Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Service-Learning in the Social Psychology Classroom

The use of service-learning in the classroom has been shown to have a wide array of effects on students. Still, there is a call for service-learning components to be more deeply integrated with the course as a whole. The current study explores the effects of creating a service-learning component in the Social Psychology classroom based upon applying the social psychological principles of the course to real societal issues. Participants self-selected an issue, wrote a serious of reflection papers, worked with a collaborating organization, and completed a follow-up survey. Analysis revealed that as compared to students in a traditional Social Psychology class, students completing the service-learning reported favorable increases in attitudes related to service, identity, and academic variables. Specifically, participants seemed better able to see issues and were more confident in their ability to help alleviate the problem.
Isotopic Evidence of a Wide Spectrum of Feeding Strategies in Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whale Baleen Records

Our current understanding of Southern hemisphere humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) ecology assumes high-fidelity feeding on Antarctic krill in Antarctic waters during summer, followed by fasting during their annual migration to and from equatorial breeding grounds. An increase in the number of reported departures from this feeding/fasting model suggests that the current model may be oversimplified or, alternatively, undergoing contemporary change. Information about the feeding and fasting cycles of the two Australian breeding populations of humpback whales were obtained through stable isotope analysis of baleen plates from stranded adult individuals. Comparison of isotope profiles showed that individuals from the West Australian breeding population strongly adhered to the classical feeding model. By contrast, East Australian population individuals demonstrated greater heterogeneity in their feeding. On a spectrum from exclusive Antarctic feeding to exclusive feeding in temperate waters, three different strategies were assigned and discussed: classical feeders, supplemental feeders, and temperate zone feeders. Diversity in the inter-annual feeding strategies of humpback whales demonstrates the feeding plasticity of the species, but could also be indicative of changing dynamics within the Antarctic sea-ice ecosystem. This study presents the first investigation of trophodynamics in Southern hemisphere humpback whales derived from baleen plates, and further provides the first estimates of baleen plate elongation rates in the species.
A data-driven finite state machine model for analyzing security vulnerabilities

This paper combines an analysis of data on security vulnerabilities (published in Bugtraq database) and a focused source-code examination to develop a finite state machine (FSM) model to depict and reason about security vulnerabilities. An in-depth analysis of the vulnerability reports and the corresponding source code of the applications leads to three observations: (i) exploits must pass through multiple elementary activities, (ii) multiple vulnerable operations on several objects are involved in exploiting a vulnerability, and (iii) the vulnerability data and corresponding code inspections allow us to derive a predicate for each elementary activity. Each predicate is represented as a primitive FSM (pFSM). Multiple pFSMs are then combined to create an FSM model of vulnerable operations and possible exploits. The proposed FSM methodology is exemplified by analyzing several types of vulnerabilities reported in the data: stack buffer overflow, integer overflow, heap overflow, input validation vulnerabilities, and format string vulnerabilities. For the studied vulnerabilities, we identify three types of pFSMs, which can be used to analyze operations involved in exploiting vulnerabilities and to identify the security checks to be performed at the elementary activity level. A demonstration of the practical usefulness of the FSM modeling approach was the discovery of a new heap overflow vulnerability now published in Bugtraq.
A uniform central limit theorem and efficiency for deconvolution estimators

We estimate linear functionals in the classical deconvolution problem by kernel estimators. We obtain a uniform central limit theorem with $\sqrt{n}$-rate on the assumption that the smoothness of the functionals is larger than the ill-posedness of the problem, which is given by the polynomial decay rate of the characteristic function of the error. The limit distribution is a generalized Brownian bridge with a covariance structure that depends on the characteristic function of the error and on the functionals. The proposed estimators are optimal in the sense of semiparametric efficiency. The class of linear functionals is wide enough to incorporate the estimation of distribution functions. The proofs are based on smoothed empirical processes and mapping properties of the deconvolution operator.
MINESTRONE: Testing the SOUP

Software development using type-unsafe languages (e.g., C and C++) is a challenging task for several reasons, security being one of the most important. Ensuring that a piece of code is bug or vulnerability free is one of the most critical aspects of software engineering. While most software development life cycle processes address security early on in the requirement analysis phase and refine it during testing, it is not always sufficient. Therefore the use of commercial security tools has been widely adopted by the software industry to help identify vulnerabilities, but they often have a high false-positive rate and have limited effectiveness. In this paper we present MINESTRONE, a novel architecture that integrates static analysis, dynamic confinement, and code diversification to identify, mitigate, and contain a broad class of software vulnerabilities in Software Of Uncertain Provenance (SOUP). MINESTRONE has been tested against an extensive test suite and showed promising results. MINESTRONE showed an improvement of 34.6% over the state-of-the art for memory corruption bugs that are commonly exploited.
Which Factors Determine Academic Performance of Undergraduate Students in Economics? Some Spanish Evidence

