Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Utility Maximization and Duality

In an arbitrage free incomplete market we consider the problem of maximizing terminal isoelastic utility. The relationship between the optimal portfolio, the optimal martingale measure in the dual problem and the optimal value function of the problem is described by an BSDE. For a totally unhedgeable price for instan- taneous risk, isoelastic utility of terminal wealth can be maximized using a portfolio consisting of the locally risk-free bond and a lo- cally efficient fund only. In a markovian market model we find a non-linear PDE for the logarithm of the value function. From the solution we can construct the optimal portfolio and the solution of the dual problem.
2008 MultiRelational k-Anonymity

k-Anonymity protects privacy by ensuring that data cannot be linked to a single individual. In a k-anonymous dataset, any ident~fying information occurs in at least k tuples. Much research has been done to modify a single table dataset to satisfy anonymity constraints. This paper extends the dejinitions of k-anonymity to multiple relations and shows that previously proposed methodologies either fail to protect privacy, or overly reduce the utility of the data, in a multiple relation setting. We also propose m o new clustering algorithms to achieve multirelational anonymity. Experiments show the effectiveness of the approach in terms of utility and efficiency.
A fingertips detection method based on the combination of centroid and Harris corner algorithm

Fingertip detection is an important research topic, which contributes to silent communication. To ensure consistent performance under unconstrained environments, we propose a robust and novel method to identify fingertips of hand palm. Briefly, two-dimensional Gaussian probability distribution in YCbCr color space is introduced for segmenting hand region from background. Then feature points are detected by Harris corner detection in the binary image. With the prior information of feature points, it takes a global optimization approach of centriod and convex hull analysis to locate fingertips. Experiment results have demonstrated that the proposed system performs well because it can well detect varies of hands under different environments.
Uncertainty Sampling and Optimization for Interactive Database Exploration

In the Big Data era we are faced with an increasing gap between the fast growth of data and the limited human ability to comprehend data. Consequently, there has been a growing demand of data management tools that can bridge this gap and help the user retrieve high-value content from data more effectively. In this work, we aim to build interactive data exploration as a new database service, using an approach called “explore-by-example”. To build an effective system, our work is grounded in a rigorous SVM-based active learning framework. In this framework, we introduce uncertainty sampling for database exploration, propose new sampling algorithms with formal results, and a series of optimizations to improve performance. Evaluation results using real-world SDSS data and query patterns show that our system significantly outperforms state-of-the-art systems in accuracy while achieving desired efficiency for interactive exploration.
Control your mind, make affordance available

Evaluating the affordance–control interpretation of the relationship between performance and object estimation has been proposed by psychophysical and psychonomic studies. This study examined the weight estimation–performance relationship. Individuals with visual impairment or blindness put shots that varied in weight among five scales. In Experiment 1, only the perceived weight was a significant performance constraint. In Experiment 2, the weight was perceived as heavier when the participants’ actions were manipulated through cognitive interpretation. The increase in perceived weight appeared to be related to performance and intrinsically scaled to the action, even when the action was only mental rather than physical. The study’s findings suggest that bodily experience and action are the basis for physical judgments and likely underlie other basic cognitive interpretations of sensory stimuli. This suggestion goes hand in hand with the biofunctional approaches which assume direct experience of the integrated wholeness of one’s body is fundamental for developing other kinds of awareness. Different perspectives from oriental philosophy and psychology are also discussed.
A Review on Speed Control Techniques of Single Phase Induction Motor

In this paper, various types of speed control methods for the single phase induction motor are described. This research paper explains speed control of single phase induction motor by means of frequency ,its implementation and test result also the power conversion section in the given speed drive is consisting IRF840 N-channel MOSFET as a switching element. These MOSFET (four in number) are used in H-bridge configuration to form inverter to supply a.c. current to the motor. The driver circuit for this H-bridge inverter is made up of C124 transistors and MJE 13002 transistors. H-bridge inverter is supplied with 300v power supply and for driver and frequency control circuit, 12V power supply is given. Here, IC SG3525A is used as pulse width modulation IC for frequency control purpose. So, constructed system the frequency range is 16 to 57 Hz at constant voltage for changing the speed of induction motor.
Throughput model for IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function in radio-over-fiber-based distributed antenna systems

In this paper, we present an analytical model to evaluate the throughput of IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function in radio-over-fiber-based distributed antenna systems where multiple remote antenna units are connected to one access point by different-length fiber links. In the model, the unequal delay induced by different fiber length is involved with the consideration of mutual HN problems. The derived model shows good agreement with simulation results.
Enhancing digital maps to support reasoning on traffic sign compliance

