Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
End Performance SLA Support for Disaggregated Memory

This paper proposes a new service-level agreement (SLA) support for disaggregated memory, which consists of fast direct DRAM and slow indirect memory in remote machines or local non-volatile memory. Based on a new performance prediction model, the SLA support provides the bounded performance as compared to the ideal conﬁguration only with the direct memory. For the SLA fulﬁllment, we propose an efﬁcient performance predictor using indirect memory traces, and a memory management system to adjust the local memory capacity as necessary. We implement the proposed SLA support in a disaggregated memory system integrated to Linux KVM, and show its feasibility with real machine experiments. By providing the performance bound, the proposed SLA support facilitates the adoption of disag-gregated memory in cloud computing, where the performance consistency is critical.
Investigating the Causes of Delay and Cost-Overrun in Construction Industry

For a construction project to be successfully completed, project objectives must be met within a specified time and budget. ‘Delay’ and ‘cost-overrun’ in the construction projects are two significant defects, as they can negatively affect projects by disputes among stakeholders, work quality and safety level in the project. Hence, it is crucial to have further investigation on these especially in regions where less considered. To overcome such problems and inconsistencies in the construction industry of Northern Iraq, major factors and causes of delay and cost overrun were investigated in a considerable number of construction companies in the region. Sixty one delay factors and forty two cost overrun factors were considered in the study. A questionnaire survey was administered and a quantitative analysis was conducted by SPSS. Major delay and cost overrun factors were determined and the three major causes of delays were found as “security measures”, “high number of sub-contracts by the same contractor”, and “poor labor productivity”. Similarly, three major factors causing cost-overrun were “inadequate labor and skill availability”, “inappropriate contractor policies”, and “domination of construction industry by foreign firm and aids”. It was also found that the majority of problems are raised by owners and contractors. An improvement framework was finally proposed based on findings.
DETERMINATION OF THE CADMIUM UPTAKE MECHANISM IN FORAGE SPECIES IN NEW ZEALAND LIVESTOCK GRAZING SYSTEMS

Cadmium (Cd) is a key environmental contaminant associated with long-term high application rates of superphosphate fertiliser to soils used for dairying and horticulture. Although cadmium (Cd) is considered to be a non-essential element for plants, it is effectively absorbed by the root systems of many plant species and can be subsequently transported throughout the plant. Recent studies indicate that elevated levels of Cd in New Zealand soils can lead to a cadmium concentration in forage species such as chicory (Cichorium intybus L) and plantain (Plantago lanceolate L) that is orders of magnitude higher than in ryegrass or clover. Results of such studies suggest the different abilities of pastoral species used in New Zealand to both absorb Cd from soils and to translocate it from roots to shoots. However, there have been no studies published on the Cd uptake mechanisms of common forage species used in New Zealand agriculture. Ongoing research into rhizosphere chemistry and Cd uptake mechanisms of such species will help better understand the species and cultivar variations in Cd uptake, and associated rhizosphere soil functions. Literature reviewed for the doctoral research underpinning this manuscript has identified the research gap that must be addressed to better understand Cd uptake mechanisms in forage species. Further, this will assist in proposing advanced analytical methods to quantify the forms of plant tissue Cd in the New Zealand livestock grazing system.
Optimization of Peptide Linker-Based Fluorescent Ligands for the Histamine H1 Receptor

The histamine H1 receptor (H1R) has recently been implicated in mediating cell proliferation and cancer progression; therefore, high-affinity H1R-selective fluorescent ligands are desirable tools for further investigation of this behavior in vitro and in vivo. We previously reported a H1R fluorescent ligand, bearing a peptide-linker, based on antagonist VUF13816 and sought to further explore structure–activity relationships (SARs) around the linker, orthostere, and fluorescent moieties. Here, we report a series of high-affinity H1R fluorescent ligands varying in peptide linker composition, orthosteric targeting moiety, and fluorophore. Incorporation of a boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) 630/650-based fluorophore conferred high binding affinity to our H1R fluorescent ligands, remarkably overriding the linker SAR observed in corresponding unlabeled congeners. Compound 31a, both potent and subtype-selective, enabled H1R visualization using confocal microscopy at a concentration of 10 nM. Molecular docking of 31a with the human H1R predicts that the optimized peptide linker makes interactions with key residues in the receptor.
1040 MANUFACTURING LICORICE : MODELING WITH DATA IN THIRD GRADE

