Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parallel inversion of huge covariance matrices

An extremely common bottleneck encountered in statistical learning algorithms is inversion of huge covariance matrices, examples being in evaluating Gaussian likelihoods for a large number of data points. We propose general parallel algorithms for inverting positive definite matrices, which are nearly rank deficient. Such matrix inversions are needed in Gaussian process computations, among other settings, and remain a bottleneck even with the increasing literature on low rank approximations. We propose a general class of algorithms for parallelizing computations to dramatically speed up computation time by orders of magnitude exploiting multicore architectures. We implement our algorithm on a cloud computing platform, providing pseudo and actual code. The algorithm can be easily implemented on any multicore parallel computing resource. Some illustrations are provided to give a flavor for the gains and what becomes possible in freeing up this bottleneck.
ABC Analysis in an Internet Shop: A New Set of Criteria

This article presents a model of ABC analysis tailored for internet shops. The standard set of criteria is expanded to cover e-commerce specific characteristics, such as the number of product views, search engine rankings and product links via a recommendation system.The proposed new methodology is applied to real data from an internet bookstore in Poland. A comparison with the results of a standard, not internet-oriented ABC analysis shows the advantage of using the new set of criteria.
Quality-of-Service-Aware Service Selection: A Novel Approach Considering Potential Service Failures and Nondeterministic Service Values

In service-oriented systems, a variety of loosely coupled services are composed to support the execution of processes. One important research problem in this context concerns the selection of such services taking into account the values for the corresponding quality-of-service (QoS) attributes. Existing QoS-aware ex ante service selection approaches build on preferences and requirements for the QoS attributes and evaluate the available services by means of a utility value. For many reasons, such as software bugs, high server workload, or network failures, an ex ante optimal service may be temporarily unavailable or may fail during its execution, requiring replanning. Moreover, several QoS attribute values may be stochastic rather than deterministic. Thus, both the ex post realized QoS values and the corresponding utility may significantly differ from those that are ex ante computed. This could result in a substantial loss of resources. In this paper we present a novel approach for QoS-aware service selection considering both the effects of potential service failures and nondeterministic QoS values ex ante. The approach is founded on an expected utility calculus. We find that considering the effects of potential service failures and nondeterministic QoS values leads to substantially better decisions in QoS-aware service selection.
A Guide to Understanding Object Reuse in Trusted Systems

Abstract : This document provides a set of good practices related to the design and implementation of object reuse for systems employed for processing classified and other sensitive information. It's written to help vendors and evaluators understand object reuse requirements. It contains suggestions and recommendations derived from Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC) objectives but which aren't required by the TCSEC.
Characteristics of the Driver Behaviour in Weaving Sections: Empirical Study

Apart from the impacts of traffic accidents and lane drops, congestion on motorways may be attributed to merging and weaving sections. However, weaving sections receive less attention compared with other situations such as merging at motorways. This supports a real need for investigating some weaving characteristics. In the UK, Motorway Incident Detection and Automated Signalling (MIDAS) data have been used to obtain data on flow, speed, headways and occupancy. However, the MIDAS data is not capable of capturing some important details relating to weaving characteristics. Therefore, more than 50 hours of video recordings have been gathered from seven weaving sections throughout the Greater Manchester area in the UK. Different characteristics of weaving sections have been recorded, including the volume ratio, weaving ratio, merging/diverging points, segregation behaviour, effective length, courtesy yielding and the selection of the original gap by weaving vehicles. These characteristics have been studied to inform an understanding of driver behaviour at weaving sections and to calibrate and validate simulation models used for studying weaving sections.
Language, Space, and Power: A Critical Look at Bilingual Education

Language, Space and Power: A Critical Look at Bilingual Education is a recent entry in the Bilingual Education and Bilingualism series edited by Nancy Hornberger and Colin Baker. The author, Samina Hadi-Tabassum, has based this book on her Ph.D. dissertation from Columbia University. Her book is introduced as a critical ethnographic study of a fifth grade dual immersion Spanish-English program at an urban public elementary school. As she states at the outset, "I hope to fill a gap in qualitative research focusing on bilingual education" by studying the students' day-to-day classroom discourse surrounding "linguistic differentiation and inequities" between Spanish and English (pp. 1-2).
Open Education Resources and Mobile Technology to Narrow the Learning Divide

