Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Privacy and data protection in smartphone messengers

Ever since the Snowden revelations regarding mass surveillance, the role of privacy protection in commodity communication software has gained increasing awareness in the general public. Still, during the last years many new messengers were developed for Android, where often privacy was not considered to be a key issue. Due to the widespread use of these apps even in corporate environments this opens up attack vectors that can result in advanced persistent threats. In this paper we analyze the most prominent messenger apps with respect to privacy concepts, focusing not only on the transmission layer regarding the support of encrypted communication, but also attacks targeting the communication metadata, e.g. detecting the existence of communication between users, as well as providing an enumeration of all users of a service. Furthermore, device theft and loss is a major issue regarding the protection of user privacy. Thus, we also analyzed, whether the messages are stored in a secure way on the device itself, or if control over the physical device allows access to the message data. In order to analyze the possible usability of these messengers as means for targeted surveillance of users by the provider (or an entity controlling it), we also analyzed the rights and privileges the respective apps need in order to be able to install and work. Here, major differences could be detected, with several apps claiming privileges that could not be explained with the normal mode of operation, thus posing a serious risk for the privacy of the respective user base.
Simulating capture behaviour in 802.11 radio modems

Simulation plays an important role in the performance evaluation of MAC protocols. Building simulation models which are able to accurately model physical behaviour is fundamental to the outcome of such techniques. Through both qualitative and quantitative comparison of experimental trace data against simulation results obtained using delay, power, and hybrid capture models, this paper investigates the performance of various packet capture models in the simulation analysis of the 802.11 PHY and MAC layer protocols. We illustrate these models are unable to accurately describe the fairness properties of the experimental data. A new model is proposed, Message Retraining, to describe the operation of an 802.11 receiver. We illustrate that the Message Retraining reception model is able to model the fairness characteristics obtained with an IEEE 802.11 radio modem more accurately than the previous capture models.
Estimator for a pack of lithium-ion cell

This paper propose to estimate the state of charge for a pack of lithium-ion cells used in the electric vehicles. For this purpose, experimental tests are made with Simscape-Matlab and serious effort is put on estimating the SoC of cells series lithium-ion battery with adaptive data driven. For avoiding the variations inside of a battery pack, it is necessary a filtering strategy for getting the performances of capacity, resistances conformity in battery pack. It is the intention to use Kalman filter algorithm, because of his advantages, only the last estimation value must be memorized, to obtain a clear SoC inside of battery pack. The multi-cells pack model will be simplified by the unit model. Different methods has been used to estimate the SoC of battery packs, a common way is the ampere-hour (Ah), based on current measurement and integration. Most of the time the performances are related to the measuring precision of the current. In open-loop the calculations can lead to errors because of uncertain disturbances. There are also other methods for estimating the SoC, like artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic, the extended Kalman filtering based estimators which is the most optimal method for minimize the variations. The main disadvantage of the methods mention above for battery packs is represented by the fact that inside of each individual cell there are constructive elements which cannot be ignored and mainly the purpose is to estimate the SoC for a battery cell. In this case for an optimal battery management calculation should be made for SoC and the lowest value will represent a reference point. In order to this strategy over-discharge will be avoid.
Feedback from V1 and inhibition from beyond the classical receptive field modulates the responses of neurons in the primate lateral geniculate nucleus

It is well established that the responses of neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) can be modulated by feedback from visual cortex, but it is still unclear how cortico-geniculate afferents regulate the flow of visual information to the cortex in the primate. Here we report the effects, on the gain of LGN neurons, of differentially stimulating the extraclassical receptive field, with feedback from the striate cortex intact or inactivated in the marmoset monkey, Callithrix jacchus. A horizontally oriented grating of optimal size, spatial frequency, and temporal frequency was presented to the classical receptive field. The grating varied in contrast (range: 0–1) from trial to trial, and was presented alone, or surrounded by a grating of the same or orthogonal orientation, contained within either a larger annular field, or flanks oriented either horizontally or vertically. V1 was ablated to inactivate cortico-geniculate feedback. The maximum firing rate of LGN neurons was greater with V1 intact, but was reduced by visually stimulating beyond the classical receptive field. Large horizontal or vertical annular gratings were most effective in reducing the maximum firing rate of LGN neurons. Magnocellular neurons were most susceptible to this inhibition from beyond the classical receptive field. Extraclassical inhibition was less effective with V1 ablated. We conclude that inhibition from beyond the classical receptive field reduces the excitatory influence of V1 in the LGN. The net balance between cortico-geniculate excitation and inhibition from beyond the classical receptive field is one mechanism by which signals relayed from the retina to V1 are controlled.
Using Computational Text Analysis Tools to Compare the Lyrics of Suicidal and Non-Suicidal Songwriters

