Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A rate control scheme for adaptive real-time applications in IP networks with lossy links and long round trip times

Currently there is no control for real-time traffic sources in IP networks. This is a serious problem because real-time traffic can not only congest the network but can also cause unfairness and starvation of TCP traffic. However, it is not possible to apply current solutions for Internet to the networks with high bandwidth-delay products and high bit error rates. The channel errors may result in inaccurate congestion control decisions and unnecessary rate throttles leading to severe performance degradation. This problem is amplified in the links with high bandwidth-delay products, since the link is inefficiently utilized for a very long time until the unnecessary rate throttle is recovered. In this paper, a new Rate Control Scheme, RCS, is introduced for real-time interactive applications in networks with high bandwidth-delay products and high bit error rates. RCS is based on the concept of using dummy packets to probe the availability of network resources. Dummy packets are treated as low priority packets and consequently they do not affect the throughput of actual data traffic. Therefore, RCS requires all the routers in the connection path to support some priority policy. A new algorithm is also proposed to improve the robustness of the RCS to temporal signal loss conditions. The delay-bound considerations for real-time traffic sources using RCS rate control scheme are also investigated. Simulation experiments show that in environments with high bandwidth-delay products and high bit error rates, RCS achieves high throughput performance without penalizing TCP connections.
Functional Characterization of a Catabolic Plasmid from Polychlorinated- Biphenyl-Degrading Rhodococcus sp. Strain RHA1

ABSTRACT Rhodococcus sp. strain RHA1, a potent polychlorinated-biphenyl (PCB)-degrading strain, contains three linear plasmids ranging in size from 330 to 1,100 kb. As part of a genome sequencing project, we report here the complete sequence and characterization of the smallest and least-well-characterized of the RHA1 plasmids, pRHL3. The plasmid is an actinomycete invertron, containing large terminal inverted repeats with a tightly associated protein and a predicted open reading frame (ORF) that is similar to that of a mycobacterial rep gene. The pRHL3 plasmid has 300 putative genes, almost 21% of which are predicted to have a catabolic function. Most of these are organized into three clusters. One of the catabolic clusters was predicted to include limonene degradation genes. Consistent with this prediction, RHA1 grew on limonene, carveol, or carvone as the sole carbon source. The plasmid carries three cytochrome P450-encoding (CYP) genes, a finding consistent with the high number of CYP genes found in other actinomycetes. Two of the CYP genes appear to belong to novel families; the third belongs to CYP family 116 but appears to belong to a novel class based on the predicted domain structure of its reductase. Analyses indicate that pRHL3 also contains four putative “genomic islands” (likely to have been acquired by horizontal transfer), insertion sequence elements, 19 transposase genes, and a duplication that spans two ORFs. One of the genomic islands appears to encode resistance to heavy metals. The plasmid does not appear to contain any housekeeping genes. However, each of the three catabolic clusters contains related genes that appear to be involved in glucose metabolism.
Period-luminosity and period-luminosity-colour relations for Mira variables at maximum light

In this paper we confirm the existence of period-luminosity (PL) and period-luminosity-colour (PLC) relations at maximum light for O and C Mira variables in the LMC. We demonstrate that in the J and H bands the maximum light PL relations have a significantly smaller dispersion than their counterparts at mean light, while the K band and bolometric PL relations have a dispersion comparable to that at mean light. In the J, H and K bands the fitted PL relations for the O Miras are found to have smaller dispersion than those for the C Miras, at both mean and maximum light, while the converse is true for the relations based on bolometric magnitudes. The inclusion of a non-zero log period term is found to be highly significant in all cases except that of the C Miras in the J band, for which the data are found to be consistent with having constant absolute magnitude. This suggests the possibility of employing C Miras as standard candles. We suggest both a theoretical justification for the existence of Mira PL relations at maximum light and a possible explanation of why these relations should have a smaller dispersion than at mean light. The existence of such maximum light relations offers the possibility of extending the range and improving the accuracy of the Mira distance scale to Galactic globular clusters and to other galaxies.
Comparison between multistage filters and sketches for finding heavy hitters

