Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Security framework for addressing the issues of trust on mobile financial services

Various value added services on mobile phones had been widely used all across the globe and have even been able to influence the adoption of mobile phones in many countries. However, there has been a high degree of reluctance among the mobile users in adapting to mobile financial services (MFS). Studies have shown the lack of trust about security and privacy of data to be a major roadblock for adoption of MFS. Given the fact that there are multiple entities including the bank, telecom operator, non-banking financial organization, technology platform provider and others involved in a MFS transaction, it becomes more difficult to generate trust about data security among the end users as well as among the entities involved. This paper is based on a study that proposes a security framework for MFS that takes into account the multi-entity environment.
Democratic Decision-making in the EU: Technocracy in Disguise?

1. Introduction: democracy as idea and practice Part1: Theory, approximation and background 2. What is democratic legitimacy? 3. Approximating ideal principles to non-ideal conditions: The evaluative framework 4. Background: from co-decision to the ordinary legislative procedure Part II: Evaluation of the ordinary legislative procedure 5. A democratic deliberative forum for the people? 6. Inclusion of affected and competent parties 7. Openness and transparency 8. Neutralisation of asymmetrical power relations 9. Decision-making capacity 10. OLP - Democratic decision-making or technocracy in disguise?
Stabilized pulse spacing in soliton lasers due to gain depletion and recovery

We consider the interpulse dynamics in harmonic passively mode-locked soliton lasers and find that gain depletion in conjunction with its recovery provides an effective repulsion force between adjacent solitons by imparting a group-velocity drift proportional to the interpulse spacings. Analytic descriptions for both the two-pulse and N-pulse per round-trip configurations demonstrate the stability of the equally spaced condition. These theoretical findings, which are supported by experimental results, hold in the limit where cavity losses and perturbations are small per round trip so that the weak gain depletion and recovery mechanisms can dominate the interpulse interactions.
Nutrition and Poverty

This volume addresses issues arising from the definition and measurement of poverty in terms of nutritional status. A high degree of nutritional deprivation is considered to be an indicator of poverty. Hence the definition of an appropriate nutritional yardstick and its measurement are of crucial significance for determining the level and magnitude of poverty. The book also debates energy related deprivation and evaluates the respective merits of making comparisons of calorie intake against an average reference standard and making comparisons of anthropometric measurements of the body with some reference standard. Gender bias in the incidence of nutritional deprivation is also considered.
3D feature tracking using a dynamic structured light system

In this paper we present a 3D tracking system that is able to identify several characteristic points on the surface of a moving scene. The system is considered as a preliminary step in the interaction of industrial robots with dynamic scenes. Through a new color structured light technique based on a disordered codeword pattern, 3D coordinates of the object surface are extracted and processed. This method recovers 3D information in such a way that the correspondence problem is easily and robustly solved. After establishing a set of feature points, an inter frame window search algorithm is carried out to solve the tracking problem. A controlled experimental setup has been built in our lab composed by a 2 DOF mobile platform, a light structured sensor and a manipulator robot. The experimentation has been performed on medium spatial resolution and for soft movement specifications giving promising results.
Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives Barriers to Technology Integration in a Technology-rich Environment

This paper reports on one segment of a research project which investigates what faculty members perceive to be acting as barriers in their attempts to integrate [information and communication] technology into their teaching at a laptop university. A web-based questionnaire was used to collect information from 69/288 (24%) faculty members from a small U.A. E. university. From the data gathered, patterns and associations emerged from which the researcher is able provide recommendations as to what type of interventions and programs could be provided to increase current levels of teaching with technology.
flowPeaks: a fast unsupervised clustering for flow cytometry data via K-means and density peak finding

MOTIVATION For flow cytometry data, there are two common approaches to the unsupervised clustering problem: one is based on the finite mixture model and the other on spatial exploration of the histograms. The former is computationally slow and has difficulty to identify clusters of irregular shapes. The latter approach cannot be applied directly to high-dimensional data as the computational time and memory become unmanageable and the estimated histogram is unreliable. An algorithm without these two problems would be very useful. RESULTS In this article, we combine ideas from the finite mixture model and histogram spatial exploration. This new algorithm, which we call flowPeaks, can be applied directly to high-dimensional data and identify irregular shape clusters. The algorithm first uses K-means algorithm with a large K to partition the cell population into many small clusters. These partitioned data allow the generation of a smoothed density function using the finite mixture model. All local peaks are exhaustively searched by exploring the density function and the cells are clustered by the associated local peak. The algorithm flowPeaks is automatic, fast and reliable and robust to cluster shape and outliers. This algorithm has been applied to flow cytometry data and it has been compared with state of the art algorithms, including Misty Mountain, FLOCK, flowMeans, flowMerge and FLAME. AVAILABILITY The R package flowPeaks is available at https://github.com/yongchao/flowPeaks. CONTACT yongchao.ge@mssm.edu SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
ECCO version 4: an integrated framework for non-linear inverse modeling and global ocean state estimation

