Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Task-based Evaluation for Improving Natural Language Understanding in Human-Robot Rescue Teams

—Mixed human-robot teams are increasingly considered for accomplishing complex mission due to their complementary capabilities. A major barrier for deploying such heterogeneous teams in real-world settings, is the current lack of natural skills in robotic team members, such as the understanding and interpretation of natural language instructions that include referential descriptions of entities in the world. In this paper we report the results of an empirical study in which humans tend to use referring expressions. We show how the received results and ideas can be used as guidelines to improve dialogue systems. By integrating and extending our system with these results, we will show how complex natural language instructions can be easily translated by robotic systems.
Causal Inference from an EM-Learned Causal Model

The standard approach to answering a causal query (e.g., P(Y|do(X)) when given a causal diagram and observational data is to first generate an estimand, which is an expression over the observable variables, if the query is identifiable. The estimand is then evaluated from the observational data. In this paper, we propose an alternative paradigm for answering causal queries over discrete observable variables. We suggest learning the full causal Bayesian network containing latent variables from the observational data. Once a full model is available, Probabilistic Graphical Model (PGM) algorithms developed over the past three decades can be applied to answer the causal query. We present this idea and provide analysis, demonstrating that this approach can be far more effective than the estimand-based approach with plug-in estimation, when the diagram has a low treewidth. Our analysis and experiments illustrate the potential of this approach over a collection of synthetically generated causal models.
Investigation of heat and light tolerance in Astrangia poculata

Industrialization and human disturbance have led to increasing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), causing a rise in sea surface temperatures, and introducing stressors to coastal ecosystems. Coral reef systems are a significant source of biodiversity and economic growth on a global scale, making them an important topic of study in the context of changing climatic conditions. There have been multiple studies addressing the decrease in resiliency of corals associated with increased temperatures, however, few studies have addressed the effects of changing light availability. Here, we address how varying light availability and increasing temperature conditions affect both symbiotic and aposymbiotic individuals of the facultative reef-building coral Astrangia poculata in a 14-day experiment with six total treatments of differing light and temperature regimes. Through the investigation of photosynthetic activity, feeding behavior, and color variations we found that light was the most significant factor in establishing coral and symbiont health, however heat was marginally more significant in determining color intensity. All samples responded the worst, photosynthetically and behaviorally, in treatments with no light availability, and the best in treatments with normal light conditions (40 mv). Additionally, we found that aposymbiotic samples were better equipped for no light conditions, whereas symbiotic individuals were better adjusted to high light conditions. This research shows how varying light availability has a significant impact on photosynthetic efficiency and health of corals regardless of facultative symbiont state, however symbiotic state does allow for increased resilience to certain conditions. This analysis is suggesting that light availability may be a more significant factor than previously considered in terms of coral health and resilience.
Spectral Study of (4´-Phenyl)-1,2,4-Triazol-1-Ium-Phenacylid (PTPhY) in Ternary Solutions

The molecule of (4 ′-phenyl)-1,2,4-triazol-1-ium-phenacylid (PTPhY) is studied in two types of ternary solutions. In the first category, the binary solvent contains two hydroxyl miscible liquids, and the second one contains one protic and one non-protic solvents. The potential energy in pairs of the type hydroxyl solvent-ylid is estimated in the frame of the statistical cell model of ternary solutions. From the viewpoint of interactions in the first ylid solvation shell, the statistical average weight of the active solvent differs from its molar fraction in the binary solvent.
Rockfall monitoring with a Doppler radar on an active rockslide complex in Brienz/Brinzauls (Switzerland)

