Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transparency Enhancing Tools (TETs): An Overview

As the amount of users' information collected and exchanged on the Internet is growing, so are, consequently, the users' concerns that their privacy might be violated. Some studies have shown that a large number of users avoid engaging in online services due to privacy concerns. It has been suggested that increased transparency of privacy related mechanisms may promote users' trust. This paper reviews the relationship between users' privacy concerns, transparency enhancing and privacy enhancing mechanisms on the one hand, and users' trust on the other, based on the existing literature. Our literature review demonstrates that previous studies have produced inconsistent results, implying this relationship should be re-examined in future work. Impact of higher transparency on users' trust has been insufficiently studied. Current research seems to suggest that the increase of the understanding of privacy issues increases importance of privacy for trust. Use of privacy enhancing mechanisms by service provider also seems to promote the trust, but this may only hold when these mechanisms are understood by the user. A need for tools that would provide users with this kind of knowledge has also been repeatedly recognized. Additionally, this paper provides an overview and description of the currently available transparency enhancing tools. To the best of our knowledge, no such overview has been available to this end. We demonstrate that the majority of tools promote awareness. Most of them attempt to provide a better understanding of privacy policies, or provide insight in the third party tracking behavior. Two tools have been identified that provide some insight in the collected user's data. No tool providing specific information on, or access to, processing logic has been identified.
Identifying outliers in Bayesian hierarchical models: a simulation-based approach

A variety of simulation-based techniques have been proposed for detection of divergent behaviour at each level of a hierarchical model. We investigate a diagnostic test based on measuring the conflict between two independent sources of evidence regarding a parameter: that arising from its predictive prior given the remainder of the data, and that arising from its likelihood. This test gives rise to a p-value that exactly matches or closely approximates a cross-validatory predictive comparison, and yet is more widely applicable. Its properties are explored for normal hierarchical models and in an application in which divergent surgical mortality was suspected. Since full cross-validation is so computationally demanding, we examine full-data approximations which are shown to have only moderate conservatism in normal models. A second example concerns criticism of a complex growth curve model at both observation and parameter levels, and illustrates the issue of dealing with multiple p-values within a Bayesian framework. We conclude with the proposal of an overall strategy to detecting divergent behaviour in hierarchical models.
Identifying inactive code in product lines with configuration-aware system dependence graphs

Application engineers frequently create customer-specific products in two stages: the required software components are first selected to create an initial product which is then evolved by refining the selected features and adapting the code to meet the customers' requirements. For instance, developers frequently set configuration options in the code to adjust the product. However, given that such changes are often necessary in the entire code base it is hard to know which part of the code is still relevant for the chosen configuration options. This means that engineers need to understand and maintain a lot of code that is potentially inactive in a particular product variant. Existing approaches provide only partial solutions: for instance, feature-to-code mappings do not adequately consider complex code dependencies of the implemented features. Static analysis techniques provide better results but usually do not consider variability aspects. We present an approach to automatically identify inactive code in product variants using a configuration-aware code analysis technique. We demonstrate the flexibility of our approach by customizing it to a product line of an industry partner in the domain of industrial automation. We further evaluate the approach to demonstrate its effectiveness, accuracy, and performance.
Human and Computer Learning Together In the Exteriorized Particle Swarm

The particle swarm is a computer algorithm for function optimization based on simulation of principles of human social behavior. Individual problem-solution vectors inte ract in a population until a criterion is met. The present e xperiment replaces one of the computational agents with a human being. It is shown that the human performs as well as the computational beings on an extremely simple pro blem, and worse than them on a harder one.
Receptors and Counterreceptors Involved in NK-B Cell Interactions1

In addition to the well-documented effect of NK cells on B cell differentiation via their ability to secrete IFN-γ, NK cells can also induce, via direct cell-cell interactions, germline transcripts (Iγ2a) necessary for switch recombination to IgG2a. Analysis of the ligand-receptor pairs that could be involved in this induction revealed that the expression of CD48 on B cells is crucial for the induction. NK cells from mice with targeted deletions of either the CD2 or the CD244 gene, both of which encode ligands for CD48, are compromised in their ability to induce B cell Iγ2a expression. Interestingly, although CD244 can bind to CD48 with a higher affinity, the ability of NK cells from CD244−/− mice to stimulate Iγ2a is not as compromised as NK cells from CD2−/− mice. Despite the difference between cell surface receptors that are stimulated by NK cells vs those stimulated by the combination of LPS and IFN-γ, we show in this study that the initiation of γ2a germline transcription is regulated by similar cis-acting elements located at the 3′ end of the IgH locus. However, NK cells cannot induce the final steps of switch recombination resulting in the production of mature mRNA from recombined DNA. Our findings suggest that these different signaling pathways converge on regulatory elements that are common to germline transcription; however, because NK induction does not result in the final steps of switch recombination, some signals initiated by LPS plus IFN-γ are not induced by NK cells.
From Checklists to Heuristics: Designing MOOCs to Support Teacher Learning

