Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ADAPTIVE AND FAULT-TOLERANT MESSAGE ROUTING USING DISTRIBUTED RECOVERY BLOCK APPROACH

This paper describes an adaptive and fault-tolerant message routing technique that incorporates a distributed recovery block (DRB) scheme. The reliability requirements of inter-processor communication for parallel and distributed computer systems are increasing. The message routing algorithm, presented here, ensures the delivery of every message as long as a healthy path exists between source and destination nodes. Fault tolerance is achieved by employing distributed recovery block approach, which consists of two try-block nodes with an acceptance test. The primary try-block delivers messages, whereas the alternate is ready to take over if the primary fails. We are focusing on store-and-forward message propagation strategy, however the method can also be employed to establish a reliable path for wormhole or virtual cut through routing. The method has been investigated and implemented for 2D-mesh, torus and hypercube network topologies for varying network traffic.
An 8 month slow slip event triggers progressive nucleation of the 2014 Chile megathrust

The mechanisms leading to large earthquakes are poorly understood and documented. Here we characterize the long‐term precursory phase of the 1 April 2014 Mw8.1 North Chile megathrust. We show that a group of coastal GPS stations accelerated westward 8 months before the main shock, corresponding to a Mw6.5 slow slip event on the subduction interface, 80% of which was aseismic. Concurrent interface foreshocks underwent a diminution of their radiation at high frequency, as shown by the temporal evolution of Fourier spectra and residuals with respect to ground motions predicted by recent subduction models. Such ground motions change suggests that in response to the slow sliding of the subduction interface, seismic ruptures are progressively becoming smoother and/or slower. The gradual propagation of seismic ruptures beyond seismic asperities into surrounding metastable areas could explain these observations and might be the precursory mechanism eventually leading to the main shock.
Human Capital Investments in Pakistan: Implications of Micro Evidence from Rural Households

A number of cross-country studies suggest that the Pakistani aggregate human capital investments, measured by educational performance, are low relative to other countries of similar per capita income levels. This paper investigates the implications of micro evidence on schooling from rural Pakistan for an understanding of the cases of low human capital investments. The results of school-entrant and dropout regressions using household panel data indicate that the permanent and transitory income movements affect children’s schooling behaviour, indicating credit market imperfections. Hence, the human capital investments in rural Pakistan may be discouraged by poverty, combined with incompletely insured income volatility. Moreover, our analysis points out that there is a distinct gender difference in education.
The CAFADIS camera: a new tomographic wavefront sensor for Adaptive Optics.

The CAFADIS camera is a new wavefront sensor (WFS) patented by the Universidad de La Laguna. CAFADIS is a system based on the concept of plenoptic camera originally proposed by Adelson and Wang (1) and its most salient feature is its ability to simultaneously measuring wavefront maps and distances to objects (2). This makes of CAFADIS an interesting alternative for LGS-based AO systems as it is capable of measuring from an LGS-beacon the atmospheric turbulence wavefront and simultaneously the distance to the LGS beacon thus removing the need of a NGS defocus sensor to probe changes in distance to the LGS beacon due to drifts of the mesospheric Na layer. In principle, the concept can also be employed to recover 3D profiles of the Na Layer allowing for optimizations of the measurement of the distance to the LGS-beacon. Currently we are investigating the possibility of extending the plenoptic WFS into a tomographic wavefront sensor. Simulations will be shown of a plenoptic WFS when operated within an LGS-based AO system for the recovery of wavefront maps at di erent heights. The preliminary results presented here show the tomographic ability of CAFADIS.
Basic definitions and properties of topological branched coverings

The aim of this paper is to examine topological branched coverings which were introduced in [5]. They appear naturally in algebraic and analytic geometry and they have been considered mostly in PL category (see for example [7], [2] and [4]). We introduce new notions which may be useful not only for examining topological branched coverings: a strong mapping at a point, a locally strong mapping and a spreading mapping. After proving that, under certain assumptions, the only branched coverings with the Absolute Covering Homotopy Property are unbranched coverings, we give two sufficient conditions for the Arc Lifting Property. We also characterize finite and locally finite nondegenerate graphs as branched coverings over the unit circle S1 with one-point singular set.
The Hybrid Phillips Curve : Empirical Evidence from Transition Economies

