Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
WAVE : A Decentralized Authorization System for IoT via Blockchain Smart Contracts

Authorization is a crucial security component of many distributed systems handling sensitive data or actions, including IoT systems. We present the design of a fully decentralized authorization system, WAVE, that operates at a global scale providing fine-grained permissions, noninteractive delegation and proofs of permission that can be efficiently verified, while still supporting revocation. Using smart contracts on a public blockchain, it allows rich and complex policies to be expressed and is resistant to DoS attacks without relying on any central trusted parties. We also present a novel mechanism for protecting the secrecy of resources on the public blockchain, without out-of-band channels or interaction between granters, provers or verifiers. We implemented WAVE, which has now been running for over 500 days. We show that WAVE is efficient enough to support city-scale federation with millions of participants and permission policies.
The HIV-1 Non-subtype B Workgroup: an international collaboration for the collection and analysis of HIV-1 non-subtype B data.

HIV Diversity and Drug Resistance HIV-1 group M, the major pathogen responsible for the AIDS pandemic, is characterized by a wide range of genetic diversity among distinct subtypes (A-K), sub-subtypes (A1, A2; F1, F2), and circulating recombinant forms (CRF01_AE, CRF02_AG, and more). The different variants are approximately equidistantly related, and are distinct from one another across the entire genome. [1]
Ellipticals with Kinematically--Distinct Cores: WFPC2 Imaging of Globular Clusters

Here we present HST WFPC2 imaging of 14 kinematically--distinct core ellipticals to examine their globular cluster systems. In particular, we probe the galaxy central regions, for which we might expect to see the strongest signatures of some formation and destruction processes. These data substantially increase the number of extragalactic globular cluster systems studied to date. We find that the globular cluster luminosity, and color, vary only weakly, if at all, with galactocentric distance. The mean color of globular clusters are constant with globular cluster magnitude. Several clear trends are also present. Firstly, globular cluster colors are bluer (more metal poor by ~ 0.5 dex) than the underlying galaxy starlight at any given galactocentric distance. Second, we find a correlation over roughly ten magnitudes between the mean globular cluster metallicity and parent galaxy luminosity of the form Z goes as L^0.4. This relationship includes dwarf ellipticals, spiral galaxy bulges and giant ellipticals. Third, we find that globular cluster surface density distribution can be described by a core model, for which the core radius correlates with galaxy luminosity. Our results favor scenarios in which ellipticals form from massive, gas rich progenitors at early epochs. Detailed simulations of the formation of globular cluster systems would be valuable to draw firmer conclusions.
Burden of Disease Caused by Otitis Media: Systematic Review and Global Estimates

Background Otitis media (OM) is a leading cause of health care visits and drugs prescription. Its complications and sequelae are important causes of preventable hearing loss, particularly in developing countries. Within the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study, for the year 2005 we estimated the incidence of acute OM, chronic suppurative OM, and related hearing loss and mortality for all ages and the 21 WHO regional areas. Methods We identified risk factors, complications and sequelae of OM. We carried out an extensive literature review (Medline, Embase, Lilacs and Wholis) which lead to the selection of 114 papers comprising relevant data. Data were available from 15 of the 21 WHO regions. To estimate incidence and prevalence for all countries we adopted a two stage approach based on risk factors formulas and regression modelling. Results Acute OM incidence rate is 10.85% i.e. 709million cases each year with 51% of these occurring in under-fives. Chronic suppurative OM incidence rate is 4.76‰ i.e. 31million cases, with 22.6% of cases occurring annually in under-fives. OM-related hearing impairment has a prevalence of 30.82 per ten-thousand. Each year 21thousand people die due to complications of OM. Conclusions Our study is the first attempt to systematically review the available information and provide global estimates for OM and related conditions. The overall burden deriving from AOM, CSOM and their sequelae is considerable, particularly in the first five years of life and in the poorest countries. The findings call for incorporating OM-focused action within preventive and case management strategies, with emphasis on the more affected.
Retrieval of Surface Solar Radiation Budget under Ice Cloud Sky: Uncertainty Analysis and Parameterization

This study investigates and accounts for the influence of various ice cloud parameters on the retrieval of the surface solar radiation budget (SSRB) from reflected flux at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). The optical properties of ice clouds depend on ice crystal shape, size distribution, water content, and the vertical profiles of geometric and microphysical structure. As a result, the relationship between the SSRB and TOA-reflected flux for an ice cloud atmosphere is more complex and differs from that for water cloud and cloudless atmospheres. The sensitivities of the relationship between the SSRB and TOA-reflected flux are examined with respect to various ice cloud parameters. Uncertainties in the retrieval of the SSRB due to inadequate knowledge of various ice cloud parameters are evaluated thoroughly. The uncertainty study is concerned with both pure ice clouds and multiphase clouds (ice cloud above water cloud). According to the magnitudes of errors in the SSRB retrieval caused by different input variables, parameterized correction terms were introduced. If the input variables are known accurately, errors in the retrieval of the SSRB under a wide range of ice cloud conditions are expected to diminish substantially, to less than 10 W m 22 for 91% of the simulated ice cloud cases. In comparison, the same accuracy may be attained for only 19% of the retrievals for the same ice cloud cases using the retrieval algorithm designed for non-ice-cloud conditions.
Taphonomie des micromammifères et reconstitution paléoenvironnementale d’un site du Pléistocene superieur : l’étude de cas de Roc-en-Pail (France).

