Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors Related to Lump Sum Bonuses : The Case of a Canadian Financial Institution

The use of lump sum bonuses as a variable pay system is increasingly popular with businesses. Used as a means to reward strong individual performances of employees, lump sum bonuses are granted according to the manager’s appraisal of the employee’s performance. The aim of this research is to ascertain whether there are factors other than individual performance that exert an influence on the granting of lump sum bonuses. Results show that individual and socio-demographic factors, factors linked to the job, and individual performance have a direct and indirect influence on lump sum bonuses. Thus, contrary to the definition of the concept of lump sum bonuses, individual performance is not the sole factor which determines the granting of lump sum bonuses.
A Novel Approach for Decision Support in Uncertain Environments: The Case of Identifying Similar News Tickers in Natural Gas Trading

As the natural gas market is characterized by price volatility and uncertainty, the participants need in using founded information for decision making in order to manage risks and profits is immense. Analyzing the information content of news tickers can provide additional information about the environment. This paper concerns the features of a novel method that encourages price prognosis in gas trading. By knowing how the market has developed regarding a certain former situation, this knowledge can be used in predicting the future market by associating a similar former state to a present state. Thereby, uncertainty about future might be reduced. Framing the research in design science, we use task-technology-fit theory and technology-acceptance-model to identify requirements and to appraise the artifact. The novel method integrates structured and unstructured data in decision support.
An Effective, Low-Overhead, Improved Replacement Algorithm for Mail Service Applications in Storage System

This paper analyzed the performance characteristics of classic 2Q algorithm when it was performed on mail-service workloads, and proposes an improved algorithm, called 2Q*. The simulation results show that 2Q* algorithm can outperform the other replacement algorithms, including the classic 2Q algorithm, for all the cache sizes and various mail-service workloads. To verify the simulation results in real system, we integrated the algorithm into FlexiCache, a partitioned buffer cache system, and joined it with a popular adaptive sequential pre-fetch policy properly. The experiment results verify the effectiveness of 2Q* algorithm for mail service applications. By joint with the pre-fetch policy, the performance is further improved. Moreover, its runtime overhead is also fairly low.
Self-Similar Solution of Heat and Mass Transfer of Unsteady Mixed Convection Flow on a Rotating Cone Embedded in a Porous Medium Saturated with a Rotating Fluid

A self-similar solution of unsteady mixed convection flow on a rotating cone embedded in a porous medium saturated with a rotating fluid in the presence of the first and second orders resistances has been obtained. It has been shown that a self-similar solution is possible when the free stream angular velocity and the angular velocity of the cone vary inversely as a linear function of time. The system of ordinary differential equations governing the flow has been solved numerically using an implicit finite difference scheme in combination with the quasi-linearization technique. Both prescribe wall temperature and prescribed heat flux conditions are considered. Numerical results are reported for the skin friction coefficients, Nusselt number and Sherwood number. The effect of various parameters on the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are also presented here.
Analysing Underachievement in Schools

1. Underachievement in context Part 1: Underachievement: An international perspective 2. The falling nations debate 3. Reconsidering international comparisons Part 2: Falling standards and failing pupils? 4. Failing boys and moral practices 5. Reevaluating underachievement 6. Underachieving working class boys? Part 3: Understanding underachievement 7. Reconceptualising 'underachievement' 8. Recommendations for practice.
Reliability-Aware Adaptations for Shared Last-Level Caches in Multi-Cores

On account of their large footprint, on-chip last-level caches in multi-core systems are one of the most vulnerable components to soft errors. However, vulnerability to soft errors highly depends on the configuration and parameters of the last-level cache, especially when executing different applications concurrently. In this article we propose a novel reliability-aware reconfigurable last-level cache architecture (R2Cache) and cache vulnerability model for multi-cores. R2Cache supports various reliability-wise efficient cache configurations (i.e., cache parameter selection and cache partitioning) for different concurrently executing applications. The proposed vulnerability model takes into account the vulnerability of both the data and tag arrays as well as the active cache area for applications in different execution phases. To enable runtime adaptations, we introduce a lightweight online vulnerability predictor that exploits the knowledge of performance metrics like number of L2 misses to accurately estimate the cache vulnerability to soft errors. Based on the predicted vulnerabilities of different concurrently executing applications in the current execution epoch, our runtime reliability manager reconfigures the cache such that, for the next execution epoch, the total vulnerability for all concurrently executing applications is minimized under user-provided tolerable performance/energy overheads. In scenarios where single-bit error correction for cache lines may be afforded, vulnerability-aware reconfigurations can be leveraged to increase the reliability of the last-level cache against multi-bit errors. Compared to state-of-the-art vulnerability-minimizing and reconfigurable caches, the proposed architecture provides 35.27% and 23.42% vulnerability savings, respectively, when averaged across numerous experiments, while reducing the vulnerability by more than 65% and 60%, respectively, for selected applications and application phases.
Kinship Verification with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Kinship veriﬁcation from facial images is an interesting and challenging problem. The current algorithms on this topic typically represent faces with multiple low-level features, followed by a shallow learning model. However, these general manual features cannot well discover information implied in facial images for kinship veriﬁcation, and thus even current best algorithms are not satisfying. In this paper, we propose to extract high-level features for kinship veriﬁcation based on deep convolutional neural networks. Our method is end-to-end, without complex pre-processing often used in traditional methods. The high-level features are produced from the neuron activations of the last hidden layer, and then fed into a soft-max classiﬁer to verify the kinship of two persons. Considering the importance of facial key-points, we also extract key-points-based features for kinship veriﬁcation. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach is very effective even with limited training samples, largely outper-forming the state-of-the-art methods. On two most widely used kinship databases, our method achieves 5.2% and 10.1% improvements compared with the previous best one, respectively.
Using one hot residue number system(OHRNS) for digital image processing