Recent research in cognitive science and psycholinguistics has provided evidence that extreme behaviors such as suicide may be predicted by analyzing an individual’s writing style. This study seeks to extend research of this kind to a new and less traditional written genre: song lyrics. We applied the computational tools Coh-Metrix and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to a corpus of 35 songs each by 16 different songwriters in order to investigate how differences between suicidal and non-suicidal songwriters’ lyrics reflect previous research on suicide. The results of our study suggest that suicidal songwriters use words of lower concreteness, fewer words, more future verbs, and fewer death-themed words in their lyrics. Overall, our results contrast notably with previous research, providing a new perspective on deriving psychological information from non-traditional texts.
Mapping the degree of match between B2B interactions and inter-organizational systems: uptake of IOS in two Australian cooperatives

In this paper we will advance a perspective that links business network analysis to inter-organizational systems (IOS) uptake, starting with an analytic framework to characterize both different types of electronic business to business interactions (via the web) as well as the network of business relationships in which they are used. In order to see whether inter-organizational IT systems and business networks (mis)match they are compared on two dimensions: 'mode of interaction' (relational versus transactional) and 'nature of coordination' (emergent versus directive). The study analyses two Australian agricultural cooperatives 'Capgrains' and 'Bluegum'. The transactional focus and directive control of Capgrains' online ordering system did not match with the relational interaction and emergent coordination that was common in their network of business relationships, resulting in a mismatch and low level of use of the system. The Bluegum's group communication system much better matched with the business relationships in the cooperative and higher use of the IOS. Indicating a positive relation between match and uptake of the IOS.
Relationship Between Emotion Regulation and Work Family Balance:Mediating Roles of Positive and Negative Affectivity

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of emotion regulation strategy on work family relationship with the mediating effects of positive/negative affectivity.Methods: A self-reported questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from 239 full-time married employees.Results: Reappraisal strategy of emotion regulation was negatively related to the conflict component and positively related to the facilitation component of work-family balance;whereas suppression strategy was positively related to the conflict component and negatively related to the facilitation component of work-family balance.The results also demonstrated that negative affectivity had significant positive effects on the conflict component,while positive affectivity had significant positive effects on the facilitation component of work-family balance.More importantly,it was found that reappraisal strategy indirectly affected the conflict component of work-family balance through its effect on negative affectivity,that is,reappraisal could alleviate negative feelings of emotion,further reducing conflict between work and family.Besides that,reappraisal strategy may also indirectly affected the facilitation component of work-family balance through its effect on positive affectivity,that is,reappraisal could increase positive feelings of emotion and improving facilitation between work and family.Conclusion: Reappraisal strategy is beneficial to work family balance,while suppression strategy does damage to work family balance.
Connexin26 expression in brain parenchymal cells demonstrated by targeted connexin ablation in transgenic mice

Astrocytes are known to express the gap junction forming proteins connexin30 (Cx30) and connexin43 (Cx43), but it has remained controversial whether these cells also express connexin26 (Cx26). To investigate this issue further, we examined immunofluorescence labelling of glial connexins in wild‐type vs. transgenic mice with targeted deletion of Cx26 in neuronal and glial cells (Cx26fl/fl:Nestin‐Cre mice). The Cx26 antibodies utilized specifically recognized Cx26 and lacked cross reaction with highly homologous Cx30, as demonstrated by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence in Cx26‐transfected and Cx30‐transfected C6 glioma cells. Punctate immunolabelling of Cx26 with these antibodies was observed in leptomeninges and subcortical brain regions. This labelling was absent in subcortical areas of Cx26fl/fl:Nestin‐Cre mice, but persisted in leptomeningeal tissues of these mice, thereby distinguishing localization of Cx26 between parenchymal and non‐parenchymal tissue. In subcortical brain parenchyma, Cx26‐positive puncta were often co‐localized with astrocytic Cx43, and some were localized along astrocyte cell bodies and processes immunolabelled for glial fibrillary acidic protein. Cx26‐positive puncta were also co‐localized with punctate labelling of Cx47 around oligodendrocyte somata. Comparisons of Cx26 labelling in rodent species revealed a lower density of Cx26‐positive puncta and a more restricted distribution in subcortical regions of mouse compared with rat brain, perhaps partly explaining reported difficulties in detection of Cx26 in mouse brain parenchyma using antibodies or Cx26 gene reporters. These results support our earlier observations of Cx26 expression in astrocytes and its ultrastructural localization in individual gap junction plaques formed between astrocytes as well as in heterotypic gap junctions between astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.
Plant leaf classification using plant leaves based on rough set

