Non-manual cues in automatic sign language recognition

Present work deals with the incorporation of non-manual cues in automatic sign language recognition. More specifically, eye gaze, head pose, and facial expressions are discussed in relation to their grammatical and syntactic function and means of including them in the recognition phase are investigated. Computer vision issues related to extracting facial features, eye gaze, and head pose cues are presented and classification approaches for incorporating these non-manual cues into the overall Sign Language recognition architecture are introduced.     

Estimation of behavioral user state based on eye gaze and head pose—application in an e-learning environment

Most e-learning environments which utilize user feedback or profiles, collect such information based on questionnaires, resulting very often in incomplete answers, and sometimes deliberate misleading input. In this work, we present a mechanism which compiles feedback related to the behavioral state of the user (e.g. level of interest) in the context of reading an electronic document; this is achieved using a non-intrusive scheme, which uses a simple web camera to detect and track the head, eye and hand movements and provides an estimation of the level of interest and engagement with the use of a neuro-fuzzy network initialized from evidence from the idea of Theory of Mind and trained from expert-annotated data. The user does not need to interact with the proposed system, and can act as if she was not monitored at all. The proposed scheme is tested in an e-learning environment, in order to adapt the presentation of the content to the user profile and current behavioral state. Experiments show that the proposed system detects reading- and attention-related user states very effectively, in a testbed where children’s reading performance is tracked.

A clairvoyant site allocation policy based on service demands of jobs in a computational grid

In the present paper we evaluate the performance of three different site allocation policies in a 2-level computational grid with heterogeneous sites. We examine the case where service demands of jobs show high variability, and we consider that schedulers are aware of the service times. A simulation model is used to evaluate performance in terms of the average response time and slowdown, under medium and high load. The impact of the various input parameters on performance is also taken into account. Simulation results show that one policy outperforms the other two that are examined, especially at high load. Furthermore, no performance degradation is observed when estimations are used instead of exact knowledge about job service times.     

Adaptive Head-to-Tail: Active Queue Management based on implicit congestion signals

Active Queue Management is a convenient way to administer the network load without increasing the complexity of end-user protocols. Current AQM techniques work in two ways; the router either drops some of its packets with a given probability or creates different queues with corresponding priorities. Head-to-Tail introduces a novel AQM approach: the packet rearrange scheme. Instead of dropping, HtT rearranges packets, moving them from the head of the queue to its tail. The additional queuing delay triggers a sending rate decrease and congestion events can be avoided. The HtT scheme avoids explicit packet drops and extensive retransmission delays. In this work, we detail the HtT algorithm and demonstrate when and how it outperforms current AQM implementations. We also approach analytically its impact on packet delay and conduct extensive simulations. Our experiments show that HtT achieves better results than Droptail and RED methods in terms of retransmitted packets and Goodput.     

Probabilistic model checking for the quantification of DoS security threats

Secure authentication features of communication and electronic commerce protocols involve computationally expensive and memory intensive cryptographic operations that have the potential to be turned into denial-of-service (DoS) exploits. Recent proposals attempt to improve DoS resistance by implementing a trade-off between the resources required for the potential victim(s) with the resources used by a prospective attacker. Such improvements have been proposed for the Internet Key Exchange (IKE), the Just Fast Keying (JFK) key agreement protocol and the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL/TLS) protocol. In present article, we introduce probabilistic model checking as an efficient tool-assisted approach for systematically quantifying DoS security threats. We model a security protocol with a fixed network topology using probabilistic specifications for the protocol participants. We attach into the protocol model, a probabilistic attacker model which performs DoS related actions with assigned cost values. The costs for the protocol participants and the attacker reflect the level of some resource expenditure (memory, processing capacity or communication bandwidth) for the associated actions. From the developed model we obtain a Discrete Time Markov Chain (DTMC) via property preserving discrete-time semantics. The DTMC model is verified using the PRISM model checker that produces probabilistic estimates for the analyzed DoS threat. In this way, it is possible to evaluate the level of resource expenditure for the attacker, beyond which the likelihood of widespread attack is reduced and subsequently to compare alternative design considerations for optimal resistance to the analyzed DoS threat. Our approach is validated through the analysis of the Host Identity Protocol (HIP). The HIP base-exchange is seen as a cryptographic key-exchange protocol with special features related to DoS protection. We analyze a serious DoS threat, for which we provide probabilistic estimates, as well as results for the associated attacker and participants' costs.     

