Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distributing Secret Keys with Quantum Continuous Variables: Principle, Security and Implementations

The ability to distribute secret keys between two parties with information-theoretic security, that is regardless of the capacities of a malevolent eavesdropper, is one of the most celebrated results in the field of quantum information processing and communication. Indeed, quantum key distribution illustrates the power of encoding information on the quantum properties of light and has far-reaching implications in high-security applications. Today, quantum key distribution systems operate in real-world conditions and are commercially available. As with most quantum information protocols, quantum key distribution was first designed for qubits, the individual quanta of information. However, the use of quantum continuous variables for this task presents important advantages with respect to qubit-based protocols, in particular from a practical point of view, since it allows for simple implementations that require only standard telecommunication technology. In this review article, we describe the principle of continuous-variable quantum key distribution, focusing in particular on protocols based on coherent states. We discuss the security of these protocols and report on the state-of-the-art in experimental implementations, including the issue of side-channel attacks. We conclude with promising perspectives in this research field.
Extracting predictive information from heterogeneous data streams using Gaussian Processes

Financial markets are notoriously complex environments, presenting vast amounts of noisy, yet potentially informative data. We consider the problem of forecasting financial time series from a wide range of information sources using online Gaussian Processes with Automatic Relevance Determination (ARD) kernels. We measure the performance gain, quantified in terms of Normalised Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE), Median Absolute Deviation (MAD) and Pearson correlation, from fusing each of four separate data domains: time series technicals, sentiment analysis, options market data and broker recommendations. We show evidence that ARD kernels produce meaningful feature rankings that help retain salient inputs and reduce input dimensionality, providing a framework for sifting through financial complexity. We measure the performance gain from fusing each domain's heterogeneous data streams into a single probabilistic model. In particular our findings highlight the critical value of options data in mapping out the curvature of price space and inspire an intuitive, novel direction for research in financial prediction.
Privacy enhancing identity management: protection against re-identification and profiling

User centric identity management will be necessary to protect user's privacy in an electronic society. However, designing such systems is a complex task, as the expectations of the different parties involved in electronic transactions have to be met. In this work we give an overview on the actual situation in user centric identity management and point out problems encountered there. Especially we present the current state of research and mechanisms useful to protect the user's privacy. Additionally we show security problems that have to be borne in mind while designing such a system and point out possible solutions. Thereby, we concentrate on attacks on linkability and identifiability, and possible protection methods.
A hybrid systems and optimization-based control approach to realizing multi-contact locomotion on transfemoral prostheses

This paper presents a systematic methodology utilizing multi-domain hybrid system models and optimization based controllers to achieve human-like multi-contact prosthetic walking experimentally on a custom-built prosthesis: AMPRO. Inspired by previous work that realized multi-contact locomotion on a bipedal robot AMBER2, a hybrid system based optimization problem is proposed leveraging the framework of multi-domain hybrid systems. Utilizing a reference human gait coupled with physical constraints, the end result of this optimization problem is stable multi-contact prosthetic gaits that can be implemented on the prostheses directly. Leveraging control methods that stabilize bipedal walking robots- control Lyapunov function based quadratic programs coupled with variable impedance control-an online optimization-based controller is formulated to realize the designed gait in both simulation and experimentally on AMPRO. Improved tracking and energy efficiency are seen when this methodology is implemented experimentally. Additionally, the resulting multi-contact prosthetic walking captures the essentials of natural human walking both kinematically and kinetically.
Testing Real-Time Constraints in a Process Algebraic Setting

Verifying timing properties of real-time systems by traditional approaches that depend on the exploration of the entire system state space is impractical for large systems. In contrast, testing allows the search for violations of a property to be narrowed to a relatively small portion of the overall state space, based on assumptions regarding the structure of an implementation. We present a domain testing based technique for verifying timing constraints of real-time systems, given timing constraints specified as minimum and maximum allowable delays between input/output events. The testing methodology is presented in a process algebraic setting where it is an efficient alternative to model checking for verifying system timing properties. An example illustrates the application of our testing technique to a timed interactive system.
Post-stroke balance rehabilitation under multi-level electrotherapy: a conceptual review

