Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trace Analysis and its Applications to Performance Enhancements of Distributed Information Systems

This work is dedicated to my father, mother, and my dearest friends. v This page intentionally left blank. vi Acknowledgments I am deeply grateful for the guidance and support of my advisor Professor Azer Bestavros. Throughout my stay at Boston University, Azer's insightful comments and advice provided me with diierent views expanding my horizons, at a diicult moment of topic deenition, and the enriching discussions with Azer led to this work. I thank Azer for his support and for his friendship. I am thankful to Carlos Felipe de Brito Jaccoud. Carlos introduced me to the methods of Digital Signal Processing and helped me with the tools necessary for the development of the DSP model in Chapter 3. We exchanged lots of e-mail messages clearing points which were not clear to us: on my side, DSP, and on his side, points relative to user behavior and the model I was working on. I thank the three readers of my dissertation, Azer Bestavros, Mark Crovella and Abdelsalam Heddaya, whose patience, comments and suggestions have contributed signiicant improvement in my dissertation. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Virg lio Almeida and Wayne Snyder, for giving me their votes of conndence. Also, Steven Homer who participated in the proposal process and reviewed the algorithm analysis in Chapter 5. I am very grateful for the generous nancial support I received while preparing my dissertation. This support was provided for by the Brazilian National Council for Research and Development|CNPq|in the form of a scholarship in the rst four years of the program, together with the help of the people here in the Computer Science Department at Boston University who allowed me to teach and hold a teaching fellow in the last year of the program. I would like to thank Lou Hennessy, the former department system administrator who greatly helped me with many useful tips on the system, and who provided me with the opportunity to work as a student system administrator to complement my learning and my nancial support. I also thank the Brazilian Telecommunications Company|Embratel|for having vii granted me a leave of absence, without which I would not have had the peace of mind to complete this arduous task. I thank the many other people of the Computer Science Department of Boston University who helped provide a pleasant atmosphere, in particular Joseph Malloy (who followed my process since …
Mobile Location-Based Services

Data communication in mobile and cellular environments is still in its infancy. Data traffi c generated by mobile users lacks the diversity of the fi xed Internet. On the one hand, the limited bandwidth available for mobile users is still a major hurdle for some Internet applications. On the other hand, a universal inexpensive mobility solution built to support the different wireless architectures while offering service ubiquity is still missing. Despite this, some applications such as location-based services (LBS) have found a natural application domain by mobile users. Data traffi c, in such applications, is generated by users accessing information linked to their movement context. To improve access to these services while limiting the effects of mobility, communication should occur near the edge, while staying localized. In this paper, a distributed approach is proposed for mediating location information between heterogeneous geographic information severs in a peer-to-peer manner. A design methodology is proposed to ensure the localized impact of mobility-lead communication overhead. Both numerical and simulative analyses are carried out. mobile LBS, vertical handover, overlay, range queries,
Topic Models for Summarizing Novelty

We define temporal summaries of news stories as extracting as few sentences as possible from each event within a news topic, where the stories are presented one at a time and sentences from a story must be ranked before the next story can be considered. We outline an evaluation strategy that we have developed for this task and describe simple language models for capturing novelty and usefulness in the context of summarization. We show that the simple approaches work moderately well, and outline our ideas for moving forward.
A Mobile Virtual Reality System

Virtual Reality is the simulation of real or imagined environments, which can be experienced in three dimensions width, height and length. VR simulations provide interactions with the virtual world using external devices. Virtual Reality systems have been bulky and not suitable for mobile operations. This thesis aims at creating such a mobile virtual reality system, which is portable and lightweight. This system consists of a lightweight notebook or laptop computer. It also includes a head-mounted display, a wireless mouse, a pinch glove, a tracker and wireless networking. This system is built with off-the-shelf components. This system is described in this thesis. Chapter One gives the introduction. Chapter Two describes history and background. Chapter Three describes the hardware devices. Chapter Four explains the software module and Chapter Five gives the Future Work and Conclusions.
Knowledge acquisition systems for rapid prototyping of expert systems

