Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving Preemptive Scheduling with Application-Transparent Checkpointing in Shared Clusters

Modern data center clusters are shifting from dedicated single framework clusters to shared clusters. In such shared environments, cluster schedulers typically utilize preemption by simply killing jobs in order to achieve resource priority and fairness during peak utilization. This can cause significant resource waste and delay job response time. In this paper, we propose using suspend-resume mechanisms to mitigate the overhead of preemption in cluster scheduling. Instead of killing preempted jobs or tasks, our approach uses a system level, application-transparent checkpointing mechanism to save the progress of jobs for resumption at a later time when resources are available. To reduce the preemption overhead and improve job response times, our approach uses adaptive preemption to dynamically select appropriate preemption mechanisms (e.g., kill vs. suspend, local vs. remote restore) according to the progress of a task and its suspend-resume overhead. By leveraging fast storage technologies, such as non-volatile memory (NVM), our approach can further reduce the preemption penalty to provide better QoS and resource efficiency. We implement the proposed approach and conduct extensive experiments via Google cluster trace-driven simulations and applications on a Hadoop cluster. The results demonstrate that our approach can significantly reduce the resource and power usage and improve application performance over existing approaches. In particular, our implementation on the next generation Hadoop YARN platform achieves up to a 67% reduction in resource wastage, 30% improvement in overall job response time times and 34% reduction in energy consumption over the current YARN scheduler.
Hubungan Laba Akuntansi, Nilai Buku, dan Total Arus Kas dengan Market Value: Studi Akuntansi Relevansi Nilai

The objective of this study is to prove value-relevance of earnings, book value and total cash flows compared to other information that are used by investors in decision making, in stressing on the price model and the return model. Although their theoretical foundations are the same, the results obtained using these two models are sometimes inconsistent. In some research contexts the combined use of both price and return models may be useful for the purpose of assessing the accounting information usefulness in equity valuation. The sample cover 58 companies which are selected by using stratified random sampling method for non financial companies populations (except infrastructure, utility, transportation sector and trading, service, investment sector). Those selected companies announced their financial statement between January 1 st – July 31 st in 1997 to 2002. Based on the price model, the study shows that value-relevance from accounting information variables have significant moderate and stable level of correlation during observation, so its variable may explain the investors expectation in the future. Based on the return model,it shows that the decreasing of value-relevance of accounting information variables have been observed, but they have been not significant. This fact that the variables have been anticipated by the market before information announced.
The Chinese Hamster Dihydrofolate Reductase Replication Origin Decision Point Follows Activation of Transcription and Suppresses Initiation of Replication within Transcription Units

ABSTRACT Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells select specific replication origin sites within the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) locus at a discrete point during G1 phase, the origin decision point (ODP). Origin selection is sensitive to transcription but not protein synthesis inhibitors, implicating a pretranslational role for transcription in origin specification. We have constructed a DNA array covering 121 kb surrounding the DHFR locus, to comprehensively investigate replication initiation and transcription in this region. When nuclei isolated within the first 3 h of G1 phase were stimulated to initiate replication in Xenopus egg extracts, replication initiated without any detectable preference for specific sites. At the ODP, initiation became suppressed from within the Msh3, DHFR, and 2BE2121 transcription units. Active transcription was mostly confined to these transcription units, and inhibition of transcription by alpha-amanitin resulted in the initiation of replication within transcription units, indicating that transcription is necessary to limit initiation events to the intergenic region. However, the resumption of DHFR transcription after mitosis took place prior to the ODP and so is not on its own sufficient to suppress initiation of replication. Together, these results demonstrate a remarkable flexibility in sequence selection for initiating replication and implicate transcription as one important component of origin specification at the ODP.
Monte-Carlo Based Estimation Methods for Rapidly-Varying Sea Clutter

We consider two Monte-Carlo based methods for characterizing the scattering function of rapidly-varying sea clutter. The first method uses multiple particle filtering to estimate the clutter space-time covariance marix by exploiting the structure of the matrix. This method is then compared to a baseline approach that estimates the clutter covariance matrix based on the Weibull distribution approximation. Both methods are evaluated by formulating a detection problem that simulates a small moving target in heavy sea clutter.
Employment, education and housing among the ethnic minority populations of Britain

Introduction - using the 1991 census to study ethnicity higher education qualifications ethnic differences in the educational participation of 16-19 year-olds labour force participation rates, self-employment and unemployment patterns of ethnic minority employment int he context of industrial and occupational growth and decline education and occupational attainments - the impact of ethnic origins monitoring equal employment opportunity "race", ethnicity and housing differentials in Britain regional and local differences in the housing tenure of ethnic minorities the housing position of ethnic minority group home owners finding a place - the impact of locality on the housing experience of tenants from minority ethnic groups adding an ethnic dimension to local housing need assessments - the use of the 1991 census of population ethnic differences in attainment in education, occupation and lifestyle "ethnic penalties" and racial discrimination in education, employment and housing - conclusions and policy implications.
Obstacles to Women's Participation in Parliament

