Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ADLB : An Adaptive Scheduling Scheme for Heterogeneous Cluster Systems

Deploying all kinds of scheduling schemes to extend the service capacity of cluster systems has been a popular method due to their potential scalability. However, most of them pay little attention to the diversity of requests and real servers, therefore they can not efficiently apply to heterogeneous cluster systems. In this paper, we propose a novel adaptive scheduling scheme, called ADLB, to handle this problem. Different from the existing solutions, it offers a scheduling method based on least delay, which implements adaptive scheduling for incoming requests without any additional communication among real servers. Experimental results show that our scheme achieves better load balancing among real servers than the existing ones for heterogeneous cluster systems.
Social Support and Gender as Correlates of Relapse Risk in Collegiate Recovery Programs

ABSTRACT Collegiate students are at an increased risk for substance use disorders (SUDs). For those who find recovery, there are Collegiate Recovery Programs (CRPs) to support their academic and recovery process while in school. This study examines data from 147 participants from five CRPs at universities in the United States. The mean age was 27 years and 52% were male, 48% female. This study explored the relationship between social support, gender, and relapse using a moderated multiple regression (MMR) analysis. The findings indicate men and women experience social support differently, and it affects their risk of relapse (.156 unit increase). Men with higher levels of social support are at higher risk of relapse, whereas women with higher social support have lower risk of relapse. These findings support a need for further research on this topic. Additionally, providers should be aware of the way social support is different for men and women in this population.
Using an Agent-Based Recommender System to Support Competence Management – The Case of Volvo Information Portal

There are several ways that organizations can support knowledge management (KM). Some are cognitive while others focus more on collaboration in communities. There are also a number of ways to design systems to support KM, but few of these deal with the tacit dimension of knowledge and competence. As several researchers have criticized existing KM systems for being too limited, this study focuses on a different approach, i.e. a technique that thus far had not been used for KM purposes. More specifically, we examined how an agent-based recommender system could be used as a KM system, focusing on competence in use. Based on an extensive literature research, this case study was performed at the Volvo Corporation, where our unit of analysis was designed as a portal on the corporate intranet. The study included an evaluation of the system Volvo Information Portal (VIP). This evaluation was founded on how the VIP system could support the organizational level as well as the individual co-worker. The main results of this study are: First, several fields of application, i.e. how VIP can be used to support competence management. Secondly, a number of design implications, i.e. improvements that would enhance VIP in this aspect. Authors Supervisor Examinator Annika Hanefors Rikard Lindgren Urban Nuldén Christer Undemar Department of Informatics School of Economics and Commercial Law University of Gothenburg
Synergistic antitumor activity of histamine plus melphalan in isolated limb perfusion: preclinical studies.

BACKGROUND We have previously shown how tumor response of isolated limb perfusion (ILP) with melphalan was improved when tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) was added. Taking into account that other vasoactive drugs could also improve tumor response to ILP, we evaluated histamine (Hi) as an alternative to TNF-alpha. METHODS We used a rat ILP model to assess the combined effects of Hi and melphalan (n = 6) on tumor regression, melphalan uptake (n = 6), and tissue histology (n = 2) compared with Hi or melphalan alone. We also evaluated the growth of BN-175 tumor cells as well as apoptosis, necrosis, cell morphology, and paracellular permeability of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) after Hi treatment alone and in combination with melphalan. RESULTS The antitumor effect of the combination of Hi and melphalan in vivo was synergistic, and Hi-dependent reduction in tumor volume was blocked by H1 and H2 receptor inhibitors. Tumor regression was observed in 66% of the animals treated with Hi and melphalan, compared with 17% after treatment with Hi or melphalan alone. Tumor melphalan uptake increased and vascular integrity in the surrounding tissue was reduced after ILP treatment with Hi and melphalan compared with melphalan alone. In vitro results paralleled in vivo results. BN-175 tumor cells were more sensitive to the cytotoxicity of combined treatment than HUVECs, and Hi treatment increased the permeability of HUVECs. CONCLUSIONS Hi in combination with melphalan in ILP improved response to that of melphalan alone through direct and indirect mechanisms. These results warrant further evaluation in the clinical ILP setting and, importantly, in organ perfusion.
DEM REGISTRATION , ALIGNMENT AND EVALUATION FOR SAR INTERFEROMETRY

