Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
P-Grid: a self-organizing structured P2P system

1 Self-organizing Structured P2P Systems In the P2P community a fundamental distinction is made among unstructured and structured P2P systems for resource location. In unstructured P2P systems in principle peers are unaware of the resources that neighboring peers in the overlay networks maintain. Typically they resolve search requests by flooding techniques. Gnutella [9] is the most prominent example of this class. In contrast, in structured P2P systems peers maintain information about what resources neighboring peers offer. Thus queries can be directed and in consequence substantially fewer messages are needed. This comes at the cost of increased maintenance efforts during changes in the overlay network as a result of peers joining or leaving. The most prominent class of approaches to structured P2P systems are distributed hash tables (DHT), for example Chord [17]. Unstructured P2P systems have generated substantial interest because of emergent globalscale phenomena. For example, the Gnutella overlay network exhibits the following characteristics [15]: 1. The network has a small diameter, which ensures that a message flooding approach for search works with a relatively low timeto-life (approximately 7). 2. The node degrees of the overlay network follow a power-law distribution. Thus few peers have a large number of incoming links whereas most peers have a very low number of such links. These properties result from the way Gnutella performs network maintenance: each peer maintains a fixed number of active links. Using the network maintenance protocol a peer discovers new peers in the network by flooding discovery
Nano-Ag-loaded hydroxyapatite coatings on titanium surfaces by electrochemical deposition

Hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings on titanium (Ti) substrates have attracted much attention owing to the combination of good mechanical properties of Ti and superior biocompatibility of HA. Incorporating silver (Ag) into HA coatings is an effective method to impart the coatings with antibacterial properties. However, the uniform distribution of Ag is still a challenge and Ag particles in the coatings are easy to agglomerate, which in turn affects the applications of the coatings. In this study, we employed pulsed electrochemical deposition to co-deposit HA and Ag simultaneously, which realized the uniform distribution of Ag particles in the coatings. This method was based on the use of a well-designed electrolyte containing Ag ions, calcium ions and l-cysteine, in which cysteine acted as the coordination agent to stabilize Ag ions. The antibacterial and cell culture tests were used to evaluate the antibacterial properties and biocompatibility of HA/Ag composite coatings, respectively. The results indicated the as-prepared coatings had good antibacterial properties and biocompatibility. However, an appropriate silver content should be chosen to balance the biocompatibility and antibacterial properties. Heat treatments promoted the adhesive strength and enhanced the biocompatibility without sacrificing the antibacterial properties of the HA/Ag coatings. In summary, this study provided an alternative method to prepare bioactive surfaces with bactericidal ability for biomedical devices.
Capital Account Openness, International Trade, and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Investigation

New empirical estimates of the effects of capital restrictions on growth support capital account liberalization, especially for developed countries. Capital restrictions reduce the benefits of foreign direct investment (FDI) on growth in developing countries. Estimation results for long-term capital flows demonstrate that countries with higher flows grow faster, challenging the belief that countries must attain a threshold level of development or human capital to benefit from capital inflows. Moreover, findings show that trade with developed countries and FDI inflows are substitutes in developing countries. Overall, the results support capital account liberalization in developed and developing countries.
Can soft biometric traits assist user recognition?

Biometrics is rapidly gaining acceptance as the technology that can meet the ever increasing need for security in critical applications. Biometric systems automatically recognize individuals based on their physiological and behavioral characteristics. Hence, the fundamental requirement of any biometric recognition system is a human trait having several desirable properties like universality, distinctiveness, permanence, collectability, acceptability, and resistance to circumvention. However, a human characteristic that possesses all these properties has not yet been identified. As a result, none of the existing biometric systems provide perfect recognition and there is a scope for improving the performance of these systems. Although characteristics like gender, ethnicity, age, height, weight and eye color are not unique and reliable, they provide some information about the user. We refer to these characteristics as "soft" biometric traits and argue that these traits can complement the identity information provided by the primary biometric identifiers like fingerprint and face. This paper presents the motivation for utilizing soft biometric information and analyzes how the soft biometric traits can be automatically extracted and incorporated in the decision making process of the primary biometric system. Preliminary experiments were conducted on a fingerprint database of 160 users by synthetically generating soft biometric traits like gender, ethnicity, and height based on known statistics. The results show that the use of additional soft biometric user information significantly improves (approximately 6%) the recognition performance of the fingerprint biometric system.
Journeys: Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Practices through Pedagogical Narration

