Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-scaling networks for content distribution

Peer-to-peer networks have often been touted as the ultimate solution to scalability. Although cooperative techniques have been initially used almost exclusively for content lookup and sharing, one of the most promising application of the peer-to-peer paradigm is to capitalize the bandwidth of client peers to quickly distribute large content and withstand flash-crowds (i.e., a sudden increase in popularity of some online content). Cooperative content distribution is based on the premise that the capacity of a network is as high as the sum of the resources of its nodes: the more peers in the network, the higher its aggregate bandwidth, and the better it can scale and serve new peers. Such networks can thus spontaneously adapt to the demand by taking advantage of available resources. In this paper, we evaluate the use of peer-to-peer networks for content distribution under various system assumptions, such as peer arrival rates, bandwidth capacities, cooperation strategies, or peer lifetimes. We argue that the self-scaling and self-organizing properties of cooperative networks pave the way for cost-effective, yet highly efficient and robust content distribution.
Domoic Acid-Induced Neurotoxicity Is Mainly Mediated by the AMPA/KA Receptor: Comparison between Immature and Mature Primary Cultures of Neurons and Glial Cells from Rat Cerebellum

Domoic acid (DomA) is a naturally occurring shellfish toxin that can induce brain damage in mammalians. Neonates have shown increased sensitivity to DomA-induced toxicity, and prenatal exposure has been associated with e.g. decreased brain GABA levels, and increased glutamate levels. Here, we evaluated DomA-induced toxicity in immature and mature primary cultures of neurons and glial cells from rat cerebellum by measuring the mRNA levels of selected genes. Moreover, we assessed if the induced toxicity was mediated by the activation of the AMPA/KA and/or the NMDA receptor. The expression of all studied neuronal markers was affected after DomA exposure in both immature and mature cultures. However, the mature cultures seemed to be more sensitive to the treatment, as the effects were observed at lower concentrations and at earlier time points than for the immature cultures. The DomA effects were completely prevented by the antagonist of the AMPA/KA receptor (NBQX), while the antagonist of the NMDA receptor (APV) partly blocked the DomA-induced effects. Interestingly, the DomA-induced effect was also partly prevented by the neurotransmitter GABA. DomA exposure also affected the mRNA levels of the astrocytic markers in mature cultures. These DomA-induced effects were reduced by the addition of NBQX, APV, and GABA.
Closed-loop extended orthogonal space frequency block coding techniques for OFDM based broadband wireless access systems

A simple extended orthogonal space-frequency coded multiple input single output (MISO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmitter diversity technique for wireless communications over frequency selective fading channels is presented. The proposed technique utilizes OFDM to transform frequency selective fading channels into multiple flat fading sub-channels on which space-frequency coding is applied. A four-branch transmitter diversity system is implemented without bandwidth expansion and with only one receive antenna. The associated simulations verify that the four-branch transmitter diversity scheme achieves a significant improvement in average bit-error rate (BER) performance. The proposed scheme also outperforms the previously reported scheme due to Yu, Keroueden, and Yuan with only single phase feedback, and that improvement is retained with quantized feedback. Since the angle feedback is on a per tone basis, the feedback information would be too large for any practical OFDM system. However, we adopt a method which exploits the correlation among the feedback terms for the subcarriers, i.e. a group based quantization technique to reduce the feedback overhead significantly, rendering this scheme attractive to broadband wireless access systems. The performance improvement of convolutionally concatenated space-frequency block coding (CCSBC) schemes is also investigated.
Changes in parent motivation predicts changes in body mass index z-score (zBMI) and dietary intake among preschoolers enrolled in a family-based obesity intervention.

OBJECTIVES To examine whether changes in parent motivation over the course of a pediatric obesity intervention are significantly associated with long-term changes in treatment outcomes. METHODS Study hypotheses were tested with a secondary data analysis of a randomized controlled trial (N = 42). Study analyses tested whether baseline to posttreatment change in total score for a self-report parent motivation measure (Parent Motivation Inventory [PMI]) was significantly associated with baseline to 6-month follow-up changes in body mass index z-score (zBMI), dietary variables, and physical activity. RESULTS Increases in PMI were significantly associated with decreased zBMI, decreased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets, and increased consumption of artificially sweetened beverages. CONCLUSIONS Given that increases in parent motivation were associated with some treatment benefits, future research should evaluate the impact of directly assessing and targeting parent motivation on weight outcomes for preschoolers participating in a weight management program.
Distinct BRAF (V600E) and KRAS Mutations in High Microsatellite Instability Sporadic Colorectal Cancer in African Americans