In this paper, the use of the one hot residue (OHR) number system for digital image processing and its application for designing fast, high-speed and low area image processors are studied. Since digital image filtering in space domain requires many algebra computations, we're going to propose a system with high computing speed based on OHR. Using proposed system can significantly enhance the speed of the computation operations and hence the system. In the proposed image coding scheme the delay of implementation is equal to delay of a transistor which is a good improvement in compare with the conventional methods such as direct method. Other advantages of using one hot residue (OHR) number system are its simplicity of implementation and minimum power dissipation. Design of adder and multipliers commonly used for filtering with selected moduli set {2n-1+1, 2n-1, 2n} for one hot coding are presented here. MATLAB was used for simulation studies while VLSI tools have been employed for design analysis. The preliminary results show the capability of the proposed method to speed incensement of operation, decreasing of consumption power, facilitating designed hardware and finally decreasing chip production for image processing.
The Drosophila Pericentrin-like-protein (PLP) cooperates with Cnn to maintain the integrity of the outer PCM

ABSTRACT Centrosomes comprise a pair of centrioles surrounded by a matrix of pericentriolar material (PCM). In vertebrate cells, Pericentrin plays an important part in mitotic PCM assembly, but the Drosophila Pericentrin-like protein (PLP) appears to have a more minor role in mitotic fly cells. Here we investigate the function of PLP during the rapid mitotic cycles of the early Drosophila embryo. Unexpectedly, we find that PLP is specifically enriched in the outer-most regions of the PCM, where it largely co-localizes with the PCM scaffold protein Cnn. In the absence of PLP the outer PCM appears to be structurally weakened, and it rapidly disperses along the centrosomal microtubules (MTs). As a result, centrosomal MTs are subtly disorganized in embryos lacking PLP, although mitosis is largely unperturbed and these embryos develop and hatch at near-normal rates. Y2H analysis reveals that PLP can potentially form multiple interactions with itself and with the PCM recruiting proteins Asl, Spd-2 and Cnn. A deletion analysis suggests that PLP participates in a complex network of interactions that ultimately help to strengthen the PCM.
A Double-Hybridization Approach for the Transcription- and Amplification-Free Detection of Specific mRNA on a Microarray

A double-hybridization approach was developed for the enzyme-free detection of specific mRNA of a housekeeping gene. Targeted mRNA was immobilized by hybridization to complementary DNA capture probes spotted onto a microarray. A second hybridization step of Cy5-conjugated label DNA to another section of the mRNA enabled specific labeling of the target. Thus, enzymatic artifacts could be avoided by omitting transcription and amplification steps. This manuscript describes the development of capture probe molecules used in the transcription- and amplification-free analysis of RPLP0 mRNA in isolated total RNA. An increase in specific signal was found with increasing length of the target-specific section of capture probes. Unspecific signal comprising spot autofluorescence and unspecific label binding did not correlate with the capture length. An additional spacer between the specific part of the capture probe and the substrate attachment site increased the signal significantly only on a short capture probe of approximately 30 nt length.
Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking of Six-Page Segmentation Algorithms

