Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Availability model for virtualized platforms

Network virtualization is a method of providing virtual instances of physical networks. Virtualized networks are widely used with virtualized servers, forming a powerful dynamically reconfigurable platform. In this paper we discuss the impact of network virtualization on the overall system availability. We describe a system reflecting the network architecture usually deployed in today’s data centres. The proposed system is modelled using Markov chains and fault trees. We compare the availability of virtualized system using standard physique network with the availability of virtualized system using virtualized network. Network virtualization introduces a new software layer to the network architecture. The proposed availability model integrates software failures in addition to the hardware failures. Based on the estimated numerical failure rates, we analyse system’s availability.
Performance Based Symmetric Load Balancing Algorithm

Mainly Distributed Hash Table uses decentralized load balance algorithms which are based on virtual servers for participating in asymmetric peers. Require the participating peers to be asymmetric, thereby introducing another load imbalance problem which is symmetric and promise no precise performance metrics. In this paper, an original symmetric load balancing algorithm for DHTs is introduced where the peers approximate the system state with histograms. Unlike other algorithms, our proposal guarantees analytical performance in terms of the load balance factor and high convergence rate. Through rigorous simulations, we show that our proposal performs better in terms of load balance factor with a comparable cost.
Robust face recognition using automatic age normalization

A large number of automatic face recognition systems have been reported in the literature. Many of them are robust to within class appearance variation of subjects such as variation in expression, lighting and pose. However, most of the face identification systems developed, are sensitive to changes in the age of individuals. In this paper we demonstrate that automatic age simulation techniques can be used for designing face recognition systems, robust to ageing variation. In this context, the perceived age of the subjects in the training and test images is modified before the training and classification procedures, so that ageing variation is eliminated. Experimental results demonstrate that the performance of our face recognition system can be improved significantly, when this approach is adopted.
An input tracking control system using a forward model on neural network

A design method for an input tracking control system using a neural network is proposed. A multi-layered neural network is first trained to model the input-output mapping of a controlled object of an unknown, discrete-time nonlinear system. This neuro emulator is used for generating Jacobian information with respect to the controlled object. The Jacobian coefficients were generated by the multi-layered neural network which had been, in advance, trained to map the input-output relation of the controlled object. The potential method was then applied for generating the input sequences under constructing an asymptotically stable gradient system. The tracking property was assured in the sense of linearization approximation of the controlled object. A simple control law is determined by Lyapunov's method so that the output of the controlled object can follow a reference input. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. <<ETX>>
Database Replication Prototype

This report describes the design of a Replication Framework that facilitates the implementation and com-parison of database replication techniques. Furthermore, it discusses the implementation of a Database Replication Prototype and compares the performance measurements of two replication techniques based on the Atomic Broadcast communication primitive: pessimistic active replication and optimistic active replication. The main contributions of this report can be split into four parts. Firstly, a framework is proposed that accommodates the comparison of various replication techniques. Secondly, the implementation requirements and the theoretical performance characteristics of the pessimistic and the optimistic active replication techniques are thoroughly analysed. Thirdly, the two techniques have been implemented within the framework as a proof of concept, forming the Database Replication Prototype. Finally, we present the performance results obtained using the Database Replication Prototype. They show that in large-scale networks, optimistic active replication outperforms pessimistic active replication.
Addressing Internal Audit Staffing Challenges

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 had a significant impact on annual audit costs during the initial years of implementation and also caused a significant increase in the demand for both internal and external auditors. This increase in demand has also resulted in an increase in the salaries of auditors, while simultaneously decreasing the availability of quality auditors being sought by audit groups. Based on these market changes, organizations should enhance their recruiting efforts, evaluation and development activities, and training programs that ensure the audit activity is able to effectively meet the needs of the organization. In addition, the move toward integrated auditing, increased complexities due to globalization, IT advancements, and the increasing concerns over sustainability have led to an expansion of the expected skill sets of auditors. The following article identifies various methods organizations may use to recruit, evaluate, and develop staff to maintain an effective audit activity.
Leptosphaeric acid, a metabolite with a novel carbon skeleton from Leptosphaeria sp. IV403, an endophytic fungus in Artemisia annua