Purpose: Colorectal cancer develops through genetic, epigenetic, and environmental events that result in uncontrolled cell proliferation. Colorectal cancer incidence and mortality is higher in African Americans (AA) than in the general population. Here, we carried out a molecular analysis of sporadic colorectal cancer tumors from AAs to investigate possible explanations for the observed disparities. Experimental Design: A total of 222 AA colorectal cancer tumors were analyzed for microsatellite instability (MSI) for protein expression of two DNA mismatch repair genes, MLH1 and MSH2, by immunohistochemistry; for the methylation silencing of MLH1, p16, APC, and APC2 promoters by methylation-specific PCR; and for point mutations in two oncogenes, KRAS and BRAF, by sequencing. Results: In our sample, 19.8% of the AAs colorectal cancer tumors were MSI high (MSI-H) and did not associate with any of the clinicopathologic features, except tumor differentiation. Higher levels of inactive DNA mismatch repair proteins MLH1 (41%) and MSH2 (33%) were found by immunohistochemistry. Methylation-specific PCR analysis revealed a high level of methylation for MLH1 (66%), APC (53%), and APC2 (90%), but not for p16 (26%). BRAF mutations were only within the MSI-H tumors, whereas most (64%) of KRAS mutations were found within the non–MSI-H group. Conclusions:MLH1, MSH2, and BRAF alterations are significantly associated with MSI-H phenotype, unlike APC, APC2 and KRAS alterations. The prominent role of DNA mismatch repair gene suppression in MSI-H and a distinctive role of BRAF and KRAS mutations with respect to MSI status are supported by this study.
Euro and Co-movement of Jump Components in Realized Return Volatility ∗

We study jump components (defined as discontinuous price changes) in the financial markets before and after introduction of the Euro in 1999. It follows a framework for non-parametric estimating of the jump component in asset return volatility developed in Barndorff-Nielsen and Shephard (2004, 2005). Based on high frequency data (5 minute returns) from major stock and bond markets, we compute market realized volatility and bi-power realized volatility and estimate continuous path and jump components. We study evolution of correlations of the estimated jump components across the markets, depending on their distribution. We conclude that introduction of the Euro increased co-movement of jumps in financial markets in the participating countries compared to other markets. We find that effect is much stronger for fixed income than equity instruments (as expected). We associate the changes with integration of monetary policymaking in the Euro area countries. ) ∗Draft version. I am grateful to Laurence Ball and Jon Faust for comments. Special thanks to Jon Faust for providing the data. †Economist, Bank of America; e-mail: witold.czubala@gmail.com or witold.czubala@bankofamerica.com 1
As a part of the Arctic Ocean Model Intercomparison

[1] As a part of the Arctic Ocean Model Intercomparison Project, results from 10 Arctic ocean/ice models are intercompared over the period 1970 through 1999. Models’ monthly mean outputs are laterally integrated over two subdomains (Amerasian and Eurasian basins), then examined as functions of depth and time. Differences in such fields as averaged temperature and salinity arise from models’ differences in parameterizations and numerical methods and from different domain sizes, with anomalies that develop at lower latitudes carried into the Arctic. A systematic deficiency is seen as AOMIP models tend to produce thermally stratified upper layers rather than the ‘‘cold halocline’’, suggesting missing physics perhaps related to vertical mixing or to shelf-basin exchanges. Flow fields pose a challenge for intercomparison. We introduce topostrophy, the vertical component of V rD where V is monthly mean velocity and rD is the gradient of total depth, characterizing the tendency to follow topographic slopes. Positive topostrophy expresses a tendency for cyclonic ‘‘rim currents’’. Systematic differences of models’ circulations are found to depend strongly upon assumed roles of unresolved eddies.
OpF-STM: Optimized Persistent Overhead Fail-safety Software Transactional Memory in Non-volatile Memory

Non-volatile memory is emerged such as PCM and 3D XPoint. With the advent of Non-volatile memory, Software platforms have also been developed to manage Non-volatile memory areas. Recently those platforms support PTM system(Persistent transactional memory) which provides transaction system and guarantee crash-consistency of transaction at the main memory level. For ensuring crash-consistency of transaction, PTM system should use frequently hardware-instruction. Because ensuring persistent boundary has been changed volatile memory/storage to volatile cache/Non-volatile memory. This has a huge adverse effect on PTM system. In this paper, we propose a three techniques. Append-only dynamic log can support compact and dynamic log area. Lazy and bulk persistence aggressively delay persistence phase to commit phase. Non temporal persistence can provide enhanced memory copy function. Above techniques aim to reduce persistent overhead as many as possible. Our result shows that those techniques can enhance averagely 117% / 140% transaction performance.
The Impact of Surface Ligands and Synthesis Method on the Toxicity of Glutathione-Coated Gold Nanoparticles.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are increasingly used in biomedical applications, hence understanding the processes that affect their biocompatibility and stability are of significant interest. In this study, we assessed the stability of peptide-capped AuNPs and used the embryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a vertebrate system to investigate the impact of synthesis method and purity on their biocompatibility. Using glutathione (GSH) as a stabilizer, Au-GSH nanoparticles with identical core sizes were terminally modified with Tryptophan (Trp), Histidine (His) or Methionine (Met) amino acids and purified by either dialysis or ultracentrifugation. Au-GSH-(Trp)₂ purified by dialysis elicited significant morbidity and mortality at 200 µg/mL, Au-GSH-(His)₂ induced morbidity and mortality after purification by either method at 20 and 200 µg/mL, and Au-GSH-(Met)₂ caused only sublethal responses at 200 µg/mL. Overall, toxicity was significantly reduced and ligand structure was improved by implementing ultracentrifugation purifications at several stages during the multi-step synthesis and surface modification of Au-GSH nanoparticles. When carefully synthesized at high purity, peptide-functionalized AuNPs showed high biocompatibility in biological systems.
Re-envisaging and reinvigorating school–university practicum partnerships