Women around the world at every socio-political level find themselves underrepresented in parliament and far removed from decision-making levels. While the political playing field in each country has its own particular characteristics, one feature remains common to all: it is uneven and not conducive to women's participation. Women who want to enter politics find that the political, public, cultural and social environment are often unfriendly or even hostile to them. Even a quick glance at the current composition of political decision-makers in any region provides evidence that women still face numerous obstacles in articulating and shaping their own interests. What are the obstacles women face in entering parliament? How can women better cope with these hindrances? In this chapter we take the first step towards increasing women's parliamentary representation and effectiveness by identifying the common problems that women face. We categorize the problems into three areas: political, socio-economic and ideological and psychological (or socio-cultural). In the chapters that follow, we identify some of the strategies to overcome these obstacles and analyse what women can do once they enter parliament.
Overexpression of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Confers Migratory Properties to Nonmigratory Postnatal Neural Progenitors

Approaches to successful cell transplantation therapies for the injured brain involve selecting the appropriate neural progenitor type and optimizing the efficiency of the cell engraftment. Here we show that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression enhances postnatal neural progenitor migration in vitro and in vivo. Migratory NG2-expressing (NG2+) progenitor cells of the postnatal subventricular zone (SVZ) express higher EGFR levels than nonmigratory, cortical NG2+ cells. The higher endogenous EGFR expression in SVZ NG2+ cells is causally related with their migratory potential in vitro as well as in vivo after cell engraftment. EGFR overexpression in cortical NG2+ cells by transient transfection converted these cells to a migratory phenotype in vitro and in vivo. Finally, cortical NG2+ cells purified from a transgenic mouse in which the EGFR is overexpressed under the CNP promoter exhibited enhanced migratory capability. These findings reveal a new role for EGFR in the postnatal brain and open new avenues to optimize cell engraftment for brain repair.
Effects of Exercise Intervention on Vascular Risk Factors in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Aims: The purpose of this study is to clarify the effects of exercise intervention on vascular risk factors in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Community-dwelling older adults who met the definition of MCI using the Petersen criteria (n = 100; mean age = 75.3 years) were randomly allocated to the exercise (n = 50) or education control group (n = 50). Participants in the exercise group exercised under the supervision of physiotherapists for 90 min/day, 2 days/week, 80 times for 12 months. Anthropometric profiles, blood markers, blood pressure, and physical fitness (the 6-min walking test) were measured. Total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and TC/HDL-C risk ratio measurements were taken from blood samples. Results: The exercise group showed significantly reduced TC and TC/HDL-C risk ratio after training compared with baseline levels (p < 0.001, p = 0.004). However, no significant reduction was found for the control group (p = 0.09, p = 0.09). Physical fitness also significantly improved after exercise intervention compared with the control group (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Exercise intervention was associated with positive changes in important vascular risk factors related to cognitive decline and vascular disease in older adults with MCI.
An Investigation of the Pedagogical Impact of Using Case-Based Learning in a Undergraduate Biochemistry Course.

The use of case-based learning (CBL) provides students with diverse experiences in the classroom, including problem-solving, knowledge co-construction, communication, and group collaboration. Through these activities, students can explore and develop new knowledge, and acquire relevant skills that have application both in the classroom and beyond. While the majority of studies support the use of CBL as an active learning technique that confers positive pedagogical outcomes, most commonly the investigations compare CBL to a lecture-based method of course delivery. To address this issue, we investigated the pedagogical impact of CBL as compared to a non-CBL “mixture” of other active learning activities in an undergraduate biochemistry course, thereby allowing for a more detailed consideration of the case-specific elements of CBL. It was observed that use of CBL prevented the increase in surface approach to learning that occurred across the semester in the non-CBL group, and improved performance in the course, most notably at the knowledge level of Bloom’s taxonomy. As well, there was an improvement in student perception of the appropriateness of the course workload. Overall, these findings support the use of CBL as a preferred active learning technique, and provide valuable insight into the outcomes associated with its use.
PAMELA/ATIC anomaly from the meta-stable extra dark matter component and the leptophilic Yukawa interaction

