Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Broadcast-Enhanced Key Predistribution Schemes

We present a formalisation of a category of schemes that we refer to as broadcast-enhanced key predistribution schemes (BEKPSs). These schemes are suitable for networks with access to a trusted base station and an authenticated broadcast channel. We demonstrate that the access to these extra resources allows for the creation of BEKPSs with advantages over key predistribution schemes such as flexibility and more efficient revocation. There are many possible ways to implement BEKPSs, and we propose a framework for describing and analysing them. In their paper “From Key Predistribution to Key Redistribution,” Cichoń et al. [2010] propose a scheme for “redistributing” keys to a wireless sensor network using a broadcast channel after an initial key predistribution. We classify this as a BEKPS and analyse it in that context. We provide simpler proofs of some results from their paper, give a precise analysis of the resilience of their scheme, and discuss possible modifications. We then study two scenarios where BEKPSs may be particularly desirable and propose a suitable family of BEKPSs for each case. We demonstrate that they are practical and efficient to implement, and our analysis shows their effectiveness in achieving suitable trade-offs between the conflicting priorities in resource-constrained networks.
Simplicity in complex times: Six principles for teaching the gifted

The world has become increasingly complex. Curriculum methods for the gifted are likewise. Extracted from these seminal and ongoing curriculum approaches are six rules based on best practices and research from our field, which can be grasped easily and applied by teachers anywhere. When teachers work from a set of principles they can adapt to needs of students and support growth, regardless of context. Using principles strengthens teaching and supports gifted students, and perhaps all students. The six principles include: a) focus on unique pattern of strengths, b) group students by interests or abilities at least part of the time, c) move as far and as fast in the basic skills as possible, d) enrich individual interests, e) offer mediation, counseling, mentoring and facilitation, and f) provide the tools for life-long learning.
The value of children in African countries – insights from studies on infertility

A number of studies have explored motives for parenthood in the Western industrialized world. These studies have documented that children are mostly desired for reasons relating to happiness and personal well-being. To date, limited data pertaining to parenthood motives in African countries exist. Insight into the value of children can, however, be derived from studies on infertility, as the negative repercussions of involuntary childlessness reflect the value of children to parents and the community. According to these studies children secure conjugal ties, offer social security, assist with labour, confer social status, secure rights of property and inheritance, provide continuity through re-incarnation and maintaining the family lineage, and satisfy emotional needs. Parenthood therefore appears to have more and, arguably, deeper roots in African communities when compared to industrialized countries.
A Graph-based Alignment Approach to Similarity between Climbing Routes

Reasoning about geographic features and feature types is a central functionality of spatial information retrieval and decision support systems. Measures of semantic similarity are such reasoning services which try to improve information retrieval by proposing similar features or types to a user’s query. A major challenge for similarity theories is the alignment process, i.e., how to determine which characteristics describing features or their types are compared. Most theories disregard the internal structure of features and types, i.e., the spatio-temporal sequence of their characteristics, and simply assume that they can be modeled as unstructured bags of characteristics. In this paper, we demonstrate how to account for the spatial sequence of characteristics without the need to alter the similarity measures as such. To demonstrate our approach, a climbing route recommendation portal is introduced which proposes similar climbing routes based on the user’s preferred routes.
On the Sybil attack detection in VANET

Since few years, Vehicular Ad hoc Networks deserve much attention. The development of wireless communication in VANET implies to take into account the need of security. In VANET, many attacks rely on having the attacker generate multiple identities to simulate multiple nodes: this is called the Sybil attack. In this paper, we propose a precise quantification of the effects of various assumptions (type of antenna, transmission signal strength) on the effectiveness of a Sybil attack.
HAlign: Fast multiple similar DNA/RNA sequence alignment based on the centre star strategy

MOTIVATION Multiple sequence alignment (MSA) is important work, but bottlenecks arise in the massive MSA of homologous DNA or genome sequences. Most of the available state-of-the-art software tools cannot address large-scale datasets, or they run rather slowly. The similarity of homologous DNA sequences is often ignored. Lack of parallelization is still a challenge for MSA research. RESULTS We developed two software tools to address the DNA MSA problem. The first employed trie trees to accelerate the centre star MSA strategy. The expected time complexity was decreased to linear time from square time. To address large-scale data, parallelism was applied using the hadoop platform. Experiments demonstrated the performance of our proposed methods, including their running time, sum-of-pairs scores and scalability. Moreover, we supplied two massive DNA/RNA MSA datasets for further testing and research.
Social Relationships, Daily Social Interactions, and Inflammation