Abstract. We present and analyze a rockfall catalog from an active landslide complex in Brienz/Brinzauls of the Swiss Alps, collected with a new Doppler radar system. This radar system provides a complete and continuous time series of rockfall events with volumes of 1 m3 and greater since 2018 and serves as automatic traffic control for an important main road. In the period between January 2018 and October 2022, 6743 events were detected, which is 2 orders of magnitude higher activity than in stable continental cliffs. A few percent of all rockfall events reached the shadow area, which hosts an important road and agricultural area. The Doppler radar data set allows us to investigate the triggering factors quantitatively. We found that the background rockfall activity is controlled by seasonal climatic triggers. In winter, more rockfalls are observed during thawing periods, whereas in summer the rockfall activity increases with hourly rainfall intensity. We also found that, due to the geological setting in an active landslide complex, increased rockfall activity occurs clustered in space and time, triggered by local displacement hotspots. Thus, monitoring spatial and temporal variations of slope displacement velocity is crucial for detailed rockfall hazard assessment in similar geological settings.
Adaptive attack for a possible PKE scheme using FESTA trapdoor functions in the wrong way

Isogeny-based cryptography is one of the candidates for post-quantum cryptography. In 2023, Kani’s theorem breaks some isogeny-based schemes including SIDH, which was considered as a promising post-quantum scheme. Though Kani’s theorem damaged isogeny-based cryptography, some researchers try to dig into the applications of Kani’s theorem. A FESTA trapdoor function is an isogeny-based trapdoor function that is one trial to apply Kani’s theorem to cryptography. The claim of this paper is that there is an adaptive attack if the FESTA trapdoor function is used in the wrong way. In this paper, we provide an adaptive attack for a possible PKE scheme based on FESTA trapdoor functions. Our attack reveals the secret key of the function. Our attack may be used if the recipient of the PKE scheme does not check whether the hidden matrix corresponding to the ciphertext is correct. In other words, the recipient can prevent our attack by checking the correctness of the matrix. Our attack cannot be adapted to IND-CCA PKE schemes named FESTA proposed in the FESTA original paper.
More, Faster, and Better? Effects of Rewards on Incentivizing the Creation of User-Generated Content

We quantify the effects of rewards from peers and from the platform on the quantity, timeliness, and quality of user-generated content (UGC). Users can receive both monetary and non-monetary rewards. Understanding the effectiveness of different types of rewards provides platforms with guidance on how to design reward systems to encourage desired user content generation. Our unique data come from an online board game platform and consist of information on three types of UGC: initiating forum threads, replying to peers’ questions
An improved generalized predictive control algorithm based on the difference equation CARIMA model for the SISO system with known strong interference

ABSTRACT The single input single output (SISO) system with known strong interference is widely used in various occasions. Due to its strong interference, the control accuracy is hard to guarantee. To solve this problem, an improved generalized predictive control (IGPC) algorithm is developed. The IGPC firstly builds the difference equation CARIMA (Controlled Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving-Average) model of the SISO system and then treats the system as a two input single output (TISO) system and calculates its predictive vector, then transforms it into a SISO system and uses the TISO system predictive vector to calculate the SISO system control increment. A new parameter called phase coefficient is added to inhibit the control lag. Simulations are performed to make the comparison among the traditional GPC, PID control, velocity synchronization control (VSC), fuzzy adaptive PID control (FAPID), model-based robust PID control (BPID) and the IGPC. Results show that IGPC has best performance compared to the others. Finally, experiments are developed which proved that the IGPC algorithm has a higher accuracy in the SISO system with known strong interference than that of VSC.
Strong magnetic field of the peculiar red supergiant VY Canis Majoris

Abstract We report on magnetic field measurements associated with the well-known extreme red supergiant (RSG), VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa). We measured both linear and circular polarization of the SiO v = 0, J = 1 − 0 transition using a sensitive radio interferometer. The measured magnetic field strengths are surprisingly high. A lower limit for the field strength is expected to be at least ~ 10 Gauss based on the high degree of linear polarization. Since the field strengths are very high, the magnetic field must be a key element in understanding the stellar evolution of VY CMa as well as the dynamical and chemical evolution of the complex circumstellar envelope of the star.
Experimental investigation of the unsteady turbulent flow around a leading-edge slat configuration

