Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Software Based Remote Attestation for OS Kernel and User Applications

This paper describes a software based remote attestation scheme for providing a root of trust on an untrusted computing platform. To provide a root of trust, this work focuses on obtaining the integrity of the OS running on the platform, and then leverages the techniques to obtain the integrity of a user application. A trusted external entity issues a challenge to the client platform. The challenge is executable code which the client must execute, and the code generates results which are sent to the external entity. These results provide the external entity an assurance as to whether the client application and the OS at the client end are in pristine condition. This work also presents a technique where it can be verified that the application which was attested, did not get replaced by a different application once the challenge got completed.
Model-Free Control or Active Disturbance Rejection Control? On different approaches for attenuating the perturbation

This paper is focused on a comparison between Model-Free Control and Active Disturbance Rejection Control methods. These two techniques do not require a detailed mathematical description of the system, since they base on the on-line estimation and rejection of the unmodeled elements of the dynamics. Robustness of the closed-loop control system (against external perturbation) and its relation to energy consumption is discussed here. A model of a planar manipulator is used in the conducted case study as an exemplary plant. Conclusions are supported with results obtained with numerical simulations.
Biped simulation with Robotics Toolbox for MATLAB

This paper focuses on using the Robotics Toolbox in MATLAB for simulating the motion and environmental physics of a two-legged humanoid robot. The said software is built primarily for single serial-link manipulators in a free environment without holonomic constraints. Methods for additional functionality required for a biped interacting with an environment and control schemes for simulation are presented here.
Local Kinesthetic Guidance Based on Variable-Structure Control Techniques

In this paper, a nonlinear passivity-based control strategy based on stability in the sense of Lyapunov (Second method) and sliding mode control applied to Euler-Lagrange systems (robot arms) and extended to the PHANToM Premium 1.0 haptic device for purposes of local haptic guidance rehabilitation and medical diagnosis in people who have some motor impairment (on upper limb) is designed and implemented.
Why is Five a Crowd in the Market Share Attraction Model: The Dynamic Stability of Competition

As economists have increasingly accepted the notion that non-equilibrium behavior may be a reflection of the real world, interest has grown in modeling the emergence of turbulence as well as equilibrium. Earlier work by two of the authors used simulation to conduct a non-equilibrium analysis of a market where customer reaction followed the market share attraction model. These simulations demonstrated that even the relatively simple competitive behavior of optimizing one's own spending levels could lead to surprising instability. Optimizing one's own spending requires either that firms use their competitors' last-period budgets and the MSA model to determine a profit-maximizing budget for the next period or that firms use current dollar marketing-dollar profit response to set budgets for next period. Application of either logic will lead to dynamic instability when the number of competitors exceeds a threshold level of four. This study provides an analytical explanation for the emergence of this instability and demonstrates the relationship between this system of competing firms and the standard logistic map. This work also extends the original model formulation to identify conditions that affect the existence or level of the instability thresholds.
Transforming Abductive Logic Programs to Disjunctive Programs

A new xpoint semantics for abductive logic programs is provided, in which the generalized stable models of an abductive program are characterized as the xpoint of a disjunctive program obtained by a suitable program transformation. In the transformation, both negative hypotheses through negation as failure and positive hypotheses from the abducibles are dealt with uniformly. This characterization allows us to have a parallel bottomup model generation procedure for computing abductive explanations from arbitrary (range-restricted and function-free) general, extended, and disjunctive programs with integrity constraints.
A Framework to Answer Questions of Opinion Type

In this paper, we propose a framework to answer questions of opinion type. The data source is the web pages returned from the search engine. By using Bayes Classifier, the main texts on the pages are classified into three categories at sentence level: positive review, negative review and neutral review. K-means method is used to cluster the sentences of positive review and negative review respectively. The final answers are extracted from the sentence groups after clustering and presented in the form of quaternion. We design a system to test this framework. The experimental results show that it is effective.
Noninvasive Procedure for Measuring the Complex Permittivity of Resins, Catalysts, and Other Liquids Using a Partially Filled Rectangular Waveguide Structure

