Character Strings Research Articles

Using Survey IDs to Enhance Survey Research and Administration

Survey IDs are short strings of unique characters assigned to each recipient in a sample population. Extension research can benefit from the improved organization of survey implementation and data collection, better researcher-respondent communication, and reduced survey material costs supported through the use of survey IDs. This article outlines how survey IDs can provide a more efficient approach to survey administration and data management and includes suggestions about overcoming some limitations of survey IDs. Best practices for creating and using survey IDs when organizing and administering survey research also are suggested.

A Formally Proved, Complete Algorithm for Path Resolution with Symbolic Links

In the context of file systems like those of Unix, path resolution is the operation that given a character string denoting an access path, determines the target object (a file, a directory, etc.) designated by this path. This operation is not trivial because of the presence of symbolic links. Indeed, the presence of such links may induce infinite loops in the resolution process. We consider a path resolution algorithm that always terminates, detecting if it enters an infinite loop and reports a resolution failure in such a case. We propose a formal specification of path resolution and we formally prove that our algorithm terminates on any input, and is correct and complete with respect to our formal specification.

A critical analysis of string APIs: The case of Pharo

Most programming languages, besides C, provide a native abstraction for character strings, but string APIs vary widely in size, expressiveness, and subjective convenience across languages. In Pharo, while at first glance the API of the String class seems rich, it often feels cumbersome in practice; to improve its usability, we faced the challenge of assessing its design. However, we found hardly any guideline about design forces and how they structure the design space, and no comprehensive analysis of the expected string operations and their different variations. In this article, we first analyze the Pharo 4 String library, then contrast it with its Haskell, Java, Python, Ruby, and Rust counterparts. We harvest criteria to describe a string API, and reflect on features and design tensions. This analysis should help language designers in understanding the design space of strings, and will serve as a basis for a future redesign of the string library in Pharo.

The C6H6 NMR repository: An integral solution to control the flow of your data from the magnet to the public.

NMR is a mature technique that is well established and adopted in a wide range of research facilities from laboratories to hospitals. This accounts for large amounts of valuable experimental data that may be readily exported into a standard and open format. Yet the publication of these data faces an important issue: Raw data are not made available; instead, the information is slimed down into a string of characters (the list of peaks). Although historical limitations of technology explain this practice, it is not acceptable in the era of Internet. The idea of modernizing the strategy for sharing NMR data is not new, and some repositories exist, but sharing raw data is still not an established practice. Here, we present a powerful toolbox built on recent technologies that runs inside the browser and provides a means to store, share, analyse, and interact with original NMR data. Stored spectra can be streamlined into the publication pipeline, to improve the revision process for instance. The set of tools is still basic but is intended to be extended. The project is open source under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) licence.

Automated String Constraints Solving for Programs Containing String Manipulation Functions

The ability to solve various constraints is a principal factor of automatic constraint solvers. Most object-oriented languages treat a character string as a primitive data type which is manipulated by string library functions. Most constraint solvers have limitations on their input constraints, such as strong restrictions on the expressiveness of constraints or lack of the ability to solve hybrid constraints. These limitations hinder applying automated constraint solvers on program analysis techniques for programs containing strings and string manipulation functions. We propose an approach to automatically solve program constraints involving strings and string manipulation functions. Based on the character array model, we design a constraint language which contains primitive operations to precisely describe the constraints of commonly used string manipulation functions. The translated string constraints together with numeric constraints are then solved by a two-phase test generation procedure: firstly, a partial solution is obtained to satisfy the arithmetic constraints of the position variables, and the solution is utilized to simplify the string constraints into pure character array constraints; secondly, the pure array constraints are solved by an off-the-shelf array-specific theory based constraint solver. We integrate the approach into an automated testing tool to support the generation of string test cases, and then perform experiments. The results of the experiments prove that the integration of the proposed approach promotes the testing coverage of the existing testing tool, and the integrated tool has an advantage of handling specific string manipulation functions compared with an existing string solver.

BEAM web server: a tool for structural RNA motif discovery

MotivationRNA structural motif finding is a relevant problem that becomes computationally hard when working on high-throughput data (e.g. eCLIP, PAR-CLIP), often represented by thousands of RNA molecules. Currently, the BEAM server is the only web tool capable to handle tens of thousands of RNA in input with a motif discovery procedure that is only limited by the current secondary structure prediction accuracies.ResultsThe recently developed method BEAM (BEAr Motifs finder) can analyze tens of thousands of RNA molecules and identify RNA secondary structure motifs associated to a measure of their statistical significance. BEAM is extremely fast thanks to the BEAR encoding that transforms each RNA secondary structure in a string of characters. BEAM also exploits the evolutionary knowledge contained in a substitution matrix of secondary structure elements, extracted from the RFAM database of families of homologous RNAs. The BEAM web server has been designed to streamline data pre-processing by automatically handling folding and encoding of RNA sequences, giving users a choice for the preferred folding program. The server provides an intuitive and informative results page with the list of secondary structure motifs identified, the logo of each motif, its significance, graphic representation and information about its position in the RNA molecules sharing it.Availability and implementationThe web server is freely available at http://beam.uniroma2.it/ and it is implemented in NodeJS and Python with all major browsers supported.Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Automatic Welding Seam Tracking and Identification