AbstractThis paper describes trends in knowledge support environments – integrated interactive knowledge acquisition systems and expert system shells – that can provide a specialist community with tools supporting a wide range of knowledge processes. These systems extrapolate the trend from human knowledge engineering, through automated interviewing of the expert, to continuing on-line access to both knowledge acquisition and application processes. In knowledge support systems the distinctions between expert, knowledge engineer and client roles are deliberately blurred, and a diversity of knowledge processes and changing roles are supported within an entire interacting community. A prototype knowledge support system is described with examples of some ofthe knowledge acquisition and application tools provided. It is suggested that such systems provide a major knowledge-based technology with commercial implications and applications going beyond those currently envisioned for expert systems.
Object Retrieval Using Signatures In Peer-to-Peer Environments

Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. Efficient object retrieval is an important research issue in P2P environments, especially in those without centralized global indices. Although a number of hash-based basic object retrieval schemes are known to alleviate the problem, they cannot provide flexible feature-based object search. In this paper, we propose a novel object retrieval method using distributed frame sliced signatures, and evaluate its effectiveness with simulation experiments.
ANALYSIS AND COMPARISION OF IMAGE SEGMENTATION ALGORITHMS

The image segmentation is a key process of the image analysis. The goal of image segmentation is to partition an image into a set of disjoint regions with uniform and homogeneous attributes such as intensity, color, tone or texture etc.There are various methods for segmentation. The main aim of this project is to compare the performance of image segmentation algorithms on real images . The influence of the variation in background, the object characteristics diversity and the noise is taken into consideration while comparing the methods.
Estudio de compuestos orgánicos volátiles biogénicos en un área de fondo rural

En zonas rurales se emiten Compuestos Organicos Volatiles Biogenicos (COVB), los cuales forman compuestos como isopreno y monoterpenos. Los monoterpenos y otros Compuestos Organicos Volatiles (COV) influyen en la calidad del aire y representan una parte muy importante en la quimica atmosferica. Los COVB presentan el mayor potencial para producir ozono troposferico, cuando son comparados con otros COV en grandes concentraciones, como el etano. A escala global, las principales fuentes de emision de hidrocarburos a la atmosfera son las naturales, emitiendose unos 1000 Tg a-1 de compuestos de origen natural; por esto, en los inventarios de emisiones suelen separarse las naturales de las antropogenicas. Los monoterpenos son emitidos por arboles de hoja perenne, como Quercus ilex y Pinus sylvestris; mientras el isopreno lo generan los arboles de hoja caduca, como Quercus faginea y Fagus sylvatica. La determinacion de los compuestos biogenicos es un tema de actualidad y de importancia en los ultimos anos, debido a su alta reactividad en la atmosfera, presentando un tiempo de vida que oscila entre 30 min. y 3 hrs. , y reaccionando con oxidantes fotoquimicos en el aire (principalmente con el ozono O3, radical OH y radical NO3, formando ozono troposferico y aerosoles organicos secundarios). El conocimiento sobre la composicion y el comportamiento de los COVB emitidos en zonas rurales es todavia minimo, en comparacion con zonas urbanas o industriales. Su determinacion es un tema de actualidad, dada la elevada emision potencial de compuestos biogenicos y la escasez de fuentes locales de compuestos antropogenicos en dichas zonas; siendo este, ademas, mucho mas toxico y cancerigeno. El objetivo es identificar y cuantificar los compuestos de origen natural, como el isopreno y los monoterpenos, principalmente en los meses de verano (mayo - octubre), cuando aumentan las emisiones de la vegetacion en Valderejo, debido a su abundancia en zonas rurales y a su relacion con el ozono (O3) troposferico y las particulas finas. En esta zona se realiza un seguimiento constante a los compuestos biogenicos, utilizando un sistema automatico que funciona en tiempo real (GC-FID). Su identificacion se ha realizado con el apoyo de un GC-MS. Esto nos lleva a estudiar las concentraciones de COVB en una atmosfera de fondo rural, alejada de centros urbanos y con gran variedad de vegetacion, denominada Parque Natural de Valderejo (Alava).
Managing Complex Networks: Strategies for the Public Sector