A waveguide based noninvasive procedure to measure the complex permittivity of epoxy resins and catalysts normally employed in the composite industry is presented. The proposed method combines an analytical approach with a numerical optimization technique, and is based on the injection of the liquid under test beforehand into a cuvette (disposable container) with rectangular cross section. The cuvette filled with the liquid specimen is positioned at the center of a WR-340 rectangular waveguide for measuring the scattering coefficient data in the S-band. The approximate value of the complex permittivity of the specimen is reconstructed from the measured scattering coefficient data using the newly proposed analytical closed-form relations. These analytical expressions are based on derivation of the transcendental equation for the multilayered partially filled waveguide structure using the transverse resonance method. In order to determine quite accurate values of dielectric parameters of the liquid specimen, the experimental setup is simulated with the help of a 3-D full-wave electromagnetic field simulator and accordingly theoretical values of the scattering coefficients are computed. The complex permittivity of the liquid specimen in this case is determined using an optimization algorithm, which minimizes the error between the theoretical and measured values of scattering coefficients. To avoid the local minima problem commonly encountered with optimization routines and to increase the convergence rate, the complex permittivity of the specimen reconstructed using the analytical approach is used as the initial guess. The applicability of the overall procedure is determined by measuring a number of liquid specimens used in the composite industry.
Disruptive selection in a bimodal population of Darwin's finches

A key part of the ecological theory of adaptive radiation is disruptive selection during periods of sympatry. Some insight into this process might be gained by studying populations that are bimodal for dual-context traits, i.e. those showing adaptive divergence and also contributing to reproductive isolation. A population meeting these criteria is the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis) of El Garrapatero, Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos. We examined patterns of selection in this population by relating individual beak sizes to interannual recaptures during a prolonged drought. Supporting the theory, disruptive selection was strong between the two beak size modes. We also found some evidence of selection against individuals with the largest and smallest beak sizes, perhaps owing to competition with other species or to gaps in the underlying resource distribution. Selection may thus simultaneously maintain the current bimodality while also constraining further divergence. Spatial and temporal variation in G. fortis bimodality suggests a dynamic tug of war among factors such as selection and assortative mating, which may alternatively promote or constrain divergence during adaptive radiation.
MRI of Cardiac Microstructure The Route Forward : Clinical Needs , Technical Challenges

Histological studies have shown that the myocardium consists of an array of crossing helical fiber tracts (1). Changes in myocardial fiber architecture occur in ischemic heart disease and heart failure, and can be imaged non-destructively with diffusion-encoded MR. Diffusion MRI tractography (DTI) provides a discrete measure of fiber orientation (2). This has been performed in humans in vivo and has shown a reduction in right handed (endocardial) fibers in the infarct zone (3). Numerous ex vivo studies have shown that the scalar indices of diffusion (mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA)) change in acute infarction. Cell rupture leads to an increase in diffusion and a local increase in MD. The loss of structure also leads to a corresponding reduction in FA. In a recent study in patients with acute myocardial infarction, similar changes were documented in vivo (4). Therefore, MD and FA have the potential to provide important information on the degree of cellular integrity and structural organization within the myocardium.
Regulation of the Interleukin (IL)-12R β2 Subunit Expression in Developing T Helper 1 (Th1) and Th2 Cells

The developmental commitment to a T helper 1 (Th1)- or Th2-type response can significantly influence host immunity to pathogens. Extinction of the IL-12 signaling pathway during early Th2 development provides a mechanism that allows stable phenotype commitment. In this report we demonstrate that extinction of IL-12 signaling in early Th2 cells results from a selective loss of IL-12 receptor (IL-12R) β2 subunit expression. To determine the basis for this selective loss, we examined IL-12R β2 subunit expression during Th cell development in response to T cell treatment with different cytokines. IL-12R β2 is not expressed by naive resting CD4+ T cells, but is induced upon antigen activation through the T cell receptor. Importantly, IL-4 and IFN-γ were found to significantly modify IL-12 receptor β2 expression after T cell activation. IL-4 inhibited IL-12R β2 expression leading to the loss of IL-12 signaling, providing an important point of regulation to promote commitment to the Th2 pathway. IFN-γ treatment of early developing Th2 cells maintained IL-12R β2 expression and restored the ability of these cells to functionally respond to IL-12, but did not directly inhibit IL-4 or induce IFN-γ production. Thus, IFN-γ may prevent early Th cells from premature commitment to the Th2 pathway. Controlling the expression of the IL-12R β2 subunit could be an important therapeutic target for the redirection of ongoing Th cell responses.
Ups1p and Ups2p antagonistically regulate cardiolipin metabolism in mitochondria

Cardiolipin, a unique phospholipid composed of four fatty acid chains, is located mainly in the mitochondrial inner membrane (IM). Cardiolipin is required for the integrity of several protein complexes in the IM, including the TIM23 translocase, a dynamic complex which mediates protein import into the mitochondria through interactions with the import motor presequence translocase–associated motor (PAM). In this study, we report that two homologous intermembrane space proteins, Ups1p and Ups2p, control cardiolipin metabolism and affect the assembly state of TIM23 and its association with PAM in an opposing manner. In ups1Δ mitochondria, cardiolipin levels were decreased, and the TIM23 translocase showed altered conformation and decreased association with PAM, leading to defects in mitochondrial protein import. Strikingly, loss of Ups2p restored normal cardiolipin levels and rescued TIM23 defects in ups1Δ mitochondria. Furthermore, we observed synthetic growth defects in ups mutants in combination with loss of Pam17p, which controls the integrity of PAM. Our findings provide a novel molecular mechanism for the regulation of cardiolipin metabolism.
The endocannabinoid system: emotion, learning and addiction