Social integration (SI) and perceived social support (SS) are associated with reduction in premature mortality, while poor marital quality (MQ), and social conflict (SC) are associated with negative health outcomes. Systemic inflammation has been proposed as a mechanism accounting for these associations. However, the literature exploring the association between aspects of social relationships and inflammation has yielded inconsistent findings. The extent to which daily social interactions may play a role in the association of SI, SS, MQ, and SC with inflammatory markers in humans is currently unknown. The literature also shows stronger evidence for links between inflammation and SC, than between inflammation and positive relationship features, although these two sets of associations have rarely been compared in the context of a single study. Using ecological momentary assessment of social measures, this project aims to examine the relationship between daily social interaction characteristics and inflammatory markers, CRP and IL-6, and to compare negative interactions with positive interactions in their association with inflammatory biomarkers, in a sample of 494 men and women, using a cross-sectional design. This results of this study show no significant associations between global measures of social integration, social support, and marital quality, and either inflammatory biomarker. There was also no association found between the frequency of social interactions and the proportion of negative social interactions with inflammatory biomarkers. However, in this sample, the proportion of positive interactions was positively associated with CRP level. Additional exploratory analyses were conducted to test the robustness of this finding and it was found that this association existed in married individuals, females, and particularly, married females, suggesting that this finding may not be robust and should be interpreted with caution. And lastly, in a subsample of married individuals, there was no association found between the frequency and quality of marital interactions and either inflammatory marker.
Negative symptoms and the failure to represent the expected reward value of actions: behavioral and computational modeling evidence.

CONTEXT Negative symptoms are a core feature of schizophrenia, but their pathogenesis remains unclear. Negative symptoms are defined by the absence of normal function. However, there must be a productive mechanism that leads to this absence. OBJECTIVE To test a reinforcement learning account suggesting that negative symptoms result from a failure in the representation of the expected value of rewards coupled with preserved loss-avoidance learning. DESIGN Participants performed a probabilistic reinforcement learning paradigm involving stimulus pairs in which choices resulted in reward or in loss avoidance. Following training, participants indicated their valuation of the stimuli in a transfer test phase. Computational modeling was used to distinguish between alternative accounts of the data. SETTING A tertiary care research outpatient clinic. PATIENTS In total, 47 clinically stable patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 28 healthy volunteers participated in the study. Patients were divided into a high-negative symptom group and a low-negative symptom group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The number of choices leading to reward or loss avoidance, as well as performance in the transfer test phase. Quantitative fits from 3 different models were examined. RESULTS Patients in the high-negative symptom group demonstrated impaired learning from rewards but intact loss-avoidance learning and failed to distinguish rewarding stimuli from loss-avoiding stimuli in the transfer test phase. Model fits revealed that patients in the high-negative symptom group were better characterized by an "actor-critic" model, learning stimulus-response associations, whereas control subjects and patients in the low-negative symptom group incorporated expected value of their actions ("Q learning") into the selection process. CONCLUSIONS Negative symptoms in schizophrenia are associated with a specific reinforcement learning abnormality: patients with high-negative symptoms do not represent the expected value of rewards when making decisions but learn to avoid punishments through the use of prediction errors. This computational framework offers the potential to understand negative symptoms at a mechanistic level.
Canonical Functions: a proof via topological dynamics

Canonical functions are a powerful concept with numerous applications in the study of groups, monoids, and clones on countable structures with Ramsey-type properties. In this short note, we present a proof of the existence of canonical functions in certain sets using topological dynamics, providing a shorter alternative to the original combinatorial argument. We moreover present equivalent algebraic characterisations of canonicity.
Specific Investments in Marketing Relationships: Expropriation and Bonding Effects