In the automatic welding process on mid/thick plates, the precision of the welding position has an important effect on welding quality, which mainly relies on the identification of the welding seam. However, due to some possible disturbances in complex unstructured welding environments, e.g., strong arc lights, welding splashes, thermal-induced deformations, etc., it is a great challenge to identify the welding seam. In this paper, we propose a robust automatic welding seam identification and tracking method by utilizing structured-light vision. First, after the preprocessing of the welding image, the gray distribution of the laser stripe is tracked and the profile of the welding seam is searched in a small area by using the Kalman filter, with the aim to avoid some disturbances. Second, in order to extract the welding seam profile, a series of centroids obtained by scanning the columns in the rectangular window are fitted using the least-squares method. Third, a character string method is proposed to qualitatively describe the welding seam profile, which might consist of different segment and junction relationship elements. And then, these character strings acquired from the object image are matched with those from the model, so that the position of the welding seam can be determined. Finally, the advantages of the new algorithm are testified and compared through several experiments.

Conversion and Recognition of Handwritten Devnagari Character String into Printed Character String Using KNN

Conversion and Recognition of Handwritten Devnagari Character String into Printed Character String Using KNN

A Review of String Matching Algorithms and Recent Implementations using GPU

String matching algorithms are an important element used in several computer science bb fields. These algorithms process strings of characters to find coincidences. The amount of processing required for modern applications that use string matching algorithms has increased over the years and new algorithms and solutions have been developed. In this paper we present a state of the art for the various types of string matching algorithms; and also review recent implementations done in GPU.

A teaching media of using the busy bit and SDCC in displaying character string on LCD in MCU 8051 IDE

The author developed an instructional media of active learning teaching of microcontroller 8051 by using busy bit routine before displaying a string of characters on Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). Initially this simulator simulated how to configure the pins of both LCD pins and Microcontroller Pins by using C programming statements to enable them to configure and communicate properly, and then it will be followed by how to use the busy bit to develop a routine as substitute for using wait loop to wait for the LCD to be ready before giving the next commands to be done by the LCD controller. It can be seen obviously from the simulator that using busy bit routine effectively dodges one from calculating the exact time of the waiting time of the loop before giving the controller the next job or work to be executed. Finally, it showed how to display the string of character stored in a specific memory location of the Microcontroller on the LCD screen. This program of simulator was developed in Micro Controller Unit (MCU) 8051 Integrated Development Environment (IDE) widely known as MCU 8051 IDE and by using C language of Small Devices C Compiler (SDCC).

A Handwritten Uygur Character String Recognition Method Combining Segmentation and Whole Word Recognition

A Handwritten Uygur Character String Recognition Method Combining Segmentation and Whole Word Recognition

発話内単語の感情極性に基づき反応動作を行う身体的引き込みキャラクタシステム

The prior research includes the development of a speech-driven embodied entrainment computer-generated character called InterActor, which automatically generates communicative motions and actions such as nods for entrained interaction from voice rhythm based on only speech input. Because the conventional InterActor character generates only positive actions from the verbal content but no negative actions, it is possible to aggravate a speaker's negative emotions by performing positive gestures in response to negative verbal content. In this paper, we develop an advanced speech-driven embodied entrainment character system that can respond to and improve the speaker's emotional state using speech recognition. In this system, the speaker's words are converted to text by speech recognition; their emotions are then estimated from character strings in the converted text. The system uses a database that quantifies each word and estimates the emotion associated with it. Then, the system automatically generates negative/positive motions based on the semantic orientations of words in utterance as well as entrained motions. Furthermore, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the system through three experiments: two role-play experiments for one user involving positive/negative scenarios, and a communication experiment for two remote users using the developed system.

