Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Flexlab Approach to Realistic Evaluation of Networked Systems

Networked systems are often evaluated on overlay testbeds such as PlanetLab and emulation testbeds such as Emulab. Emulation testbeds give users great control over the host and network environments and offer easy reproducibility, but only artificial network conditions. Overlay testbeds provide real network conditions, but are not repeatable environments and provide less control over the experiment. We describe the motivation, design, and implementation of Flexlab, a new testbed with the strengths of both overlay and emulation testbeds. It enhances an emulation testbed by providing the ability to integrate a wide variety of network models, including those obtained from an overlay network. We present three models that demonstrate its usefulness, including "application-centric Internet modeling" that we specifically developed for Flexlab. Its key idea is to run the application within the emulation testbed and use its offered load to measure the overlay network. These measurements are used to shape the emulated network. Results indicate that for evaluation of applications running over Internet paths, Flexlab with this model can yield far more realistic results than either PlanetLab without resource reservations, or Emulab without topological information.
Emotions, communicative responses, and relational consequences of boundary turbulence

Guided by communication privacy management theory and appraisal theories of emotion this study examined how emotions (hurt, anger, and fear) and communicative responses (approach and withdrawal strategies) to boundary turbulence correspond with relational outcomes. A community sample of individuals (N = 273) reported on instances when another person mishandled their private information. Results showed that hurt, anger, fear, distancing, and a combination of anger and distributive responses all corresponded with relational damage, whereas integrative responses and anger were associated with relational improvement. Taken together, our study provides evidence that boundary turbulence does not have to be a negative experience and can actually result in improved relational functioning.
Reflexivity, Effectiveness, and Mental Health in BBC-TV Production Teams

The performance of 19 BBC-TVproduction teams was examined over an 18-month period, using audience appreciation ratings and managers' assessments of performance. Alternative models were tested to account for variations in team effectiveness and team member mental health. Reflexivity-the extent to which the team reflects on and modifies itsfunctioning-bestpredicted team effectiveness, whereas climatefor innovation predicted team member mental health. Larger teams (over 10 members) tended to have poorer climatesfor innovation and poorer team member mental health.
Euthanasia in Aged Horses: Relationship between the Owner's Personality and Their Opinions on, and Experience of, Euthanasia of Horses

ABSTRACT The human–horse bond is powerful and unique and strengthened with years of ownership. Yet, in aged horses, the decision for euthanasia will be faced at some time by most horse owners. We hypothesized that euthanasia is a difficult and distressing decision for most horse owners, and that the decision will be influenced by the owners' personality, difficulty of euthanasia decision, and experiences of euthanasia, as well as external factors. Horse owners were recruited by the use of a postal questionnaire distributed to an equestrian group. A subgroup of surveyed owners was selected based on postcodes for selected regions. One hundred and eleven owners of 350 aged horses in South East Queensland, Australia, completed a personality assessment and were asked to indicate the perceived difficulty in making the decision to euthanize an aged companion horse. Their experience of euthanasia and the perceived distress over the loss of their aged horse, as well as the acceptability of the procedure, were determined. Personality scores were compared with published reference ranges against perceived difficulty to euthanize and experience of euthanasia. The importance of factors that influenced the decision to euthanize an aged horse was also determined. Most owners considered euthanasia of a horse to be a difficult decision, which they based on considerations of the horse's current health, anticipated future quality of life, and veterinary advice. Owners reported the loss of their horse to be a distressing experience rather than providing a sense of relief, although the procedure itself was more acceptable than distressing. Female owners who found it more difficult to make the decision were more likely to have neurotic personalities and they based their decision more on their relationship with the horse and the horse's quality of life. Veterinarians play a central role in the diagnosis of health factors that influence the decision to euthanize but also need to appreciate the distress perceived by owners, in particular as a result of the loss of their horse rather than the act of euthanasia itself. The personality of the owner may influence the extent to which they find this distressing, especially in female horse owners who find the decision to euthanize more difficult.
Contacts between the Police and the Public: Three Tests of Convergent Validity

The Police–Public Contacts Survey (PPCS) was required by law to provide information on the police use of force. Later the focus of the PPCS was expanded to include other contact, in particular, traffic stops. This research compares several of the PPCS findings (traffic stops and tickets, driving under the influence [DUI] arrests, and traffic accidents) to other pre‐existing measures of similar police activity. The findings suggest that the PPCS measurements are grossly disparate from the comparative measures and all point towards the conclusion that the PPCS has underestimated contact between the police and the public. Serious caution is suggested for use of the data in developing policy on police–citizen interactions.
LightLDA: Big Topic Models on Modest Compute Clusters

