterized by the sensitive to control some experimental systems [6—8]. dependence of the dynamics on the initial conditions An interesting extension of the method has been and which has a pictorial expression in terms of the developed by Showalter et al. [9] for such dissipa-so-called butterfly effect [1]. In many practical sit-tive systems as can be represented well by a one-uations one is interested in enhancing the appear-dimensional return map. This simplified procedure ance of chaos in order to favour processes such as allows one to concentrate on the evolution ofa single mixing of fluids — through the onset of turbulence — parameter, and allows control by the application of or heat transfer (e.g. in the chemical industry [2]). a feedback proportional to the difference with the However, in many other places chaos may be un-reference value. There exist also some experimental desirable, as chaotic vibrations may produce irreg-implementations of this method [10—13]. ular operation and fatigue failure in mechanical sys-Another interesting technique, that presents the tems, temperature oscillations outside safe margins advantage of having a much easier implementation, in thermal systems, etc. Plapp and Hübler [3] have consists of the application of resonant periodic par-deviced a chaos control method that allows the con-ametric perturbations [14,151 (e.g. sinusoidal) that trol of chaotic systems by applying large perturba-effectively stabilize some unstable periodic orbit of tions to some system parameters. More interesting, the system. It is …
Scaling online games with adaptive interest management in the cloud

Traditional client-server online games do not scale well in terms of the number of players they can support. Most of this is due to the quadratic growth of bandwidth requirements as the number of players increases, and the limitations on processing power of any single machine. Considering the excitement a firstperson shooter (FPS) game can provide by bringing an epic scale online battle to real life, we present a scalable cloud-based architecture able to host hundreds of players in an online FPS game. We host the game in a cloud, rather than on a single machine, and reduce aggregate bandwidth requirements of the game by using a scalable publish-subscribe subsystem. Each player expresses its preferences about other players using an interest set, and receives updates accordingly. Our evaluations, both in a testbed and cloud environment, show our architecture can scale to hundreds of players, an order of magnitude more players than state-of-the-art FPS game servers can currently support.
Energetics of the acrobatic courtship in male golden-collared manakins (Manacus vitellinus)

In lek mating systems, females choose mates through indicators of quality, which males may exhibit by their performance of courtship displays. In temperate regions, displaying seasons are brief (one to two months), whereas in the tropics courtship seasons may be prolonged. Moreover, in temperate-breeding animals lekking behaviour can be energetically demanding, but little is known about the energy costs of lekking in tropical animals. Daily, over the course of a nearly seven-month-long breeding season, male golden-collared manakins (Manacus vitellinus) of Panamanian rainforests perform acrobatic courtship displays that markedly elevate heart rates, suggesting that they require high energy investment. Typically, animals of tropical lowland forests (such as manakins) exhibit a ‘slow pace of life’ metabolic strategy. We investigated whether male manakin courtship is indeed metabolically costly or whether the birds retain a low daily energy expenditure (DEE), as seen in other tropical species. To assess these questions, we calibrated manakin heart rate against metabolic rate, examined daily lek activity and, using telemetry, obtained heart rates of individual wild, lekking male manakins. Although metabolic rates peak during courtship displays, we found that males actually invest minimal time (only approx. 5 min d−1) performing displays. As a consequence, the DEE of approximately 39 kJ d−1 for male manakins is comparable to other lowland tropical species. The short, intense bursts of courtship by these birds make up only approximately 1.2% of their total DEE. Presumably, this cost is negligible, enabling them to perform daily at their arenas for months on end.
The relationship between Internet addiction and mental health in male and female university students

The purpose of this research was to study the relationship between internet addiction and mental health among male and female Payame-Noor university students. Fifty students (20male and 30 female) were selected randomly. Internet Addiction Scale (IAS) and General Health questionnaire were used to carry out the study. The results of the study showed that there is no internet addiction between students. Female more than males had signs of internet addiction. Females in comparison with males are more social neglect and have high expectation.