This article presents a new methodology of enriching digital maps in order to reason upon the traffic sign compliance, of traffic participants. The Open Street Map (OSM) data is augmented with a new layer for road orientation and road intersections in order to support not only map matching, but also reasoning processes on the compliance to traffic regulations provided by traffic signs. In order to increase the accuracy of the road map, traces collected with a high precision GPS receiver are used in a probabilistic model of traffic lanes. A distribution of points across the road relative to the existing OSM center-line is obtained by learning Gaussian Mixture Models. A method for extracting accurate position for static points is also proposed and applied for positions of traffic signs. The enhanced digital map is applied on the identification of car's percepts which support the rule based reasoning about traffic sign compliance.
Organic carbon partitioning during spring phytoplankton blooms in the Ross Sea polynya and the Sargasso Sea

In this study we evaluate the partitioning of organic carbon between the particulate and dissolved pools during spring phytoplankton blooms in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, and the Sargasso Sea. As part of a multidisciplinary project in the Ross Sea polynya we investigated the dynamics of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool and the role it played in the carbon cycle during the 1994 spring phytoplankton bloom. Phytoplankton biomass during the bloom was dominated by an Antarctic Phaeocystis sp. We determined primary productivity (PP; via H14CO3, incubations), particulate organic carbon (POC), bacterial productivity (BP; via [3H]thymidine incorporation), and DOC during two occupations of 76°30′S from 175°W to 168°E. Results from this bloom are compared to blooms observed in the Sargasso Sea in the vicinity of the Bermuda Atlantic Time‐Series Study station (BATS). We present data that demonstrate clear differences in the production, biolability, and accumulation of DOC between the two ocean regions. Despite four‐ to fivefold greater PP in the Ross Sea, almost an order of magnitude less DOC (mmol m−2) accumulated during the Ross Sea bloom compared to the Sargasso Sea blooms. In the Ross Sea 89% (˜1 mol C m−2) of the total organic carbon (TOC) that accumulated during the bloom was partitioned as POC, with the remaining 11% (˜0.1 mol C m−2) partitioned as DOC. In contrast, a mean of 86% (0.7.5–1.0 mol m−2) of TOC accumulated as DOC during the 1992, 1993, and 1995 blooms in the Sargasso Sea, with as little as 14% (0.08–0.29 mol C m−2) accumulating as POC. Although a relatively small portion of the fixed carbon was produced as DOC in the Ross Sea, the bacterial carbon demand indicated that a qualitatively more labile carbon was produced in the Ross Sea compared to the Sargasso Sea. There are fundamental differences in organic carbon partitioning between the two systems that may be controlled by plankton community structure and food‐web dynamics.
Secure Transmission in Cooperative Networks with Weak Eavesdroppers

In this letter, we propose a scheme to improve the secrecy rate of cooperative networks using Analog Network Coding (ANC). ANC mixes the signals in the air; the desired signal is then separated out, from the mixed signals, at the legitimate receiver using techniques like self interference subtraction and signal nulling, thereby achieving better secrecy rates. Assuming global channel state information, memoryless adversaries and the decode-and-forward strategy, we seek to maximize the average secrecy rate between the source and the destination, subject to an overall power budget. Then, exploiting the structure of the optimization problem, we compute its optimal solution. Finally, we use numerical evaluations to compare our scheme with the conventional approaches.
RegionalSliding: enhancing target selection on touchscreen-based mobile devices

Target selection on mobile devices with touchscreens usually gets users into trouble due to the occlusion of the target by the user's finger and ambiguity about which part of the finger generates the result point. In this paper, we propose a novel technique to enhance target selection on touchscreen-based mobile devices, named RegionalSliding, which selectively renders the initially "selected" target as well as its "surrounding" targets in a non-occluded area when users press down on the screen and enables users to complete the selection with sliding gestures according to the visual feedback from the rendered area. A preliminary user study shows that RegionalSliding increases the selection accuracy and brings good user experience.
Activation Ensembles for Deep Neural Networks