Au milieu du xxe siecle, des restes humains et fauniques ont ete retrouves associes a une industrie mousterienne au sein d’une sequence stratigraphique de 5 metres sur le site de Roc-en-Pail (Maine-et-Loire). Des excavations recentes ont mis au jour de nombreux restes de microvertebres au sein de 3 Unites Stratigraphiques. Pour determiner un possible biais lie au predateur, une analyse taphonomique sur l’alteration due a la digestion et l’abondance relative d’elements squelettiques a ete realisee. Elle met en lumiere un rapace nocturne de taille moyenne et peu destructeur comme agent accumulateur principal, probablement Bubo scandiacus ou Asio otus. Ces predateurs ont un regime eclectique mais vont preferentiellement chasser en milieu ouvert et se concentrer sur les especes les plus frequentes. Ainsi une surrepresentation des especes les plus abondantes est possible sur le site. La majorite des especes determinees telles que Dicrostonyx torquatus, Microtus gregalis, Ochotona pusilla, Lagopus sp. , Microtus oeconomus et Cricetulus migratorius indique un paysage ouvert sous un climat froid et sec. La proximite de la Loire a pu contribuer au maintien d’une ripisylve ou au moins d'une zone humide, ce qui est etaye par la presence d’Arvicola amphibius.
Hazards to hearing from combined exposure to toluene and noise in rats.

INTRODUCTION The main risk of hearing impairment from workplace exposure to organic solvents may stem from the potentiation of effects caused by concomitant noise exposure. The aim of the present study was to identify the main hazards from combined long-term, low-level exposure to noise and aromatic organic solvents, like toluene, in rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS The rats were exposed to steady-state, wide-band noise (WBN) and 0 ppm, 100 ppm, 200 ppm and 500 ppm toluene for 90 days. Hearing was assessed using Auditory Brain Stem Responses (ABR) and Distortion Product Oto-Acoustic Emissions (DPOAE) eight weeks after exposure. The impact of noise composition on the interaction between solvent and noise exposure was investigated in rats exposed for 10 days either to 0 ppm, 500 ppm, 1000 ppm or 1500 ppm toluene and either WBN or impulse noise. ABR and DPOAE tests were performed before and two weeks after exposure. RESULTS Long-term exposure of rats to WBN and toluene at 500 ppm or less did not show any increase in hearing impairment, compared to the rats exposed to noise only. Synergistic interaction was demonstrated in short-term exposure to 1500 ppm toluene and both to WBN and impulse noise, but hearing impairment was much larger when following exposure to impulse noise. CONCLUSION In combined exposure to low-levels of noise and toluene, even a long-term exposure did not reveal a potential hazard of hearing impairment. Synergistic interaction in combined short-term exposure to toluene and noise was noted both with respect to WBN and impulse noise, but the impulse noise was much more disruptive than WBN at the same level of noise exposure. The ototoxicity of organic solvents may primarily be a hazard also to human hearing due to the exacerbation of hearing loss by a possible co-exposure to especially harmful noise, such as impulse noise.
Metric Learning from Poses for Temporal Clustering of Human Motion

Temporal clustering of human motion into semantically meaningful behaviors is a challenging task. While unsupervised methods do well to some extent, the obtained clusters often lack a semantic interpretation. In this paper, we propose to learn what makes a sequence of human poses different from others such that it should be annotated as an action. To this end, we formulate the problem as weakly supervised temporal clustering for an unknown number of clusters. Weak supervision is attained by learning a metric from the implicit semantic distances derived from already annotated databases. Such a metric contains some low-level semantic information that can be used to effectively segment a human motion sequence into distinct actions or behaviors. The main advantage of our approach is that metrics can be successfully used across datasets, making our method a compelling alternative to unsupervised methods. Experiments on publicly available mocap datasets show the effectiveness of our approach.
Climatic variables determining Rhododendron sister taxa distributions and distributional overlaps in the Himalayas