This paper reports on a study of 3-grade students’ modeling with data, which involves comprehensive investigations that draw upon STEM-based concepts, contexts, and questions, and generate products supported by evidence and open to informal inferential thinking. Within a realworld STEM-based context of licorice manufacturing, students experienced the “creation of variation” as they compared and represented the masses of “licorice sticks” they made by hand (using Play-Doh) and those using a Play-Doh extruder. By generating their own statistical measures, students could observe the features of data distributions including center, range, typical, and middle, at a much younger age than usual. They could draw inferences from the models they created, with awareness of how variation limits the certainty with which predictions can be made. The study supports a potential route for advancing early statistical learning.
Cross-Reactive Immunity among Five Medically Important Mosquito-Borne Flaviviruses Related to Human Diseases

Flaviviruses cause a spectrum of potentially severe diseases. Most flaviviruses are transmitted by mosquitoes or ticks and are widely distributed all over the world. Among them, several mosquito-borne flaviviruses are co-epidemic, and the similarity of their antigenicity creates abundant cross-reactive immune responses which complicate their prevention and control. At present, only effective vaccines against yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis have been used clinically, while the optimal vaccines against other flavivirus diseases are still under development. The antibody-dependent enhancement generated by cross-reactive immune responses against different serotypes of dengue virus makes the development of the dengue fever vaccine a bottleneck. It has been proposed that the cross-reactive immunity elicited by prior infection of mosquito-borne flavivirus could also affect the outcome of the subsequent infection of heterologous flavivirus. In this review, we focused on five medically important flaviviruses, and rearranged and recapitulated their cross-reactive immunity in detail from the perspectives of serological experiments in vitro, animal experiments in vivo, and human cohort studies. We look forward to providing references and new insights for the research of flavivirus vaccines and specific prevention.
Randomized Clinical Trial: Effects of β-Hydroxy-β-Methylbutyrate (HMB)-Enriched vs. HMB-Free Oral Nutritional Supplementation in Malnourished Cirrhotic Patients

β-Hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) supplementation increases muscle and strength mass in some muscle-wasting disorders. Malnutrition and sarcopenia are often present in liver cirrhosis. We aimed to investigate the effects of oral HMB supplementation on changes in body composition and liver status in patients with cirrhosis and malnutrition. In a randomized, controlled, double-blind trial, 43 individuals were randomized to receive twice a day and for 12 weeks an oral nutritional supplement (ONS) enriched with 1.5 g of calcium HMB per bottle or another supplement with similar composition devoid of HMB. Inclusion criteria were liver cirrhosis with at least one previous decompensation and clinical malnutrition. Liver function, plasma biochemistry analyses, and physical condition assessment were carried out at baseline, then after six and 12 weeks of supplementation. A total of 34 patients completed the clinical trial. An improvement in liver function and an increase in fat mass index were observed in both groups. None of the two ONS changed the fat-free mass. However, we observed an upward trend in handgrip strength and a downward trend in minimal hepatic encephalopathy in the HMB group. At the end of the trial and regardless of the supplement administered, fat mass content increased with no change in fat-free mass, while liver function scores and nutritional analytic markers also improved.
Emergent strategy and cascading behaviour patterns during crises: evidence from Brisbane’s 2011 floods

ABSTRACT In January 2011, flooding of historic proportions hit the Australian city of Brisbane causing one death. Understanding the decisions made on dam operation in response to intense rainfall is crucial for preventing such disasters or at least, minimising risk in the future. This article reports on an analysis of 345 legal transcripts conducted during the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry (QFCI) revealing a subjective process of decision-making, akin to bricolage, with a distinctly complex and emergent quality to the formation of mitigation strategies during one of the city’s worst natural disasters on record. The main contribution of this article is how complexity theory, uniquely connected to the concept of emergent strategy formation, can be applied to complex disaster situations. There has been limited research on how problems require a flexible and adaptable process to manage the cascading patterns of emergent crises. The article proposes future research related to understanding emergent patterns and the management of complexity in organisations.
Plant level evidence on product mix changes in Chilean manufacturing

This article analyzes changes in the product mix by Chilean manufacturing plants in the period 1996–2003. Three quarters of the surviving plants changed the set of products produced and more than three quarters of the exporting plants changed the mix of products they exported during the sample period. Plants that changed their product mix contributed 85% of the aggregate growth in real sales of surviving plants between 1996 and 2003. Finally, and in contrast to the US evidence, there is a negative correlation between revenue per product and the number of products. Apart from this, new evidence consistent with recent models of multi-product heterogeneous firms and trade is provided.
SPATIALLY RESOLVED EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY ALONG A SPT CHANNEL . INTERPRETATION OF DATA BY A COLLISIONAGBADIATIVE MODEL

