Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Sense of Place: Toward a Location-aware Information Plane for Data Centers

The continuing drive to improve operating efficiency of information technology is motivating the development of knowledge planes or frameworks for coordinated monitoring and control of large data computing infrastructures. In this paper, we propose the notion of a locationand environment-aware extended knowledge plane. As an illustration of such an extended knowledge plane, we architect the Splice framework, that extends the knowledge plane to include data from environmental sensors and the notions of physical location and spatial and topological relationships with respect to facilities-level support systems. Our proposed architecture is designed to support easy extensibility, scalability, and support the notion of higher-level object views and events in the data center. Using the above architecture, we demonstrate the richness of queries facilitated by Splice and discuss their potential for automating several categories of data center maintenance and control. We also discuss our experience with deploying Splice on real-world data centers and discuss the value from Splice in the context on one specific optimization that would have otherwise not been possible without the extended knowledge plane. Finally, we also provide evidence of the scalability of this deployment with number of readings, both in terms of database storage and query performance.
The Meanings of Career Revisited: Implications for Theory and Practice

In everyday conversation, the term ‘career’ is generally understood to refer to the sequence of work-related experiences one has over the course of one's working lifetime. For many people, a career is distinct from a job, since it also conjures up images of steady, even logical, progression up organizational hierarchies. It is not simply about what one does for a living, but about what one has done, does now and might do in the future; the notion of career therefore embraces the dimension of time. In light of widespread organizational restructuring and economic uncertainty since the late 1980s, many of the taken-for-granted assumptions which have underpinned traditional notions of career, and in particular the organizational career, no longer seem valid. Both individuals and organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to conceptualize the idea of a logical, long-term sequence of work-related experiences; there is thus no longer a clear and mutual understanding of what the career means to both. This paper argues that individuals and organizations can meaningfully redefine the notion of career by reconsidering its broader, theoretical underpinnings.
Apprentissage neuronal de caractéristiques spatio-temporelles pour la classification automatique de séquences vidéo. (Neural-based learning of spatio-temporal features for automatic video sequence classification)

Cette these s'interesse a la problematique de la classification automatique des sequences video. L'idee est de se demarquer de la methodologie dominante qui se base sur l'utilisation de caracteristiques concues manuellement, et de proposer des modeles qui soient les plus generiques possibles et independants du domaine. Ceci est fait en automatisant la phase d'extraction des caracteristiques, qui sont dans notre cas generees par apprentissage a partir d'exemples, sans aucune connaissance a priori. Nous nous appuyons pour ce faire sur des travaux existants sur les modeles neuronaux pour la reconnaissance d'objets dans les images fixes, et nous etudions leur extension au cas de la video. Plus concretement, nous proposons deux modeles d'apprentissage des caracteristiques spatio-temporelles pour la classification video : (i) Un modele d'apprentissage supervise profond, qui peut etre vu comme une extension des modeles ConvNets au cas de la video, et (ii) Un modele d'apprentissage non supervise, qui se base sur un schema d'auto-encodage, et sur une representation parcimonieuse sur-complete des donnees. Outre les originalites liees a chacune de ces deux approches, une contribution supplementaire de cette these est une etude comparative entre plusieurs modeles de classification de sequences parmi les plus populaires de l'etat de l'art. Cette etude a ete realisee en se basant sur des caracteristiques manuelles adaptees a la problematique de la reconnaissance d'actions dans les videos de football. Ceci a permis d'identifier le modele de classification le plus performant (un reseau de neurone recurrent bidirectionnel a longue memoire a court-terme -BLSTM-), et de justifier son utilisation pour le reste des experimentations. Enfin, afin de valider la genericite des deux modeles proposes, ceux-ci ont ete evalues sur deux problematiques differentes, a savoir la reconnaissance d'actions humaines (sur la base KTH), et la reconnaissance d'expressions faciales (sur la base GEMEP-FERA). L'etude des resultats a permis de valider les approches, et de montrer qu'elles obtiennent des performances parmi les meilleures de l'etat de l'art (avec 95,83% de bonne reconnaissance pour la base KTH, et 87,57% pour la base GEMEP-FERA).
Thick disks of lenticular galaxies - 3D-photometric thin/thick disk decomposition of eight edge-on S0 galaxies

