Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DST: Leveraging Delay-Insensitive Workload in Cloud Storage for Smart Home Network

We study the problem of how to manage the high intra-datacenter traffic in a chunk-based public cloud storage service serving primarily smart home devices. The large volume of traffic is introduced by delivering very large content during busy hours in the cloud. Measurement of a commercial cloud service shows that the peak traffic volume (at its edge servers) overwhelms the network interface cards (NICs), resulting in serious congestion and packet losses. Since it can be expected the large content downloading requests in smart home environment could be delay-insensitive, we propose DST to keep the peak load under a specified upper bound, by delaying users' requests when necessary. By modelling DST as a queueing system, we derive the relation between the mean delay and the traffic upper bound. With trace-driven simulations, we evaluate the system performance and validate the analysis results. For the commercial cloud service we study, we show that it is possible to keep the traffic upper bound to about 80% of peak traffic rate by introducing a mean delay of around 48 minutes.
Contrasting Microbial Community Assembly Hypotheses: A Reconciling Tale from the Río Tinto

Background The Río Tinto (RT) is distinguished from other acid mine drainage systems by its natural and ancient origins. Microbial life from all three domains flourishes in this ecosystem, but bacteria dominate metabolic processes that perpetuate environmental extremes. While the patchy geochemistry of the RT likely influences the dynamics of bacterial populations, demonstrating which environmental variables shape microbial diversity and unveiling the mechanisms underlying observed patterns, remain major challenges in microbial ecology whose answers rely upon detailed assessments of community structures coupled with fine-scale measurements of physico-chemical parameters. Methodology/Principal Findings By using high-throughput environmental tag sequencing we achieved saturation of richness estimators for the first time in the RT. We found that environmental factors dictate the distribution of the most abundant taxa in this system, but stochastic niche differentiation processes, such as mutation and dispersal, also contribute to observed diversity patterns. Conclusions/Significance We predict that studies providing clues to the evolutionary and ecological processes underlying microbial distributions will reconcile the ongoing debate between the Baas Becking vs. Hubbell community assembly hypotheses.
A Detection Optimal Min-Max Test for Transient Signals

Page's (1954) test is optimal for detecting a permanent change in distribution, in the sense that it minimizes the worst case average delay to detection given an average distance between false alarms. When used to detect transient signals, however, it in fact becomes the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT). Since a GLRT is in almost all cases ad hoc, Page's test used as such cannot be said to be optimal in any explicit sense. This article discusses the development of the min-max test, via the new ideas of Baygun and Hero (see ibid., vol.41, p.688-703, 1995) for the detection of a transient.
Fine Structures Around the Orifice of the Intercostal Artery of the Rabbit Thoracic Aorta

In hypercholesterolemic rabbits, atherosclerotic lesions easily occur in the thoracic aorta, especially at the distal and lateral sides of the walls around the orifices of the dorsal intercostal arteries. In order to examine whether some spe cial structures that lead to atherosclerotic lesions are present even in normal con ditions, the authors investigated the morphologic features around the orifice of the intercostal artery of 20 normal rabbit aortae under electron microscopy. The endothelial cells were generally fusiform but tended to be round and have a cobblestone-like appearance at the lateral side. There was intimal protrusion at the distal and lateral sides of the orifice, where the distribution and arrange ment of elastic fibers and smooth muscle cells were different from those at the proximal side. At the proximal edge of the orifice, elastic fibers formed a thick plate-like internal elastic lamina beneath the endothelial cells. On the other hand, at the distal and lateral sides, elastic fibers formed close-meshed structures over the proper plate-like internal elastic lamina. These results indicate that the aortic walls at the distal and lateral sides of the orifice are structurally different from those at other regions even in normal conditions and suggest the involvement of special structures at the distal and lateral sides of the orifice in atherogenesis.
Generalising argument dialogue with the Dialogue Game Execution Platform

In this paper, we present the Dialogue Game Execution Platform (DGEP), which is able to process and execute any dialogue game specified in a general description language and build arguments and dialogue histories in the language of the AIF ontology. Thus, DGEP allows us to generalise techniques for generation and investigation of dialogues and, through a set of web services, connect a wide variety of multi-agent systems and human-computer interfaces for dialogue.
Bridging the attachment transmission gap: The role of maternal mind-mindedness