Endemic species in mountains are vulnerable to rapid climate change. We elucidated distributional overlaps and related climatic variables for two endemic sister taxa of Rhododendron and a generalist with respect to current and future climate conditions. Our research questions are: (i) Which climate factors separate the distributions of Rhododendron cowanianum, R. lepidotum and R. lowndesii? (ii) How large is the geographic overlap in current and future distributions? (iii) Is it likely that the species are able to track their niches in the future? To answer these questions, we performed species distribution modelling on binomial Rhododendron occurrences accompanied by random pseudo-absences and absences constrained by other Rhododendron taxa. We used Generalized Linear Modelling to select variables, and modelled the distribution of each species using Random Forest algorithms, predicting their potential distribution in current and future climates. We also examined range differences to identify the variables segregating the distribution of these sister taxa, and estimated current and future distributional overlap between and within species. Precipitation variables explained R. lowndesii distribution, whereas temperature variables explained distributions of the other two species. We found that sister taxa have similar climate niche and hence high overlap in geographic distribution in current climate (46–68%) and potentially in future climate (53–77%). Under future climate conditions, the potential distribution area of R. lepidotum and R. cowanianum is predicted to be at a higher elevation, while the prediction for R. lowndesii is similar to its current geography. Our models suggest that there are more potential distribution areas for these narrowly distributed endemic species than are currently occupied, which illustrates that it is rather uncertain whether the Rhododendron species will be able to track the geographical location of their niches in the future.
Feasibility of cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near the inner Lagrange point (L1)

If it were to become apparent that dangerous changes in global climate were inevitable, despite greenhouse gas controls, active methods to cool the Earth on an emergency basis might be desirable. The concept considered here is to block 1.8% of the solar flux with a space sunshade orbited near the inner Lagrange point (L1), in-line between the Earth and sun. Following the work of J. Early [Early, JT (1989) J Br Interplanet Soc 42:567–569], transparent material would be used to deflect the sunlight, rather than to absorb it, to minimize the shift in balance out from L1 caused by radiation pressure. Three advances aimed at practical implementation are presented. First is an optical design for a very thin refractive screen with low reflectivity, leading to a total sunshade mass of ≈20 million tons. Second is a concept aimed at reducing transportation cost to $50/kg by using electromagnetic acceleration to escape Earth's gravity, followed by ion propulsion. Third is an implementation of the sunshade as a cloud of many spacecraft, autonomously stabilized by modulating solar radiation pressure. These meter-sized “flyers” would be assembled completely before launch, avoiding any need for construction or unfolding in space. They would weigh a gram each, be launched in stacks of 800,000, and remain for a projected lifetime of 50 years within a 100,000-km-long cloud. The concept builds on existing technologies. It seems feasible that it could be developed and deployed in ≈25 years at a cost of a few trillion dollars, <0.5% of world gross domestic product (GDP) over that time.
Integration of smart meters into management systems in automation

On the way to a totally integrated automation system not only functional process data are of importance. Nowadays, where increasing the efficiency regarding resource consumption of buildings and production plants is a big topic, centralised access to data provided by Smart Meters plays a significant role. This work presents first steps towards the integration of M-Bus-based metering devices into management applications in automation systems by means of OPC Unified Architecture.
Pattern Recognition

We discuss a more powerful probabilistic graphical model for discovering semantic patterns from sequential text data, such as sentences. It is developed based on the idea that each word (or each symbol) in a sentence itself might carry lexical, semantic, or syntactic information, which can be used to replace conditional dependences in existing methods. Hence, our method has fewer conditional independence assumptions in contrast to these existing probabilistic graphical methods, such as CRFs, HMMs, MEMMs and Naive Bayes. Moreover, our method does not need to employ dynamic programming and therefore the on-line time complexity and memory complexity are reduced. We test the method on discovering noun phrases, the meaning of an ambiguous word, and semantic arguments of a verb in a sentence. We ﬁnd that the misclassiﬁcation rate is smaller compared to previously published results on the same data sets. For example, the method achieves an average f -measure of 98.25% for recognizing noun phrases on WSJ data from Penn Treebank; an average accuracy of 81.12% for recognizing the six sense word line ; an average f -measure of 93.61% for classifying semantic argument boundaries of a verb in a sentence on WSJ data from Penn Treebank and PropBank.
Reducing Information Avoidance Through Affirmation

Although screening for medical problems can have health benefits, the potentially threatening nature of the results can lead people to avoid screening. In three studies, we examined whether affirming people’s self-worth reduces their avoidance of medical-screening feedback. Participants completed an online risk calculator for a fictitious medical condition and then were offered a choice to receive or not receive their risk feedback. Our results showed that affirmation decreased participants’ avoidance of risk feedback (Study 1) and eliminated the increased avoidance typically observed when risk feedback might obligate people to engage in undesired behavior (Study 2) and when feedback is about risk for an untreatable disease (Study 3). These findings suggest that affirmation may be an effective strategy for increasing rates of medical screening.
Evolutionary Spread and Recombination of Porcine Endogenous Retroviruses in the Suiformes