Abstract. This paper presents the ECCO v4 non-linear inverse modeling framework and its baseline solution for the evolving ocean state over the period 1992–2011. Both components are publicly available and subjected to regular, automated regression tests. The modeling framework includes sets of global conformal grids, a global model setup, implementations of data constraints and control parameters, an interface to algorithmic differentiation, as well as a grid-independent, fully capable Matlab toolbox. The baseline ECCO v4 solution is a dynamically consistent ocean state estimate without unidentified sources of heat and buoyancy, which any interested user will be able to reproduce accurately. The solution is an acceptable fit to most data and has been found to be physically plausible in many respects, as documented here and in related publications. Users are being provided with capabilities to assess model–data misfits for themselves. The synergy between modeling and data synthesis is asserted through the joint presentation of the modeling framework and the state estimate. In particular, the inverse estimate of parameterized physics was instrumental in improving the fit to the observed hydrography, and becomes an integral part of the ocean model setup available for general use. More generally, a first assessment of the relative importance of external, parametric and structural model errors is presented. Parametric and external model uncertainties appear to be of comparable importance and dominate over structural model uncertainty. The results generally underline the importance of including turbulent transport parameters in the inverse problem.
Light-induced retinal injury enhanced neurotrophins secretion and neurotrophic effect of mesenchymal stem cells in vitro.

PURPOSE To investigate neurotrophins expression and neurotrophic effect change in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) under different types of stimulation. METHODS Rats were exposed in 10,000 lux white light to develop light-induced retinal injury. Supernatants of homogenized retina (SHR), either from normal or light-injured retina, were used to stimulate MSCs. Quantitative real time for polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were conducted for analysis the expression change in basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) in MSCs after stimulation. Conditioned medium from SHR-stimulated MSCs and control MSCs were collected for evaluation their effect on retinal explants. RESULTS Supernatants of homogenized retina from light-injured rats significantly promoted neurotrophins secretion from MSCs (p<0.01). Conditioned medium from mesenchymal stem cells stimulated by light-injured SHR significantly reduced DNA fragmentation (p<0.01), up-regulated bcl-2 (p<0.01) and down-regulated bax (p<0.01) in retinal explants, displaying enhanced protective effect. CONCLUSIONS Light-induced retinal injury is able to enhance neurotrophins secretion from mesenchymal stem cells and promote the neurotrophic effect of mesenchymal stem cells.
A behavioral model for the nonlinear on-resistance in sample-and-hold analog switches

This paper presents a behavioral model of the nonlinear on-resistance in S&H analog switches. The model is suitable for analysis and design of low-voltage sampled data systems. Simulated results using the ATMEL 0.24/spl mu/m CMOS process are shown to validate the model. The advanced-compact-MOSFET model (ACM), a symmetric drain-to-source model, valid in the whole inversion level regime of MOS transistors, is used as reference.
Graphical User Interface for Drawing 3D Plots with KETpic

KETpic is a macro package for Computer Algebra System (CAS) to convert plot data created by CAS to LaTeX picture data. We are able to draw fine pictures including 3D plots in LaTeX documents with aid of KETpic. We develop a graphical user interface (GUI) for producing 3D plots by KETpic. The GUI is implemented by Maplets package of Maple. Only small amount of input and mouse operation can produce 3D plots by the use of the GUI for KETpic. It is expected that the GUI helps many potential users of KETpic begin to use KETpic.
Servir la classe ouvrière : sociabilités militantes au PCF

Ce premier volume (le second est annonce pour 2012) correspond a l’edition d’une these de science politique soutenue en 2002 a l’EHESS, sous la direction de Marc Lazar, intitulee Structuration et desagregation du communisme francais (1920-2002). Usages sociaux du parti et travail en milieu populaire . Cet ouvrage correspond a la partie « construction » du communisme, le processus de « deconstruction » formant la matiere du second volume, a paraitre. Le postulat de depart de l’entreprise revele tout l’interet du propos. En effet, Julian Mischi debute sa reflexion sur l’idee qu’il n’existe pas de correlation necessaire entre la politisation des groupes populaires et l’emprise communiste, mais que ce processus singulier est le fruit d’une entreprise de mobilisation politique. Pour comprendre cette entreprise, il fait le pari d’observer cette realite a partir d’un milieu localise. C’est dans une demarche ethnographique multisites qu’il se propose d’apporter des elements a la construction de la marque politique communiste. Le travail de terrain (archives, entretiens) repose sur quatre territoires, tres differencies : le Pays Haut lorrain (mine et siderurgie), le bocage bourbonnais (rural), le bassin de Saint-Nazaire (industrie navale) et enfin l’aire grenobloise (tissu industriel diversifie). Ayant ainsi defini un questionnement, des outils methodologiques et une variete de terrains
An Introduction to Privacy in Economics and Politics

