Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phase Characterization and Classification for Micro-architecture Soft Error

Transient faults have become a key challenge to modern processor design. Processor designers take Architectural Vulnerability Factor (AVF) as an estimation method of micro-architectures soft error rate. Dynamic, phase-based system reliability management, which tunes system hardware and software parameters at runtime for different phases, has become a focus in the field of processor design. Phase characterization technique (PCT) and phase classification algorithm (PCA) determine the accuracy of phase identification, which is the foundation of dynamic, phase-based system management. To our knowledge, this paper is the first to give a comprehensive evaluation and comparison of PCTs and PCAs for micro-architecture soft error. We first compare the efficiency of basic block vectors (BBV) and performance metric counters (PMC) based PCTs in reliability-oriented phase characterization on three micro-architectural structures (i.e. instruction queue, function unit and reorder buffer). Experimental results show that PMC based PCT performs better than BBV based PCT for most programs studied. Also, we compare the accuracy of three clustering algorithms (i.e. hierarchical clustering, k-means clustering and regression tree) in reliability-oriented phase classification. Regression tree method is demonstrated to improve the accuracy of classification by 30% compared with other two PCAs on average. Furthermore, based on the comparisons of PCTs and PCAs, we propose the optimal combination of PCT and PCA for soft error reliability-oriented phase identification—the combination of PMC and regression tree. In addition, we quantify the upper bound of predictability of AVF using BBV/PMC. Overall, an average of 82% AVF can be explained by PMC, while BBV can explain 78% AVF averagely.
A novel circle detector based on sub-image point pairs

In this paper a novel circle detector that can be used in real image processing is proposed. Since the drawbacks of standard Hough transform (SHT) and other circle detection methods such as least square method require large computation and the large storage, the new method is proposed to reduce computation cost and storage requirement. First, edge image is divided into several sub-images by the properties of circle, and then point pairs are chosen from the sub-images to calculate the parameters of circles. Second a data merging method is used to process the parameters. At last, both synthetic and real images are processed with the proposed method, the experimental results show that the proposed detector is capable of detecting circle features with superior accuracy under various image conditions.
Maturation-dependent upregulation of growth-promoting molecules in developing cortical plate controls thalamic and cortical neurite growth

We have tested the hypothesis that maturation-dependent changes in the cortical plate affect the spatiotemporal growth patterns of developing thalamocortical and corticocortical axonal projections. Given a choice between alternating lanes of embryonic (E18–19) and neonatal (P0–1) rat cortical plate membranes, embryonic (E18–19) thalamic and cortical neurites prefer to extend on neonatal membranes. Thalamic and cortical explants do extend neurites on uniform carpets of E19 cortical plate membranes, but the outgrowth is consistently greater on uniform carpets of P1 cortical plate membranes. These experiments demonstrate a maturation-dependent enhancement in the ability of cortical plate to support neurite growth from thalamic and cortical explants. In contrast, retinal and cerebellar neurites, which do not grow into cortex in vivo, generally grew poorly on these membranes, suggesting a degree of specificity to the neurite growth response. Immunohistochemical analysis of developing cortex suggests that several extracellular matrix (ECM) and cell adhesion molecules are upregulated in cortical plate. However, immunocharacterization of membrane carpets for these same ECM and cell adhesion molecules suggests that the growth preferences of thalamic and cortical neurites in vitro are predominantly influenced by membrane-anchored, rather than ECM, molecules. Western analysis of E19 and P1 cortical plate membranes supports this conclusion, and indicates that the membrane-anchored cell adhesion molecules L1 and N-CAM are more abundant in the P1 cortical plate membrane preparation. Experiments in which cortical plate membranes were treated to remove molecules sensitive to phosphatidylinositol (PI)-specific phospholipase C demonstrate that neurite growth promoters present in E19 cortical plate membranes are predominantly PI linked, whereas those present in P1 membranes are predominantly non-PI linked. These findings indicate that the neurite growth preferences are mediated, at least in part, by an upregulation of neurite growth-promoting molecules in developing cortical plate that are not PI linked. Taken together, these findings suggest that a maturation-dependent upregulation of neurite growth-promoting molecules on cortical plate cells controls the invasion of the cortical plate by thalamocortical and corticocortical axons.
A Novel Segmentation Algorithm for Fingerprint Image Based on Region Merging

The segmentation of fingerprint image is to extract the fingerprint region from the image. The traditional methods usually divide the fingerprint image into small blocks and then segment them into the foreground blocks and the background ones ignoring the relationship of the neighbors. In this paper, a novel segmentation approach is proposed based on the region merging with full benefit of the local similarity. The quality of the fingerprint regions can also be evaluated. What is more, the robustness of the algorithm is guaranteed by using an improved energy ratio and an effective threshold learning method. The testing results on FVC database are given to verify the feasibility and effectiveness.
Meiotic maturation in Xenopus requires polyadenylation of multiple mRNAs

