Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EXIT chart analysis of block markov superposition transmission of short codes

In this paper, a modified extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart analysis that takes into account the relation between mutual information (MI) and bit-error-rate (BER) is presented to study the convergence behavior of block Markov superposition transmission (BMST) of short codes (referred to as basic codes). We show that the threshold curve of BMST codes using an iterative sliding window decoding algorithm with a fixed decoding delay achieves a lower bound in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) region, while in the low SNR region, due to error propagation, the thresholds of BMST codes become slightly worse as the encoding memory increases. We also demonstrate that the threshold results are consistent with finite-length performance simulations.
Parallel PageRank computation on a gigabit PC cluster

Efficient computing the PageRank scores for a large Web graph is actually one of the hot issues in Web-IR community. Recent research projects have been proposed to accelerate the computation, both in algorithmic and architectural ways. We focus on a parallel PageRank computational architecture on a cluster of Opteron PCs networked via a gigabit Ethernet. We propose both an efficient parallel algorithm of the standard PageRank computation, and a simple pairwise communication model needed to synchronize local PageRank scores between processors. Our experimental results conducted on a large Web graph, over 1.5 billion links, synthesized from the real set of crawled Web pages in the TH domain, are quite promising. The current implementation takes less than 15 seconds for an iteration run.
Differences in English Language Proficiency Growth: A Possible Indicator of Giftedness for English Learners

vi Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 Statement of the Problem . 1 Gifted children and English learners.1 Disproportionality . 2 Calculating disproportionality . 2 Identifying giftedness in English learners.4 Traditional identification practices . 4 Policy changes to identify more culturally and linguistically diverse students . 5 English language proficiency . 6 Purpose and Significance of the Study . 7 Definition of Terms.7 Research Questions . 10 Overview of Method . 11 Organization of the Remaining Chapters . 12 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature.13 English Learners . 13 Underrepresentation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in Gifted Programs . 15 Identifying Gifted English Learners . 17 IQ tests and nonverbal measures of giftedness . 17 Policy efforts: the case of Florida . 19 Teacher Referrals . 19 Second Language Acquisition . 20 Second language acquisition theories . 21 Timelines to English language proficiency.22 Second language acquisition and intelligence . 23 Other factors that may influence second language acquisition . 25 English Language Proficiency as a Possible Indicator of Giftedness . 25 Latent Growth Curve Models . 26 Chapter 3: Methods . 28
Accurate and efficient rendering of detail using directional distance maps

We present an efficient GPU technique for rendering rich geometric detail (e.g., surface mesostructure) of complex surfaces. We use sphere-tracing aided by directional distance maps (DDMs) to quickly find ray-mesostructure intersection. High accuracy is achieved by analytically detecting such intersections, and space requirement is significantly reduced by distance map compression. Our technique can handle complex scenes containing both height-field and non height-field mesostructures in real time, with correct self-occlusion, self-shadow, interpenetrations and silhouettes. We demonstrate our algorithm on a variety of test scenarios and compare it with previous techniques.
Activity recognition of railway passengers by fusion of low-power sensors in mobile phones

We present PassActiv, a mobile sensing system for the automatic activity recognition of railway passengers. Our key observations show that certain passengers' activities (e.g., purchasing tickets, etc) present identifiable signatures on one or more cell-phone sensors which can be leveraged to automatically recognize those activities. Evaluation of PassActiv through a field experiment in major train and subway stations in Japan shows that PassActiv can detect different activities accurately with at most 3% false positive rate and 4% false negative rate for all types of passengers' activities.
A New Giant Stellar Structure in the Outer Halo of M31

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has revealed an overdensity of luminous red giant stars ~3° (40 projected kpc) to the northeast of M31, which we have called Andromeda NE. The line-of-sight distance to Andromeda NE is within ~50 kpc of M31; Andromeda NE is not a physically unrelated projection. Andromeda NE has a g-band absolute magnitude of ~-11.6 and a central surface brightness of ~29 mag arcsec-2, making it nearly 2 orders of magnitude more diffuse than any known Local Group dwarf galaxy at that luminosity. Based on its distance and morphology, Andromeda NE is likely undergoing tidal disruption. Andromeda NE's red giant branch color is unlike that of M31's present-day outer disk or the stellar stream reported by Ibata et al., arguing against a direct link between Andromeda NE and these structures. However, Andromeda NE has a red giant branch color similar to that of the G1 clump; it is possible that these structures are both material torn off of M31's disk in the distant past or that these are both part of one ancient stellar stream.
Epigenetic and miRNAs Dysregulation in Prostate Cancer: The role of Nutraceuticals

