Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
To hop or not to hop in massive machine-to-machine communications

Recently, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication becomes an attractive topic due to the rapid evolution of wireless communication systems and the potential market size of Internet of Things. In this paper, we investigate a M2M network with typical M2M features. Three key parameters, throughput capacity, delay and energy consumption, are analyzed to evaluate the performance of the M2M network under multi-hop and single-hop manner. By scrutinizing these parameters, we find √log n that as r grows from √log n/πn to 1, delay increases progressively from order √n log n to order n. Meanwhile, throughput keeps the same at order W/n. And there exists an optimal transmission range to minimize average energy consumption. Our results state that multi-hop manner is effective to decrease the delay and energy consumption of M2M network, without benefit on the throughput. To answer the question “to hop or not to hop in massive machine-to-machine communications”, we provide guidelines based on different optimal transmission ranges for the M2M network with different M2M features respectively.
The igraph software package for complex network research

The igraph software package provides handy tools for researchers in network science. It is an open source portable library capable of handling huge graphs with millions of vertices and edges and it is also suitable to grid computing. It contains routines for creating, manipulating and visualizing networks, calculating various structural properties, importing from and exporting to various (cid:12)le formats and many more. Via its interfaces to high-level languages like GNU R and Python it supports rapid development and fast prototyping.
The supply of oxygen to the active flight muscles of some large beetles.

1. Measurements of the wing-beat frequency, wing-stroke amplitude and stroke plane and of abdominal ventilation have been made during the tethered flight of twenty-six species of beetles belonging to five families, mainly in Uganda. 2. Abdominal ventilation is weak or absent in all species of Cerambycidae, Elateridae and Anthribidae examined in flight. The tracheal system in these families is characterized by the complete absence of air sacs, and in larger species by the presence of four giant trunks running through the metathorax between spiracles 2 and 3 and forming the primary supply to the flight muscles. 3. Abdominal ventilation is strong during the flight of all species over 0.6 g. in weight of the Scarabaeidae and Buprestidae which were examined. Their tracheal systems contain an abundance of air sacs while giant trunks are absent. 4. Measurements of the thoracic volume changes which accompany each wing beat show that the amount of air which can be pumped in this way increases in larger Cerambycidae per second per gram as compared with small species. Large Cerambycidae pump more per gram than Scarabaeidae of comparable size. 5. During the flight of the cerambycid Petrognatha the thoracic pump exchanges 540 µl. air/sec. /g. Its action is mainly on the compressible secondary tracheae. In a wind speed of 5 m. /sec. 1050µl. air/sec. /g. are driven through the four giant trunks, entering through spiracle 2 and leaving from spiracle 3. The trunks are stout-walled and probably unaffected by the thoracic pump.
Prominent neurodegeneration and increased plaque formation in complement-inhibited Alzheimer's mice

Abnormal accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with prominent brain inflammation. Whereas earlier studies concluded that this inflammation is detrimental, more recent animal data suggest that at least some inflammatory processes may be beneficial and promote Aβ clearance. Consistent with these observations, overproduction of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 resulted in a vigorous microglial activation that was accompanied by at least a 50% reduction in Aβ accumulation in human amyloid precursor protein (hAPP) transgenic mice. In a search for inflammatory mediators associated with this reduced pathology, we found that brain levels of C3, the central component of complement and a key inflammatory protein activated in AD, were markedly higher in hAPP/TGF-β1 mice than in hAPP mice. To assess the importance of complement in the pathogenesis of AD-like disease in mice, we inhibited C3 activation by expressing soluble complement receptor-related protein y (sCrry), a complement inhibitor, in the brains of hAPP mice. Aβ deposition was 2- to 3-fold higher in 1-year-old hAPP/sCrry mice than in age-matched hAPP mice and was accompanied by a prominent accumulation of degenerating neurons. These results indicate that complement activation products can protect against Aβ-induced neurotoxicity and may reduce the accumulation or promote the clearance of amyloid and degenerating neurons. These findings provide evidence for a role of complement and innate immune responses in AD-like disease in mice and support the concept that certain inflammatory defense mechanisms in the brain may be beneficial in neurodegenerative disease.
In-School Suspension: Perspectives and Practices of Secondary Principals in West Virginia

