Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing Test Suites for Software Interactions Testing

Abstract : Testing is an expensive but essential part of any software project. Having the right methods to detect faults is a primary factor for success in the software industry. Component based systems are problematic because they are prone to unexpected interaction faults, yet these may be left undetected by traditional testing techniques. In all but the smallest of systems, it is not possible to test every component interaction. One can use a reduced test suite that guarantees to include a defined subset of interactions instead. A well studied combinatorial object, the covering array, can be used to achieve this goal. Constructing covering arrays for a specific software system is not always simple and the resulting object may not closely mirror the real test environment. Not only are new methods for building covering arrays needed, but new tools to support these are required as well. Our aim is to develop methods for building smaller test suites that provide stronger interaction coverage, while retaining the flexibility required in a practical test suite. We combine ideas from combinatorial design theory, computational search, statistical design of experiments and software engineering. We begin with a description of a framework for greedy algorithms that has formed the basis for several published methods and a widely used commercial tool. We compare this with a meta-heuristic search algorithm, simulated annealing. The results suggest that simulated annealing is more effective at finding smaller test suites, and in some cases improves on combinatorial methods as well. We then develop a mathematical model for variable strength interaction testing. This allows us to balance the cost and the time of testing by targeting individual subsets of components. We present construction techniques using meta-heuristic search and provide the first known bounds for objects of this type. We end by presenting some new cut-and-paste techniques that merge recursive combinatorial constructions
Usable Speech Detection Using Linear Predictive Analysis - A Model-Based Approach

A speech segment is defined as "usable," if speech, which is corrupted by interfering speech, can still be used for applications like speaker identification. In tactical communications, where there are multiple signals transmitted over the same channel such as telephone or radio transmission, separation of usable speech from speech corrupted by voices of other speakers is desired. This separation is important in making automatic speaker and speech recognition systems more robust. A novel approach towards developing a usable speech measure could be model-based. Using this concept of model-based usable speech detection, the use of Linear Prediction is investigated. The method reveals that an average of 75% of the usable speech is correctly detected with false alarms of 34%.
CHAT 2013: Experience, University College London, 8–10 November 2013

For ten years now CHAT (Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory) has set out to challenge assumptions around the archaeology of the recent past with a series of thought provoking thematic conferences. This year, the 11 th annual CHAT Conference was held at University College London and jointly organised by the Institute of Archaeology and Atkins, 1 with a broad focus on the topic of ‘experience. ’ Over three days, established academics, early career researchers and practicing heritage professionals from across the world offered up their take on this sometimes nebulous theme. The results were - in turn - captivating, frustrating, enlightening and provocative, but never boring.
LE CORPS C'EST L'ÉCRAN. LA PHILOSOPHIE DU VISUEL DE MERLEAU-PONTY

Pour Merleau-Ponty, l’exigence de repenser la rationalite contemporaine au-dela du dualisme de sujet et objet implique et s’entrelace avec la question du regard, concu non pas en tant que point d’ou se produit une vision du monde, mais comme evenement dans lequel le sujet et le monde naissent l’un a l’autre dans un seul mouvement de co-naissance. Le visible alors, et notamment ce type particulier de visible qu’est l’image, est compris comme le point ou il en va de la rationalite et de l’Etre, en meme temps qu’il est pense dans sa dimension historique, en vertu de son apparition phenomenale et situee, mais aussi en tant qu’il implique un revers d’invisibilite ou horizon de latence. Ainsi, le voir est reintegre dans ce corps, dont les yeux voient, et le rapport entre corps et image est compris dans sa trame historique et processuelle, incluant les mutations anthropologiques et epistemiques qui sont a l’œuvre dans notre rapport au monde visible, Merleau-Ponty lui-meme n’hesitant pas a faire appel aux medias et aux arts visuels pour poursuivre la formulation d’un tel rapport sur le plan philosophique. En comprenant le sujet comme un voyant qui n’est pas simplement dans le visible, mais en est, le philosophe en vient a formuler une reversibilite de la vision et une co-implication de sens et sensible, riches de consequences pour une comprehension du regime scopique contemporain, et convergeant avec les instances propres du tournant iconique ou pictural ayant investi la pensee de l’image, tant dans le domaine anglo-saxon que dans le contexte europeen.C’est donc a partir de ces elements qu’il est possible de formuler une pensee du visuel de Merleau-Ponty, qu’on cherchera a caracteriser par le biais de certains noyaux decisifs – image, œuvre, medium, technique, haptique – et notamment a travers la reference au cinema et a la notion d’ecran, tantot dans la tentative d’en reconstruire le developpement, par rapport aux sources et aux differentes phases de la reflexion merleau-pontienne, tantot dans la tentative d’en cerner l’impact genere au sein d’autres champs scientifiques, ainsi que d’en mettre en lumiere l’interet pour toute pensee qui se propose d’interroger l’image et le visuel aujourd’hui.
Dynamics and algorithms for stochastic search