The control of cancer onset and progression is recognized to benefit from specific molecular targeting. MiRNAs are increasingly being implicated in prostate cancer, and the evidence suggests they are possible targets for molecular therapy and diagnosis. In cancer cells, growing attention has been dedicated to novel molecular mechanisms linking the epigenetic scenario to miRNA dysregulation. Currently, the rising evidence shows that nutritional and natural agents, the so-called nutraceuticals, could modulate miRNAs expression, and, as a consequence, might influence cellular responses in health or diseases conditions, including cancer. Among dietary components, plant-derived polyphenols are receiving wide interest, either for their anti-aging and anti-oxidant properties, or for their more general “cell-protective” effects. Above all, their role in preventing the occurrence/recurrence of cancer and, in particular, their potentiality in nutritional intervention for modulating the functions of miRNAs and the epigenetic mechanisms, is still under active debate. This review is focused on the more recent highlights of the impact of miRNAs dysregulation on the onset and progression of prostate cancer, their interplay with epigenetic control and their modulation by natural agents.
Local WMR navigation with monocular data

This article presents recent WMR (wheeled mobile robot) navigation experiences using local perception knowledge provided by monocular and odometer systems. A local narrow perception horizon is used to plan safety trajectories towards the objective. Therefore, monocular data are proposed as a way to obtain real time local information by building two dimensional occupancy grids through a time integration of the frames. The path planning is accomplished by using attraction potential fields, while the trajectory tracking is performed by using model predictive control techniques. The results are faced to indoor situations by using the lab available platform consisting in a differential driven mobile robot.
TOCA: A Tenant-Oriented Control Architecture for multi-domain Cloud Networks

When a cloud scales out to a large size, the cloud network potentially extends to a multi-domain structure, and needs to keep its scalability, consistency and flexibility. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) provides the technical possibility to realize the requirements. However, the existing studies of SDN focus on the perspective of network builders and managers, different from the perspective of network consumers, that will possibly cause some limitations. In this paper, we present the design of TOCA, a Tenant-Oriented Control Architecture for software-defined cloud networks. TOCA has a flat decentralized control plane structure to provide high scalability of a large-scale cloud network, in which a tenant-oriented network control mechanism is dedicated to meet the needs of consistent management in a multi-domain cloud network. Different from existing fine-gained network control method, TOCA provides abstracted network elements to describe the network communication requirements, and uses network control messages to control the network behaviors instead of the OpenFlow protocol. In this way, TOCA supports a flexible approach for tenants to define their own logical networks to meet the needs of their applications.
INDREX-II - Tropical Forest Height Estimation with L- and P-Band Polarimetric Interferometric SAR

Tropical forests are complex, heterogeneous, dense, remote and changing forest ecosystems. Low frequency synthetic aperture Radar (SAR) techniques allow monitoring and potentially estimation of key forest parameters such as vertical structure (height) and biomass. In the frame of INDREX-II repeat-pass SAR data in quad-pol mode (at L, and P Band) SAR data were acquired and simultaneously ground measurements have been collected. One of the most important - for a wide range of applications - forest parameter is biomass. Biomass appears to be more or less directly related to forest height, which can be estimated from model based inversion of polarimetric and interferometric SAR (Pol-InSAR) data. Indeed, successful height inversion has been demonstrated in several airborne experiments over temperate and boreal forests. In this paper results of model-based L and P Band Pol-InSAR data inversion over tropical forest are shown, including validation against ground measurements.
Measurement of the Bias Parameter from Weak Lensing

We have measured the correlation between the lensing signal induced by (dark) matter and the number counts of galaxies on scales ranging from 0.15 to 3.0 h Mpc (which correspond to aperture radii of 1'-15'). This provides a direct probe of the scale dependence of the ratio of the classical bias parameter b and the galaxy-mass correlation coefficient r. The results presented here are based on 16 deg2 of RC-band data taken with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope as part of the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey. We used a sample of lens galaxies with 19.5 < RC < 21 and a sample of source galaxies with 21.5 < RC < 24. The results are consistent with a scale-independent value of b/r, which provides valuable constraints on models of galaxy formation on scales that can only be probed through weak lensing. For the currently favored cosmology (Ωm = 0.3, ΩΛ = 0.7), we find that b/r = 1.05, similar to what is found on larger scales (~10 h Mpc) from local dynamical estimates. These results support the hypothesis that light traces mass on scales ranging from 0.15 out to ~10 h Mpc. The accuracy of the measurement will improve significantly in the coming years, enabling us to measure both b and r separately as a function of scale.
A Review on Fault Tolerant Analysis for Hard Real Time Safety Critical Embedded System