Air traffic volume is expected to triple in the U.S. and Europe by 2025, and as a result, the aerospace industry is facing stricter noise regulations. The engines and the airframe are the two principle sources of noise on an aircraft. One of the significant sources of airframe noise is the deployment of high-lift devices like a leading-edge slat which is heavily used in the vicinity of airports. The unsteady turbulent flow over a leading-edge slat is studied herein. In particular, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements were performed on a scale-model wing equipped with a leading-edge slat in the H.J. Irving-J.C. C. Picot Wind Tunnel. Two Reynolds numbers based on wing chord were studied: Re = 6x105 and l.3x106 . PIV measurements of the mean flow, Reynolds stresses, turbulent kinetic energy, and vorticity, revealed that a distinct shear-layer forms at the slat cusp that appears to be more curved for the lower Reynolds number case. A snapshot Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) analysis indicated that differences in the time-averaged statistics between the two Reynolds numbers were tied to differences in the coherent structures formed in the slat cove shear layer. In particular, the lower Reynolds number flow seemed to be dominated by a large-scale vortex formed in the slat cove that was related to the unsteady flapping and subsequent impingement of the shear-layer onto the underside of the slat. A train of smaller, more regular vortices was detected for the larger Reynolds number case which seemed to cause the shear-layer to be less curved and impinge closer to the tail of the slat than for the lower Reynolds number case.
Exploratory Analysis of Clinical Safety Data to Detect Safety Signals

It is difficult to design a clinical study to provide sound inferences about safety effects of drugs in addition to providing trustworthy evidence for efficacy. Patient entry criteria and experimental design are targeted at efficacy, and there are too many possible safety endpoints to be able to control type I error while preserving power. Safety analysis tends to be somewhat ad hoc and exploratory. But with the large quantity of safety data acquired during clinical drug testing, safety data are rarely harvested to their fullest potential. Also, decisions are sometimes made that result in analyses that are somewhat arbitrary or that lose statistical efficiency. For example, safety assessments can be too quick to rely on the proportion of patients in each treatment group at each clinic visit who have a lab measurement above two or three times the upper limit of normal. Safety reports frequently fail to fully explore areas such as • which types of patients are having AEs? • what distortions in the tails of the distribution of lab values are taking place? • which AEs tend to occur in the same patient? • how to clinical AEs correlate to continuous lab measurements at a given time • which AEs and lab abnormalities are uniquely related to treatment assigned? • do preclinically significant measurements at an earlier visit predict AEs at a later visit? 45 • how can time trends in many variables be digested into an understandable picture? This talk will demonstrate some of the exploratory statistical and graphical methods that can help answer questions such as the above, using examples based on data from real pharmaceutical trials.
LGRBs beaming features and SNIb/c connection in the light of the Second Swift BAT Catalog

We present new estimate of the LGRB event rate in the local Universe. Adopting a Monte Carlo approach and assuming a Log-normal distributed emitted energy of the population of LGRBs, we derive a mock catalogue of simulated fluences for the five Swift energy bands. We than compare its corresponding distribution with the observed one by mean of best fit procedure. This gives a mean jet energy of logEγ = 49.48 (in erg), where the observed redshift distribution is only well constrained after a moderate, linear evolution of the mean energy with redshift is been considered. Finally, we deduce the local formation rate to be RGRB = 290 Gpc3yr1 representing less than 9% of the local formation rate of type Ib/c supernovae. The present results suggest that GRB progenitors, if following the cosmic star formation history, are very massive and potentially highly rotating stars.
An Image Denoising Method Based on Improved Wavelet Thresholding

