Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Declassification: Dimensions and principles

Computing systems often deliberately release (or declassify) sensitive information. A principal security concern for systems permitting information release is whether this release is safe: is it possible that the attacker compromises the information release mechanism and extracts more secret information than intended? While the security community has recognised the importance of the problem, the state-of-the-art in information release is, unfortunately, a number of approaches with somewhat unconnected semantic goals. We provide a road map of the main directions of current research, by classifying the basic goals according to what information is released, who releases information, where in the system information is released and when information can be released. With a general declassification framework as a long-term goal, we identify some prudent principles of declassification. These principles shed light on existing definitions and may also serve as useful “sanity checks” for emerging models.
Retrieving sup-pixel land cover composition through an effective integration of the spatial, spectral, and temporal dimensions of MERIS imagery

A computer code (acronym 5S) has been developed that allows estimation of the solar radiation backscattered by the Earth-surface-atmosphere system, as it is observed by a satellite sensor. Given the Lambertian ground reflectance, the apparent reflectance of the observed pixel is estimated by taking into account the effects of gaseous absorption, scattering by molecules and aerosols and, to some extent, inhomogeneity in the ground reflectance. The input parameters (observation geometry, atmosphere model, ground reflectance and spectral band) can be either selected from some proposed standard conditions (e.g. spectral bands of a satellite sensor) or user-defined. Besides the pixel apparent reflectance, the code provides the gaseous transmittance, the irradiance at the surface and the different contributions to the satellite signal according to the origin of the measured radiance. Some complementary results are also available; among others, benchmark calculations permit assessment of the code accuracy.
Lessons learned from bednet distribution in Central Mozambique.

INTRODUCTION Malaria is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. Use of insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) is an important preventive intervention. Selection of the best mechanisms for distribution and promotion of ITNs to vulnerable populations is an important strategic issue. METHODS Commercial shopkeepers and groups of community leaders were trained to promote and sell ITNs in 19 sites in central Mozambique between 2000 and 2004. Pregnant women and children under 5 years of age comprised the target population. Sales records, household survey results and project experiences were examined to derive 'lessons learned'. RESULTS PRIMARY OUTCOME An end-of-project household survey revealed that 40.8% of households owned one or more bednets, but only 19.6% of households owned a net that had been re-treated with insecticide within the preceding 6 months. Higher levels of bednet (treated or untreated) coverage (over 50%) were achieved in urban or peri-urban sites than in rural sites (as low as 15%). Bednet ownership was significantly associated with higher socio-economic status (odds ratios for association with bednet ownership: 5.6 for highest educational level compared with no education, 0.4 for dirt floor compared with cement or other finished flooring, 2.1 for automobile ownership compared with transportation on foot), but was negatively associated with the presence of young children in the household (odds ratio 0.5). Primary output: 23 000 ITNs were sold during the course of the project. Process lessons: Nearly all of the community leader sites failed and were replaced by shopkeepers or Ministry of Health personnel. Sales were most brisk in more prosperous urban and peri-urban sites (up to 147 nets/month) but were significantly slower in poorer, rural sites (as low as three nets/month). Remote rural sites with slow sales were more expensive to serve. Logistical difficulties were related to tariffs, transport, management of cash, warehousing and organization of re-treatment campaigns. CONCLUSIONS This project failed to achieve adequate or equitable levels of ITN coverage in a timely manner in the programme sites. However, its findings helped support a subsequent Mozambican decision to conduct targeted distribution of long-lasting nets to the neediest populations in the provinces where the project was conducted.
GP attitudes and self-reported behaviour in primary care consultations for low back pain

Background. The implementation of guideline recommendations in primary care has become widespread. The treatment of low back pain (LBP) has followed suite. Research shows that the use of LBP guidelines is influenced by the believability of the underlying evidence, the GPs consultation style and uncertainties surrounding diagnosis and treatment. Objective. To qualitatively examine the attitudes and self-reported behaviour of GPs in relation to guideline adherence for patients with LBP. Method. A mixed-method design combining a national UK-based survey of GPs and physiotherapists with an embedded qualitative study. This report focuses only on the GP interviews. We explored GPs’ experience of managing LBP patients and the rationale for treatment offered to a patient described in a written vignette. All interviews were digitally recorded, fully transcribed and analysed using the constant comparative method. Results. GPs encountered difficulties adhering to guideline recommendations for LBP patients. They experienced particular tensions between recommendations to stay active versus the expectation of being prescribed rest. GPs expressed that chronic LBP often poses an intractable problem requiring specialist advice. The perception that guideline recommendations are ‘imposed’ may create resistance, and the evidence base is not always considered believable. Conclusions. GPs acknowledge guideline recommendations but divergence occurs in implementation. This is due to GPs focussing on the whole person—not just one condition—and the importance of maintaining the doctor–patient relationship, which relies on effective negotiation of mutual perceptions and expectations. Further exploration on how consultation processes can be constructed to effectively combine evidence with patient-centred care is needed.
Defective Intervention Effects, Die!

