Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CID: A Compile-Time Implementation Decider for Heterogeneous Platforms Based on C++ Attributes

With the emergence of heterogeneous architectures, the development of parallel software has become an increasingly complex issue. The fact of using multiple programming models targeted to specific devices has turned the implementation process into a challenging task that comes along with a variety of difficulties. In this sense, developers are preoccupied with finding ways to alleviate the burden when optimizing applications manually for this kind of architectures. To remedy this situation, two directions have been traditionally taken: i) unified programming models, allowing the execution of kernels on a broad range of devices,, ii) device-specific libraries, offering common interfaces for different programming models. To pave the way in the latter direction, we present CID, a C++ attribute-based tool offering a single interface to better exploit resources provided by heterogeneous systems. Specifically, this tool selects at compile time the tuple device-implementation that delivers the best performance on a given platform. This process makes selections using a profile-guided optimization approach, past knowledge gained from previous executions. To evaluate the benefits of this tool, we analyze its performance on two different scenarios. The experimental results demonstrate that CID allows enhancing performance while minimizing efforts needed to tune applications running on heterogeneous platforms.
An analytical model for Quality of Experience of HTTP video streaming over wireless ad hoc networks

HTTP video streaming employs the TCP protocol as its transport protocol, which provides reliability on one hand, but delay or delay jitter on the other hand. IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol is assumed to support wireless networks, whose channel access efficiency impacts the performance of the upper layer, i.e., the data rate and the delay of TCP. In this paper, an analytical model for Quality of Experience (QoE) of HTTP video streaming over single-hop wireless networks is proposed. Particularly, two QoE performance metrics are evaluated, which are underflow times and fluency of playout, defined as the buffer empty times during playout, and the ratio of ideal watching time to the real watching time. The impacts of system parameters, such as the length of a video file, the playout threshold, the playout rate, and the arriving rate of a TCP streaming, on the system performance metrics are analyzed in detail. It is found that when both the TCP congestion window and the MAC contention window are set to one, the arriving rate of a TCP streaming can achieve its maximum, which results in the optimal QoE performance. Moreover, the optimal setting for the MAC contention window is also obtained for the case that the TCP congestion window is larger than one. The accuracy of the proposed analytical model is verified by extensive simulations.
The performance of different propensity-score methods for estimating differences in proportions (risk differences or absolute risk reductions) in observational studies

Propensity score methods are increasingly being used to estimate the effects of treatments on health outcomes using observational data. There are four methods for using the propensity score to estimate treatment effects: covariate adjustment using the propensity score, stratification on the propensity score, propensity‐score matching, and inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) using the propensity score. When outcomes are binary, the effect of treatment on the outcome can be described using odds ratios, relative risks, risk differences, or the number needed to treat. Several clinical commentators suggested that risk differences and numbers needed to treat are more meaningful for clinical decision making than are odds ratios or relative risks. However, there is a paucity of information about the relative performance of the different propensity‐score methods for estimating risk differences. We conducted a series of Monte Carlo simulations to examine this issue. We examined bias, variance estimation, coverage of confidence intervals, mean‐squared error (MSE), and type I error rates. A doubly robust version of IPTW had superior performance compared with the other propensity‐score methods. It resulted in unbiased estimation of risk differences, treatment effects with the lowest standard errors, confidence intervals with the correct coverage rates, and correct type I error rates. Stratification, matching on the propensity score, and covariate adjustment using the propensity score resulted in minor to modest bias in estimating risk differences. Estimators based on IPTW had lower MSE compared with other propensity‐score methods. Differences between IPTW and propensity‐score matching may reflect that these two methods estimate the average treatment effect and the average treatment effect for the treated, respectively. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Structure and Function Modeling with Quantified Uncertainty With applications to the eukaryotic voltage-gated sodium channel ( Na V )