This paper proposes an improved-threshold function aimed to enhance the de-noising performance of wavelet thresholding method. Firstly, the theory of wavelet transforms and characteristic of soft-threshold function and hard-threshold function was introduced. Then, an improved-threshold function was proposed. The new method overcomes the discontinuous in hard threshold de-noising method and reduces the permanent bias in soft threshold de-noising method. Last, the improved-threshold algorithm, soft-threshold algorithm, hard-threshold algorithm, disperse wavelet transform (DWT) and wiener filtering are used to reduce the noise in the same image. The experiment result show that the improved-threshold algorithm can get a better denoising effect than the traditional soft and hard thresholding de-noising algorithms.
Frequency domain-based analysis of floor vibrations using the dynamic stiffness matrix method

Buildings may experience excessive floor vibrations due to inner excitations such as walking people and running machines, or ground motion caused by the road traffic. Therefore, it is often necessary to evaluate the vibration level at the design stage. In this paper, a frequency domain-based model for predicting vertical vibrations of a building floor is provided, where the floor is simplified as a rectangular plate stiffened by beams in two orthogonal directions, while vertical motion and rotation of the slab–column joints are viewed as the unknown degrees of freedom. The dynamic stiffness matrix of the whole structure is obtained from those of the floor and column elements. To validate the proposed solution, a five-story building was analyzed, and frequency spectra were compared with those from the finite element method. Besides, a prototype building was analyzed and validated based on field measured data. It is found that the proposed solution could predict vibration responses with satisfactory accuracy, and is more computationally efficient than finite element analysis.
RapidSCAT Slice Spatial Response Function Contour Parameterization

RapidSCAT Slice Spatial Response Function Contour Parameterization John Clyde Niedfeldt Department of Electrical Engineering Engineering, BYU Master of Science The spatial response function (SRF) of the backscatter measurements for a radar scatterometer is often used in reconstruction. It has been found that in many cases the SRF can be approximated as a binary function that is 1 inside the 6 dB contour of the SRF and 0 outside. This improves the computation speed of reconstruction. Computing the SRF contour can still be a lengthy computation, which can be simplified by precomputing and tabulating key SRF contours. The tabular parameterization for many spinning scatterometers, i.e., QuikSCAT, is straight-forward. For RapidSCAT, this estimation is more involved than other radars due to the irregular orbit of its host platform, the International Space Station (ISS). This thesis presents a process for parameterizing the slice contours for RapidSCAT that are acceptable for reconstruction purposes. This thesis develops a new process for parameterizing slice contours. First, RapidSCAT SRFs are calculated using XfactorRS3 , and -6 dB slice contours are found using matplotlib. Then, a suitable filter is found for reducing noise present in slice contours due to quantization error and interpolation inaccuracies. Afterwards, the polygon comparison algorithm is used to determine a set of approximation points. With the approximation points selected, the 3-rd order linear approximation is calculated using parameters available in the L1B data files for RapidSCAT. Finally, analysis of the parameterization is performed. Overall, I developed a process that parameterizes RapidSCAT slice contours with an average root mean square (RMS) error of roughly 1.5 km. This is acceptable for the application of the slice parameterization algorithm and significantly reduces computation compared to fully computing the SRF.
Characterizing Image Motion

This paper contains a review of the characterization and recovery of motion from image sequences. The main dichotomy of considered approaches is in terms of the extent of the region of description, namely, local (infinitesimal) versus regional. The local consideration concentrates on the recovery of optical flow, while the regional considerations provide richer, potentially semantically meaningful quantitative or qualitative descriptions of motion. The paper concludes with an outline of open problems.
Competitiveness of SMEs from the Insertion of Strategic Planning and Human Resource Management as a Tool for Continuous Improvement