optical emission spectroscopy was used for a comprehensive approach of microscopic phenomena in a stationary plasma thruster (SPT). A SPT 50 laboratory model (50 mm outer channel diameter) was especially designed to allow the recording of the emission spectra at given locations along the axis of the SIT channel. XeI and XeII spectra have been recorded in pure Xenon for different values of the discharge parameters: flow rate, discharge voltage and magnetic field. Other spectra have been recorded in Xenon-Helium mixture in order to characterize the Electron Energy Distribution Function (EEDF). The interpretation of experimental results on the basis of preliminary results of a collisionnal-radiative model are presented. This model solves a set of kinetics equations taking into account the varions processes involved. The comparison of the experimental results with those of the model allow to estimate the shape of the EEDF and to deduce the spatial variations of plasma parameters.
Hardening and crystallization in monatomic metallic glass during elastic cycling

While conventional metallic glass (MG) is usually an alloy that contains at least two types of different elements, monatomic metallic glass (MMG) in body-centered cubic metals has recently been vitrified experimentally through ultrafast quenching. In this research, MMG in Ta was vitrified by molecular dynamics simulations and used as a model system to explore the atomistic mechanism of hardening in MG under cyclic loading well below the yield point. It was found that significant structural ordering was caused during the elastic cycling without accumulating apparent plastic strain, which ultimately led to the crystallization of MG that has been long conjectured but rarely directly proved before. It was also revealed that tensile stresses were more likely to induce structural ordering and crystallization in MG than compressive stresses.
BIOSYNTHESIS OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES USING VITIS VINIFERA EXTRACT AND EVALUATION OF THEIR ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

In the present investigation, synthesis of silver nanoparticles from Vitis vinifera extract and their bactericidal potential against four pathogenic bacteria was investigated. In this study, we have developed an environment friendly technique for the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles from AgNO3 solution using Vitis vinifera extract. Silver Nanoparticles were characterized using UV–Visible spectroscopy whose absorbance measured at 440nm followed by Dynamic light scattering particle size analyser, X-ray Diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy showed the formation of nanoparticles in the range of 10-80nm. The biologically synthesized nanoparticles at concentration of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 μg/ml were screened against two gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis ATCC-6633 and Streptococcus pneumonia ATCC 49619) and two gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC-25922 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC-27853) bacterial pathogens in both solid and liquid growth medium. The results confirmed that silver nanoparticles to be an effective bactericide at the concentration 60 μg/ml against pathogenic bacteria.
A Hierarchical Voltage Control Scheme for Wind Power Plants Through Enhanced Reactive Power Support

To maximize reactive power support from a wind power plant (WPP) and maintain power factor at the point of interconnection (POI) within acceptable limits, a novel hierarchical voltage control scheme consisting of a central WPP controller and a local wind turbine generator (WTG) controller is proposed in this article, and both controllers are operated in voltage control mode. When a voltage deviation is detected, if it is within the normal range, the central WPP controller turns on the integrated power factor controller to regulate the power factor at the POI. If the voltage deviation exceeds the normal range, the local WTG controller relies on the adaptive droop coefficient and the adaptive proportional setpoint weight-based rotor side converter controller to push the WTG toward its maximum reactive power limit to provide reactive power compensation during contingencies. For accurate estimation of the maximum reactive power capability of a WTG, a comprehensive model with various limiting factors is used. The proposed controllers are equipped with a memory, which ensures continuous operation during a communication failure. The proposed control scheme is validated by case and sensitivity studies using a practical WPP currently in operation in Newfoundland, Canada. It shows excellent performance when compared with the two existing methods.
Study of sensitization process on mid-infrared uncooled PbSe photoconductive detectors leads to high detectivity

For nearly a century, oxygen has been widely accepted as the key element that triggers photo-response in polycrystalline PbSe photoconductive detectors. Our photoluminescence and responsivity studies on PbSe samples, however, suggest that oxygen only serves as an effective sensitization improver and it is iodine rather than oxygen that plays the key role in triggering the photo-response. These studies shed light on the sensitization process for detector applications and ways to passivate defects in IV–VI semiconductors. As a result, high peak detectivity of 2.8 × 1010 cm·Hz1/2·W−1 was achieved at room temperature.
Melanaphis sorghi (Theobald, 1904) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), an invasive sorghum pest in the American continent, is a host of Aphidius platensis (Brèthes, 1913) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) in Brazil

Melanaphis sorghi (Theobald, 1904) is an invasive species recently introduced in the American continent and has been causing great losses in the sorghum crop. In surveys carried out in the cities of Uberlândia and Sete Lagoas, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, during the year 2021, mummified specimens of M. sorghi were collected on sorghum plants, from which the parasitoid Aphidius platensis (Brèthes, 1913) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) and the hyperparasitoids Syrphophagus sp. and Pachyneuron sp. emerged. This is the first record of A. platensis parasitizing M. sorghi in Brazil.
Development and Validation of an Instrument for Measuring Student Sustainability Competencies