Thick disks are faint and extended stellar components found around several disk galaxies including our Milky Way. The Milky Way thick disk, the only one studied in detail, contains mostly old disk stars (≈10 Gyr), so that thick disks are likely to trace the early stages of disk evolution. Previous detections of thick disk stellar light in external galaxies have been originally made for early-type, edge-on galaxies but detailed 2D thick/thin disk decompositions have been reported for only a scant handful of mostly late-type disk galaxies. We present in this paper for the first time explicit 3D thick/thin disk decompositions characterising the presence and properties (e.g. scalelength and scaleheight) for a sample of eight lenticular galaxies by fitting 3D disk models to the data. For six out of the eight galaxies we were able to derive a consistent thin/thick disk model. The mean scaleheight of the thick disk is 3.6 times larger than that of the thin disk. The scalelength of the thick disk is about twice, and its central luminosity density between 3−10% of, the thin disk value. Both thin and thick disk are truncated at similar radii. This implies that thick disks extend over fewer scalelengths than thin disks, and turning a thin disk into a thick one requires therefore vertical but little radial heating. All these structural parameters are similar to thick disk parameters for later Hubble- type galaxies previously studied. We discuss our data in respect to present models for the origin of thick disks, either as pre- or post-thin-disk structures, providing new observational constraints.
The cross domain desktop compositor: using hardware-based video compositing for a multi-level secure user interface

We have developed the Cross Domain Desktop Compositor, a hardware-based multi-level secure user interface, suitable for deployment in high-assurance environments. Through composition of digital display data from multiple physically-isolated single-level secure domains, and judicious switching of keyboard and mouse input, we provide an integrated multi-domain desktop solution. The system developed enforces a strict information flow policy and requires no trusted software. To fulfil high-assurance requirements and achieve a low cost of accreditation, the architecture favours simplicity, using mainly commercial-off-the-shelf components complemented by small trustworthy hardware elements. The resulting user interface is intuitive and responsive and we show how it can be further leveraged to create integrated multi-level applications and support managed information flows for secure cross domain solutions. This is a new approach to the construction of multi-level secure user interfaces and multi-level applications which minimises the required trusted computing base, whilst maintaining much of the desired functionality.
Regulation of RNA Synthesis by the Genomic Termini of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus: Identification of Distinct Sequences Essential for Transcription but Not Replication

ABSTRACT The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), a nonsegmented negative-strand RNA virus, directs two discrete RNA synthetic processes, transcription and replication. Available evidence suggests that the two short extragenic regions at the genomic termini, the 3′ leader (Le) and the complement of the 5′ trailer (TrC), contain essential signals for these processes. We examined the roles in transcription and replication of sequences in Le and TrC by monitoring the effects of alterations to the termini of subgenomic replicons, or infectious viruses, on these RNA synthetic processes. Distinct elements in Le were found to be required for transcription that were not required for replication. The promoter for mRNA transcription was shown to include specific sequence elements within Le at positions 19 to 29 and 34 to 46, a separate element at nucleotides 47 to 50, the nontranscribed leader-N gene junction. The sequence requirements for transcription within the Le region could not be supplied by sequences found at the equivalent positions in TrC. In contrast, sequences from either Le or TrC functioned well to signal replication, indicating that within the confines of the VSV termini, the sequence requirements for replication were less stringent. Deletions engineered at the termini showed that the terminal 15 nucleotides of either Le or TrC allowed a minimal level of replication. Within these confines, levels of replication were affected by both the extent of complementarity between the genomic termini and the involvement of the template in transcription. In agreement with our previous observations, increasing the extent of complementarity between the natural termini increased levels of replication, and this effect was most operative at the extreme genome ends. In addition, abolishing the use of Le as a promoter for transcription enhanced replication. These analyses (i) identified signals at the termini required for transcription and replication and (ii) showed that Le functions as a less efficient promoter for replication than TrC at least in part because of its essential role in transcription. Consequently, these observations help explain the asymmetry of VSV replication which results in the synthesis of more negative- than positive-sense replication products in infected cells.
Artificial Neural Network Modeling of Forest Tree Growth

The problem of modeling forest tree growth curves with an artificial neural network (NN) is examined. The NN parametric form is shown to be a suitable model if each forest tree plot is assumed to consist of several differently growing sub-plots. The predictive Bayesian approach is used in estimating the NN output. Data from the correlated curve trend (CCT) experiments are used. The NN predictions are compared with those of one of the best parametric solutions, the Schnute model. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) methods are used to evaluate whether any observed differences are statistically significant. From a Frequentist perspective the differences between the Schnute and NN approach are found not to be significant. However, a Bayesian ANOVA indicates that there is a 93% probability of the NN approach producing better predictions on average.
SocialZap: Catch-up on Interesting Television Fragments Discovered from Social Media

