Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic Optimization of Multiattribute Resource Allocation in Self-Organizing Clouds

By leveraging virtual machine (VM) technology which provides performance and fault isolation, cloud resources can be provisioned on demand in a fine grained, multiplexed manner rather than in monolithic pieces. By integrating volunteer computing into cloud architectures, we envision a gigantic self-organizing cloud (SOC) being formed to reap the huge potential of untapped commodity computing power over the Internet. Toward this new architecture where each participant may autonomously act as both resource consumer and provider, we propose a fully distributed, VM-multiplexing resource allocation scheme to manage decentralized resources. Our approach not only achieves maximized resource utilization using the proportional share model (PSM), but also delivers provably and adaptively optimal execution efficiency. We also design a novel multiattribute range query protocol for locating qualified nodes. Contrary to existing solutions which often generate bulky messages per request, our protocol produces only one lightweight query message per task on the Content Addressable Network (CAN). It works effectively to find for each task its qualified resources under a randomized policy that mitigates the contention among requesters. We show the SOC with our optimized algorithms can make an improvement by 15-60 percent in system throughput than a P2P Grid model. Our solution also exhibits fairly high adaptability in a dynamic node-churning environment.
Interests and Identity in European Monetary Integration

The aim of this article is to explain the different French and British attitudes toward European monetary integration. The starting point is the critical evaluation of existent approaches in providing a satisfactory explanation of Franco-British differences. Both interest- and identity-based approaches provide a partially relevant explanation but fail to capture other important dimensions. Our attempt is then to formulate an articulated synthesis combining these two approaches and to propose some operational hypothesis. Positing two opposite models of action, one rationalist and the other constructivist, and assuming a continuum between these two extremes, we elaborate the basic analytic framework. Then, we propose four operational hypotheses on European integration concerning the core-periphery dimension, the distributional consequences of the issue, the rapport of the issue to the national formation and identity, and the agent involvement dimension. Analyzed in the light of these four dimensions, the explanation becomes more complete and satisfactory. In France, the globally pro-European identity shared by the masses combined with the economic elites support or neutrality was opportunistically and successfully exploited by political elites. On the contrary, in Britain, the political and economic elites were both hesitant on the monetary integration, as well as on the European integration in general, constantly measuring the pros and cons of participation. The masses attitude against monetary integration reflects the particular status of the national currency in their historical imaginary and the peripheral nature of British European commitment. Our synthetic framework seems to produce a more comprehensive account and explanation than each approach considered in isolation.
Metabolic Adaptation and Protein Complexes in Prokaryotes

Protein complexes are classified and have been charted in several large-scale screening studies in prokaryotes. These complexes are organized in a factory-like fashion to optimize protein production and metabolism. Central components are conserved between different prokaryotes; major complexes involve carbohydrate, amino acid, fatty acid and nucleotide metabolism. Metabolic adaptation changes protein complexes according to environmental conditions. Protein modification depends on specific modifying enzymes. Proteins such as trigger enzymes display condition-dependent adaptation to different functions by participating in several complexes. Several bacterial pathogens adapt rapidly to intracellular survival with concomitant changes in protein complexes in central metabolism and optimize utilization of their favorite available nutrient source. Regulation optimizes protein costs. Master regulators lead to up- and downregulation in specific subnetworks and all involved complexes. Long protein half-life and low level expression detaches protein levels from gene expression levels. However, under optimal growth conditions, metabolite fluxes through central carbohydrate pathways correlate well with gene expression. In a system-wide view, major metabolic changes lead to rapid adaptation of complexes and feedback or feedforward regulation. Finally, prokaryotic enzyme complexes are involved in crowding and substrate channeling. This depends on detailed structural interactions and is verified for specific effects by experiments and simulations.
Large-Scale Weakly Consistent Replication using Multicast

In today s Internet there exist several repositories of resource allocation information Speci cally these registries contain information about IP address space delegations name space allocations and inter ISP routing policies Such registries are useful for coordinating allocation of Internet names and addresses and for debugging network routing For performance and availability reasons there is an increasing need to replicate these registries Internet wide This paper describes the design of an weakly consistent replication scheme that uses IP multicast The IP multicast service is unreliable we use a stochastic wait with suppression technique to scalably recover lost updates This technique reduces duplicate retransmissions of lost updates Detailed simulations demonstrate that even in large sparsely distributed registries less than of the losses result in duplicate retransmissions For the expected update tra c patterns our approach outperforms other multicast loss recovery mechanisms We have implemented a distributed Internet routing policy registry using this replication scheme a small experiment demonstrates the scheme s feasibility
FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH PROGRAMME WORKING PAPER SERIES PAPER NO.1 IMPACT ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGIES FOR MICROFINANCE: THEORY, EXPERIENCE AND BETTER PRACTICE February 1999