In this paper we estimate the hybrid New Keynesian Phillips curve for nine transition economies and examine its ability to explain inflation dynamics. Special emphasis has been made on obtaining a measure of expected inflation directly from consumer surveys via the probability method, as opposed to most similar studies, which employ various proxy or instrumental variables for expected inflation. Unlike similar studies that employ the Generalized Method of Moments in evaluating the hybrid Phillips curve, here we me a dynamic fixed efects (DFE) model, as suggested by recent advances in the estimation of nonstationary heterogeneous dynamic panel models. This empirical investigation leads to the conclusion that there does exist a cointegration relation between inflation, expected Inflation, and the output gap (as a proxy for real marginal cost). The long-run coefficients for both independent variables are positive and statistically significant. Moreover, based on the error correction model evaluated, one arrives at a conclusion that the error correction term is statistically significant and of appropriate sign, pointing to a 15 percent quarterly imbalance correction. Furthermore, our results are robust to a variety of dynamic panel estimation procedures.
In Vitro Rumen Fermentation Characteristics and Fatty Acid Profiles Added with Calcium Soap of Canola/Flaxseed Oil

This research aimed to assess the effect of adding canola oil and flaxseed oil which were protected with calcium soap (Ca-soap) on the fermentation characteristics, rumen microbial population, and the profile of fatty acids in the rumen during 4 and 8 hours in the in vitro fermentation. The research design used in this study was a completely randomized block design with 3 treatments and 4 replications. The treatments consisted of control ration (Napier grass and concentrate at the ratio of 60 : 40), control + 6% of Ca-soap of canola oil, and control + 6% of Ca-soap of flaxseed oil. Variables observed were pH value, NH3 concentration, volatile fatty acid (VFA), dry matter and organic matter digestibility, and fatty acid profile. The results showed that the addition of Ca-soap of canola or flaxseed oil did not affect the pH value, NH3 concentration, dry matter digestibility, organic matter digestibility, total population of bacteria and protozoa in the rumen. However, the total production of ruminal VFA was increased (P<0.05) with the addition of Ca soap of canola oil/flaxseed oil. The use of Ca-soap of flaxseed oil increased (P<0.05) the content of unsaturated fatty acids in the rumen at 4 h incubation. The addition of Ca-soap of flaxseed oil resulted the lowest (P<0.05) level of unsaturated fatty acids biohydrogenation compared to the other treatments at 4 h incubation. In conclusion, the addition of Ca soap of canola/flaxseed oil could improve VFA total production. Vegetable oils protected using calcium soap could inhibit unsaturated fatty acid biohidrogenation by rumen microbes. Ca-soap of flaxseed oil could survive from rumen biohydrogenation in the rumen better than Ca-soap of canola oil.
Movement pattern and home range use by the Eurasian lynx in Białowieża Primeval Forest (Poland)

The movement patterns of free-living lynx, Lynx lynx, were studied by radiotelemetry in Bialowieza Primeval Forest, Poland. Eighteen lynx were fitted with radio-collars and their Movements were recorded by continuous 24-hsequences and daily relocations. On average, lynx moved 7.2 km per day, and males covered longer distances than females (9.0 and 6.8 km, respectively). In males, the daily movement distances were 56% longer during the mating season (January-March) than during the rest of the year. Females moved 43% longer distances during the period of intensive care for kittens (May-August) than in other periods. Males covered longer routes than females and stayed far from the location of the previous day. Females' movements were more concentrated as they moved intensively but stayed close to the previous day's location. The lynx travelled with an average speed of 1.2 km h - 1 with males moving faster than females (1.5 and 1.0 km h - 1 , respectively). Males travelled even faster (on average 1.9 km h - 1 ) during the mating season. During a day lynx utilised an area comprising only 1.7%-2.6% of their annual home range. The home ranges were used with rather low intensity (31 to 50 m of lynx route per 1 km 2 of home range), still lower in males than in females. The lynx moved the longest distances (14 km day - 1 , on average) on days when they failed to kill large prey, and the shortest ones (2.8 km day-') on the first day after making a kill. The results suggest that males tend to maximise their reproductive success by increasing an opportunity to meet receptive females, whereas females increase their reproductive success via adjusting their behaviour to the needs of kittens.
Ownership Structure and the Market for Corporate Control

We study the impact of the ownership structure of a corporation on the characteristics and efficiency of the market for corporate control. We adopt a general mechanism design approach, in which endogenous sources of inefficiency in the market, including adverse selection, moral hazard, budget balance and voluntary trading, may preclude the possibility of efficiently restructuring control and ownership. We identify necessary and sufficient conditions for an efficient market, and describe the characteristics of efficient restructuring mechanisms, when they exist. In efficient restructuring, corporations typically increase the number of shares of the incumbent manager when he remains in control, or give him a generous golden parachute when he is deposed. Corporations are also reluctant to assign full control and full ownership to a single stockholder, unless agency costs are severe. We characterize the set of ownership structures for which efficient restructuring is possible. While the distribution of ownership among the non-controlling shareholders is irrelevant, the level of initial managerial ownership is a central determinant of this set. Typically, efficient restructuring is easier to obtain for low levels of managerial ownership.
Introductory Chapter: Physical Methods for Stimulating Plant Growth and Development

