Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bias Removal in Higher Order Sinusoidal Input Describing Functions

In this paper a novel method is presented for the reduction of bias caused by harmonic excitation in the identification of higher order sinusoidal input describing functions (HOSIDF). HOSIDF are a recently introduced generalization of the theory of the describing function. HOSIDF describe the magnitude and phase relations between the individual harmonic components in the output signal of a non-linear system and the sinusoidal excitation signal. In the presented method, the output signal of a non-linear system subjected to harmonic excitation is numerically split up into a fraction caused by the non-linear response due to the fundamental input signal component and the fraction caused by the quasi-linear response due to the harmonic input signal components. This separation is based on the assumption that the non-linear effects of intermodulation can be neglected, compared to the the effects caused by the generation of harmonics and gain compression/expansion. The method is demonstrated with real measurements on a mechanical system with friction.
Base Revision for Ontology Debugging

Belief Revision deals with the problem of adding new information to a knowledge base in a consistent way. Ontology Debugging, on the other hand, aims to find the axioms in a terminological knowledge base which caused the base to become inconsistent. In this article, we propose a belief revision approach in order to find and repair inconsistencies in ontologies represented in some description logic (DL). As the usual belief revision operators cannot be directly applied to DLs, we propose new operators that can be used with more general logics and show that, in particular, they can be applied to the logics underlying OWL-DL and Lite.
How Do Senators Vote? Disentangling the Role of Voter Preferences, Party Affiliation, and Senate Ideology

This paper develops a methodology for consistently estimating the relative weights in senator utility functions, despite the fact that senator ideologies are unobserved. The empirical results suggest that voter preferences are assigned only one quarter of the weight in senator utility functions. The national 'party line' also has some influence but the senator's own ideology is the primary determinant of roll-call voting patterns. These results cast doubt on the empirical relevance of the median voter theorem. Estimation of the model requires only roll-call voting data, making it widely applicable. Copyright 1996 by American Economic Association.
Silencing of Diphthamide Synthesis 3 (Dph3) Reduces Metastasis of Murine Melanoma

Melanoma is the most dangerous skin cancer due to its highly metastatic potential and resistance to chemotherapy. Currently, there is no effective treatment for melanoma once it is progressed to metastatic stage. Therefore, further study to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the metastasis of melanoma cells is urgently required for the improvement of melanoma treatment. In the present study, we found that diphthamide synthesis 3 (Dph3) is involved in the metastasis of B16F10 murine melanoma cells by insertional mutagenesis. We demonstrated that Dph3 disruption impairs the migration of B16F10 murine melanoma cells. The requirement of Dph3 in the migration of melanoma cells was further confirmed by gene silencing with siRNA in vitro. In corresponding to this result, overexpression of Dph3 significantly promoted the migratory ability of B16F10 and B16F0 melanoma cells. Moreover, down regulation of Dph3 expression in B16F10 melanoma cells strikingly inhibits their cellular invasion and metastasis in vivo. Finally, we found that Dph3 promotes melanoma migration and invasion through the AKT signaling pathway. To conclude, our findings suggest a novel mechanism underlying the metastasis of melanoma cells which might serve as a new intervention target for the treatment of melanoma.
Algorithm for distribution substation area visualization

This paper presents a one line diagram generation algorithm capable of drawing multiple feeders supplied by a single (electric power) distribution substation. First the substation area is represented with a mathematical graph. A combination of iterative and recursive methods are applied to draw that graph. There are two iterative steps: the whole graph is partitioned into feeders and the main branch of each feeder is further partitioned into subgraphs of one or more vertices around the vertices corresponding to the nodes of the main branch. There is one recursive step, namely each feeder might contain non-trivial, lateral branches which are recursively drawn with the same algorithm. The algorithm automatically arranges multiple feeders around the supply substation. The drawn direction of each feeder can be different, either left, right, up or down. The algorithm was tested on multiple distribution substation areas exported from three different real life (European) distribution network models. It produced visually pleasing diagrams even for graphs with more than 1000 vertices. Each auto-generated diagram was assessed with a diagram assessment formula specifically developed by the authors for measuring the quality of the generated one line diagrams.
Exploiting the Client Vulnerabilities in Internet E-voting Systems: Hacking Helios 2.0 as an Example