Microfinance programs and institutions are increasingly important in development strategies but knowledge about their impacts is partial and contested. This paper reviews the methodological options for the impact assessment (IA) of microfinance. Following a discussion of the varying objectives of IA it examines the choice of conceptual frameworks and presents three paradigms of impact assessment: the scientific method, the humanities tradition and participatory learning and action (PLA). Key issues and lessons in the practice of microfinance IAs are then explored and it is argued that the central issue in IA design is how to combine different methodological approaches so that a 'fit' is achieved between IA objectives, program context and the constraints of IA costs, human resources and timing. The conclusion argues for a greater focus on internal impact monitoring by microfinance institutions.
The Nature of Social Competence: A Theoretical Review

Consistent with much of the research literature, social competence is defined as effectiveness in social interaction. Effectiveness is broadly considered, and includes both self and other perspectives. Social competence is viewed as an organizing construct, with transactional, context-dependent, and goal-specific characteristics. Four general approaches to the operational definition of social competence are identified: social skills, sociometric status, relationships, and functional outcomes. A Prism Model of social competence is presented, based on theoretical, index and skills levels of analyses. The implications of the Prism Model for developmental, gender, cultural, assessment and intervention issues are also discussed.
Opportunistic cooperative communications with reed-solomon convolutional concatenated codes

Cooperative communications delivers spatial diversity for a communication system through the collaborated transmission of network users. Assisted by the intelligent relay selection, opportunistic cooperative communications in which the best relay is always selected for signal re-transmission can deliver a diversity gain on the order of number of relay candidates. It has the advantages of requiring low implementation complexity, alleviating user interference and reducing network power consumption. This paper proposes the coded opportunistic cooperative communication systems in which the widely used Reed-Solomon convolutional concatenated (RSCC) code is applied. Two coded opportunistic cooperative schemes are considered, the coded opportunistic amplify-and-forward (COAF) and the coded opportunistic decode-and-forward (CODF). Information theoretic analyses in term of their diversity-multiplexing tradeoff (DMT) are re-investigated. Those analyses are substantiated by the design of a practical RSCC coded system and its frame error rate (FER) performance.
Ingestion of Latex Particles by Chicken Fibroblasts in Tissue Culture.∗

Summary Ingestion of polystyrene latex (PSL) particles measuring 0.264 μU in diameter has been demonstrated in chicken fibroblasts in vitro. PSL was added to cultures of chicken fibroblasts grown on carbon-collodion coated steel grids and these mounts removed at intervals of I/2 to 24 hours. The fixed and metal shadowed whole cell preparations revealed PSL in various stages of entry into these cells. PSL was found in invaginations of the cell wall and in vacuoles in the cytoplasm. Sections of cultured fibroblasts inoculated with PSL revealed PSL particles in cell vacuoles. The rate of particle uptake, however, was too low to be measured by the method used. The author wishes to thank Doctors M. J. Moses and G. A. Meek for their interest in this work and their helpful suggestions.
Stability of Linear Predictive Structures using IIR Filters

Considered are general,pure linear prediction schemes, wherethe prediction of the curr ent sampleis based on IIR-filter edpastsamples.Propertiesof theseschemesare discussed,in particular , the whitening property, the realisation of the synthesisfilter and its stability. The realisation problem asoccurring in warped linear prediction is solved. Furthermor e, it is proved that, at least for a specific class of systems,data input windowing for the calculation of the optimal prediction coefficientsguaranteesthe stability of the synthesisfilters. Keywords—LPC, IIR-filters, stability.
A new technique for studying specificity of immunocytochemical procedures: specificity of serotonin immunostaining.

A novel nonbiological model is described that can be used to evaluate the specificity of immunocytochemical procedures. The model is based upon the use of gelatin gels that contain antigen or related substances in different desired concentrations. The gels are treated identically to tissue samples. Thus, after fixation, cryostat sections ( 10 gam) are made and incubated with antisera for immunostaining. The intensity of the evoked immunostaining is dependent on the nature and the concentration of the substance incorporated in the gel. In this way the cross-reactivity of substances in immunocytochemical procedures can be established. Obviously this is dependent on fixation ofsubstances in the gel. In addition, the potency ofvarious substances in solution to inhibit immunostaining of antigen-containing gels can be determined (immunoinhibition
Internationalization Remodeled: Definition, Approaches, and Rationales