Foreword - R A W Rhodes Introduction - W J M Kickert, E-H Klijn and J F M Koppenjan A Management Perspective on Policy Networks PART ONE: POLICY NETWORKS AND NETWORK MANAGEMENT: A STATE OF THE ART Policy Networks - E-H Klijn An Overview Public Management and Network Management - W J M Kickert and J F M Koppenjan An Overview PART TWO: NETWORK DYNAMICS AND MANAGEMENT The Dynamics of Closedness in Networks - L Schaap and M J W van Twist Managing Perceptions in Networks - C J A M Termeer and J F M Koppenjan Strategies and Games in Networks - E-H Klijn and G R Teisman Analyzing and Managing Dynamic Processes in Complex Networks Instruments for Network Management - J A de Bruijn and E F ten Heuvelhof Managing Implementation Processes in Complex Networks - L J O'Toole Jr, K I Hanf and P L Hupe Normative Notes - J A de Bruijn and A B Ringeling Perspectives on Networks PART THREE: CONCLUSION: STRATEGIES FOR NETWORK MANAGEMENT Managing Networks in the Public Sector - W J M Kickert, E-H Klijn and J F M Koppenjan Findings and Reflections
Towards Engaging Full-Body Interaction

We implemented an interactive virtual environment based on the “magic mirror” metaphor introduced with the MIT ALIVE project MIT (Darrell et al. 1994). While this technology has been used in other work to research agent architectures based on ethological models (Blumberg 1997) or scripted computer theatre (Pinhanez and Bobick 1998), our permanent exhibit in the Vienna Museum of Technology aims at taking advantage of the possibility opened up by this particular kind of unencumbered immersion in a virtual environment for the users to bring in their rich expertise in f ullbody action and communication, so as to provide a satisfying and truly interactive experience for laypersons. To this end, the system comprises a synthetic character, the Invisible Person, designed to improvise with the visitors.
The Spec# Programming System

The clams are first subjected to a shearing action in the first unit which is a rotating perforated drum having inwardly extending spokes with a rotating rotor disposed within the drum and off-set with respect to the drum axis. The rotor has outwardly extending spokes in intermeshing relationship with the drum spokes. In the first treating unit, the clams are partitioned into uneviscerated tongues, muscles, straps, siphons and occasional spines and then conveyed onto a classifier which separates the tongues from the remaining parts of the clams and discharges the spines to waste. The uneviscerated tongues are then fed into an eviscerator, which is identical in construction to the first unit but is operated at higher relative rotation between the drum and the rotor, where the tongues are flexed and subjected to shearing forces to expel the viscera. The eviscerated tongues and the viscera are introduced into a rotating reel provided with openings of sufficient size to discharge the viscera but to retain the tongues. From the reel, the tongues are conveyed to a point where they are combined with muscles, straps and siphons. The invention also includes the method of subjecting clam meat to a shearing force.
Auditory modulation of tactile taps perception

We tested whether the tactile perception of sequences of taps delivered on the index fingertip can be modulated by sequences of auditory beeps. In the first experiment, the tactile and auditory sequences were always presented simultaneously, and were structurally either similar or dissimilar. In the second experiment, the auditory and tactile sequences were always structurally similar but not always presented simultaneously. When structurally similar and presented simultaneously, the auditory sequences significantly modulated tactile taps perception. This automatic combination of “redundant-like” tactile and auditory signals likely constitutes an optimization process taking advantage of multimodal redundancy for perceptual estimates. Introduction Our everyday interactions with the environment provide us with a continuous stimulation of our different sensory channels. The central nervous system (CNS) has thus to deal with a pool of multimodal signals providing information of different nature concerning body/environment relationship. In many cases, the occurrence of a specific value of the signal in one sensory modality is accompanied by a “corresponding” specific signal in one or more other modalities. For instance, when knocking on a door, one gets congruent visual, tactile and auditory feedback, this feedback being specific to the characteristics of the action (e.g., number of times one knocked, delay in between two knocks, knocking force’s intensity). Several psychophysical experiments suggested that these “redundant-like” sensory signals are automatically co-registered to derive a coherent unified percept of the presented stimuli [1-7]. In line with this, the present contribution tested whether “redundant-like” auditory and tactile signals are combined for tactile taps perception. More specifically, we tested whether the perception of tactile sequences of
Polymorphic and metamorphic malware detection