Background Although much is known from educational research about factors that support K–12 teacher professional learning, it has been an ongoing challenge to incorporate these factors into practice in new contexts and environments. We argue that these factors are too often treated like a checklist of discrete elements, either present or not, insufficiently attending to the complexities of design and experience. To understand how Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) might support K–12 teacher learning, it is critical to move beyond application of discrete factors to nuanced navigation of the interplay among researcher examination and theorization, designer intention and implementation, and learner use and experience—balancing considerations of learning theory, instructional objectives and specific learning context, and the desires, needs, and experiences of participants. Focus of Study This study examines MOOCs as a medium for supporting teacher professional learning. What did K–12 teachers identify as meaningful about their participation in the Creative Computing Online Workshop (CCOW), a large-scale, constructionist, online learning experience for teachers? How do the teachers’ experiences relate to each other, to learning research, and to the affordances of MOOCs? Research Design This qualitative, interview-based study draws on 15 semistructured interviews with participants 1 year after they completed CCOW, as well as course artifacts. We used an iterative approach to develop common themes reflecting what teachers found meaningful and key tensions present in these themes. Findings Teachers described four qualities as most meaningful to their learning: activity, peers, culture, and relevance. Although these qualities were often mutually supporting, three key tensions among the qualities and the implications for the design of online teacher learning experiences are discussed: autonomy, with structure; diversity, with commonality; and experimentation, with validation. Conclusions This article challenges the notion that implementing successful professional development for K–12 teachers is simply a matter of following a checklist of design elements. This study presents qualities that teachers found meaningful in an online learning experience, offering heuristics that designers might consider when designing for their specific contexts. Future research might assess to what extent the qualities and tensions identified in this study apply to other contexts, and explore the reasons why contextual changes may or may not influence results.
An Algorithm for Synthesis of Optimal 3-qubit Reversible Circuits Based on Bit Operation

We use bit operation to construct the novel and perfect Hash function and present an efficient algorithm which can construct optimal quantum reversible logic circuits with various types of gates by using the Hash table and produce quantum circuits with minimal cost in theory. Judging by the internationally recognized reversible functions of three variables, the algorithm not only synthesizes all optimal reversible logic circuits, but also runs extremely faster than other ones. The experimental results show that the average speed of the algorithm which synthesizes circuit with minimum length is 69.8 times that of currently best result [9].
Nonlinear Adaptive Algorithms on Rank-One Tensor Models

This work proposes a low complexity nonlinearity model and develops adaptive algorithms over it. The model is based on the decomposable---or rank-one, in tensor language---Volterra kernels. It may also be described as a product of FIR filters, which explains its low-complexity. The rank-one model is also interesting because it comes from a well-posed problem in approximation theory. The paper uses such model in an estimation theory context to develop an exact gradient-type algorithm, from which adaptive algorithms such as the least mean squares (LMS) filter and its data-reuse version---the TRUE-LMS---are derived. Stability and convergence issues are addressed. The algorithms are then tested in simulations, which show its good performance when compared to other nonlinear processing algorithms in the literature.
Psychosocial profiles of youth who acquire a natural mentor during a school year

ABSTRACT Youth who form bonds with supportive, nonparent adults within their existing social networks (i.e., natural mentors) experience a range of positive outcomes, but a relatively minimal amount is known regarding the psychosocial factors that prospectively predict the formation of natural mentoring relationships. Analyzing longitudinal youth data from the waitlist control group of a formal mentoring intervention, the current study investigates the psychosocial factors that predict the acquisition of natural mentoring relationships. Of youth who reported not having a natural mentor at baseline (n = 193), ages 9 to 16 (M = 11.20, SD = 1.61), 46.1% acquired a natural mentor over a school year. A significant interaction between stress (i.e., the number of recent stressful life events) and prosocial peer engagement predicted the acquisition of a natural mentor. At low levels of stress, prosocial peer engagement significantly predicted a lower likelihood of acquiring a natural mentor. This negative association became less strong with increasing stress levels. These findings highlight the importance of addressing interactions among personal and contextual factors when examining natural mentorship. The current and future investigations of naturally occurring mentoring relationships can inform the development of community-based and contextually relevant mentoring interventions.
Loss of phylogenetic information in chorion gene families of Bombyx mori gene conversion.