Stroke is caused when an artery carrying blood from heart to an area in the brain bursts or a clot obstructs the blood flow thereby preventing delivery of oxygen and nutrients. About half of the stroke survivors are left with some degree of disability. Innovative methodologies for restorative neurorehabilitation are urgently required to reduce long-term disability. The ability of the nervous system to respond to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, function, and connections is called neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is involved in post-stroke functional disturbances, but also in rehabilitation. It has been shown that active cortical participation in a closed-loop brain machine interface (BMI) can induce neuroplasticity in cortical networks where the brain acts as a controller, e.g., during a visuomotor task. Here, the motor task can be assisted with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) where the BMI will act as a real-time decoder. However, the cortical control and induction of neuroplasticity in a closed-loop BMI is also dependent on the state of brain, e.g., visuospatial attention during visuomotor task performance. In fact, spatial neglect is a hidden disability that is a common complication of stroke and is associated with prolonged hospital stays, accidents, falls, safety problems, and chronic functional disability. This hypothesis and theory article presents a multi-level electrotherapy paradigm toward motor rehabilitation in virtual reality that postulates that while the brain acts as a controller in a closed-loop BMI to drive NMES, the state of brain can be can be altered toward improvement of visuomotor task performance with non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS). This leads to a multi-level electrotherapy paradigm where a virtual reality-based adaptive response technology is proposed for post-stroke balance rehabilitation. In this article, we present a conceptual review of the related experimental findings.
PD-1 Blockade in Treatment of NSCLC: A Comprehensive Review of Clinical Efficacy, Safety and Cost-effective

Non-small cell lung cancer, also called NSCLC, makes up 85% incidence in lung cancer, presents a considerable challenge for its high mortality rate and poor prognosis. In recent years, the invention of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor nivolumab, which is a type of immune checkpoint inhibitors, emerging as a groundbreaking drug, has offered a potential solution to tackle the inescapable drawbacks of traditional cancer treatments. Several clinical trials assessing nivolumab's efficacy and safety in the form of monotherapy or combination therapy, demonstrated that nivolumab has remarkably increased the progression-free survival and overall survival for NSCC, in both first- and second-line. Notably, compared to chemotherapy drugs, nivolumab showed a favorable safety profile with fewer immune-related adverse events. Given the high cost and escalating use of nivolumab, finding more cost-effective treatment regimen is imperative. The purpose of this review is to delve into the clinical efficacy and safety of PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab as immunotherapy remedy against NSCLC, providing some therapeutic recommendations for cost-effective. While continued research and development are vital to further enhance nivolumab's potential as a more potent tool to combat cancer.
Algebraic constructions of Shannon codes for regular channels

The problem of the explicit construction of encoders achieving Shannon's capacity and admitting a simple decoding algorithm is considered. A solution based on Justesen's idea of variable concatenated codes is given for the case of a symmetric memoryless channel with an input alphabet of prime power order, under the assumption that the information messages are equiprobable. This construction remains good for a nonsymmetric channel provided the encoding rate is smaller than a well-defined "pseudocapacity. " In case the channel is regular, it is shown that the error probability after decoding is an exponentially decreasing function of the block length for any encoding rate less than the channel capacity.
Land Bridge Travelers of the Tertiary: The Eastern Asianâ€“Eastern North American Floristic Disjunction

can floristic disjunction is a curious phenomenon that has fascinated botanists for over 200 years: the existence of an entire catalog of species and genera shared by two vastly separated regions and found nowhere else. It has inspired generations of researchers and given impetus to such fields as biogeography and paleobotany. Scientists now recognize many different disjunct patterns around the world, but the eastern Asian–eastern North American was the first to be discovered, and remains the classic disjunction. It continues to stimulate new scientific papers, with each successive generation applying new research tools to its mysteries. Recognition of the disjunction began in the 1750s with botanists making lists of species found in both regions. By the mid-1800s botanists had collected enough materials to lead them to the astounding conclusion that the flora of eastern North America (ENA) had more in common with eastern Asia (EA) than it did with western North America. Most of Land Bridge Travelers of the Tertiary: The Eastern Asian–Eastern North American Floristic Disjunction
Estimation of the 3-D center of mass excursion from force-plate data during standing

Biomechanical models are used with force-plate information to determine the center of mass (COM) trajectory during standing. They are usually based on simplifying assumptions and are often limited to a single-plane analysis. The objectives of this study were to present a three-dimensional (3-D) model to calculate the excursion of the COM of the human body, validate it and compare its performance to a video-based system during quiet standing and antero-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML) self-imposed oscillations. In addition to the vertical displacements of the COM, the originality of the method lies in eliminating the accelerations terms in the model and their related assumptions. The model was able to estimate closely the COM displacements in quiet standing [a root mean square (RMS) of 0.9 mm or less]. For the self-imposed oscillations, the RMS differences were 6.6 mm in the AP and ML directions and 1.6 mm along the vertical axis. For all three testing conditions, the coefficients of correlation of the COM displacements between the model and the video methods were above 0.8 with the exception of the vertical direction, where the values were more variable.
Title Postnatal Expression of BRAFV 600 E Does Not Induce Thyroid Cancer inMouse Models of Thyroid Papillary Carcinoma