Evaluation of polyesters from renewable resources as alternatives to the current fossil-based polymers. Phase transitions of poly(butylene 2,5-furan-dicarboxylate)

Poly(butylene 2,5-furan dicarboxylate) (PBF) is an alipharomatic polyester that can be prepared using monomers derived from renewable resources such as 2,5-furan dicarboxylic acid and 1,4-butanediol. In the present work the thermal behavior of PBF was studied. Multiple melting was observed during heating traces of samples isothermally crystallized from the melt using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns did not reveal the presence of a second crystal population, or a crystal transition upon heating. DSC study showed that the phenomena are closely related to recrystallization. Temperature modulated DSC (TMDSC) tests indeed evidenced enhanced recrystallization. The equilibrium melting point was estimated to be 184.5 °C using the linear Hoffman–Weeks extrapolation. The heat of fusion of the pure crystalline polymer was found equal to 129 J/g or (27.35 kJ/mol), a little lower than that of PBT. The Lauritzen–Hoffman secondary nucleation theory was used and the surface energy values and the work of chain folding were found to be comparable to those of PBT, but quite lower than those of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). The non-isothermal crystallization on cooling and the cold-crystallization of quenched samples were also studied. Condensed spherulites were observed on isothermal crystallization under large supercoolings by using polarized optical microscopy (POM), while the spherulites turned to ring-banded morphology at higher temperatures. In every case the nucleation density was high.     

The ARM Cortex-A8 Microprocessor IEEE Std 1500 Wrapper

This article describes the test wrapper implementation of a popular embedded microprocessor, along with an automated approach for verifying the wrapper's compliance to the standard.     

Ein Modell zur Berechnung des Verformungsverhaltens von horizontal hochzyklisch beanspruchten Pfählen

A model for the behavior of horizontally high‐cycle loaded piles For the prediction of the deformation for long or intermediate long piles under lateral high cycle load, embedded in non‐cohesive soil, a simplified engineering model for drained conditions is developed based on the high cycle accumulation (HCA) model of Niemunis , Wichtmann and Triantafyllidis [1]. The monotonic soil deformation under static load is approximated by elastic springs, placed around the pile, whereas the accumulation of soil deformations under cyclic loading is modelled by viscous dashpots (cyclic creep) according to the HCA model. In most instances this contemplation is physically validated by element tests. In conjunction with the pile the spring‐dashpot elements represent an elastically embedded beam system. Two versions of the model with a two‐sided arrangement of springs and dashpots on the Lee‐ and Luv‐side and a one‐sided arrangement only on the Lee‐side will be presented. The pile displacement prediction of the model is compared with the results obtained by existing engineering models already known in the literature and the solution of a 3‐D‐finite element simulation with the HCA model.     

Low cholesterol along with inflammation predicts morbidity and mortality in hemodialysis patients

Low and not high cholesterol seems to predict high mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The confirmation of this reverse epidemiology as well as its possible interconnection with the increased inflammatory activity observed in this population is being explored in the present study. A group of 136 HD patients was prospectively studied for 2 years, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as all-cause mortality and morbidity were recorded. Baseline lipid profile, inflammatory status, and patients' characteristics were studied as potential survival and hospitalization predictors. During the 24-month follow-up, 21 deaths (52.4% due to CVD) and 38 hospitalizations (55.3% due to CVD) were recorded. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, decreased interleukin-10 (IL-10) and decreased total serum cholesterol (TChol) were the only independent predictors of CVD mortality while C-reactive protein and decreased TChol predicted all-cause mortality. Interleukin-10 at baseline was 11.29 ± 21.49 vs. 5.51 ± 4.57 pg/mL (P<0.018) and TChol 167.37 ± 47.84 vs.122.04 ± 26.48 mg/dL (P<0.000) in survivors vs. nonsurvivors from CVD, while C-reactive protein at baseline was 9.37 ± 11.54 vs. 23.15 ± 18.76 mg/L (P<0.000) and TChol 169.26 ± 46.42 vs. 133.26 ± 46.33 mg/dL (P<0.003) in survivors vs. nonsurvivors from any cause of death. Using the same method of statistical analysis, IL-6 and decreased soluble gp130 (sgp130)—an antagonist of IL-6 action—were found to be the only independent prognostic factors for hospitalization due to CVD while decreased soluble gp130 remained the sole predictor of hospitalization due to any cause. In conclusion, reverse epidemiology regarding cholesterol is confirmed in the present study. Furthermore, inflammatory activity also predicts, independently of or in conjunction with low-cholesterol, CVD and all-cause morbidity and mortality in HD patients.