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Beginning Locating Ourselves How to Use This Book 1. Engaging with Complexity Creating a Collaborative Critically Reflective Community Connections and Disruptions: Encounters with Diverse Perspectives Rethinking Professional Development Collaborative Action Research and Politicizing Practice Rethinking Quality in the Early Childhood Education Field Shifting Our Focus from Understanding Practice to Complexifying Practices 2. Reflecting Critically Bringing a Critical Perspective to Child Development What Do We Mean by Critical Reflection? Critical Reflection and Political Intentionality Theoretical Tools for Critical Reflection Pedagogical Narration: A Tool for Critical Reflection From Reflection to Diffraction 3. Challenging Assumptions Images of the Child Images of the Educator Images of the Family Challenging Assumptions Complexifies the Learning Journey Pedagogical Narrations in the Making: From Our Work with Educators Princesses and Pirates The Tiara Becoming Rapunzel Entangled Bodies Building a Fort 4. Thinking Together Pedagogical Narration as a Tool to Complexify Practices Documenting Children's Learning across Three Contexts Reggio Emilia: Pedagogical Documentation The McDonaldization of Pedagogical Documentation Pedagogical Documentation as a Discourse of Meaning-Making Pedagogical Narration as a Political Tool Pedagogical Narration as a Vehicle for Public Dialogue Pedagogical Narration as a Materializing Apparatus of Knowing 5. Opening to Possibilities Engaging with Pedagogical Narrations through Multiple Lenses Postfoundational Perspectives Opening to Multiple Perspectives Complexifies the Learning Journey 6. Opening to Ethics Inviting an Ethical Approach into Our Practice Pedagogical Narration as a Nomadic Ethical Act Centring Ethical Potentials in Our Practice Staying in Motion Understanding Our Language: A Glossary Appendix: Project Summaries Investigating Quality (IQ) Project British Columbia Early Learning Framework Implementation Project References Index British Columbia Early Learning Framework Implementation Project
Inner Ear Therapy for Neural Preservation

A gradual loss of auditory neurons often occurs following sensorineural hearing loss. Since the cochlear implant must stimulate the remaining auditory neuron population, it would be beneficial to preserve as many auditory neurons as possible. Neurotrophic factors protect auditory neurons from degradation after sensorineural hearing loss in experimental animals, but have not yet been translated into the clinical setting. Current experimental and clinical techniques for drug delivery to the inner ear are examined in this review, covering the routes for drug delivery to the cochlea and the delivery systems used to introduce them. Duration of treatment, drug diffusion, effectiveness and safety are discussed with references to how they may be translated to the implementation of neurotrophic factor treatment for neural preservation.
Homologous sudden disappearances of transequatorial interconnecting loops in the solar corona

We have found a remarkable sequence of homologous disappearances of transequatorial X‐ray loops linking active regions. Each disappearance was closely associated with a major flare and coronal mass ejection (CME). In each case the flarings precede the disappearances and the CMEs. Mass estimates for the X‐ray loops are similar to CME masses. This, the timing of the disappearances, their morphology, and the homology of the events in the sequence, provide direct evidence for a new class of CME origins in the low corona. We also briefly report observations of features which we infer to be the soft X‐ray counterparts of shock waves emanating from the flare region. The inferred shocks appeared to play a vital role in the disappearances. Our results suggest that flare‐generated shock waves may destabilize large transequatorial loops, causing them to erupt.
Systematic Analysis of Art Therapy Assessment and Rating Instrument Literature

The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the named committee members. iii " One must not always think that feeling is everything. Art is nothing without form. " Gustave Flaubert iv For my parents David and Wendy Betts v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Henry Adams said, " A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. " Thank you, Dr. Marcia Rosal, for your mentorship and the expertise you provided as the chair of my doctoral committee. I am profoundly grateful. Deep appreciation is extended to my doctoral committee members, Dr. for their collective wisdom and guidance. Thank you to my statistician, Qiu Wang, for many hours spent analyzing data and educating me about meta-analysis procedures. Thanks also to mentor Dr. Betsy Becker. The assistance provided by art therapist Carolyn Brown as a coder of primary studies is very much appreciated. Gratitude is expressed to the colleagues, mentors, and friends who offered their support and guidance: To the friends and family members who provided me with continuous motivation through the course of doctoral study, especially Evelyn Moore, Annette Moll, and Jeffrey Gray – thank you.
The Sacred and the Profane: Biotechnology, Rationality, and Public Debate

This paper explores the forms of argumentation employed by participants in a recent public engagement process in the United Kingdom around new technologies for organ transplantation, with specific reference to xenotransplantation and stem-cell research. Two forms of reasoning recur throughout participants' deliberations which challenge specialist framing of this issue. First, an often scatological humour and sense of the profane are evident in the ways in which participants discuss the bodily transformations that such technologies demand. Second, a sense of the sacred, in which new biotechnologies are viewed as against nature or in which commercial companies are ‘playing god’, is a repetitive and well-recognised concern. Such forms of reasoning are frequently dismissed by policymakers as ‘uninformed gut reactions’. Yet they also form a significant part of the repertoire of scientists themselves as they proclaim the hope of new medical breakthroughs, or seek to reconstruct ideas of the body to facilitate new biotechnological transformations. Through questioning of assumptions in Habermas's notion of discourse ethics, and exploring the importance of hybridity and corporeality as concepts in ethical thinking, the author suggests that, far from being ill-formed opinions, such reasonings perform an important function for thinking through the ontological significance of the corporealisation of these proposed new forms of human and animal bodies.
Toxic Effects of Deltamethrin and Fluoride on Hematological Parameters in Rats