We present a supersymmetric model with two dark matter (DM) components explaining the galactic positron excess observed by PAMELA/HEAT and ATIC/PPB-BETS: One is the conventional (bino-like) lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) χ, and the other is a TeV scale meta-stable neutral singlet ND, which is a Dirac fermion (N,Nc). In this model, ND decays dominantly into χe+e− through an R parity preserving dimension 6 operator with the life time τN ∼ 1026 sec. We introduce a pair of vector-like superheavy SU(2) lepton doublets (L,Lc) and lepton singlets (E,Ec). The dimension 6 operator leading to the ND decay is generated from the leptophilic Yukawa interactions by W ⊃ NecE+LhdEc+m3/2l1Lc with the dimensionless couplings of order unity, and the gauge interaction by ℒ ⊃ (2)1/2g′ẽc*ecχ+h.c. The superheavy masses of the vector-like leptons (ML,ME ∼ 1016 GeV) are responsible for the longevity of ND. The low energy field spectrum in this model is just the MSSM fields and ND. Even for the case that the portion of ND is much smaller than that of χ in the total DM density [𝒪(10−10) ≲ nND/nχ], the observed positron excess can be explained by adopting relatively lighter masses of the vector-like leptons (1013 GeV ≲ ML,E ≲ 1016 GeV). The smallness of the electron mass is also explained. This model is easily embedded in the flipped SU(5) grand unification, which is a leptophilic unified theory.
On the Existence and Equivalence of Three Joint Production Functions

Production functions play an important role in the study of production technologies. In the case of a single output technology, the production function is defined as the maximal output obtainable from a given input vector; cf. Shephard (1970). No simple maximal output exists for a multi-output technology, so that the definition and existence of a multioutput production function has become an interesting issue. Two different multi-output production functions or, as they are also called, joint production functions, can be found in the literature. First, Shephard (1970) defined an isoquant joint production function in the manner that for a given pair of input and output vectors, the input vector belongs to the isoquant of the input correspondence and the output vector belongs to the isoquant of the output correspondence. Second, Hanoch (1970) introduced an efficient joint production function for which input and output vectors are simultaneously input and output efficient. A third joint production function which relates weakly efficient input vectors to weakly efficient output vectors is introduced in this paper. This third class of joint production functions is intermediate to the two mentioned above. In general, none of the above three classes of joint production functions exist. Thus one of the purposes of this paper is to show the conditions under which they do exist. A second purpose is to show the conditions on the technology under which these joint production functions are equivalent.
Invasive aspergillosis after kidney transplant: case-control study.

BACKGROUND Transplant recipients are at risk for invasive aspergillosis (IA), associated with a significant mortality rate. Renal transplant-specific risk factors have not been established. METHODS Forty-one adult kidney transplant recipients diagnosed with proven or probable IA from 1995 through 2013 were identified by search of the computerized patient files in the University Hospitals Leuven. The control population in this 1:2 case-control study consisted of the 2 patients who received a kidney transplant immediately before and after each identified patient and did not develop IA (n = 82). RESULTS Leukopenia after kidney transplant increased the risk of IA among all patients (odds ratio [OR], 2.345 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.084-5.071]). For early-onset infection (ie, occurred during the first 3 months after transplant), a longer duration of renal replacement therapy pretransplant and the occurrence of leukopenia were risk factors (OR per year, 1.192 [95% CI, 1.006-1.413] and OR, 3.346 [95% CI, 1.063-10.527], respectively), whereas donor cytomegalovirus seropositivity increased the risk for late-onset IA (ie, occurred >3 months after transplant) (OR, 3.677 [95% CI, 1.388-9.743]). Twelve-week mortality rate was 39%. Disseminated infection, leukopenia, and the height of the serum galactomannan index were associated with an increased risk of death (hazard ratio [HR], 5.080 [95% CI, 1.740-14.830]; HR, 3.198 [95% CI, 1.183-8.649]; and HR, 1.371 [95% CI, 1.123-1.674], respectively). CONCLUSIONS Prolonged renal replacement therapy before kidney transplant increases the risk of IA early after transplant. The height of the serum galactomannan index predicts mortality.
Evolving from Course-Centric to Learning-Centric: Portfolios, Wikis, and Social Learning

Teaching and learning strategies for using course management systems have evolved from basic “fill in the blank” models to interactive designs that encourage multi-formatted individual contributions and collaborative forms of learning. In keeping with the participatory development of online resources, web-based courses are shifting from traditional “authoritarian” faculty control to inclusion of student-produced course materials and student-directed learning activities. This paper provides historical context, a depiction of the stages in the evolution from course-centric to learning-centric, a glimpse into the future, and seven key strategies for facilitating social learning and the ways in which they help engage learners with each other.
The Role of Innate Immune Responses in the Outcome of Interspecies Competition for Colonization of Mucosal Surfaces

