Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Projektrapport Towards Embodied Perspective : exploring first-person , stereoscopic , 4 K , wall-sized rendering of embodied sculpting

The central goal of this thesis is creating and testing technology to produce embodied interaction experiences. Embodied interaction is the sense that we inhabit a digital space with our minds operating on it as if it were our physical bodies, without conscious thought, but as natural as reaching out with your fingers and touching the object in front of you. Traditional interaction techniques such as keyboard and mouse get in the way of achieving embodiment. In this thesis, we have created an embodied perspective of virtual three-dimensional objects floating in front of a user. Users can see the object from a first-person perspective without a headsup display and can change the perspective of the object by shifting their point of view. The technology and affordances to make this possible in a unobtrusive, practical and efficient way is the subject of this thesis. Using a depth sensor, Microsoft’s Kinect [7], we track the user’s position in front of a screen in real-time, thus making it possible to change the perspectives seen by each of the user’s eyes to fit their real point of view, in order to achieve a 3D embodied interaction outside the screen. We combined the first-person perspective into an embodied sculpting project that includes a wireless haptic glove to allow the user to feel when touching the model and a small one-hand remote controller used to rotate the object around as the user desires when pressing its single button. We have achieved what we call Embodied Perspective, which involves an outside-screen stereoscopic visualization, which reacts to body interaction as if the visualization was really where the user perceives it, thanks to the data from the depth sensor. This method does not block the user’s view of their own body, but fits and matches their brain’s perception. When applied to virtual sculpting (embodied sculpting), it gives the user the ability to feel and understand much better their actions; where they are touching/sculpting and how they should move to reach where they want, since the movements are the same one would perform with their body in a real-world sculpting situation. A further study of the viability of this method, not only on single person interaction but on group visualization of a single user perspective, is discussed and proposed.
Fine-tuning Polygenic Risk Scores with GWAS Summary Statistics

Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have wide applications in human genetics research. Notably, most PRS models include tuning parameters which improve predictive performance when properly selected. However, existing model-tuning methods require validation data that is independent with both training and testing samples. These data rarely exist in practice, creating a significant gap between PRS methodology and applications. Here, we introduce PUMAS, a novel method to fine-tune PRS models using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWASs). Through extensive simulations, external validations, and analysis of 65 GWAS traits, we demonstrate that PUMAS can perform a variety of model-tuning procedures (e.g. cross-validation) using GWAS summary statistics and can effectively benchmark and optimize PRS models under diverse genetic architecture. Applied to 211 neuroimaging traits and Alzheimer’s disease, we show that fine-tuned PRSs will improve statistical power in association analysis. We believe our method resolves a fundamental problem without a current solution and will greatly benefit genetic prediction applications.
Imaginary crystal bases for $U_q(\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}(2)})$-modules in category $\mathcal O^q_{\text{red,im}}$

Recently we defined imaginary crystal bases for $U_q(\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}(2)})$- modules in category $\mathcal O^q_{\text{red,im}}$ and showed the existence of such bases for reduced quantized imaginary Verma modules for $U_q(\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}(2)})$. In this paper we show the existence of imaginary crystal basis for any object in the category $\mathcal O^q_{\text{red,im}}$.
Negotiating Infrastructure: Supporting the Appropriation of Collaborative Software

A growing body of research work tries to go beyond the classical dichotomy of ‘design’ and ‘use’ in order to better understand the accountabilities of technology production and use. Our research focuses on the creative activities at the ‘user’ end of the production line of organisational software. Support for these activities is traditionally discussed in the context of ‘Tailoring’ applications for specific organisational contexts. In earlier studies we were able to identify ‘appropriation activities’ beyond tailoring, like technology-related communication and technology demonstration, which ‘users’ perform in order to make sense of technologies for their practical needs. In this study we report our experiences with developing and conducting means for ‘appropriation support’ to actively facilitate these activities. We developed and implemented a ‘use discourse environment’ following the idea of an ‘Online Future Workshop’ to facilitate the discussions around the establishment of a shared software development infrastructure of four cooperating research organisations. We provided a highly accessible platform (a web-based discussion forum), a goal-oriented discourse and facilitation concept (inspired by the idea of a Future Workshop), and additional articulation support (easier quoting of software artefacts). Our results indicate the usefulness of easy reference to and illustrations of the technology in discussion, the need for process guidance, the need for a stronger integration of work context and appropriation support means, and the increased difficulties through multi-faceted organizational and individual interests that occur in an inter-organisational, distributed environment. The subordinated nature of ‘infrastructural work’ (versus ‘productive work’) could be identified as the main problem for appropriation support concepts. However, our study encourages research beyond an analytical perspective on appropriation phenomena. On the one hand, the support of these activities can become an important aspect of designing the technologies themselves, on the other hand support approaches like the one described here help render visible the ‘invisible work’ appropriation activities constitute, making this type of work also more accessible for an analysis of the dynamics at work.
When and How Much Should Random Walkers Proliferate for a Fast and Efficient Search ?