To generate an accurate digital elevation model (DEM), Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) requires precise orbit data and baseline information, which are not always available. An alternative approach is to apply quality ground control points (GCPs) into the InSAR processing. However, locating high quality GCPs can also be difficult task, due to the low spatial resolution and radiometric response of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. This paper presents a method to register and align an InSAR DEM, generated from SAR images without precise orbit or baseline information and without GCPs, to an existing coarse reference DEM for refinement. The results showed this method achieves a comparable or even better accuracy than applying GCPs into InSAR processing. It was also found that the existing DEM with lower resolution than the InSAR DEM could be a good reference for this registration and alignment, i.e. refinement. ERS1/2 tandem SAR image pairs were used for 16-meter (post spacing) InSAR DEM generation. Both InSAR processing with and without applying GCPs were conducted for comparison purposes. The InSAR DEM was registered and aligned to SRTM 3 Arc Second data, a global reference DEM. The “truth” DEM used for accuracy evaluation is a higher accuracy DEM from aerial imagery with post spacing of 1.5 meters and vertical accuracy of 1.8 meters.
Transforming and Enriching Documents for the Semantic Web

We suggest to employ techniques from Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Knowledge Representation (KR) to transform existing documents into documents amenable for the Semantic Web. Semantic Web documents have at least part of their semantics and pragmatics marked up explicitly in both a machine processable as well as human readable manner. XML and its related standards (XSLT, RDF, Topic Maps etc.) are the unifying platform for the tools and methodologies developed for different application scenarios.
Adaptive Management of Shared Resource Pools with Decentralized Optimization and Epidemics

Shared resource pools are facilities featuring a certain amount of resources which can be used by different applications. For managing resources in such pools, the demand of each application can be used. Such a demand, however, is driven by the workload, which varies over time. For that reason, adaptive approaches have been proposed for the management of shared resources pools. Whereas a number of solutions exist in this context, they are either not truly decentralized or do not apply to the problem we are dealing with. In this paper, we then present Darma, an approach for managing shared resource pools in a truly decentralized, adaptive, and optimal way.
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF SELF-AFFIRMATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIORAL REIN FORCERS ON FRUITS AND VEGETABLE CONSUMPTION.

he effects of self-affirmation and environmental behavioral reinforcers on fruit and vegetable consumption were assessed. Fifty participants in Peru were compared to 83 US college students, split into two groups: self-affirmation and non-affirmation. Participants were given Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) pre- and post-test. Participants were sent text messages and e-mails regarding fruit and vegetable consumption. Displays of the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption were set up at the gymnasium to continuously reinforce consumption. Participants were assessed through a food diary over three weeks. Significant increase in consumption was found in both countries. No significant difference in the increase of consumption between the two affirmation groups was found in Peru or US. Significant increases in self-affirmation between groups was found by a repeated measures ANOVA, F(1,48)=52.977, p=. 0001. It can be concluded that self-affirmation and environmental behavioral reinforcers increase fruit and vegetable consumption as well as satisfaction with life. Findings could be transferred to a larger population in order to modify behavior for healthier worldwide consumption. Key terms: Self-Affirmation, Behavioral Reinforcer, Healthy Consumption
Cross-layer Enhancement to Multi-hop Routing in Sensor Networks： an Empirical Study

Lossy link is one of the unique characteristics in random-deployed sensor networks. We envision that robustness and reliability of routing cannot be ensured purely in network layer. Our idea is to enhance the performance of routing protocol by cross-layer interaction. We modified mint protocol, a routing protocol in TinyOS and proposed an enhanced version of mint called PA-mint. A transmission power control interface is added to network layer in PA-mint. When routing performance of the current network is not satisfied, PA-mint monotonically increases the transmission power via the interface we added. PA-mint is able to connect orphan nodes and robust to node mobility or key nodes failure. In the case that automatic request retransmission is employed, the number of retransmissions can be reduced by PA-mint. Results from experiments show that PA-mint increases the reliability and robustness of routing protocol by cross-layer interaction.
Golf Club Deflection Characteristics as a Function of the Swing Hub Path

This study investigated the relationships between golfer hub path trajectories and interaction kinetics, and club behavior. An equation of motion describing a flexible golf club system was derived and solved to yield time and club position deflection behavior during the downswing. This equation was applied to three diverse subjects whose kinematic and kinetic information was used to drive the simulation. It was determined that there is a relationship between the timing of the maximum interaction torque and the increase in normal force applied to the club and club head deflections. Also, it appears that there is a correlation between degree of radius reduction directly before impact and shaft deflection behavior. The timing of both torque and normal force are directly related to changes in hub path radius thus the effect of hub path geometry on club deflection behavior is secondary. Based upon these findings, a method for fitting shafts to specific swing characteristics was developed that optimized predicted carry distance. These results are based upon limited subjects.
Improving Search Quality of the Google Search Appliance

