Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance Analysis of Video Transmission Over IEEE 802.11a/e WLANs

This paper presents efficient mechanisms for delay- sensitive transmission of video over IEEE 802.11a/e wireless local area networks (WLANs). Transmitting video over WLANs in real time is very challenging due to the time-varying wireless channel and video content characteristics. This paper provides a comprehensive view of how to adapt the quality of service signaling, IEEE 802.11e parameters and cross-layer design to optimize the video quality at the receiver. We propose an integrated system view of admission control and scheduling for both contention and poll-based access of IEEE 802.11e medium access control (MAC) protocol and outline the merits of each approach for video transmission. We also show the benefits of using a cross-layer optimization by sharing the application, MAC, and physical layer parameters of the open systems interconnection stack to enhance the video quality. We will show through analysis and simulation that controlling the contention-based access in IEEE 802.11e is simple to realize in real products and how different cross-layer strategies used in poll-based access lead to a larger number of stations being simultaneously admitted and/or a higher video quality for the admitted stations. Finally, we introduce a new concept called time fairness, which is critical in enhancing the video performance when different transmitter-receiver pairs deploy different cross-layer strategies.
Enhancing employee creativity via individual skill development and team knowledge sharing: Influences of dual‐focused transformational leadership

Summary Addressing the challenges faced by team leaders in fostering both individual and team creativity, this research developed and tested a multilevel model connecting dual-focused transformational leadership (TFL) and creativity and incorporating intervening mechanisms at the two levels. Using multilevel, multisource survey data from individual members, team leaders, and direct supervisors in high-technology firms, we found that individual-focused TFL had a positive indirect effect on individual creativity via individual skill development, whereas team-focused TFL impacted team creativity partially through its influence on team knowledge sharing. We also found that knowledge sharing constituted a cross-level contextual factor that moderated the relationship among individual-focused TFL, skill development, and individual creativity. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this research and offer suggestions for future research. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Sochi Olympics, Celebration Capitalism, and Homonationalist Pride

In July 2013, the Russian government passed two anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) laws that drew international criticism. Russia’s impending hosting of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games inspired more sustained international attention to these laws than might have otherwise been the case. In this article, we apply the mutually supporting frameworks of queer/trans necropolitics and celebration capitalism to a content analysis of coverage of the Sochi Olympics in the Advocate and Xtra, the leading LGBT publications in the United States and Canada, respectively. We contend that the Advocate and Xtra participated in a homonationalist process of manufacturing consent as the United States, Canada, the West in general, and the Olympic Games were glorified while issues relating to racism and colonialism in Russia, the United States, and Canada were ignored and these geopolitical formations in general were falsely generalized as safe havens for LGBT people. This conclusion is based on two key observations. First, we noted complete silence about racist and ethnic violence in Russia and in the specific site of Sochi in the Advocate and only one (unelaborated) acknowledgment of Sochi as a historical site of ethnic cleansing in Xtra. Second, in spite of the recent expansion of formal citizenship rights for LGBT people, more uniformly in Canada than in the United States, Advocate and Xtra coverage failed to acknowledge the dissonance between American and Canadian governments positioning themselves as LGBT and human rights leaders and the harm these National Security States continue to deliver to racialized, impoverished, and gender and sexual minority populations.
Teachers' Competency in School Extra-Curricular Management

2 Abstract: Extra-curricular management is an integral part of the school management system. Teachers being the main executors of extra-curricular activities should possess sufficient knowledge and skills in order to ensure the success of extra-curricular education. This article aims to determine teachers' competency in school extra-curricular management. Teachers' competency comprises knowledge and skills in planning, implementing, guiding and evaluating. Quantitative survey method employing a set of questionnaires was administered to answer the research objectives. A sample of 150 teachers took part in the survey. The overall result showed that teachers' competency in extra-curricular management was relatively high (m=3.82, sd=0.42). Results also showed that there was a significant difference in teachers' competency with regard to teaching options (t=2.72, p<0.05) and continuous professional development courses attended (t=10.86, p<0.05). The results of this study presented a picture of teachers' competency in managing extra-curricular activities in schools. The results of this study provide appropriate guidelines to policy makers and also policy executors in improving the competency of teachers to manage extra-curricular activities in schools.
Handling concept drifts in incremental learning with support vector machines

With the increase in the size of real-world databases, there is an ever-increasing need to scale up inductive learning algorithms. Incremental learning techniques are one possible solution to the scalability problem. In this paper, we propose three ctiteria to evaluate the robustness and reliability of incremental learning methods, and use them to study the robustness of an incremental training method for Support Vector Machines. We provide empirical results using benchmark machine learning datasets to show that support vectors form a svccdnct and suficient set for block-by-block incremental learning.
Role of the bicarbonate-responsive soluble adenylyl cyclase in pH sensing and metabolic regulation