Leptosphaeric acid (1), a metabolite with a novel carbon skeleton, was isolated from the AcOEt extract of the culture of Leptosphaeria sp. , an endophytic fungus (strain number: IV403) of Artemisia annua. The structure of acid 1 was elucidated on the basis of spectral analyses including homo- and heteronuclear correlation NMR experiments (HMQC and HMBC). The absolute configuration of the metabolite was determined by its CD and NOED studies.
AN IMPROVED TRAVEL-TIME ESTIMATION ALGORITHM USING DUAL LOOP DETECTORS

This paper presents an algorithm for the off-line estimation of route-level travel times for uninterrupted traffic flow facilities, such as motorway corridors, based on time-series of traffic speed observations taken from the sections that constitute a route. The proposed method is an extension of an existing and widely used method known as the trajectory method. The novelty of the new method is the fact that trajectories are constructed based on the assumption of piecewise linear (and continuous at section boundaries) vehicle speeds rather than piecewise constant (and discontinuous at section boundaries) speeds. Based on these assumptions, mathematical expressions are derived that describe the trajectories within each section. These expressions can be used to replace their existing counterparts in the traditional trajectory methods. A comparison of the accuracy of the new method and the existing method has been carried out based on simulated data. This comparison shows that the RMSE value for the new method is about half the RMSE value for the existing method. After decomposing this RMSE error in a bias and a residual error, it turns out that the existing method significantly overestimates the travel time. However the largest part of the reduction of the RMSE value is still due to a reduction of the residual error. In other words: also if both methods are corrected for their bias the new method performs significantly better.
Dynamic program updating in a distributed computer system

The authors present an approach to update a computer program dynamically (i.e., while it is executing). Such an approach is important in applications where the cost of stopping and restarting the program makes doing so impractical. The approach works with programs written in procedural languages such as Pascal, C, and Fortran, and it scales to a distributed computer system. The authors assume that computer programs are written in a top-down manner consistent with good software engineering practices. The also assume that the computer system logically provides a networkwide sparse virtual address space. The approach uses these assumptions to update computer programs in a distributed system with minimum interruption to the running program. An overview of the design and implementation of a prototype updating system is discussed, and future work is described. <<ETX>>
Setup tasks scheduling during production resettings

Production waste reduction during production resettings is critical in the industry as it is the key point of flexibility increase. One way to improve production waste is to assign setup tasks efficiently to operators. This article describes a possible model of this problem adapted to a real-life application. This model is based on an unrelated parallel machines problem that takes into consideration the skills of the operators and the production line structure. The nature of the data and some industrial constraints help us simplifying this problem into an assignment problem. As often in the industry, the objective is to maximise production. Because most production lines are complex series parallel lines, it is often possible to maintain production even if not all machines are running. This particularity makes the criterion hard to express as it depends on the line structure. In this article we describe three heuristics to solve this problem: a hill climbing algorithm, a genetic algorithm and a memetic algorithm that combines the advantages of the two previous algorithms. The neighbourhood used for these algorithms is based on multiple exchanges of tasks between operators.
Evaluating a computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) technique for efficient classroom instruction

This study investigates a computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) technique that combines oral reading with peer review to improve pronunciation of Taiwanese English major students. In addition to traditional in-class instruction, students were given a short passage every week along with a recording of the respective text, read by a native speaker. They practiced at home by listening to the recordings, reading out loud while listening, recording themselves, and comparing their recordings to the native speaker. When satisfied, they posted their own recording to an online discussion board. Every student listened to the recordings of three classmates, supplying feedback through the discussion board. Two control groups received only in-class instruction without the recording and posting assignments. Results show that the integration of the CAPT technique was superior in reducing students’ pronunciation problems compared to only in-class instruction.
Socio-Technical Implementation: Socio-technical Systems in the Context of Ubiquitous Computing, Ambient Intelligence, Embodied Virtuality, and the Internet of Things