Specific investments, which are tailored to a particular company or value-chain partner, are important components of firms' marketing strategies. At the same time, extant theory suggests that such investments pose considerable risk, because they put the receiver in a position to opportunistically exploit the investor. In this article, the authors examine this “expropriation” scenario but also consider whether specific investments, because of their specialized nature, may actually “bond” the receiver and reduce opportunism under certain conditions. These conditions involve a focal relationship's time horizon (i.e., its extendedness) and particular norms. The key theoretical argument is that the effect of specific investments on opportunism will shift in a nonmonotonic fashion over the range of these relationship conditions. The authors test their research hypotheses empirically through parallel analyses on each side of 198 matched buyer–supplier dyads. The empirical tests provide general support for the predictions but also reveal differences between buyers and suppliers regarding the focal effects. The authors discuss the implications of the findings for marketing theory and practice.
Optimal Virtual Machines allocation in mobile femto-cloud computing: An MDP approach

Offloading to external surrogate machines (part of) the workload generated by applications running on mobile nodes has been suggested as a way to improve the mobile user experience. In this paper, we consider a set of mobile users that can offload their computation on Virtual Machines (VMs) instantiated in a cloud infrastructure implemented over a set of femtocells which have been augmented with computational resources. In this setting, a critical task is to determine where users VMs should be allocated across the different femtocells as to optimize the user performance. In this paper we formulate the VMs allocation problem as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) based optimization, to directly take into account the system dynamics and optimize the long term performance. The optimal policy is obtained solving the MDP using a Linear Programming reformulation. We illustrate the behavior of the proposed policy in simple scenarios.
Inability to match energy intake with energy expenditure at sustained near-maximal rates of energy expenditure in older men during a 14-d cycling expedition.

BACKGROUND The upper rates of energy expenditure (EE) and the corresponding regulation of energy intake (EI), as described in younger trained subjects, are not well elucidated in older subjects. OBJECTIVES The aim was to investigate EE in older men during prolonged cycling and determine whether it is sufficiently matched by EI to maintain energy balance. In addition, we investigated appetite ratings and concentrations of appetite-regulating hormones. DESIGN Six men (mean ± SE age: 61 ± 3 y) completed 2706 km of cycling, from Copenhagen to Nordkapp, in 14 d. EE was measured by using doubly labeled water, and food and drink intake was recorded by the accompanying scientific staff. Energy balance was calculated as the discrepancy between EI and EE and from changes in body energy stores as derived from deuterium dilution. Fasting hormones were measured before and after cycling, and appetite ratings were recorded twice daily. RESULTS EE (±SE) increased from 17 ± 1 MJ/d before to 30 ± 2 MJ/d during the cycling trip (P < 0.001), which is equivalent to 4.0 ± 0.1 times the basal metabolic rate. Although body weight remained stable during the 14 d of cycling, body fat decreased (-2.2 ± 0.7 kg; P = 0.02) and fat-free mass increased (2.5 ± 0.6 kg; P = 0.01). EI was 25 ± 1 MJ/d during cycling, resulting in a negative energy balance calculated by the EE - EI gap (-5.2 ± 1.2 MJ/d). Calculated from changes in body energy stores, energy balance was also negative (-4.8 ± 2.0 MJ/d) during the first week. In the morning and evening, hunger ratings increased (both P = 0.02), whereas ratings of fullness decreased in the evening (P = 0.04). Fasting plasma concentrations of insulin increased by 120% ± 15% (P = 0.02), glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) by 60% ± 20% (P < 0.01), and Polypeptide YY(3-36) by 80% ± 30% (P < 0.02) after cycling. CONCLUSIONS Older male cyclists sustained near-maximal rates of EE during prolonged cycling but were unable to upregulate EI to maintain energy balance. Despite the presence of increased motivation to eat, a more profound counteracting physiologic stimulus inhibiting increases in EI was present. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02353624.
Cost effectiveness of shortening screening interval or extending age range of NHS breast screening programme: computer simulation study

Abstract Objective : To compare the cost effectiveness of two possible modifications to the current UK screening programme: shortening the screening interval from three to two years and extending the age of invitation to a final screen from 64 to 69. Design : Computer simulation model which first simulates life histories for women in the absence of a screening programme for breast cancer and then assesses how these life histories would be changed by introducing different screening policies. The model was informed by screening and cost data from the NHS breast screening programme. Setting : North West region of England. Main outcome measures : Numbers of deaths prevented, life years gained, and costs. Results : Compared with the current breast screening programme both modifications would increase the number of deaths prevented and the number of life years saved. The current screening policy costs £2522 per life year gained; extending the age range of the programme would cost £2612 and shortening the interval £2709 per life year gained. The marginal cost per life year gained of extending the age range of the screening programme is £2990 and of shortening the screening interval is £3545. Conclusions : If the budget for the NHS breast screening programme were to allow for two more invitations per woman, substantial mortality reductions would follow from extending the age range screened or reducing the screening interval. The difference between the two policies is so small that either could be chosen.
Anticipated Career Satisfaction, Affective Occupational Commitment, and Intentions to Enter the Sport Management Profession

