Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning-Based SMT Processor Resource Distribution via Hill-Climbing

The key to high performance in simultaneous multithreaded (SMT) processors lies in optimizing the distribution of shared resources to active threads. Existing resource distribution techniques optimize performance only indirectly. They infer potential performance bottlenecks by observing indicators, like instruction occupancy or cache miss counts, and take actions to try to alleviate them. While the corrective actions are designed to improve performance, their actual performance impact is not known since end performance is never monitored. Consequently, potential performance gains are lost whenever the corrective actions do not effectively address the actual bottlenecks occurring in the pipeline. We propose a different approach to SMT resource distribution that optimizes end performance directly. Our approach observes the impact that resource distribution decisions have on performance at runtime, and feeds this information back to the resource distribution mechanisms to improve future decisions. By evaluating many different resource distributions, our approach tries to learn the best distribution over time. Because we perform learning on-line, learning time is crucial. We develop a hill-climbing algorithm that efficiently learns the best distribution of resources by following the performance gradient within the resource distribution space. This paper conducts an in-depth investigation of learning-based SMT resource distribution. First, we compare existing resource distribution techniques to an ideal learning-based technique that performs learning off-line. This limit study shows learning-based techniques can provide up to 19.2% gain over ICOUNT, 18.0% gain over FLUSH, and 7.6% gain over DCRA across 21 multithreaded workloads. Then, we present an on-line learning algorithm based on hill-climbing. Our evaluation shows hill-climbing provides a 12.4% gain over ICOUNT, 11.3% gain over FLUSH, and 2.4% gain over DCRA across a larger set of 42 multiprogrammed workloads
The role of empathic concern, internalized moral principle, and anticipated guilt in college students' intentions to send or read text messages while driving

Although a growing amount of research has examined the consequences and prevalence of texting while driving, little research has examined the psychological factors that predict intentions to text while driving. Because texting while driving can potentially cause property damages and injure or kill people, it is particularly relevant to the moral aspect of a mobile communication and health behavior. Study 1 was based on a cross-sectional survey of 513 college students who responded to a battery of questions. Results revealed that participants' empathic concern predicted their feelings of anticipated guilt and internalized moral principle of care, which in turn negatively predicted intentions to text while driving. Study 2 was based on an experimental design where participants were randomly assigned to one of the three imagined conditions (i.e., severe car crash with no injuries, severe injuries with no deaths, and control). Results revealed that participants anticipated more guilt feelings in the two experimental conditions than in the control condition. However, there was no difference between the experimental conditions in arousing anticipated guilt. Both theoretical and practical implications related to the psychology of mobile communication and anti-texting while driving are discussed.
Forgetting in Logic Programs under Strong Equivalence

In this paper, we propose a semantic forgetting for arbitrary logic programs (or propositional theories) under answer set semantics, called HT-forgetting. The HT-forgetting preserves strong equivalence in the sense that strongly equivalent logic programs will remain strongly equivalent after forgetting the same set of atoms. The result of an HT-forgetting is always expressible by a logic program, and in particular, the result of an HT-forgetting in a Horn program is expressible in a Horn program; and a representation theorem shows that HT-forgetting can be precisely characterized by Zhang-Zhou's four forgetting postulates under the logic of here-and-there. We also reveal underlying connections between HT-forgetting and classical forgetting, and provide complexity results for decision problems.
"A little silly and empty-headed": older adults' understandings of social networking sites

This study suggests reasons for the absence of a growing proportion of the population, the so-called baby boomers, from the otherwise highly popular social networking sites. We explore how people of this age group understand social networking sites and how these understandings fit certain aspects of their life. Designing social networking sites that match older adults' life would increase their possibilities of coping with the changes related to their age and of contributing to the information society. In a qualitative study involving use of an existing social networking site, and group and personal interviews, we found that understanding the internet as a dangerous place, and social networking sites as places of socially unacceptable behavior, hinders the use of these technologies. To include older adults, we propose arrangement of social events for getting familiarized with these services and offering of clear and simple privacy management on the sites. These actions have implications for users of all ages.
Implicit and Explicit Anti-Fat Bias among a Large Sample of Medical Doctors by BMI, Race/Ethnicity and Gender