The time-dependent coverage of a network by a varying number of random walkers is considered. Broadening the existing, coveragefocused perspective, we here explicitely address search efficiency, i.e. bandwidth consumption, which is essential for distributed systems. However, defining a single objective that combines speed and efficiency for estimation of the optimal number of walkers is a non-trivial issue, as speed increases but efficiency decreases with more numerous walkers. First, we define a combined objective to maximize coverage with least sacrifice in efficiency. Secondly, to fulfill the proposed objective, we design a novel search strategy inspired by the statistical mechanics of multiple, overlapping random walks. Our new algorithm is demonstrated on a four-dimensional Euclidean grid and it can be extended to other topologies with minor modifications. Finally, we formulate a suitable objective function and compare the optimal proliferation rates from theory and simulation.
NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING OF STRESS DISTRIBUTION IN CABLE ANCHOR

Cable anchor is one of the most important parts of cable-stayed bridge. Stress distribution in cable anchor reflects the status of the bridge, but it is very difficult to measure. Embedded fiber Bragg grating sensors provide a good solution. This paper first describes the structure of cable anchor in detail and analyzes the stress distribution of cable anchor in theory. And then, a scheme based on carbon fiber reinforced embedded FBG sensors is proposed. Finally, an experiment on full-scale cable anchor is conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed non-destructive method. The experimental results show that the non-destructive testing method based on embedded FBG sensors can measure the stress distribution in cable anchor effectively.
Security of Wireless Mesh Network from Denial of Service Attack

: Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) is an integral broadband wireless network who provides high bandwidth internet service to users. It is a kind of multi-hop network having many to many connections with the capability of dynamic signify network topology WMN’s utility network performance can cause a massive fall. Channel your physical security vulnerabilities, due to the dynamic changes of topology is a major challenging issue. Self –Configuration is a wireless mesh network self-organized nature make it vulnerable to various type of more attacks . In this paper we have discussed Some attacks that TCP / IP model are performed at different layers of security challenges, analyzing the counter remedies and protection mechanisms in place various attacks listed. Some attacks that TCP / IP model, are performed at different layers of security challenges, analyzing the counter remedies and protection mechanisms in place various attacks listed.
Exact and approximate Geometric Pattern Matching for point sets in the plane under similarity transformations

We consider the following geometric pattern matching problem: Given two sets of points in the plane, P and Q, and some (cid:14) > 0, (cid:12)nd a similarity transformation (translation, rotation and scale) such that h(T(P); Q) < (cid:14), where h(:; :) is the directional Hausdor(cid:11) distance with L 1 as the underlying metric. Similarity transformations have not been dealt with in the context of the directional Hausdor(cid:11) distance and we (cid:12)ll the gap here. We present e(cid:14)cient, exact and approximate algorithms for this problem imposing a reasonable separation restriction on the set Q. For the exact case if the minimum L 1 distance between every pair of points in Q is 8(cid:14) then the problem can be solved in O(n 2 m log n) time where m and n are the number of points in P and Q respectively. If the points in Q are just c(cid:14) apart from each other for any 0 < c < 1 we get a randomized approximate solution with expected runtime O(n 2 c (cid:0)4 " (cid:0)8 log 4 mn), where " > 0 controls the approximation and the answer is correct with high probability.
For Information

2. At the meeting of the Panel on 27 May 2005, we updated Members on the progress of the advance work for the HZMB and the NLHC, and sought Members’ support for a funding application to be made to the Public Works Subcommittee and the Finance Committee for the conceptual design of and advance technical studies for the HZMB. At the request of the Panel, we undertook to consult the Islands District Council on the alignment options for the HZMB and the NLHC prior to the PWSC meeting. We also agreed to provide additional information on the alignment options for the NLHC.
Movement Detection of Human Body Segments: Passive radio-frequency identification and machine-learning technologies.