Plant classification using plant leaves has been an important and difficult task. The key question in plant classification is extraction features and reduction features. In this paper, a method of plant leaf classification is proposed based on the neighborhood rough set. We mainly show that the is applicable to plant leaf classification. Experimental results on plant leaf image database demonstrate that the proposed method is effective and feasible for leaf classification.
The casein kinases Yck1p and Yck2p act in the secretory pathway, in part, by regulating the Rab exchange factor Sec2p

Sec2p is phosphorylated by the redundant casein kinases Yck1p and Yck2p. This promotes the interaction of Sec2p with the downstream effector, Sec15p, and contributes to Sec2p localization and function. Phosphorylation requires prior association of Sec2p with vesicles and reduction of the inhibitory Golgi lipid PI(4)P from the vesicle membrane.
Human rights and future people — Possibilities of argumentation

ABSTRACT Questions of sustainability will be of crucial importance for the twenty-first century. But do we have to think about questions of responsibilities regarding future people in terms of human rights? And if duties regarding sustainability fall outside the scope of human rights, what would this imply for the moral and political importance of human rights in general? This article investigates conceptually how we should see the relationship between human rights and long-term global ecological challenges. We will discuss how a human rights approach to questions of sustainability would be different from other approaches and what would be required to see those ecological challenges as human rights questions. We will discuss the possibilities for conceptualizing the relationship between human rights and sustainability. And we will briefly draw some conclusions in terms of topics for further debate.
An Evaluation of Interactive Boolean and Natural Language Searching with an Online Medical Textbook

Few studies have compared the interactive use of Boolean and natural language searching systems. We studied the use of three retrieval systems by senior medical students searching on queries generated by actual physicians in a clinical setting. The searchers were randomized to search on two of three different retrieval systems: a Boolean system, a word-based natural language system, and a concept-based natural language system. Our results showed no statistically significant differences in recall or precision among the three systems. Likewise, we found no user preference for any system over the others. In the course of this study we did find, however, a number of problems with traditional measures of retrieval evaluation when applied to the interactive search setting.
Machine Consciousness: A Modern Approach

The purpose of the tutorial is to offer an overview of the theoretical and empirical issues in artificial consciousness. Is it possible to devise, project and build a conscious machine? What are the theoretical challenges? What are the technical difficulties? What is the relation between cognition and consciousness? The most promising models will be sketched and contrasted: Global Work Space, Tononi’s information integration, Embodied Cognition, Externalist approaches, bio-inspired cognitive architectures. Questions to be discussed include: What advantage does consciousness provide? Is conscious experience the hallmark of a special style of information processing? Would conscious machines be able to outperform intelligent machines?
A Knowledge-Based Procedure to Approach Texture Analysis

The promise of a zero failure quote (0%) through a fast and touch less inspection system [4], which can be integrated directly in the production line, has made Machine Vision Systems very popular among quality inspection and industrial automation. However, by looking in detail at the available solutions on the market, it can be notice, that most of them are based on simple image processing principles, as threshold segmentation, and the rest can only be applied for very specific tasks. Textures [1] can be defined as image region containing a pattern with specific features such as colour distribution or periodicity, e.g. a grass or wood pattern. Many tasks in the field of image processing often require texture analysis methods. Due to the characteristics of texture patterns, the processing complexity of such images is increased considerably. A general method for texture analysis has not yet been developed, so that many different approaches are used to solve very specific tasks and an uncountable variety of texture algorithms exist. These algorithms could be subdivided in statistical methods (e.g. Co-occurrence matrices, Unser and Laws texture filters), stochastic models (e.g. Autoregressive models) or frequency analysis based methods (e.g. Fourier, Gabor Filter and Wavelets). The amount of publications in the field of texture analysis is simply overwhelming. Therefore, image processing based on texture analysis has become a wide research field, which is almost impossible to be entirely overlooked. This paper proposes a knowledge-based method to manage and evaluate different texture analysis algorithms, supporting the machine vision engineer to appropriately develop an algorithmic concept for a specific application in a short time.
Benefits of animated scrolling