The silkmoth chorion has provided a stimulating model for the study of evolution and developmental regulation of gene families. Previous attempts at inferring relationships among chorion sequences have been based on pairwise comparisons of overall similarity, a potentially problematic approach. To remedy this, we identified the alignable regions of low sequence variability and then analyzed this restricted database by parsimony and neighbor-joining methods. At the deepest level, the chorion sequence tree is split into two branches, called "alpha" and "beta. " Within each branch, early- and late-expressing genes each constitute monophyletic groups, while the situation with middle-expressing genes remains uncertain. The HcB gene family appears to be the most basal beta-branch group, but this conclusion is qualified because the effect of gene conversion on branching order is unknown. Previous studies by Eickbush and colleagues have strongly suggested that ErA, HcA, and HcB families undergo gene conversion within a gene family, whereas the ErB family does not. The occurrence of conversion correlates with a particular tree structure; namely, branch lengths are much greater at the base of the family than at higher internodes and terminal branches. These observations raise the possibility that chorion gene families are defined by gene conversion events (reticulate evolution) rather than by descent with modification (synapomorphy).
Fathering in everyday family life : qualitative case studies of ten families

Fathers, fathering and fatherhood have been the subjects of much contemporary debate and investigation. The study’s aims and research questions were informed by the existing body of fatherhood research which has been, predominantly, constructed and undertaken in relation to an ‘unproblematic norm’ of fatherhood, in which it is presumed that ‘good fatherhood’ is experienced. This study, therefore, sought to explore – through a series of ten case studies – fathers, everyday fathering and notions of ‘good fatherhood’ within ‘normative’ contexts. In doing so, the study took a relational approach, drawing on the perspectives of fathers, mothers and children in recognition of the potential of each family member to deepen and broaden understandings of fathers, fathering and fatherhood. Findings highlight the common and divergent ways in which fathers and fathering were understood, experienced and ‘done’ both within and between families, and over time and space. The multiple meanings and concepts which are entangled with fathering practices were also revealed. The study has further shown that ‘family display’ is a useful tool for exploring the nuances of contemporary notions of ‘good fatherhood’. Using the lens of ‘family display’, the value placed upon ‘intimate fatherhood’ by fathers, mothers and children in normative contexts was demonstrated. This study has also contributed new and nuanced understandings to existing work on ‘intimate fatherhood’ by showing that intimate fathering practices are those which can be claimed as fathering (rather than parenting more generally) and are characterised by communication and mutuality between fathers and children. Through such intimate fathering practices, family members felt that fathers and children were able to nurture and sustain close relationships.
Observations on the Habilitation of Children with Cortical Visual Impairment

There is a radical difference between the visual habilitation of children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) and those with ocular visual loss. This article presents the experiences of a developmental psychologist, a child neurologist, and a teacher of the visually impaired who worked with CVI children for a number of years.
Who leads and who follows? The symbiotic relationship between UKIP and the Conservatives – and populism and Euroscepticism

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) is not so much a populist party that became Eurosceptic as a Eurosceptic party that became populist. However, careful tracing of a sequence that began in the late 1990s reveals that it was not UKIP but the Conservative Party that first fused populism and Euroscepticism. David Cameron’s decision in 2006 to temporarily abandon both approaches, just as Nigel Farage became UKIP’s leader, turned out, in historical institutionalist terms, to be a critical juncture. It provided UKIP with an opportunity to fill the gap, after which the Conservatives were unable, as Europe was hit by successive economic and migration crises, to regain the initiative. As a result, and as Cameron’s coalition government failed to meet its promises to control immigration, UKIP enjoyed increasing electoral success. This allowed it to exert significant, if indirect, pressure on the Tories, eventually helping to force Cameron into promising an in/out referendum – a promise that did neither him nor his party any good. The UK case, therefore, reminds us that anyone wanting to understand populist Euroscepticism needs to appreciate that the relationship between the radical right and its mainstream, centre-right counterpart is more reciprocal, and even symbiotic, than is commonly imagined.
The measure of pareto optima: Applications to multi-objective metaheuristics

This article describes a set function that maps a set of Pareto optimal points to a scalar. A theorem 1 is presented that shows that the maximization of this scalar value constitutes the necessary and sufficient condition for the function's arguments to be maximally diverse Pareto optimal solutions of a discrete, multi-objective, optimization problem. This scalar quantity, a hypervolume based on a Lebesgue measure, is therefore the best metric to assess the quality of multiobjective optimization algorithms. Moreover, it can be used as the objective function in simulated annealing (SA) to induce convergence in probability to the Pareto optima. An efficient, polynomial-time algorithm for calculating this scalar and an analysis of its complexity is also presented.
Biology of the Amphioxus, Branchiostoma belcheri in the Ariake Sea, Japan I. Population Structure and Growth

