Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SDStorage: A Software Defined Storage Experimental Framework

With the rapid growth of data centers and the unprecedented increase in storage demands, the traditional storage control techniques are considered unsuitable to deal with this large volume of data in an efficient manner. The Software Defined Storage (SDStore) comes as a solution for this issue by abstracting the storage control operations from the storage devices and set it inside a centralized controller in the software layer. Building a real SDStore system without any simulation and emulation is considered an expensive solution and may have a lot of risks. Thus, there is a need to simulate such systems before the real-life implementation and deployment. In this paper we present SDStorage, an experimental framework to provide a novel virtualized test bed environment for SDStore systems. The main idea of SDStorage is based on the Mininet Software Defined Network (SDN) Open Flow simulator and is built over of it. The main components of Mininet, which are the host, the switch and the controller, are customized to serve the needs of SDStore simulation environments.
Knowledge sharing in organisational contexts: a motivation-based perspective

Purpose – Facilitating knowledge sharing within organisations is a difficult task: the willingness of individuals to share and integrate their knowledge is one of the central barriers. This paper aims to develop a motivation‐based perspective to explore how organisations resolve the social dilemma of knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis builds on a three‐category taxonomy of motivation, adding “hedonic” motivation to the traditional dichotomy of “extrinsic” and “intrinsic” motivation. It uses case studies gleaned from the literature to explore the interactive effects between the different motivators in two different types of knowledge‐intensive organisations: professional bureaucracy and operating adhocracy.Findings – Within a professional bureaucracy, the social dilemma of knowledge sharing may be overcome through normative motivation, with provision of hedonic motivation through extrinsic incentives such as training and career progression. In an operating adhocracy where interdep.
SOLAR INFLUENCES ON CLIMATE

Understanding the influence of solar variability on the Earth's climate requires knowledge of solar variability, solar‐terrestrial interactions, and the mechanisms determining the response of the Earth's climate system. We provide a summary of our current understanding in each of these three areas. Observations and mechanisms for the Sun's variability are described, including solar irradiance variations on both decadal and centennial time scales and their relation to galactic cosmic rays. Corresponding observations of variations of the Earth's climate on associated time scales are described, including variations in ozone, temperatures, winds, clouds, precipitation, and regional modes of variability such as the monsoons and the North Atlantic Oscillation. A discussion of the available solar and climate proxies is provided. Mechanisms proposed to explain these climate observations are described, including the effects of variations in solar irradiance and of charged particles. Finally, the contributions of solar variations to recent observations of global climate change are discussed.
The major vault protein is responsive to and interferes with interferon-γ-mediated STAT1 signals

The major vault protein (MVP) is the main component of vaults, large ribonucleoprotein particles implicated in the regulation of cellular signaling cascades and multidrug resistance. Here, we identify MVP as an interferon γ (IFN-γ)-inducible protein. Treatment with IFN-γ resulted in a significant upregulation of MVP promoter activity as well as mRNA and protein levels. Activation of MVP expression by IFN-γ involved transcriptional upregulation through the JAK/STAT pathway based on an interaction of STAT1 with an interferon-γ-activated site (GAS) within the proximal MVP promoter. Mutation of this site distinctly reduced basal as well as IFN-γ-stimulated MVP transcription. IFN-γ also significantly enhanced the translation rate of MVP. Ectopic MVP overexpression in the MVP-negative lung cancer cell model H65 led to a downregulation of three known IFN-γ-regulated genes, namely ICAM-1, CD13 and CD36. Additionally, presence of MVP in H65 cells blocked both basal and IFN-γ-induced ICAM-1 expression whereas downmodulation of endogenous MVP levels by shRNA enhanced IFN-γ-induced ICAM-1 expression in U373 glioblastoma cells. MVP-mediated IFN-γ insensitivity was accompanied by significantly reduced STAT1 phosphorylation at Y701 and diminished translocation of STAT1 into the nucleus. Summarizing, we identify MVP as an IFN-γ-responsive gene interfering with IFN-γ-activated JAK/STAT signals. These data further substantiate that the vault particle functions as a general interaction platform for cellular signaling cascades.
Orthogonal Beamforming Methodology in Cognitive Radio Networks

Cognitive radio technique has been considered as a strong solution of frequency scarcity due to the limitation of frequency resource. In this paper, we propose an orthogonal beamforming methodology which enables cognitive radio systems to coexist with primary users' systems in the same spectrum and region with no interference to the primary users' systems. The orthogonal beams are obtained using Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization based on primary users' channel state information. In addition, to increase the sum-rate of the CR systems, the proposed scheme adopts an opportunistic beamforming method. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed scheme does not cause interference to the primary users and provides higher sum-rate capacity than that of conventional CR systems.
Transformational Bilingual Learning: Re-Engaging Marginalized Learners through Language, Culture, Community, and Identity