Software attacks are a serious problem. Conventional anti-malware software expects malicious software, malware, to contain fixed and known code. Malware writers have devised methods of concealing or constantly changing their attacks to evade anti-malware software. Two important recent techniques are polymorphism, which makes uses of code encryption, and metamorphism, which uses a variety of code obfuscation techniques. This dissertation presents three new techniques for detection of these malware. The first technique is to recognize polymorphic malware that are encrypted and that self-decrypt before launching the attacks in network traffic. We propose a new approach that combines static analysis and instruction emulation techniques to more accurately identify the starting location and instructions of the decryption routine, which is characteristic of such malware, even if self-modifying code is used. This method has been implemented and tested on current polymorphic exploits, including ones generated by state-of-the-art polymorphic engines. All exploits have been detected (i.e., a 100% detection rate), including those for which the decryption routine is dynamically coded or self-modifying. The method has also been tested on benign network traffic and Windows executables. The false positive rates are approximately . 0002% and . 01% for these two categories, respectively. Running time is approximately linear in the size of the network payload being analyzed and is between 1 and 2 MB/s.
FACILITATING LEARNING OF CMAPTOOLS SOFTWARE USING A LEARNING OBJECT

As the use of concept maps becomes more prevalent in educational programs, instructors begin to explore ways to utilize them more effectively to facilitate student learning. However, when initially introduced to concept map tools users have not always had a positive experience because concept map strategies may require users to organize information in a way that is outside their comfort zone or they may feel uneasy with the use of technology tools. Concept map tools are software programs used to facilitate manipulation of concept maps. Concept map strategies are used to develop a concept map. The purpose of this paper is to present the development process used for creating a CmapTools learning object, how this learning object can be used as an instructional aid to learn the CmapTools software, and implications for student use of the CmapTools Software. However, when initially introduced to concept map tools, concept map users have not always had a positive experience because concept map strategies may require users to organize information in a way that is outside their comfort zone or they may feel uneasy with the use of technology tools. Concept map tools are software programs used to facilitate manipulation of concept maps. Concept map strategies are used to develop a concept map. For example, concept maps have nodes or cells that contain a concept, item or question, and links. The links are labeled and denote direction with an arrow symbol. The labeled links describe the relationship between the nodes. The arrow denotes the direction of the relationship and reads like a sentence (Saskatoon Public School Division, 2004). The steps for creating a concept map can be cumbersome at first, but become easier as more concept maps are created by users. Instructional aids that assist students in overcoming barriers related to learning how to create concept maps can help facilitate student learning of concept map tools and strategies. Therefore, this paper presents the development process used for creating a CmapTools learning object, how this learning object can be used as an instructional aid to learn the CmapTools (Canas et al., 2004) software, and implications for student use of the CmapTools Software. A learning object in the context of this paper is defined as a digital unit of information that is reusable and retrievable for educational purposes. It is important to note that this paper describes the process used for the creation and implementation of learning objects without mentioning the inclusion of metadata, which makes the learning objects interoperable in different systems. Interoperability increases the usefulness of the learning object by making it more platform independent. Adding metadata to the CmapTools learning object is possible; however, due to the limited software and time to incorporate metadata in the learning object design, this feature is not used in the deployment of this version of the learning object.
Cup‐To‐Disc Ratio Of The Optic Disc By Image Analysis To Assist Diagnosis Of Glaucoma Risk And Evolution