The purpose of this discussion is to seek to clarify a number of issues surrounding the Minimal Link Condition (MLC) of Chomsky (1995) in the context of the innovations introduced in Chomsky (1998, 1999). More challengingly, it examines critically a set of observations that Chomsky has used to establish the importance of defective intervention effects in syntactic computation, and argues that modifications in Chomsky’s assumptions that are more or less independently justified obviate the need to recognise such phenomena. It is proposed that from a conceptual perspective, this is an unqualified good thing! Defective intervention effects require us to suppose that deleted syntactic objects can enjoy an afterlife, whereby they can continue to effect syntactic processes after their demise. Furthermore, it appears necessary to suppose that in certain circumstances, the demise is genuine, with deleted objects being totally inert for the functioning of subsequent syntactic operations. This requires Chomsky to explore conditions governing the annulment of defective intervention effects. As a consequence, two stages of explanation become necessary to account for why a deleted object behaves in a manner we might expect: a first stage, offering reasons for why it might not behave in this manner, and a second stage proposing an account of why these reasons are not operative in particular cases. The modifications proposed are, I will suggest, consistent with the fundamental principles underlying the Minimalist Program, a matter of some importance, as I do not intend what follows to be seen as attempting to undermine this approach to syntactic theory. Accordingly, the paper should be read as concerned, first and foremost, as an attempt to sketch an alternative implementation of minimalist ideas. The strategy pursued throughout is explicitly limited to consideration of examples utilised by
Image-to-Image Registration By Matching Area Features Using Fourier Descriptors And NeuralNetworks

An automatic method of image-to-image registration, which may be applied to register overlapped images of a scene from different views and dates, is presented. The proposed approach is a feature-based matching with constraints of orientation consistency and one-to-one match. Area features of homogeneous regions in gray level are extracted from images as matching entities. The boundaries of area features are matched in the frequency domain, i.e., matching their Fourier descriptors. The spatial meaning of the matching is transforming a feature to fit the other optimally. After the matching process, this scheme provides not only a quantitative evaluation of the remaining lack of fitness as an objective index of shape similarity, but also the solved transformation parameters to represent the relative orientation between features. The evaluation of shape similarity is used as the key information in recognizing conjugate features for overlapped images. Furthermore, the consistency of relative orientation between matched pairs is considered as the principal constraint to dissolve improperly registered features. The registration procedure is implemented by combining the factor of shape similarity as well as the constraints of orientation consistency and one-to-one match into a cost function and driving the cost function to reach its lowest value by using an artificial neural network system. The lowest cost represents the optimal solution of matching conjugate features. The planar registration of images then can be solved by using matched conjugate features. Two application examples, registering a stereo pair of aerial images and mosaicking overlapped images for automatic aerial triangulation, are presented to show the success of this method.
Towards a framework for assessing the feasibility of side-channel attacks in virtualized environments

Physically co-located virtual machines should be securely isolated from one another, as well as from the underlying layers in a virtualized environment. In particular the virtualized environment is supposed to guarantee the impossibility of an adversary to attack a virtual machine e.g., by exploiting a side-channel stemming from the usage of shared physical or software resources. However, this is often not the case and the lack of sufficient logical isolation is considered a key concern in virtualized environments. In the academic world this view has been reinforced during the last years by the demonstration of sophisticated side-channel attacks (SCAs). In this paper we argue that the feasibility of executing a SCA strongly depends on the actual context of the execution environment. To reflect on these observations, we propose a feasibility assessment framework for SCAs using cache based systems as an example scenario. As a proof of concept we show that the feasibility of cache-based side-channel attacks can be assessed following the proposed approach.
On sparse matrix-vector multiplication with FPGA-based system

In this paper we report on our experimentation with the use of FPGA-based system to solve the irregular computation problem of evaluating y = Ax when the matrix A is sparse. The main features of our matrix-vector multiplication algorithm are (i) an organization of the operations to suit the FPGA-based system ability in processing a stream of data, and (ii) the use of distributed arithmetic technique together with an efficient scheduling heuristic to exploit the inherent parallelism in the matrix-vector multiplication problem. The performance of our algorithm has been evaluated with an implementation on the Pamette FPGA-based system.
Present status of the Penrose inequality