We examined the benefits of animated scrolling using four speeds and three different document types in terms of task speed, accuracy and user preference. We considered reading tasks involving unformatted and formatted text documents, as well as counting tasks involving abstract symbol documents. We found that, compared with non-animated scrolling, animated scrolling significantly improves average task time, by up to 5.3% using 300 millisecond animations for reading documents and by up to 24% at 500 milliseconds for symbol documents. Animated scrolling also significantly decreases error rates for reading tasks by up to 54%, as well as improving satisfaction.
The Atkinson-Shiffrin model is ill-defined and does not correctly describe the Murdock free recall data

The Atkinson-Shiffrin (1968) model, the de facto standard model of short term memory cited thousands of times, fits the characteristically bowed free recall curves from Murdock (1962) well. However, it is long overdue to note that it is not a theoretically convincing explanation and that it does not fit all of the experimental relationships in the Murdock data. To obtain a qualitatively correct fit of the bowing I show that four model concepts have to work together. “Long term memory” is needed in the short term memory experiment, conscious or subconscious rehearsal of four items has to take place, this “rehearsal buffer” has to drop items randomly rather than according to a first-in firstout model, and the rehearsal buffer has to be empty before the experiment starts. Beyond the qualitative fit to the bowed recall curves, other relationships in the data are not borne out by the model. First, the “primacy strength”, the ratio of the probability of recall of the first item to the smallest probability of recall of an intermediate item, shows a significant experimental variation with presentation rate but no such variation is predicted by theory. Second, randomly emptying the rehearsal buffer predicts incorrectly that the number of recalled items should be the highest when the first recalled item is the last list item. Third, a simplified Atkinson-Shiffrin model is found to predict exact relationships between the recall probabilities of the initial items which do not seem to be borne out by the Murdock data. Fourth, the theory predicts a discontinuity in the differences between free recall graphs with different presentation rates for early list items which is probably not found in the Murdock data.
A Comparative Analysis between SMEs and Large Companies in Relation to Integration Technologies Adoption

Integration technologies like Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and Web Services allow organisations to collaborate with their partners, increase flexibility and gain competitive advantages. Despite the benefits that the integration of Information Systems (IS) can offer to enterprises, little attention has paid on the adoption of integration software by Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The body of literature suggests that the findings that derive from the study of large enterprises can not be generalised and applied in SMEs due to the nature and characteristics of SMEs. In an attempt to study this area, research questions were raised. These research questions are investigated in this paper and supported the authors to propose a research model. The proposed model might be used to explain why SMEs and large organisations take decisions for the adoption of integration technologies focusing on different factors. The results of an empirical study carried out on a sample of 102 companies of any size in Taiwan are presented, aiming at highlighting any significant difference in the way SMEs and large companies approach integration technologies.
GeoIGM: A Location-Aware IGM Platform

In recent years, peer-to-peer systems have gained traction in a number of important areas including; file-sharing, VoIP and scientific research vehicles such as the Grid. We argue that this merely scratches the surface of the potential of peer-to-peer systems. This paper proposes a novel peer-to-peer system, GeoIGM, well suited to the highly collaborative style of tagging and development of context-aware services, particularly location. With the provision two fundamental operations; geographically-scoped multicasting and queries, GeoIGM eases the development of next-generation location-aware systems.
Application of artificial neural networks (ANN) to high‐latitude dinocyst assemblages for the reconstruction of past sea‐surface conditions in Arctic and sub‐Arctic seas

The artificial neural network (ANN) method was applied to dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) assemblages to estimate palaeoceanographical conditions. The ANN method was adapted to three distinct data bases covering the northern North Atlantic (N = 371), plus the Arctic seas (N = 540) and the Bering Sea (N = 646). The relative abundance of 23 dinocyst taxa was calibrated against hydrographic variables (sea‐surface temperature, salinity and density in February and August, and seasonal extent of sea‐ice cover) using ANNs. The estimation of hydrographical parameters based on an ANN yields high coefficients of correlation between observations and reconstructions for each variable selected. The validation tests performed on the different data bases suggest more accurate calibration at the scale of the North Atlantic and Arctic (N = 540) than on a multibasin scale, i.e. when including the subpolar North Pacific (N = 646). The ANN calibrations and the modern analogue technique (MAT) have been applied to two sequences from the northwest North Atlantic spanning the past 25 000 yr for the purpose of comparison. Both approaches yielded similar results, generally within the range of their respective uncertainties, demonstrating their suitability. The main discrepancies generally correspond to assemblages with poor modern analogues for which we have to admit a higher degree of uncertainties in the reconstruction, whatever the approach used. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.