Various physiological, biochemical, and molecular genetic markers have been applied to enhance plant performance and crop yield [1–19]. The required increase of agricultural production has imposed the essentiality for probing incipient and secured decisions due to the incremented requisite of environmental agricultural products and raw materials, which are both used in food and industrial purposes [20]. The substantial alterations of the atmosphere, soil, or even water which all happen due to the excess utilization of divergent chemical supplements used to increment the yield level are some of the most recent results of anthropogenic adjustments that consequently have led to probing these new alternative methods [20]. Such ways for incrementing the products contain the plausible utilization of supersessions or chemicals through using congruous or applicable physical influences or factors [20]. These influences when used on some biologically controlled comportment are considered as a contemporary trend in amalgamating the consolidation of plant technology with the environmental requisites [20]. Physical methods represent alternative promising sources for stimulating plant development and increasing vegetable production. Many physical factors are currently used for plant treatment, including electromagnetic waves, optical emission, laser, magnetic field, gamma rays, and the ultrasound and ionizing radiation [20]. The sensitivity of plants to the effect of these physical factors has been demonstrated.
Anomaly Detection in Logged Sensor Data

Anomaly detection methods are used in a wide variety of fields to extract important information (e.g. credit card fraud, presence of tumours or sensor malfunctions). Current anomaly detection methods are data- or application specific; a general anomaly detection method would be a useful tool in many situations. In this thesis a general method based on statistics is developed and evaluated. The method includes well-known statistical tools as well as a novel algorithm (sensor profiling) which is introduced in this thesis. The general method makes use of correlations found in complex sensor systems, which consists of several sensor signals. The method is evaluated using real sensor data provided by Volvo Car Corporation. The sensor profiling can be used to find clusters of data with similar probability distributions. It is used to automatically determine the sensor performance across different external conditions. Evaluating the anomaly detection method on a data set with known anomalies in one sensor signal results in 94 % of anomalies detected at 6 % false detection rate. Evaluating the method on additional sensor signals was not done. The sensor profiling revealed conditions where the sensor signal behaves qualitatively and quantitatively different. It is able to do this in data where other commonly used methods, such as regression analysis, fail to extract any information. Sensor profiling may have additional applications beyond anomaly detection as it is able to extract information when other methods can not. To conclude, this thesis presents a seemingly natural method and tool chain to automatically detect anomalies in any sensor data that can be represented as a time series. The performance of this method is still to be proven on a large set of general sensor data, but it shows promise, mainly for sensor systems consisting of several sensor signals.
Identification of Critical Biomarkers Responsive to Anti-Autophagy Therapies for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma through a PerformanceAnalysis of miRNA Platforms

Background: Autophagy is a fundamental catabolic pathway that involves the degradation of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components through the lysosomal machinery. The role of autophagy in cancer is complex, exhibiting tumor suppressive or tumor proliferative effects depending on the cancer type. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has constitutively activated autophagy that results in the selective proliferation of its tumor cells. Understanding the mechanisms by which the inhibition of autophagy occurs could shape our current therapeutic strategies for pancreatic cancer. Recent research has implicated microRNAs as important regulators of autophagy, but how miRNAs influence this inhibition is largely unexplored. Results: It is known that there exists inter-platform variability across miRNA platforms and therefore in order to identify bona fide miRNAs that are involved with the inhibition of autophagy we carried out a performance analysis of miRNA arrays from three vendors. In this paper we report our findings from this cross-platform analysis of miRNA arrays and the identity of several critical biomarkers of response to anti-autophagy therapies in the immortalized human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells 8988T as compared to normal human pancreatic ductal epithelial cells. Our cross-platform analysis of three different miRNA arrays revealed that RT-PCR-based technologies provide higher inter-platform reproducibility than hybridization-based technologies, a greater sensitivity indicated by larger dynamic ranges and reduced processing time. We also discovered two miRNAs, miRNA 720 and miRNA 29b to play a role in the inhibition of autophagy in 8988T cells and found miRNA 30a to be involved with the inhibition of autophagy in normal human pancreatic ductal epithelial cells. Conclusion: This cross-platform analysis of miRNA arrays contributed significant information about miRNA expression systems and led to the first report of miRNAs implicated in the inhibition of autophagy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Our findings should provide new insights for developing therapeutic solutions for this extremely intractable disease.
Examining the Relationships among Antecedents of Guests' Behavioural Intentions in Ghana's Hospitality Industry: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

