Reviewerly/exHarmony huggingface dataset:
STREAM: Exploring the Combination of Spatially-Aware Tablets with Augmented Reality Head-Mounted Displays for Immersive Analytics

Recent research in the area of immersive analytics demonstrated the utility of head-mounted augmented reality devices for visual data analysis. However, it can be challenging to use the by default supported mid-air gestures to interact with visualizations in augmented reality (e.g. due to limited precision). Touch-based interaction (e.g. via mobile devices) can compensate for these drawbacks, but is limited to two-dimensional input. In this work we present STREAM: Spatially-aware Tablets combined with Augmented Reality Head-Mounted Displays for the multimodal interaction with 3D visualizations. We developed a novel eyes-free interaction concept for the seamless transition between the tablet and the augmented reality environment. A user study reveals that participants appreciated the novel interaction concept, indicating the potential for spatially-aware tablets in augmented reality. Based on our findings, we provide design insights to foster the application of spatially-aware touch devices in augmented reality and research implications indicating areas that need further investigation.
The balancing trick: Optimized sampling of imbalanced <scp>datasets—A</scp> brief survey of the recent State of the Art

Abstract This survey paper focuses on one of the current primary issues challenging data mining researchers experimenting on real‐world datasets. The problem is that of imbalanced class distribution that generates a bias toward the majority class due to insufficient training samples from the minority class. The current machine learning and deep learning algorithms are trained on datasets that are insufficiently represented in certain categories. On the other hand, some other classes have surplus samples due to the ready availability of data from these categories. Conventional solutions suggest undersampling of the majority class and/or oversampling of the minority class for balancing the class distribution prior to the learning phase. Though this problem of uneven class distribution is, by and large, ignored by researchers focusing on the learning technology, a need has now arisen for incorporating balance correction and data pruning procedures within the learning process itself. This paper surveys a plethora of conventional and recent techniques that address this issue through intelligent representations of samples from the majority and minority classes, that are given as input to the learning module. The application of nature‐inspired evolutionary algorithms to intelligent sampling is examined, and so are hybrid sampling strategies that select and retain the difficult‐to‐learn samples and discard the easy‐to‐learn samples. The findings by various researchers are summarized to a logical end, and various possibilities and challenges for future directions in research are outlined.
Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning

Support vector machine (SVM) is one of the most widely used classification algorithms. It uses supervised learning method (Aizerman et al., Auto Remote Cont 25:821–837, 1964) for training. The SVM classifier is mostly used in multi-classification problems. SVM differs from the traditional classifiers as it uses "decision boundary," which separates the classes. The decision boundary maximizes distances of data points belongs to different classes .in this; decision boundary is the optimum that is Most optimal (Baron and Ensley, Opportunity recognition as the detection of meaningful patterns: evidence from the prototypes of novice and experienced entrepreneurs. Manuscript under review, 2005) decision boundary has maximum margin. The data points which are nearer to the boundary are called support vectors. The most important thing in SVM is its hyper plane, where for a N-dimensional space it is an (N-1)-dimensional subspace. To better understand, the hyper plane is just a line in one dimension for a two-dimensional space. It is a two-dimensional plane that separates the classes for a three-dimensional space.
Secure Coded Multi-Party Computation for Massive Matrix Operations

In this article, we consider a secure multi-party computation problem (MPC), where the goal is to offload the computation of an arbitrary polynomial function of some massive private matrices (inputs) to a cluster of workers. The workers are not reliable. Some of them may collude to gain information about the input data (semi-honest workers). The system is initialized by sharing a (randomized) function of each input matrix to each server. Since the input matrices are massive, each share's size is assumed to be at most 1/k fraction of the input matrix, for some k ∈ \mathbb N. The objective is to minimize the number of workers needed to perform the computation task correctly, such that even if an arbitrary subset of t-1 workers, for some t ∈ \mathbb N, collude, they cannot gain any information about the input matrices. We propose a sharing scheme, called polynomial sharing, and show that it admits basic operations such as adding and multiplication of matrices and transposing a matrix. By concatenating the procedures for basic operations, we show that any polynomial function of the input matrices can be calculated, subject to the problem constraints. We show that the proposed scheme can offer order-wise gain in terms of the number of workers needed, compared to the approaches formed by the concatenation of job splitting and conventional MPC approaches.
Are External Auditors Concerned about Cyber Incidents? Evidence from Audit Fees