Movement detection of human body segments is a fertile research topic in human-computer interaction, as well as in medical and entertainment applications. In spite of the fact that most of the current methods to track motion are based on optoelectronic systems and wearable inertial sensors, promising solutions could spring from the application of passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. When the human body's limbs move within an electromagnetic field radiated by an interrogating antenna, a movement-dependent modulation of the backscattered field is sensed by the remote receiver. The collected signals, properly conditioned by wearable electromagnetic markers (tags), may therefore carry intrinsic information about human motion. This article investigates the potentiality of the synergy between electromagnetics and machine-learning technologies to classify gestures of arms and legs by using only passive and sensorless transponders. The electromagnetic signals, backscattered from the tags during gestures, are collected by a fixed reader antenna and processed by the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm to recognize periodic limb movements and classify more complex random motion patterns. Experimental sessions demonstrated a classification accuracy higher than 80-90%, which is comparable to more complex systems involving active wearable transceivers. The results further indicate that the achievable bit rate is 48 b/min, suggesting that the platform could be used to input coded controls to a gesture-oriented user interface.
Motion Planning for a Robot Arm by Using Genetic Algorithm

This paper proposes genetic algorithm (GA) to optimize the point-to-point trajectory planning for a 3-link (redundant) robot arm. The objective function for the proposed GA is to minimizing traveling time and space, while not exceeding a maximum pre-defined torque, without collision with any obstacle in the robot workspace. Quadrinomial and quintic polynomials are used to describe the segments that connect initial, intermediate, and final point at joint-space. Direct kinematics has been used for avoiding the singular configurations of the robot arm.
Estimating the Number of Solutions of Cardinality Constraints through range and roots Decompositions

This paper introduces a systematic approach for estimating the number of solutions of cardinality constraints. A main di ﬃ culty of solutions counting on a speciﬁc constraint lies in the fact that it is, in general, at least as hard as developing the constraint and its propagators, as it has been shown on alldifferent and gcc constraints. This paper introduces a probabilistic model to systematically estimate the number of solutions on a large family of cardinality constraints including alldifferent , nvalue , atmost , etc. Our approach is based on their decomposition into range and roots , and exhibits a general pattern to derive such estimates based on the edge density of the associated variable-value graph. Our theoretical result is ﬁnally implemented within the maxSD search heuristic, that aims at exploring ﬁrst the area where there are likely more solutions.
OpenAIR@RGU The Open Access Institutional Repository at The Robert Gordon University

We propose a novel probabilistic method based on the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) to learn the structure of a Latent Variable Model (LVM) for query language modeling. In the proposed LVM, the combinations of query terms are viewed as the latent variables and the segmented chunks from the feedback documents are used as the observations given these latent variables. Our extensive experiments shows that our method signiﬁcantly outperforms a number of strong base-lines in terms of both eﬀectiveness and robustness
eview omplement in animal development : Unexpected roles of a highly onserved pathway

The complement pathway is most famous for its role in immunity, orchestrating an exquisitely refined system for immune surveillance. At its core lies a cascade of proteolytic events that ultimately serve to recognise microbes, infected cells or debris and target them for elimination. Mounting evidence has shown that a number of the proteolytic intermediaries in this cascade have, in themselves, other functions in the body, signalling through receptors to drive events that appear to be unrelated to immune hemotaxis surveillance. It seems, then, that the complement system not only functions as an immunological effector, but also has cell–cell signalling properties that are utilised by a number of non-immunological processes. In this review we examine a number of these processes in the context of animal development, all of which share a requirement for precise control of cell behaviour in time and space. As we will see, the scope of the complement system’s function is indeed much greater than we might have imagined only a
Spin-It : Optimizing Moment of Inertia for Spinnable Objects ” Mass Properties of Triangulated Solids and Their Derivatives