The evolutionarily conserved soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC, adcy10) was recently identified as a unique source of cAMP in the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Its activity is regulated by bicarbonate and fine-tuned by calcium. As such, and in conjunction with carbonic anhydrase (CA), sAC constitutes an HCO−3/CO−2/pH sensor. In both alpha-intercalated cells of the collecting duct and the clear cells of the epididymis, sAC is expressed at significant level and involved in pH homeostasis via apical recruitment of vacuolar H+-ATPase (VHA) in a PKA-dependent manner. In addition to maintenance of pH homeostasis, sAC is also involved in metabolic regulation such as coupling of Krebs cycle to oxidative phosphorylation via bicarbonate/CO2 sensing. Additionally, sAC also regulates CFTR channel and plays an important role in regulation of barrier function and apoptosis. These observations suggest that sAC, via bicarbonate-sensing, plays an important role in maintaining homeostatic status of cells against fluctuations in their microenvironment.
Understanding Bald-Faced Lies: An Experimental Approach

Bald-faced lies seem to be lies that lack a typical property of genuine lies, namely the intent of the speaker to deceive the hearer. Therefore, several scholars propose that the intention to deceive should not be part of a proper definition of lying. In contrast to this “non-deceptionist” approach, it has been argued by “deceptionists” that bald-faced lies are either no real lies or that they are connected to an intention to deceive. This paper reports a questionnaire study in which participants were asked whether target utterances in eight cases of putative bald-faced lies were (i) lies, (ii) were deceptive, (iii) and were brazen. Overall, bald-faced lies were considered as lies and as deceptive. With respect to brazenness, participants clearly distinguished between brazen and non-brazen utterances. This shows that the degree of brazenness is an important property of bald-faced lies.
Constructing Cellular Automaton Models from Observation Data

We propose a construction method of cellular automaton models based on observation data of phenomena. Because variables and states of cellular automata should be discrete, we discretize the observation data. Under the given number of neighbors and possible states of a site, we estimate the rules of cellular automata by the statistic analysis. In this paper, we apply this method to the discretized diffusion equation and Burgers equation. Both deterministic and stochastic models, which have three neighbors and 2-8 possible states, are obtained. Results of the models are compared with that of the original equations.
White Noise Hypothesis for Uniform Quantization Errors

The white noise hypothesis (WNH) assumes that in the uniform pulse code modulation (PCM) quantization scheme the errors in individual channels behave like white noise; i.e., they are independent and identically distributed random variables. The WNH is key to estimating the mean square quantization error (MSE). But is the WNH valid? In this paper we take a close look at the WNH. We show that in a redundant system the errors from individual channels can never be independent. Thus to an extent the WNH is invalid. Our numerical experiments also indicate that with coarse quantization the WNH is far from valid. However, as the main result of this paper we show that with fine quantizations the WNH is essentially valid in that the errors from individual channels become asymptotically pairwise independent, each uniformly distributed in $[-\Delta/2, \Delta/2)$, where Δ denotes the stepsize of the quantization.
Influence of Peer Pressure on Secondary School Students Drop out in Rongo Sub-County, Migori County, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of peer pressure on secondary school students’ drop out in Rongo Sub-County, Migori County, Kenya. The statement of the problem showed that the sub-county had a dropout rate of 43 percent as compared to the neighboring sub counties like Uriri, Awendo, Nyatike, Kuria and Migori which had 25, 9, 27, 23 and 28 percent respectively despite the similar government’s strategies availed to all the public secondary schools and the coverage of the same syllabus throughout the country. The study involved forms 3 and 4 students as they have been in school long enough to understand the schooling process. The descriptive design which involved qualitative strategies to data collection was employed. 755 students, teachers and head teachers were targeted for the study. A sample of 235 respondents was identified as follows, 200 students, 20 principals and 15 class teachers. Both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used for various respondents. Data collection was done using questionnaires and interview schedules as the main research instruments. The data was analyzed using frequencies and percentages presented in tables and discussed. A cross sectional research design was used the findings revealed that peer pressure influenced student drop out was at 43.75%. High dropout was as a result of parent/ guardian financial status and family headship which lead to inadequate guidance/ mentorship to the students. The study concluded that in most cases where students are most often sent home there are high chances that some never returned to school and most schools did not support the learners who were coming from poor background. It can therefore be concluded that socio-economic factors highly influence the retention of students in secondary school. Recommendations called for the collaborative efforts by the government and other education stakeholders to support and provide for the learners who cannot afford the rising financial challenges of learning. Guidance and counseling, close interactions with the teachers by the students, proper syllabus content delivery are other measures to be upheld. The government should employ more teachers to help curb the discrepancies of teacher students’ ratio. The research considered confidentiality and avoided plagiarism of any kind. Key words: Influence, peer pressure, drop-out, secondary, school, Kenya
The Mark of a Criminal Record Over the past three decades