As the world becomes more digitized, there will be an increasing need to make available learning resources in electronic format for access by information and communication technologies. The question education will face is whether these learning resources will be available for learners to access at no cost or affordable cost so that there will be equity in access by anyone regardless of location, status, or background. With initiatives such as the Millennium Development Goals and Education For All by the United Nations (United Nations, 2011) learning materials must be available as open education resources to achieve the goals. Currently, most learning materials are available at a cost for people to purchase to learn, or they have to travel to a specific location (school or library) to access learning materials. In some parts of the world, especially in developing countries, these costs are prohibitive, preventing learners from achieving a basic level of education so that they can be productive in society and improve their quality of life (Bhavnani et al., 2008). Some would say that people in remote locations and developing countries do not have computers to access learning materials. It is true that many do not have desktop or laptop computers to access learning materials, but they have mobile devices and are now obtaining tablets with wireless capability to allow them to access learning materials from anywhere and at any time. These countries are bypassing the wired desktop stage and moving directly to wireless mobile technology (Bhavnani et al., 2008). Storing open education resources (OER) in electronic repositories will allow learners to access the resources using mobile technology. With mobile technologies, learners can complete coursework and assessments from anywhere and send their work to their tutors electronically and receive feedback (GSMA, 2011).
On the angular resolution of multiple targets

Abstract : The angular accuracy obtainable from an aperture of fixed size is considered, with emphasis on the multiple target case. By means of the Cramer- Rao Inequality, a lower bound to the measurement variance is computed. In addition, the degradation due to uncertainties in the number of targets present is considered. Loss of accuracy is small until the targets approach to within one beamwidth, at which point the degradation becomes severe.
To investigate the effect of Mobile IP on the performance of VANET through realistic channel conditions.

Abstract — Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) is a specialized Ad hoc Network, which provides safety and comfort for passengers [1]. Due to the specific characteristic of VANET like high mobility and large scale node population [1], providing Quality of Service (QoS) in this type of wireless network is a challenging issue. As a result, we combine Mobile IP and VANET to improve QoS in terms of packet loss and throughput for traffic safety and entertainment applications. Comparative performance evaluation is done in terms of QOS parameters to show the network performance using different traffic types and by varying speed of the vehicles under urban scenario.
Rewrite-Strategien für generierte Anfragesequenzen im Online Analytical Processing

Im Bereich Business Intelligence werden verschiedenste Methoden und Werkzeuge eingesetzt, um unternehmensweite Datenbestande in einem Data Warehouse zu analysieren. Wichtige Vertreter sind hier unter anderem das Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) und das Data Mining. Viele Werkzeuge in diesem Bereich generieren zur Bearbeitung einer einzigen Anfrage des Benutzers eine ganze Sequenz von SQL-Anfragen. Die Ergebnisse der einzelnen SQL-Statements gehen entweder direkt in die fur den Benutzer aufbereiteten Ergebnisse ein oder sie dienen lediglich als temporare Zwischenergebnisse. Generierte Anfragesequenzen sind meist nicht optimal, sondern spiegeln den generischen, modularen Aufbau des Generierungsprozesses wider. Dies hat hohe Laufzeiten und eventuell auch einen hohen Platzverbrauch fur die Speicherung der Zwischenergebnisse zur Folge. Ahnlich wie bei der Optimierung einzelner SQL-Anfragen konnen hier Rewrite-Strategien eingesetzt werden, um eine gegebene Anfragesequenz in eine optimierte Version zu transformieren. Die Analyse und Formalisierung der moglichen Transformationen, sowie die Implementierung eines Prototyps sind Bestandteil dieser Diplomarbeit. Der Prototyp soll belegen, dass die aufgestellten Regeln tatsachlich implementiert werden konnen und diese Implementierung auch effizient ist. Der DSS-Optimierer, in dem zukunftig die Transformationen durchgefuhrt werden sollen, ist zwischen der DSS-Anwendung und dem Datenbanksystem positioniert. D.h. sowohl seine Eingabe als auch seine Ausgabe ist eine Sequenz von SQL-Anweisungen. Dies wird bei der Suche nach einer geeigneten Interndarstellung fur die Anfragesequenzen und bei der Formulierung der Rewrite-Regeln berucksichtigt.
Collective parallel I/O