This paper analyses the determinants of academic performance of first-year undergraduate students in Economics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, over the period 2001-2005. We focus on a few core subjects which differ in their degree of mathematical complexity. Type of school, specialization track at high school, and the grades obtained at the university entry-exam are among the key factors we examine. Our main finding is that those students who completed a technical track at high school tend to do much better in subjects involving mathematics than those who followed a social sciences track (tailor-made for future economics students) and that the latter do not perform significantly better than the former in subjects with less degree of formalism. Moreover, students from public schools are predominant in the lower and upper parts of the grade distribution while females tend to perform better than males.
The Impact of Weather Insurance on Consumption, Investment, and Welfare

I develop and estimate a dynamic stochastic optimization model to assess the impact of weather insurance on the consumption, investment, and welfare of farmers in developing countries. Weather insurance has the potential to provide large welfare gains, equivalent to a permanent increase in consumption of almost 17%. Moreover, it can allow for the adoption of riskier but more productive seeds, further enhancing welfare. The interplay with other uninsured risks, the presence of liquidity constraints, basis risk, and loading factor on the insurance premium may account for the low take‐up that is often empirically observed.
Special Issue on Performance and Resource Management in Big Data Applications

The emerging cloud computing service market aims at delivering computing resources as a utility over the Internet with a high quality. It has evolving unknown demand that is typically highly uncertain. Traditional provisioning methods either make idealized assumption of the demand distribution or rely on extensive offline statistical analysis of historical data. In this paper, we present an online adaptive learning approach to address the optimal resource provisioning problem. Based on a stochastic loss model of the cloud services, we formulate the provisioning problem from a revenue management perspective, and present a stochastic gradientbased learning algorithm that adaptively adjusts the provisioning solution as observations of the demand are continuously made. We show that our adaptive learning algorithm guarantees optimality and demonstrate through simulation that they can adapt quickly to non-stationary demand.
A Domain-Specific Language for Regular Sets of Strings and Trees

We propose a novel high level programming notation, called FIDO, that we have designed to concisely express regular sets of strings or trees. In particular, it can be viewed as a domain-specific language for the expression of finite state automata on large alphabets (of sometimes astronomical size). FIDO is based on a combination of mathematical logic and programming language concepts. This combination shares no similarities with usual logic programming languages. FIDO compiles into finite state string or tree automata, so there is no concept of run-time. It has already been applied to a variety of problems of considerable complexity and practical interest. We motivate the need for a language like FIDO, and discuss our design and its implementation. Also, we briefly discuss design criteria for domain-specific languages that we have learned from the work with FIDO. We show how recursive data types, unification, implicit coercions, and subtyping can be merged with a variation of predicate logic, called the Monadic Second-order Logic (M2L) on trees. FIDO is translated first into pure M2L via suitable encodings, and finally into finite state automata through the MONA tool.
Construct Validation and Test–Retest Reliability of a Mealtime Satisfaction Questionnaire for Retirement Home Residents

Mealtime satisfaction is an important component of quality of life (QOL) in residential care, yet there currently is no self-administered tool described in the literature. The purpose of this study is to investigate internal and test–retest reliability, and construct validity of a mealtime satisfaction questionnaire (MSQ) designed for residential care, more specifically retirement homes. A 15-item MSQ was developed and eligible participants from four retirement homes (n = 749) were invited to participate. The participation rate was 24% and the median age was 88 years for respondents. The internal consistency of the MSQ was high (Cronbach Alpha = 0.83) and the test–retest reliability was also high (Intraclass coefficient = 0.91, P < 0.01). The MSQ was associated with a valid and reliable QOL instrument for older adults (Mann Whitney Test = 1595.5, P < 0.01). The MSQ is reliable and is content and construct valid. QOL can be enriched by improving mealtime satisfaction in retirement homes.
G protein Gαo is essential for vomeronasal function and aggressive behavior in mice

The rodent vomeronasal organ (VNO) mediates the regulation of species-specific and interspecies social behaviors. We have used gene targeting to examine the role of the G protein Gαo, encoded by the gene Gnao1, in vomeronasal function. We used the Cre-loxP system to delete Gαo in those cells that express olfactory marker protein, which includes all vomeronasal sensory neurons of the basal layer of the VNO sensory epithelium. Using electrophysiology and calcium imaging, we show that the conditional null mice exhibit strikingly reduced sensory responses in V2R receptor-expressing vomeronasal sensory neurons to specific molecular cues, including MHC1 antigens, major urinary proteins, and exocrine gland-secreting peptide. Gαo is also vital for vomeronasal sensing of two N-formylated mitochondrially encoded peptides derived from NADH dehydrogenase 1. Furthermore, we show that Gαo is an essential requirement for the display of male–male territorial aggression as well as maternal aggression in mice. Finally, we show that Gαo-dependent maternal aggression can be induced by major urinary proteins. These cellular and behavioral phenotypes identify Gαo as the primary G-protein α-subunit mediating the detection of peptide and protein pheromones by sensory neurons of the VNO.
Development of prosocial behaviour in children after the improvement of family competences