Helios is a web-based open-audit voting system designed using state of the art web technologies and advanced cryptographic techniques to provide integrity of ballots and voter secrecy in an insecure Internet environment. In this paper, we demonstrate a simple attack against Helios 2.0 that takes advantage of the fact that every candidate in Helios can provide a URL referring to his/her candidacy statement. A malicious candidate, who wishes to win a Helios-managed election, uploads a specially crafted PDF file containing a candidacy statement to his/her website. The attack is then triggered against each voter who is using a vulnerable machine. The security of the machine is undermined, e.g., when the voter visits the attacker's webpage. In essence, we exploit Adobe Acrobat/Reader's vulnerabilities to install a malicious browser extension on the voters' machines. Such an extension provides an opportunity for an attacker which may fool the voter (using Social Engineering) into accepting a hacked ballot. Due to our attack Helios 2.0 was upgraded to Helios 3.0. We discuss generalizations and the impact of the latest upgrade of Helios on security. We also discuss defences against this attack, generalizations and the impact of the latest upgrade of Helios on security.
Kullback-Leibler divergence as an estimate of reproducibility of numerical results

In large software projects using numerical solutions of equations, small changes in compiler options or parallelization methods can induce slight variations in the last digits of floating point numerical results, due for instance to the non-commutativity of operations. Unfortunate changes in the code (bugs) can induce even larger deviations in the results. We propose to use the Kullback-Leibler divergence estimated from the compression ratio of the results compared to reference results in order to automatically quantify those changes and automatize regression tests of numerical codes in software forges. We use the TDDFT PW-TELEMAN project as an example.
Institutional Cybersecurity from Military Perspective

In the time we are living in, the nonlinear increase, usage and reliability on information communication technologies (ICT) are going to move forward. In this digital environment, people, institutions and government take necessary precautions ranging from personal to strategic level and adapt themselves to live or operate in that new form of environment. When we consider a country' cybersecurity efforts as a whole, it starts with individuals at the bottom, institutions, firms and military organizations at middle and government at the top. Ensuring a robust cybersecurity policy in a country, requires all levels (individual, institution, government) to be at the same standard. While the government level cybersecurity strategy documents generally present a comprehensive approach, the institutional level cybersecurity roadmaps, action plans are generally not present or overlooked. Being one of the main elements of a country, military organizations should be prepared to operate in this new form of operational environment that is full of malwares, advance persistent threats (APT) and cyber espionage software. In this study, institutional cybersecurity from the military perspective is analysed in the light of possible challenges, organizational structure, the military decision making process (MDMP) and cybersecurity workforce.
Reciprocal Trade Agreements in Asia: Credible Commitment to Trade Liberalization or Paper Tigers?

Reciprocal trade agreements (RTAs) have proliferated rapidly in Asia in recent years, an unprecedented phenomenon in a region in which state-led institution-building efforts were largely unsuccessful during the Cold War years. In this article, we investigate the qualitative provisions of RTAs in Asia, focusing on agreements that are professedly geared toward trade liberalization through reciprocal exchanges of trade concessions. We build on the concept of credible commitment—that states “tie their hands” through international agreements and thus signal strong commitment to trade liberalization. We argue that a broad range of agreement provisions will affect an RTA's ability to achieve its primary objective: trade liberalization. We present a coding scheme that measures the strength of a wide variety of provisions in the legal texts of RTAs. Using quantitative analysis, we analyze the impact of various components of Asia's RTAs on participants' trade flows.
Institutional economics and fisheries management :the case of Pacific tuna

Introduction 1. The New Institutional Economics and Natural Resource Management 2. Description of the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Fishery 3. Getting Fishery Policy Objectives Right First 4. Achieving Policy Objectives through Institutional Reform 5. Managing Resource Revenues 6. The Catch in Trading Fishing Access for Foreign Aid 7. The Contribution of Fishery Resources to Economic Development References Index.
: A MACHINE LEARNING APPROACH FOR PREDICTION OF NAC PROTEINS IN RICE USING SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINES

NAC proteins are plant-specific transcriptional factors with diversified roles in various developmental processes and stress responses. Development of genome wide prediction tools for NAC proteins will substantially have an impact on rice gene annotation. NACSVMPred is an effort in this direction for computational genome-scale prediction of NAC proteins in rice by integrating compositional and evolutionary information of proteins. Support vector machine (SVM)-based modules were first developed using traditional amino acid, dipeptide (i+1), tripeptide (i+2), four-parts composition and PSSM and an overall accuracy of 79%, 93%, 93%, 79% and 100% respectively was achieved. Further, two hybrid modules were developed based on amino acid, dipeptide and tripeptide composition, which achieved an overall accuracy of 83% and 79%. NACSVMPred was also evaluated with PSI-BLAST, which resulted in a lower accuracy of 50%. The different statistical analyses carried out revealed that the proposed algorithm is useful for rice genome annotation, specifically predicting NAC proteins.
Evaluating the Impact of Brassinolide on Ascorbate Peroxidase Activity During Brassica napus Embryo Development in Vitro