The orientations in topics of competitiveness suggest at present, that a company obtains greater income when implanting or developing strategies of businesses that incorporate focuses like competitiveness and sustainability. Thus, organizational efforts are being directed in this line of work. Therefore, it is proposed as an objective for this research to know how SMEs is promoting the issue of competitiveness in their organizations and which aspects are the most outstanding of this process. The methodology used was qualitative and based on the documentary review of specialized scientific publications; at the end reflections are made from the holistic approach to highlight the components that contribute most to the subject of cited. The results point to a scenario of greater dynamics in issues of globalization and competitiveness, as the progress made from the research suggests that growth in these topics will undoubtedly be a motor of great importance to achieve important results for any type of organization.
When Crowd Meets Big Video Data: Cloud-Edge Collaborative Transcoding for Personal Livecast

Deep penetration of personal computing devices and high-speed Internet has enabled everyone to be a broadcaster. In this crowdsourced live streaming service, numerous amateur broadcasters lively stream their video contents to viewers around the world. Consequently, these broadcasters generate a massive amount of video data. The set of video sources and recipients are big as well, so are demand for the storage and computational resources. Transcoding becomes a must to better service these viewers with different network and device configurations. However, the massive amount of video data contributed by countless channels even makes cloud significantly expensive for providing transcoding services to the whole community. In this paper, inspired by the paradigm of Edge Computing, we propose a Cloud-edge collaborative system which combines the idle end-viewers’ resources with the cloud to transcode the massive amount of videos at scale. Specifically, we put forward tailored viewer selection algorithms after empirically analyses the viewer behavior data. In the meantime, we propose auction-based payment schemes to motivate these viewers participating in the transcoding. Large-scale trace-driven simulations demonstrate the superiority of our approach in cost reduction and service stability. We further implement a prototype in PlanetLab to prove the feasibility of our design.
Carbopol: From a simple to a thixotropic yield stress fluid

There is an ongoing discussion in the literature about the flow behavior of the widely used model yield-stress fluid Carbopol. Some papers show that it is indeed the simple model yield-stress fluid that many people believe it to be. However, other authors report rheological hysteresis in the flow curve, transient shear banding that persists for a very long time, and the breaking of fore-aft symmetry in a falling ball experiment. Such behaviors have in the past been associated with thixotropic yield stress fluids, which are very different from simple ones. We present experiments that suggest that both types of behavior may be found in the same type of Carbopol, depending on the preparation: After strong stirring for a long time, the system becomes slightly thixotropic. Flow visualization experiments with fluorescently labeled Carbopol elucidate the difference between the simple and thixotropic behavior of the systems: The stirring breaks the polymers into smaller fragments, some of which are so small that .
Upper bound for the span of pencil graph

An L(2,1)-Coloring or Radio Coloring or λ coloring of a graph is a function f from the vertex set V(G) to the set of all nonnegative integers such that |f(x) − f(y)| ≥ 2 if d(x,y) = 1 and |f(x) − f(y)| ≥ 1 if d(x,y)=2, where d(x,y) denotes the distance between x and y in G. The L(2,1)-coloring number or span number λ(G) of G is the smallest number k such that G has an L(2,1)-coloring with max{f(v) : v ∈ V(G)} = k. [2]The minimum number of colors used in L(2,1)-coloring is called the radio number rn(G) of G (Positive integer). Griggs and yeh conjectured that λ(G) ≤ Δ2 for any simple graph with maximum degree Δ>2. In this article, we consider some special graphs like, n-sunlet graph, pencil graph families and derive its upper bound of (G) and rn(G).
The Effect of Cell Death on the Stability of a Growing Biofilm

In this paper, we investigate the role of cell death in promoting pattern formation within bacterial biofilms. To do this we utilise an extension of the model proposed by Dockery and Klapper [13], and consider the effects of two distinct death rates. Equations describing the evolution of a moving biofilm interface are derived, and properties of steady state solutions are examined. In particular, a comparison of the planar behaviour of the biofilm interface in the different cases of cell death is investigated. Linear stability analysis is carried out at steady state solutions of the interface, and it is shown that, under certain conditions, instabilities may arise. Analysis determines that, while the emergence of patterns is a possibility in `deep’ biofilms, it is unlikely that pattern formation will arise in `shallow’ biofilms.