Abstract:The Miqqut project was a participatory action research project through which Inuit language and literacy learning was embedded in a traditional skills program. Community-based researchers tracked learners' progress through entrance, exit, and post-program interviews and questionnaires, as well as through participant observation. Results show that participants became more willing to communicate and improved in Inuktitut language and literacy. The program built strong identities and relational networks. Participants became anchored in lifelong learning as they gained confidence in contexts within which they would continue to practise and develop what they had learned. Résumé:Le projet Miqqut est un projet de recherche-action participative grâce auquel l'apprentissage du langage et de la littératie inuit est intégré à un programme traditionnel d'acquisition de compétences. Les chercheurs issus de la communauté ont suivi les progrès des apprenants au moyen d'entrevues réalisées et de questionnaires administrés au moment de leur entrée dans le programme et de leur sortie du programme, ainsi que postérieurement au programme, et au fil de leur observation des participants. Les résultats révèlent que les participants sont devenus plys disposés à communiquer et ont amélioré leurs compétences linguistiques et leur littératie inuktitutes. Le programme a favorisé la consolidation des identités et l'établissement de solides réseaux relationnels. Les participants se sont ainsi engagés dans l'apprentissage tout au long de la vie en acquérant de l'assurance dans des situations dans lesquels ils seront appelés à continuer de mettre en pratique et de perfectionner les connaissances acquises.
Shape-Selective Assembly of Anisotropic, Deformable Microcomponents Using Bottom-Up Micromanufacturing

A technique for shape-selective directed assembly of anisotropic, deformable, chemically-identical microcomponents onto patterned rigid templates based on shape and size differences is modeled and demonstrated. The assembly method not only controls the selective placement of the components, but also aligns the components with the assembly sites. Unlike the assembly of isotropic (spherical) microcomponents, in which only size differences can be used to discriminate among chemically-identical components to achieve selective placement, differences in both shape and size can enable selectivity in the assembly of anisotropic (non-spherical) microcomponents. The present selective directed assembly is driven by shape-matching to a microfabricated template to provide selectivity, uniform chemical surface functionalization to promote assembly, and megasonic excitation to prevent assembly into poorly shape-matched binding sites. A theoretical framework quantifies the predicted selectivity of this approach and predicts that it will be effective for many material combinations, including hydrogels and bio-compatible polymers. Experiments demonstrate successful directed assembly of cylindrical, hydrogel colloidal microcomponents with 26 μm mean diameter and 50 μm length into silicon templates patterned with hemicylindrical assembly sites. During the assembly, tapered microcomponents with 150 μm length and a nominal diameter of 26 μm that decreases along the components’ lengths were successfully excluded from hemicylindrical assembly sites. These results provide the first demonstration of selective directed assembly of non-spherical microcomponents by this approach. The assembly shows high local yields in agreement with theory.
Media discourses surrounding ‘non-ideal’ victims: The case of the Ashley Madison data breach

Data breaches are an increasingly common event across businesses globally. Many companies have been subject to large-scale breaches. Consequently, the exposure of 37 million customers of the Ashley Madison website is not an extraordinary event in and of itself. However, Ashley Madison is an online dating website predominantly known for facilitating extramarital affairs. Therefore, the nature of this website (and business) is very different from those that have previously been breached. This article examines one of the media discourses surrounding the victims of the Ashley Madison data breach. It particular, it illustrates examples of victim blaming evident in the print media towards individuals (or customers) who had their personal details exposed. Importantly, it highlights the emerging tension within this particular case, of the strong victim blaming narrative contrasted against those who attempted to challenge this discourse and refocus attention on the actual offenders, and the criminality of the act. The article concludes that victims of this data breach were exposed to victim blaming, based on the perceived immorality of the website they were connected to and their actions in subscribing, rather than focusing on the data breach itself, and the blatant criminality of the offenders who exposed the sensitive information.
Partial tests, universal tests and decomposability