A Text based Authentication Scheme for Improving Security of Textual Passwords

User authentication through textual passwords is very common in computer systems due to its ease of use. However textual passwords are vulnerable to different kinds of security attacks, such as spyware and dictionary attacks. In order to overcome the deficiencies of textual password scheme, many graphical password schemes have been proposed. The proposed schemes could not fully replace textual passwords, due to usability and security issues. In this paper a text based user authentication scheme is proposed which improves the security of textual password scheme by modifying the password input method and adding a password transformation layer. In the proposed scheme alphanumeric password characters are represented by random decimal numbers which resist online security attacks such as shoulder surfing and key logger attacks. In the registration process password string is converted into a completely new string of symbols or characters before encryption. This strategy improves password security against offline attacks such as brute-force and dictionary attacks. In the proposed scheme passwords consist of alphanumeric characters therefore users are not required to remember any new kind of passwords such as used in graphical authentication. Hence password memorability burden has been minimized. However mean authentication time of the proposed scheme is higher than the textual password scheme due to the security measures taken for the online attacks.

Factors Influencing the Adoption of Location Based Identification in Kurdistan Regional of Iraq

Location Based Identification (LBI) can be defined as a string of numeric or alphanumeric characters that are used to define a specific location. Virtually, it is the most compact data element capable of specifying the location of a mail addressee with high precision (Raper, Rhind, & Shepherd, 1992; Zandbergen, 2008). LBI is an essential element of communication between people, public, governmental organisations and business sectors. It plays a significant role in postal services and consequently it is a significant element of social communication and economic development. LBI is a significantly important concept that has been implemented in developed countries. Examples include the American zip code and the UK postcode. LBI is used by governments, organisations, institutions and retailers to keep track of their customers and participants. Today, as a result of continuous development and expansion, LBI needs to be devised to include a more robust sense of adaptation for the growing urban sprawl. The lack of use of LBI in developing countries is the key point of this research. However, an issue surrounding the designed LBI systems in developed countries is the non-existence of justified design techniques. Hence, the designed LBI systems around the world lack intelligent features such as directional impressions of the codes. In this regard, this study presents a new technique to design LBI systems, where the codes give a view of how far a point is from the centre, in addition to the direction with respect to the centre. The technique is based on a transverse division of the area being designed. Each area is classified numerically, with respect to the four main directions or the compass (North, South, East and West). Moreover, the method indicates the approximate distance from the central point of the area being designed, by dividing the area into concentric zones. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been chosen as a case study to validate the technique. The study begins with a quantitative study and many factors have been considered and examined, which may affect the adoption of LBI in developing countries - specifically within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Furthermore, empirically, the main effective factors of LBI adoption have been found. In this regard, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) have been used as base models to test the factors that cause the adoption of LBI system in the region. The latent variables used in this study are government support (GS), self-efficacy (SE), perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), compatibility (COM), family and friends (FF), attitude (A), subjective norm (SN), perceived behaviour control (PBC) and behaviour intention (BI). Then another study has been conducted based on an open-ended questionnaire. The aim of this study is to ascertain the impacts of the LBI system in daily life. The study focused on five important points related to the accepted design of the LBI system by the users. The code format, the impact on technology, the necessity of having the system, the impact on the economy and the impact of policy, have all been studied and analysed based on the participants’ views. The final study was based on interviews to assess the outcomes of the current research. The participants have been chosen based on their experience and career position. Experts and decision makers in fields related to LBI systems have been chosen. The assessment is based on four different aspects, which are novelty, applicability, scalability and the flexibility of the proposed ideas of this research. The study is based on the positivism philosophy to observe individuals behaviour toward using the LBI system. However, a deductive research approach has been applied to provide the research hypothesis. In the first and second questionnaire, 236 and 153 respondents are involved respectively. In addition, 7 interviewers have been participated for the study assessment. The results encourage the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) decision makers to develop strategies that may lead to the adoption of LBI in the region. The selection of the design has been analysed to be based on the impact of the proposed system on the different sectors of the daily life. Furthermore, this proposed SR_LBI has been positively assessed by the interviewees and will be beneficial for developing countries that have the desire to start designing their own system.

Cryptography Using Transposition Cipher

In the present work the author has suggested a unique cryptographic method where bit level manipulation is done using transposition cipher. In this method, first by using Extended ASCII Code, input string of characters is converted into digital form then transposition cipher is applied on this string and finally by reverse of the Extended ASCII Code on this transposed string, bits are converted into characters. The proposed method can be applied to encrypt any data consisting of 10 or more characters. The results obtained after application of proposed algorithm are excellent and difficult to decrypt.

EEVi –Framework and Guidelines to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Cyber-Security Visualizationt

Cyber-security visualization aims to reduce security analysts’ workload by presenting information as visual analytics instead of a string of text and characters. However, the adoption of the resultant visualizations by security analysts, is not widespread. The literature indicates a lack of guidelines and standardized evaluation techniques for effective visualization in cyber-security, as a reason for the low adoption rate. Consequently, this article addresses the research gap by introducing a framework called EEVi for effective cyber-security visualizations for the performed task. The term ‘effective visualization’ is defined as the features of visualization that are critical for an analyst to competently perform a certain task. EEVi has been developed by analyzing qualitative data which led to the formation of cognitive relationships (called links) between data. These relationships acted as guidelines for effective cyber-security visualization to perform tasks. The methodology to develop this framework can be applied to other fields to understand cognitive relationships between data. Additionally, the analysis of the framework presented, demonstrates how EEVi can be put into practice using the guidelines for effective cyber- security visualization. The guidelines can be used to guide visualization developers to create effective visualizations for security analysts based on their requirements.