Purpose – This research assesses the predictive capacity of key factors in the development of family competences: parent-children relationship, family involvement, family resilience and positive parenting. It also aims to establish which are the most discriminating factors between the groups showing the most and the least prosocial behaviours. Design/methodology/approach – The study involves a longitudinal study of one child from 181 families; 155 families in the experimental group and 26 in the control group. Both boys and girls are included and their ages range from 8 to 14 years. The instruments employed are all validated for use with a Spanish population and include Karol Kumpfer’s questionnaires on family competence and the BASC questionnaire. Findings – All of the factors analysed, with the exception of family involvement, proved to be predictive for prosocial behaviour, and the most discriminating among these were: parent-children relationship, family resilience and positive parenting. Originality/.
An analysis of the structural and functional similarities of insect hemocytes and mammalian phagocytes

The insect immune response demonstrates a number of structural and functional similarities to the innate immune system of mammals. As a result of these conserved features insects have become popular choices for evaluating the virulence of microbial pathogens or for assessing the efficacy of antimicrobial agents and give results which are comparable to those that can be obtained using mammals. Analysis of the cellular component of the insect and mammalian immune systems demonstrates many similarities. Insect hemocytes recognize pathogens and phagocytose material in a similar manner to neutrophils. The killing of ingested microbes is achieved in both cell types by the production of superoxide and by the release of enzymes in the process of degranulation. Insect hemocytes and mammalian neutrophils are sensitive to the same inhibitors. This review highlights the strong similarities between the phagocytic cells of both groups of animals and demonstrates the potential benefits of using selected insects as in vivo screening systems.
Engineering Secondary Metabolism in Maize Cells by Ectopic Expression of Transcription Factors

Manipulation of plant natural product biosynthesis through genetic engineering is an attractive but technically challenging goal. Here, we demonstrate that different secondary metabolites can be produced in cultured maize cells by ectopic expression of the appropriate regulatory genes. Cell lines engineered to express the maize transcriptional activators C1 and R accumulate two cyanidin derivatives, which are similar to the predominant anthocyanin found in differentiated plant tissues. In contrast, cell lines that express P accumulate various 3-deoxy flavonoids. Unexpectedly, P-expressing cells in culture also accumulate phenylpropanoids and green fluorescent compounds that are targeted to different subcellular compartments. Two endogenous biosynthetic genes (c2 and a1, encoding chalcone synthase and flavanone/dihydroflavonol reductase, respectively) are independently activated by ectopic expression of either P or C1/R, and there is a dose–response relationship between the transcript level of P and the degree to which c2 or a1 is expressed. Our results support a simple model showing how the gene encoding P may act as a quantitative trait locus controlling insecticidal C-glycosyl flavone level in maize silks, and they suggest how p1 might confer a selective advantage against insect predation in maize.
New lipophilic phthalimido- and 3-phenoxybenzyl sulfonates: Inhibition of antigen 85C mycolyltransferase activity and cytotoxicity

Four new sulfonates were prepared as potential inhibitors of antigen 85C, a mycolyl transferase involved in the biosynthesis of the mycobacterial cell wall being designed on the basis of the proposed catalytic mechanism and antigen 85C crystal structure. The inhibitors contained a sulfonate moiety, 3-phenoxybenzyl alcohol or N-(hydroxyethyl)phthalimide as trehalose mimetics, and an alkyl chain of different length mimicking either the mycolate (α-chain or the mycolic acid (β-branch. One compound displayed promising activity in a mycolyltransferase inhibition assay (compound 2b, IC50 = 4.3 μM). The two compounds containing a phthalimide moiety (compounds 3a and 3b) showed significant and selective cytotoxicity against the breast cancer cell line MDA-MB231.
Constrained optimal control: an application to semiactive suspension systems

This paper compares three different control design methods with regard to their application to a quarter car semiactive suspension model, namely optimal gain switching, discontinuous variable structure control and explicit model predictive control. All of them divide the state space into convex regions and assign one linear or affine state feedback controller to each region. The partition of the state space is computed offline. During the online phase, the controller switches between the subcontrollers according to the current state
A Two-Step Approach to Power Allocation for OFDM Signals Over Two-Way Amplify-and-Forward Relay