The purpose of this write-up is to compare multistage filters [3] and sketches with respect to their ability to identify heavy hitters. In a nutshell, the conclusion is that multistage filters as I use them identify heavy hitters with less memory than sketches, but some sketches support important other operations, more specifically they can be added and subtracted without any need to re-read the data stream(s). Both multistage filters and sketches work in the streaming model: data items with various identifiers make up a stream of traffic or updates that the data structures operate on. Both hash these updates to counters based on the identifiers. The main difference between sketches and multistage filters is that sketches see these counters as a summary of the traffic that can be used for many operations while filters use these counters only as a means for identifying the heavy hitters. After discussing the differences in more detail, I will compare the memory usage of these solutions for the heavy hitter problem. Since there are many types of sketches and there are many things they are used for, I am going to focus on three papers that use sketches for detecting heavy hitters. [1] is a widely quoted paper that addresses exactly the problem of finding heavy hitters. [2] is a more recent paper that proposes improved sketches for finding heavy hitters. [4] applies sketches to detect big changes in network traffic, which is related to but different from finding heavy hitters. One thing worth pointing out is that many of the sketch papers papers (and all three discussed here) are concurrent with or published after my paper on multistage filters [3].
Learning Granger Causality for Hawkes Processes

Learning Granger causality for general point processes is a very challenging task. In this paper, we propose an effective method, learning Granger causality, for a special but significant type of point processes --- Hawkes process. We reveal the relationship between Hawkes process's impact function and its Granger causality graph. Specifically, our model represents impact functions using a series of basis functions and recovers the Granger causality graph via group sparsity of the impact functions' coefficients. We propose an effective learning algorithm combining a maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) with a sparse-group-lasso (SGL) regularizer. Additionally, the flexibility of our model allows to incorporate the clustering structure event types into learning framework. We analyze our learning algorithm and propose an adaptive procedure to select basis functions. Experiments on both synthetic and real-world data show that our method can learn the Granger causality graph and the triggering patterns of the Hawkes processes simultaneously.
Selection of the Register File Size and the Resource Allocation Policy on SMT Processors

The performance impact of the Physical Register File(PRF) size on Simultaneous Multithreading processors has not been extensively studied in spite of being a critical shared resource. In this paper we analyze the effect on performance of the PRF size for a broad set of resource allocation policies (Icount, Stall, Flush, Flush++, Static,Dcra and Hill-climbing) and evaluate them under two metrics: instructions per second (IPS) for throughput and harmonic mean of weighted IPCs (Hmean-wIPC) for fairness. We have found that resource allocation policy and PRF size should be considered together in order to obtain the best score in the proposed metrics. For instance, for the analyzed 2 and 4-threaded SPEC CPU2000 workloads,small PRFs are best managed by Flush, whereas for larger PRFs, Hill-climbing and Static lead to the best values for the throughput and fairness metrics, respectively.The second contribution of this work is a simple procedure that, for a given resource allocation policy, selects the PRF size that maximizes IPS and obtains for Hmean-wIPC a value close to its maximum. According to our results, Hill-climbing with a 320-entry PRF achieves the best figures for 2-threaded workloads. When executing 4-threaded workloads, Hill-Climbing with a 384-entry PRF achieves the best throughput whereas Static obtains the best throughput-fairness balance.
AI in System Theory: An Observability View,

The problem of the construction of a Logic Observer, which generates a sequence of propositions that correctly describe system state properties, is mainly intended to solve the state estimate of finite state machines. Of particular interest is the convergence of the logic-based dynamical system statements (in an appropriate sense) to true characterizations of the system state. This paper demonstrates that this observer can be built within a logic-based framework. It starts with an informal discussion of the nature of logic -- focusing on the predicate calculus -- and discusses the fundamental concepts associated with these formal systems. Later in the paper, the formal definition of the concepts of the logic-based dynamical observer is presented. An arbitrary automaton is selected as an example to understand the simulation and the expert system presented to accomplish the task. In this paper, the assumption is that the automata representation in state space systems is expressed by the quintuple set of states, set of inputs, set of outputs, transition functions and output functions. An automaton is taken as a deterministic input-state-output (finite) system.
Providing diagram user interfaces for interactive theorem proving

User friendly interfaces are essential for interactive theorem proving to be practical. We have argued that proofs can be naturally modelled as having graph structures. As such, diagrammatic presentation is seen as a natural medium for communicating proofs between the user and the theorem proving engine. In this paper, we present an approach to providing diagram user interfaces for interactive theorem proving.
Entropy bound and causality violation in higher curvature gravity

