Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Scheduling on Power-Aware Managed Data-Centers Using Machine Learning

Energy-related costs have become one of the major economic factors in IT data-centers, and companies and the research community are currently working on new efficient power-aware resource management strategies, also known as "Green IT". Here we propose a framework for autonomic scheduling of tasks and web-services on cloud environments, optimizing the profit taking into account revenue for task execution minus penalties for service-level agreement violations, minus power consumption cost. The principal contribution is the combination of consolidation and virtualization technologies, mathematical optimization methods, and machine learning techniques. The data-center infrastructure, tasks to execute, and desired profit are casted as a mathematical programming model, which can then be solved in different ways to find good task scheduling. We use an exact solver based on mixed linear programming as a proof of concept but, since it is an NP-complete problem, we show that approximate solvers provide valid alternatives for finding approximately optimal schedules. The machine learning is used to estimate the initially unknown parameters of the mathematical model. In particular, we need to predict a priori resource usage (such as CPU consumption) by different tasks under current workloads, and estimate task service-level-agreement (such as response time) given workload features, host characteristics, and contention among tasks in the same host. Experiments show that machine learning algorithms can predict system behavior with acceptable accuracy, and that their combination with the exact or approximate schedulers manages to allocate tasks to hosts striking a balance between revenue for executed tasks, quality of service, and power consumption.
Specifying the Effects of Religious Participation and Educational Attainment on Mortality Risk for U.S. Adults

Both education and religious involvement provide beneficial resources that can positively impact health and mortality outcomes. However, it is unclear whether these important resources work in concert to influence mortality risk. Indeed, religious resources are often placed in opposition to secular knowledge, and this may limit the scope of the positive influence of religious factors on health outcomes. The present study relies on a large (N = 22,080), nationally representative sample of non-institutionalized U.S. adults (National Health Interview Survey–Cancer Risk Factor Supplement) administered in 1987 and linked to the National Death Index through 2006 to test this relationship. Cox proportional hazard estimates suggest that religious involvement has a negative impact on the risk of mortality for those who did not complete college. However, estimates show that religious participation increases the risk of mortality among those with the highest levels of educational attainment.
Who Pays the Price of Brokerage? Transferring Constraint through Price Setting in the Staffing Sector

This article analyzes how a broker's ability to affect prices and extract superior value from its position has economic consequences for the actors tied to it. I argue that intermediaries may exercise partial control in price setting by transferring the price constraints imposed on them by the actors on one side of the market to those on the other side. In so doing, they generate unequal returns for the brokered parties, who then receive different prices due to the nature of the tie between the broker and its other exchange partners. I investigate this argument using a novel mix of quantitative and qualitative data gathered from an intermediary in the staffing sector. The results show that the broker is able to transfer discounts offered to valued buyers (clients) on to the sellers (workers) matched with them, instead of reducing its own margins. As a result, actors with the same resource endowments receive different prices depending on the relationships among other exchange partners in a given triadic network of ties. Using qualitative fieldwork, I elaborate on the mechanisms that make the quantitative results feasible, and I discuss the implications for our understanding of the processes, dynamics, and market stratification consequences of brokerage.
Online Migration for Geo-distributed Storage Systems

We consider the problem of migrating user data between data centers. We introduce distributed storage overlays, a simple abstraction that represents data as stacked layers in different places. Overlays can be readily used to cache data objects, migrate these caches, and migrate the home of data objects.We implement overlays as part of a key-value object store called Nomad, designed to span many data centers. Using Nomad, we compare overlays against commonmigration approaches and show that overlays are more flexible and impose less overhead. To drive migration decisions, we propose policies for predicting the location of future accesses, focusing on a web mail application.We evaluate themigration policies using real traces of user activity from Hotmail.
The Struggles of First-Year Teachers: Investigating Support Mechanisms

Elementary, middle school, and high school principals have a powerful impact on the schools in their charge. These lead administrators mold the atmosphere of a school and, in turn, the feelings of the teachers who work in it. The current teacher shortage combined with the demands of standards-based education has made retaining new teachers a critical issue (DarlingHammond 1997; 2000). Thus, first-year teachers require special support to ensure that they become highly qualified veteran teachers, rather than casualties of teacher attrition (Moir and Gless 2001). The purpose of this study was to determine if the amount of support first-year teachers perceived they received from their principals was significant compared to the total amount of support they believed they received. Moreover, a qualitative analysis of the participants' comments was conducted. The insights gleaned from these comments may prove beneficial to principals in their efforts to support their first-year teachers.
AdeLE First Prototype: Experiences Made

