Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A K / N Attack-Resilient ICT Shield for SCADA Systems , with State Based Attack Detection

The security of Critical Infrastructures has become a prominent problem with the advent of modern ICT technologies used to improve the performance and the features of Process Control Systems. Several scientific works have showed how Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition Systems (SCADA), i.e. the systems that control industrial installations, are exposed to cyber-attacks. Traditional ICT security countermeasures (e.g. classic Firewalls, Antiviruses and IDS) fail in providing a complete protection to these systems since the needs of SCADA systems are different from those of traditional ICT for which security tools have been developed (Office PCs, TCP/IP communication protocols etc.). In this paper we present an innovative approach to the protection of SCADA systems based on three key concepts: Critical State based event correlation, SCADA protocols filtering and K-survivability.
The Age-Adjusted Value of a Statistical Life : Evidence from Vehicle Choice

In this paper I estimate an age-adjusted value of statistical life (VSL) by examining consumer automobile purchases. Many public policies target the health and safety of older people, but most VSL estimates come from hedonic wage regressions with few older workers and no retirees. Although underrepresented in the labor force, senior citizens account for a sizeable share of vehicle acquisitions (around 12 percent). Using automobile purchase decisions I am able to extend the range of revealed preference evidence to include individuals up to 85 years old. Combining information on vehicle holdings and use, household attributes, used vehicle prices, and yearly fatal accidents for each make, model, and vintage automobile, I use a multinomial choice framework to model the vehicle purchase decision. For each age group I estimate a separate willingness to pay for reduced mortality by comparing the relative importance of fatality risk and annualized cost. I also employ a control function approach using vehicle crash test results to account for potential bias from individuals sorting into certain vehicle types. On average I find that seniors and non-seniors display similar VSLs, but that these averages mask a significant inverted-U-shaped VSL function that ranges from $1.6 to $17.1 million. Overall the results of this study corroborate the growing consensus on the shape and scale of the age-VSL relationship and highlight the importance of considering the specific age of affected individuals when evaluating the benefits of reduced mortality risk. Abstract word count: 237 JEL classifications: J17, K32, I12
Tacit Collusion with Low‐Price Guarantees

Existing studies on low‐price guarantees (LPGs) typically employ static models and the results are sensitive to modeling assumptions such as the type of guarantees, hassle costs and consumer heterogeneity. In contrast, we employ a fully dynamic model and show that LPGs robustly facilitate tacit collusion, by reducing a deviating firm's immediate deviation profit. This difference of results is because in a static model, any equilibrium has to be immune from any deviation, including infinitesimal deviation. In a dynamic model, however, one can ignore infinitesimal deviations since firms never have an incentive for such deviations.
Joint reconstruction of the initial pressure and speed of sound distributions from combined photoacoustic and ultrasound tomography measurements

The initial pressure and speed of sound (SOS) distributions cannot both be stably recovered from photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) measurements alone. Adjunct ultrasound computed tomography (USCT) measurements can be employed to estimate the SOS distribution. Under the conventional image reconstruction approach for combined PACT/USCT systems, the SOS is estimated from the USCT measurements alone and the initial pressure is estimated from the PACT measurements by use of the previously estimated SOS. This approach ignores the acoustic information in the PACT measurements and may require many USCT measurements to accurately reconstruct the SOS. In this work, a joint reconstruction method where the SOS and initial pressure distributions are simultaneously estimated from combined PACT/USCT measurements is proposed. This approach allows accurate estimation of both the initial pressure distribution and the SOS distribution while requiring few USCT measurements.
Trafficking of Leishmania donovani promastigotes in non‐lytic compartments in neutrophils enables the subsequent transfer of parasites to macrophages

Inoculation of Leishmania (L.) spp. promastigotes in the dermis of mammals by blood‐feeding sand flies can be accompanied by the rapid recruitment of neutrophils, inflammatory monocytes and dendritic cells. Despite the presence of these lytic leucocytes, parasitism is efficiently established. We show here that Leishmania donovani promastigotes are targeted to two different compartments in neutrophils. The compartments harbouring either damaged or non‐damaged parasites were characterized at the electron microscopy (EM) level using the glucose 6‐phosphatase cytochemistry and endosome–phagosome fusion assays. One involves the contribution of lysosomes leading to the formation of highly lytic compartments where parasites are rapidly degraded. The other is lysosome‐independent and involves the contribution of a compartment displaying some features of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) where parasites are protected from degradation. Using genetically modified parasites, we show that the promastigote surface lipophosphoglycan (LPG) is required to inhibit lysosome fusion and maintain parasites in neutrophil compartments displaying ER features. L. donovani‐harbouring neutrophils that eventually enter apoptosis can be phagocytosed by macrophages enabling the stealth entry of parasites into their final replicative host cells. Thus, the ability of L. donovani to avoid trafficking into lysosomes‐derived compartments in short‐lived neutrophils constitutes a key process for the subsequent establishment of long‐term parasitism.
Examination of the roles of glycoprotein Ib and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa in platelet deposition on an artificial surface using clinical antiplatelet agents and monoclonal antibody blockade.