Optimizing over complex functionals evaluated on geometric objects can be very difficult, especially when the objects are biological molecules that require atomic-level resolution. At this scale, minor fluctuations in atomic position or small minor angle perturbations can result in a drastically different solution. Performing accurate calculations for quantities of interest (QOIs) is essential for drug design, biological reasoning, etc. While much attention has been paid to fast and efficient computations of these QOIs, the uncertainty of the underlying biological objects is typically ignored. Proteins are usually assumed to be static and accurate, of which both assumptions are almost always violated, whether due to natural breathing of protein molecules or averages over multiple possible conformations. Sometimes the error can be ignored, but just as often cascading errors lead to a completely unreliable solution. Better than reporting a single statistic for specific QOIs is to report a range of possible values with confidence intervals. The goal of this research is to quantify the uncertainty (through confidence intervals) that exists in two critical structure-related QOIs: template-based homology modeling and proteinligand docking. To perform this uncertainty quantification, the first contribution of this research will be to provide a probabilistic graphical model for protein molecules that correctly incorporates uncertainty arising both naturally and from technological limitations. The next contribution of this research will be to efficiently draw samples from this graphical model, with efficiency deriving both from number of samples and total coverage of the potential problem domain. From these samples, it will be possible to calculate distributions and confidence intervals or tail bounds similar to Chebyshev or Chernoff bounds. These tail bounds will not only be important for evaluating individual proteins, but for evaluating the sensitivity of certain QOIs to small perturbations in the input. One of the motivations of this research is to provide a comprehensive, accurate model of the human voltage-gated sodium (NaV) channel, which has only partially been done in the past. The major impetus for the work surrounds the binding of small, naturally-occurring toxins (from pufferfish, shellfish, poison frogs, and scorpions—to name a few) that completely disrupt the conducting properties of these channels. By using the pipeline developed in this research, I will be able to create a computational model of the human NaV channel, complete with confidence intervals on important QOIs.
Opposing Activities of DRM and MES-4 Tune Gene Expression and X-Chromosome Repression in Caenorhabditis elegans Germ Cells

During animal development, gene transcription is tuned to tissue-appropriate levels. Here we uncover antagonistic regulation of transcript levels in the germline of Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites. The histone methyltransferase MES-4 (Maternal Effect Sterile-4) marks genes expressed in the germline with methylated lysine on histone H3 (H3K36me) and promotes their transcription; MES-4 also represses genes normally expressed in somatic cells and genes on the X chromosome. The DRM transcription factor complex, named for its Dp/E2F, Retinoblastoma-like, and MuvB subunits, affects germline gene expression and prevents excessive repression of X-chromosome genes. Using genome-scale analyses of germline tissue, we show that common germline-expressed genes are activated by MES-4 and repressed by DRM, and that MES-4 and DRM co-bind many germline-expressed genes. Reciprocally, MES-4 represses and DRM activates a set of autosomal soma-expressed genes and overall X-chromosome gene expression. Mutations in mes-4 and the DRM subunit lin-54 oppositely skew the transcript levels of their common targets and cause sterility. A double mutant restores target gene transcript levels closer to wild type, and the concomitant loss of lin-54 suppresses the severe germline proliferation defect observed in mes-4 single mutants. Together, “yin-yang” regulation by MES-4 and DRM ensures transcript levels appropriate for germ-cell function, elicits robust but not excessive dampening of X-chromosome-wide transcription, and may poise genes for future expression changes. Our study reveals that conserved transcriptional regulators implicated in development and cancer counteract each other to fine-tune transcript dosage.
Synchronous Collaborative Concept Mapping via ICT: Learning Effectiveness and Personal and Interpersonal Awareness

This study investigated both learning effectiveness and personal and interpersonal awareness in synchronous collaborative problem-solving concept mapping (CM) via ICT with two computer communication channels. Sixty students in 30 groups drew their shared concept maps in three conditions of the experiment, face-to-face (FtF), ICT with text, and ICT with audio and text connection. In interpersonal awareness, participants in the audio/text group had lower performance in attention and total score in comparison with FtF group and lower performance in reaction with both text and FtF groups. In learning effectiveness, there were no significant differences amongst the groups, but in learning effectiveness at the level of the group as a whole the performance of the text group was better than both FtF and audio/text groups. The results show that CM in collaborative learning situation via ICT can be used as effective as FtF and more research is needed to show the reason of lower performance of the text/audio group.
Real and imaginary quadratic representations of hyperelliptic function fields

A hyperelliptic function field can be always be represented as a real quadratic extension of the rational function field. If at least one of the rational prime divisors is rational over the field of constants, then it also can be represented as an imaginary quadratic extension of the rational function field. The arithmetic in the divisor class group can be realized in the second case by Cantor's algorithm. We show that in the first case one can compute in the divisor class group of the function field using reduced ideals and distances of ideals in the orders involved. Furthermore, we show how the two representations are connected and compare the computational complexity.
Efficient Methods for Practical Fully Homomorphic Symmetric-key Encrypton, Randomization and Verification