SUMMARY: As part of our study on the toxic effects of deltamethrin and fluoride (F) on antioxidant parameters in rats, hematological effects of these chemicals were evaluated in the same animals. Deltamethrin and F produced a marked decrease in the hematological parameters including total erythrocyte count, hemoglobin, packed cell volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, and total leukocyte count. Among alterations in the leukocytes, lymphopenia, neutrophilia, and eosinopenia were observed. Exposure of the rats to both deltamethrin and F together gave the greatest changes.
Domain General Change Detection Accounts for “Dishabituation” Effects in Temporal–Parietal Regions in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies of Speech Perception

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of speech sound categorization often compare conditions in which a stimulus is presented repeatedly to conditions in which multiple stimuli are presented. This approach has established that a set of superior temporal and inferior parietal regions respond more strongly to conditions containing stimulus change. Here, we examine whether this contrast is driven by habituation to a repeating condition or by selective responding to change. Experiment 1 directly tests this by comparing the observed response to long trains of stimuli against a constructed hemodynamic response modeling the hypothesis that no habituation occurs. The results are consistent with the view that enhanced response to conditions involving phonemic variability reflect change detection. In a second experiment, the specificity of these responses to linguistically relevant stimulus variability was studied by including a condition in which the talker, rather than phonemic category, was variable from stimulus to stimulus. In this context, strong change detection responses were observed to changes in talker, but not to changes in phoneme category. The results prompt a reconsideration of two assumptions common to fMRI studies of speech sound categorization: they suggest that temporoparietal responses in passive paradigms such as those used here are better characterized as reflecting change detection than habituation, and that their apparent selectivity to speech sound categories may reflect a more general preference for variability in highly salient or behaviorally relevant stimulus dimensions.
Purinergic Receptor Modulation of Lipopolysaccharide Signaling and Inducible Nitric-oxide Synthase Expression in RAW 264.7 Macrophages*

Previous studies have suggested that the P2Z/P2X7 purinergic receptor can participate in nucleotide-induced modulation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated inflammatory mediator production. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated whether antagonism of the P2Z/P2X7 receptor can influence LPS signaling and expression of the inducible form of nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS) in RAW 264.7 macrophages. In the present study, we demonstrate that pretreatment of RAW 264.7 macrophages with a P2Z/P2X7 receptor antagonist, periodate oxidized adenosine 5′-triphosphate (o-ATP), substantially inhibits LPS-stimulated NO production and iNOS expression without altering cell viability. This effect on LPS-induced iNOS expression is mimicked by a pyridoxal-phosphate-based antagonist (pyridoxal-phosphate-6-azophenyl-2′,4′-disulfonic acid) of the P2Z/P2X7 purinergic receptor, indicating that these results are not unique to o-ATP. Additionally, o-ATP prevents cell death induced by P2Z/P2X7 receptor agonists. To ascertain how P2Z/P2X7 receptor antagonists influence LPS signaling, we evaluated the capacity of o-ATP to regulate LPS-mediated activation of the transcription factor, nuclear factor-κB, and the mitogen-activated protein kinases, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1 and ERK2. These experiments reveal that pretreatment of RAW 264.7 cells with o-ATP attenuates the LPS stimulation of a nuclear factor-κB-like binding activity. Moreover, the activation of ERK1 and ERK2 by LPS, but not by the phorbol ester, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, is also blocked in RAW 264.7 cells by o-ATP pretreatment. In summary, these data suggest that the P2Z/P2X7 receptor modulates LPS-induced macrophage activation as assessed by iNOS expression and NO production. This report implicates the P2Z/P2X7 receptor in the control of protein kinase cascades and transcriptional processes, and these observations are likely to be important for the development of selective purinergic receptor antagonists for the treatment of septic shock.
INTERNATIONAL VALIDITY GENERALIZATION OF GMA AND COGNITIVE ABILITIES: A EUROPEAN COMMUNITY META-ANALYSIS

