Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fast Failure Recovery for Main-Memory DBMSs on Multicores

Main-memory database management systems (DBMS) can achieve excellent performance when processing massive volume of on-line transactions on modern multi-core machines. But existing durability schemes, namely, tuple-level and transaction-level logging-and-recovery mechanisms, either degrade the performance of transaction processing or slow down the process of failure recovery. In this paper, we show that, by exploiting application semantics, it is possible to achieve speedy failure recovery without introducing any costly logging overhead to the execution of concurrent transactions. We propose PACMAN, a parallel database recovery mechanism that is specifically designed for lightweight, coarse-grained transaction-level logging. PACMAN leverages a combination of static and dynamic analyses to parallelize the log recovery: at compile time, PACMAN decomposes stored procedures by carefully analyzing dependencies within and across programs; at recovery time, PACMAN exploits the availability of the runtime parameter values to attain an execution schedule with a high degree of parallelism. As such, recovery performance is remarkably increased. We evaluated PACMAN in a fully-fledged main-memory DBMS running on a 40-core machine. Compared to several state-of-the-art database recovery mechanisms, can significantly reduce recovery time without compromising the efficiency of transaction processing.
Body-size trends of the extinct giant shark Carcharocles megalodon: a deep-time perspective on marine apex predators

Abstract The extinct shark Carcharocles megalodon is one of the largest marine apex predators ever to exist. Nonetheless, little is known about its body-size variations through time and space. Here, we studied the body-size trends of C. megalodon through its temporal and geographic range to better understand its ecology and evolution. Given that this species was the last of the megatooth lineage, a group of species that shows a purported size increase through time, we hypothesized that C. megalodon also displayed this trend, increasing in size over time and reaching its largest size prior to extinction. We found that C. megalodon body-size distribution was left-skewed (suggesting a long-term selective pressure favoring larger individuals), and presented significant geographic variation (possibly as a result of the heterogeneous ecological constraints of this cosmopolitan species) over geologic time. Finally, we found that stasis was the general mode of size evolution of C. megalodon (i.e., no net changes over time), contrasting with the trends of the megatooth lineage and our hypothesis. Given that C. megalodon is a relatively long-lived species with a widely distributed fossil record, we further used this study system to provide a deep-time perspective to the understanding of the body-size trends of marine apex predators. For instance, our results suggest that (1) a selective pressure in predatory sharks for consuming a broader range of prey may favor larger individuals and produce left-skewed distributions on a geologic time scale; (2) body-size variations in cosmopolitan apex marine predators may depend on their interactions with geographically discrete communities; and (3) the inherent characteristics of shark species can produce stable sizes over geologic time, regardless of the size trends of their lineages.
On the Use of Stochastic Driver Behavior Model in Lane Departure Warning

In this paper, we propose a new framework for discriminating the initial maneuver of a lane-crossing event from a driver correction event, which is the primary reason for false warnings of lane departure prediction systems (LDPSs). The proposed algorithm validates the beginning episode of the trajectory of driving signals, i.e., whether it will cause a lane-crossing event, by employing driver behavior models of the directional sequence of piecewise lateral slopes (DSPLS) representing lane-crossing and driver correction events. The framework utilizes only common driving signals and allows the adaptation scheme of driver behavior models to better represent individual driving characteristics. The experimental evaluation shows that the proposed DSPLS framework has a detection error with as low as a 17% equal error rate. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm reduces the false-warning rate of the original lane departure prediction system with less tradeoff for the correct prediction.
Ethical leadership, trust in leader and creativity: The mediated mechanism and an interacting effect

Abstract This study examines the relationship between ethical leadership and employee creativity with mediating role of trust in leader and moderating role of openness to experience. Data were collected from 205 supervisor–subordinate small textile firms across Pakistan. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the distinctiveness of variables used in our study. The results confirmed that ethical leadership promotes creativity at workplace, while trust in leader mediates the effect of ethical leadership on creativity. Furthermore, the results did not confirm the moderation of openness to experience on the relationship between trust in leader and employee creativity. The implications are discussed.
Disentangling Diversity in Deliberative Democracy: Competing Theories, their Blind Spots, and Complementarities

IN the last decade deliberative democracy has developed rapidly from a “theoretical statement” into a “working theory. ” Scholars and practitioners have launched numerous initiatives designed to put deliberative democracy into practice, ranging from deliberative polling to citizen summits. Some even advocate deliberation as a new “revolutionary political ideal . about how political actors should behave here and now. ” Deliberative democracy has also experienced the beginning of an empirical turn, making significant gains as an empirical (or positive) political science. This includes a small, but growing body of literature tackling the connection between the normative standards of deliberation, how well they are met, and the empirical consequences of meeting them. This trend has, for instance, included the use of methods and frameworks borrowed from other fields, such as political and social psychology. Such studies suggest that cases approaching ideal deliberation are rare, but that group interaction sometimes works surprisingly well according to such ideals.
Longitudinal assessment of sputum microbiome by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene in non-CF bronchiectasis patients