While suspensions can improve a school’s culture and increase the learning of students who remain in class, suspensions can have a negative impact on the learning of those who are suspended. When students are assigned to out-of-school suspension, they may spend the day fishing or playing video games. Even students who are assigned to in-school suspension (ISS) may not get enough work to keep them busy – nonetheless learning – through the school day. For those students, a day in ISS constitutes a loss of learning. And yet, ISS is one of the few consequences routinely assigned by public school leaders in the United States. This study employed survey research and follow-up interviews to investigate the beliefs of public school principals in middle and high schools across West Virginia. Also considered are factors that influence the design of ISS and potential improvements to ISS. Survey results and interview findings suggest that the design and implementation of ISS in any given school is influenced by district leadership, district policy, prior practice, and district resources. Results indicate that district finances and the availability of appropriate people to staff ISS are seen as having the greatest impact on the kind and consistency of ISS. Current practices involve staffing solutions, the availability of classrooms and technology, as well as curricular options, but the principals surveyed and interviewed in this study were focused largely on the staffing of ISS and less on other features of ISS. While many principals envisioned only an academic ISS, most favored an approach that is both academic and therapeutic, an approach that provides both coursework and character education in ISS.
Modulation of MUC1 mucin as an escape mechanism of breast cancer cells from autologous cytotoxic T-lymphocytes

MUC1 mucin is known to serve as a target molecule in the killing of breast cancer cells by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs). We searched for a possible mechanism allowing tumour cells to escape from autologous CTLs. When the killing of breast cancer cells by autologous lymphocytes was examined in 26 patients with breast cancer, significant tumour cell lysis was observed in 8 patients, whereas virtually no autologous tumour cell lysis was detected in as many as 18 patients. In the patients who showed negligible tumour cell lysis, the autologous tumour cells expressed MUC1-related antigenic epitopes much more weakly than the tumour cells in the patients who exhibited strong cytotoxicity (significant statistically at P< 0.0005–0.0045), suggesting that the unresponsiveness of cancer cells to CTLs observed in these patients was mainly due to loss of MUC1 expression or modulation of its antigenicity. A breast cancer cell line, NZK-1, established from one of the cytotoxicity-negative patients, did not express MUC1 and was resistant to killing by CTLs, while control breast cancer cell lines expressing MUC-1 were readily killed by CTLs. Transfection of NZK-1 cells with MUC1 cDNA induced significant lysis by autologous T-lymphocytes. These results supported the importance of MUC1 mucin in autologous anti-tumour immunity, but suggested that the major escape mechanism of tumour cells from autologous T-lymphocytes is the loss and/or modulation of MUC1 antigenicity on tumour cells, which would limit the effectiveness of possible immunotherapy designed to target the MUC1 mucin. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer. com
Welfare and the “Reform” of Women

Low-income women and the welfare system are under attack by liberals and conservatives, academicians and politicians. “Welfare reform” proposals include cutting benefits unless women pay rent, bear no children while receiving benefits, and ensure that their children attend school and receive vaccinations. Although these reforms are couched in the language of fiscal responsibility and control, the authors argue that the underlying purpose behind such policies is reform of women, not reform of welfare.
2-Matchings, the Traveling Salesman Problem, and the Subtour LP: A Proof of the Boyd-Carr Conjecture

Determining the precise integrality gap for the subtour linear programming (LP) relaxation of the traveling salesman problem is a significant open question, with little progress made in thirty years in the general case of symmetric costs that obey triangle inequality. Boyd and Carr [Boyd S, Carr R (2011) Finding low cost TSP and 2-matching solutions using certain half-integer subtour vertices. Discrete Optim. 8:525–539. Prior version accessed June 27, 2011, http://www.site. uottawa.ca/~sylvia/recentpapers/halftri.pdf. ] observe that we do not even know the worst-case upper bound on the ratio of the optimal 2-matching to the subtour LP; they conjecture the ratio is at most 10/9. In this paper, we prove the Boyd-Carr conjecture. In the case that the support of a fractional 2-matching has no cut edge, we can further prove that an optimal 2-matching has cost at most 10/9 times the cost of the fractional 2-matching.
Stokes diagnostics of simulated solar magneto-convection