In any quantum theory of gravity we do expect corrections to Einstein gravity to occur. Yet, at a fundamental level, it is not apparent what the most relevant corrections are. We argue that the generic curvature square corrections present in the lower dimensional actions of various compactified string theories provide a natural passage between the classical and quantum realms of gravity. The Gauss–Bonnet and (Riemann)2 gravities, in particular, provide concrete examples in which inconsistency of a theory, such as a violation of microcausality, and a classical limit on black hole entropy are correlated. In such theories the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density, η/s, can be smaller than for a boundary conformal field theory with Einstein gravity dual. This result is interesting from the viewpoint that nuclear matter or quark-gluon plasma produced (such as at RHIC) under extreme densities and temperatures may violate the conjectured KSS bound η/s ⩾ 1/4π, albeit marginally so.
High data rate multiple input multiple output (MIMO) optical wireless communications using white led lighting

Solid-state lighting is a rapidly growing area of research and applications, due to the reliability and predicted high efficiency of these devices. The white LED sources that are typically used for general illumination can also be used for data transmission, and Visible Light Communications (VLC) is a rapidly growing area of research. One of the key challenges is the limited modulation bandwidth of sources, typically several MHz. However, as a room or coverage space would typically be illuminated by an array of LEDs there is the potential for parallel data transmission, and using optical MIMO techniques is potentially attractive for achieving high data rates. In this paper we investigate non-imaging and imaging MIMO approaches: a non-imaging optical MIMO system does not perform properly at all receiver positions due to symmetry, but an imaging based system can operate under all foreseeable circumstances. Simulations show such systems can operate at several hundred Mbit/s, and up to Gbit/s in many circumstances.
PISA 2015: how big is the ‘mode effect’ and what has been done about it?

Abstract The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year-olds’ academic knowledge and skills. Educationalists and public policymakers eagerly await the tri-annual results, with particular interest in whether their country has moved up or slid down the international rankings, as compared to earlier rounds. In 2015 a major change was implemented in PISA, with the introduction of computer-based assessment. This has the potential to reduce comparability of PISA test scores across countries and over time. We investigate this issue using PISA 2015 field trial data for three countries: Germany, Sweden, and Ireland. We show how, if left unaccounted for, the change to computer-based testing could limit the comparability of PISA test scores. We then describe the methodology the study organisers have used to account for such mode effects. Our key conclusion is that although the adjustment made is unlikely to overcome all the potential challenges of switching to computer-based tests, it represents an improvement over the alternative of making no adjustment at all.
Decoupling Cores, Kernels, and Operating Systems

We present Barrelfish/DC, an extension to the Barrelfish OS which decouples physical cores from a native OS kernel, and furthermore the kernel itself from the rest of the OS and application state. In Barrelfish/DC, native kernel code on any core can be quickly replaced, kernel state moved between cores, and cores added and removed from the system transparently to applications and OS processes, which continue to execute. Barrelfish/DC is a multikernel with two novel ideas: the use of boot drivers to abstract cores as regular devices, and a partitioned capability system for memory management which externalizes core-local kernel state. We show by performance measurements of real applications and device drivers that the approach is practical enough to be used for a number of purposes, such as online kernel upgrades, and temporarily delivering hard real-time performance by executing a process under a specialized, single-application kernel.
A comparison of sleep patterns in youth soccer players and non-athletes

ABSTRACT The current study compared sleep characteristics of youth soccer players (N = 12, 19 ± 1 years) with non-athletes (N =12, 23 ± 3 years) over a period of six nights using a wireless electroencephalogram sleep monitor. This device provided a breakdown of the participant’s sleep schedule, sleep latency, sleep duration and awakenings. Participant mean and SD were calculated across the six nights to form the between group comparisons (i.e., independent t-tests, Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxontests and effect sizes [ESs]). The youth soccer players displayed longer sleep durations than the non-athletes (+64 min; ES: 1.39; P < 0.05), which may relate to a later time of final awakening (+67 min; ES: 1.60; P < 0.05). This may have resulted from the timing of activities associated with the imposed soccer schedule, highlighting the importance of externally derived schedules in facilitating sleep quantity. Despite longer sleep durations, the youth soccer players displayed longer sleep latency (+10 min; ES: 1.00; P < 0.05), lowered sleep efficiency (−3%; ES: 1.09; P < 0.05) and higher intraindividual variability for both variables. Such factors suggest a greater prevalence of sleep disruption in youth soccer players, which may warrant the use of tailored sleep hygiene strategies.
A Natural Feature Representation for Unstructured Environments

This paper addresses the long-standing problem of feature representation in the natural world for autonomous navigation systems. The proposed representation combines Isomap, which is a nonlinear manifold learning algorithm, with expectation maximization, which is a statistical learning scheme. The representation is computed off-line and results in a compact, nonlinear, non-Gaussian sensor likelihood model. This model can be easily integrated into estimation algorithms for navigation and tracking. The compactness of the model makes it especially attractive for deployment in decentralized sensor networks. Real sensory data from unstructured terrestrial and underwater environments are used to demonstrate the versatility of the computed likelihood model. The experimental results show that this approach can provide consistent models of natural environments to facilitate complex visual tracking and data-association problems.
Challenging presentism in journalism studies: An emotional life history approach to understanding the lived experience of journalists