Background Bronchiectasis is accompanied by chronic bronchial infection that may drive disease progression. However, the evidence base for antibiotic therapy is limited. DNA based methods offer better identification and quantification of microbial constituents of sputum than standard clinical culture and may help inform patient management strategies. Our study objective was to determine the longitudinal variability of the non-CF bronchiectasis microbiome in sputum with respect to clinical variables. Eighty-five patients with non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis and daily sputum production were recruited from outpatient clinics and followed for six months. Monthly sputum samples and clinical measurements were taken, together with additional samples during exacerbations. 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the sputum microbiota was successful for 381 samples from 76 patients and analysed in conjunction with clinical data. Results Microbial communities were highly individual in composition and stability, usually with limited diversity and often containing multiple pathogens. When compared to DNA sequencing, microbial culture had restricted sensitivity in identifying common pathogens. With some exceptions, community characteristics showed poor correlations with clinical features including underlying disease, antibiotic use and exacerbations, with the subject showing the strongest association with community structure. When present, certain pathogens may also shape the structure of the rest of the microbial community. Conclusions The use of microbial community analysis of sputum added to information from microbial culture. A simple model of exacerbations driven by bacterial overgrowth was not supported, suggesting a need for revision of principles for antibiotic therapy. In individual patients, the management of chronic bronchial infection may be improved by therapy specific to their microbiome, taking into account pathogen load, community stability, and acute and chronic community responses to antibiotics.
Being and Time: Judged Presence and Duration as a Function of Media Form

We briefly describe a novel immersive environmentthe interactive tentand an artistic production within it, the Illusion of Being. In this production, immersants experience a vivid cycle of the elements in a way that depends on their bodily movements. This elemental story has four versions in all, with each created to have differential effects on sense of presence and of subjective duration, according to a theoretical model. The model proposes three orthogonal dimensions of experience: focus, the level of abstraction;locus, real versus virtual; andsensus, the overall level of attention of the observer. An experiment, conducted to assess the effects of the different versions, is reported. The results confirmed the model's prediction that rated presence is relatively high when experienced media is of a form that elicits predominantly concrete (perceptual) processing, and relatively low when the emphasis is on more-abstract (conceptual) processing. But the concrete-abstract dimension had no direct effect on judged duration, contrary to our predictions. However, some evidence suggests that judged presence and estimated duration were positively correlated for media categorized as virtual, but not for content captured from the real world.
Trade-Offs Between Grounded and Abstract Representations: Evidence From Algebra Problem Solving

This article explores the complementary strengths and weaknesses of grounded and abstract representations in the domain of early algebra. Abstract representations, such as algebraic symbols, are concise and easy to manipulate but are distanced from any physical referents. Grounded representations, such as verbal descriptions of situations, are more concrete and familiar, and they are more similar to physical objects and everyday experience. The complementary computational characteristics of grounded and abstract representations lead to trade-offs in problem-solving performance. In prior research with high school students solving relatively simple problems, Koedinger and Nathan (2004) demonstrated performance benefits of grounded representations over abstract representations-students were better at solving simple story problems than the analogous equations. This article extends this prior work to examine both simple and more complex problems in two samples of college students. On complex problems with two references to the unknown, a "symbolic advantage" emerged, such that students were better at solving equations than analogous story problems. Furthermore, the previously observed "verbal advantage" on simple problems was replicated. We thus provide empirical support for a trade-off between grounded, verbal representations, which show advantages on simpler problems, and abstract, symbolic representations, which show advantages on more complex problems.
Conducting Meta-Analyses in R with the metafor Package

The metafor package provides functions for conducting meta-analyses in R. The package includes functions for fitting the meta-analytic fixed- and random-effects models and allows for the inclusion of moderators variables (study-level covariates) in these models. Meta-regression analyses with continuous and categorical moderators can be conducted in this way. Functions for the Mantel-Haenszel and Peto's one-step method for meta-analyses of 2 x 2 table data are also available. Finally, the package provides various plot functions (for example, for forest, funnel, and radial plots) and functions for assessing the model fit, for obtaining case diagnostics, and for tests of publication bias.
Conductive fur sensing for a gesture-aware furry robot