Title Postnatal Expression of BRAFV600E Does Not Induce Thyroid Cancer in Mouse Models of Thyroid Papillary Carcinoma Author(s) Shimamura, Mika; Nakahara, Mami; Orim, Florence; Kurashige, Tomomi; Mitsutake, Norisato; Nakashima, Masahiro; Kondo, Shinji; Yamada, Masanobu; Taguchi, Ryo; Kimura, Shioko; Nagayama, Yuji Citation Endocrinology, 154(11), pp.4423-4430; 2013 Issue Date 2013-11-01 URL http://hdl.handle. net/10069/34212 Right © 2013 by The Endocrine Society. NAOSITE: Nagasaki University's Academic Output SITE
International Family Planning Perspectives Severity and Cost of Unsafe Abortion Complications Treated in Nigerian Hospitals

Abortion is legally restricted in most African countries, and in Nigeria it is permitted only to save the life of a pregnant woman. Nevertheless, the practice is common: According to an estimate based on a 1996 national survey of physicians and hospitals in Nigeria, 610,000 abortions occurred in a one-year period, a rate of about 25 abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (15–44 years). 1 This study also found that 27% of physicians in private practice performed abortions despite the legal restrictions. A majority of the abortions in Nigeria take place under unsafe conditions and constitute a major source of maternal morbidity and mortality. A study based on the 1996 survey of physicians and hospitals estimated that 142,000 women were treated for complications of abortion each year, and experts believe that unsafe abortion accounts for at least 13% and possibly 30–40% of maternal deaths. 1–3 However , a substantial proportion of women having an abortion in Nigeria seek the procedure from a physician, often in a private clinic or hospital. Research in the mid-1990s, based on a nationally representative sample of facilities, estimated that 27% of women receiving abortion care were seeking an abortion, 47% needed treatment for complications of an abortion attempt and 26% were treated for complications of a spontaneous abortion. 1 The present study provides new and comprehensive information from personal interviews of women with all types of pregnancy loss, and also obtains medical information from their providers. Unsafe abortion is not only a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among women, but also an economic drain on the health care system. As in many other countries in the region, a high proportion of gynecological admissions to hospitals result from complications of unsafe induced abortion. Providing postabortion care to these women involves huge costs and thus diminishes the health care system's capacity to provide other needed services. 4 Reducing the burden of unsafe abortion on women, their families, health care providers and the fragile health care system presents an important policy challenge to Nigeria and similar developing countries. At the same time, some evidence suggests that abortions may be safer in Nigeria now than they were a decade ago, as more women appear to be obtaining the procedure from trained professionals. According to data from a survey of women in 2002–2003, an estimated 10% of women who had abortions were hospitalized due to complications. 5 In …
An Evaluation of Transformer Models for Early Intrusion Detection in Cloud Continuum

With the increasing popularity of the cloud continuum, the security of different layers and nodes involved has become more relevant than ever. Intrusion detection systems, are one of the main tools to identify and intercept intrusion attacks. Furthermore, identifying the attacks in time, before they are completed, is necessary in order to deploy countermeasures in time and to limit the losses. In this work, we evaluate the use of transformer models for implementing early-detection signature-based detection systems targeted at Cloud Continuum. We implement the approach in the context of our tool for early detection of network intrusions and we evaluate it using the CICIDS2017 dataset and MQTT-IDS-2020. The results show that transformer models are a viable alternative for early-detection systems and this will pave the road for further research on the topic.
Brushless dual-electrical-port, dual mechanical port machines based on the flux modulation principle

Based on the flux modulation principle, this paper proposes a novel brushless dual-electrical port dual mechanical port (DEDM) machine. From the view of derived torque equations, the proposed topology can be regarded as a combination of a motor/generator with a brushless magnetic continuously variable transmission. First, the structure and operation principle of the proposed machine are introduced. Then, the function and operation modes are discussed. Moreover, some parasitic effects which may influence the machine performance are also researched. Finally, several key performances are investigated and analyzed by finite element algorithm (FEA).
Active Bayesian perception and reinforcement learning

In a series of papers, we have formalized an active Bayesian perception approach for robotics based on recent progress in understanding animal perception. However, an issue for applied robot perception is how to tune this method to a task, using: (i) a belief threshold that adjusts the speed-accuracy tradeoff; and (ii) an active control strategy for relocating the sensor e.g. to a preset fixation point. Here we propose that these two variables should be learnt by reinforcement from a reward signal evaluating the decision outcome. We test this claim with a biomimetic fingertip that senses surface curvature under uncertainty about contact location. Appropriate formulation of the problem allows use of multi-armed bandit methods to optimize the threshold and fixation point of the active perception. In consequence, the system learns to balance speed versus accuracy and sets the fixation point to optimize both quantities. Although we consider one example in robot touch, we expect that the underlying principles have general applicability.
Spectral dimension of fractal trees.