In this thesis, we describe various experiments on the ranking function of the Google Search Appliance to improve search quality. An evolutionary computation framework is implemented and applied to optimize various parameter settings of the ranking function. We evaluate the importance of IDF in the ranking function and achieve small improvements in performance. We also examine many ways to combining the queryindependent and query-dependent scores. Lastly, we perform various experiments with signals based on the positions of the query terms in the document. Thesis Supervisor: David Elworthy Title: VI-A Company Thesis Supervisor Thesis Supervisor: Regina Barzilay Title: Associate Professor
Parental investment, sexual selection and sex ratios

Conventional sex roles imply caring females and competitive males. The evolution of sex role divergence is widely attributed to anisogamy initiating a self‐reinforcing process. The initial asymmetry in pre‐mating parental investment (eggs vs. sperm) is assumed to promote even greater divergence in post‐mating parental investment (parental care). But do we really understand the process? Trivers [Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man 1871–1971 (1972), Aldine Press, Chicago] introduced two arguments with a female and male perspective on whether to care for offspring that try to link pre‐mating and post‐mating investment. Here we review their merits and subsequent theoretical developments. The first argument is that females are more committed than males to providing care because they stand to lose a greater initial investment. This, however, commits the ‘Concorde Fallacy’ as optimal decisions should depend on future pay‐offs not past costs. Although the argument can be rephrased in terms of residual reproductive value when past investment affects future pay‐offs, it remains weak. The factors likely to change future pay‐offs seem to work against females providing more care than males. The second argument takes the reasonable premise that anisogamy produces a male‐biased operational sex ratio (OSR) leading to males competing for mates. Male care is then predicted to be less likely to evolve as it consumes resources that could otherwise be used to increase competitiveness. However, given each offspring has precisely two genetic parents (the Fisher condition), a biased OSR generates frequency‐dependent selection, analogous to Fisherian sex ratio selection, that favours increased parental investment by whichever sex faces more intense competition. Sex role divergence is therefore still an evolutionary conundrum. Here we review some possible solutions. Factors that promote conventional sex roles are sexual selection on males (but non‐random variance in male mating success must be high to override the Fisher condition), loss of paternity because of female multiple mating or group spawning and patterns of mortality that generate female‐biased adult sex ratios (ASR). We present an integrative model that shows how these factors interact to generate sex roles. We emphasize the need to distinguish between the ASR and the operational sex ratio (OSR). If mortality is higher when caring than competing this diminishes the likelihood of sex role divergence because this strongly limits the mating success of the earlier deserting sex. We illustrate this in a model where a change in relative mortality rates while caring and competing generates a shift from a mammalian type breeding system (female‐only care, male‐biased OSR and female‐biased ASR) to an avian type system (biparental care and a male‐biased OSR and ASR).
PSK Communication with Passband Additive Symmetric α-Stable Noise

The conventional additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) model adequately simulates many noisy environments that hamper the performance of practical digital communication systems. However if the channel noise is impulsive, the approximation this model provides reduces significantly. The AWGN channel may then be replaced by the more general additive white symmetric α-stable noise (AWSαSN) model. When converted to its complex baseband form, the resulting noise for the non-Gaussian AWSαSN case is radically different from its Gaussian counterpart. In this paper we investigate the properties of baseband noise for the general AWSαSN case using conventional passband-to-baseband conversion schemes. The converted noise is generally not isotropic and furthermore the real and imaginary components may be dependent. By varying certain physical parameters we may attain different non-isotropic distributions. Using the variable geometry offered by these distributions, efficient placement of signal points on the constellation map for the quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) scheme is proposed. It is shown that efficient placement of signal points significantly improve the uncoded error performance of the system. We plot the bit error rate (BER) and symbol error rate (SER) curves against a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measure for a few selected rotated versions of the QPSK scheme.
Effects of a maintenance resistance training program on muscular strength in schoolchildren

Original scientific paper UDC: 796.015. 52:373.3-053.2 Abstract: Physical education (PE) teachers carry out resistance training programs at the beginning of a school year so that children can do other tasks safely during the whole course. However, after a few weeks of detraining, children revert back to their initial strength level. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a maintenance resistance training program on muscular strength in children in a PE setting. Seventy-five children, 10-12 years of age, from four different 6 th grade PE classes were cluster-randomized into either an experimental group (EG=38) or a control group (CG=37). After an eight-week development program and a four-week detraining period, the EG completed a four-week maintenance program once a week. The program included two circuits of eight stations of 15/45 to 35/25 seconds of work/rest. Abdominal and arm muscular endurance and explosive strength of the legs were measured before and after the development program and after the maintenance program. After the development and maintenance programs abdominal and arm muscular endurance were higher in EG (p .05). No significant differences were found between groups in the legs' explosive strength (p>.05). The present results showed that a resistance program carried out once a week can maintain muscular endurance of schoolchildren. These results could help PE teachers design programs that permit students to maintain fit strength levels.
In vitro study of novel gadolinium-loaded liposomes guided by GBI-10 aptamer for promising tumor targeting and tumor diagnosis by magnetic resonance imaging