Recent advances in artificial intelligence suggest that machines will soon be capable of communicating in ways previously considered out of their reach. For example, humans engage in sophisticated emotional communication through the language of touch. What technical capabilities would enable computers to do the same? As our group examines this question in the context of emotional touch between a person and a furry social robot, we require sensors designed to detect and recognize subtle, nuanced touches. To this end, we demonstrate a new type of sensor based on conductive fur, which is sensitive to movements unavailable to conventional pressure sensors. The sensor captures motion by measuring changing current as the fur's conductive threads connect and disconnect during touch interaction. We then use machine learning to classify gestures from this time series. An informal evaluation with seven participants found 82% recognition of a 3-gesture set, showing promise for this approach to gesture recognition, and opening a path to emotionally intelligent touch sensing.
ON THE ITERATED GREEN FUNCTIONS ON A BOUNDED DOMAIN AND THEIR RELATED KATO CLASS OF POTENTIALS

We use the results of Zhang (15, 16) and Davies (7) on the behavior of the heat kernel p(t,x,y) on a bounded C 1,1 domain D to find again the result of Grunau-Sweers (9) concerning the estimates of the iterated Greens functions Gm,n(D). Next, we use these estimates to characterize, by means of p(t,x,y), the Kato class Km,n(D) and we give new examples of functions belonging to this class.
Cognitive Alterations in Motor Imagery Process after Left Hemispheric Ischemic Stroke

Background Motor imagery training is a promising rehabilitation strategy for stroke patients. However, few studies had focused on the neural mechanisms in time course of its cognitive process. This study investigated the cognitive alterations after left hemispheric ischemic stroke during motor imagery task. Methodology/Principal Findings Eleven patients with ischemic stroke in left hemisphere and eleven age-matched control subjects participated in mental rotation task (MRT) of hand pictures. Behavior performance, event-related potential (ERP) and event-related (de)synchronization (ERD/ERS) in beta band were analyzed to investigate the cortical activation. We found that: (1) The response time increased with orientation angles in both groups, called “angle effect”, however, stoke patients’ responses were impaired with significantly longer response time and lower accuracy rate; (2) In early visual perceptual cognitive process, stroke patients showed hypo-activations in frontal and central brain areas in aspects of both P200 and ERD; (3) During mental rotation process, P300 amplitude in control subjects decreased while angle increased, called “amplitude modulation effect”, which was not observed in stroke patients. Spatially, patients showed significant lateralization of P300 with activation only in contralesional (right) parietal cortex while control subjects showed P300 in both parietal lobes. Stroke patients also showed an overall cortical hypo-activation of ERD during this sub-stage; (4) In the response sub-stage, control subjects showed higher ERD values with more activated cortical areas particularly in the right hemisphere while angle increased, named “angle effect”, which was not observed in stroke patients. In addition, stroke patients showed significant lower ERD for affected hand (right) response than that for unaffected hand. Conclusions/Significance Cortical activation was altered differently in each cognitive sub-stage of motor imagery after left hemispheric ischemic stroke. These results will help to understand the underlying neural mechanisms of mental rotation following stroke and may shed light on rehabilitation based on motor imagery training.
CYP1A2*1F and GSTM1 Alleles Are Associated with Susceptibility to Porphyria Cutanea Tarda

Porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) is a cutaneous porphyria with sporadic (type 1) and familial (type 2) subtypes, both resulting from decreased hepatic uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase (UROD) activity. Environmental and genetic factors are involved in the development of PCT, and genetic variants in the cytochrome P450(CYP) genes, CYP1A1 and CYP1A2, have been implicated. We investigated the association between PCT and variants in CYP1A1, CYP1A2 and CYP2E1, and the glutathione-S-transferase (GST) genes, GSTM1 and GSTT1. PCT diagnosis was based on urinary or plasma porphyrin profiles. Patients were classified as type 1 or 2 PCT based on UROD mutation analysis. The CYP1A2*1Fpromoter A allele frequency was significantly higher (P< 0.022) and the A/A genotype frequency marginally higher in PCT patients overall (P < 0.057), with the A/A genotype significantly more common in type 1 PCT (P < 0.043). The presence of the wild-type GSTM1 allele also was associated significantly with PCT (P < 0.019). Neither hemochromatosis (HFE) mutations, tobacco smoking, hepatitis C and HIV infection, ethanol consumption, nor estrogen use were associated with these allelic variants. Age at onset was significantly lower in type 2 PCT patients (P< 0.001), as observed previously. Thus, positive associations between PCT and the CYP1A2*1F promoter A allele and A/A genotype and the wild-type GSTM1 allele indicates that these functional hepatic biotransformation enzymes are risk factors for the development of this disease.
Improving the accuracy of dynamic localization systems using RTK GPS by identifying the GPS latency

For precise localization of outdoor mobile robots, real-time kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK GPS) has obvious advantages: position data are given with centimeter-accuracy, and the required infrastructure is reduced to a sole fixed reference station. Yet, the use of this solution arises a number of issues, such as satellite maskings, or the existence of the so-called GPS latency, which delays the output of the localization data. This paper deals with the latter problem, and proposes a method to identify this parameter without using other external sensors. Experimental results carried out with the robot MELODY are presented so as to validate our solution.
Insight from the consideration of REM dreams, non-REM dreams, and daydreams.