The importance of education, and ESD in particular, for achieving sustainable development is highlighted in the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since the Brundtland Report (1987) and the Agenda 21 conference in Rio in 1992, many measures and programs have been launched. However, no widely accepted and validated assessment instruments are currently available to examine the output levels of ESD on the student side as a means to contribute to monitoring the effects of ESD initiatives. Furthermore, connections to the results of empirical educational research are often lacking. Indeed, operationalization is necessary in order to evaluate actions of fostering ESD. Taking concepts of empirical educational and other relevant research findings (for example, psychology for sustainability) into account, this study develops a reliable and valid approach to measuring sustainability competencies. In this paper, novel data of a first school assessment is presented. One thousand six hundred and twenty-two students (aged from 9 to 16) participated in the survey. The paper-pencil questionnaire covers general (socio-demographic) as well as cognitive, affective, behavioral, application- and curriculum-orientated aspects of sustainability competencies. The evidence for the validity and reliability of the instrument indicates that the presented assessment tool constitutes a suitable instrument by which to measure sustainability competencies in secondary schools. The gathered insights show a path towards the operationalization of sustainability competencies to clarify the needs and achievements of ESD implementation in schools.
Modeling broadband phase noise from extended targets in a 170 GHz cloud-imaging radar

VIPR (Vapor Inside-cloud Profiling Radar) is a differential absorption radar operating over 155-175 GHz, covering a portion of the lower frequency flank of the 183 GHz water vapor absorption resonance. Transmitting at a ~1.9 mm wavelength, VIPR is highly sensitive to scattering from small particles comprising clouds and precipitation. Variation of VIPR’s cloud and precipitation echo power with frequency is often dominated by water vapor absorption, allowing humidity profiles to be retrieved along the radar’s beam path. One confounding effect in practical measurements is phase noise carried by the radar’s transmit signal, which can result in strong range sidelobes extending from bright targets and obscuring the echo signals of more weakly scattering clouds. Here we show that the magnitude and shape of phase-noise induced clutter from extended, bright cloud signals can be accurately modeled using a combination of empirical measurements of surface-echo phase noise and an analytic model based on the phase-noise sidelobe magnitude from a theoretical point target. This improved understanding of a potential clutter source in millimeter-wave imagine radar can lead to better performance modeling, and it provides motivation to improve the phase noise of very high frequency local oscillators.
A parallel method for querying target sub network in a bio molecular network

Similarity analysis of biomolecular networks among diﬀerent species or within one species is an eﬃcient approach to understand evolution or disease. The more data from biological experiment, the larger networks. Sequential computational limitation on single PC or workstation have to be considered when methods are developed. The Immediate Neighbors-in-ﬁrst Method is a method for querying the subnetwork which is most similar to the target in a biomolecular network. Parallel algorithm for it to treat large-scale networks is developed and the parallel performance is evaluated in this paper. Moreover, we apply the present method to two groups of tests on real biological data including protein interaction networks of Fly and Yeast and metabolic networks of Yeast and E. coli. Several conserved protein interactions and metabolic pathways are found and some new protein interactions and functions are predicted.
Contrast-enhanced nanofocus X-ray computed tomography allows virtual 3 D histopathology and morphometric analysis of osteoarthritis in small animal models

Objective: One of the early hallmarks of osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive degeneration of the articular cartilage. Early diagnosis of OA-associated cartilage alterations would be beneficial for disease prevention and control, and for the development of disease-modifying treatments. However, early diagnosis is still hampered by a lack of quantifiable readouts in preclinical models. Design: In this study, we have shown the potency of contrast-enhanced nanofocus X-ray computed tomography (CE-nanoCT) to be used for virtual 3D histopathology in established mouse models for OA, and we compared with standard histopathology. Results: We showed the equivalence of CE-nanoCT images to histopathology for the modified Mankin scoring of the cartilage structure and quality. Additionally, a limited set of 3D cartilage characteristics measured by CE-nanoCT image analysis in a userindependent and semi-automatic manner, i.e. average and maximum of the non-calcified cartilage thickness distribution and loss in glycosaminoglycans, was shown to be predictive for the cartilage quality and structure as can be evaluated by histopathological scoring through the use of an empirical model. Conclusions: We have shown that CE-nanoCT is a tool that allows virtual histopathology as well as 3D morphological quantification of multi-tissue systems, such as the chondro-osseous junction. It provides faster and more quantitative data on cartilage structure and quality compared to standard histopathology while eliminating user-