ABSTRACT The study that provides the context for this article developed from a major overhaul of the practicum in an undergraduate initial teacher education degree in which practicum roles and relationships were re-envisaged. The aim was to reinvigorate university–school practicum relationships through the collaborative development of a practicum where teacher professional knowledge and university scholarly knowledge could come together in the service of student teacher learning. The article reports a qualitative study involving 72 participants from one university and four primary schools. Analysed through the lens of “third space” the findings indicated that relationship and role transformations undertaken by the participants, along with collaborative practice during the practicum, were key to reinvigorating the practicum. In the discussion, we examine the main factors that contributed to the development of a “third space” between the university and participating practicum schools, and also note some cautions related to this development.
On the design of abstract binding connectors for high performance computing component models

Some requirements of high-performance computing (HPC), mainly regarding parallel synchronization, are not met by the service connectors of standard commercial component models. Thus, this paper analyzes the usual extensions to the notion of service connector and provides alternative solutions based on type system theory, achieving a higher-level of abstraction. A notion of "abstract connector", adopted by HPE (the # Programming Environment), is presented.
Interactive Hierarchical Space Carving with Projector-based Calibrations

We present an interactive reconstruction system based on space carving. The user controls the camera and object positions and their impact on the reconstruction is immediately displayed. The flow of images is used first for silhouette carving, and then representative images are stored in a hemispherical structure for balanced color carving. Projected color points on the measured background or on the object (acquired by structured light) allow for automatic and adapted calibration of the camera. The octree object representation is central to our space carving algorithm: voxels are efficiently carved out at their largest size, images are treated at their appropriate level, and 3D regions are subdivided only when necessary. We conclude by analyzing our results and by discussing our acquired experience.
Fault Tolerant Network Coding

Consider a communication network in which a source node wishes to multicast information to some sink nodes on the network. In the traditional setting, every node can only pass on the data it receives from incoming links to the links leaving it. We consider an extended setting which gives the intermediate nodes more “power”. In our model, each node may send any linear combination of the received data on the outgoing links. Such protocols, known as Linear Network Coding schemes, have been proved to guarantee optimal multicast throughput (that is, the maximum number of different data packets the source can transmit to all the sinks in one execution of the protocol matches the theoretical bound). In this work, we address the problem of fault tolerance in network coding. More specifically, we are interested in obtaining reliable coding schemes which guarantee optimal (in a sense we shall explain later) throughput even when some edges stop functioning, or are corrupt by noise. We modify an existing algorithm to provide a centralized scheme for finding such codes that tolerate any failure pattern from a polynomially bounded set of possible failure patterns in a network. A failure pattern is a set of edges that fail (transmits a zero message). Our algorithm is rate optimal in the asymptotic limit with respect to the message packet size, in the sense that it sustains a flow rate equal to the minimum of the max-flows from the source to the sinks with the failed edges being deleted. Such codes could be utilized in networks where certain edges are prone to failure, and yet optimal throughput is expected regardless of the edges failing. We also present simple extensions which optimally tolerate corruption of edges by white noise (they transmit a purely random message).
Inference in Supervised latent Dirichlet allocation

Supervised latent Dirichlet allocation (Supervised-LDA) [1] is a probabilistic topic model that can be used for classification. One of the advantages of Supervised-LDA over unsupervised LDA is that it can potentially learn topics that are inline with the class label. The variational Bayes algorithm proposed in [1] for inference in Supervised-LDA suffers from high computational complexity. To address this issue, we develop computationally efficient inference methods for Supervised-LDA. Specifically, we present collapsed variational Bayes and MAP inference for parameter estimation in Supervised-LDA. Additionally, we present computationally efficient inference methods to determine the label of unlabeled data. We provide an empirical evaluation of the classification performance and computational complexity (training as well as classification runtime) of different inference methods for the Supervised-LDA model and a classifier based on probabilistic latent semantic analysis.
Bekir Savaş An application of extensive reading to English for academic purposes programs at tertiary level for functional academic literacy : A Turkish case-study