Safety-Critical Applications have to function correctly and deliver high level of quality-of-service even in the presence of faults. But radiation problem in embedded system is a serious threat. There is an increasing concern about the mitigation of radiation effects in embedded systems. The protection of processor-based systems to mitigate the harmful effect of transient faults (soft errors) is gaining importance as technology shrinks. This review paper presents various methodologies for facilitating the design of faulttolerant embedded systems and is supported by an infrastructure that permits to easily combine hardware/software soft errors mitigation techniques. The proposed system combines hardware and a software mitigation technique, which facilitates the design space exploration, developed to support the fault tolerance co-design approach and is added to the most vulnerable parts. A wide industrial consensus about the necessity of a set of safety definitions leads to the introduction of several functional safety standards. To achieve an embedded systems comply with these requirements, thorough testing is needed during early design stages of the integrated device. Keywords—Soft error, Hardening Infrastructure, Software Hardening Environment, SEU, SET.
Conformational dynamics of the human propeller telomeric DNA quadruplex on a microsecond time scale

The human telomeric DNA sequence with four repeats can fold into a parallel-stranded propeller-type topology. NMR structures solved under molecular crowding experiments correlate with the crystal structures found with crystal-packing interactions that are effectively equivalent to molecular crowding. This topology has been used for rationalization of ligand design and occurs experimentally in a number of complexes with a diversity of ligands, at least in the crystalline state. Although G-quartet stems have been well characterized, the interactions of the TTA loop with the G-quartets are much less defined. To better understand the conformational variability and structural dynamics of the propeller-type topology, we performed molecular dynamics simulations in explicit solvent up to 1.5 μs. The analysis provides a detailed atomistic account of the dynamic nature of the TTA loops highlighting their interactions with the G-quartets including formation of an A:A base pair, triad, pentad and hexad. The results present a threshold in quadruplex simulations, with regards to understanding the flexible nature of the sugar-phosphate backbone in formation of unusual architecture within the topology. Furthermore, this study stresses the importance of simulation time in sampling conformational space for this topology.
Computing on Anonymous Quantum Network

This paper considers distributed computing on an anonymous quantum network , a network in which no party has a unique identifier and quantum communication an d computation are available. It is proved that the leader election problem can exactly (i.e., without error in bounded time) be solved with at most the same complexity up to a constant factor as that of exactly computing symmetric functions (without intermediate measurements for a distributed and superposed input), if the number of parties is given to every party. A corollary of this result is a more efficient q uantum leader election algorithm than existing ones: the new quantum algorithm runs in O(n) rounds with bit complexity O(mn 2 ), on an anonymous quantum network with n parties and m communication links. It follows that all Boolean functions computable on a non-anonymous quantum network can be computed with the same order of complexity as the quantum leader election algorithm on an anonymous quantum network. This gives the first quantum algorithm that exactly computes any computabl e Boolean function with round complexity O(n) and with smaller bit complexity than that of existing classi cal algorithms in the worst case over all (computable) Boolean functions and network topologies. More generally, any n-qubit state can be shared with that complexity on an anonymous quantum network with n parties. This paper also examines an important special case: the problem of sharing an n-partite GHZ state amongn parties on an anonymous quantum network. It is proved that there exists a quantum algorithm that exactly solves this problem with rounds linear in the number of parties with a constant-sized gate set.
A revisit on modeling framed slotted aloha Anti-collision protocol for RFID systems

This paper presents a novel mathematical model for Anti-collision protocols based on Framed Slotted Aloha scheme. Using recursive calculations, the proposed model accurately estimates the probability of discovering tags in multiple rounds discovery system. First, the model estimates the probability of detecting a given number of tags in one single interrogation round. Then using a probability map, the model estimates the probability of detecting the given number of tags in multiple interrogation rounds. Our results show that the proposed model accurately predicts the tags detection probability. We then use the proposed model to optimally configure the reader parameters (i.e. the frame size and the number of interrogation rounds).
Reliability of the estimation of vegetation characteristics by inversion of three canopy reflectance models on airborne POLDER data

The Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of several plant canopies was extensively sampled by the POLDER air- borne instrument in the Alpilles-ReSeDA campaign. The 16 flights carried out over the Alpilles test site from January to October 1997 cover all the plant growth stages. Estimation of biophysical variables was undertaken by inversion of three one-dimensional radiative transfer models, SAIL, KUUSK and IAPI, coupled with the PROSPECT leaf optical properties model, in order to fully utilize both the directional and the spectral information of the images. This study mainly focuses on the capability of model inversion to retrieve the leaf area index (LAI) of wheat, maize, sunflower and alfalfa crops, for which ground validation was available. In order to evaluate the quality of inversions and to map the LAI or the chlorophyll content Cab, the associated estimation errors are determined for these two biophysical variables.
Teaching, social, and cognitive presences and their relations to students’ characteristics and academic performance in blended learning courses in a Tanzanian University