Overweight patients report weight discrimination in health care settings and subsequent avoidance of routine preventive health care. The purpose of this study was to examine implicit and explicit attitudes about weight among a large group of medical doctors (MDs) to determine the pervasiveness of negative attitudes about weight among MDs. Test-takers voluntarily accessed a public Web site, known as Project Implicit®, and opted to complete the Weight Implicit Association Test (IAT) (N = 359,261). A sub-sample identified their highest level of education as MD (N = 2,284). Among the MDs, 55% were female, 78% reported their race as white, and 62% had a normal range BMI. This large sample of test-takers showed strong implicit anti-fat bias (Cohen’s d = 1.0). MDs, on average, also showed strong implicit anti-fat bias (Cohen’s d = 0.93). All test-takers and the MD sub-sample reported a strong preference for thin people rather than fat people or a strong explicit anti-fat bias. We conclude that strong implicit and explicit anti-fat bias is as pervasive among MDs as it is among the general public. An important area for future research is to investigate the association between providers’ implicit and explicit attitudes about weight, patient reports of weight discrimination in health care, and quality of care delivered to overweight patients.
Avaliação da anotação semântica do PALAVRAS e sua pós-edição manual para o Corpus Summ-it

Este artigo apresenta uma avaliacao da anotacao semântica automatica do parser PALAVRAS e sua pos-edicao manual para um corpus de textos em portugues – o Corpus Summ-it. Essa pos-edicao visou ao aprimoramento de um modelo linguistico para a sumarizacao automatica de textos e buscou atribuir etiquetas semânticas mais adequadas aos itens lexicais, comparadas as empregadas pelo parser. Essa tarefa foi realizada por linguistas e os casos problematicos sao apresentados neste artigo, os quais levam a consideracoes sobre o proprio modelo de etiquetagem do PALAVRAS. O corpus revisado estara disponivel para a comunidade e podera ser util para varias aplicacoes de Processamento de Linguas Naturais.
The analysis of the key performances of ControlNet

In order to evaluate the real time property, stability and deterministic of ControlNet fieldbus, a simple and effective transmission time delay model was proposed to analyze the characteristic of virtual token passing (VTP) mechanism. Then, the maximum transmission time delay in the scheduled part of network update time can be determined. According to the contribution of the transmission time delay to the network throughput, a new performance evaluation architecture, which includes the network efficiency, network utilization, packet loss rate and throughput, was given. The simulated results indicate ControlNet has good throughput and excellent real-time property in multicast mode when the traffic load is small, and the network efficiency is over 90%.
Early Child Care: The Known and the Unknown

Child care research during the last 20 years has made considerable progress in addressing questions about (a) the effects of child care quality, (b) the effects of amount and timing of early child care, and (c) the effects of different types of care such as centers, child care homes, and relative care. This commentary summarizes the converging research evidence with respect to each of these questions and then outlines some future directions for child care research.
Object allocation and memory contention study of Java multithreaded applications

Java has become a popular programming language used on different platforms, ranging from embedded systems to powerful servers. Since the memory management is one of the most time-consuming parts within Java virtual machine (JVM), various techniques have been developed to boost its performance. However, the JVM memory management still does not scale very well, especially for multithreaded server applications. In this paper, we study different aspects of JVM object allocation from thread's perspective, using the trace data we collected from Sun JDK 1.3. 1. Additionally, we construct a heap simulator to study the potential memory contentions among different threads. The simulation results show that dividing heap into different subheaps is very effective in alleviating the memory contentions. The results imply the potential benefits of using subheaps in improving the Java memory management performance.
PROBLEM BASED LEARNING IN MANAGEMENT AND CLINICAL ENGINEERING COURSE

This paper addressed student perceptions and opinion of the problem based learning method, as well as the empirically collected data on students' learning outcomes on a Biomedical Engineering course, i.e. Management and Clinical Engineering. Pure lecture delivery with absence of practical intervention was deemed insufficient to provide appropriate means to achieve the course objectives. Therefore, a Mock Company assignment was introduced in this course as a problem based learning application aimed to aid the achievement of the program outcome while improving the attainment of the course objectives. The students were divided into groups to form individual mock company. Each mock company formed their organization post for each member, and came up with a business plan for a new project to be presented for fund approval by the panels, made up of the course instructors and invited lecturers from the clinical engineering industry and hospital practitioners. The company discussion progress and performance were monitored by the instructors through the formal university e- learning platform throughout the semester with occasional response and suggestions. The panels identified the expected lack of business and management knowledge but this was counteracted by the reasonably successful business plan produced independently by all companies’ At the end of the semester, through questionnaires, 69.6% of the 56 students agreed that this mock company assignment was useful in achieving the course objectives and should be conducted in the following years. Students who performed weakly in this assignment also demonstrated lower performance in all evaluations including by traditional means (p = 0.01), although there were no direct associations amongst the problem-based and the traditional evaluations (r < 0.66). The students’ responses also reflected their readiness to perform more independent learning approaches, despite them expressing the lack of clear scope and guideline, which is the nature of a problem-based learning experience.
The psychometric characteristics of the traumatic experiences checklist (TEC): first findings among psychiatric outpatients