Parallel I/O, the process of transferring a global data structure distributed among computer nodes to a file striped across storage devices, can be quite complicated and involve a significant amount of data movement. Optimizing parallel I/O with respect to data distribution, file layout, and machine architecture is critical for performance. In this work, we propose a solution to both the performance and portability problems plaguing the wide acceptance of distributed memory parallel computers for scientific computing: a collective parallel I/O interface and efficient algorithms to implement it. A collective interface allows the programmer to specify a file access as a high-level global operation rather than as a series of seeks and writes. This not only provides a more natural interface for the programmer, but also provides the system with both the opportunity and the semantic information necessary to optimize the file operation. We attack this problem in three steps: we evaluate an early parallel I/O system, the Intel iPSC/860 Concurrent File System; we design and analyze the performance of two classes of algorithms taking advantage of collective parallel I/O; and we design MPI-IO, a collective parallel I/O interface likely to become the standard for portable parallel I/O. The collective I/O algorithms fall into two broad categories: data block scheduling and collective buffering. Data block scheduling algorithms attempt to schedule the individual data transfers to minimize resource contention and to optimize for particular hardware characteristics. We develop and evaluate three data block scheduling algorithms: Grouping, Random, and Sliding Window. The data block scheduling algorithms improved performance by as much as a factor of eight. The collective buffering algorithms permute the data before writing or after reading in order to combine small file accesses into large blocks. We design and test a series of four collective buffering algorithms and demonstrate improvement in performance by two orders of magnitude over naive file I/O for the hardest, three dimensional distributions.
3-D motion estimation of human head for model-based image coding

Model-based image coding applied to interpersonal communication achieves very low bit-rate image transmission. To accomplish it, accurate three-dimensional (3-D) motion estimation of a speaker is necessary. A new method of 3-D motion estimation is presented, consisting of two steps. In the first, facial contours and feature points of a speaker are extracted using filtering and Snake algorithms. Five feature points on a speaker's facial image are tracked between consecutive picture frames, which gives 2-D motion vectors of the feature points. Then, in the second step, the 3-D motion of a speaker's head is estimated using a three-layered neural network model, after training with many possible motion patterns of the human head using an existing 3-D general shape model. Experimental results show that our method not only achieves good results but is also more robust than existing methods, even when the motion of an object is rather large or complicated. Accurately estimated 3-D motion parameters can realise image transmission at a very low bit rate.
File management and information retrieval systems: A manual for managers and technicians

This practical text offers a simple "how-to" approach to records management. Updated to reflect technological changes in recent years, this third edition describes the significant changes related to records: CD-ROMs, imaging, micrographics, recycling ergonomics, and facility management. Traditional paper methods are still treated. The book also includes information about new software for records management. The author emphasises the importance of a procedures manual and provides guidelines for creating one. She describes various filing methods, the processing of materials, the retention of records, circulation procedures, and equipment and supplies. In addition, she presents detailed case studies that illustrate the principles involved in file management.
A New Architecture for Extending the Capabilities of the Copernicus Trajectory Optimization Program

This paper describes a new plugin architecture developed for the Copernicus spacecraft trajectory optimization program. Details of the software architecture design and development are described, as well as examples of how the capability can be used to extend the tool in order to expand the type of trajectory optimization problems that can be solved. The inclusion of plugins is a significant update to Copernicus, allowing user-created algorithms to be incorporated into the tool for the first time. The initial version of the new capability was released to the Copernicus user community with version 4.1 in March 2015, and additional refinements and improvements were included in the recent 4.2 release. It is proving quite useful, enabling Copernicus to solve problems that it was not able to solve before.
Identifying extreme event climate thresholds for greater Manchester, UK: examining the past to prepare for the future

Extreme weather events can have severe consequences for the local environment and population. Projected future changes in climate (e.g. UKCP09) indicate that North West England is likely to experience an increasing frequency and intensity of meteorological extremes, leading to flooding, heat waves and storms. Consequently, it is important that the region enhances its preparedness for such events. This paper explores the possibility of developing quantifiable climate risk indices for the case study area of Greater Manchester, using a combination of archival research and statistical analysis of past climate data. For extremes which are the function of a single meteorological variable (e.g. heat waves, pluvial flooding and heavy snowfall) the thresholds proved to be reliable and skillful. Days with maximum daily temperature greater than or equal to 29.2 °C, daily snowfall amount greater than or equal to 6 cm or maximum gust speed greater than or equal to 60 knots are found to be indicative of weather‐related impacts which have in the past affected human health/well‐being, have caused damage to the urban infrastructure or have severely disrupted services. Extreme events which are the result of a more complex interaction between variables (e.g. drought, freezing conditions) were less well captured by applying the thresholds associated with a single variable in isolation. Such critical threshold indices can be used in conjunction with future projections of climate change to establish weather‐related risk for the future. This risk‐based approach can subsequently be integrated to climate change adaptation strategies and development planning to ensure future preparedness. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society
Wireless realtime motion tracking system using localised orientation estimation