When building large-scale machine learning (ML) programs, such as big topic models or deep neural nets, one usually assumes such tasks can only be attempted with industrial-sized clusters with thousands of nodes, which are out of reach for most practitioners or academic researchers. We consider this challenge in the context of topic modeling on web-scale corpora, and show that with a modest cluster of as few as 8 machines, we can train a topic model with 1 million topics and a 1-million-word vocabulary (for a total of 1 trillion parameters), on a document collection with 200 billion tokens -- a scale not yet reported even with thousands of machines. Our major contributions include: 1) a new, highly efficient O(1) Metropolis-Hastings sampling algorithm, whose running cost is (surprisingly) agnostic of model size, and empirically converges nearly an order of magnitude faster than current state-of-the-art Gibbs samplers; 2) a structure-aware model-parallel scheme, which leverages dependencies within the topic model, yielding a sampling strategy that is frugal on machine memory and network communication; 3) a differential data-structure for model storage, which uses separate data structures for high- and low-frequency words to allow extremely large models to fit in memory, while maintaining high inference speed; and 4) a bounded asynchronous data-parallel scheme, which allows efficient distributed processing of massive data via a parameter server. Our distribution strategy is an instance of the model-and-data-parallel programming model underlying the Petuum framework for general distributed ML, and was implemented on top of the Petuum open-source system. We provide experimental evidence showing how this development puts massive models within reach on a small cluster while still enjoying proportional time cost reductions with increasing cluster size, in comparison with alternative options.
The Timing and Accumulation of Judicial Sanctions Among Drug Court Clients

Judicial sanctions are used by drug courts to encourage clients to comply with program requirements. However, few studies have explored the application of sanctions in drug courts or the relationship between sanctions and drug court graduation. This article reports the results of a study of sanctions as applied in a drug court in southwest Washington State. Results reveal no significant difference in the number of sanctions accrued between drug court graduates and noncompleters. However, noncompleters are significantly more likely than graduates to accrue sanctions within the first 30 days of entering drug court. Furthermore, accrual of an early sanction is highly predictive of eventual program failure. Severity of the first sanction (regardless of when it was received) is also related to a lower probability of graduation. The authors conclude that information about how offenders accrue sanctions may be useful to drug court personnel as they monitor clients and determine appropriate intervention strategies.
Civic Engagement, Religion, and Health: Older Black Lesbians in the Social Justice Sexuality (SJS) Survey

Intersections of age, race, gender, sexuality, and aging keep older, black lesbians hidden from public consciousness and from researchers. While previous research has documented a relationship between religion, civic engagement, and health for black women, there is little known about these for older black lesbians. This paper offers a quantitative analysis of the relationship between religion, health, and civic engagement for a sample (N=149) of older (fifty years and above) black lesbians. The sample is drawn from the Social Justice Sexuality (SJS) data set. Findings indicate that the variables measuring religious and/or spirituality expression had no impact on perceived overall health, nor did the overall measure of civic engagement; yet a specific portion—participating in civic activities—did have a significant, positive effect on overall self-reported health.
The Future of Corporate Social Responsibility

In 1996, a nun from Philadelphia sparked a debate with a Silicon Valley CEO over corporate social responsibility.1 Sister Doris Gormley of the Sisters of St. Francis wrote a letter to Cypress Semiconductor protesting the lack of women and minorities on the board of directors. The CEO, T. J. Rogers, shot back a reply in which he labeled the Sister's view "immoral" and urged her to get down from her "moral high horse. " Rogers said that choosing directors based on gender or race is "a lousy way to run a company," and he vowed that Cypress would never do it because "bowing to well-meaning, special interest groups is an immoral way to run a company. " This exchange is revealing because it exposes a fault line between past conceptions of corporate social responsibility and the future. Over the past fifty years, and especially in the last two decades, the structure of American companies and the conditions under which they operate have been dramatically transformed. These changes in the world of business have inevitably affected the meaning of corporate social responsibility and the arguments for and against it. I do not propose to take sides in the debate. Both Sister Doris and T. J. Rogers accept some assumptions about corporate social responsibility that are now out-of-date. We need to move beyond the terms in which the
Family justice centres

The London Borough of Croydon, in the south of England, established, in December 2005, a Family Justice Centre (FJC) to respond in a flexible way to meet the varied needs of those abused in intimate relationships. The FJC brings together some 33 agencies under one roof. This article draws on a small, grounded pilot study of the Croydon FJC – the first study of a FJC in the UK − to consider if the co-location and cooperation of services to victims of domestic abuse has the potential to empower victims to make informed choices about their futures.
Testing an ‘aging gene’ in long‐lived Drosophila strains: increased longevity depends on sex and genetic background