For a property P and a sub-property P', we say that P is P'-partially testable with q queries} if there exists an algorithm that distinguishes, with high probability, inputs in P' from inputs ε-far from P, using q queries. Some natural properties require many queries to test, but can be partitioned into a small number of subsets for which they are partially testable with very few queries, sometimes even a number independent of the input size. For properties over {0,1}, the notion of being thus partitionable ties in closely with Merlin-Arthur proofs of Proximity (MAPs) as defined independently in [14] a partition into r partially-testable properties is the same as a Merlin-Arthur system where the proof consists of the identity of one of the r partially-testable properties, giving a 2-way translation to an O(log r) size proof. Our main result is that for some low complexity properties a partition as above cannot exist, and moreover that for each of our properties there does not exist even a single sub-property featuring both a large size and a query-efficient partial test, in particular improving the lower bound set in [14]. For this we use neither the traditional Yao-type arguments nor the more recent communication complexity method, but open up a new approach for proving lower bounds. First, we use entropy analysis, which allows us to apply our arguments directly to 2-sided tests, thus avoiding the cost of the conversion in [14] from 2-sided to 1-sided tests. Broadly speaking we use "distinguishing instances" of a supposed test to show that a uniformly random choice of a member of the sub-property has "low entropy areas", ultimately leading to it having a low total entropy and hence having a small base set. Additionally, to have our arguments apply to adaptive tests, we use a mechanism of "rearranging" the input bits (through a decision tree that adaptively reads the entire input) to expose the low entropy that would otherwise not be apparent. We also explore the possibility of a connection in the other direction, namely whether the existence of a good partition (or MAP) can lead to a relatively query-efficient standard property test. We provide some preliminary results concerning this question, including a simple lower bound on the possible trade-off. Our second major result is a positive trade-off result for the restricted framework of 1-sided proximity oblivious tests. This is achieved through the construction of a "universal tester" that works the same for all properties admitting the restricted test. Our tester is very related to the notion of sample-based testing (for a non-constant number of queries) as defined by Goldreich and Ron in [13]. In particular it partially resolves an open problem raised by [13].
Automatic Classification of the Sub-Techniques (Gears) Used in Cross-Country Ski Skating Employing a Mobile Phone

The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate an automatic algorithm for classification of cross-country (XC) ski-skating gears (G) using Smartphone accelerometer data. Eleven XC skiers (seven men, four women) with regional-to-international levels of performance carried out roller skiing trials on a treadmill using fixed gears (G2left, G2right, G3, G4left, G4right) and a 950-m trial using different speeds and inclines, applying gears and sides as they normally would. Gear classification by the Smartphone (on the chest) and based on video recordings were compared. Formachine-learning, a collective database was compared to individual data. The Smartphone application identified the trials with fixed gears correctly in all cases. In the 950-m trial, participants executed 140 ± 22 cycles as assessed by video analysis, with the automatic Smartphone application giving a similar value. Based on collective data, gears were identified correctly 86.0% ± 8.9% of the time, a value that rose to 90.3% ± 4.1% (P < 0.01) with machine learning from individual data. Classification was most often incorrect during transition between gears, especially to or from G3. Identification was most often correct for skiers who made relatively few transitions between gears. The accuracy of the automatic procedure for identifying G2left, G2right, G3, G4left and G4right was 96%, 90%, 81%, 88% and 94%, respectively. The algorithm identified gears correctly 100% of the time when a single gear was used and 90% of the time when different gears were employed during a variable protocol. This algorithm could be improved with respect to identification of transitions between gears or the side employed within a given gear.
Performance bonds for flow control protocols

We discuss a simple conceptual framework for analyzing the flow of data in integrated services networks. The framework allows us to easily model and analyze the behavior of open loop, rate based flow control protocols, as well as closed loop, window based flow control protocols. Central to the framework is the concept of a service curve element, whose departure process is bounded between the convolution of the arrival process with a minimum service curve and the convolution of the arrival process with a maximum service curve. Service curve elements can model links, propagation delays, schedulers, regulators, and window based throttles. The mathematical properties of convolution allow us to easily analyze complex configurations of service curve elements to obtain bounds on the end-to-end performance. We demonstrate this by examples, and investigate tradeoffs between buffering requirements, throughput, and delay, for different flow control strategies.
From playful parents to adaptable children: a structural equation model of the relationships between playfulness and adaptability among young adults and their parents

ABSTRACT For evolved phenotypical characteristics to be retained by organisms, the adaptive advantages of those characteristics must outweigh their costs. The costs of play can involve injury, susceptibility to predation, and use of time that might otherwise be devoted to food acquisition while its advantages might include learning, socialization, and physical exercise. Another general evolutionary advantage of play might be that it confers adaptability. The primary goal of this study is to seek empirical evidence for the role of playfulness in shaping adaptability by examining two questions: whether the children of more playful parents are more playful and whether more playful children are more adaptable. Our results based on a young adult sample (n = 311) and their ratings about themselves and their parents support a positive link between playfulness and adaptability, while pushing for a more intricate understanding of the differential roles of parents in passing on the benefit of playfulness.
DIFFERENTIAL X-RAY ABSORPTION AND DUST-TO-GAS RATIOS OF THE LENS GALAXIES SBS 0909+523, FBQS 0951+2635, AND B 1152+199