This study examines teaching, social, and cognitive presences in relation to students’ academic performance in blended learning courses in a Tanzanian university. The study involved 353 students and examined several aspects of blended learning including face-to-face lectures, online and offline group assignments, online feedback, discussions, and online messaging via Moodle. A community of inquiry survey was used to measure students’ perceptions of teaching, social, and cognitive presences. Performance scores consisted of students’ coursework and final examination grades. The results showed no statistically significant differences in the reported scores of teaching, cognitive, and social presences based on gender and age groups. Students with more advanced ICT skills reported higher teaching, social, and cognitive presences. Reported teaching presence was significantly different among the blended learning courses. Teaching, social, and cognitive presences showed a positive correlation with each other. The conclusion shows that although positively correlated, social and cognitive presences were not predictors of students’ performance; however, ICT skills were important in the studied courses.
Target detection and tracking based on spatially multiplexed and superposition imaging

Addressing continuous target detection and tracking over a large field of view in surveillance application, a novel method to detect and track target is presented in a wide field of view based on spatially multiplexed and superposition imaging technique. This system architecture is proposed by using the spherical lens array and confocal plane with the character of wide field and compressive sampling. And the method of moving target detection with superposition imaging is studied emphatically. This method models each pixel as a Gaussian mixture model, while the Gaussian distributions are evaluated to determine which are most likely to result from a background process. Accordingly the background and foreground are separated. Also, the method of moving target decoding and tracking is researched, which means that target location is decoded based on a set resulting from classifying target copies according to position and velocity criteria in the superposition space. Finally, the target detection and decoding algorithm are simulated and the results show that this method can perform target detection and tracking over a wide field of view.
Random sampling for the monomer-dimer model on a lattice. Probabilistic techniques in equilibrium and nonequilibrium statistical physics

In the monomer-dimer model on a graph, each matching (collection of non-overlapping edges) ${M}$ has a probability proportional to $\lambda^{|M|}$, where $\lambda < 0$ is the model parameter, and $|M|$ denotes the number of edges in $M$. An approximate random sample from the monomer-dimer distribution can be obtained by running an appropriate Markov chain (each step of which involves an elementary local change in the configuration) sufficiently long. Jerrum and Sinclair have shown (roughly speaking) that for an arbitrary graph and fixed $\lambda$ and $\varepsilon$ (the maximal allowed variational distance from the desired distribution), $O(|\Lambda|^2 |E|)$ steps suffice, where $|E|$ is the number of edges and $|\Lambda|$ the number of vertices of the graph. For sufficiently nice subgraphs (e.g. cubes) of the $d$-dimensional cubic lattice we give an explicit recipe to generate approximate random samples in (asymptotically) siginificantly fewer steps, namely (for fixed $\lambda$ and $\varepsilon$) $O(|\Lambda| \, (\ln |\Lambda|)^2)$.
Evaluation of objective measures applied on the noise suppressed speech signals with Chinese content

Objective measures are favored and widely used by many researchers in evaluating the quality of noise-suppressed speech. A good and reliable objective measure should have property that it could evaluate speech quality in consistent and well correlated with subjective ratings. In this paper, several widely used objective measures are applied to the speech signals with the Chinese languages including Mandarin and Cantonese. The correlations between objective measure outputs and perceptual-subjective ratings are reported and analyzed. The experimental results show that the correlation with the language types of Mandarin and Cantonese are lower than the one with English and objective measures behave differently in Mandarin, Cantonese and English. Detail discussion and conclusion are presented as well.
Mutations in or near the Transmembrane Domain Alter PMEL Amyloid Formation from Functional to Pathogenic

PMEL is a pigment cell-specific protein that forms physiological amyloid fibrils upon which melanins ultimately deposit in the lumen of the pigment organelle, the melanosome. Whereas hypomorphic PMEL mutations in several species result in a mild pigment dilution that is inherited in a recessive manner, PMEL alleles found in the Dominant white (DW) chicken and Silver horse (HoSi)—which bear mutations that alter the PMEL transmembrane domain (TMD) and that are thus outside the amyloid core—are associated with a striking loss of pigmentation that is inherited in a dominant fashion. Here we show that the DW and HoSi mutations alter PMEL TMD oligomerization and/or association with membranes, with consequent formation of aberrantly packed fibrils. The aberrant fibrils are associated with a loss of pigmentation in cultured melanocytes, suggesting that they inhibit melanin production and/or melanosome integrity. A secondary mutation in the Smoky chicken, which reverts the dominant DW phenotype, prevents the accumulation of PMEL in fibrillogenic compartments and thus averts DW–associated pigment loss; a secondary mutation found in the Dun chicken likely dampens a HoSi–like dominant mutation in a similar manner. We propose that the DW and HoSi mutations alter the normally benign amyloid to a pathogenic form that antagonizes melanosome function, and that the secondary mutations found in the Smoky and Dun chickens revert or dampen pathogenicity by functioning as null alleles, thus preventing the formation of aberrant fibrils. We speculate that PMEL mutations can model the conversion between physiological and pathological amyloid.