In this thesis we develop a mathematical formulation for the learning dynamics of stochastic or on-line learning algorithms in neural networks. We use this formulation to (1) model the time evolution of the weight space densities during learning, (2) predict convergence regimes with and without momentum, and (3) develop a new efficient algorithm with few adjustable parameters which we call adaptive momentum. In stochastic learning, the weights are updated at each iteration based on a single exemplar randomly chosen from the training set. Treating the learning dynamics as a Markov process, we show that the weight space probability density P(w,t) can be cast as a Kramers-Moyal series$${\partial P(w,t)\over\partial t} = L\sb{KM} P(w,t)\eqno(0.1)\cr$$where $L\sb{KM}$ is an infinite-order linear differential operator, the terms of which involve powers of the learning rate $\mu. $ We present several approaches for truncating this series so that approximate solutions can be obtained. One approach is the small noise expansion where the weights are modeled as a sum of a deterministic and noise component. However, in order to provide more accurate solutions, we also develop a perturbation expansion in $\mu. $ We demonstrate the technique on equilibrium weight-space densities. Unlike batch learning, stochastic updates are noisy but fast to compute. The speed-up can be dramatic if training sets are highly redundant, and the noise can decrease the likelihood of becoming trapped in poor local minima. However, acceleration techniques based on estimating the local curvature of the cost surface can not be implemented stochastically because the estimates of second order effects are much too noisy. Disregarding such effects can greatly hinder learning in problems where the condition number of the hessian is large. A matrix of learning rates (the inverse hessian) that scales the stepsize according to the curvature along the different eigendirections of the hessian is needed. We propose adaptive momentum as a solution. It results in an effective learning rate matrix that approximates the inverse hessian. No explicit calculation of the hessian or its inverse is required. This algorithm is only ${\cal O}(n)$ in both space and time, where n is the dimension of the weight vector.
Dynamic fisheye views: combining dynamic queries and mapping with database views

Dynamic Fisheye Views: Combining Dynamic Queries and Mapping with Database Views Doctor of Philosophy, 1996 Emanuel G. Noik Department of Computer Science University of Toronto Data visualization refers to the graphical presentation of information with the aim of providing the viewer with a qualitative understanding of the information contents. Dynamic mapping (DM) and dynamic queries (DQ) are two complementary visualization techniques that aid the understanding of multidimensional data. In order to be effective, both DQ and DM require suitable multidimensional data which sometimes needs to be derived from existing data. In addition, DQ cannot support similarity queries because they do not incorporate similarity functions. A set of techniques called Fisheye views (FEVs) use similarity functions, but suffer from specialized hard-coded notions of similarity, and static, limited presentation strategies. In this thesis we describe a novel approach that simultaneously simplifies and generalizes the notion of FEV and extends the power of DQ. We propose a view definition language, Dye, based on an object algebra and demonstrate how this language can be used to define and to efficiently evaluate a class of derived attributes that capture notions of similarity. We then show that incorporating such views with DQ and DM: extends the power of DQ by allowing similarity queries to be posed by pointing and clicking, potentially converting cognitive tasks into perceptual tasks; and, simplifies and generalizes the notion of FEV; a broad variety of dynamic FEVs can be created by applying DQ and DM to similarity attributes. As proof of concept, we have implemented an extensive graph visualization system (Graphite) that combines DQ, DM, flexible automatic graph layout, and an active database view component that implements Dye. In this thesis, we demonstrate how Graphite is used to pose similarity queries and to generate dynamic FEVs through several representative sample applications in which data is visualized using plots, flat and nested hierarchical graphs, and geographic and abstract networks.
Wind Power Forecasting: A Review of Statistical Models

Se veral wind powe r or wind spee d forecasting methods have been re porte d in the lite rature over the past fe w years. A brie f ove rvie w a nd compa ris on of a ll these techniques is the main focus of the prese nt work. This paper provides insight on the foremost forecasting technique s, associate d with wind po we r and spee d, base d on nume ric weather pre diction (NWP), statistical approaches, ARIMA mode ls, artificial ne ural ne twork (ANN), grey mode ls, data mining mode ls a nd hybrid techniques over differe nt time -sca les . The various wind po we r forecasting techniques have been cate gorize d into following three major classes: (i) Physical mode ls, (ii) Statistical mode ls, and (iii) Hybrid mode ls. It has bee n observe d that forecasting accuracy of diffe rent mode ls vary due to differe nt types of te rrain and wind turbule nce at the diffe rent wind farms. Base d on the assessme nt of wind powe r forecasting techniques, furthe r direction for additional research and application is propose d.
Verification of a compressible flow solver