This supplemental material describes the computation of mass properties of triangulated solids and their derivatives w.r. t. surface vertices. We start by briefly reviewing the volume integrals for mass, center of mass, and moment of inertia. Thereafter, we reduce the volume to surface integrals using the Divergence theorem, resulting in analytical expressions for a volume bounded by a triangulated surface. We then discuss derivatives of these analytical surface integrals w.r. t. vertices. We provide pseudo code for both mass properties and their derivatives for the reader’s convenience. The resulting routines serve as fundamental building blocks for optimizing moment of inertia for spinnable objects.
Affective Dilemmas: The Impact of Trait Affect and State Emotion on Sustainable Consumption Decisions in a Social Dilemma Task

Developing a more sustainable lifestyle is becoming an important challenge of our times; it is thus crucial to understand the factors that drive resource consumption decisions. We investigated the impact of trait affect and state emotion on individual consumption decisions in social dilemma tasks. Affective factors interacted strongly with the specific structural features of the choice situation. In Experiment 1, participants with high trait affect were especially likely to reduce their consumption when resource scarcity increased, but only when the choice was presented in a gain frame. In Experiment 2, induced guilt led to reduced consumption in the gain frame in participants with high trait affect, whereas induced pride led to increased investments in the loss frame in these participants. Our research highlights the adaptive function of affective factors in decision making in social dilemma tasks and illustrates how emotions may be leveraged to promote more sustainable resource consumption.
Approximation for minimum triangulation of convex polyhedra

The minimum triangulation of a convex polyhedron is a triangulation that contains the minimum number of tetrahedra over all its possible triangulations. Since finding the minimum triangulation of convex polyhedra was recently shown to be NP-hard, it becomes significant to find algorithms that give good approximation. In this paper, we give a new triangulation algorithm with an improved approximation ratio 2 - O(1/√n). We also show that this is best possible for algorithms that only consider the combinatorial structure of the polyhedra.
Tobacco contractual arrangements in Malawi and their impact on smallholder farmers: Evidence from Burley Tobacco contracts:

Contract farming is emerging as an important governance structure in certain agricultural value chains. This study was done with the objectives of understanding the contractual relations between buyers and small-scale growers in the tobacco industry in Malawi and the impact of contract farming on smallholder incomes. Cross-sectional data was collected from 211 contract and 109 non-contract smallholder burley tobacco farmers who sold tobacco in the 2012/13 season. Two analyses were undertaken. First, the study analyzed the contractual arrangement and the performance factors under contract using analytical methods from transaction costs economics. Commercial banks, through the tobacco buyer, provide farmers with input loans, which farmers use to obtain fertilizer, seed, and extension services, all of which are important to increase tobacco productivity. The results of the contract analysis indicated that side-selling, information asymmetry, moral hazard, and strategic contract default by farmers were some of the transactions costs that affect the success of contract farming. However, the contractual arrangement also contributed to reduced transfer costs and reduced the rejection rate for the tobacco produced by the contract farmers. Moreover, to the buying company, contract farming contributes to reduced monitoring costs, as farmers work in groups and monitor each other’s activities, such as baling of the tobacco leaf, which ensures better quality tobacco being offered under contract. Secondly, for the impact evaluation of contract tobacco farming, a treatment effect model was used. The study analyzed the factors that affect farmers’ participation in contract farming and the effect of that participation on net tobacco income. Landholding size, access to extension services, distance to the auction floor, and the gender of the tobacco farmer were found to strongly affect the participation decision. Differences in income between contract and non-contract farmers were found to be strongly influenced by landholding size and monitoring of sales at the auction. Contract participation increases tobacco income by 46.6 percent. This finding justifies making efforts to contractually link more smallholder farmers to tobacco companies. Therefore, a policy needs to be in place to facilitate such contracts between small-scale farmers and companies that buy tobacco leaf in Malawi.
SPARSE REPRESENTATION FOR FACE RECOGNITION

Sparse representation has attracted a great deal of attention in the past decade. Famous transforms such as discrete Fourier transform, wavelet transform and singular value decomposition are used to sparsely represent the signals. The aim of these transforms is to reveal certain structures of a signal and representation of these structures in a compact form. Therefore, sparse representation provides high performance in the areas as diverse as image denoising, pattern classification, compression etc. All of these applications are concerned with a compact and high-fidelity representation of signals. In this thesis, we consider the classical face recognition problem. This application is more concerned with the semantic information of image signals. It is shown that a sparse representation based framework is a possible way to tackle this problem. We also propose a new approach for face classification which is based on task driven dictionary learning.