Since mucosal surfaces may be simultaneously colonized by multiple species, the success of an organism may be determined by its ability to compete with co-inhabitants of its niche. To explore the contribution of host factors to polymicrobial competition, a murine model was used to study the initiation of colonization by Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Both bacterial species, which occupy a similar microenvironment within the nasopharynx, persisted during colonization when given individually. Co-colonization, however, resulted in rapid clearance of S. pneumoniae from the upper respiratory tract, associated with increased recruitment of neutrophils into paranasal spaces. Systemic depletion of either neutrophil-like cells or complement was sufficient to eliminate this competitive effect, indicating that clearance was likely due to enhanced opsonophagocytic killing. The hypothesis that modulation of opsonophagocytic activity was responsible for host-mediated competition was tested using in vitro killing assays with elicited neutrophil-like cells. Components of H. influenzae (but not S. pneumoniae) stimulated complement-dependent phagocytic killing of S. pneumoniae. Thus, the recruitment and activation of neutrophils through selective microbial pattern recognition may underlie the H. influenzae–induced clearance of S. pneumoniae. This study demonstrates how innate immune responses may mediate competitive interactions between species and dictate the composition of the colonizing flora.
Cell Fusion in the War on Cancer: A Perspective on the Inception of Malignancy

Cell fusion occurs in development and in physiology and rarely in those settings is it associated with malignancy. However, deliberate fusion of cells and possibly untoward fusion of cells not suitably poised can eventuate in aneuploidy, DNA damage and malignant transformation. How often cell fusion may initiate malignancy is unknown. However, cell fusion could explain the high frequency of cancers in tissues with low underlying rates of cell proliferation and mutation. On the other hand, cell fusion might also engage innate and adaptive immune surveillance, thus helping to eliminate or retard malignancies. Here we consider whether and how cell fusion might weigh on the overall burden of cancer in modern societies.
Discontinuation of low dose aspirin and risk of myocardial infarction: case-control study in UK primary care

Objectives To evaluate the risk of myocardial infarction and death from coronary heart disease after discontinuation of low dose aspirin in primary care patients with a history of cardiovascular events. Design Nested case-control study. Setting The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database in the United Kingdom. Participants Individuals aged 50-84 with a first prescription for aspirin (75-300 mg/day) for secondary prevention of cardiovascular outcomes in 2000-7 (n=39 513). Main outcome measures Individuals were followed up for a mean of 3.2 years to identify cases of non-fatal myocardial infarction or death from coronary heart disease. A nested case-control analysis assessed the risk of these events in those who had stopped taking low dose aspirin compared with those who had continued treatment. Results There were 876 non-fatal myocardial infarctions and 346 deaths from coronary heart disease. Compared with current users, people who had recently stopped taking aspirin had a significantly increased risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction or death from coronary heart disease combined (rate ratio 1.43, 95% confidence interval 1.12 to 1.84) and non-fatal myocardial infarction alone (1.63, 1.23 to 2.14). There was no significant association between recently stopping low dose aspirin and the risk of death from coronary heart disease (1.07, 0.67 to 1.69). For every 1000 patients, over a period of one year there were about four more cases of non-fatal myocardial infarction among patients who discontinued treatment with low dose aspirin (recent discontinuers) compared with patients who continued treatment. Conclusions Individuals with a history of cardiovascular events who stop taking low dose aspirin are at increased risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction compared with those who continue treatment.
An analysis of valuation variation in the UK commercial property market: Hager and Lord revisited

Addresses the issue of valuation variation. The fundamental research question is to establish the range of valuations which a group of qualified valuers operating in the same market and using the same basic assumptions would produce in their estimation of price. It significantly extends the approach adopted by Hager and Lord and draws conclusions about different market sectors, locations and size of firms. The results of the survey show a wide variation in value across both rack rented and reversionary interests. In terms of the former over 80 per cent of all valuations produced a variation from the mean of less than 20 per cent with a corresponding figure of over 90 per cent for the reversionary investments. These levels of accuracy fall short of the contention that valuers can value to within 5‐10 per cent of market value.
Design and Evaluation of a Computer Game to Promote a Healthy Diet for Young Adults

This article reports the development and evaluation of a computer game (RightWay Café) as a special medium to promote a healthy diet for young adults. Structural features of computer games, such as interactive tailoring, role playing, the element of fun, and narrative, were operationalized in the RightWay Café game to afford behavior rehearsal in a safe and entertaining way. Theories such as the health belief model, social cognitive theory, and theory of reasoned action guided the content design of the game to influence mediators of behavior change, including self-efficacy, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and behavior change intention. A randomized controlled evaluation study with pretest, posttest, and follow-up design demonstrated that this game was effective in teaching nutrition and weight management knowledge and increasing people's self-efficacy and perceived benefits of healthy eating, as well as their intention to be on a healthy diet. Limited long-term effects were also found: participants in the game-playing group had greater self-efficacy than participants in the control group after 1 month. This study validates the computer game–based approach to health promotion for young adults. Limitations and implications are also discussed.