The intergenerational transmission of attachment patterns is one of the most reliable yet least understood findings of attachment research. The aim of this report was to examine the capacity of maternal mind-mindedness to account for the relation between adult attachment state of mind and infant attachment security. Sixty-four foster children (aged 6–30 months) participated with their foster mothers. The mother’s tendency to use mental features in describing her child (mindmindedness) was negatively related to the security of both maternal state of mind and infant attachment. Further, mind-mindedness accounted for the totality of the predictive power of state of mind on infant attachment. The results suggest that age-appropriate representations of the child may help explain intergenerational transmission, through their interplay with parental interactive behaviours.
Candidates' use of notes and textbooks during an open-book examination.

Summary Candidates’ use of notes and textbooks during an open‐book examination was systematically observed. The amounts of use were related to candidates’ previously measured abilities in the area, to their scores on the examination and to their responses to a questionnaire. The results indicated that, of the 30 candidates observed, those who devoted more examination time to using notes and texts obtained less good scores and had obtained low scores on previous assessments. The questionnaire led to findings about candidates’ preparation for the examination and negative experiences with notes and texts during the examination.
EUS-FNA Mutational Analysis in Differentiating Autoimmune Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Cancer

Background/Aims: Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) may mimic pancreatic cancer (PC). The detection of DNA mutations in endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) material may improve discrimination between AIP and PC and is the context for this study. Methods: In a retrospective study, archived EUS-FNA material from patients with AIP and PC at two centers was analyzed for KRAS mutations and loss-of-heterozygosity analysis involving 18 microsatellite markers. KRAS status and the fractional allelic loss (number of affected microsatellites divided by informative ones) were compared for AIP and PC. Results: Thirty-two patients with 33 samples were studied. There were 16 patients with AIP (17 samples) and 16 patients with PC. DNA amplification failed in 7 samples. Of 25 patients (26 samples), 14 had AIP (7 male, age 57 ± 17 years; mean ± SD) and 11 had PC (7 male, age 65 ± 14 years; mean ± SD). Cytology results for AIP were inflammatory = 3, inconclusive = 10, suspicious for malignancy = 2 and for PC were malignant = 5, suspicious for malignancy = 4 and inconclusive = 2, respectively. KRAS mutation was detected in none of the AIP cases and 10/11 PC cases (91%, Pearson χ2 = 22.16, p < 0.001) or 10/16 PC cases (63%) accounting for PC cases with failed DNA amplification. Mean (±SD) fractional allelic loss for the AIP cases (0.16 ± 0.15) was not significantly different from the PC cases (0.26 ± 0.19). Conclusions: A KRAS mutation in EUS/FNA material from a pancreatic mass is associated with malignancy and may help discriminate from benign conditions such as AIP.
Truncated randomized unscented Kalman filter for interval constrained state estimation

The paper deals with state estimation of nonlinear stochastic dynamic systems with constraints imposed on the state. The constraints are considered in the form of a generally nonlinear inequality. Such constrained state estimation problems frequently appear in tracking application where kinematic or geometry constraints often arise. In the paper a truncated randomized unscented Kalman filter is developed that is built on the algorithm of the randomized unscented Kalman filter and a probability density function truncation technique. The proposed filter achieves quality estimates with low computational costs. The proposed filter is illustrated in two numerical tracking examples.
Effectiveness of a Mathematics Methods Course in Reducing Math Anxiety of Preservice Elementary Teachers

In an attempt to find ways of reducing the mathematical anxiety of preservice elementary teachers, three cases were investigated. The first was a section of mathematics for elementary teachers taught in a very traditional manner, and the second was the same course taught in a manner consistent with the recent recommendations of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The third case included two sections of a methods course which covered the same mathematical content, as well as addressing how it should be taught to children. The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale for Adults was administered before and after the courses. No significant reduction of anxiety was measured in either mathematics section, but both sections of the methods course showed a significant reduction.
Marine Drugs from Sponge-Microbe Association—A Review