This work builds an image analysis algorithm to give assistance in the cup to disc ratio estimation of glaucomatous eyes. Often the contours of both the optic cup and disc are faint and intersected by entangled veins that make it difficult to draw their silhouettes. The algorithm, which takes into account the viewing conditions of the specialist, is based on the information of color, the color differences between neighbor pixels and the geometry of the areas involved.
Formalizing the repair process

This paper de(cid:12)nes the model-based diagnosis and repair process. We consider repair (i.e. restoration of speci(cid:12)ed system purposes) as the main goal of this process. Our goal is to de(cid:12)ne how an intelligent agent integrates and schedules observations and actions in an interleaved way in order to guarantee a speci(cid:12)ed system purpose. We de(cid:12)ne a temporal framework where all concepts necessary to represent repair (actual, possible and plausible worlds, purpose, observations, actions and failures) can be integrated. Using these concepts we present an algorithm scheme describing the repair process.
PENGARUH MARKETING STIMULI DAN SERVICE QUALITY TERHADAP KEPUASAN PELANGGAN DAN EFEKNYA PADA WORD OF MOUTH(Studi Pada Konsumen Rumah Makan Baru di Yogyakarta)

Perusahaan dapat menggunakan konsep pengukuran kualitas layanan yang dikembangkan oleh Parasuraman, Zeithaml, dan Berry (1998) yaitu Service Quality (SERVQUAL) atau kualitas pelayanan untuk menciptakan kepuasan dan loyalitas konsumen. Peningkatan kepuasan konsumen juga dapat dilakukan dengan memperhatikan aspek bauran pemasaran (marketing mix). Kualitas layanan dan strategi bauran pemasaran yang baik akan menghasilkan kepuasan konsumen yang tinggi dan pada akhirnya akan menimbulkan loyalitas konsumen Penelitian ini dilakukan pada konsumen yang menggunakan jasa layanan Rumah Makan Yogyakarta pada bulan Oktober 2013. Jumlah sampel penelitian sebanyak 240 orang responden. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kepuasan pelanggan memediasi sebagian hubungan kausal antara dimensi food quality, responsiveness, dan pelayanan personal dengan word of mouth serta memediasi sepenuhnya hubungan kausal antara dimensi physical design and appearance dengan word of mouth. Pengaruh dimensi price terhadap word of mouth terjadi secara langsung. Kepuasan pelanggan memoderasi (memperkuat) pengaruh dimensi-dimensi marketing stimuli dan dimensi-dimensi service quality terhadap word of mouth. Rekan berkunjung memoderasi (memperkuat) pengaruh dimensi price terhadap word of mouth.
Architectural support for a variable granularity cache memory system

Memory in modern computing systems is hierarchical in nature. Maintaining a memory hierarchy enables the system to service frequently requested data from a small low latency store located close to the processor. The design paradigms of the memory hierarchy have been mostly unchanged since their inception in the late 1960’s. However in the meantime there have been significant changes in the tasks computers perform and the way they are programmed. Modern computing systems perform more data centric tasks and are programmed in higher level languages which introduce many layers of abstraction between the programmer and the system. The cache memory is closest to the processor and retains a subset of the data present in RAM for faster access. It is found that many cache blocks are not fully utilised, i.e. not all words brought into the cache are touched by the processor before the cache block is evicted from the cache. This may be caused due to non uniform data access patterns or low spatial locality of data access within the application. Thus the effective cache space is reduced by unused words and only a fraction of the data retained is referenced by the processor. Due to the changing nature of workloads and programming interfaces, it is hard to select a set of design parameters which perform optimally for different workloads. This dissertation proposes and evaluates the benefits of the Amoeba-Cache, a novel architecture for the on chip cache memory hierarchy that allows it to dynamically adapt to the requirements of the application. We propose a design that can support a variable number of cache blocks, each of a different granularity. It employs an organization that completely eliminates the tag array, treating the storage array as uniform and morph-able between tags and data. This enables the Amoeba-Cache to harvest space from unused words in blocks for