In this paper we present SocialZap, a multimedia search engine that finds the most interesting fragments, zap points, in a television broadcast based on microblog posts and socially tagged photos. The main novelty of SocialZap is the fully-automatic transfer of the learned viewers interest from textual posts to the visual channel, without the need for any manual effort in the process. Once SocialZap finds the zap points, users can easily browse through a television broadcast and directly watch the interesting fragments. Thus, SocialZap adds social experience to watching television.
Immunological Reaction in TNF-α-Mediated Osteoclast Formation and Bone Resorption In Vitro and In Vivo

Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is a cytokine produced by monocytes, macrophages, and T cells and is induced by pathogens, endotoxins, or related substances. TNF-α may play a key role in bone metabolism and is important in inflammatory bone diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Cells directly involved in osteoclastogenesis include macrophages, which are osteoclast precursor cells, osteoblasts, or stromal cells. These cells express receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) to induce osteoclastogenesis, and T cells, which secrete RANKL, promote osteoclastogenesis during inflammation. Elucidating the detailed effects of TNF-α on bone metabolism may enable the identification of therapeutic targets that can efficiently suppress bone destruction in inflammatory bone diseases. TNF-α is considered to act by directly increasing RANK expression in macrophages and by increasing RANKL in stromal cells. Inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin- (IL-) 12, IL-18, and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) strongly inhibit osteoclast formation. IL-12, IL-18, and IFN-γ induce apoptosis in bone marrow cells treated with TNF-α in vitro, and osteoclastogenesis is inhibited by the interactions of TNF-α-induced Fas and Fas ligand induced by IL-12, IL-18, and IFN-γ. This review describes and discusses the role of cells concerned with osteoclast formation and immunological reactions in TNF-α-mediated osteoclastogenesis in vitro and in vivo.
On Network Functional Compression

In this paper, we consider different aspects of the problem of compressing for function computation across a network, which we call network functional compression. In network functional compression, computation of a function (or, some functions) of sources located at certain nodes in a network is desired at receiver(s). The rate region of this problem has been considered in the literature under certain restrictive assumptions, particularly in terms of the network topology, the functions, and the characteristics of the sources. In this paper, we present results that significantly relax these assumptions. For a one-stage tree network, we characterize a rate region by introducing a necessary and sufficient condition for any achievable coloring-based coding scheme called coloring connectivity condition. We also propose a modularized coding scheme based on graph colorings to perform arbitrarily closely to rate lower bounds. For a general tree network, we provide a rate lower bound based on graph entropies and show that, this bound is tight in the case of having independent sources. In particular, we show that, in a general tree network case with independent sources, to achieve the rate lower bound, intermediate nodes should perform computations. However, for a family of functions and random variables, which we call chain-rule proper sets, it is sufficient to have no computations at intermediate nodes to perform arbitrarily closely to the rate lower bound. In addition, we consider practical issues of coloring-based coding schemes and propose an efficient algorithm to compute a minimum entropy coloring of a characteristic graph under some conditions on source distributions and/or the desired function. Finally, extensions of these results for cases of having feedback and lossy function computations are discussed.
Cohabitation without marriage: the yugoslavian experience

The existence of cohabitation without formal marriage and its ever increasing significance throughout the world is an undeniable fact of our social reality. In legal theory, cohabitation without formal marriage is defined as the union of a man and woman established solely by the consent of both parties. Like the institution of marriage, it is intended to be potentially indefinite in duration and the parties cohabit in the same household as man and wife. ' The cohabiting partners together with their common children form the socalled family outside marriage in the restricted sense.2 Traditionally the family based on marriage has been the fundamental and most common form of the family. History, however, has been witness to the fact that in addition to the traditional family, the family outside marriage has always existed. Today the number of children born outside marriage is constantly on the rise. At the same time, the institution of marriage is proving to be less and less stable; as a result, the divorce rate is also increasing steadily. In view of the increasing number of non-marital unions between men and women, the family outside marriage is just as much in need of legal protection as is the traditional family. The same applies in the case of unmarried cohabiting partners without common children. Although these non-marital unions are of less significance than those with children, legal intervention is necessary in both
Are There Race-Dependent Endothelial Cell Responses to Exercise?