In the development of computational fluid dynamics software, the verification and validation of the implementation are important tasks. In this paper, we present work towards the verification of a compressible flow code, Eilmer. The verification case uses a manufactured solution of inviscid supersonic flow to test the numerical simulations, and is used to show that various flux calculators are all implemented correctly in the code. We also demonstrate how to assess the effects of grid nonuniformity on the code’s order of spatial accuracy by using the manufactured solution case.
The Witness Aided Routing Protocol A Scalable, Fault-Tolerant Solution For Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

OF THESIS THE WITNESS AIDED ROUTING PROTOCOL A SCALABLE, FAULT-TOLERANT SOLUTION FOR MOBILE AD HOC NETWORKS Mobile ad hoc networks require more complex routing protocols than their traditional static counterpart. Errors are likely to happen more often, due to the lack of infrastructure, host mobility and factors like unidirectional links and they have a more signi cant impact on the overall performance of the network, since wireless bandwidth and battery power are limited resources. This calls for routing protocols able to reduce the number of errors and e ciently handle cases when errors occur. While focused on correctness, most of the protocols proposed in the last few years place less emphasis on error prevention and correction. Eventually, as network size increases, this translates into lack of scalability, both in terms of performance and resource consumption. This thesis proposes a scalable routing protocol, WAR, based on the novel idea of witness hosts. The Witness Aided Routing protocol is designed to provide reliable performance and preserve a minimal use of resources as route length increases. Particularly, it eliminates problems raised by temporary or permanent unidirectional links, one of the main sources of errors in other protocols. The performance analysis shows that by using both error prevention and correction, WAR maintains a low bandwidth consumption while providing a high probability of packet delivery regardless of the size of the network, even for high mobility rates or low radio link quality. Ionut Drago s Aron Department of Computer Science Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado 80523 Fall 2000 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would rst like to thank my adviser, Dr. Sandeep K. S. Gupta, for his valuable ideas, comments and support which made this thesis possible. A special mention goes to my former adviser from University of Bucharest, Dr. Marian Gheorghe1, for his continuing support and encouragement. This work was supported in part by NSF grant ANI-0073409. 1Currently at The University of She eld, UK iv DEDICATION To the memory of my grandparents. v
Mitigación automática de soft-errors en nuevas aplicaciones de los sistemas empotrados

Este trabajo ha sido financiado por los siguientes proyectos: 'RENASER' (ESP2007-65914-C03-03) del Ministerio de Ciencia y Educacion; y 'Aceleracion de algoritmos industriales y de seguridad en entornos criticos mediante hardware' (GV/2009/098) (Generalitat Valenciana).
Building a Fast Double-Dummy Bridge Solver

Compared to other games, particularly chess, the research in computer bridge is immature, and the best bridge-playing programs are mediocre. In this paper we address the problem of designing a fast double-dummy bridge game (i.e., a simplified bridge game with perfect information) solver. Although th size of the game tree we generated for searching the best line of play is huge (about on the order of $13! \cdot 2^{39} \approx 10^{21}$, even if we assume the average branching factor for players to follow suit is just 2), we show that, through varieties of searching techniques and some efficient moves ordering and pruning heuristics, most double-dummy bridge hands can be solved within a reasonable amount of time. In this paper we first give a brief introduction to computer bridge and previous work on the card-playing phase of bridge. Next, we describe the top-level architecture of our double-dummy solver (dds), followed by a number of implementation techniques we employed in our dds. Finally we present experimental results, draw our conclusion and describe some future work toward automating card-playing in real bridge.
Lower dropout rates and better grades through revised course infrastructure

Programming skill is one of the skills everyone tends to expect from a computer science graduate. However, recently many universities have reported high dropout rates and problems grasping the basic programming concepts in the first programming courses. In some cases such problems can severely disturb the normal advancement of the studies since basic programming skill is often a prerequisite for advanced courses. In this paper these problems are tackled by revising the course design emphasizing a close integration of different course elements, and developing an up to date infrastructure for the first programming course. The course was designed based on the imperative-first approach, and implemented with the Python programming language. In addition to justifying the selections made, we also report the results of the first course implementation and compare them with the results from the previous course. Overall the results indicate that the students were performing better than before. With the new course, students felt that the course had become more interesting and useful, even though the course was still considered laborious and challenging. Thus we intend to continue refining the course design and infrastructure while moving the improvement focus on the teaching practices to further improve the learning outcomes of the course.
The BlueJ Tutorial