The Penrose inequality gives a lower bound for the total mass of a spacetime in terms of the area of suitable surfaces that represent black holes. Its validity is supported by the cosmic censorship conjecture, and therefore its proof (or disproof) is an important problem in relation with gravitational collapse. The Penrose inequality is a very challenging problem in mathematical relativity and it has received continuous attention since its formulation by Penrose in the early seventies. Important breakthroughs have been made in the last decade or so, with the complete resolution of the so-called Riemannian Penrose inequality and a very interesting proposal to address the general case by Bray and Khuri. In this review, the most important results on this field will be discussed and the main ideas behind their proofs will be summarized, with the aim of presenting what is the status of our present knowledge in this topic.
Exposure to hot and cold environmental conditions does not affect the decision making ability of soccer referees following an intermittent sprint protocol

Soccer referees enforce the laws of the game and the decisions they make can directly affect match results. Fixtures within European competitions take place in climatic conditions that are often challenging (e.g., Moscow ~ −5°C, Madrid ~30°C). Effects of these temperatures on player performance are well-documented; however, little is known how this environmental stress may impair cognitive performance of soccer referees and if so, whether exercise exasperates this. The present study aims to investigate the effect of cold [COLD; −5°C, 40% relative humidity (RH)], hot (HOT; 30°C, 40% RH) and temperate (CONT; 18°C, 40% RH) conditions on decision making during soccer specific exercise. On separate occasions within each condition, 13 physically active males; either semi-professional referees or semi-professional soccer players completed three 90 min intermittent treadmill protocols that simulated match play, interspersed with 4 computer delivered cognitive tests to measure vigilance and dual task capacity. Core and skin temperature, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and thermal sensation (TS) were recorded throughout the protocol. There was no significant difference between conditions for decision making in either the dual task (interaction effects: FALSE p = 0.46; MISSED p = 0.72; TRACKING p = 0.22) or vigilance assessments (interaction effects: FALSE p = 0.31; HIT p = 0.15; MISSED p = 0.17) despite significant differences in measured physiological variables (skin temperature: HOT vs. CONT 95% CI = 2.6 to 3.9, p < 0.001; HOT vs. COLD 95% CI = 6.6 to 9.0, p < 0.001; CONT vs. COLD 95% CI = 3.4 to 5.7, p < 0.01). It is hypothesized that the lack of difference observed in decision making ability between conditions was due to the exercise protocol used, as it may not have elicited an appropriate and valid soccer specific internal load to alter cognitive functioning.
Galaxy Bulges and their Black Holes: a Requirement for the Quenching of Star Formation

One of the central features of the last 8-10 billion years of cosmic history has been the emergence of a well-populated red sequence of non-star-forming galaxies. A number of models of galaxy formation and evolution have been devised to attempt to explain this behavior. Most current models require feedback from supermassive black holes (AGN feedback) to quench star formation in galaxies in the centers of their dark matter halos (central galaxies). Such models make the strong prediction that all quenched central galaxies must have a large supermassive black hole (and, by association, a prominent bulge component). I show using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey that the observations are consistent with this prediction. Over 99.5% of red-sequence galaxies with stellar masses in excess of 1010 M☉ have a prominent bulge component (as defined by having a Sérsic index n above 1.5). Those very rare red-sequence central galaxies with little or no bulge (n < 1.5) usually have detectable star formation or AGN activity; the fraction of truly quenched bulgeless central galaxies is <0.1% of the total red-sequence population. I conclude that a bulge, and by implication a supermassive black hole, is an absolute requirement for full quenching of star formation in central galaxies. This is in agreement with the most basic prediction of the AGN feedback paradigm.
A Study on the Satisfaction with the Use of Leisure Food and Beverage Information System – Taking Traditional Farms for Example

The application of food and beverage information system to traditional farms has become a current trend. In addition to providing visitors with different featured itineraries and services, it also helps develop the so-called featured farms. However, the existing studies on F&B information system of farms mainly focused on the establishment of system, and seldom discussed the satisfaction with use of system. Therefore, this study took the farms where a complete leisure F&B information system was established and those where such a system was not established as the examples, and used a questionnaire survey to analyze customers’ and operators’ satisfaction. In addition, this study used independent sample t-test to compare the difference between customers’ and operators’ satisfaction with meal reservation, management of table condition, meal management, GPS parking navigation and F&B management, in order to understand the actual difference between customers’ and operators’ satisfaction with the use of F&B information system.
GET73 Prevents Ethanol-Induced Neurotoxicity in Primary Cultures of Rat Hippocampal Neurons.