Throughout history there have been reports and claims that consideration of dreams can produce personal realizations and insight. We assessed Exploration-Insight scores associated with discussing Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) dreams in connection with recent waking life experiences. Thirty-one participants were cued in the sleep laboratory for a daydream report and then awakened from REM and N2 sleep for dream reports. Participants subsequently discussed each of their dream and daydream reports for 30-40 minutes with two experimenters, following the structured Ullman (1996) dream group discussion procedure. Participants assessed the benefit of discussing the reports by completing the Gains from (Day)Dream Interpretation (G(D)DI) questionnaire. We found no difference in G(D)DI scores between discussing REM and N2 dream reports, and no difference between dream and daydream discussions in engagement and thoroughness of exploring the reports. However, discussing dream reports produced higher scores on the G(D)DI Exploration-Insight subscale compared with discussing daydream reports. Significant differences were evident in items reflecting the learning of what the report means in terms of waking life issues. Frontal theta prior to waking from N2 was significantly associated with Exploration-Insight score obtained after N2 dream discussion, but this relationship was not found for REM dreams. The findings of high ratings of Exploration-Insight after discussing dreams were evident even though participants did not select the dream, unlike what can occur for home recorded dreams, and even though discussion was brief. We suggest that insight might be produced by embodied and metaphorical thinking in dreams.
Ghrelin Inhibits Visceral Afferent Activation of Catecholamine Neurons in the Solitary Tract Nucleus

Brainstem A2/C2 catecholamine (CA) neurons in the solitary tract nucleus (NTS) are thought to play an important role in the control of food intake and other homeostatic functions. We have previously demonstrated that these neurons, which send extensive projections to brain regions involved in the regulation of appetite, are strongly and directly activated by solitary tract (ST) visceral afferents. Ghrelin, a potent orexigenic peptide released from the stomach, is proposed to act in part through modulating NTS CA neurons but the underlying cellular mechanisms are unknown. Here, we identified CA neurons using transgenic mice that express enhanced green fluorescent protein driven by the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter (TH-EGFP). We then determined how ghrelin modulates TH-EGFP neurons using patch-clamp techniques in a horizontal brain slice preparation. Ghrelin inhibited the frequency of spontaneous glutamate inputs (spontaneous EPSCs) onto TH-EGFP neurons, including cholecystokinin-sensitive neurons, an effect blocked by the GHSR1 antagonist, d-Lys-3-GHRP-6. This resulted in a decrease in the basal firing rate of NTS TH-EGFP neurons, an effect blocked by the glutamate antagonist NBQX. Ghrelin also dose-dependently inhibited the amplitude of ST afferent evoked EPSCs (ST-EPSCs) in TH-EGFP NTS neurons, decreasing the success rate for ST-evoked action potentials. In addition, ghrelin decreased the frequency of mini-EPSCs suggesting its actions are presynaptic to reduce glutamate release. Last, inhibition by ghrelin of the ST-EPSCs was significantly increased by an 18 h fast. These results demonstrate a potential mechanism by which ghrelin inhibits NTS TH neurons through a pathway whose responsiveness is increased during fasting.
Communication Theory at the Center: Ventriloquism and the Communicative Constitution of Reality

In this article, I first propose to reinterpret R. T. Craig's (1999) call for a dialogue between communication perspectives as a formulation of design specs to which any constitutive model of communication should respond. I then propose to answer this call by metaphorically conceiving of communication as a form of ventriloquism, which translates our capacity to make other beings say or do things while we speak, write, or, more generally, conduct ourselves. Finally, I show to what extent this ventriloqual model of communication responds to the design specs of each of the 7 traditions Craig identified (rhetoric, semiotics, phenomenology, cybernetics, sociopsychology, sociocultural theory, and the critical approach), while maintaining a certain ontological and epistemological coherence.
Disconnected: Exploring provisions for mother–child telephone contact in female prisons serving England and Wales

Despite a growing body of international work describing the negative consequences of imprisonment for children and families, few studies have explored the accessibility and functionality of prison telephones. Mother–child contact has recurrently been identified as an important mechanism to alleviate and manage some of the emotional and practical adversities which accompany maternal imprisonment, and telephone contact has the potential to provide regular, perhaps even daily, contact for these separated family members. Responding to the knowledge gap, this article qualitatively explores the narratives of 15 mothers in prison with first-hand experience of using prison telephones to communicate with their children. Thematic data analysis revealed four critical obstacles and challenges with prison telephone facilities for Reconnecting in the first weeks, in the Cost of calling, in Telephoning privileges and Inconsistencies across prisons. Contrary to legal and policy guidelines, the findings illuminate how institutional barriers seriously affect mother–child communications, and recommendations are made.