Informative benchmarks are crucial for optimizing the page segmentation step of an OCR system, frequently the performance limiting step for overall OCR system performance. We show that current evaluation scores are insufficient for diagnosing specific errors in page segmentation and fail to identify some classes of serious segmentation errors altogether. This paper introduces a vectorial score that is sensitive to, and identifies, the most important classes of segmentation errors (over, under, and mis-segmentation) and what page components (lines, blocks, etc.) are affected. Unlike previous schemes, our evaluation method has a canonical representation of ground-truth data and guarantees pixel-accurate evaluation results for arbitrary region shapes. We present the results of evaluating widely used segmentation algorithms (x-y cut, smearing, whitespace analysis, constrained text-line finding, docstrum, and Voronoi) on the UW-III database and demonstrate that the new evaluation scheme permits the identification of several specific flaws in individual segmentation methods.
Connectionist models in cognitive psychology

George Houghton, Introduction. Section 1: Learning. David R. Shanks, Connectionist Models of Basic Human Learning Processes. John A. Bullinaria, Connectionist Neuropsychology. John K. Kruschke, Learning Involves Attention. Section 2: Memory. Randall C. O'Reilly, The Division of Labor between the Neocortex and Hippocampus. E. Charles Leek, Category-specific Semantic Memory Impairments: What Can Connectionist Simulations Reveal about the Organisation of Conceptual Knowledge? Mike Page, Connectionist Models of Short-term Memory for Serial Order. David W. Glasspool, Serial Order in Behaviour: Evidence from Performance Slips. Section 3: Attention and Cognitive Control. Dietmar Heinke and Glyn W. Humphreys, Computational Models of Visual Selective Attention: A Review. Richard P. Cooper, The Control of Routine Action: Modelling Normal and Impaired Functioning. Section 4: Language Processes. Morten H. Christiansen and Suzanne Curtin, Integrating Multiple Cues in Language Acquisition: A Computational Study of Early Infant Speech Segmentation. Gary S. Dell, Language Production, Lexical Access, and Aphasia. Marco Zorzi, Computational Models of Reading.
XML QoS specification language for enhancing communication services

This paper introduces a global XML-based QoS specification language, called XQoS and an associated architecture. The design of this language is driven by the need of a global QoS description language, able to supply a complete description of applications QoS needs that can be easily mapped towards transport, network and system QoS oriented services. Moreover we propose a communication architecture that provides an efficient support to multimedia application of which the QoS needs are explicitly or implicitly expressed from the XQoS approach. This architecture allows a dynamic mapping to be done between the applicative QoS needs and the various available underlying services. An experiment illustrates how XQoS can be used for creating dynamically a protocol architecture that satisfies audio and video on demand applications QoS requirements.
Primary and secondary nodes coexistence through opportunistic MIMO Cognitive Radio

A critical issue in Cognitive Radio Networks is the interference generated by secondary users when they simultaneously access and transmit over a spectrum portion reserved to licensed users. In this paper, we propose a method that allows to decide whether a pair of unlicensed users can communicate over a licensed spectrum without causing harmful interference at the primary receiver. The proposed solution is fully distributed and is based on opportunistic information acquired via simple CTS/RTS messages exchanged in the system. We show that the solution can be applied when both primary and secondary users are equipped with multiple-antennas. In this way on one side we achieve the coexistence, when possible, of the two kind of users and on the other side, for both of them, we are able to exploit the MIMO paradigm and increase the transmission performance. A result of the proposed scheme is that the access of the secondary nodes, when feasible, is done with transmission powers that are suitably dimensioned in order to not deteriorate the primary users Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise-Ratio (SINR). To show this we provide a mapping of the areas in the transmission space that are most likely to produce high levels of interference at the primary receiver. From these maps the effects of the interference management and the advantages of the spatial diversity can be appreciated.
Discrimination in the Dark. Resolving the Interplay between Metabolic and Physical Constraints to Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase Activity during the Crassulacean Acid Metabolism Cycle1

A model defining carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C) for crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants was experimentally validated using Kalanchoe daigremontiana. Simultaneous measurements of gas exchange and instantaneous CO2 discrimination (for 13C and 18O) were made from late photoperiod (phase IV of CAM), throughout the dark period (phase I), and into the light (phase II). Measurements of CO2 response curves throughout the dark period revealed changing phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) capacity. These systematic changes in PEPC capacity were tracked by net CO2 uptake, stomatal conductance, and online Δ13C signal; all declined at the start of the dark period, then increased to a maximum 2 h before dawn. Measurements of Δ13C were higher than predicted from the ratio of intercellular to external CO2 (pi/pa) and fractionation associated with CO2 hydration and PEPC carboxylations alone, such that the dark period mesophyll conductance, gi, was 0.044 mol m−2 s−1 bar−1. A higher estimate of gi (0.085 mol m−2 s−1 bar−1) was needed to account for the modeled and measured Δ18O discrimination throughout the dark period. The differences in estimates of gi from the two isotope measurements, and an offset of −5.5‰ between the 18O content of source and transpired water, suggest spatial variations in either CO2 diffusion path length and/or carbonic anhydrase activity, either within individual cells or across a succulent leaf. Our measurements support the model predictions to show that internal CO2 diffusion limitations within CAM leaves increase Δ13C discrimination during nighttime CO2 fixation while reducing Δ13C during phase IV. When evaluating the phylogenetic distribution of CAM, carbon isotope composition will reflect these diffusive limitations as well as relative contributions from C3 and C4 biochemistry.
Exploring the effects of adolescent perceptions of parenting in free time and gender on adolescent motivation in free time