African Americans have an endothelial dysfunction that likely contributes to their high prevalence of hypertension. Endothelial cell (EC) responses to stimuli could play a role in the development of endothelial dysfunction and hypertension. High physiological levels of vascular laminar shear stress can alter EC phenotype profoundly. It is not known whether there are race-dependent EC responses to laminar shear stress.
Sleep and immunomodulatory responses to systemic lipopolysaccharide in mice selectively expressing interleukin‐1 receptor 1 on neurons or astrocytes

Sleep‐wake behavior is altered in response to immune challenge. Although the precise mechanisms that govern sickness‐induced changes in sleep are not fully understood, interleukin‐1β (IL‐1) is one mediator of these responses. To better understand mechanisms underlying sleep and inflammatory responses to immune challenge, we used two transgenic mouse strains that express IL‐1 receptor 1 (IL1R1) only in the central nervous system and selectively on neurons or astrocytes. Electroencephalographic recordings from transgenic and wild‐type mice reveal that systemic challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) fragments sleep, suppresses rapid eye movement sleep (REMS), increases non‐REMS (NREMS), diminishes NREM delta power, and induces fever in all genotypes. However, the magnitude of REMS suppression is greater in mice expressing IL1R1 on astrocytes compared with mice in which IL1R1 is selectively expressed on neurons. Furthermore, there is a delayed increase in NREM delta power when IL1R1 is expressed on astrocytes. LPS‐induced sleep fragmentation is reduced in mice expressing IL1R1 on neurons. Although LPS increases IL‐1 and IL‐6 in brain of all genotypes, this response is attenuated when IL1R1 is expressed selectively on neurons or on astrocytes. Collectively, these data suggest that in these transgenic mice under the conditions of this study it is neuronal IL1R1 that plays a greater role in LPS‐induced suppression of REMS and NREM delta power, whereas astroglial IL1R1 is more important for sleep fragmentation after this immune challenge. Thus, aspects of central responses to LPS are modulated by IL1R1 in a cell type‐specific manner. GLIA 2016;64:780–791
Book Review: Learning and Development for Managers: Perspectives from Research and Practice EUGENE SADLER-SMITH. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 470 pp. ISBN 9781405129817, £65/$99.95 (hbk); 9781405129824, £30/$54.95 (pbk)

behaviour, idealized future, goals-driven justifi cation, and a sense of achieving destiny. If this list sounds like the rhetoric of many chief executives in both the public service and the private sector, then this reinforces Kayes’ point. He concludes the book with a table (p. 170) of features that he says were present in high-altitude teams on Everest and that are also present in contemporary organizations. Of the 13 items in his list, all are present in both situations. Unlucky for some. Would I recommend this book to readers of Management Learning? Not strongly. Despite its thesis being attractive to me, the structure of the book is unconvincing. The stories from Everest are told and retold. (Is undue repetition a compulsory feature of publishers’ requirements for business books, or is it just that some authors have less to say than they have pages to fi ll? ) However, the basis for the author’s thesis is shoe-horned into the account. He says, in effect, ‘this happened, and that was the cause’. The logic is strained at times and, because his data are superfi cial and his model to account for it strong and narrow, he does not in a punctilious way seek to explore alternative explanations of the phenomena he is examining. What we get then is a badly written, derivative disaster adventure story with a commentary based on fi rst-year undergraduate organization behaviour lecture notes. Perhaps in writing the book the author is a victim of the goalodicy that he seeks to warn us against. This is a missed opportunity as the thesis he proposes is an important one and the warnings that he offers ring true for executives in business and for coaches who work with them. He has reinforced my view that goal-setting is only valuable sometimes in coaching and that it needs to be done with due attention to the dark side of the process. I just wish he had written a better book.
Feature-Specific Attentional Priority Signals in Human Cortex

Human can flexibly attend to a variety of stimulus dimensions, including spatial location and various features such as color and direction of motion. Although the locus of spatial attention has been hypothesized to be represented by priority maps encoded in several dorsal frontal and parietal areas, it is unknown how the brain represents attended features. Here we examined the distribution and organization of neural signals related to deployment of feature-based attention. Subjects viewed a compound stimulus containing two superimposed motion directions (or colors) and were instructed to perform an attention-demanding task on one of the directions (or colors). We found elevated and sustained functional magnetic resonance imaging response for the attention task compared with a neutral condition, without reliable differences in overall response amplitude between attending to different features. However, using multivoxel pattern analysis, we were able to decode the attended feature in both early visual areas (primary visual cortex to human motion complex hMT+) and frontal and parietal areas (e.g., intraparietal sulcus areas IPS1–IPS4 and frontal eye fields) that are commonly associated with spatial attention. Furthermore, analysis of the classifier weight maps showed that attending to motion and color evoked different patterns of activity, suggesting that different neuronal subpopulations in these regions are recruited for attending to different feature dimensions. Thus, our finding suggests that, rather than a purely spatial representation of priority, frontal and parietal cortical areas also contain multiplexed signals related to the priority of different nonspatial features.