Cytoplasmic polyadenylation of specific mRNAs commonly is correlated with their translational activation during development. Here, we focus on links between cytoplasmic polyadenylation, translational activation and the control of meiotic maturation in Xenopus oocytes. We manipulate endogenous c‐mos mRNA, which encodes a protein kinase that regulates meiotic maturation. We determined that translational activation of endogenous c‐mos mRNA requires a long poly(A) tail per se, rather than the process of polyadenylation. For this, we injected ‘prosthetic’ poly(A)—synthetic poly(A) tails designed to attach by base pairing to endogenous c‐mos mRNA that has had its own polyadenylation signals removed. This prosthetic poly(A) tail activates c‐mos translation and restores meiotic maturation in response to progesterone. Thus the role of polyadenylation in activating c‐mos mRNA differs from its role in activating certain other mRNAs, for which the act of polyadenylation is required. In the absence of progesterone, prosthetic poly(A) does not stimulate c‐mos expression, implying that progesterone acts at additional steps to elevate c‐Mos protein. By using a general inhibitor of polyadenylation together with prosthetic poly(A), we demonstrate that these additional steps include polyadenylation of at least one other mRNA, in addition to that of c‐mos mRNA. These other mRNAs, encoding regulators of meiotic maturation, act upstream of c‐Mos in the meiotic maturation pathway.
Secure Authentication for Remote Patient Monitoring with Wireless Medical Sensor Networks †

There is broad consensus that remote health monitoring will benefit all stakeholders in the healthcare system and that it has the potential to save billions of dollars. Among the major concerns that are preventing the patients from widely adopting this technology are data privacy and security. Wireless Medical Sensor Networks (MSNs) are the building blocks for remote health monitoring systems. This paper helps to identify the most challenging security issues in the existing authentication protocols for remote patient monitoring and presents a lightweight public-key-based authentication protocol for MSNs. In MSNs, the nodes are classified into sensors that report measurements about the human body and actuators that receive commands from the medical staff and perform actions. Authenticating these commands is a critical security issue, as any alteration may lead to serious consequences. The proposed protocol is based on the Rabin authentication algorithm, which is modified in this paper to improve its signature signing process, making it suitable for delay-sensitive MSN applications. To prove the efficiency of the Rabin algorithm, we implemented the algorithm with different hardware settings using Tmote Sky motes and also programmed the algorithm on an FPGA to evaluate its design and performance. Furthermore, the proposed protocol is implemented and tested using the MIRACL (Multiprecision Integer and Rational Arithmetic C/C++) library. The results show that secure, direct, instant and authenticated commands can be delivered from the medical staff to the MSN nodes.
Development of the HRL Route Navigation Dialogue System

In this paper we report on our work on a prototype route navigation dialogue system for use in a vehicle. The system delivers spoken turn-by-turn directions, and has been developed to accept naturally phrased navigation queries, as part of our overall effort to create an in-vehicle information system which delivers information as requested while placing minimal cognitive load on the driver.
Mathematical Measures of Syncopation

Music is composed of tension and resolution, and one of the most interesting resources to create rhythmic tension is syncopation. Several attempts have been made to mathematically define a measure of syncopation that captures its essence. A first approach could be to consider the rhythmic oddity property used by Simha Arom to analyze rhythms from the Aka pygmies. Although useful for other purposes, this property has its limitations as a measure of syncopation. More elaborate ideas come from the works by Michael Keith (based on combinatorial methods) and Godfried Toussaint (based on group theory). In this paper we propose a new measure, called the weighted note-to-beat distance measure, which overcomes certain drawbacks of the previous measures. We also carry out a comparison among the three measures. In order to properly compare these measures of syncopation, we have tested them on a number of rhythms taken from several musical traditions.
Three-Dimensional Mobile Node Localization Method of WSNs Based on Improved LSSVR Algorithm

The traditional least squares support vector regression (LSSVR) node localization algorithm for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) uses the average hop distance to calculate the actual distance, which may result larger localization error in the obstacle conditions. An improved LSSVR WSNs three-dimensional mobile node localization method in an obstacle conditions was proposed in this paper. The average per hop distance of four anchor nodes closest was used to replace the average distance per hop of traditional LSSVR algorithm in the proposed method, and the new average per hop distance was used to calculate the measurement distance of each unknown node to anchor nodes. The LSSVR localization model was built through sampling of the grid and constructing the training sets. According to mean square deviation of predicted location of virtual nodes and their actual location, fitness function was constructed, and LSSVR kernel function and regularization parameters were optimized by the PSO algorithm. The simulation results show that, compared with the conventional LSSVR localization algorithm, the proposed localization algorithm has a higher localization accuracy, smaller localization errors and lower localization cost in the obstacle conditions.
Bactericidal Actions of a Silver Ion Solution on Escherichia coli, Studied by Energy-Filtering Transmission Electron Microscopy and Proteomic Analysis