We analyzed Chandra observations of three gravitational lenses, SBS 0909+523, FBQS 0951+2635, and B 1152+199, to measure the differential X-ray absorption and the dust-to-gas ratio of the lens galaxies. We successfully detected the differential X-ray absorption in SBS 0909+523 and B 1152+199, and failed to detect it in FBQS 0951+2635 due to the dramatic drop in its flux from the ROSAT epoch. These measurements significantly increase the sample of dust-to-gas ratio measurements in cosmologically distant, normal galaxies. Using the larger sample, we obtain an average dust-to-gas ratio of E(B − V)/NH = (1.5 ± 0.5) × 10−22 mag cm2 atoms−1 with an estimated intrinsic dispersion in the ratio of ≃40%. This average dust-to-gas ratio is consistent with our previous measurement and the average Galactic value of 1.7 × 10−22 mag cm2 atoms−1, and the estimated intrinsic dispersion is also consistent with the 30% observed in the Galaxy. A larger sample size is still needed to improve the measurements and to begin studying the evolution in the ratio with cosmic time. We also detected X-ray microlensing in SBS 0909+523 and significant X-ray variability in FBQS 0951+2635.
Cytoplasmic Localization of Tristetraprolin Involves 14-3-3-dependent and -independent Mechanisms*

The immediate early genetristetraprolin (TTP) is induced transiently in many cell types by numerous extracellular stimuli. TTPencodes a zinc finger protein that can bind and destabilize mRNAs that encode tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) and other cytokines. We hypothesize that TTP also has a broader role in growth factor-responsive pathways. In support of this model, we have previously determined that TTP induces apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway, analogously to certain oncogenes and other immediate-early genes, and that TTP sensitizes cells to the pro-apoptotic signals of TNFα. In this study, we show that TTP and the related proteins TIS11b and TIS11d bind specifically to 14-3-3 proteins and that individual 14-3-3 isoforms preferentially bind to different phosphorylated TTP species. 14-3-3 binding does not appear to inhibit or promote induction of apoptosis by TTP but is one of multiple mechanisms that localize TTP to the cytoplasm. Our results provide the first example of 14-3-3 interacting functionally with an RNA binding protein and binding in vivo to a Type II 14-3-3 binding site. They also suggest that 14-3-3 binding is part of a complex network of stimuli and interactions that regulate TTP function.
Antenna selection for multiple-antenna transmission systems: performance analysis and code construction

Multiantenna systems employing space-time coding over quasistatic Rayleigh fading channels is considered. We prove that by selecting a subset of the antennas that observe the largest instantaneous signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) at the receiver one can achieve the same diversity order as the full complexity system, provided that the subchannels are independent and the underlying space-time code has full spatial diversity.
Gender differences and cultural contexts: psychological well-being in cross-national perspective

v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.1 Social Changes and Their Impacts on Gender Relations – A Case of the United States.3 Changes in Work and Family.3 Demographic Trends in the United States.5 Effects of National Context.6 Dissertation Outline.9 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES: FACTORS AFFECTING PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING.11 Definitions and Dimensions of Well-Being.12 Well-Being in Psychology.13 Definition of Well-Being from the Hedonic View.13 Criticism from the Eudaimonic View.14 Well-Being in Sociology.16 Research on Well-Being in Sociology.17 Mechanisms of Happiness, Satisfaction, and Psychological Distress.21 Well-Being and Traditional Gender Relations among Individuals.23 Social-Role Explanations – Women’s Role and Psychological Well-Being.23 Marriage, Parenthood, and Women’s Role.24 Social Changes and Division of Labor among Individuals.26 Female Labor Force Participation and Traditional Women’s Role.26 Additional Effects of the Increase in Women’s Employment.27 Work-Family Conflict – Multiple Roles and Personal Well-Being.28 Parenthood and Negative Psychological Consequences.30 Household Labor and Wife’s Mental Health.31 Do Gender Differences in Mental Health Still Exist? 32 Effect of National Context and Cross-National Comparison.34 State Gender Ideology and Individual Gender Role Attitude.34 Macro-Level Gender Stratification and Its Impact on Individuals.37 Research Hypotheses.38 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH PROCEDURE.43 Data.43 Analytical Techniques.44 Sample.46 Dependent Variables.47 Whole Sample Analyses.47 Married and Employed Sample Analyses.47 Independent Variables.49 Individual-Level Variables.49 Country-Level Variables.53
Misuse Cases + Assets + Security Goals

Security is now the most critical feature of any computing systems. Eliciting and analyzing security requirements in the early stages of the system development process is highly recommended to reduce security vulnerabilities which might be found in the later stages of the system development process. In order to address this issue, we will propose a new extension of the misuse case diagram for analyzing and eliciting security requirements with special focus on assets and security goals. We will also present the process model in which business requirements and system requirements related to security features are separately analyzed and elicited in different phases. This process model helps us to analyze the requirements related to business goals in an earlier phase and to the system goals in a later phase so that any concerns related to them are dealt with separately. We will illustrate our approach with a case study taken from an accounting software package.