In this paper we describe first experiences with AdeLE prototype, a framework for adaptive e-learning utilising both eye tracking and content tracking technology. We outline features of the first prototype and their relevance for the user. We report more in detail about current research challenges where we observe users’ learning behaviour in real time by monitoring characteristics such as objects and areas of focus, time spent on objects, frequency of visits, and sequences in which content is consumed. This research is focused on analysing eye-movement patters during learning and linking these patterns with cognitive processes. Possible areas of application are described, such as using the information about the position of the eye for providing additional context specific information to the learner. The framework ensures not only adaptivity to the users' preferences, knowledge level and the real-time tracking of their behaviour, but also the relevance, accuracy and reliability of the knowledge provided.
Differential Cholesterol Binding by Class II Fusion Proteins Determines Membrane Fusion Properties

ABSTRACT The class II fusion proteins of the alphaviruses and flaviviruses mediate virus infection by driving the fusion of the virus membrane with that of the cell. These fusion proteins are triggered by low pH, and their structures are strikingly similar in both the prefusion dimer and the postfusion homotrimer conformations. Here we have compared cholesterol interactions during membrane fusion by these two groups of viruses. Using cholesterol-depleted insect cells, we showed that fusion and infection by the alphaviruses Semliki Forest virus (SFV) and Sindbis virus were strongly promoted by cholesterol, with similar sterol dependence in laboratory and field isolates and in viruses passaged in tissue culture. The E1 fusion protein from SFV bound cholesterol, as detected by labeling with photocholesterol and by cholesterol extraction studies. In contrast, fusion and infection by numerous strains of the flavivirus dengue virus (DV) and by yellow fever virus 17D were cholesterol independent, and the DV fusion protein did not show significant cholesterol binding. SFV E1 is the first virus fusion protein demonstrated to directly bind cholesterol. Taken together, our results reveal important functional differences conferred by the cholesterol-binding properties of class II fusion proteins.
Expertise, Credibility, and Influence: How Teachers Can Influence Policy, Advance Research, and Improve Performance

While many efforts to foster teacher leadership focus on the power, authority, and control that can come with teachers’ formal positions in organizational hierarchies, case studies of 4 teachers document how expertise, credibility, and influence can come together in teachers’ activities regardless of the formal positions they hold. These teachers’ expertise emerged from investigations of issues that were of concern to them in their own classrooms and schools. Through these investigations, they developed representations that both helped them to articulate their own ideas and facilitated the sharing of their work in a variety of different contexts. The connections these teachers made provided them with new perspectives, helped them to build their credibility, and enabled them to gain access to individuals who served as translators, advocates, and amplifiers for their work. Despite conditions that provided little support for—and often significant discouragement from—sharing their work and ideas, their experiences suggest some of the ways that schools, school systems, and reform networks can build on the ideas, energy, and influence of teachers both in the classroom and out.
Operating system support for dynamic code loading in sensor networks

Sensor network operating systems have to operate with limited hardware resources. Constraints on power consumption greatly reduce the resources available to such an operating system. Therefore, current systems restrict application flexibility and tend to impose certain programming paradigms, such as event-driven programming. The Arena operating system is a special-purpose embedded operating system that has the potential to overcome these problems. The operating system is based on a strict separation of mechanism and policy. All operating system policies are placed in user-level libraries. These libraries can be loaded and replaced using a dynamic code loader, in order to configure the operating system dynamically. The dynamic code loader can also be used to load and replace arbitrary application components
Prevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency viruses, and evaluation of risk factors for transmission: Report of a population screening in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV are common blood-borne infections unevenly distributed across regions in Nigeria. Few population-based prevalence studies have been done in Nigeria. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV and risk factors for infection with these viruses in a Nigerian population. METHODS Hepatitis B surface antigen, anti-HCV and HIV were assayed in 1 498 healthy adult participants. A structured questionnaire was used to assess risk factors for viral acquisition. Bivariate analysis was used to compare differences in sociodemographic characteristics. Significant risk factors were identified by stepwise logistic regression. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS The prevalences of HBV, HCV and HIV were 8.8%, 10.0% and 12.9%, respectively, with urban/rural disparity. HBV/HCV positivity was higher among males than females. The reverse was true for HIV. Age was significantly associated with being HBV-, HCV- or HIV-positive. Communal use of a toothbrush was significantly associated with HBV positivity in the final model (odds ratio 2.46, 95% confidence interval 1.45 - 4.18). CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV infection is high in Nigeria, with urban/rural disparity. HCV may be more of a public health concern than HBV in some communities. Population-based studies are required to provide vital data to inform optimal national control strategies.
Thermus anatoliensis sp. nov., a thermophilic bacterium from geothermal waters of Buharkent, Turkey