Many activation functions have been proposed in the past, but selecting an adequate one requires trial and error. We propose a new methodology of designing activation functions within a neural network at each layer. We call this technique an “activation ensemble” because it allows the use of multiple activation functions at each layer. This is done by introducing additional variables, $\alpha$, at each activation layer of a network to allow for multiple activation functions to be active at each neuron. By design, activations with larger $\alpha$ values at a neuron is equivalent to being “chosen” by the network. We implement the activation ensembles on a variety of datasets using an array of FFNs and CNNs. By using the activation ensemble, we achieve superior results compared to traditional techniques. In addition, because of the flexibility of this methodology, we more deeply explore activation functions and the features that they capture.
Information theory and noisy computation

We report on two types of results. The first is a study of the rate of decay of information carried by a signal which is being propagated over a noisy channel. The second is a series of lower bounds on the depth, size, and component reliability of noisy logic circuits which are required to compute some function reliably. The arguments used for the circuit results are information-theoretic, and in particular, the signal decay result is essential to the depth lower bound. Our first result can be viewed as a quantified version of the data processing lemma, for the case of Boolean random variables.
Replication and mutation on neutral networks

Folding of RNA sequences into secondary structures is viewed as a map that assigns a uniquely defined base pairing pattern to every sequence. The mapping is non-invertible since many sequences fold into the same minimum free energy (secondary) structure or shape. The pre-images of this map, called neutral networks, are uniquely associated with the shapes and vice versa. Random graph theory is used to construct networks in sequence space which are suitable models for neutral networks.The theory of molecular quasispecies has been applied to replication and mutation on single-peak fitness landscapes. This concept is extended by considering evolution on degenerate multi-peak landscapes which originate from neutral networks by assuming that one particular shape is fitter than all the others. On such a single-shape landscape the superior fitness value is assigned to all sequences belonging to the master shape. All other shapes are lumped together and their fitness values are averaged in a way that is reminiscent of mean field theory. Replication and mutation on neutral networks are modeled by phenomenological rate equations as well as by a stochastic birth-and-death model. In analogy to the error threshold in sequence space the phenotypic error threshold separates two scenarios: (i) a stationary (fittest) master shape surrounded by closely related shapes and (ii) populations drifting through shape space by a diffusion-like process. The error classes of the quasispecies model are replaced by distance classes between the master shape and the other structures.Analytical results are derived for single-shape landscapes, in particular, simple expressions are obtained for the mean fraction of master shapes in a population and for phenotypic error thresholds. The analytical results are complemented by data obtained from computer simulation of the underlying stochastic processes. The predictions of the phenomenological approach on the single-shape landscape are very well reproduced by replication and mutation kinetics of tRNAphe. Simulation of the stochastic process at a resolution of individual distance classes yields data which are in excellent agreement with the results derived from the birth-and-death model.
Partial Evaluation for Domain-Specific Embedded Languages in a Higher Order Typed Language

Partial evaluation is a mature area of research that has demonstrated the power of the technique and the wide range of potential applications. One might have expected that by now partial evaluation tools would have found a place in the programmer’s toolbox along side other commonly used tools like type checkers, parsers generators and program development environments. This is unfortunately not the case. This report looks at some of the reasons why there are few usable partial evaluation tools available for modern programming languages. We propose an alternative philosophy, which instead of aiming for full automation, emphasises programmer control, semi-automatic methods and process visibility. This report gives an introduction to partial evaluation and its application to domainspecific embedded languages. It describes an initial prototype partial evaluation tool for a first order subset of Haskell and some experiments with example programs. Finally, we describe the technical challenges involved in developing a practical tool that could be successfully applied to optimising domain-specific embedded languages and other active libraries.
A Comparison of Project Management Software Tools (PMST)

Using automated software tools is essential for successful planning and managing of projects. Many automated software tools have been developed in the industry. The literature on how to select the appropiate project management software tools is quite limited. This paper provides a comparison of a set of project management software tools (PMST). In this study, first, we developed criteria to determine which PMSTs would be subject to our analysis. Then, we developed criteria to compare and evaluate these PMSTs. Finally, we present our findings in a tabular format. Our findings will help project managers to assess the strengths and weaknesses of these tools. Keywords— Project Management, Project Management Software Tools, PMST
Discrimination between biological interfaces and crystal-packing contacts

A discrimination method between biologically relevant interfaces and artificial crystal-packing contacts in crystal structures was constructed. The method evaluates protein-protein interfaces in terms of complementarities for hydrophobicity, electrostatic potential and shape on the protein surfaces, and chooses the most probable biological interfaces among all possible contacts in the crystal. The method uses a discriminator named as “COMP”, which is a linear combination of the complementarities for the above three surface features and does not correlate with the contact area. The discrimination of homo-dimer interfaces from symmetry-related crystal-packing contacts based on the COMP value achieved the modest success rate. Subsequent detailed review of the discrimination results raised the success rate to about 88.8%. In addition, our discrimination method yielded some clues for understanding the interaction patterns in several examples in the PDB. Thus, the COMP discriminator can also be used as an indicator of the “biological-ness” of protein-protein interfaces.
Significant Feature Clustering