This study empirically examines the critical antecedents of behavioural intentions and the structural interrelationships that exist among the antecedents in the hotel industry in Ghana. The study was a cross-sectional survey of 700 respondents using structured questionnaire personally administered. A usable 359 questionnaire were obtained, representing 51.3% response rate and analysed using Structural Equation Modelling approach. The findings indicate that the proposed model has high goodness-of-fit indices and explains 89.5 and 91% of the two behavioural intention variables loyalty and Positive Word of Mouth Communication (PWOMC) respectively. It also found that loyalty could be influenced through PWOMC, customer satisfaction, perceived service quality, perceived value and perceived quality of ambient factors, whereas PWOMC was influenced by satisfaction, perceived value and perceived quality of Ambient factors. Theoretically, the study fills the dearth of conceptual models in understanding the critical determinants of BI in the hotel sector in developing country context. It also provides important implications for marketing management in hotel industry. Limitations of the study are noted and recommendations for future research have been suggested. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in the area of consumer loyalty in the hospitality industry.
On the reliability of retrospective unemployment information in European household panel data

The retrospectively recalled calendar of activities in the European Community Household Panel is a prime resource for cross-country analysis of unemployment experience. We investigate the reliability of these data and find that 26 % of unemployed respondents misreported retrospectively their unemployment status in the subsequent interview. We observe large differences across countries: While the conditional probability of consistent information is 96 % in the UK, it is just 51 % in Greece for a comparable individual. By analyzing long-term unemployment and unemployment persistence, we show that the results of cross-country comparisons are strongly affected by these data problems.
The user cost, home ownership and housing prices: Theory and evidence from the US Article prepared for the International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home by Elsevier, Section: Economics/Finance.

From 1995 to the beginning of the subprime crisis, there was a substantial rise in real house prices and an increase in home ownership rates in the US. To understand this episode, we consider changes to the cost of home ownership over the period. The cost of owner-occupied housing services is measured by the user cost of housing which depends not only on house prices but on the preferential tax treatment of owner-occupied housing services, the availability of collateralized credit, the insurance role of owner-occupied housing against rental-price risk, as well as current and expected transaction costs. We then estimate the user cost of owneroccupied housing using U.S. data and show that it did not increase during the years of the price upsurge, which might explain the observed home ownership pattern. We also discuss possible factors that might explain the co-existence of rising housing prices and increasing home ownership rates.
Making Hakomi More Transpersonal: Mindfulness in Psychotherapy as Vipassana Meditation, Buddhist Abhidhamma

Mindfulness is cultivated in vipassana meditation as one of fifty-two mental factors in Buddhist psychology or abhidhamma. Hakomi psychotherapy uses Buddhist mindfulness. But vipassana meditators and Hakomi therapists apply mindfulness with different goals towards different objects of change. In Hakomi the object of change is maladaptive contents of consciousness which condition its processes. These contents are unconscious core beliefs. Experientially substituting more adaptive beliefs alleviates suffering. In vipassana the object of change is maladaptive processes of consciousness themselves. Bypassing the beliefs which condition them, meditators exercise volitional control over these processes directly. This eliminates suffering. These differences limit the methods and goals of Hakomi therapy. Making Hakomi more transpersonal by integrating traditional uses of mindfulness is proposed in theory and demonstrated in practice.
Lidar observation and model simulation of a volcanic-ash-induced cirrus cloud during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption

Abstract. Heterogeneous ice formation induced by volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in April 2010 is investigated based on the combination of a cirrus cloud observed with a backscatter lidar over Julich (western Germany) and model simulations along backward trajectories. The microphysical properties of the cirrus cloud could only be represented by the microphysical model under the assumption of an enhanced number of efficient ice nuclei originating from the volcanic eruption. The ice nuclei (IN) concentration determined by lidar measurements directly before and after cirrus cloud occurrence implies a value of around 0.1 cm−3 (in comparison normal IN conditions: 0.01 cm−3). This leads to a cirrus cloud with rather small ice crystals having a mean radius of 12 μm and a modification of the ice particle number (0.08 cm−3 instead of 3 × 10−4 cm−3 under normal IN conditions). The effectiveness of ice nuclei was estimated by the use of the microphysical model and the backward trajectories based on ECMWF data, establishing a freezing threshold of around 105% relative humidity with respect to ice in a temperature range from −45 to −55 °C . Only with these highly efficient ice nuclei was it possible for the cirrus cloud to be formed in a slightly supersaturated environment.
Competition and the Bad News Principle in a Real Options Framework

We study the investment timing problem where two firms that compete for investment preemption know in advance the time at which the economic condition changes. We show that the so-called Bad News Principle applies to the leader firm’s investment decision near maturity in many cases. This result indicates that the option value to wait does have an impact even in a competitive situation, which is in contrast to the previous literature.