A Gram‐stain‐negative, lack of motility, catalase‐ and oxidase‐ positive bacterium (strain MT1T) was isolated from Buharkent hot spring in Aydin, Turkey. Its taxonomy was investigated using a polyphasic approach. The strain was able to grow at 45–80 °C, pH 5.5–10.5 and with a NaCI tolerance up to 2.0% (w/v). Strain MT1T was able to utilize d‐mannitol and l‐arabinose, not able to utilize d‐cellobiose as sole carbon source. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that the strain belonged to the genus Thermus; strain MT1T detected low‐level similarities of 16S rRNA gene sequences (below 97%) compared with all other species in this genus. The predominant fatty acids of strain MT1T were iso‐C15:0 (43.0%) and iso‐C17:0 (27.4%). Polar lipid analysis revealed a major phospholipid, one major glycolipid, one major aminophospholipid, two minor aminolipids, one minor phospholipid, and several minor glycolipids. The major isoprenoid quinone was MK‐8. The DNA G+C content of MT1T was 69.6 mol%. On the basis of a taxonomic study using a polyphasic approach, strain MT1T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Thermus, for which the name Thermus anatoliensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MT1T (=NCCB 100425T =LMG 26880T).
BPH Gene Expression Profile Associated to Prostate Gland Volume

The aim of the current study was to analyze gene expression profiles in benign prostatic hyperplasia and to compare them with phenotypic properties. Thirty-seven specimens of benign prostatic hyperplasia were obtained from symptomatic patients undergoing surgery. RNA was extracted and hybridized to Affymetrix Chips containing 54,000 gene expression probes. Gene expression profiles were analyzed using cluster, TreeView, and significance analysis of microarrays softwares. In an initial unsupervised analysis, our 37 samples clustered hierarchically in 2 groups of 18 and 19 samples, respectively. Five clinical parameters were statistically different between the 2 groups: in group 1 compared with group 2, patients had larger prostate glands, had higher prostate specific antigen levels, were more likely to be treated by α blockers, to be operated by prostatectomy, and to have major irritative symptoms. The sole independent parameter associated with this dichotome clustering, however, was the prostate gland volume. Therefore, the role of prostate volume was explored in a supervised analysis. Gene expression of prostate glands <60 mL and >60 mL were compared using significance analysis of microarrays and 227 genes were found differentially expressed between the 2 groups (>2 change and false discovery rate of <5%). Several specific pathways including growth factors genes, cell cycle genes, apoptose genes, inflammation genes, and androgen regulated genes, displayed major differences between small and large prostate glands.
Tri6 Is a Global Transcription Regulator in the Phytopathogen Fusarium graminearum

In F. graminearum, the transcriptional regulator Tri6 is encoded within the trichothecene gene cluster and regulates genes involved in the biosynthesis of the secondary metabolite deoxynivalenol (DON). The Tri6 protein with its Cys2His2 zinc-finger may also conform to the class of global transcription regulators. This class of global transcriptional regulators mediate various environmental cues and generally responds to the demands of cellular metabolism. To address this issue directly, we sought to find gene targets of Tri6 in F. graminearum grown in optimal nutrient conditions. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by Illumina sequencing (ChIP-Seq) revealed that in addition to identifying six genes within the trichothecene gene cluster, Tri1, Tri3, Tri6, Tri7, Tri12 and Tri14, the ChIP-Seq also identified 192 additional targets potentially regulated by Tri6. Functional classification revealed that, among the annotated genes, ∼40% are associated with cellular metabolism and transport and the rest of the target genes fall into the category of signal transduction and gene expression regulation. ChIP-Seq data also revealed Tri6 has the highest affinity toward its own promoter, suggesting that this gene could be subject to self-regulation. Electro mobility shift assays (EMSA) performed on the promoter of Tri6 with purified Tri6 protein identified a minimum binding motif of GTGA repeats as a consensus sequence. Finally, expression profiling of F. graminearum grown under nitrogen-limiting conditions revealed that 49 out of 198 target genes are differentially regulated by Tri6. The identification of potential new targets together with deciphering novel binding sites for Tri6, casts new light into the role of this transcriptional regulator in the overall growth and development of F. graminearum.
Individually considerate transformational leadership behaviour and self sacrifice

Purpose – This study aims to investigate how leaders report enacting individually considerate transformational leadership behaviour. More specifically, the extent to which they report engaging in supportive, developmental or self‐sacrificial aspects of this behaviour.Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 51 senior leaders (21 female and 30 male) in the public and private sectors across five provinces in Canada. A blended grounded theory approach was utilised and suggestions for future research are presented.Findings – Leaders reported being more likely to engage in supportive (59 percent) than developmental (41 percent) individually considerate transformational leadership behaviour. Further, male leaders were less likely than female leaders to report engaging in development in self‐sacrificing ways (21 percent versus 62 percent). Research limitations/implications – This study extends the leadership literature to better understand the behavioural aspects of individual .
Different phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate asymmetries in yeast and mammalian autophagosomes revealed by a new electron microscopy technique

Phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PtdIns3P) is a phospholipid essential for autophagy, but the detailed distribution of PtdIns3P in the membrane of autophagosomes, autophagic bodies, and other organelles is unclear due to technical difficulties. In the present study, we examined PtdIns3P distribution in autophagic membranes with an electron microscopy method called the quick-freeze freeze-fracture replica labeling method (QF-FRL), which can define the distribution of membrane lipids at the nanometer scale. In this method, membranes are split into 2 leaflets so that membrane asymmetry, i.e., differences between the 2 leaflets, can be defined unambiguously. As a result, PtdIns3P in the yeast autophagosome was found to exist much more abundantly in the lumenal leaflet (i.e., the leaflet facing the space between the outer and inner autophagosomal membranes) than in the cytoplasmic leaflet. In contrast, PtdIns3P in the mammalian autophagosome was confined to the cytoplasmic leaflet, showing an opposite asymmetry from that found in yeast. In yeast deleted for 2 cytoplasmic PtdIns3P phosphatases, Ymr1 and Sjl3, PtdIns3P distributed in an equivalent density in the 2 leaflets of the autophagosome membrane, suggesting that the asymmetry in wild-type yeast is generated as a result of unilateral PtdIns3P hydrolysis. The contrasting PtdIns3P distribution revealed in the present study suggested that formation of autophagic membranes may proceed in different ways in yeast and mammals.
The Xavier Module – Information Processing of Treebanks

This paper aims to introduce the Xavier module, a program package to process Treebanks (in particular, the Sejong Korean Treebank). In this paper, the procedure of implementing Xavier is discussed, and main usage of the program is also provided. Though this paper focuses on the Sejong Korean Treebank, Xavier is also applicable to other Treebanks, such as the Penn Treebanks, because it has been designed data-independently. In addition, Xavier is freely available, so those who want to study linguistic phenomena based on Treebanks can take advantage of Xavier.
New frog family from India reveals an ancient biogeographical link with the Seychelles

About 96% of the more than 4,800 living anuran species belong to the Neobatrachia or advanced frogs. Because of the extremely poor representation of these animals in the Mesozoic fossil record, hypotheses on their early evolution have to rely largely on extant taxa. Here we report the discovery of a burrowing frog from India that is noticeably distinct from known taxa in all anuran families. Phylogenetic analyses of 2.8 kilobases of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA unambiguously designate this frog as the sister taxon of Sooglossidae, a family exclusively occurring on two granitic islands of the Seychelles archipelago. Furthermore, molecular clock analyses uncover the branch leading to both taxa as an ancient split in the crown-group Neobatrachia. Our discovery discloses a lineage that may have been more diverse on Indo-Madagascar in the Cretaceous period, but now only comprises four species on the Seychelles and a sole survivor in India. Because of its very distinct morphology and an inferred origin that is earlier than several neobatrachian families, we recognize this frog as a new family.
Rumen and Cecum Microbiomes in Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) Are Changed in Response to a Lichen Diet and May Affect Enteric Methane Emissions

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) are large Holarctic herbivores whose heterogeneous diet has led to the development of a unique gastrointestinal microbiota, essential for the digestion of arctic flora, which may include a large proportion of lichens during winter. Lichens are rich in plant secondary metabolites, which may affect members of the gut microbial consortium, such as the methane-producing methanogenic archaea. Little is known about the effect of lichen consumption on the rumen and cecum microbiotas and how this may affect methanogenesis in reindeer. Here, we examined the effects of dietary lichens on the reindeer gut microbiota, especially methanogens. Samples from the rumen and cecum were collected from two groups of reindeer, fed either lichens (Ld: n = 4), or a standard pelleted feed (Pd: n = 3). Microbial densities (methanogens, bacteria and protozoa) were quantified using quantitative real-time PCR and methanogen and bacterial diversities were determined by 454 pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA genes. In general, the density of methanogens were not significantly affected (p>0.05) by the intake of lichens. Methanobrevibacter constituted the main archaeal genus (>95% of reads), with Mbr. thaueri CW as the dominant species in both groups of reindeer. Bacteria belonging to the uncharacterized Ruminococcaceae and the genus Prevotella were the dominant phylotypes in the rumen and cecum, in both diets (ranging between 16–38% total sequences). Bacteria belonging to the genus Ruminococcus (3.5% to 0.6%; p = 0.001) and uncharacterized phylotypes within the order Bacteroidales (8.4% to 1.3%; p = 0.027), were significantly decreased in the rumen of lichen-fed reindeer, but not in the cecum (p = 0.2 and p = 0.087, respectively). UniFrac-based analyses showed archaeal and bacterial libraries were significantly different between diets, in both the cecum and the rumen (vegan::Adonis: pseudo-F<0.05). Based upon previous literature, we suggest that the altered methanogen and bacterial profiles may account for expected lower methane emissions from lichen-fed reindeer.