This article argues that studying the emotional life histories of journalists will help us better understand the profound changes and challenges facing the profession. The article suggests that the field has been marked by ‘presentism’ and requires new tools and vocabularies for studying how transformations in journalism have shaped journalists as individuals and journalism as a professional identity over the longer term. It proposes that an emphasis on emotional life histories allows us to think differently about the big and recurring debates in the field by, (1) offering us a way of seeing historical transformations from the bottom up, on the basis of lived and embodied experience and (2) providing a vocabulary and a method for explaining changes in journalistic professionalism, practices, and self-understanding – including journalistic norms, role perceptions, identities, and news values.
e-Learning Theories in Practice: A Comparison of three Methods

As e-learning and distance learning tend to get more and more important for all kind of organisations, researchers and practitioners are becoming aware of the fact that a simple technology-focussed approach does not guarantee successful teaching and learning. Thus, a shift to pedagogy-based initiatives can be observed within the field of e-learning. This paper examines the implications of commonly known learning theories on online courses. Therefore, a case study was carried out within the field of adult education aiming at the implementation of different e-learning strategies with respect to the behaviouristic, cognitive, and constructivistic school of learning. Furthermore, these instructional approaches are compared with each other in order to examine aspects such as the effort for the teacher and the students, the effectiveness of each method, the students' workload or collaborative and social aspects of e-learning.
Reconstructing Tradition: Heritage Authentication and Tourism-Related Commodification of the Ancient City of Pingyao

This paper examines how the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage (CCPWCNH) is implemented in China, with specific reference to tourism development at the local level in the Ancient City of Pingyao (ACP). Based on a qualitative methodology and constructivist paradigm, the research employs observation and semi-structured interviews to explore how the interaction between heritage authorization and tourism-related commodification shapes the transformation of the local community. Giddens’ theories, amongst others, on modernity, time–space distanciation, disembedding, and reflexivity, are employed to analyze this case study. The paper argues that the reconstruction of “traditional-style culture” has contributed to the transformative processes in the ACP. Traditional-style culture differs from “traditional culture” in that the former refers to cultural forms that are purposely (re)constructed to serve contemporary political or economic needs, while the latter refers to cultural forms that are rooted in the local contexts of premodern societies. One of the impacts of traditional-style culture, which is the product of the interaction between heritage authorization and tourism development, is the emergence of a commercialized environment. This environment confounds the notion of authenticity that is claimed in authorized concepts of heritage. There, construction of traditional-style culture demonstrates the relationship of powerful actors with hierarchical power, leading to an unequal positioning of external agents (such as heritage experts) and local residents.
Analysis for Speech Translation Using Grammar-Based Parsing and Automatic Classification

In this paper, I describe a novel approach to analysis for spoken language translation which uses a combination of phrase-level grammar-based parsing and automatic classification. The job of the analyzer is to transform spoken taskoriented utterances into a shallow semantic interlingua representation. The goal of this hybrid approach is to provide accurate real-time analyses and to improve robustness and portability to new domains and languages.
Conceptual Model of the Psychosocial Effects of Beryllium Sensitization and Chronic Beryllium Disease

The objective of this research was to develop a theoretical model that describes the psychosocial effects of beryllium sensitization (BeS) and chronic beryllium disease (CBD). The medical, nursing, health education, and psychological literature was reviewed to identify theories that might support the development of a psychosocial model of BeS and CBD. A proposed model was synthesized based upon elements from multiple academic disciplines. The conceptual model is based on three prominent psychological theories: 1) health, stress, and coping, 2) uncertainty and illness, and 3) psychosocial adjustment to illness. The model hypothesizes that workers who are diagnosed with BeS or CBD experience a great deal of uncertainty that has a detrimental effect on their health quality of life. The focal relationship in this model is between the independent variable uncertainty and the dependent variable health quality of life. It is further hypothesized that the relationship between these two variables is affected by an intermediate variable, the ability to make psychosocial adjustments to disease. Creating this model is a step toward filling a void in our understanding of the natural history of CBD. Once validated it will establish a foundation for future research, interventions and program evaluations and may lead to changes in the psychological, social, financial, and disease management support provided to this population.