We present high performance non-deterministic fully-homomorphic methods for practical randomization of data (over commutative ring), and symmetric-key encryption of random modN data over ring ZN well suited for crypto applications. These methods secure, for example, the multivariate input or the coefficients of a polynomial function running in an open untrusted environment. We show that random plaintext is the sufficient condition for proof of security for the homomorphic encryption. The efficient nature of the methods one large-numbers multiplication per encryption and six for the product of two encrypted values motivates and enables the use of low cost collaborative security platforms for crypto applications such as keyed-hash or private key derivation algorithms. Such a platform is comprised of a low-cost and low performance security element supported by an untrusted high performance server running the homomorpic algorithms. The methods employed may also provide enhanced protection for some existing crypto algorithms against certain attacks. Specifically, it is shown how to secure OSS public-key signature against Pollard attack. Further, we demonstrate how the homomorphic randomization of data can offer protection for an AES-key against side-channel attacks. Finally, the methods provide both fault detection and verification of computed-data integrity.
Non-contractibility and asset specificity in reverse auctions : 'move to the middle' or 'efficient markets'?

IT-enabled exchange in electronic markets has significant implications for buyer-supplier relationships. This paper builds on transaction cost and routine based perspectives in analyzing buyers’ decisions to use reverse auctions, which are an emerging IT-enabled exchange mechanism. The study argues that buyers are less likely to adopt reverse auctions for supplier relationships with high degrees of non-contractibility. We operationalize non-contractibility in terms of six aspects: quality attributes, supplier innovativeness, information sharing, responsiveness, trust, and flexibility. The results show that non-contractibility helps explain the impact of IT on firm boundaries. This field study provides one of the first large sample tests of the widely cited ‘move to market’ and ‘move to middle’ hypotheses in the information systems literature.
Enhancing the Visualization of Percussion Gestures by Virtual Character Animation

A new interface for visualizing and analyzing percussion gestures is presented, proposing enhancements of existing motion capture analysis tools. This is achieved by offering a percussion gesture analysis protocol using motion capture. A virtual character dynamic model is then designed in order to take advantage of gesture characteristics, yielding to improve gesture analysis with visualization and interaction cues of different types.
Intrinsic Graph Structure Estimation Using Graph Laplacian

A graph is a mathematical representation of a set of variables where some pairs of the variables are connected by edges. Common examples of graphs are railroads, the Internet, and neural networks. It is both theoretically and practically important to estimate the intensity of direct connections between variables. In this study, a problem of estimating the intrinsic graph structure from observed data is considered. The observed data in this study are a matrix with elements representing dependency between nodes in the graph. The dependency represents more than direct connections because it includes influences of various paths. For example, each element of the observed matrix represents a co-occurrence of events at two nodes or a correlation of variables corresponding to two nodes. In this setting, spurious correlations make the estimation of direct connection difficult. To alleviate this difficulty, a digraph Laplacian is used for characterizing a graph. A generative model of this observed matrix is proposed, and a parameter estimation algorithm for the model is also introduced. The notable advantage of the proposed method is its ability to deal with directed graphs, while conventional graph structure estimation methods such as covariance selections are applicable only to undirected graphs. The algorithm is experimentally shown to be able to identify the intrinsic graph structure.
THE MEASUREMENT, CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT OF OPERATING COSTS IN BANKS

A modulator system for generating a plurality of individual modulated RF signals and combining them and transmitting them in different frequency channels. The invention provides a practical method and apparatus for generating and combining a multiplicity of CDMA signals in several radio channels using digital circuitry. Further, several such band segments can be generated in parallel and combined to cover a large bandwidth. The invention generates this multiplicity of signals and combines them at baseband using all digital techniques. The advantage of this approach is a great simplification in hardware and improvement in reliability, as well as flexibility.
Resilience in multilayer networks

The integration of different technologies such as ATM, SDH, and WDM in multilayer transport networks raises many questions regarding the coordination of the individual network layers. Especially in the area of network survivability, much can be gained by a better alignment of the healing actions taken by different network layers in case of outages. Survivability issues encountered in a multilayer environment include, among others: how to identify the original failure cause, how to appoint for each failure a layer responsible for its healing, how to let different layers interwork, and how to provide spare resources in an efficient way.
Experience using a project-based approach in an introductory programming course

This paper describes how and why the authors' department chose to integrate a sophisticated visual programming environment (DELPHI) into the introductory programming course (CS101/2) of the first-year undergraduate engineering curriculum. It also reports on the outcome of this venture, which involved a switch from a conventional lecture-based approach to teaching CS102 to a project-based approach. While it meant more work for both students and teachers, the overall response from both parties was very positive. Indeed, the resulting designs and subsequent survey results seem to confirm that students achieved a better appreciation and understanding of the course's objectives.
The relation of the typological classification of dogs to their behavioral characteristics in variations between the probability and the value of reinforcement