The Brassica napus embryogenesis has great importance for physiological studies due to the androgenesis system which is released a large number of matched embryos in a short period of time from immature pollens in vitro. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of different levels of brassinolide (BL) on ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity during Brassica napus, Bactool variety, embryo development. Fife different treatments were applied; Control, two levels of BL (10 and 10 M), one level of brassinazole (BrZ), a BL biosynthetic inhibitor, (4x10 M) and BL (10M) + BrZ (4x10M). Exogenous applications of brassinolide (BL) increased the activity of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) of microspore-derived embryo which will have a positive profound effects on ascorbate metabolism by altering the amount of it reduced form (ASC) to oxidized form; dehydroascorbate (DHA), ascorbate free radicals (AFRs). At the concentration of BrZ (4×10 M), the activity of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) decreased and that will increase the ascorbate reduced form and therefore increase the amount of a toxic compound, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
WildThumb: a web browser supporting efficient task management on wide displays

Nowadays the Web and Web browsers have become the most important and universal platform for people to search, view, process, and exchange various kinds of information. Consequently, today's users usually open many Web pages simultaneously in order to perform multiple tasks in parallel, which makes Web browsers crucial in our daily task management. However, no existing Web browser provides users with sufficient support for the management of many tabs or windows of opened pages. On the other hand, wide displays have become more affordable and prevalent, while extra space on those displays is not utilized effectively in Web browsing. In this paper, we propose a new Web browser interface aiming to support efficient task management in Web browsing on wide displays. In order to help users switch between opened Web pages, we show thumbnails of the pages in the extra space around the currently focused page. In the page thumbnails, we emphasize distinctive elements in each page in order to make the selection of the thumbnails easier. In addition, we calculate the relevance between pages based on users' switching history, and emphasize pages relevant to the current page by adjusting the size or opacity of the thumbnails. This further helps users find the thumbnails of needed pages, and also helps users get the overview of the page set related to the current task.
Progress in the biomechatronic design and control of a hand prosthesis

A five-fingered, multi-sensory biomechatronic hand with sEMG interface is presented. The cambered palm is specially designed to enhance the stability while grasping. The location of the thumb is designed by maximizing interaction area between the thumb and other fingers. The opposite thumb could grasp along a cone surface, while maintaining its function. By taken the advantage of coupling linkage mechanism, each finger with three phalanges could fulfill flexion-extension movement independently. Besides, each finger is equipped with torque and position sensors. Thus, the cosmetics and dexterity are improved remarkably compared to conventional prosthesis. The hardware architecture is divided into control system and EMG signal processing system. Moreover, a novel two-stage decision strategy combing the position-based impedance control scheme is implemented to realize the real-time sEMG control of the hand. According to the grasp experiment results, the hand can accomplish several grasp modes stably; the success rate of 10 modes is up to 90%.
The Non-equilibrium Green function approach as a TCAD tool for future CMOS technology

The potential of the Non-equilibrium Green function formalism as a new TCAD tool is demonstrated with concrete examples. We revise ballistic simulations of variability associated with discrete dopants and SiO2/Si interface roughness of silicon gate-all-around nanowire transistors. Phonon limited mobility in various nanowire cross-sections are calculated from the current-voltage characteristics, showing an agreement with previous calculations using different models. Using the same electron-phonon parameters, statistical simulations combining discrete dopants and surface roughness are carried out for a nanowire transistor. The use of renormalized physics in the formalism is highlighted. The majority of results use a coupled-mode-space representation in concomitance with a recursive algorithm to deliver fast and accurate results, even with the inclusion of dissipative physics.
Sustainability and Using Information Technologies in Disaster Managament

Sustainable development is a concept that meets the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In recent years world population suffered by numerous natural and manmade disasters so that they strived to protect their own existence prior to the future. However, most of the disasters were caused by un-sustainable attitudes of politicians, decision makers and communities. In this paper, the concept of disaster management and using information technologies in disasters will be discussed in the sustainability context. The study focuses on the use of information technologies in disaster situation. Information technologies are used in before and after of disaster. In this paper role and place of communication and communication technologies in crisis and disaster situations is considered. This issue, crisis, disaster communication, coordination of disaster situation examined using national and international literature and experience of disaster occurred. In the study developments on the use of communication technologies in disaster management, success of disaster information systems in disasters, advantages and disadvantages of using communication technologies are examined. Keywords: Sustainability, Crisis Management, Disaster Management, Communication Technology, Public Administration.
Budget effectiveness in multinational corporations: An empirical test of the use of budget controls moderated by two dimensions of budget participation under high and low environmental dynamism