The world of higher education is changing and the world in which higher education plays a significant role is changing. The international dimension of higher education is becoming increasingly important, complex, and confusing. It is therefore timely to reexamine and update the conceptual frameworks underpinning the notion of inter-nationalization in light of today’s changes and challenges. The purpose of this article is to study internationalization at both the institutional and national/sector level. Both levels are important. The national/sector level has an important influence on the international dimension through policy, funding, programs, and regulatory frameworks. Yet it is usually at the institutional level that the real process of internationalization is taking place. This article analyses the meaning, definition, rationales, and approaches of internationalization using a bottom-up (institutional) approach and a top-down (national/sector) approach and examines the dynamic relationship between these two levels. Key policy issues and questions for the future direction of internationalization are identified.
Channel Estimation for Opportunistic Spectrum Access: Uniform and Random Sensing

The knowledge of channel statistics can be very helpful in making sound opportunistic spectrum access decisions. It is therefore desirable to be able to efficiently and accurately estimate channel statistics. In this paper, we study the problem of optimally placing sensing/sampling times over a time window so as to get the best estimate of the parameters of an on-off renewal channel. We are particularly interested in a sparse sensing regime with a small number of samples relative to the time window size. Using Fisher information as a measure, we analytically derive the best and worst sensing sequences under a sparsity condition. We also present a way to derive the best/worst sequences without this condition using a dynamic programming approach. In both cases the worst turns out to be the uniform sensing sequence, where sensing times are evenly spaced within the window. Interestingly the best sequence is also uniform but with a much smaller sensing interval that requires a priori knowledge of the channel parameters. With these results we argue that without a priori knowledge, a robust sensing strategy should be a randomized strategy. We then compare different random schemes using a family of distributions generated by the circular \beta ensemble, and propose an adaptive sensing scheme to effectively track time-varying channel parameters. We further discuss the applicability of compressive sensing in the context of this problem.
Effects of Low Temperature and Freeze-Thaw Cycles on Hydrocarbon Biodegradation in Arctic Tundra Soil

ABSTRACT Degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons was monitored in microcosms with diesel fuel-contaminated Arctic tundra soil incubated for 48 days at low temperatures (−5, 0, and 7°C). An additional treatment was incubation for alternating 24-h periods at 7 and −5°C. Hydrocarbons were biodegraded at or above 0°C, and freeze-thaw cycles may have actually stimulated hydrocarbon biodegradation. Total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removal over 48 days in the 7, 0, and 7 and −5°C treatments, respectively, was 450, 300, and 600 μg/g of soil. No TPH removal was observed at −5°C. Total carbon dioxide production suggested that TPH removal was due to biological mineralization. Bacterial metabolic activity, indicated by RNA/DNA ratios, was higher in the middle of the experiment (day 21) than at the start, in agreement with measured hydrocarbon removal and carbon dioxide production activities. The total numbers of culturable heterotrophs and of hydrocarbon degraders did not change significantly over the 48 days of incubation in any of the treatments. At the end of the experiment, bacterial community structure, evaluated by ribosomal intergenic spacer length analysis, was very similar in all of the treatments but the alternating 7 and −5°C treatment.
Structured Content Independent Scalable Meta-formats (SCISM) for Media Type Agnostic Transcoding

This paper develops a universal meta-format (SCISM) and methodology for representation and transcoding of arbitrary scalable content. The abstractions in the meta-format are generic enough to be applicable to any type of media with only a loose restriction on the encoding structure. Scalable bit-streams are naturally organized in a manner such that representation in compliance with the meta-format is straightforward. By interpreting the generic meta-format, a universal transcoder can transcode the content appropriately to suit the needs and preferences of recipients, without knowledge of the specifics of the content, its encoding and/or encryption. The transcoder just needs to be told what the structure of the particular content that goes through it is, and how this content is to be transcoded to achieve the desired transcoding operation. This is metadata information, which can either be part of the header of the media itself, or can be conveyed to a transcoder separately for an entire class of content. The media meta-data, along with a standardized specification of the capabilities and preferences conveyed by a media destination are all that a transcoder needs to adapt format compliant scalable content appropriately. With universal transcoders, different transcoding infrastructures are no longer needed for different types of scalable media.
An Efficient Super Resolution Algorithm Using Simple Linear Regression

With the improvement in technology of thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD), the resolution requirement of display becomes higher and higher. Super-resolution algorithms are used to enlarge original low-resolution (LR) images to meet the visual quality of the high-resolution (HR) display. In this research, an efficient super resolution algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm consists of two steps. First, the Lanczos interpolation is used for LR images to get the preliminary HR images. For solving the over-smoothing problems generally caused by interpolation, it needs to add texture information to refine the preliminary HR images. Subsequently, a refinement process based on simple linear regression and the self-similarity between a pair of LR and HR images is performed to provide proper information of textures. In the experimental results, the proposed algorithm not only performs well in the objective measurement such as PSNR, but also in visual qualities.
Structure of the B-DNA decamer C-C-A-A-C-I-T-T-G-G in two different space groups: conformational flexibility of B-DNA.