SUMMARY While the importance of addressing cybersecurity is widely acknowledged, there is no explicit requirement by regulators or standard setters for auditors to do so. This paper investigates (1) whether external auditors respond to cyber incidents by charging higher audit fees, (2) whether they anticipate and price material cybersecurity risk before cyber incidents occur, and (3) whether increases in audit fees for firms experiencing a cyber incident in the current period are associated with subsequent cyber incidents. We find that only cyber incidents are associated with increases in audit fees and that the association is driven by more severe incidents. We also find that increases in audit fees are smaller for firms with prior cybersecurity risk disclosure after 2011 when the SEC issued cybersecurity disclosure guidance. Finally, larger increases in audit fees for firms experiencing cyber incidents in the current period are associated with a lower likelihood of subsequent cyber incidents.
From conflicts and confusion to doubts: Examining review inconsistency for fake review detection

Inconsistency in online consumer reviews (OCRs) may cause uncertainty and confusion to consumers when they make purchase decisions. However, there is a lack of a systematic and empirical investigation of review inconsistency in the literature. This research characterizes review inconsistency from multiple aspects, including rating-sentiment, content, and language, and proposes hypotheses about their effects on fake OCR detection by drawing upon deception and attitude-behavior consistency theories. We characterize review inconsistency with 22 features, and test the hypotheses with machine learning models developed for fake OCR detection. Our empirical evaluation results using real OCRs not only confirm the presence of review inconsistency, but also demonstrate significant positive effects of review inconsistency on the performance of fake OCR detection. The research findings have important implications for improving the effectiveness of consumer decision making and the trustworthiness of OCRs.
Give more data, awareness and control to individual citizens, and they will help COVID-19 containment

The rapid dynamics of COVID-19 calls for quick and effective tracking of virus transmission chains and early detection of outbreaks, especially in the "phase 2" of the pandemic, when lockdown and other restriction measures are progressively withdrawn, in order to avoid or minimize contagion resurgence. For this purpose, contact-tracing apps are being proposed for large scale adoption by many countries. A centralized approach, where data sensed by the app are all sent to a nation-wide server, raises concerns about citizens' privacy and needlessly strong digital surveillance, thus alerting us to the need to minimize personal data collection and avoiding location tracking. We advocate the conceptual advantage of a decentralized approach, where both contact and location data are collected exclusively in individual citizens' "personal data stores", to be shared separately and selectively (e.g., with a backend system, but possibly also with other citizens), voluntarily, only when the citizen has tested positive for COVID-19, and with a privacy preserving level of granularity. This approach better protects the personal sphere of citizens and affords multiple benefits: it allows for detailed information gathering for infected people in a privacy-preserving fashion; and, in turn this enables both contact tracing, and, the early detection of outbreak hotspots on more finely-granulated geographic scale. The decentralized approach is also scalable to large populations, in that only the data of positive patients need be handled at a central level. Our recommendation is two-fold. First to extend existing decentralized architectures with a light touch, in order to manage the collection of location data locally on the device, and allow the user to share spatio-temporal aggregates-if and when they want and for specific aims-with health authorities, for instance. Second, we favour a longer-term pursuit of realizing a Personal Data Store vision, giving users the opportunity to contribute to collective good in the measure they want, enhancing self-awareness, and cultivating collective efforts for rebuilding society.
Blockchain: The operating system of smart cities

Blockchain is an emerging technology expected to unleash disruptive and transformational forces in many fields. As a decentralized distributed digital ledger, Blockchain technology has the potential to become an underlying operating system that governs the way our cities function in the future. This paper explores the potential of Blockchain as a technology for enabling sustainable future cities and empowering citizen co-creation and participation, promoting civic engagement and achieving Smart Cities' efficiency and transparency objectives. The article first provides background to the Blockchain concept, current and emerging trends in its development, followed by a survey of potential urban applications with particular attention to the domains of governance, transport, supply chain and logistics. Next, the paper presents the challenges that must be overcome to enable widespread adoption and deployment of the technology. The paper is intended for urban researchers and practitioners alike and will be a contribution that can be used by a broad range of stakeholders who wish to understand the disruptive forces of Blockchain, opportunities and potential applications, as well as challenges in the context of Smart Cities.
Global Dynamic Path Planning Fusion Algorithm Combining Jump-A* Algorithm and Dynamic Window Approach