We present in detail a calculation of the spectral dimension for a class of fractal trees called ${\mathrm{NT}}_{\mathit{D}}$ (i.e., ``nice trees of dimension D,'' defined as trees whose branches are splitting in r every time the distance from the origin is doubled, where r is an integer greater than 1) which presents nonanomalous diffusion. This is performed by an analytical technique, related to an exact rescaling of the time variable, which can be extended to more general geometrical structures.
Novel interconnect infrastructures for massive multicore chips — an overview

With the well-known trend of CMOS scaling as per Moore's law, traditional on-chip interconnect systems are reaching the point of having a very limited ability to meet the performance needs and specifications of systems-on-chip (SoCs). The conventional two-dimensional (2D) copper-based IC has inherent limitations due to the geometrical constraints of the planar structure. Innovative interconnect paradigms based on optical technologies, RF/wireless, carbon nanotubes, or 3D integration are promising alternatives that may indeed overcome the challenges encountered. In this paper we present an overview of different emerging non-traditional approaches to achieve massive degree of integration in a single chip. The advantages and underlying challenges of each method are highlighted.
PENGARUH MOTIVASI KERJA, DISIPLIN KERJA DAN LINGKUNGAN KERJA TERHADAP PRODUKTIVITAS KARYAWAN PADA PT. PETROKOPINDO CIPTA SELARAS

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji pengaruh antara variabel motivasi kerja, disiplin kerja, dan lingkungan kerja terhadap produktivitas kerja karyawan di PT Petrokopindo Cipta Selaras secara parsial. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kuantitatif. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah seluruh karyawan PT Petrokopindo Cipta Selaras yang berjumlah 184 orang. Pengambilan sampel penelitian ini disebut dengan simple random sampling dengan menggunakan rumus slovin dengan sampel sebanyak 126 sampel. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah Structural Equation Model (SEM) dengan alat analisis SmartPLS. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah terdapat pengaruh positif dan signifikan secara parsial karena nilai t statistik > 1,96 artinya signifikan dan apabila nilai p value < 0,05 pada penelitian ini didapat hasil 0,00 artinya berpengaruh (h1 diterima). kesimpulannya Motivasi kerja, disiplin kerja, dan lingkungan kerja berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap produktivitas kerja karyawan PT Petrokopindo Cipta Selaras.
Managing verification error traces with Bounded Model Debugging

Managing long verification error traces is one of the key challenges of automated debugging engines. Today, debuggers rely on the iterative logic array to model sequential behavior which drastically limits their application. This work presents Bounded Model Debugging, an iterative, systematic and practical methodology to allow debuggers to tackle larger problems than previously possible. Based on the empirical observation that errors are excited in temporal proximity of the observed failures, we present a framework that improves performance by up to two orders of magnitude and solve 2.7x more problems than a conventional debugger.
Multiple sclerosis in Canada 2011 to 2031: results of a microsimulation modelling study of epidemiological and economic impacts.

INTRODUCTION The objective of our study was to present model-based estimates and projections on current and future health and economic impacts of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Canada over a 20-year time horizon (2011-2031). METHODS Using Statistics Canada's Population Health Microsimulation Model (POHEM) framework, specifically the population-based longitudinal, microsimulation model named POHEM-Neurological, we identified people with MS from health administrative data sources and derived incidence and mortality rate parameters from a British Columbia population-based cohort for future MS incidence and mortality projections. We also included a utility-based measure (Health Utilities Index Mark 3) reflecting states of functional health to allow projections of health-related quality of life. Finally, we estimated caregiving parameters and health care costs from Canadian national surveys and health administrative data and included them as model parameters to assess the health and economic impact of the neurological conditions. RESULTS The number of incident MS cases is expected to rise slightly from 4051 cases in 2011 to 4794 cases per 100 000 population in 2031, and the number of Canadians affected by MS will increase from 98 385 in 2011 to 133 635 in 2031. The total per capita health care cost (excluding out-of-pocket expenses) for adults aged 20 and older in 2011 was about $16 800 for individuals with MS, and approximately $2500 for individuals without a neurological condition. Thus, after accounting for additional expenditures due to MS (excluding out-of-pocket expenses), total annual health sector costs for MS are expected to reach $2.0 billion by 2031. As well, the average out-of-pocket expenditure for people with MS was around $1300 annually throughout the projection period. CONCLUSION MS is associated with a significant economic burden on society, since it usually affects young adults during prime career- and family-building years. Canada has a particularly high prevalence of MS, so research such as the present study is essential to provide a better understanding of the current and future negative impacts of MS on the Canadian population, so that health care system policymakers can best plan how to meet the needs of patients who are affected by MS. These findings also suggest that identifying strategies to prevent MS and more effectively treat the disease are needed to mitigate these future impacts.