For the first time, the same B-DNA oligomer has been crystallized and its structure solved in two different space groups. Crystallization of C-C-A-A-C-I-T-T-G-G with Ca2+ yields monoclinic space group C2 with a = 31.87 A, b = 25.69 A, c = 34.21 A, beta = 114.1 degrees, and five base pairs per asymmetric unit. The 5026 2 sigma data to 1.3 A refine to R = 0.152 with 72 waters, one heptavalent hydrated calcium complex, and one cacodylate ion per asymmetric unit. In contrast, crystallization with Mg2+ yields trigonal space group P3(2)21 with a = b = 33.23 A, c = 94.77 A, gamma = 120 degrees, and 10 base pairs per asymmetric unit. The 1725 2 sigma data to 2.2 A refine to R = 0.164 with 36 water molecules and one octahedral magnesium complex per asymmetric unit. The monoclinic form is virtually isostructural with previously solved monoclinic decamers, including twist angles of ca. 50 degrees at C-A and T-G steps. In contrast, the trigonal structure has quite different local helix parameters, with twist angles of ca. 36 degrees at the corresponding steps. These local parameter differences can only be attributed to crystal packing, suggesting that certain sequences of B-DNA are more flexible and influenced by their surroundings than had previously been thought. Such deformability may be important for interaction of B-DNA with control proteins, where both static structure and dynamic deformability comprise components of the recognition process. The crossing of two helices at an angle of 120 degrees in the trigonal cell is a model for an antiparallel, uncrossed Holliday junction, as has been noted earlier by Timsit and Moras [Timsit, Y. , & Moras, D. (1991) J. Mol. Biol. 221, 919-940] from a rhombohedral DNA dodecamer structure analysis.
A Slicer-Mediated Mechanism for Repeat-Associated siRNA 5' End Formation in Drosophila

In Drosophila, repeat-associated small interfering RNAs (rasiRNAs) are produced in the germ line by a Dicer-independent pathway and function through the PIWI subfamily of Argonautes to ensure silencing of retrotransposons. We sequenced small RNAs associated with the PIWI subfamily member AGO3. Although other members of PIWI, Aubergine (Aub) and Piwi, associated with rasiRNAs derived mainly from the antisense strand of retrotransposons, AGO3-associated rasiRNAs arose mainly from the sense strand. Aub- and Piwi-associated rasiRNAs showed a strong preference for uracil at their 5′ ends, and AGO3-associated rasiRNAs showed a strong preference for adenine at nucleotide 10. Comparisons between AGO3- and Aub-associated rasiRNAs revealed pairs of rasiRNAs showing complementarities in their first 10 nucleotides. Aub and AGO3 exhibited Slicer activity in vitro. These data support a model in which formation of a 5′ terminus within rasiRNA precursors is guided by rasiRNAs originating from transcripts of the other strand in concert with the Slicer activity of PIWI.
Psychometric considerations in self-monitoring assessment.

The application of psychometric concepts of accuracy, reliability, and validity to the evaluation of self-monitoring as an assessment procedure is described. Examples from the literature are used to illustrate both the procedural application of these concepts and their importance in ensuring the utility of self-monitored data for a variety of purposes. Common threats to accuracy, reliability, and validity are briefly discussed.
Question Answering Using Constraint Satisfaction: QA-By-Dossier-With-Contraints

QA-by-Dossier-with-Constraints is a new approach to Question Answering whereby candidate answers' confidences are adjusted by asking auxiliary questions whose answers constrain the original answers. These constraints emerge naturally from the domain of interest, and enable application of real-world knowledge to QA. We show that our approach significantly improves system performance (75% relative improvement in F-measure on select question types) and can create a "dossier" of information about the subject matter in the original question.
A Visual Analytics Approach for Word Relevances in Multiple Texts

We investigate the problem of analyzing word frequencies in multiple text sources with the aim to give an overview of word-based similarities in several texts as a starting point for further analysis. To reach this goal, we designed a visual analytics approach composed of typical stages and processes, combining algorithmic analysis, visualization techniques, the human users with their perceptual abilities, as well as interaction methods for both the data analysis and the visualization component. By our algorithmic analysis, we first generate a multivariate dataset where words build the cases and the individual text sources the attributes. Real-valued relevances express the significances of each word in each of the text sources. From the visualization perspective, we describe how this multivariate dataset can be visualized to generate, confirm, rebuild, refine, or reject hypotheses with the goal to derive meaning, knowledge, and insights from several text sources. We discuss benefits and drawbacks of the visualization approaches when analyzing word relevances in multiple texts.