This article reports on a series of meta-analyses into the criterion validity of general menatl ability (GMA) and specific cognitive ability tests for predicting job performance ratings and training success in the European Community (EC). Meta-analyses were computed on a large EC database examining the operational validity of GMA and other specific cognitive abilities, including verbal, numerical, spatial-mechanical, perceptual and memory (N ranged from 946 to 16,065) across 10 EC member countries. The results showed that tests of GMA and specific cognitive ability are very good predictors of job performance and training success across the EC. Evidence for the international validity generalization of GMA and specific cognitive abilities was presented. The results for the EC meta-analyses showed a larger operational validity than previous meta-analyses in the U.S. for predicting job performance. For training success, the European and American results are very similar. Implications for the international generalizability of GMA test validities, practical use of cognitive ability tests for personnel selection, and directions for future research are discussed.
Our Bodies, Our Crimes: The Policing of Women’s Reproduction in America

IntroductionPart I Beginning 1 "Race Criminals": Reproductive Rights in America Part II Begetting 2 "Breeders": The Right to Procreate 3 "Back-Alley Butchers": Terminating Pregnancies 4 "Baby-Killers": Neonaticide and Infant Abandonment Part III Bearing 5 "Innocent Preborn Victims": Fetal Protectionism and Pregnant Women 6 "Liars and Whiners": Incarcerated Women's Right to Reproductive HealthPart IV Mothering 7 "Bad Mothers": Incarcerated Women's Ties to Their Children 8 "Asking for It": Battered Women and Child Custody Conclusion: Being Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index About the Author
Speech decomposition and enhancement

The goal of this study is to investigate the roles of steady-state speech sounds and transitions between these sounds in the intelligibility of speech. The motivation for this approach is that the auditory system may be particularly sensitive to time-varying frequency edges, which in speech are produced primarily by transitions between vowels and consonants and within vowels. The possibility that selectively amplifying these edges may enhance speech intelligibility is examined. Computer algorithms to decompose speech into two different components were developed. One component, which is defined as a tonal component, was intended to predominately include formant activity. The second component, which is defined as a non-tonal component, was intended to predominately include transitions between and within formants. The approach to the decomposition is to use a set of time-varying filters whose center frequencies and bandwidths are controlled to identify the strongest formant components in speech. Each center frequency and bandwidth is estimated based on FM and AM information of each formant component. The tonal component is composed of the sum of the filter outputs. The non-tonal component is defined as the difference between the original speech signal and the tonal component. The relative energy and intelligibility of the tonal and non-tonal components were compared to the original speech. Psychoacoustic growth functions were used to assess the intelligibility. Most of the speech energy was in the tonal component, but this component had a significantly lower maximum word recognition than the original and non-tonal component had. The non-tonal component averaged 2% of the original speech energy, but this component had almost equal maximum word recognition as the original speech. The non-tonal component was amplified and recombined with the original speech to generate enhanced speech. The energy of the enhanced speech was adjusted to be equal to the original speech, and the intelligibility of the enhanced speech was compared to the original speech in background noise. The enhanced speech showed higher recognition scores at lower SNRs, and the differences were significant. The original and enhanced speech showed similar recognition scores at higher SNRs. These results suggest that amplification of transient information can enhance the speech in noise and this enhancement method is more effective at severe noise conditions.
Multiple facets of self-esteem: within attribution style, stress coping and forgiveness

This chapter addresses the important role of self-esteem within positive psychology through five issues. Firstly, it starts by reviewing positive psychology and showing that self-esteem is linked with enhanced well-being domains. Secondly, it will look at how does self-esteem contributes to positive well-being outcomes. Thirdly, it takes a closer look at the perspective of multifaceted self-esteem model, which leads to individual well-being. Fourthly, it introduces three determinants that play important roles in positive individual characteristics that lead to well-being, which are: 1) attribution style, 2) stress coping style and 3) forgiveness. Fifthly, it will describe the aims of this chapter.
Human ING1 Proteins Differentially Regulate Histone Acetylation*

ING1 proteins are nuclear, growth inhibitory, and regulate apoptosis in different experimental systems. Here we show that similar to their yeast homologs, human ING1 proteins interact with proteins associated with histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity, such as TRRAP, PCAF, CBP, and p300. Human ING1 immunocomplexes contain HAT activity, and overexpression of p33ING1b, but not of p47ING1a, induces hyperacetylation of histones H3 and H4, in vitro and in vivo at the single cell level. p47ING1a inhibits histone acetylation in vitro and in vivo and binds the histone deacetylase HDAC1. Finally, we present evidence indicating that p33ING1b affects the degree of physical association between proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and p300, an association that has been proposed to link DNA repair to chromatin remodeling. Together with the finding that human ING1 proteins bind PCNA in a DNA damage-dependent manner, these data suggest that ING1 proteins provide a direct linkage between DNA repair, apoptosis, and chromatin remodeling via multiple HAT·ING1·PCNA protein complexes.