This study examined how gender and perceptions of parenting related to adolescent motivation during free-time. The sample consisted of 377 ninthgraders from high schools in eastern Massachusetts. Significant gender differences were found for rules enacted, with females reporting more rules in place than males. When examining the relationship between parenting practices and motivation, differences were observed in motivation states based on the provision of specific parent practices by gender. Intrinsic motivation was higher for boys when they reported parents enacting more rules, while more rules undermined girls' intrinsic motivation. External motivation was lower for girls when they reported more parental involvement, while boys were unaffected by this variable. Regardless of gender, amotivation was higher when youth reported parents providing low resource support and few rules. The discussion focuses on how boys and girls respond differently to specific parenting practices and what this means to adult leaders working with youth.
Inhibitor of DNA Binding 1 Is Induced during Kidney Ischemia-Reperfusion and Is Critical for the Induction of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α

In this study, rat models of acute kidney injury (AKI) induced by renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) and HK-2 cell models of hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) were established to investigate the expression of inhibitor of DNA binding 1 (ID1) in AKI, and the regulation relationship between ID1 and hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α). Through western blot, quantitative real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry, and other experiment methods, the induction of ID1 after renal I/R in vivo was observed, which was expressed mainly in renal tubular epithelial cells (TECs). ID1 expression was upregulated in in vitro H/R models at both the protein and mRNA levels. Via RNAi, it was found that ID1 induction was inhibited with silencing of HIF-1α. Moreover, the suppression of ID1 mRNA expression could lead to decreased expression and transcription of HIF-1α during hypoxia and reoxygenation. In addition, it was demonstrated that both ID1 and HIF-1α can regulate the transcription of twist. This study demonstrated that ID1 is induced in renal TECs during I/R and can regulate the transcription and expression of HIF-1α.
A memory-efficient data structure representing exact-match overlap graphs with application for next-generation DNA assembly

MOTIVATION Exact-match overlap graphs have been broadly used in the context of DNA assembly and the shortest super string problem where the number of strings n ranges from thousands to billions. The length ℓ of the strings is from 25 to 1000, depending on the DNA sequencing technologies. However, many DNA assemblers using overlap graphs suffer from the need for too much time and space in constructing the graphs. It is nearly impossible for these DNA assemblers to handle the huge amount of data produced by the next-generation sequencing technologies where the number n of strings could be several billions. If the overlap graph is explicitly stored, it would require Ω(n(2)) memory, which could be prohibitive in practice when n is greater than a hundred million. In this article, we propose a novel data structure using which the overlap graph can be compactly stored. This data structure requires only linear time to construct and and linear memory to store. RESULTS For a given set of input strings (also called reads), we can informally define an exact-match overlap graph as follows. Each read is represented as a node in the graph and there is an edge between two nodes if the corresponding reads overlap sufficiently. A formal description follows. The maximal exact-match overlap of two strings x and y, denoted by ov(max)(x, y), is the longest string which is a suffix of x and a prefix of y. The exact-match overlap graph of n given strings of length ℓ is an edge-weighted graph in which each vertex is associated with a string and there is an edge (x, y) of weight ω=ℓ-|ov(max)(x, y)| if and only if ω ≤ λ, where |ov(max)(x, y)| is the length of ov(max)(x, y) and λ is a given threshold. In this article, we show that the exact-match overlap graphs can be represented by a compact data structure that can be stored using at most (2λ-1)(2⌈logn⌉+⌈logλ⌉)n bits with a guarantee that the basic operation of accessing an edge takes O(log λ) time. We also propose two algorithms for constructing the data structure for the exact-match overlap graph. The first algorithm runs in O(λℓnlogn) worse-case time and requires O(λ) extra memory. The second one runs in O(λℓn) time and requires O(n) extra memory. Our experimental results on a huge amount of simulated data from sequence assembly show that the data structure can be constructed efficiently in time and memory. AVAILABILITY Our DNA sequence assembler that incorporates the data structure is freely available on the web at http://www.engr. uconn.edu/~htd06001/assembler/leap.zip