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A ug 2 01 6 brTPF : Bindings-Restricted Triple Pattern Fragments ( Extended Version ) ⋆

The Triple Pattern Fragment (TPF) interface is a recent prop osal for reducing server load in Web-based approaches to execute SPA RQL queries over public RDF datasets. The price for less overloaded servers i s a h gher client-side load and a substantial increase in network load (in terms of b oth the number of HTTP requests and data transfer). In this paper, we propose a slightly extended interface that allows clients to attach intermediate results to riple pattern requests. The response to such a request is expected to contain triples from the underlying dataset that do not only match the given triple pattern (as in the case of TPF), but that are guaranteed to contribute in a join with the given int ermediate result. Our hypothesis is that a distributed query execution using this extended interface can reduce the network load (in comparison to a pure TPF-based qu ry execution) without reducing the overall throughput of the client-serv er system significantly. Our main contribution in this paper is twofold: we empirical ly verify the hypothesis and provide an extensive experimental comparison of ou r pr posal and TPF.
Improving the Security of Internet Banking Applications by Using Multimodal Biometrics

Online banking applications are used by more and more people all over the world. Most of the banks are providing these services to their customers. The authentication methods varies from the basic user and password to username and a onetime password (OTP) generated by a virtual or a physical digipass. The common thing among authentication methods is that the login wepage is provided through a secure channel. Some banks have introduced (especially for testing purposes) the authentication using common biometric characteristics, like fingerprint, voice or keystroke recognition. This paper will present some of the most common online banking authentication methods, together with basic biometric characteristics that could be used in these applications. The security in internet banking applications can be improved by using biometrics for the authentication process. Also, the authors have developed an application for authentication of users using fingerprint as the main characteristic, which will be presented at the end of this paper.
DFSB: A Prototype of Distributed Storage System Based on LDPC

In this paper we present a prototype of distributed storage system based on LDPC called \emph{Distributed File StrongBox}(DFSB). DFSB is an archive-oriented system, and it is designed to guarantee high availability and security of distributed storage. This high availability is achieved through novel application of LDPC which is normally applied in communication protocols. We use LDPC to calculate redundant data blocks, which takes the place of RS code used in RAID6. Comparing with RS code, LDPC has higher probability of tolerating more failure blocks in distributed storage system for its Shanno Limit approaching property. We also consider the time overhead of searching users' information, which increases as a logarithmic function user group scale. To get constant time overhead, we propose an innovative indexing method using 16-tree. In addition, we provide an improved protocol for user authentication to protect communications between authorized clients and servers from some existed attacking.
Numerical Analysis of Methane/Oxygen Laser Ignition in a Subscale Combustion Chamber: Flame Development in Simulation and Experiment

Numerical investigations of the ignition of methane/oxygen in an experimental 400 N thruster have been done, employing four different combustion models. Two of them use reduced, global kinetic reaction mechanisms, while the other two depend on laminar flamelet formulations. Qualitative comparison of the cold flow before ignition in experiment and simulation is done before analyzing the flame development in experiment and simulations and evaluating the performance of the combustion models. While modeling of the cold flow is qualitatively accurate, the combustion models are unable to capture the flame acceleration and thus the pressure peak observed in the experiment.
Spatial protein quality control and the evolution of lineage-specific ageing

Propagation of a species requires periodic cell renewal to avoid clonal extinction. Sexual reproduction and the separation of germ cells from the soma provide a mechanism for such renewal, but are accompanied by an apparently mandatory ageing of the soma. Data obtained during the last decade suggest that a division of labour exists also between cells of vegetatively reproducing unicellular organisms, leading to the establishment of a soma-like and germ-like lineage with distinct fitness and longevity characteristics. This division of labour in both bacteria and yeast entails segregation of damaged and aggregated proteins such that the germ-like lineage is kept free of damage to the detriment of the soma-like lineage. In yeast, this spatial protein quality control (SQC) encompasses a CCT-chaperonin-dependent translocation and merging of cytotoxic protein aggregates. This process is regulated by Sir2, a protein deacetylase that modulates the rate of ageing in organisms ranging from yeast to worms and flies. Recent data also demonstrate that SQC is intimately integrated with the machinery establishing proper cell polarity and that this machinery is required for generating a soma-like and germ-like lineage in yeast. Deciphering the details of the SQC network may increase our understanding of the development of age-related protein folding disorders and shed light on the selective forces that paved the way for polarity and lineage-specific ageing to evolve.