The Mark of a Criminal Record Over the past three decades, the number of prison inmates has increased by more than 500 percent, leaving the United States the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world. With over 2 million individuals currently incarcerated, and over half a million prisoners released each year, the large and growing numbers of men being processed through the criminal justice system raises important questions about the consequences of this massive institutional invention. This paper focuses on the consequences of incarceration for the employment outcomes of black and white job seekers. In the present study, I adopt an experimental audit approach to formally test the degree to which a criminal record affects subsequent employment opportunities. By using matched pairs of individuals to apply for real entrylevel jobs, it becomes possible to directly measure the extent to which a criminal record—in the absence of other disqualifying characteristics—serves as a barrier to employment among equally qualified applicants. I find that a criminal record is associa ted with a 50 percent reduction in employment opportunities for whites and a 64 percent reduction for blacks. These findings reveal an important, and much under-recognized, mechanism of stratification. A criminal record presents a major barrier to employment, with important implications for racial disparities.
Brief Report: Switch to Ritonavir-Boosted Atazanavir Plus Raltegravir in Virologically Suppressed Patients With HIV-1 Infection: A Randomized Pilot Study

Abstract:This open-label, multinational, pilot study randomized (1:2 ratio) adults with HIV-1 RNA <40 copies per milliliter and nucleos(t)ide-related safety/tolerability issues to switch to ritonavir-boosted atazanavir (ATV/r) plus tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine (n = 37) or the nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitor-sparing regimen of ATV/r plus raltegravir (RAL) (n = 72). At 24 weeks, 35/37 (94.6%) and 58/72 (80.6%) of patients, respectively, maintained virological suppression, the primary endpoint, and 1 (2.7%) and 7 (9.7%), respectively, experienced virological rebound. Corresponding 48-week proportions were 86.5%, 69.4%, 2.7%, and 12.5%, respectively. Adherence was lower and treatment discontinuation was higher with ATV/r+RAL. In conclusion, switching to ATV/r+RAL resulted in a higher virological rebound rate than switching to ATV/r plus tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine.
Amniotic Fluid Stem Cells Prevent Follicle Atresia and Rescue Fertility of Mice with Premature Ovarian Failure Induced by Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy used to treat cancer may cause irreversible premature ovarian failure (POF). Of late, amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs) provide a novel source for regenerative medicine because of their primitive stage, low immunogenicity, and easy accessibility. In this study, we isolated AFSCs from transgenic mice that ubiquitously express enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP). These AFSCs exhibited morphologies, immunophenotypes, and mesoderm trilineage differentiation potentials similar to mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Further, AFSCs proliferated faster than MSCs and expressed OCT4, a marker for pluripotency. To investigate their potential in recovering fertility in POF model, AFSCs were transplanted into the ovaries of mice with POF six weeks post induction using chemotherapeutic drugs, busulfan and cyclophosphamide. AFSCs could rescue the reproductive ability of mice with POF by preventing follicle atresia and sustaining the healthy follicles. Notably, the transplanted AFSCs did not differentiate into granulosa and germline cells in vivo. After one month, the decreased numbers of transplanted AFSCs accompanied with the reduced beneficial effects indicated that the therapeutic efficacy were directly from AFSCs. These findings demonstrated the therapeutic effects of AFSCs and suggested the promise of AFSCs for treating infertility and POF caused by chemotherapy.
Network-level security and privacy control for smart-home IoT devices

The increasing uptake of smart home appliances, such as lights, smoke-alarms, power switches, baby monitors, and weighing scales, raises privacy and security concerns at unprecedented scale, allowing legitimate and illegitimate entities to snoop and intrude into the family's activities. In this paper we first illustrate these threats using real devices currently available in the market. We then argue that as more such devices emerge, the attack vectors increase, and ensuring privacy/security of the house becomes more challenging. We therefore advocate that device-level protections be augmented with network-level security solutions, that can monitor network activity to detect suspicious behavior. We further propose that software defined networking technology be used to dynamically block/quarantine devices, based on their network activity and on the context within the house such as time-of-day or occupancy-level. We believe our network-centric approach can augment device-centric security for the emerging smart-home.
Power Grid Network Evolutions for Local Energy Trading