AIMS N-[(4-trifluoromethyl) benzyl] 4-methoxybutyramide (GET73) may be considered a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of alcohol use disorders. The compound displayed anti-alcohol and anxiolytic properties in rat. In the present study, an in vitro experimental model of chronic ethanol treatment was used to investigate the ability of the compound to counteract the ethanol-induced neurotoxicity. METHODS Primary cultures of rat hippocampal neurons were exposed to ethanol (75 mM; 4 days) and the neuroprotective effects of GET73 were assessed by evaluating cell viability, cell morphology, glutamate levels and reactive oxygen species production. RESULTS The exposure to ethanol induced a reduction of cell viability, an alteration of cytoskeleton, a decrease in extracellular glutamate levels and an increase of reactive oxygen species production. The addiction of GET73 (1 and 10 µM) 1 h before and during chronic ethanol exposure prevented all the above ethanol-induced effects. Based on the proposed GET73 mechanism of action, the effects of mGlu5 receptor negative allosteric modulator, 2-methyl-6-(phenylethynyl)-pyridine (MPEP), on ethanol-induced reduction of cell viability were also assessed. The results indicated that the addiction of MPEP (100 µM) 1 h before and during chronic ethanol exposure prevented the ethanol-induced cell viability reduction. CONCLUSION The present findings provide the first evidence that GET73 shows a neuroprotective role against ethanol-induced neurotoxicity in primary cultures of rat hippocampal neurons. Together with previous findings, these results suggest that GET73 possesses multifaceted properties thus lending further support to the significance of developing GET73 as a therapeutic tool for use in the treatment of alcohol use disorders.
Feature selection for multi-SVM classifiers in facial expression classification

Facial expressions are non-verbal signs that play an important role between interpersonal communications and also they are the most effective way to describe human emotions. The correct and fast extraction/recognition of the facial expressions is an ongoing research area for computer vision. In this study, the effects of feature selection on the classification of seven different facial expressions (anger, disgust, fear, joy, neutral, sadness, and surprise) are analyzed. To this end, the features for each expression were extracted using Gabor filters from the facial images and selected the best ones using two different feature categories. In the first category, the features that they do exist in one class but do not exist in all other classes have been selected. In the second category, the features that they represent the one class have been selected. These selected features were employed for expression classification using support vector machines (SVMs). Comparative results are given in terms of types for selecting features, feature selection algorithms and the approaches used for the multi-classification. The best results were obtained using RFE algorithm with first type of feature selection and using one-vs-rest approach for training. It was also demonstrated that the feature selection has a positive effect to increase the classification performance comparing when the results were observed with no feature selection.
Distribution des valeurs de transformations méromorphes et applications

A meromorphic transform (MT) between compact Kahler manifolds is a surjective multivalued map with an analytic graph. Let $F_n\colon X\rightarrow X_n$ be a sequence of MT. Let $\sigma_n$ be an appropriate probability measure on $X_n$ and $\sigma$ the product measure of $\sigma_n$, on $\XX:=\prod_{n\geq 1} X_n$. We give conditions which imply that $$ \frac{1}{d(F_n)}\big[(F_n)^*(\delta_{x_n})-(F_n)^*(\delta_{x_n'})\big]\rightarrow 0 $$ for $\sigma$-almost every $\xx=(x_1,x_2,\ldots)$ and $\xx'=(x_1',x_2',\ldots)$ in $\boldsymbol{X}$. Here $\delta_{x_n}$ is the Dirac mass at $x_n$ and $d(F_n)$ the intermediate degree of maximal order of $F_n$. We introduce a calculus on MT: intermediate degrees of composition and of product of MT. Using this formalism and what we call {\it the $dd^c$-method}, we obtain results on the distribution of common zeros, for random $l$ holomorphic sections of high powers $L^n$ of a positive holomorphic line bundle $L$ over a projective manifold. We also construct the equilibrium measure for random iteration of correspondences. In particular, when $f\colon X\rightarrow X$ is a meromorphic correspondence of large topological degree $d_t$, we show that $d_t^{-n}(f^n)^*\omega^k$ converges to a measure $\mu$, satisfying $f^*\mu=d_t\mu$. Moreover, quasi-psh functions are $\mu$-integrable. Every projective manifold admits such correspondences. When $f$ is a meromorphic map, $\mu$ is exponentially mixing with a precise speed depending on the regularity of the observables