We present results of synthetic spectro-polarimetric diagnostics of radiative MHD simulations of solar surface convection with magnetic fields. Stokes profiles of Zeeman-sensitive lines of neutral iron in the visible and infrared spectral ranges emerging from the simulated atmosphere have been calculated in order to study their relation to the relevant physical quantities and compare with observational results. We have analyzed the dependence of the Stokes-I line strength and width as well as of the Stokes-V signal and asymmetries on the magnetic field strength. Furthermore, we have evaluated the correspondence between the actual velocities in the simulation with values determined from the Stokes-I (Doppler shift of the centre of gravity) and Stokes-V profiles (zero-crossing shift). We confirm that the line weakening in strong magnetic fields results from a higher temperature (at equal optical depth) in the magnetic flux concentrations. We also confirm that considerable Stokes-V asymmetries originate in the peripheral parts of strong magnetic flux concentrations, where the line of sight cuts through the magnetopause of the expanding flux concentration into the surrounding convective donwflow.
Author ' s personal copy Learning , Memory , and Sleep in Humans

About one-third of a person’s life is spent sleeping, yet in spite of the advances in understanding the processes that generate and maintain sleep, the functional significance of sleep remains a mystery. Numerous theories regarding the role of sleep have been proposed, including homeostatic restoration, thermoregulation, tissue repair, and immune control. A theory that has received enormous support in the last decade concerns sleep’s role in processing and storing memories. This article reviews some of the evidence suggesting that sleep is critical for long-lasting memories. This body of evidence has grown impressively large and covers a range of studies at themolecular, cellular, physiologic, and behavioral levels of analysis.
From Association to Causation via a Potential Outcomes Approach

Despite the importance of causal analysis in building a valid knowledge base and in answering managerial questions, the issue of causality rarely receives the attention it deserves in information systems (IS) and management research that uses observational data. In this paper, we discuss a potential outcomes framework for estimating causal effects and illustrate the application of the framework in the context of a phenomenon that is also of substantive interest to IS researchers. We use a matching technique based on propensity scores to estimate the causal effect of an MBA on information technology (IT) professionals' salary in the United States. We demonstrate the utility of this counterfactual or potential outcomes--based framework in providing an estimate of the sensitivity of the estimated causal effects because of selection on unobservables. We also discuss issues related to the heterogeneity of treatment effects that typically do not receive as much attention in alternative methods of estimation, and show how the potential outcomes approach can provide several new insights into who benefits the most from the interventions and treatments that are likely to be of interest to IS researchers. We discuss the usefulness of the matching technique in IS and management research and provide directions to move from establishing association to assessing causation.
Mediated Public Diplomacy Redefined: Foreign Stakeholder Engagement via Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned Media

Mediated public diplomacy literature examines the engagement of foreign audiences by governments via mediated channels. To date, scholars have examined the competitive contest between global rivals in promoting and contesting one another’s frames as reflected in global news media coverage. Recognizing the meaningful impact of social media platforms, along with the global rise of government-sponsored media organizations, the current study builds on previous mediated public diplomacy scholarship by expanding the scope of the literature beyond the earned media perspective to also include paid, shared, and owned media. The article presents a revised definition of the term mediated public diplomacy along with a case study of government to foreign stakeholder engagement via the social media platform, Twitter.
Why the Far-Distant Future Should Be Discounted at Its Lowest Possible Rate

Abstract A critical feature of the distant future is currently unresolvable uncertainty about what will then be the appropriate rate of return on capital to use for discounting. This paper shows that there is a well-defined sense in which the “lowest possible” interest rate should be used for discounting the far-distant future part of any investment project. Some implications are discussed for evaluating long-term environmental projects or activities, like measures to mitigate the possible effects of global climate change.
1 Firm Enacted Capabilities and Information Systems Adoption in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

The adoption and utilisation of information systems (IS) by small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across heterogeneous culture, locales, and markets are a critical and an ongoing challenge. Such challenge requires more than just good ideas and extensive resources. It requires organisational capabilities, which can be labelled as “enacted capabilities”. This study defines enacted capabilities as the firm’s ability to mobilise and deploy IS-based resources in combination or copresent with other resources and/or capabilities within SMEs Consequently, the aim of this study is to empirically examining the SMEs enacted capabilities that may influence the success of IS adoption. In line with this objective, an IS adoption behaviour investigation at a deeper level is conducted particularly as to why some SMEs are able be enabled for use and actively utilise IS, while others fail to do so. A survey of 206 Malaysian SMEs was conducted. The IS examined was the government’s electronic procurement systems. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the research model. The findings are consistent with the notion that all SMEs have these enacted capabilities. The findings also indicate that strong enacted capabilities affect the SMEs’ ability to perform or assimilate IS related strategic change. Thus, some SMEs are more capable to leverage IS enabled change to their business advantage and respond rapidly to changes in the IS business environment.
The impact of ICT on learning: A review of research