The mechanism of platelet thrombus growth on an artificial surface is incompletely understood. While glycoprotein (GP)Ib and GPIIb/IIIa are required for normal attachment and thrombus formation on subendothelium, their roles in platelet deposition to artificial surfaces remain unclear. Using selected platelet inhibitors (aspirin [ASA], low molecular weight dextran, monoclonal antibodies 10E5 [v GPIIb/IIIa], and 6D1 [GPIb]) we examined the mechanism of platelet deposition to polyethylene (PE) surfaces under steady laminar and oscillatory flow conditions. Polyethylene-100 (PE-100) tubes (0.86 mm internal diameter) were perfused under steady laminar flow with citrated human whole blood reconstituted with 111indium-labeled platelets at 312 seconds-1 shear rate in the presence and absence of platelet inhibitors. The effect of oscillatory flow on platelet deposition was examined in a microwell system using 3/16-inch diameter discs of National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute primary reference PE as the test surface. ASA and dextran did not significantly (P greater than .05) inhibit platelet deposition in laminar flow (not tested in oscillatory). Antibody 10E5 was a potent inhibitor (laminar less than 1%, P less than .0001, oscillatory less than 1.6%, P less than .01) of platelet deposition in both systems, and in this case, true adhesion (first attached layer) was blocked. Antibody 6D1 unexpectedly inhibited 70% of platelet deposition (P less than .01) in steady laminar flow and 56.5% in oscillatory flow (P less than .01). Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated platelets atop platelets in the controls, rare platelets in the 10E5 group, and a patchy monolayer of platelets in the 6D1 group. Transmission electron microscopy of cross-sections confirmed these observations. We conclude that the adhesion of the first platelet layer to an artificial surface requires GPIIb/IIIa. The data also suggest that GPIb is required for the development of the second layer in vertical platelet thrombus growth.
Congressional Party Switchers and Committee Assignments: Who Gets 'What, When, How?' *

What are the consequences of party switching for members of Congress? While the roll-call consequences and the electoral consequences of congressional party switching have previously been studied, other consequences of party defections have yet to be systematically explored. In this paper, I examine the committee assignments of House party switchers and argue that party leaders seek to reward members of the opposing party who join their ranks. Using committee assignment data from the 94 th House (1975-76) through the 107 th House (2001- 02), I show that party switchers were more likely than non-switchers to be the beneficiaries of violations of the seniority norm. Findings from this paper will be of interest to scholars of parties and Congress, and fill a gap in the literature on party switching.
Liquidation Costs and Accounting Data

We examine the relation between liquidation costs and proxies for those costs that have been used in prior capital structure studies. Liquidation costs in our sample have a strong negative relation to the fixed-to-total assets ratio, and a strong positive relation to the industry market-to-book assets ratio. The relation between liquidation costs and research and development expense is positive, but weak. The adjusted R-squared values of 10% to 20% indicate that much of the variation in liquidation costs is left unexplained by the accounting variables typically used to proxy these costs.
A risk management framework and model for pension investment funds

Risk management in finance is an increasingly important area, which has been highlighted in the midst of the global credit crisis. In this paper, we propose a new risk management model for pension investment funds: a risk management framework and risk measure based on modelling the pension fund value as an option. We review risk management, discussing risk management frameworks and risk management measures. We discuss the advantages of our option-based risk management model and framework and conduct numerical experiments on our pension fund portfolio. We show that our risk management framework and model provides advantageous insight into managing pension funds.
Discovering the Voices of the Segregated: Oral History of the Educational Experiences of the Turkish People of Sumter County, South Carolina