ABSTRACT Bactericidal actions of the silver ion on Escherichia coli as a model microorganism were studied using energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM), two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE), and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). EFTEM observations demonstrated that the silver ion readily infiltrates the interior of E. coli, contrary to the early hypothesis that it resides initially in the cell membrane area. Furthermore, 2-DE and MALDI-TOF MS indicated that the expression of a ribosomal subunit protein as well as that of some other enzymes and proteins is affected by the silver ion. The present results demonstrate for the first time that one of the major bactericidal functions of the silver ion is its interaction with the ribosome and the ensuing inhibition in expression of the enzymes and proteins essential to ATP production.
The routing of reconfigurable network based on ant algorithm

Finding the optimum path or routing always is an important and difficult issue in a practical dynamic network. In this paper, a new routing approach that due to multiple requirements in the reconfigurable network is briefly discussed. In order to obtain the optimum path between two nodes, we use the ant algorithm with which the problem can be attached to select the path. Simulation results shows that, especially having considered two factors of cost and delay, the proposed approach can be used to search the routing efficiently by the available nodes and paths provided with the reconstructed network topology even if the network changed.
ON THE OPTIMAL OPEN-LOOP CONTROL POLICY FOR DETERMINISTIC AND EXPONENTIAL POLLING SYSTEMS

In this article, we consider deterministic (both fluid and discrete) polling systems with N queues with infinite buffers and we show how to compute the best polling sequence (minimizing the average total workload). With two queues, we show that the best polling sequence is always periodic when the system is stable and forms a regular sequence. The fraction of time spent by the server in the first queue is highly noncontinuous in the parameters of the system (arrival rate and service rate) and shows a fractal behavior. Moreover, convexity properties are shown and are used in a generalization of the computation of the optimal control policy (in open loop) for the stochastic exponential case.
Identification of Contact Dynamics Model Parameters From Constrained Robotic Operations

With the fast advances in computing technology, contact dynamics simulations are playing a more important role in the design, verification, and operation support of space systems. The validity of computer simulation depends not only on the mathematical models but also on the model parameters. This paper describes a novel strategy of identifying contact dynamics parameters based on the sensor data collected from a robot performing contact tasks. Unlike existing identification algorithms, this methodology is applicable to complex contact geometries where contact between mating objects occurs at multiple surface areas in a time-variant fashion. At the same time, the procedure requires only measurements of end-effector forces and the position information for the end-effector and the environment. Similarly to other methods, the solution is formulated as a linear identification problem, which can be solved with standard numerical techniques for overdetermined systems. Efficacy, precision, and sensitivity of the identification methodology are investigated in simulation for a payload/fixture combination modeled after a real space-manipulator task.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Wearable biomonitoring system for stress management: A preliminary study on robust ECG signal processing

There is a close correlation between stress and health risk factors such as poor immune function and cardiovascular problems. Various researches showed that long-term exposure to stress and its related diseases are responsible of dramatic increase of mortality in theWestern Countries. In this context, the European Collaborative Project INTERSTRESS is aimed at designing and developing advanced simulation and sensing technologies for the assessment and treatment of psychological stress, based on mobile biosensors. In this paper a wearable system able to implement the acquisition and the real-time elaboration of the ECG signal for stress management purposes will be described. A novel and robust algorithm for QRS complex detection has been developed. Robust QRS detection is fundamental to evaluate Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability that are relevant parameters used as quantitative marker related to mental stress. In comparison to existing solutions the realized algorithm presents many advantages: an adaptive optimal filtering technique that avoids the use of thresholds and empirical rules for R peaks detection, low computational cost for real time elaboration and good tollerance with noisy ECG signal.
RFID Project Technical Report

The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology extends historically to the 1970’s, when the first commercial products emerged. The introduction of this technology motivated future research that sought to integrate RFID into various applications ranging from inventory control/monitoring to human/animal tracking. However, the practical significance of this technology was not fully realized, until mass manufacturing of RFID tags and readers, at different scales and for different ranges, was made possible. Currently, RFID-based systems are being proposed as alternatives to previously established technologies (e.g. Wi-Fi for indoor identification and tracking) and as extensions to others (e.g. GPS localization and tracking in indoor settings). A basic RFID system is comprised of three main elements, as follows:
Pervasive Adaptive Protein Evolution Apparent in Diversity Patterns around Amino Acid Substitutions in Drosophila simulans