A realtime wireless motion tracking system is developed. The system is capable of tracking the orientations of multiple wireless sensors, using a semi-distributed implementation to reduce network bandwidth and latency, to produce real-time animation of rigid body models, such as the human skeleton. The system has been demonstrated to be capable of full-body posture tracking of a human subject using fifteen devices communicating with a basestation over a single, low bandwidth, radio channel. The thesis covers the theory, design, and implementation of the tracking platform, the evaluation of the platform’s performance, and presents a summary of possible future applications.
WattProbe Software-based Empirical Extraction of Hardware Energy Models

of the Thesis WattProbe Software-based Empirical Extraction of Hardware Energy Models by Manish Prasad Master of Science in Computer Science Stony Brook University 2003 A compelling goal of portable computing is to make PCs as light as possible while adding enhanced features in the form of substantial processing power, storage and wireless networking capabilities in order to run demanding applications like multimedia. On the other hand battery technology hasn’t improved significantly, which implies that lighter batteries mean lesser capacity. This demands that battery power be managed critically, which has resulted in the recent thrust in energy-aware computing research in the OS community as well as implementation of power saving mechanisms on state-of-the-art portables. However, there are various factors which impede power management research and hamper the effectiveness of power saving mechanisms. Firstly, energy measurement is hard and cumbersome as it requires special experimental setup comprising externally connected multimeters. This makes it very difficult to evaluate any proposed power management strategy across multiple platforms outside a laboratory setting. Since effectiveness of power management strategies vary largely with underlying platform energy consumption characteristics, it is essential to evaluate any such strategy across multiple platforms. Furthermore, large scale deployment of power saving schemes in production class OSes for state-of-the-art portables warrants a mechanism to incorporate the knowledge of underlying hardware energy models into such schemes. Due to substantial differences in power consumption of processors and I/O devices from different vendors, a cardinal requirement to achieve the above said goal is the ability to learn underlying energy models easily as and when hardware configuration changes, without requiring any special equipment.
Language acquisition : the growth of grammar

This text provides a comprehensive introduction to current thinking on language acquisition. Following an introductory chapter that discusses the foundations of linguistic inquiry, the book covers the acquisition of specific aspects of language from birth to about age 6. Topics include the language abilities of newborns, the acquisition of phonological properties of language, the lexicon, syntax, pronoun and sentence interpretation, control structures, specific language impairments, and the relationship between language and other cognitive functions. At the conclusion of each chapter are a summary of the material covered, a list of keywords, study questions, and exercises. The book, which adopts the perspective of Chomskyan Universal Generative Grammar throughout, assumes a familiarity with basic concepts of linguistic theory.
Information state based speech recognition

Ph.D dissertation in Linguistics at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 2010 Title: Information State Based Speech Recognition Author: Rebecca Jonson Language: English Department: Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 200, SE-405-30 Goteborg Series: Gothenburg Monographs in Linguistics 41 Published at: http://hdl.handle. net/2077/22169 One of the pitfalls in spoken dialogue systems is the brittleness of automatic speech recognition (ASR). ASR systems often misrecognize user input and they are unreliable when it comes to judging their own performance. Recognition failures and deficient confidence estimation affect the performance of a dialogue system as a whole and the impression it makes on a user. Humans outperform ASR systems on most tasks related to speech understanding. One of the reasons is that humans make use of much more knowledge. For example humans appear to take a variety of knowledge-based aspects of the current dialogue into account when processing speech. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether speech recognition also can benefit from the use of higher level knowledge sources and dialogue context when used in spoken dialogue systems. One of the major contributions of this thesis is to provide more insight into what type of knowledge sources in spoken dialogue systems would be potential contributors to the task of ASR and how such knowledge can be represented computationally. In the framework of information state based dialogue management we have an important source of semantic and pragmatic knowledge represented in the information state. We will investigate if the knowledge in the information state can help to alleviate the search problem and reliability estimation in speech recognition. We call this knowledge and context aware approach to speech recognition information state based speech recognition. The first part of this thesis investigates approaches to obtaining better initial language models more rapidly for spoken dialogue systems and ways of dynamically selecting the most appropriate models based on the dialogue context. The second part of this thesis concerns the use of the speech recognition output and investigates how additional knowledge sources can enhance a dialogue system’s decision-making on how to proceed and make use of speech recognition hypotheses. The thesis presents several experimental studies addressing the issues described above and proposes an integration of the explored techniques into the GoDiS dialogue system.
The representation of space in mammals

Animals require cognitive maps for efficiently navigating in their natural habitat. Cognitive maps are a neuronal representation of their outside world. In mammals, place cells and grid cells have been implicated to form the basis of these neuronal representations. Place cells are active at one particular location in an environment and grid cells at multiple locations of the external world that are arranged in a hexagonal lattice.