Preferential Arrangement Superpatterns

A superpattern is a string of characters of length n that contains as a subsequence, and in a sense that depends on the context, all the smaller strings of length k in a certain class. We prove structural and probabilistic results on superpatterns for preferential arrangements, including (i) a theorem that demonstrates that a string is a superpattern for all preferential arrangements if and only if it is a superpattern for all permutations; and (ii) a result that is reminiscent of a still unresolved conjecture of Alon on the smallest permutation on [n] that contains all k-permutations with high probability.

Some results on superpatterns for preferential arrangements

A superpattern is a string of characters of length n over [k]={1,2,…,k} that contains as a subsequence, and in a sense that depends on the context, all the smaller strings of length k in a certain class. We prove structural and probabilistic results on superpatterns for preferential arrangements, including (i) a theorem that demonstrates that a string is a superpattern for all preferential arrangements if and only if it is a superpattern for all permutations; and (ii) a result that is reminiscent of a still unresolved conjecture of Alon on the smallest permutation on [n] that contains all k-permutations with high probability.

Multi-Character String Matching Algorithm Based on State Machine

One way to enhance the string matching process is by processing multiple characters at once. This research purpose is to create a multi-pattern string matching algorithm that is able to process multiple characters at once and can be implemented by software. The proposed algorithm is based on a state machine string matching algorithm. The experiment is done using data geared for Network Intrusion Detection System which use snort rules and some network packet file captured for research purpose. The research results show that the proposed multi-character string matching algorithm is faster but consume more memory against the tested single character string matching algorithm.

Abstract 5288: Dynamic genomic indexing enables accurate somatic variant detection from cancer genome sequencing without sequence alignment limitations

Abstract Cancer genome sequencing is a widely adopted approach for identifying critical genetic variants and increasingly, for diagnostic application in precision medicine. Accurate analysis of cancer genome sequencing is essential, yet remains challenging - the reliable and accurate identification of somatic variants continues to be a significant issue. One source of issues involves the mapping/alignment of sequences. It relies entirely on the human reference genome, a static data consisting of character strings of chromosome. However, the current reference is derived from few individuals and thus, does not account for the full diversity or complex structure of human genomes. Critical features of cancer genomes are missed or called with errors. As a solution, we developed dynamic genomic indexing (DGI), which identifies somatic variants by using the frequency of short sequences that are 20∼200 bases in length (20∼200mer) from paired tumor/normal sequencing data. Any somatic variants will affect the frequency of short sequences. In this study, DIG relies on the presence of neo-20mers, derived by point mutations and insertions/deletions (indels), that are different in frequency between normal and tumor sequence reads. These 20mer are unique sequences that arise from cancer genetic variants. First, the DGI identifies the four groups of differential 20mers that their frequencies are significantly different between tumor and normal; tumor specific (TS), normal specific (NS), tumor dominant (TD), and normal dominant (ND). Second, DIG clusters differential 20mers with neighbor 20mers sharing 19 bp in the middle within each group. Third, clustered tumor specific 20mers are matched to clustered NS or ND 20mers. The number of clustered 20mers represents the number of mutational events and ratio between frequency of TS 20mers and matched ND 20mers implies allelic depth. All calculations are conducted in comparison to matched normal samples. Thus, the reference genome is never required throughout the analysis process. Furthermore, these 20mers can be searched easily in RNA-Seq to see if mutations are expressed. We evaluated the performance of DGI using simulated whole exome sequencing (WES) data and 24 WES from the Cancer Genome Atlas project. We identified many of reported somatic mutations (>90%) from WES as well as novel mutations. We observed DGI performs as good as other variant callers for substitutions while outperforms for indels. Our results support the principle of non-alignment sequencing analysis. DGI provides simple, but accurate matrices of somatic variants for cancer sequencing data for any population and can be easily scaled to handle population-based studies. This study provides small variant detection (<50bp) as a first step toward in a broader effort to develop non-alignment sequencing analysis for structural variation such as copy number and chromosomal rearrangement. Citation Format: HoJoon Lee, Jacob J. Parker, John Bell, Hanlee P. Ji. Dynamic genomic indexing enables accurate somatic variant detection from cancer genome sequencing without sequence alignment limitations. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 5288.