: In studying of dogs behaviour in coordinates system "Requirements and probability of their satisfaction" it has been established that selection of behaviour strategy is closely connected with individual typological properties of animals. In experiments with equally-probable alimentary reinforcement a direct correlation was found between the strength parameter of the nervous system and the strategy of dogs behaviour. Animals of strong types manifested the character of reaction which consisted in determination and goal-directedness, while the animals of the weak type manifested other character, having features of uncertainty, indefinition, hesitations. In conditions of conflict between probability and value of reinforcement the dogs manifested two opposite strategies of behaviour: orientation to highly probable events (choleric and phlegmatic) and to low-probable events (sanguinic and melancholic) what is connected with individual properties of functioning and the character of interaction of four brain structures (frontal cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, amygdala).
Using Network Extracted Ontologies to Identify Novel Genes with Roles in Appressorium Development in the Rice Blast Fungus Magnaporthe oryzae

Magnaporthe oryzae is the causal agent of rice blast disease, the most important infection of rice worldwide. Half the world’s population depends on rice for its primary caloric intake and, as such, rice blast poses a serious threat to food security. The stages of M. oryzae infection are well defined, with the formation of an appressorium, a cell type that allows penetration of the plant cuticle, particularly well studied. However, many of the key pathways and genes involved in this disease stage are yet to be identified. In this study, I have used network-extracted ontologies (NeXOs), hierarchical structures inferred from RNA-Seq data, to identify pathways involved in appressorium development, which in turn highlights novel genes with potential roles in this process. This study illustrates the use of NeXOs for pathway identification from large-scale genomics data and also identifies novel genes with potential roles in disease. The methods presented here will be useful to study disease processes in other pathogenic species and these data represent predictions of novel targets for intervention in M. oryzae.
A RC reconstruction filter for a 16-bit audio delta-sigma DAC

To build a 16-bit audio delta-sigma (Δ-Σ) digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a low noise reconstruction filter has been presented in this paper. By using the direct charge transfer (DCT) technique, the low noise and small area is implemented. In addition, a fully differential operational amplifier (op-amp) with proposed switch capacitor (SC) common mode feed back (CMFB) circuit is employed for low-noise design in this system. The proposed reconstruction filter is designed in TSMC 0. 35μm CMOS process. And a peak signal-to-noise density ratio (SNDR) of 95.3 dB and a dynamic range (DR) of 97.2 dB for a 5k Hz input signal is achieved at a 1.8V supply voltage.
Establishment of earth tides effect on water level fluctuations in an unconfined hard rock aquifer using spectral analysis

Short-interval water level measurements using automatic water level recorder in a deep well in an unconfined crystalline rock aquifer at the campus of NGRI, near Hyderabad shows a cyclic fluctuation in the water levels. The observed values clearly show the principal trend due to rainfall recharge. Spectral analysis was carried out to evaluate correlation of the cyclic fluctuation to the synthetic earth tides as well as groundwater withdrawal time series in the surrounding. It was found that these fluctuations have considerably high correlation with earth tides whereas groundwater pumping does not show any significant correlation with water table fluctuations. It is concluded that earth tides cause the fluctuation in the water table. These fluctuations were hitherto unobserved during manual observations made over larger time intervals. It indicates that the unconfined aquifer is characterised by a low porosity.
A DC-to-12.5Gb/s 4.88mW/Gb/s all-rate CDR with a single LC VCO in 90nm CMOS

A DC-to-12.5Gb/s all-rate CDR IC with a single LC VCO is fabricated in 90nm CMOS. Static fractional dividers with an asynchronous phase calibration scheme are employed to generate all-rate clock signals without a phase mismatch or duty cycle distortion. The IC features an automatic loop gain control scheme which adjusts the bandwidth of a CDR automatically in the background for optimum BER performance by monitoring the phase difference between the incoming data and the recovered clock signal. The proposed CDR supports reference-less all-rate operation and compensates for 20dB of channel loss using a CTLE, a one-tap DFE and a three-tap pre-emphasis filter. The power efficiency of the test chip is 4.88mW/Gb/s.
Software Generation of Practically Strong Random Numbers

Although much thought usually goes into the design of encryption algorithms and protocols, less consideration is often given to equally important issues such as the selection of cryptographically strong random numbers, so that an attacker may find it easier to break the random number generator than the security system it is used with. This paper provides a comprehensive guide to designing and implementing a practically strong random data accumulator and generator which requires no specialised hardware or access to privileged system services. The performance of the generator on a variety of systems is analysed, and measures which can make recovery of the accumulator/generator state information more difficult for an attacker are presented. The result is an easy-to-use random number generator which should be suitable even for demanding cryptographic applications.