DISCOVERING THE VOICES OF THE SEGREGATED: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE TURKISH PEOPLE OF SUMTER COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA by Terri Ann Ognibene This qualitative study is a narrative investigation that analyzes the educational experiences of the segregated Turkish people of Sumter County, South Carolina during the integration movement. Four participants share their stories of how attending an elementary school for Turkish students affected their integration into White high schools. Oral history is the specific research methodology that is used. The theoretical framework that guides this study is critical-narrative theory. Through critical research, the researcher analyzes how “the social institution of school is structured such that the interests of some members and classes of society are preserved and perpetuated at the expense of others” (Merriam, 2001, p. 5). Narrative theory also informs this study. Connelly and Clandinin (1990) explain that the heart of narrative analysis is “the ways humans experience the world” (p. 2). The research questions that guide this study are the following: (1) How do the Turkish people of Sumter County, South Carolina, who attended public school during the early part of the 20 century, describe their educational experiences? , and (2) What are the perceptions of the Turkish people regarding the integration movement, educational power struggles and oppression? Through in-depth interviews, participants discuss (a) thoughts on being Turkish, (b) feelings of isolation, (c) experiences at the Dalzell School, (d) experiences at the high schools (Edmunds and Hillcrest), (e) attitudes toward other ethnic groups, and (f) perceptions of the integration movement. The overwhelming evidence from interviews supports Freire’s (2006) two stages of the pedagogy of the oppressed. Freire states, In the first, the oppressed unveil the world of oppression and through the praxis commit themselves to its transformation. In the second stage, in which the reality of oppression has already been transformed, this pedagogy ceases to belong to the oppressed and becomes a pedagogy of all people in the process of permanent liberation. (p. 54) The educational implications of this study offer insight into how today’s educators are called to “renew our minds so that the way we live, teach, and work can reflect our joy in cultural diversity, our passion for justice, and our love of freedom” (bell hooks, 1994, p.34). DISCOVERING THE VOICES OF THE SEGREGATED: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE TURKISH PEOPLE OF SUMTER COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA by Terri Ann Ognibene
The roles of endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial apoptotic signaling pathway in quercetin‐mediated cell death of human prostate cancer PC‐3 cells

Prostate cancer has its highest incidence and is becoming a major concern. Many studies have shown that traditional Chinese medicine exhibited antitumor responses. Quercetin, a natural polyphenolic compound, has been shown to induce apoptosis in many human cancer cell lines. Although numerous evidences show multiple possible signaling pathways of quercetin in apoptosis, there is no report to address the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in quercetin‐induced apoptosis in PC‐3 cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of quercetin on the induction of the apoptotic pathway in human prostate cancer PC‐3 cells. Cells were treated with quercetin for 24 and 48 h and at various doses (50–200 μM), and cell morphology and viability decreased significantly in dose‐dependent manners. Flow cytometric assay indicated that quercetin at 150 μM caused G0/G1 phase arrest (31.4–49.7%) and sub‐G1 phase cells (19.77%) for 36 h treatment and this effect is a time‐dependent manner. Western blotting analysis indicated that quercetin induces the G0/G1 phase arrest via decreasing the levels of CDK2, cyclins E, and D proteins. Quercetin also stimulated the protein expression of ATF, GRP78, and GADD153 which is a hall marker of ER stress. Furthermore, PC‐3 cells after incubation with quercetin for 48 h showed an apoptotic cell death and DNA damage which are confirmed by DAPI and Comet assays, leading to decrease the antiapoptotic Bcl‐2 protein and level of ΔΨm, and increase the proapoptotic Bax protein and the activations of caspase‐3, ‐8, and ‐9. Moreover, quercetin promoted the trafficking of AIF protein released from mitochondria to nuclei. These data suggest that quercetin may induce apoptosis by direct activation of caspase cascade through mitochondrial pathway and ER stress in PC‐3 cells. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 29: 428–439, 2014.
Factor Shares and Inequality in the UK

Trends in factor shares in both national and household income are estimated from the national accounts and compared to those derived from the FES household survey in order to obtain more reliable measures of the contribution of changes in factor shares to the contemporary growth in income inequality. The national accounts indicate that upward trends in the shares of investment-related and self-employment incomes have contributed directly to the rise in inequality during the past 20 years--though to a generally secondary extent until 1986 at least. The paper outlines the importance and the difficulty of including appropriate measures of capital gains and private benefit income in estimates of household investment-related income, whether the national accounts or household surveys are used for evidence, indicating the continuing value of national income shares as a guide to the longer-run implications of factor shares for inequality. Copyright 1996 by Oxford University Press.
Service Workers’ Chain Reactions to Daily Customer Mistreatment: Behavioral Linkages, Mechanisms, and Boundary Conditions

Drawing on the stressor–emotion model, we examine how customer mistreatment can evoke service workers’ passive forms of deviant behaviors (i.e., work withdrawal behavior [WWB]) and negative impacts on their home life (i.e., work–family conflict [WFC]), and whether individuals’ core self-evaluations and customer service training can buffer the negative effects of customer mistreatment. Using the experience sampling method, we collect daily data from 77 customer service employees for 10 consecutive working days, yielding 546 valid daily responses. The results show that daily customer mistreatment increases service workers’ daily WWB and WFC through negative emotions. Furthermore, employees with high core self-evaluations and employees who received customer service training are less likely to experience negative emotions when faced with customer mistreatment, and thus are less likely to engage in WWB or provoke WFC.
Dependency Ratio, Foreign Capital Inflows and the Rate of Savings in Pakistan