THE enormous increase in interest in privacy in our society is evident in the public press and in the statute books. In some respects this interest in privacy is paradoxical, for the average citizen has more privacy-more areas of his life in which his behavior is not known by his fellows-than ever before. He lives in a large city, where no one is his keeper; in the small towns of former times privacy was won only by the cleverest people. He works in large organizations, and indeed he (or, more likely, some self-appointed spokesman) laments his alienation. He can shake off most of his past simply by moving-to the South, the West-and no earlier generation except the immigrant waves before World War I was as mobile. If then the privacy issue is a real issue, and not one of those contrived issues that march across the headlines for a time, it probably exists because of the vast growth of government. Governments (at all levels) are now collecting information of a quantity and in a personal detail unknown in history. Consider: it would have been quite impossible for a public official in 1860 to learn anything of the income of a citizen chosen at random without leaving Washington, D.C. Today the files of Social Security, the Internal Revenue Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the microfilms of banking transactions, and other sources are potentially available to answer the question, to say nothing of the fact that perhaps one family in three or four receives payments directly or indirectly from the federal government. In addition the government has become the major instrument by which the information-collecting and information-using practices of private citizens are controlled. Technology has enormously changed the mechanics of gathering and disseminating information, but it is politics and economics that direct the uses of the machinery. Three topics in this large subject are explored here: the nature of privacy in economic behavior; the economic effects of
Counterexamples to the Cubic Graph Domination Conjecture

Let v(G) and dom(G) denote the number of vertices and the domination number of a graph G, and let r (G) = dom(G)/v(G)$. Let [x] and ]x[ be the floor and the ceiling of a number x. In 1996 B. Reed conjectured that if G is a cubic graph, then dom(G) is at most ]v(G)/3[. In 2005 A. Kostochka and B. Stodolsky disproved this conjecture for cubic graphs of connectivity one and maintained that the conjecture may still be true for 2-connected cubic graphs. Their minimum counterexample C has 4 bridges, v(C) = 60, anddom (C) = 21. In this paper we disprove Reed's conjecture for 2-connected cubic graphs by providing a sequence (R(k): k > 2) of cubic graphs of connectivity two with r(R_k) = 1/3 + 1/60, where v(R(k+1)) > v(R(k)) > v(R(3)) = 60 for k > 3, and so dom(R(3)) = 21$ and dom(R(k)) - ]v(R(k))/3[ tends to infinity when k tends to infinity. We also provide a sequence of (L_s: s > 0) of cubic graphs of connectivity one with r(L(s)) > 1/3 + 1/60. The minimum counterexample L = L(1) in this sequence is `better' than C in the sense that L has 2 bridges while C has 4 bridges, v(L) = 54 1/3 + 1/60 = r(C). We also give a construction providing for every t in {0,1,2} infinitely many cubic cyclically 4-connected Hamiltonian graphs G(t) such that v(G(t)) = t mod 3, t in {0,2} implies dom(G(t)) = ]v(G(r))/3[, and t = 1 implies dom(G(t)) = [v(G(r))/3]. At last we suggest a stronger conjecture on domination in cubic 3-connected graphs.
YHap: software for probabilistic assignment of Y haplogroups from population re-sequencing data

Y haplogroup analyses are an important component of genealogical reconstruction, population genetic analyses, medical genetics and forensics. These fields are increasingly moving towards use of low-coverage, high throughput sequencing. However, there is as yet no software available for using sequence data to assign Y haplogroup groups probabilistically, such that the posterior probability of assignment fully reflects the information present in the data, and borrows information across all samples sequenced from a population. YHap addresses this problem.
Game-based digital learning system assists and motivates C programming language learners

Programming language beginners need interactive learning environment, show the visual executing result, compile and debug information. Learners can practice and challenge themselves in an interactive game which is full of entertaining. The proposed game-based learning environment designed most concepts in introductory C programming language and cold be used in formal teaching/learning process. Learners can view the learning materials, reading/writing C codes, solving problems with C codes to control the movement of the Bomberman. Besides the user can use the server / client tool embedded voice and text chat communication to support collaborative learning via internet. Learner can study from group's collaborative learning, find and solve the problem of C programming language designing through communicating and discussing.
A spatially explicit methodology for a priori estimation of field survey effort in environmental observation networks