Molecular advances of the past decade have led to the discovery of a myriad of ‘aging genes’ (methuselah, Indy, InR, Chico, superoxide dismutase) that extend Drosophila lifespan by up to 85%. Despite this life extension, these mutants are no longer lived than at least some recently wild‐ caught strains. Typically, long‐lived mutants are identified in relatively short‐lived genetic backgrounds, and their effects are rarely tested in genetic backgrounds other than the one in which they were isolated or derived. However, the mutant's high‐longevity phenotype may be dependent on interactions with alleles that are common in short‐lived laboratory strains. Here we set out to determine whether one particular mutant could extend lifespan in long‐lived genetic backgrounds in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. We measured longevity and resistance to thermal stress in flies that were transgenically altered to overexpress human superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the motorneurones in each of 10 genotypes. Each genotype carried the genetic background from a different naturally long‐lived wild‐caught Drosophila strain. While SOD increased lifespan on average, the effect was genotype‐ and sex‐specific. Our results indicate that naturally segregating genes interact epistatically with the aging gene superoxide dismutase to modify its ability to extend longevity. This study points to the need to identify mutants that increase longevity not only in the lab strain of origin but also in naturally long‐lived genetic backgrounds.
Subdiaphragmatic vagotomy promotes tumor growth and reduces survival via TNFα in a murine pancreatic cancer model

This study analyses the effects of vagotomy on tumor growth and survival in a murine, pancreatic cancer model in wild-type and TNFα-knockout (−/−) mice. Throughout many operative procedures in the upper gastrointestinal tract the partial or complete transection of the vagus nerve or its local nerve fibers is unavoidable. Thereby its anti-inflammatory effects in residual tumor tissue may get lost. This effect may be mediated by tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) secreting TNFα. In an orthotopic murine pancreatic cancer model subdiaphragmatic vagotomy versus sham surgery was performed. The impact on tumor growth was monitored in wild type and TNFα −/− mice using MRI. TAMs as well as expression levels of TNFα were analyzed using immunohistochemistry. The role of TNFα on tumor growth and migration was examined in vitro. Vagotomised mice showed increased tumor growth with macroscopic features of invasive growth and had a shorter survival time. The loss of vagal modulation led to significantly increased TNFα levels in tumors and considerably elevated numbers of TAMs. In vitro TNFα significantly stimulated growth (p < 0.05) and migration (p < 0.05) of pancreatic cancer cells. TNFα −/− mice survived significantly longer after tumor implantation (p < 0.05), with vagotomy not affecting the prognosis of these animals (p > 0.05). Vagotomy can increase tumor growth and worsen survival in a murine pancreatic cancer model mediated through TAMs and TNFα. Hence, the suppression of TAMs and the modulation of TNFα dependent pathways could offer new perspectives in immunotherapies of pancreatic cancer patients especially with remaining vital tumor cells and lost vagal modulation.
Development and Human-Animal Interaction

Over the past several decades there has been a steady increase in research on human-animal interaction (HAI). Dozens of measures have been developed [see Anderson, 2007] to understand peoples’ attachment to animals and connections between those relations with health and psychological outcomes. While much of this focus has been adult-centered, research has established pets as significant members of some children’s and adolescents’ family systems [Albert & Bulcroft, 1988; Cain, 1983; Covert, Whiren, Keith, & Nelson, 1985] and identified links between children’s relationships with pets to positive socio-emotional development [Daly & Morton, 2006; Davis, 1987; Poresky, Hendrix, Mosier, & Samuelson, 1988] – possibly stemming from increased social support [Bryant, 1985; Melson, Peet, & Sparks, 1992; Morrow, 1998]. Less work has focused on relationships between children and other types of animals. While these findings are both promising and intriguing, there is a problematic lack of a theoretical framework guiding much of this research [Barba, 1993; Beck & Katcher, 2003]. And, although some studies have addressed developmental issues (e.g. the development of empathy) [Vizek-Vidovic, Stetic, & Bratko, 1999], there has been little attempt to situate HAI within a broader developmental framework. This is surprising, overall, given that theory has guided and structured much of the past and current empirical work on child and adolescent development. Consider, for example, how constructivist or nativist theories and models of development have driven research questions and directions on cognitive development. Mueller’s [this issue] Human-animal interaction as a context for positive youth development: A relational developmental systems approach to constructing human-animal interaction theory and research , is a welcome proposal for grounding HAI research in a developmental systems model from which to develop theory and research. This
The Anisotropic Line Correlation Function as a Probe of Anisotropies in Galaxy Surveys