The shift towards an energy Grid dominated by prosumers (consumers and producers of energy) will inevitably have repercussions on the distribution infrastructure. Today it is a hierarchical one designed to deliver energy from large scale facilities to end-users. Tomorrow it will be a capillary infrastructure at the Medium and Low Voltage levels that will support local energy trading among prosumers. In [74], we analyzed the Dutch Power Grid and made an initial analysis of the economic impact topological properties have on decentralized energy trading. In this paper, we go one step further and investigate how dierent networks topologies and growth models facilitate the emergence of a decentralized market. In particular, we show how the connectivity plays an important role in improving the properties of reliability and pathcost reduction. From the economic point of view, we estimate how the topological evolutions facilitate local electricity distribution, taking into account the main cost ingredient required for increasing network connectivity, i.e., the price of cabling.
Temporal Trends in the Rates of Multiple Maternities in England and Wales

Abstract After a long continuous decrease, the twinning and higher multifetal rates in many developed countries have increased during the last 2 to 3 decades. This change has been attributed to delayed childbearing and to increased use of subfertility treatments, particularly in women over 35 years of age. In this study we analyze how these new trends depend on changes in the effect of maternal age on the rates of multiple maternities. Our study is based on data for England and Wales for the period 1938 to 2003. The temporal variations show a decreasing trend to a trough around 1980 and after that a steady increase. This increase was more marked for higher multifetal rates and was particularly high for quadruplets. Furthermore, we identified changes in the age-specific rates resulting in increased levels for older mothers. These findings are in good agreement with our results from Nordic populations.
Nonasymptotic statistical performance of beamforming for deterministic signals

The purpose of this letter is to investigate, in the deterministic case, the nonasymptotic behavior of beamforming estimation of the direction of arrival of a single source impinging on a uniform linear array. We derive an approximate analytical expression of the maximum-likelihood mean-squared error that is valid for all SNR ranges and number of snapshots. Computer simulations confirm the validity of the theoretical investigations.
Use of lectins to in situ visualize glycoconjugates of extracellular polymeric substances in acidophilic archaeal biofilms

Biofilm formation and the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) by meso‐ and thermoacidophilic metal‐oxidizing archaea on relevant substrates have been studied to a limited extent. In order to investigate glycoconjugates, a major part of the EPS, during biofilm formation/bioleaching by archaea on pyrite, a screening with 75 commercially available lectins by fluorescence lectin‐binding analysis (FLBA) has been performed. Three representative archaeal species, Ferroplasma acidiphilum DSM 28986, Sulfolobus metallicus DSM 6482T and a novel isolate Acidianus sp. DSM 29099 were used. In addition, Acidianus sp. DSM 29099 biofilms on elemental sulfur were studied. The results of FLBA indicate (i) 22 lectins bound to archaeal biofilms on pyrite and 21 lectins were binding to Acidianus sp. DSM 29099 biofilms on elemental sulfur; (ii) major binding patterns, e.g. tightly bound EPS and loosely bound EPS, were detected on both substrates; (iii) the three archaeal species produced various EPS glycoconjugates on pyrite surfaces. Additionally, the substratum induced different EPS glycoconjugates and biofilm structures of cells of Acidianus sp. DSM 29099. Our data provide new insights into interactions between acidophilic archaea on relevant surfaces and also indicate that FLBA is a valuable tool for in situ investigations on archaeal biofilms.
From Exact-WKB towards Singular Quantum Perturbation Theory

We use exact WKB analysis to derive some concrete formulae in singular quan- tum perturbation theory, for Schrodinger eigenvalue problems on the real line with polynomial potentials of the form (q M + gq N ), where N> M > 0e ven, and g> 0. Mainly, we establish the g → 0 limiting forms of global spectral functions such as the zeta-regularized determinants and some spectral zeta functions.
CREMA: A coarse-grain reconfigurable array with mapping adaptiveness

This paper presents CREMA, a coarse-grain reconfigurable array with mapping adaptiveness. Mapping adaptiveness consists of tailoring the array to a specific application requirements. Run-time reconfigurability allows the re-usage of same PE with different functionality and interconnections among the ones supported. We proved this approach very efficient if compared with a standard CGRA. In our test cases CREMA gets a performance speed-up from 1.5X to 4X, reducing in the same time the area occupation by 80%–90% in comparison with Butter CGRA.
Learning by Distributed Automata

We introduce a slightly modiied version of a standard learning automaton and show that this`responsive' learning automata eliminates dominated strategies when playing against an unknown environment. This new automaton has strong convergence properties that are easily analyzed, allowing us to compute explicit bounds for convergence rates. Groups of such automata, interacting via a general game, are then studied. We show that synchronous groups of automata converge to the serially undominated set. We then show that, in contrast, asynchronous automata do not necessarily converge to the serially undominated set. However, these asynchronous automata do converge to the serially set-undominated set, which we deene.