Abstract We investigated the population structure and growth of the amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri for four years in the southern Ariake Sea, Japan. We counted 62-66 myotomes and 251-310 dorsal fin-ray chambers, and these results support that this species is an intermediate form of B. belcheri and its subspecies B. belcheri tsingtauense. The ratio of females to males was 1:1.12. Males were more numerous than females among small individuals (< 40 mm body length), but we found no significant differences among large animals (≥ 50 mm body length). Spawning occurred from mid June to early July. Groups of newly settled young appeared from January to June of their second year. We observed a large fluctuation between years in the numbers of newly settled young. The estimated size of one-year-old individuals was 19.4 mm in body length; within the next 12 months, they reached 32.1 mm. Three- and four-year-old individuals measured 38.6 mm and 45.8 mm, respectively. Few grew beyond 60 mm; the largest specimen collected was a 64 mm male.
Apoptosis-Associated Speck-Like Protein Containing a Caspase Recruitment Domain Is a Regulator of Procaspase-1 Activation 1

Apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC)/target of methylation-induced silencing/PYCARD represents one of only two proteins encoded in the human genome that contains a caspase recruitment domain (CARD) together with a pyrin, AIM, ASC, and death domain-like (PAAD)/PYRIN/DAPIN domain. CARDs regulate caspase family proteases. We show here that ASC binds by its CARD to procaspase-1 and to adapter proteins involved in caspase-1 activation, thereby regulating cytokine pro-IL-1β activation by this protease in THP-1 monocytes. ASC enhances IL-1β secretion into the cell culture supernatants, at low concentrations, while suppressing at high concentrations. When expressed in HEK293 cells, ASC interferes with Cardiak/Rip2/Rick-mediated oligomerization of procaspase-1 and suppresses activation this protease, as measured by protease activity assays. Moreover, ASC also recruits procaspase-1 into ASC-formed cytosolic specks, separating it from Cardiak. We also show that expression of the PAAD/PYRIN family proteins pyrin or cryopyrin/PYPAF1/NALP3 individually inhibits IL-1β secretion but that coexpression of ASC with these proteins results in enhanced IL-1β secretion. However, expression of ASC uniformly interferes with caspase-1 activation and IL-1β secretion induced by proinflammatory stimuli such as LPS and TNF, suggesting pathway competition. Moreover, LPS and TNF induce increases in ASC mRNA and protein expression in cells of myeloid/monocytic origin, revealing another level of cross-talk of cytokine-signaling pathways with the ASC-controlled pathway. Thus, our results suggest a complex interplay of the bipartite adapter protein ASC with PAAD/PYRIN family proteins, LPS (Toll family receptors), and TNF in the regulation of procaspase-1 activation, cytokine production, and control of inflammatory responses.
The Regularization-Homotopy Method for the Two-Dimensional Fredholm Integral Equations of the First Kind

In this work, we consider two-dimensional linear and nonlinear Fredholm integral equations of the first kind. The combination of the regularization method and the homotopy perturbation method, or shortly, the regularization-homotopy method is used to find a solution to the equation. The application of this method is based upon converting the first kind of equation to the second kind by applying the regularization method. Then the homotopy perturbation method is employed to the resulting second kind of equation to obtain a solution. A few examples including linear and nonlinear equations are provided to show the validity and applicability of this approach.
Bootstrap Specification Tests with Dependent Observations and Parameter Estimation Error

This paper introduces a parametric specification test for dissusion processes which is based on a bootstrap procedure that accounts for data dependence and parameter estimation error. The proposed bootstrap procedure additionally leads to straightforward generalizations of the conditional Kolmogorov test of Andrews (1997) and the conditional mean test of Whang (2000) to the case of dependent observations. The bootstrap hinges on a twofold extension of the Politis and Romano (1994) stationary bootstrap. First we provide an empirical process version of this bootstrap, and second, we account for parameter estimation error. One important feature of this new bootstrap is that one need not specify the conditional distribution given the entire history of the process when forming conditional Kolmogorov tests. Hence, the bootstrap, when used to extend Andrews (1997) conditional Kolmogorov test to the case of data dependence, allows for dynamic misspecification under both hypotheses. An example based on a version of the Cox, Ingersol and Ross square root process is outlined and related Monte Carlo experiments are carried out. These experiments suggest that the boostrap has excellent finite sample properties, even for samples as small as 500 observations when tests are formed using critical values constructed with as few as 100 bootstrap replications.
Sturm numbers and substitution invariance of 3iet words.

In this paper, we give a necessary condition for an infinite word defined by a non-degenerate interval exchange on three intervals (3iet word) to be invariant by a substitution: a natural parameter associated with this word must be a Sturm number. We deduce some algebraic consequences from this condition concerning the incidence matrix of the associated substitution. As a by-product of our proof, we give a combinatorial characterization of 3iet words.