The identification of the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1 receptor) was the milestone discovery in the elucidation of the behavioural and emotional responses induced by the Cannabis sativa constituent Δ9‐tetrahydrocannabinol. The subsequent years have established the existence of the endocannabinoid system. The early view relating this system to emotional responses is reflected by the fact that N‐arachidonoyl ethanolamine, the pioneer endocannabinoid, was named anandamide after the Sanskrit word ‘ananda’, meaning ‘bliss’. However, the emotional responses to cannabinoids are not always pleasant and delightful. Rather, anxiety and panic may also occur after activation of CB1 receptors. The present review discusses three properties of the endocannabinoid system as an attempt to understand these diverse effects. First, this system typically functions ‘on‐demand’, depending on environmental stimuli and on the emotional state of the organism. Second, it has a wide neuro‐anatomical distribution, modulating brain regions with different functions in responses to aversive stimuli. Third, endocannabinoids regulate the release of other neurotransmitters that may have even opposing functions, such as GABA and glutamate. Further understanding of the temporal, spatial and functional characteristics of this system is necessary to clarify its role in emotional responses and will promote advances in its therapeutic exploitation.
Economics Program Working Paper Series Constructing a Price Deflator for R & D : Calculating the Price of Knowledge Investments as a Residual

We model the production and use of knowledge investment and show how the model can be used to infer the unknown price of knowledge using two approaches. The first is often used by national accounting offices and is based on costs in the knowledge-producing sector. We show this implicitly assumes no market power and no productivity in the production of knowledge. We set out an alternative approach that focuses on the downstream knowledge-using sector, the final output sector. The science policy practice of using the GDP deflator is a simple variant of this approach, while the full approach allows market power and implies backing out the price of R&D from final output prices, factor costs, and TFP. We estimate a R&D price for the United Kingdom from 1985 to 2005 using the full approach. The index falls strongly relative to the GDP deflator suggesting conventionally-measured real R&D is substantially understated. * The authors gratefully acknowledge support from NSF‘s SciSIP Grant 0830260 (Corrado) and the FP7 COINVEST Grant 217512 and UK NESTA innovation index project (Goodridge and Haskel). We thank Dennis Fixler, Shane Greenstein, and participants at the NBER/CRIW Summer 2010 workshop and 2010 CAED for comments. Errors are our own. Corresponding author: carol.corrado@conference-board.org.
Roles of ES Cell-Derived Gliogenic Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells in Functional Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury

Transplantation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) following the sub-acute phase of spinal cord injury (SCI) has been shown to promote functional recovery in rodent models. However, the types of cells most effective for treating SCI have not been clarified. Taking advantage of our recently established neurosphere-based culture system of ES cell-derived NS/PCs, in which primary neurospheres (PNS) and passaged secondary neurospheres (SNS) exhibit neurogenic and gliogenic potentials, respectively, here we examined the distinct effects of transplanting neurogenic and gliogenic NS/PCs on the functional recovery of a mouse model of SCI. ES cell-derived PNS and SNS transplanted 9 days after contusive injury at the Th10 level exhibited neurogenic and gliogenic differentiation tendencies, respectively, similar to those seen in vitro. Interestingly, transplantation of the gliogenic SNS, but not the neurogenic PNS, promoted axonal growth, remyelination, and angiogenesis, and resulted in significant locomotor functional recovery after SCI. These findings suggest that gliogenic NS/PCs are effective for promoting the recovery from SCI, and provide essential insight into the mechanisms through which cellular transplantation leads to functional improvement after SCI.
The Impact of Interstate Migration on Human Capital Development in Washington.

Washington State is a leader in the innovation economy largely due to the combination of aerospace, software, and biomedical industries centered in the greater Seattle area; and, the state’s high level of international trade. Washington ranks second in the 2008 State New Economy Index 2 – an analysis of 29 indicators that measures the degree to which state economies are knowledge-based, globalized, entrepreneurial, IT-driven, and innovation-based.
Policy Synthesis for Cooperating Usaid Offices and Country Missions Smallholder Income and Land Distribution in Africa: Implications for Poverty Reduction Strategies

BACKGROUND: More than 45% of Sub-Saharan Africa's population is now estimated to be in poverty. The swelling poverty in Africa has increasingly focused governments, international donors, and researchers toward developing strategies that are " pro-poor. " Strategic plans for poverty reduction have been prepared since 1998 by at least 15 African governments with support from the World Bank. However, most of them provide only scant attention to the role of land access and land distribution in rural poverty.
Image recombination based side information reconstruction in Wyner-Ziv video coding