Since its introduction to the education arena in the 1960s, computers have both intrigued and frustrated teachers and researchers alike. The many promising prospects of computers and its applications did not materialise, and research into their effectiveness in learning has left many unanswered questions. The methods used in educational research of this nature in the past and present have evolved over the years. Quantitative studies such as meta-analyses are still widely used in the United States while recent large-scale research in United Kingdom used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Findings from these research studies have indicated small positive effects and consequently a need for more in-depth and longitudinal studies into the impact of ICT on learning in the future.
Return Predictability under Knightian Uncertainty

The predictability of stock and bond excess returns is investigated from an investment perspective in the presence of Knightian uncertainty. Uncertainty about the return distribution is formalized with the maxmin expected utility approach of Gilboa and Schmeidler (1989). It is analyzed how risk and uncertainty aversion di¤er in their e¤ects on optimal portfolio choice. Most importantly, it is shown that the two-fund separation theorem does only hold when all investors have the same degree of uncertainty aversion. The portfolio choice model is used to historically evaluate the in-sample and out-of-sample performance of investment strategies which are based on conditional expectations about the . rst and second moments of excess returns. While conditioning information yields small economic pro.ts on an in-sample basis, it deteriorates the risk-adjusted performance out-of-sample when compared with a strategy based on unconditional expectations. This . nding holds for uncertainty neutral and averse investors alike. Utility gain calculations assess the value of the di¤erent information variables used to form return expectations as well as the relative value of information about the . rst and second moments of asset returns. One result is that uncertainty averse investors evaluate the same conditioning information qualitatively di¤erent than uncertainty neutral investors.
Are Market-Based Rankings of Global Systemically Important Financial Institutions Useful for Regulators?

We analyze whether four market-based measures of the global systemic importance of financial institutions offer early warning signals during three financial crises. The tests based on the 2007/2008 crisis show that only one measure (∆CoVaR) consistently adds predictive power to conventional early warning models. However, the additional predictive power remains small and it is not normally confirmed for the Asian and the 1998 crises. We conclude that it is problematic to identify a market-based measure of systemic importance that remains valid across crises with different features. The same criticism also applies to several conventional proxies of systemic importance, of which size is the most consistent performer.
A problem space algorithm for single machine weighted tardiness problems

We propose a problem space genetic algorithm to solve single machine total weighted tardiness scheduling problems. The proposed algorithm utilizes global and time-dependent local dominance rules to improve the neighborhood structure of the search space. They are also a powerful exploitation (intensifying) tool since the global optimum is one of the local optimum solutions. Furthermore, the problem space search method significantly enhances the exploration (diversification) capability of the genetic algorithm. In summary, we can improve both solution quality and robustness over the other local search algorithms reported in the literature.
A NOVEL WAY OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL FROM XML USING EFFICIENT HOLISTIC ALGORITHMS

2 Abstract: XML has become a de facto standard in industry as a data carrier across multiple technologies. XML parsing is one of the key challenging technologies. The process of identifying all the occurrences of a twig pattern specified by a given predicate on multiple data elements in an XML document is a basic fundamental operation for efficient evaluation of XML queries. Hence the concept of indexing and querying of XML documents efficiently has been a major research issues in the XML community. Much research has been done for providing an efficient way to evaluate twig patterns in an XML database. As a result, many holistic join algorithms have been developed, most of which are derivatives of the well-known Twig Stack algorithm. In this paper, we came up with a novel way of algorithm which helps in retrieving information from XML using various functions, which may include like Boolean function, comment node function, count function, wildcards and order restriction, negation functions.
FDTD-SPICE direct linking simulation of transient fields caused by electrostatic discharge

This paper presents FDTD-SPICE direct linking simulations of transient electromagnetic fields caused by electrostatic discharges (ESD) in general structures. Especially, the air-discharge ESD simulation is performed by simultaneously combining a full-wave model for structures of analytical objects and SPICE equivalent circuit models based on nonlinear spark resistance formulae. Unlike existing numerical methods, this approach has several advantages: accurate modelling of arbitrary structures, flexible treatment of various spark resistance equations such as Rompe-Weizel's and Toepler's formulae and no extraction of impedance for the full-wave model. The advantages of our approach are verified by means of several canonical ESD problems. The FDTD-SPICE direct linking simulation results are compared with those of an analytical approach and two numerical methods, and measurement data from a reference.