Domestic resource mobilization is one of the key determinants of sustained economic growth. The savings rate in Pakistan is sensitive to per capita income, dependency ratio, real interest rate and foreign capital inflows. Dependency ratio and foreign capital inflows exert a depressing effect on savings while income and real interest rate have a positive effect. Realistic interest rate policies in the context of liberalized financial markets are required to mobilize greater savings.
Value Chains and Trade Policy

Summaries Value‐chain and traditional trade policy analysis are complementary: each throws light on areas overlooked by the other. Value‐chain analysis helps to identify who gains from market imperfections and how the distribution of gains can be altered. Trade policy analysis highlights the extent to which value‐chain dynamics are influenced by market rents. The article uses the examples of sugar and horticulture to illustrate the potential gains from combining the two methodologies. It demonstrates that in markets that combine heavy trade protection against some suppliers with preferences for others there exists a relationship of mutual dependency between the elements of the value chain. The implications of this for the distribution of value merit further investigation.
Altering the Structure of Carbohydrate Storage Granules in the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. Strain PCC 6803 through Branching-Enzyme Truncations

ABSTRACT Carbohydrate storage is an important element of metabolism in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of plants. Understanding how to manipulate the metabolism and storage of carbohydrate is also an important factor toward harnessing cyanobacteria for energy production. While most cyanobacteria produce glycogen, some have been found to accumulate polysaccharides in the form of water-insoluble α-glucan similar to amylopectin. Notably, this alternative form, termed “semi-amylopectin,” forms in cyanobacterial species harboring three branching-enzyme (BE) homologs, designated BE1, BE2, and BE3. In this study, mutagenesis of the branching genes found in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 was performed in order to characterize their possible impact on polysaccharide storage granule morphology. N-terminal truncations were made to the native BE gene of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. In addition, one of the two native debranching enzyme genes was replaced with a heterologous debranching enzyme gene from a semi-amylopectin-forming strain. Growth and glycogen content of mutant strains did not significantly differ from those of the wild type, and ultrastructure analysis revealed only slight changes to granule morphology. However, analysis of chain length distribution by anion-exchange chromatography revealed modest changes to the branched-chain length profile. The resulting glycogen shared structure characteristics similar to that of granules isolated from semi-amylopectin-producing strains. IMPORTANCE This study is the first to investigate the impact of branching-enzyme truncations on the structure of storage carbohydrates in cyanobacteria. The results of this study are an important contribution toward understanding the relationship between the enzymatic repertoire of a cyanobacterial species and the morphology of its storage carbohydrates.
Making a career of it? Hospitality students’ future perspectives: an Anglo-Dutch study

The aim of this research is to establish students’ perceptions of the international hospitality industry and, specifically, to establish the likelihood of the student seeking employment in the industry after graduating, the region/country where the student intends seeking employment, the functional area/sector which is most attractive to the student and the position which the student expects to hold five and ten years after graduating. The research is based on a questionnaire administered at two universities offering hospitality management degrees, one in the UK, the other in The Netherlands. The main findings are that students have a distinct preference for certain hotel departments, hotel chains and sectors of the industry. Most expect to be general manager/corporate manager ten years after graduating. As the degree progresses, the students’ perception of the industry deteriorates. The paper concludes by examining issues relating to the image of the industry and the development of hospitality curricula.
Design and Implementation of Practical Step Detection Algorithm for Wrist-Worn Devices

In recent years, interest in wrist-worn devices has been growing, as market of wearable activity tracking devices have been enlarged. But, many wrist-worn devices have three main problems that activity tracking algorithms for wrist-worn devices should overcome: lack of sensor variety due to power consumption, low computing power, and noise from various sensor-carrying modes and walking velocities. This paper discusses an activity tracking, especially regarding step detection algorithm using three-axis accelerometer for wrist-worn devices. The proposed algorithm consists of three phases, which address the problems of wrist-worn devices. The first data preprocessing phase calculates the Euclidean norm of the acceleration vector. It enables the algorithm to track the movement of a device only with the acceleration data. The second data filtering phase reduces the noise with a simple digital low-pass filter. Then, the third peak detection phase adopts a sign-of-slope method and average threshold method to accurately detect the step peaks under different sensor-carrying modes and velocity conditions. A wrist-worn hardware prototype is designed and realized for algorithm evaluation. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm is superior to the compared existing algorithm and commercial devices. The averaged detection error is approximately 1% in different test conditions.