Wyner-Ziv video coding (WZC) exhibits many properties like low-complexity encoding or embedded error resilience. The quality of side information takes an important role in the performance of WZC. In order to improve the performance of WZC, a new side information interpolation algorithm is proposed in this paper. In our approach, adjacent frames are recombined before encoding. At the decoder, side information is interpolated by the intra interpolation technique. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves 0.7dB gain compared with the conventional Wyner-Ziv coding schemes without sacrificing the encoder complexity.
Stress responsivity in children with externalizing behavior disorders

Patterns of lower autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity have been found in children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differ from ODD children with (OD/AD) or without comorbid ADHD in ANS and HPA axis activity under baseline and stressful conditions. The effects of stress on cortisol, heart rate (HR), and skin conductance level (SCL) were studied in 95 children (26 normal control [NC] children and 69 child psychiatric patients referred for externalizing behavior problems [15 ODD, 31 OD/AD, and 23 ADHD]). No baseline differences were found in cortisol between the four groups. However, the ODD and OD/AD groups showed a significantly weaker cortisol response to stress compared to the ADHD and NC groups; the ADHD group had a similar cortisol response as the NC group. Within the ODD group this pattern of low cortisol responsivity was most clearly present in the more severely affected inpatients. With respect to HR, the ODD group had a significantly lower HR during baseline and stressful conditions. The higher HR levels in the OD/AD and ADHD groups were likely to be caused by methylphenidate. The externalizing groups had significantly lower SCL levels, and no differences were found between these groups. It was concluded that differences in cortisol responsivity during stress exposure are important in distinguishing within a group of children with externalizing behavior between those with ODD and ADHD.
THE COMPARATIVE BEHAVIOR OF MAMMALIAN EGGS IN VIVO AND IN VITRO

1. A definite chronological sequence of events occurs in the eggs and follicles of rabbits after mating or after the injection of ovulation-inducing substances. The follicle secretes secondary liquor folliculi, and there occurs a separation of the corona radiata from strands connecting it to the follicle cells. The ovum goes through nuclear maturation with as climax the production of the first polar body by the 8th hour after copulation. 2. Thyroxin injections cause indirectly the same effects as mating or pituitary injections but no ovulation occurs. The thyroxin effect occurs later than the pituitary effect and is due to an initiation of atresia in the follicles. 3. Explantation of ova results in typical maturation phenomena which are apparently unaffected by the presence of pituitary hormones or of thyroxin in the culture medium. 4. It is concluded that maturation of the ovum can be obtained simply by isolating it from the normal follicular environment. 5. Normal fertilization can be secured with eggs removed from the follicles.
High performance computing of sintering process at particle scale

Within the general context of solid-state sintering process, this work presents a numerical modeling approach, at the particle scale, of ceramic particle packing consolidation. Typically, the sintering process triggers several mass transport paths that are thermally activated. Among those diffusion paths, the most important ones are: surface diffusion, grain boundary diffusion and volume diffusion. Including this physics into a high-performance computing framework would permit to gain precious insights about the driving mechanisms. The aim of the present work is to develop a model and a numerical strategy able to integrate the different diffusion mechanisms into continuum mechanics framework. In the cases of surface diffusion and volume diffusion, the mass flux is calculated as a function of the surface curvature Laplacian and the hydrostatic pressure gradient, respectively. The physical model describing these two transport mechanisms is first presented within the framework of continuum mechanics. Then the numerical strategy developed for the simulation of the sintering of many particles is detailed. This strategy is based on a discretization of the problem by using a finite element approach coupled with a Level-Set method used to describe the particles free surface. This versatile strategy allows us to perform simulations involving a relatively large number of particles. Furthermore, a mesh adaptation technique allows the particles surface description to be improved, while the number of mesh elements is kept reasonable. Several 3D simulations, performed in a parallel computing framework, show the changes occurring in the structure of 3D granular stacks.
Real-time Sound Localization With a Binaural Head-system Using a Biologically-inspired Cue-triple Mapping

We present a sound localization system that operates in real-time, calculates three binaural cues (IED, UD, and ITD) and integrates them in a biologically inspired fashion to a combined localization estimation. Position information is furthermore integrated over frequency channels and time. The localization system controls a head motor to fovealize on and track the dominant sound source. Due to an integrated noise-reduction module the system shows robust localization capabilities even in noisy conditions. Real-time performance is gained by multi-threaded parallel operation across different machines using a timestamp-based synchronization scheme to compensate for processing delays