In which computer science world do we design and implement our socio-technical systems? About every five or ten years new computer and interaction paradigms are introduced. We had the mainframe computers, the various generations of computers, including the Japanese fifth generation computers, the role of artificial intelligence and the hype of expert systems. Moreover, we had the advent of personal computers, the first hobby and ‘garage’ computers, leading to companies such as Atari, Apple and Microsoft. Before that, there was already ARPANET (1969) leading to Internet and the TCP/IP protocol suite in the 1970s. Tim Berners-Lee introduction of the World Wide Web and the introduction of graphical web browsers in the early 1990s were other milestones. Moreover, we saw the development of telecommunications networks and the further rise of Internet and World Wide Web use, due to professional and, most of all, non-professional use and users. Embedding computer power in all kinds of appliances, including mobile and other wearable appliances, lead us away from desktop and keyboard and mouse applications. Global and local networks of such computing devices, using sensors (including microphones and cameras) and wireless network technology are an impetus to research on applications such as virtual educational and game communities, virtual workspaces, and virtual meeting facilities. Rather than this technology just allowing people to communicate with each other (in the context of these applications) we now have the possibility to make this mediated communication (more) natural, since the intelligent sensors that are now available allow the mediating of verbal and nonverbal social cues that are known to be important in human face-to-face or human multi-party interaction.
ISAAC: a symbolic simulator for analog integrated circuits

The symbolic simulator ISAAC (interactive symbolic analysis of analog circuits) is presented. The program derives all AC characteristics for any analog integrated circuit (time-continuous and switched-capacitor, CMOS, JFET, and bipolar) as symbolic expressions in the circuit parameters. This yields analytic formulas for transfer functions, CMRR (common-mode rejection ratio), PSRR (power-supply rejection ratio), impedances, noise, etc. Two novel features are included in the program. First, the expressions can be simplified with a heuristic criterion based on the magnitudes of the elements. This yields interpretable formulas showing only the dominant terms. Second, the explicit representation of mismatch terms allows the accurate calculation of second-order effects, such as the PSRR. ISAAC provides analog designers with more insight into the circuit behavior than do numerical simulators and is a useful tool for instruction or designer assistance. Moreover, it generates complete analytic AC circuit models, which are used for automatic sizing in a nonfixed topology analog module generator. The program's capabilities are illustrated with several examples. The efficiency is established by a dedicated sparse-matrix algorithm. >
Towards the automated correction of bugs

Bugs within Java programs often fall within well-known motifs, usually arising from misunderstood APIs or language features that encourage buggy corner cases. Existing software development tools can detect some of these situations, and integrated development environments may attempt to suggest automated fixes for some of the simple cases. We present a language for specifying program transformations paired with a novel methodology for identifying and fixing bug patterns within Java source code. We propose a combination of source code and bytecode analyses: this allows for using the control flow in the bytecode to help identify the bugs while generating corrected source code. The specification language uses a combination of syntactic rewrite rules and dataflow analysis generated from temporal logic based conditions. We introduce a prototype implementation that allows application of these transformations automatically to programs, and discuss correctness issues within the context of such program transformations. Finally we discuss other possible areas of application for this methodology, including generating refactoring operations from specifications and application to other imperative languages.
USING OMNET++ TO SIMULATE A HETEROGENOUS DIGITAL VIDEO CLUSTER FABRIC

This paper describes the methodology used in developing a discrete event simulation model of a SeaChange ® digital video cluster network. The SeaChange digital video cluster uses a complex fabric of heterogeneous network technologies to achieve the performance and reliability required for video on demand applications. The cluster network consists of three different interconnect technologies: PCI2.2, StarFabric and InfiniBand. I used OMNeT++ to handle the link contention, buffer contention and PCI arbitration challenges.
Computational generation and study of Jazz music

Abstract The paper presents the final results of a project carried out within the Musicologi‐cal Division of CNUCE/C.N. R. since 1985. The project is concerned with the development of a software package for jazz improvisation. It has two purposes: automatic composition and study of the extemporizing techniques. The study section permits to interact with the program enabling the user to specify the harmonic path. Then a wide number of options allows to organize the melodic improvisation and test its grammatical correctness. The system provides a direct harmonic‐melodic output in Midi standard.
Capture model for mobile radio slotted ALOHA systems

It is well known that the capture effect can considerably improve system throughput of mobile radio slotted ALOHA networks. Most of the capture models described in the literature are based on the signal-to-interference power ratios, with the assumption that the captured packet is error-free. In the paper, a capture model is proposed for slotted ALOHA systems employing symbol erasures and error-and-erasure correcting codes. In contrast to previous models, the model uses a target bit error rate as the capture measure, which in turn is controlled by a symbol-erasure threshold. Performance of the proposed model is analysed taking into account modulation and coding techniques, the signal-to-noise ratio, the user spatial distribution as well as Rayleigh channel fading.
On certificate-based security protocols for wireless mobile communication systems