ABSTRACT Different Suiformes with increasing phylogenetic distance to the common pig (Sus scrofa) were assayed for the presence of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) in general (pol gene), while the distribution of long terminal repeat (LTR) types (with or without repeats in U3) and env genes (classes A, B, and C) were determined in detail. PERV was not detectable in the most distantly related species, while classes PERV-A and PERV-B are present in Suiformes originating in the Pliocene epoch, and class PERV-C was detectable only in S. scrofa and in closely related species originating in the Holocene epoch. This distribution pattern of PERV classes is in line with our previous study on the age of PERV (45) and suggests an African origin of about 7.5 million years ago (MYA) and a gradual spread of PERV through the Suiformes. It seems likely that PERV-C originated more recently (1.5 to 3.5 MYA) by recombination with a homologue of unknown descent, while the origin of the repeatless LTR was a separate event approximately 3.5 MYA.
Noise Effects in Polymer Dynamics

The study of the noise induced effects on the dynamics of a chain molecule crossing a potential barrier, in the presence of a metastable state, is presented. A two-dimensional stochastic version of the Rouse model for a flexible polymer has been adopted to mimic the molecular dynamics and to take into account the interactions between adjacent monomers. We obtain a nonmonotonic behavior of the mean first passage time and its standard deviation, of the polymer center of inertia, with the noise intensity. These findings reveal a noise induced effect on the mean crossing time. The role of the polymer length is also investigated.
On semi-supervised fuzzy c-means clustering

We have two methods of pattern classification, one is supervised and the other is unsupervised. Unsupervised classification, which is called clustering and classifies data except external criteria, is very useful in the methods of pattern classification so that it has been applied in many fields. There are two types of clustering, one is hierarchical and the other is non-hierarchical. We often use hard c-means clustering (HCM) or fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) as typical methods of non-hierarchical clustering. By the way, supervised classification can achieve practical classification results but can't handle a lot of data. On the other hand, unsupervised classification can handle a lot of data but the method is complex and sometimes results look a bit of strange. Therefore recently, study of semi-supervised classification has been studied. This classification has advantages of both of the above-mentioned methods, e.g., practical results, low costs and short calculation time. In this paper, we propose new semi-supervised classification algorithms based on fuzzy c-means clustering in which some membership grades are given as supervised membership grade in advance.
Neurophysiological Correlates of Musical and Prosodic Phrasing: Shared Processing Mechanisms and Effects of Musical Expertise

The processing of prosodic phrase boundaries in language is immediately reflected by a specific event-related potential component called the Closure Positive Shift (CPS). A component somewhat reminiscent of the CPS in language has also been reported for musical phrases (i.e., the so-called ‘music CPS’). However, in previous studies the quantification of the music-CPS as well as its morphology and timing differed substantially from the characteristics of the language-CPS. Therefore, the degree of correspondence between cognitive mechanisms of phrasing in music and in language has remained questionable. Here, we probed the shared nature of mechanisms underlying musical and prosodic phrasing by (1) investigating whether the music-CPS is present at phrase boundary positions where the language-CPS has been originally reported (i.e., at the onset of the pause between phrases), and (2) comparing the CPS in music and in language in non-musicians and professional musicians. For the first time, we report a positive shift at the onset of musical phrase boundaries that strongly resembles the language-CPS and argue that the post-boundary ‘music-CPS’ of previous studies may be an entirely distinct ERP component. Moreover, the language-CPS in musicians was found to be less prominent than in non-musicians, suggesting more efficient processing of prosodic phrases in language as a result of higher musical expertise.
Vehicle detection for thermal vision-based traffic monitoring system using principal component analysis

Machine vision is a popular technology used in Traffic Monitoring System (TMS) to detect vehicles in the traffic scene. Recently, thermal vision provides an alternative machine vision for the TMS since it demonstrates good vehicle detection accuracy, especially under night condition. Under the thermal vision, the vehicles appear almost similar in the daytime and nighttime, even though the illuminations of the traffic scene are significantly different. This vision effect motivates the development of a single vehicle detection algorithm that works in both of the illumination conditions. It is a challenge that has existed for decades. In this paper, a framework for thermal-vision-based TMS is proposed. Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HoG) is a feature descriptor used to recognize the vehicles on the road. The similar appearance of the vehicles under the thermal vision allows the use of single adaptive reference descriptor in vehicle detection for each lane of the road, in which the reference descriptor is generated and optimized with Principal Component Analysis (PCA). In both the daytime and nighttime, the proposed TMS framework has demonstrated high vehicle detection accuracies under the thermal vision.