The objective of the study was to assess the reliability and validity of a retrospective self-report measure of potential traumatic experiences among psychiatric outpatients. The range of evaluated experiences includes emotional neglect and abuse. Participants completed the Traumatic Experiences Checklist (TEC) (N = 153), a self-report trauma questionnaire of known psychometric qualities, i.e. the Stressful Life Experiences Questionnaire (SLESQ), and self-report measures of somatoform dissociation (SDQ-20), psychoform dissociation (DES). A majority (N = 115) completed the TEC twice, and also completed a measure of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSD-ss). The TEC's internal consistency and test–retest reliability were good, and the TEC strongly correlated with the SLESQ. Associations between the TEC and the PTSD-ss, DES, and SDQ-20 supported the criterion-related validity of the TEC. The internal consistency, test–retest reliability and criterion-related validity of TEC trauma area presence and severity scores were also satisfactory. Preliminary findings suggest that the psychometric characteristics of the TEC are good. Future study of the TEC should include larger samples of psychiatric patients, as well as non-clinical groups. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Social Policy Implications of Emergency Legislation in Northern Ireland

The periodic use of emergency legislation has been a historic characteristic of the Northern Ireland state. In the past twelve years there has been a marked escalation of the use of emergency powers in response to the political crisis and the continuing urban guerrilla war. In this article we explore some of the effects on social policy of the widespread, long-term use of emergency legislation in Northern Ireland. In particular we examine instances of the diffusion of emergency legislation where it becomes a 'normal' instrument of social policy and also the dilemmas generated for social policy professionals in terms of problematic relationships with the state. Finally we suggest that such developments in Northern Ireland provide new evidence to feed theoretical debates in social policy.
Building Change Detection in Multitemporal Very High Resolution SAR Images

The increasing availability of very high resolution (VHR) images regularly acquired over urban areas opens new attractive opportunities for monitoring human settlements at the level of individual buildings. This paper presents a novel approach to building change detection in multitemporal VHR synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The proposed approach is based on two concepts: 1) the extraction of information on changes associated with increase and decrease of backscattering at the optimal building scale and 2) the exploitation of the expected backscattering properties of buildings to detect either new or fully demolished buildings. Each detected change is associated with a grade of reliability. The approach is validated on the following: 1) COSMO-SkyMed multitemporal spotlight images acquired in 2009 on the city of L'Aquila (Italy) before and after the earthquake that hit the region and 2) TerraSAR-X multitemporal spotlight images acquired on the urban area of the city of Trento (Italy). Results demonstrate that the proposed approach allows an accurate identification of new and demolished buildings while presents a low false-alarm rate and a high reliability.
To appear in : Neural Computation , 10 ( 2 ) , 403-430 Probabilistic Interpretation of Population Codes

We present a general encoding-decoding framework for interpreting the activity of a population of units. A standard population code interpretation method, the Poisson model, starts from a description as to how a single value of an underlying quantity can generate the activities of each unit in the population. In casting it in the encoding-decoding framework, we find that this model is too restrictive to describe fully the activities of units in population codes in higher processing areas, such as the medial temporal area. Under a more powerful model, the population activity can convey information not only about a single value of some quantity but also about its whole distribution, including its variance, and perhaps even the certainty the system has in the actual presence in the world of the entity generating this quantity. We propose a novel method for forming such probabilistic interpretations of population codes and compare it to the existing method. Acknowledgements: We thank Charlie Anderson, Terry Sanger, and Larry Abbott for helpful discussions, and an anonymous reviewer for useful comments. R.Z. was supported by theMcDonnell Foundation, grant JSMF 95-1; P.D. by NIMHR29MH 55541-01 and the Surdna Foundation; and A.P. by a grant from the DOD, grant DAMD17-93-V-3018.
Preparation of Papers in Two-Column Format for the Proceedings of the 2004 Sarnoff Symposium

This paper proposes and designs a broadband RCS reduction(RCSR) technique based on the composite mechanism of absorption and scattering modulation, which reduces RCS by absorption in the relatively low and high, and intermediate frequency bands, and by phase canceling in the other frequency bands, so that the overall RCS will be reduced. Two types of units are used in the whole plane, both of which are double-loop structures. Element 0 is the main unit, which produces the absorbing effect in the low and high, and intermediate frequency bands, and element 1 is the auxiliary unit, which uses the principle of phase cancellation to reduce the RCS in the other frequency bands.
Formation and Barrier Function of Tight Junctions in Human Ovarian Surface Epithelium1