In Drosophila, multiple lines of evidence converge in suggesting that beneficial substitutions to the genome may be common. All suffer from confounding factors, however, such that the interpretation of the evidence—in particular, conclusions about the rate and strength of beneficial substitutions—remains tentative. Here, we use genome-wide polymorphism data in D. simulans and sequenced genomes of its close relatives to construct a readily interpretable characterization of the effects of positive selection: the shape of average neutral diversity around amino acid substitutions. As expected under recurrent selective sweeps, we find a trough in diversity levels around amino acid but not around synonymous substitutions, a distinctive pattern that is not expected under alternative models. This characterization is richer than previous approaches, which relied on limited summaries of the data (e.g., the slope of a scatter plot), and relates to underlying selection parameters in a straightforward way, allowing us to make more reliable inferences about the prevalence and strength of adaptation. Specifically, we develop a coalescent-based model for the shape of the entire curve and use it to infer adaptive parameters by maximum likelihood. Our inference suggests that ∼13% of amino acid substitutions cause selective sweeps. Interestingly, it reveals two classes of beneficial fixations: a minority (approximately 3%) that appears to have had large selective effects and accounts for most of the reduction in diversity, and the remaining 10%, which seem to have had very weak selective effects. These estimates therefore help to reconcile the apparent conflict among previously published estimates of the strength of selection. More generally, our findings provide unequivocal evidence for strongly beneficial substitutions in Drosophila and illustrate how the rapidly accumulating genome-wide data can be leveraged to address enduring questions about the genetic basis of adaptation.
NOTE EVENT MODELING FOR AUDIO MELODY EXTRACTION

This paper outlines a method for the MIREX05 contest “Audio Melody Extraction”. The method aims at extracting the fundamental frequency (F0) trajectory of the predominant melody, such as the lead singing, within polyphonic and multitimbral audio signals. The method is based on a multiple-F0 estimator front-end followed by the probabilistic modeling of note events and their relationships. The performance of the method was ranked second best in the MIREX05 evaluations.
Containment and equivalence of well-designed SPARQL

Query containment and query equivalence constitute important computational problems in the context of static query analysis and optimization. While these problems have been intensively studied for fragments of relational calculus, almost no works exist for the semantic web query language SPARQL. In this paper, we carry out a comprehensive complexity analysis of containment and equivalence for several fragments of SPARQL: we start with the fundamental fragment of well-designed SPARQL restricted to the AND and OPTIONAL operator. We then study basic extensions in the form of the UNION operator and/or projection. The results obtained range from NP-completeness to undecidability.
Propagation of Spike Sequences in Neural Networks

Precise spatiotemporal sequences of action potentials are observed in many brain areas and are thought to be involved in the neural processing of sensory stimuli. Here, we examine the ability of spiking neural networks to propagate stably a spatiotemporal sequence of spikes in the limit where each neuron fires only one spike. In contrast to previous studies on propagation in neural networks, we assume only homogeneous connectivity and do not use the continuum approximation. When the propagation is associated with a simple traveling wave, or a one-spike sequence, we derive some analytical results for the wave speed and show that its stability is determined by the Schur criterion. The propagation of a sequence of several spikes corresponds to the existence of stable composite waves, i.e., stable spatiotemporal periodic traveling waves. The stability of composite waves is related to the roots of a system of multivariate polynomials. Using the simplest synaptic architecture that supports composite waves, a three nearest-neighbor coupling feedforward network, we analytically and numerically investigate the propagation of 2-composite waves, i.e., two-spike sequence propagation. The influence of the synaptic coupling, stochastic perturbations, and neuron parameters on the propagation of larger sequences is also investigated.
Computation of Interaural Time Difference in the Owl's Coincidence Detector Neurons

Both the mammalian and avian auditory systems localize sound sources by computing the interaural time difference (ITD) with submillisecond accuracy. The neural circuits for this computation in birds consist of axonal delay lines and coincidence detector neurons. Here, we report the first in vivo intracellular recordings from coincidence detectors in the nucleus laminaris of barn owls. Binaural tonal stimuli induced sustained depolarizations (DC) and oscillating potentials whose waveforms reflected the stimulus. The amplitude of this sound analog potential (SAP) varied with ITD, whereas DC potentials did not. The amplitude of the SAP was correlated with firing rate in a linear fashion. Spike shape, synaptic noise, the amplitude of SAP, and responsiveness to current pulses differed between cells at different frequencies, suggesting an optimization strategy for sensing sound signals in neurons tuned to different frequencies.