A two-way relay channel (TWRC) in which two terminals T 1 and T 2 exchange orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals with the help of an amplify-and-forward (AF) relay T 3 is considered here, and an efficient technique for allocating powers to N parallel tones of OFDM is developed. A sum rate maximization problem is formulated by replacing the individual power constraints of the conventional sum rate maximization problem, which limit the power of each terminal, with the total power constraint limiting the sum of powers of all terminals. The maximization problem with the total power constraint yields a more efficient power allocation policy than the conventional problem with individual power constraints. It is shown that the closed-form solution of the maximization problem under the total power constraint can be obtained for a single-tone system (N=1). Based on this result, a two-step suboptimal approach is proposed in which the power is optimally assigned to each tone first, and then at each tone the assigned power is distributed to the three terminals. The proposed method is shown to assign 50% of the total power to relay T 3 irrespective of the channels. It is demonstrated that the proposed method is considerably simpler to implement than the conventional dual-decomposition method (DDM), yet the performance of the former is almost identical to that of the latter.
Defective Interfering RNAs: Foes of Viruses and Friends of Virologists

Defective interfering (DI) RNAs are subviral RNAs produced during multiplication of RNA viruses by the error-prone viral replicase. DI-RNAs are parasitic RNAs that are derived from and associated with the parent virus, taking advantage of viral-coded protein factors for their multiplication. Recent advances in the field of DI RNA biology has led to a greater understanding about generation and evolution of DI-RNAs as well as the mechanism of symptom attenuation. Moreover, DI-RNAs are versatile tools in the hands of virologists and are used as less complex surrogate templates to understand the biology of their helper viruses. The ease of their genetic manipulation has resulted in rapid discoveries on cis-acting RNA replication elements required for replication and recombination. DI-RNAs have been further exploited to discover host factors that modulate Tomato bushy stunt virus replication, as well as viral RNA recombination. This review discusses the current models on generation and evolution of DI-RNAs, the roles of viral and host factors in DI-RNA replication, and the mechanisms of disease attenuation.
The victims of a sorted life : ageing and caregiving in an American retirement community

This thesis is an ethnographic analysis of a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) in the American Midwest. I examine salient aspects of American culture, and how persons in the American Midwest understand relationships and themselves in the context of eldercare, and particularly, how issues of personhood and kinship are conceptualised in a long-term care facility. Rather than focusing exclusively on just the labour of caregivers, or how the residents in the CCRC receive care, my study is grounded in the interaction and relations that obtain during specific regimes of caregiving. Because the exigencies of ageing are met with certain exigencies of care, this study touches upon three dominant themes that make sense of the tensions that emerge when principles and practices do not square up. The first theme deals with how ageing and care are constituted, and made relational to one other. Secondly, I demonstrate that in the CCRC where I conducted fieldwork, ageing is constructed as a process and institutionalised, resulting in a distinctive way in which space and time are dealt with and unravelled from their inextricability. The resulting consequences affect not just the older residents and the CCRC staff, but also impacts how caregiving takes on specific forms and meanings. Thirdly, I investigate how formal (professional) caregivers and care receivers produce a type of social relation, which cannot be understood alone by conventional studies of kinship and economic relations. Ultimately, this thesis sets the frame for future debate on the ontological commitments involved in eldercare, and how the segregation of care and of the elderly in society relate to wider social norms regarding ageing and marginality.
Multiplexed nanopore sequencing of HLA-B locus in Māori and Polynesian samples

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system is a gene family that encodes the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC). HLA-B is the most polymorphic gene in the MHC class I region, comprised of 4,765 HLA-B alleles (IPD-IMGT/HLA Database Release 3.28). Many HLA-B alleles have been associated with adverse drug reactions and disease risks, and we are interested in developing efficient methods for analysis of HLA alleles in this context. Here we describe an approach to HLA-B typing using multiplexed next generation sequencing on the MinION™ nanopore sequencer (Oxford Nanopore Technologies), combined with data analysis with the SeqNext-HLA software package (JSI Medical Systems GmbH, Ettenheim, Germany). The nanopore sequencer offers the advantages of long-read capability and single molecule reads, which can facilitate effective haplotyping. We developed this method using reference samples of known HLA-B type as well as individuals of New Zealand Māori or Pacific Island (Polynesian) descent, because HLA-B diversity in these populations is not well understood. We demonstrate here that nanopore sequencing of barcoded, pooled, 943 bp polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplicons of 49 DNA samples, on one R9.4 flowcell (Oxford Nanopore Technologies), generated ample read depth for all samples. Sequence analysis using SeqNext-HLA software assigned HLA-B alleles to all samples at high-resolution with very little ambiguity. Our PCR-based next generation sequencing method is a scaleable and efficient approach for genotyping HLA-B and potentially any other HLA locus. Finally, we report our findings on HLA-B genotypes of this cohort, which adds to our understanding of HLA-B allele frequencies among Māori and Polynesian people.