Abstract The normal ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) is a primitive epithelium made up by a single layer of mesothelial-type epithelial cells. When these cells get trapped in the ovarian stroma, expression of epithelial specific markers, such as E-cadherin, are induced. Most epithelial cells are also characterized by the ability to form tight junctions (TJ). Incomplete TJ have earlier been demonstrated in the OSE by electron microscopy studies. We have investigated expression and localization of the TJ proteins ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-1 in tissue biopsies from normal human ovaries and OSE in culture. The dynamics of TJ formation were studied in human OSE cultured on porous filters in culture inserts by measuring trans epithelial resistance (TER) including Ca2+ switch experiments. Confluent OSE cells were also analyzed by electron microscopy. The results show that normal human OSE has expression of all three TJ proteins investigated. These proteins, ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-1, were localized to OSE cell borders both in ovarian biopsies and in cultured OSE. There was no difference in this regard between fertile and postmenopausal women. Cells in culture were polarized and presented junctional complexes seen by electron microscopy. In the Ca2+ switch experiments, removing free Ca2+ transiently, TER decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in the Ca2+-free group compared with nontreated OSE. TER was fully restored after 24 h. N-cadherin but not E-cadherin was expressed in the OSE and localized to the cell borders. We conclude that normal human OSE express and form functional TJ both in vivo and vitro. This report also describes a method to study the influence of ovarian-derived mediators on TJ in cultured OSE.
The integral cohomology of the group of loops

Let PSigma_n denote the group that can be thought of either as the group of motions of the trivial n-component link or the group of symmetric automorphisms of a free group of rank n. The integral cohomology ring of PSigma_n is determined, establishing a conjecture of Brownstein and Lee.
The Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative: Improving Science and Mathematics Student Achievement in Economically Disadvantaged Rural Counties in Central Appalachia Through a School-Based, Teacher Partner Approach

This article was written in response to "Top-Down, Routinized Reform in Low-income, Rural Schools: NSF's Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative, by Robert Bickel, Terry Tomaskek, and Teresa Hardman Eagle which was published in the Education Policy Analysis Archives as Number 12 of Volume 8 on February 21, 2000.
Examining the Perspectives of Family Members Involved in the Delivery of Palliative Care at Home

This ethnographic study examined the social context of home-based palliative caregiving. Data were composed of observation field notes, interviews, and textual documents, and were analyzed using constant comparative methods. Findings show that home-based palliative caregiving resulted in life-enriching experiences for many caregivers. However, assumptions about dying at home and health care reforms resulted in some caregivers feeling “pressured” to provide home care, and consequently, left them feeling their obligations to care were exploited by the health care system. Shifts toward providing care closer to home not only changed caregivers, but also changed the home setting where palliative care was provided. Findings indicate a need for interventions designed to improve support for caregivers at home, and to explore how assumptions influence and sometimes drive the provision of home health care.
Practical motion planning for dextrous re-orientation of polyhedra

This paper addresses the motion planning problem for dextrous manipulation by an artificial multifingered hand. We focus on the task of re-orienting polyhedral objects and present a practical motion planner for achieving quasistatic manipulations by a four-fingered hand. The planner makes use of a simple manipulation strategy in which a single finger is moved and the other three are fixed. We describe how this scenario is exploited for reducing the space of trajectory solutions and used within a two-level incremental process to search for global re-orientation motions. The planner has been implemented and used for achieving several complex re-orientation tasks with frictional and frictionless contacts that show the practicality of our approach.
Sado-Monetarism: The Role of the Federal Reserve System in Keeping Wages Low

Economist Edwin Dickens has written a series of significant articles analyzing the minutes of the meetings, dating back to the 1950s, of the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve Board. (The Committee is the main policy-making body of the Board.) Dickens’s research shows convincingly that the Federal Reserve’s partisan behavior is designed to tilt the economy in the direction of the wealthy by making workers more compliant. … A recent study formalized Dickens’s work by attempting to distinguish whether the policy actions of the Federal Reserve were responses to inflation or to low unemployment. The study concluded that “a baseless fear of full employment,” rather than the prevention of inflation, was the guiding principal of the Federal Reserve. The conclusion of this study should come as little surprise to people familiar with the Federal Reserve’s obsession with the danger of high wages. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.