In order to meet the performance requirements of global optimality and path smoothness in robot path planning, a new fusion algorithm of jump-A<sup>&#x002A;</sup> algorithm and dynamic window approach is proposed. First, A<sup>&#x002A;</sup> algorithm is optimized by using the jump point search method and a new distance evaluation function defined by Manhattan and Euclidean distance to obtain global path information. Then take the dynamic window approach as the core by integrating the global path information to safely plan a global optimal path with high smoothness. The experimental results show that the new fusion algorithm proposed in this paper can not only effectively solve the problem of non-continuous curvature and excessive turning angle at the turning points of the path planned by jump-A<sup>&#x002A;</sup> algorithm, but also improve the smoothness of the path and the global optimality. This research is beneficial to the motion control of robots and has certain reference for robot navigation.
Traffic signal optimization on a square lattice with quantum annealing

The spread of intelligent transportation systems in urban cities has caused heavy computational loads, requiring a novel architecture for managing large-scale traffic. In this study, we develop a method for globally controlling traffic signals arranged on a square lattice by means of a quantum annealing machine, namely the D-Wave quantum annealer. We first formulate a signal optimization problem that minimizes the imbalance of traffic flows in two orthogonal directions. Then we reformulate this problem as an Ising Hamiltonian, which is fully compatible with quantum annealers. The new control method is compared with a conventional local control method for a large 50-by-50 city, and the results exhibit the superiority of our global control method in suppressing traffic imbalance over wide parameter ranges. Furthermore, the solutions to the global control method obtained with the quantum annealing machine are better than those obtained with conventional simulated annealing. In addition, we prove analytically that the local and the global control methods converge at the limit where cars have equal probabilities for turning and going straight. These results are verified with numerical experiments.
Security by Design for Big Data Frameworks Over Cloud Computing

Cloud deployment architectures have become a preferable computation model of Big Data (BD) operations. Their scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness motivated this trend. In a such deployment model, the data are no longer physically maintained under the user’s direct control, which raises new security concerns. In this context, BD security plays a decisive role in the widespread adoption of cloud architectures. However, it is challenging to develop a comprehensive security plan unless it is based on a preliminary analysis that ensures a realistic secure assembly and addresses domain-specific vulnerabilities. This article presents a novel security-by-design framework for BD frameworks deployment over cloud computing (BigCloud). In particular, it relies on a systematic security analysis methodology and a completely automated security assessment framework. Our framework enables the mapping of BigCloud security domain knowledge to the best practices in the design phase. We validated the proposed framework by implementing an Apache Hadoop stack use case. The study findings demonstrate its effectiveness in improving awareness of security aspects and reducing security design time. It also evaluates the strengths and limitations of the proposed framework, from which it highlights the main existing and open challenges in the BigCloud-related area.
Is Bitcoin a better portfolio diversifier than gold? A copula and sectoral analysis for China

This paper aims to compare Bitcoin with gold in the diversification of Chinese portfolios using daily data over the 2010–2020 period. We propose a new development of copula-based joint distribution function of returns to simulate the Value-at-Risk and expected shortfall of portfolios including Bitcoin (or gold) and those without it. The stochastic dominance method is also used to compare the return distributions of the three types of portfolios. Empirical results show that gold is a better portfolio diversifier than Bitcoin as it helps better reduce the risk of portfolios. On the other hand, Bitcoin better increases the return but also increases the risk. The stochastic dominance results further show that portfolios diversified by gold dominate those diversified by Bitcoin. Based on these findings, we conclude that in China, gold is a better portfolio diversifier than Bitcoin for risk-averse investors. However, for risk-seeking investors, Bitcoin can be a better choice. This result is found to be robust to the time, frequency and currency effects.
AHAR: Adaptive CNN for Energy-Efficient Human Activity Recognition in Low-Power Edge Devices