When establishing environmental monitoring programmes, it crucial to make reliable cost estimates, especially where a field survey is involved. This paper presents a methodology for creating a spatial measure of a field survey effort (SE). A set of relevant variables affecting a SE (e.g. areas with rough terrain, or distant from the main road network) was classified using fuzzy sets and then combined to produce spatially explicit effort indicators, which were integrated to a single measure using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). To evaluate this approach and identify the limits for its application, three spatially nested case studies were used to test the spatial expression of SE and the scalable capacity of the method itself. The presented methodology could cope with variations in the scale and data resolution, retrieving a coherent estimate of SE across the different case studies. The presented methodology is therefore useful for (i) testing the network designs for sampling bias related to SE, (ii) comparing alternative sampling designs, (iii) assessing the sampling costs and (iv) supporting the human and logistical resource management.
Load elasticity analysis in the deregulated electricity market

In the electricity market, load elasticity analysis has been regarded as an effective tool for quantitative analysis of the load risk analysis, which may lead the researchers a profound understanding on load volatility and help market participants make decisions. But due to the complicated load volatility under the competitive surroundings, few studies have been devoted to this. So in order to solve above problem, a novel model for load elasticity demand is proposed based on statistical learning theory. In this work, load multi-class pattern is performed by least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM). After that, by training the following regression models using the samples labeled with their patterns, the mathematical equations of load elasticity analysis is derived, based on which the elasticity coefficients are found. Finally, numerical experiments are used to test the model.
Retrieval of Relevant Opinion Sentences for New Products

With the rapid development of Internet and E-commerce, abundant product reviews have been written by consumers who bought the products. These reviews are very useful for consumers to optimize their purchasing decisions. However, since the reviews are all written by consumers who have bought and used a product, there are generally very few or even no reviews available for a new product or an unpopular product. We study the novel problem of retrieving relevant opinion sentences from the reviews of other products using specifications of a new or unpopular product as query. Our key idea is to leverage product specifications to assess product similarity between the query product and other products and extract relevant opinion sentences from the similar products where a consumer may find useful discussions. Then, we provide ranked opinion sentences for the query product that has no user-generated reviews. We first propose a popular summarization method and its modified version to solve the problem. Then, we propose our novel probabilistic methods. Experiment results show that the proposed methods can effectively retrieve useful opinion sentences for products that have no reviews.
Estimation of detection thresholds for acoustic based redirected walking techniques

We describe two psychophysical experiments where we have quantified how much humans can unknowingly be redirected by auditory stimuli. The experiments use a two-alternative-forced-choice task. We tested 19 subjects in two different experiments: (E1) discrimination between virtual and physical rotation, and (E2) discrimination of path curvature. In experiment E1 subjects performed rotations with different gains, and then had to choose whether the auditory perceived rotation was smaller or greater than the physical rotation. In experiment E2 subjects estimate the path curvature when walking a curved path in the real world while the visual display shows a straight path in the virtual world. Our results show that users can be turned physically about 20% percent more or 12% less than the perceived virtual rotation, and users can be redirected on a circular arc while they believe they are walking straight.
Parameterization of an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter for closed-loop learning experiments

A representation of the search space in optical pulse shaping problems employing an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF) is presented for use in closed-loop learning experiments where the optimal spectral phase function to some control problem is determined by an iterative learning algorithm. The representation allows the algorithm to select a value for the optical chirp at each frequency control point such that only acoustic grating functions which preserve the spectrum of the shaped pulses are tested. The limits of this space with respect to the rate of applied optical chirp, optical bandwidth and acoustic power are examined and tested through diffraction efficiency studies performed using a commercial AOPDF. The main benefits of this representation are the elimination of undesirable frequency mixing effects, reduction of diffraction efficiency variation between arbitrary pulse shapes and faster convergence of the evolutionary algorithm.
Evolvement Complexity in an Artificial Stock Market

An artificial stock market is established based on the multi-agent model. Each agent has a limited memory of the history of stock price, and will choose an action according to its memory and trading strategy. The trading strategy of each agent evolves ceaselessly as a result of a self-teaching mechanism. The simulation results exhibit that large events are frequent in the fluctuation of the stock price generated by the present model when compared with a normal process, and the price returns distribution is a Lévy distribution in the central part followed by an approximately exponential truncation. In addition, by defining a variable to gauge the evolvement complexity of this system, we have found a phase cross-over from simple-phase to complex-phase along with the increase of the number of individuals, which may be a ubiquitous phenomenon in multifarious real-life systems.