In this thesis, we present a new clustering algorithm we call Significance Feature Clustering, which is designed to cluster text documents. Its central premise is the mapping of raw frequency count vectors to discrete-valued significance vectors which contain values of -1, 0, or 1. These values represent whether a word is significantly negative, neutral, or significantly positive, respectively. Initially, standard tf-idf vectors are computed from raw frequency vectors, then these tf-idf vectors are transformed to significance vectors using a parameter α, where α controls the mapping -1, 0, or 1 for each vector entry. SFC clusters agglomeratively, with each document’s significance vector representing a cluster of size one containing just the document, and iteratively merges the two clusters that exhibit the most similar average using cosine similarity. We show that by using a good α value, the significance vectors produced by SFC provide an accurate indication of which words are significant to which documents, as well as the type of significance, and therefore correspondingly yield a good clustering in terms of a well-known definition of clustering quality. We further demonstrate that a user need not manually select an α as we develop a new definition of clustering quality that is highly correlated with text clustering quality. Our metric extends the family of metrics known as internal similarity, so that it can be applied to a tree of clusters rather than a set, but it also factors in an aspect of recall that was absent from previous internal similarity metrics. Using this new definition of internal similarity, which we call maximum tree internal similarity, we show that a close to optimal text clustering may be picked from any number of clusterings created by different α’s. The automatically selected clusterings have qualities that are close to that of a well-known and powerful hierarchical clustering algorithm.
An Insight into the Unresolved Questions at Stack Overflow

For a significant number of questions at Stack Overflow, none of the posted answers were accepted as solutions. Acceptance of an answer indicates that the answer actually solves the discussed problem in the question, and the question is answered sufficiently. In this paper, we investigate 3,956 such unresolved questions using an exploratory study where we analyze four important aspects of those questions, their answers and the corresponding users that partially explain the observed scenario. We then propose a prediction model by employing five metrics related to user behaviour, topics and popularity of question, which predicts if the best answer for a question at Stack Overflow might remain unaccepted or not. Experiments using 8,057 questions show that the model can predict unresolved questions with 78.70% precision and 76.10% recall.
An eye on input: research challenges in using the eye for computer input control

The human eye, with the assistance of an eye tracking apparatus, may serve as an input controller to a computer system. Much like point-select operations with a mouse, the eye can "look-select", and thereby activate items such as buttons, icons, links, or text. Applications for accessible computing are particularly enticing, since the manual ability of disabled users is often lacking or limited. Whether for the able-bodied or the disabled, computer control systems using the eye as an input "device" present numerous research challenges. These involve accommodating the innate characteristics of the eye, such as movement by saccades, jitter and drift in eye position, the absence of a simple and intuitive selection method, and the inability to determine a precise point of fixation through eye position alone.
A traffic engineering approach based on minimum-delay routing

Single-path routing provided by today's interior gateway protocols (IGP) make extremely inefficient usage of network bandwidth, and is evident in the large end-to-end delays flows experience in single-path routing as compared to minimum-delay routing. Enhancement to OSPF such as optimized multipath have not proved adequate to bridge this large delay gap. Practical implementations of minimum-delay routing, on the other hand, have been largely unsuccessful for reasons such as scalability, slow convergence and out-of-order packet delivery. This paper proposes a traffic engineering solution that adapts the minimum-delay routing for a given traffic matrix in a way that is practical and suitable to implement in the differentiated services framework. A simple and scalable packet forwarding technique is described that offers several improvements over OSPF-OMP.
Success in Knowledge Management: Against the Revolutionary Approach

KM (Knowledge Management) programs are introduced to organizations as a means of making the most of the information and expertise that exists within them. The creation of such programs, and new roles to implement them, can be justified by expected long-term savings made by the exploitation of internal assets and elimination of duplication. They are often initiated by senior executives recognizing a need for change because the organization is missing opportunities by not sharing information or learning from past lessons. This article argues that such programs are not the best way to bring about organizational change and better knowledge management. The author argues that for the core activities of a business to adopt a more open and systematic approach to sharing knowledge, it should be seen as the solution to their problems, and an organic part of the way they do their jobs.