7 Creating stand-alone applications 26 8 Creating applets 27 8.1 10 Just the summaries 31 5 Foreword About BlueJ This tutorial is an introduction to using the BlueJ programming environment. BlueJ is a Java™ development environment specifically designed for teaching at an introductory level. This tutorial is aimed at people wanting to familiarise themselves with the capabilities of the environment. It does not explain design decisions underlying the construction of the environment or the research issues behind it. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the Java programming language – no attempt is made in this tutorial to introduce Java. This is not a comprehensive environment reference manual. Many details are left out – emphasis is on a brief and concise introduction rather than on complete coverage of features. Most sections end with a one-line end-of-section summary sentence. Section 0 repeats just the summary lines as a quick reference. The BlueJ system and this tutorial are freely available to anyone for any kind of use. The system and its documentation may be redistributed freely. No part of the BlueJ system or its documentation may be sold for profit or included in a package that is sold for profit without written authorisation of the authors. Foreword Feedback Comments, questions, corrections, criticisms and any other kind of feedback concerning the BlueJ system or this tutorial are very welcome and actively encouraged. Please mail to Michael Kölling (mik@monash.edu.au). Installation BlueJ is distributed as an archive of Java classes in " jar " format. Installing it is quite straightforward. Prerequisites You must have JDK 1.2. 2 or later installed on your system to use BlueJ. Some functionality works better with JDK 1.3, so it is worth getting or updating to the latest JDK release. If you do not have JDK installed you can download it from Sun's web site at The BlueJ distribution file is named bluej-xxx.jar, where xxx is a version number. For example, the BlueJ version 1.1. 1 distribution is named bluej-111.jar. You might get this file on disk, or you can download it from the BlueJ web site at There sometimes is some confusion about different Java distributions: SDK, JDK and JRE packages. You should install the latest version of the Java 2 SDK (Software Development Kit). The term JDK (Java Development Kit) is an older name for the same thing. Sun have changed their naming convention at some stage, but …
Audio processing algorithms on the GPU

In music production computer systems, many have a GPU, as it is a commodity, left idle. This thesis harnesses the processing power available by the GPU for audio processing demonstrating how it is applicable, in practice, in such a setting. In music production, more and more computationally demanding algorithms are employed. To satisfy this demand for more computing power, users buy sound processing hardware that locks them to specific hardware. This thesis provide an alternative by using the GPU for audio processing which is faster and will in the future be a portable solution, since a common API1 for GPU hardware has been committed to by all major GPU hardware vendors.
Parallel sorting on ILLIAC array processor

Nowadays, we need to speed up solving computer problems such as sorting. Because of limitations in processor's speed, using parallel algorithms is inevitable. In parallel algorithms, because of cost limitations and architecture complexity, it's not suitable to increase the number of processors to speed up. This is also infeasible where we have plenty of data. In this paper we issue a new sorting algorithm. The algorithm is implemented on ILLIAC architecture. The aim of issued algorithm is to reduce total cost of sorting with a trade off between the number of processors and execution time.
Real Time Eye Blink Detection using a Configurable Processor

This thesis describes the approach to create a real time eye blink detector using a new perception processor. Tried is to describe how the processor works and to find out possible fields of application. Supposed strength of the processor is it's speed combined with the possibility of changing the configuration at run time. Since the current version is a prototype, the perception processor is still undergoing some improvements and updates. By performing extensive tests not only to the domain of eye blink detection, advice is given about promising directions for further development of the processor. Ultimately, the demonstrative application created for this thesis is robust enough to be used as a real time blink detector that can be used in different domains of computer vision. In order to create the blink detector, a step by step approach is taken. First, the face is located and tracked. Next, the eye region is to be found, which should lead to real time locating and tracking of the pupils. Finally the blinks are detected to give an indication of a persons blink rate. Goal is to find out the limitations and the field of application for the perception processor.
Machine Learning of Text Analysis Rules for Clinical Records

Automatically extracting information in clinical free text can make available an information resource that is largely untapped. This paper describes the BADGER text analysis system, which identifies concepts contained in a text based on linguistic context. A key component of BADGER is the CRYSTAL dictionary induction system that automatically learns text analysis rules from a set of training documents. Each of these rules is generalized as far as possible without producing errors, so that a minimum number of dictionary entries cover the positive training instances.
ENCRYPTION SERVERS : A SCALABLE DISTRIBUTED METHOD FOR INTERNET SECURITY

OF THE THESIS Encryption Servers : A scalable distributed method for Internet security by Vivek Pathak Thesis Director: Liviu Iftode A model of IP security based on software encryption has been i mplemented. The implementation was done on Encryption servers, that support encrypt ion and authentication of forwarded IP packets and function as secure gateways to the Internet. A destination based security policy was supported. The feasibility and performance of the im ple entation on Linux operating system was experimentally validated using a number of syste m p rformance measurements. A system call interface was provided for easy access to the enc ryption facilities and a few popular encryption methods were implemented in software to prov ide flexible, extensible and cost effective secure communication. Variable key lifetime is u sed to support a constant level of security and performance for a wide range of network bandwid ths. Authentication of keys is done by a voting based protocol that avoids the use of a single trusted third party. The automated propagation of public keys and secure destinations is implemented as an autonomous key exchange protocol.