We propose an anisotropic generalization of the line correlation function (ALCF) to separate and quantify phase information in the large-scale structure of galaxies. The line correlation function probes the strictly non-linear regime of structure formation and since phase information drops out of the power spectrum, the line correlation function provides a complementary tool to commonly used techniques based on two-point statistics. Furthermore, it is independent of linear bias as well as the Gaussian variance on the modulus of the density field and thus may also prove to be advantageous compared to the bispectrum or similar higher order statistics for certain cases. For future applications, it is vital, though, to be able to account for observational effects that cause anisotropies in the distribution of galaxies. Based on a number of numerical studies, we find that our ALCF is well suited to accomplish this task and we demonstrate how the Alcock-Paczynski effect and kinematical redshift-space distortions can in principle be measured via the ALCF.
Discipline problems among secondary school students in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Background The indiscipline problem in schools is ranked as a major problem among students of primary and secondary schools in Malaysia. Disruptive behavior is a concern to schools and parents and to fellow pupils, whose education may be adversely affected. Objective: The objectives of this study were to identify the level of students discipline problems and dominant factors attributing to the students discipline problems namong the secondary school students in Johor in Malaysia. Material and Methods: The study was carried out to 90 discipline teachers from several secondary schools around Johor using questionnaires. The data collected were analyzed by Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) in forms of frequency, percentage and mean value. The findings showed that the level of discipline problems among students was quite high especially for absenteeism problem. Results and Discussion: The results also showed that the students with family problems, always hung out with friends and others faced high level of discipline problems compared to students with no such problems. Some of the students with records in discipline problems showed that they did not faced any difficulties in learning as they passed in their examinations and the discipline problems did not depend on parents' education background because it was not necessary for the students to have discipline Conclusions: Lastly, some recommendations also had been put forward as guidance to the research organization and future researches.
Detection of gastric cancer by repeat endoscopy within a short time after negative examination.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS Although a large number of patients are examined using endoscopy in order to identify gastric cancer, it is unclear how individuals should be managed after they are not diagnosed as having gastric cancer at the time of their initial examinations. This study was conducted to identify the group at high risk for gastric cancer who should be examined by repeat endoscopy within a short time after obtaining negative results. PATIENTS AND METHODS The study involved 3672 patients who were not diagnosed as having gastric cancer by endoscopy in 1993, but underwent re-examination by gastroscopy between January 1994 and December 1996. RESULTS Among these participants, 32 patients (0.9%) were diagnosed as having gastric cancer. The incidence of gastric cancer was 2.0% in participants aged 60 to 69 and 2.7% in those with marked atrophy of the gastric mucosa. Multivariate analysis showed that the odds ratios (OR) for patients aged 60 to 69 and those with marked atrophy of the gastric mucosa were 3.092 and 3.255 (P < 0.01), respectively. Gastric cancer was detected in 17.2 % of patients who were previously diagnosed as having gastric adenoma and in 2.2% of those who were previously diagnosed as having gastric ulcer. The ORs for participants with these gastric lesions detected by the initial examination were 49.417 and 5.259 (P < 0.01), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Groups at high risk for gastric cancer were identified by the initial endoscopy, when two findings (gastric lesions, atrophy) and age were combined. We emphasize the importance of repeat endoscopic examination for patients who are aged 60 to 69 or have marked atrophy of gastric mucosa, even if no lesions are detected on initial endoscopy. If gastric adenoma or ulcer are detected, endoscopic examination should be likewise repeated or these lesions should be treated by endoscopy or by other means.
Stimulatory Effect of Homocysteine on Interleukin-8 Expression in Human Endothelial Cells

Abstract Elevated plasma homocysteine is an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis. An important initial step of atherosclerosis is the adhesion and infiltration of monocytes to the lesion site. It has been shown that the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-8 can rapidly cause rolling monocytes to adhere firmly onto monolayers expressing E-selectin. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of homocysteine on interleukin-8 production in human endothelial cells. Cells were incubated with various concentrations of homocysteine for 20 h. The gene expression was determined by real-time PCR and the interleukin-8 protein was measured by immunoassay analysis. Homocysteine enhanced the expression of interleukin-8 in a dose-dependent manner (181% of controls at 2.5 mmol/l homocysteine). Stimulation of gene expression was associated with a parallel increase in interleukin-8 protein synthesis (160% of controls at 5.0 mmol/l homocysteine). By co-incubation of endothelial cells with homocysteine and copper sulfate, a further elevation of interleukin-8 expression (251% of controls) was observed, whereas copper sulfate alone had no stimulatory effect. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that homocysteine altered endothelial cell function by stimulating interleukin-8 expression, suggesting a contribution of homocysteine to the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. The formation of homocysteine-induced oxidation products might serve as one of the underlying mechanisms of this effect.