Mutual authentication and session key exchange protocols based on certificates for the wireless mobile communication/computing system are proposed. First, two improved versions for the conventional certificate-based systems are proposed, and an offline authentication mechanism based on the dynamic certificate is introduced. Then, an end-to-end internetwork-authenticated session key exchange protocol, which preserves a private communication between two mobile users, is finally proposed. In designing the security protocols proposed, the low computational power of the mobile stations and the low bandwidth of the wireless networks are considered.
Fabrication of a micromachined direct methanol fuel cell

Small electronic devices require small, compact and lightweight power supplies. Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) offer the potential for double the lifetime of lithium ion batteries. We have designed a process for micromachining direct methanol fuel cells using traditional micromachining techniques and macroassembly. Direct methanol fuel cells oxidize methanol through a catalytic reaction producing carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Hydrogen is further oxidized into hydrogen ions through a second catalytic reaction, producing electrons. We have micromachined flow fields and current collectors for the anode (methanol) side in both <100> and <110> silicon. Using laser ablation, we have opened fluidic channels through the back of the wafer for attaching fluid feed tubes. Aluminum is deposited as a current collector. The fuel cell is assembled using a commercial membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which contains the solid polymer proton exchange membrane (PEM) and catalysts. Sealing is provided using an epoxy. Simulated and actual results are presented.
Trust metrics in information fusion

Trust is an important concept for machine intelligence and is not consistent across many applications. In this paper, we seek to understand trust from a variety of factors: humans, sensors, communications, intelligence processing algorithms and human-machine displays of information. In modeling the various aspects of trust, we provide an example from machine intelligence that supports the various attributes of measuring trust such as sensor accuracy, communication timeliness, machine processing confidence, and display throughput to convey the various attributes that support user acceptance of machine intelligence results. The example used is fusing video and text whereby an analyst needs trust information in the identified imagery track. We use the proportional conflict redistribution rule as an information fusion technique that handles conflicting data from trusted and mistrusted sources. The discussion of the many forms of trust explored in the paper seeks to provide a systems-level design perspective for information fusion trust quantification.
Speaker adaptation through vector quantization

Vector quantization (VQ) is a technique that reduces the computation amount and memory size drastically. In this paper, speaker adaptation algorithms through VQ are proposed in order to improve speaker-independent recognition. The speaker adaptation algorithms use VQ codebooks of a reference speaker and an input speaker. Speaker adaptation is performed by substituting vectors in the codebook of a reference speaker for vectors of the input speaker's codebook, or vice versa. To confirm the effectiveness of these algorithms, word recognition experiments are carried out using the IBM office correspondence task uttered by 11 speakers. The total number of words is 1174 for each speaker, and the number of different words is 422. The average word recognition rate using different speaker's reference through speaker adaptation is 80.9%, and the rate within the second choice is 92.0%.
Sprachübergreifende Überwachung von Geschäftsprozessen

Ein Geschaftsprozess, der mit BPEL erstellt wurde und ausgefuhrt wird, soll als BPMN Prozess uberwacht werden. In dieser Arbeit werden Konzepte erstellt, um die Projektion des Ausfuhrungszustands von BPEL nach BPMN darzustellen. Weiter werden Techniken zur Ubertragung von BPEL Variablen zu BPMN Informationen spezifiziert. In Kapitel 2 werden Beispiele zur Verbesserung des Verstandnisses des Lesers vorgestellt. In Kapitel 3 folgen die Grundlagen der Arbeit. Hier werden die beiden Sprachen BPEL und BPMN vorgestellt und deren Konstrukte erlautert. In Kapitel 4 ist die Transformation von BPEL zu BPMN das Thema. Die Abbildungen aller BPEL Aktivitaten in BPMN werden erortert und durch Beispiele gestutzt. Die Projektion der Zustande wird in Kapitel 5 behandelt. Zuerst wird der theoretische Ansatz zur Projektion beschrieben, gefolgt von der Definition der Zustandsraume fur den Prozess und die Aktivitaten. Zusatzlich werden die benotigten XML-Erweiterungen fur BPEL und BPMN, sowie die Generierung einer unterstutzenden Mappings-Datei beschrieben. Die Erlauterung der Probleme bei der Projektion der Zustande schliest das Kapitel ab. Abgeschlossen wird die Arbeit von der Zusammenfassung der Erkenntnisse und einem Ausblick fur die Zukunft.