Normative discussions suggest that budget process should be different in foreign subsidiaries than those of domestic subunits of a multinational corporation, but little is known about these differences. This study examines budget effectiveness of foreign and domestic units in a European multinational company by considering the three-way interaction of headquarter reliance on budget controls, subsidiary budget communication or influence, and environmental dynamism. A major feature is studying two dimensions of budgetary participation, communication and influence. Methodological advances over previous studies test the impact of three-way interactions.
ADDRESSING THE STOCHASTIC NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC COMPUTATIONS VIA DYNAMIC LOOP SCHEDULING

In general, scientific applications are large, computationally intensive, irregular and data-parallel. One of the main performance degradation factors when running scientific applications in parallel and distributed environments is load imbalance that may rise from a wide range of characteristics, due to problem, algorithmic, and systemic factors. Moreover, due to the stochastic behavior of many scientific applications, the load imbalance can unexpectedly occur at runtime, leading to difficulties in making decision about optimal partitioning, allocation and scheduling. In recent years, since parallel loops are prevalent and a major source of parallelism in scientific computations, many dynamic loop scheduling algorithms have been developed to improve performance via load balancing. These algorithms address the unpredictable behavior of computations, and many of these are based on probabilistic analyses. These have proven to be effective in improving performance of important applications used in scientific computing by addressing the entire spectrum of factors that lead to load imbalance. This paper proposes the use of a dynamic loop scheduling approach for repartitioning in scientific applications that contain computationally intensive parallel loops. A new partition is computed and data is redistributed during the execution of a parallel loop. This approach addresses load imbalance factors as they arise during a computational step, in contrast to the traditional load balancing approach of determining a new partition and migrating data after a computational step. Preliminary performance tests of an application that implements the proposed approach validate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the approach.
An Infinite-Horizon Stochastic Optimal Control Model for Online Seller Behavior

In this work we propose and analyze a model which addresses the pulsing behavior of sellers in an online auction (online store). This pulsing behavior is observed when sellers switch between advertising and processing states. We assert that a seller switches her state in order to maximize her profit, and further that this switch can be identified through the seller's reputation. We find that for each seller there is an optimal reputation, i.e. the reputation at which the seller should switch her state in order to maximize her total profit. Relying on techniques of stochastic optimal control, we design a stochastic behavioral model for an online seller. This model incorporates the dynamics of resource allocation and reputation. We optimize the design model by using a stochastic advertising model put forth by Sethi (Optimal Control Applications and Methods, vol. 4, no. 2, 1983, pp. 179-184) and used effectively in Raman's more recent work (Automatica, vol. 42, no. 8, 2006, pp. 1357-1362). This model of reputation is combined with the effect of online reputation on sales price empirically verified by by Mink and Seifert (Group Decision and Negotiation International Conference, June 2006, pp. 253-255), and we derive the resulting Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) differential equation. The solution of this HJB equation relates optimal wealth level to a seller's reputation. We formulate both a full model, as well as a reduced model with fewer parameters, both of which have the same qualitative description of optimal seller behavior. Coincidentally, this reduced model has a closed form analytical solution which we also construct. Although the techniques we use are standard, we believe that the optimal strategy presented both analytically and numerically has implications on the way reputational information can be used to predict the behavior of an individual seller in an online market.
Chapter 1 3 D MODEL-DRIVEN VEHICLE MATCHING AND RECOGNITION

Matching vehicles subject to both large pose transformations and extreme illumination variations remains a technically challenging problem in computer vision. In this chapter, we first investigate the state-of-theart studies on vehicle matching, inverse rendering by which illumination can be factorized from the light reflectance field, and applications of the Near-IR illumination in computer vision. Then a 3D model-driven framework is developed, towards matching and recognizing vehicles with varying pose and (visible or Near-IR) illumination conditions. We adopt a compact set of 3D models to represent basic types of vehicle. The pose transformation is estimated by using approximated vehicle models that can effectively match objects under large viewpoint changes and partial occlusions. Second, with the estimation of surface reflectance property, illumination conditions are approximated by a low-dimensional linear subspace using spherical harmonics representation. By estimated pose and illumination conditions, we can re-render vehicles in the reference image to generate the relit image with the same pose and illumination conditions as the target image. Finally, we compare the relit image and the re-rendered target image to match vehicles in the original ref-