Human activity recognition (HAR) is one of the key applications of health monitoring that requires continuous use of wearable devices to track daily activities. This article proposes an adaptive convolutional neural network for energy-efficient HAR (AHAR) suitable for low-power edge devices. Unlike traditional adaptive (early-exit) architecture that makes the early-exit decision based on classification confidence, AHAR proposes a novel adaptive architecture that uses an output block predictor to select a portion of the baseline architecture to use during the inference phase. The experimental results show that traditional adaptive architecture suffer from performance loss whereas our adaptive architecture provides similar or better performance as the baseline one while being energy efficient. We validate our methodology in classifying locomotion activities from two data sets—1) Opportunity and 2) w-HAR. Compared to the fog/cloud computing approaches for the Opportunity data set, our baseline and adaptive architectures show a comparable weighted F1 score of 91.79%, and 91.57%, respectively. For the w-HAR data set, our baseline and adaptive architectures outperform the state-of-the-art works with a weighted F1 score of 97.55%, and 97.64%, respectively. Evaluation on real hardware shows that our baseline architecture is significantly energy efficient ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$422.38\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> less) and memory-efficient ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$14.29\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> less) compared to the works on the Opportunity data set. For the w-HAR data set, our baseline architecture requires <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.04\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> less energy and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.18\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> less memory compared to the state-of-the-art work. Moreover, experimental results show that our adaptive architecture is 12.32% (Opportunity) and 11.14% (w-HAR) energy efficient than our baseline while providing similar (Opportunity) or better (w-HAR) performance with no significant memory overhead.
Weak and Occluded Vehicle Detection in Complex Infrared Environment Based on Improved YOLOv4

Infrared small target detection is still a challenge in the field of object detection. At present, although there are many related research achievements, it surely needs further improvement. This paper introduced a new application of severely occluded vehicle detection in the complex wild background of weak infrared camera aerial images, in which more than 50% area of the vehicles are occluded. We used YOLOv4 as the detection model. By applying secondary transfer learning from visible dataset to infrared dataset, the model could gain a good average precision (AP). Firstly, we trained the model in the UCAS_AOD visible dataset, then, we transferred it to the VIVID visible dataset, finally we transferred the model to the VIVID infrared dataset for a second training. Meanwhile, added the hard negative example mining block to the YOLOv4 model, which could depress the disturbance of complex background thus further decrease the false detecting rate. Through experiments the average precision improved from90.34% to 91.92%, the F1 score improved from 87.5% to 87.98%, which demonstrated that the proposed algorithm generated satisfactory and competitive vehicle detection results.
Bilateral attention decoder: A lightweight decoder for real-time semantic segmentation

The encoder–decoder structure has been introduced into semantic segmentation to improve the spatial accuracy of the network by fusing high- and low-level feature maps. However, recent state-of-the-art encoder–decoder-based methods can hardly attain the real-time requirement due to their complex and inefficient decoders. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose a lightweight bilateral attention decoder for real-time semantic segmentation. It consists of two blocks and can fuse different level feature maps via two steps, i.e., information refinement and information fusion. In the first step, we propose a channel attention branch to refine the high-level feature maps and a spatial attention branch for the low-level ones. The refined high-level feature maps can capture more exact semantic information and the refined low-level ones can capture more accurate spatial information, which significantly improves the information capturing ability of these feature maps. In the second step, we develop a new fusion module named pooling fusing block to fuse the refined high- and low-level feature maps. This fusion block can take full advantages of the high- and low-level feature maps, leading to high-quality fusion results. To verify the efficiency of the proposed bilateral attention decoder, we adopt a lightweight network as the backbone and compare our proposed method with other state-of-the-art real-time semantic segmentation methods on the Cityscapes and Camvid datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method can achieve better performance with a higher inference speed. Moreover, we compare our proposed network with several state-of-the-art non-real-time semantic segmentation methods and find that our proposed network can also attain better segmentation performance.
Similarity in metaheuristics: a gentle step towards a comparison methodology

Metaheuristics are found to be efficient in different applications where the use of exact algorithms becomes short-handed. In the last decade, many of these algorithms have been introduced and used in a wide range of applications. Nevertheless, most of those approaches share similar components leading to a concern related to their novelty or contribution. Thus, in this paper, a pool template is proposed and used to categorize algorithm components permitting to analyze them in a structured way. We exemplify its use by means of continuous optimization metaheuristics, and provide some measures and methodology to identify their similarities and novelties. Finally, a discussion at a component level is provided in order to point out possible design differences and commonalities.