Novel gadolinium-loaded liposomes guided by GBI-10 aptamer were developed and evaluated in vitro to enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnosis of tumor. Nontargeted gadolinium-loaded liposomes were achieved by incorporating amphipathic material, Gd (III) [N,N-bis-stearylamidomethyl-N′-amidomethyl] diethylenetriamine tetraacetic acid, into the liposome membrane using lipid film hydration method. GBI-10, as the targeting ligand, was then conjugated onto the liposome surface to get GBI-10-targeted gadolinium-loaded liposomes (GTLs). Both nontargeted gadolinium-loaded liposomes and GTLs displayed good dispersion stability, optimal size, and zeta potential for tumor targeting, as well as favorable imaging properties with enhanced relaxivity compared with a commercial MRI contrast agent (CA), gadopentetate dimeglumine. The use of GBI-10 aptamer in this liposomal system was intended to result in increased accumulation of gadolinium at the periphery of C6 glioma cells, where the targeting extracellular matrix protein tenascin-C is overexpressed. Increased cellular binding of GTLs to C6 cells was confirmed by confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, and MRI, demonstrating the promise of this novel delivery system as a carrier of MRI contrast agent for the diagnosis of tumor. These studies provide a new strategy furthering the development of nanomedicine for both diagnosis and therapy of tumor.
The comparative ecology of a killifish (Rivulus hartii) across aquatic communities differing in predation intensity

Background: Life-history theory predicts that populations experiencing different patterns of age- or size-specific mortality will evolve divergent life histories. Higher mortality can also cause indirect effects by reducing population density and increasing resources for survivors. How life histories evolve can ultimately be shaped by the interactions between the direct impact of predators on mortality, their indirect effects on resource availability, and the age specificity of these combined effects. Prior research on the killifish, Rivulus hartii, suggests differences among aquatic communities in both predation risk and resource availability but has failed to characterize the age specificity of these effects. Study organism and site: We studied Rivulus hartii in Ramdeen stream, a second-order tributary of the Arima River, on the south slope of the Northern Range Mountains in Trinidad. We used four sites near each other: in the two Rivulus-only sites, killifish were found alone; in the Rivulus/guppy site, guppies (a potential predator of juvenile Rivulus) also occurred; and in the high-predation site, Rivulus occurred with predators. Hypotheses: (1) If guppies shape the evolution of Rivulus life histories by increasing juvenile mortality rates and indirectly increasing food availability to the survivors, then juvenile mortality and growth rates should be higher when guppies are present than when they are absent. (2) If larger predators shape Rivulus life histories by selectively preying on adult Rivulus, then the added mortality associated with predators should be greater in the larger size classes. Methods: We performed mark–recapture studies on juvenile and adult Rivulus in the field (>12 mm total length), which allowed us to estimate size-specific mortality, growth rate, and density. Results: Rivulus experienced the highest mortality in the high predation site, but predation was not selectively focused on adults. Furthermore, the higher mortality was coupled with reduced population density and increased adult growth rates. In Rivulus/guppy and Rivulusonly sites, all size classes had the same survival rate. Laboratory study confirmed that adult guppies can prey upon hatchling Rivulus (<7 mm) and are restricted to preying on this size class. Lastly, juvenile Rivulus from Rivulus/guppy localities had higher growth rates than those from Rivulus-only localities, as predicted, but such an effect disappeared in the adult stage.
Performance Analysis of Space Time Trellis Codes Over Nakagami Fading & Rayleigh Fading Channels: With Comparative Analysis

Space-time trellis codes provide both diversity gain and coding gain. There are two different design criteria proposed for spacetime trellis codes (STTCs), namely the rank and determinant criteria (RDC) and the Euclidean distance design criteria (EDC). In this paper, we present the performance of STTCs over Nakagami fading channels. Our results show that the STTCs designed for Rayleigh fading channels & Recian fading channels are also suitable for Nakagami fading channels. Nakagami fading channel models are considered more versatile than other channel models. In Gong et al. presented the performance of the STTCs over Nakagami fading channels. In this paper, we also present the performance of the STTCs designed using the EDC over Nakagami fading channels.