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of internships on students’ career-related affect and intentions. Data were gathered from 138 upper-level undergraduate sport management students (71 interns, 67 noninterns). A doubly multivariate repeated measures model indicated that, although they did not differ at the beginning of the internship, interns had less positive attitudes toward the profession than did noninterns at the end of the internship. Structural equation modeling indicated that affective occupational commitment fully mediated the relationship between anticipated career satisfaction and intentions to enter the profession. The results contribute to the extant literature by demonstrating that internships can influence career-related affect and intentions.
Understanding the roles of online meetings in a net-based course

It is argued elsewhere that online learning environments constitute new conditions for carrying out collaborative learning activities. This article explores the roles of a series of online meetings in such an environment. The online meetings are arranged as part of a net-based course on object-oriented programming, and constitute a recurring shared experience for the participants throughout the semester. Through an activity theoretical analysis, we find that the meetings mediate the learners' actions towards the construction and maintenance of a community of practice. Our finding has implications for the standardization of digital learning resources. This is an issue that will challenge designers of research-oriented learning environments, should they attempt to move their systems into wider adoption. We suggest that an awareness of the internal systemic connections among the components of the course design we studied is of importance when considering redesign, with respect to the reuse and standardization of learning resources.
Cognitive Skills and Confidence: Interrelations with Overestimation, Overplacement and Overprecision

This experimental study measures the three major types of judgmental overconfidence in a within‐subjects design. Performance‐based overestimation and overplacement are elicited in a Raven Progressive Matrices test for general intelligence. Calibration‐based overprecision is evaluated in a forecasting by confidence intervals task. This study takes a closer look at the interrelations of these different types. Moreover, as the main focus, it considers the effect of cognitive abilities on overconfidence. These are quantified in a cognitive reflection test. I find that cognitive skills are substantially interrelated with subjects’ confidence levels. Although overconfidence in absolute terms (overestimation) is not affected by cognitive abilities, the effect on overconfidence in relative terms (overplacement) is positive and significant. Overprecision, the calibration‐based type of overconfidence, is found to be significantly affected by cognitive capacity as well. Interval forecasts of cognitively more able subjects were much better calibrated than those of their peers who displayed substantial overconfidence in the precision of their forecasts.
On the convergence rate of vanishing viscosity approximations

Given a strictly hyperbolic, genuinely nonlinear system of conservation laws, we prove the a priori bound ‖u(t, ·) − uϵ(t, ·)‖ L 1 = O(1)(1 + t) · $\sqrt{\varepsilon}$|ln ϵ| on the distance between an exact BV solution u and a viscous approximation uϵ, letting the viscosity coefficient ϵ → 0. In the proof, starting from u we construct an approximation of the viscous solution uϵ by taking a mollification u * $\varphi_{\sqrt{\varepsilon}}$ and inserting viscous shock profiles at the locations of finitely many large shocks for each fixed ϵ. Error estimates are then obtained by introducing new Lyapunov functionals that control interactions of shock waves in the same family and also interactions of waves in different families. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Progressing measurement in mental toughness: A case example of the Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48.

Mental toughness has received increasing attention in the field of performance psychology, yet issues remain about its measurement by self-report. In this article, we have summarized mental toughness measurement issues and, as an example, provided a psychometric examination of the most frequently used measure. In an effort to operationalize mental toughness, Clough, Earle, and Sewell (2002) developed the Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48 (MTQ 48) and provided initial evidence for its reliability and validity. Subsequent research has partially supported the internal reliability and validity of the MTQ 48. However, no research has rigorously tested the factorial structure of the hypothesized model underlying this scale. Using two independent samples of performers from various sports (n 686) and the workplace (n 639), we sought to examine the factorial validity of the MTQ 48 using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). Both CFA and ESEM indicated that the hypothesized correlated four factor model did not fit the data well in the athlete and workplace samples. Our overview of measurement issues and empirical case study of the MTQ 48 underscore the importance of having a clearly articulated conceptual underpinning combined with rigorous statistical procedures in attempting to develop a mental toughness inventory.