The subject of this review is the biodiversity of marine sponges and associated microbes which have been reported to produce therapeutically important compounds, along with the contextual information on their geographic distribution. Class Demospongiae and the orders Halichondrida, Poecilosclerida and Dictyoceratida are the richest sources of these compounds. Among the microbial associates, members of the bacterial phylum Actinobacteria and fungal division Ascomycota have been identified to be the dominant producers of therapeutics. Though the number of bacterial associates outnumber the fungal associates, the documented potential of fungi to produce clinically active compounds is currently more important than that of bacteria. Interestingly, production of a few identical compounds by entirely different host-microbial associations has been detected in both terrestrial and marine environments. In the Demospongiae, microbial association is highly specific and so to the production of compounds. Besides, persistent production of bioactive compounds has also been encountered in highly specific host-symbiont associations. Though spatial and temporal variations are known to have a marked effect on the quality and quantity of bioactive compounds, only a few studies have covered these dimensions. The need to augment production of these compounds through tissue culture and mariculture has also been stressed. The reviewed database of these compounds is available at www.niobioinformatics. in/drug.php.
Using child-robot interaction to investigate the user acceptance of constrained and artificial languages

The possibility of improving speech recognition accuracy within human computer and robot interaction by having users interact in a constrained natural language or an artificial language has been explored. However, what has not been evaluated yet is the user acceptance of such forms of interaction. In this paper we discuss two separate but similar studies which were aimed at assessing the usability of constrained and artificial languages in contrast to natural languages. The interaction context was implemented in a game played between children and the iCat robot. We subjectively measured various variables related to gaming experience and interacting in the new languages. Our results reveal that there were no significant differences in the user experience across the two interaction mediums in comparison to natural languages.
Effectiveness of the Size Matters Handwriting Program

The purpose of the research was to study changes in handwriting legibility among kindergarten, first- and second-grade students in response to the Size Matters curricular-based handwriting program. A two-group pre–post-test design was implemented at two public schools with half of the classrooms assigned to receive the Size Matters program and the other continuing to receive standard instruction. All participants completed two standardized handwriting measures at pre-test and after 40 instructional sessions were completed with the classes receiving the handwriting program. Results identified significant changes in legibility in the handwriting intervention group for all three grades when compared with the standard instruction group. The results of this study support the use of a curricular-embedded handwriting program and provide the foundation for future research examining the impact of handwriting legibility on learning outcomes.
How to cope with questions typed by dyslexic users

In this paper we propose a way to cope with questions typed by dyslexic users as they are usually a deformation of the intended query that cannot be corrected with classical spellcheckers. We first propose a new model for statistic question answering systems based on a probabilistic information retrieval model and a combination of results. This model allows a multiple weighted terms query as an input. We also introduce a phonology based approach at the sentence level to derive possible intended terms from typed questions. This approach uses the finite state machine framework to go from phonetic hypothesis and spellchecker proposals to hypothesized sentences thanks to a language model. The final weighted queries are obtained thanks to posterior probabilities computation. They are evaluated according to new density and appearance rating measures which adapt recall and precision to non binary data.
Paleoanthropological Traces of a Neolithic Demographic Transition1

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"Constrained crowd judgment analysis" by Sujoy Chatterjee, Anirban Mukhopadhyay and Malay Bhattacharyya with Martin Vesely as coordinator

Leveraging the online crowd replacing limited experts has become a successful practice over the last decade for solving diverse real-life problems. Various complex problems are now being solved utilizing the power of crowd, an approach popularly termed as 'crowdsourcing'. Judgment analysis refers to a particular type of crowdsourcing task where we aggregate the opinions collected from the crowd for a purpose. We, being the rational agents, have a common interest towards knowing others' opinions before providing our own. This broadly categorizes the problem of judgment analysis into two types --- with independent and with dependent opinions. However, a new paradigm of crowd based judgment analysis has recently evolved, which can tackle the constrained opinions of crowd workers. In this article, we touch upon this novel problem of constrained crowd judgment analysis and discuss its possible dimensions of research.
Publishing from the periphery: Structural heterogeneity and segmented circuits. The evaluation of scientific publications for tenure in Argentina’s CONICET

Academic publishing is one of the most unequal areas of the circulation of ideas. Recent studies have analyzed the dominance of ISI-style standards and its consequences for scientific production in the periphery. This article delves into the Latin American publishing circuit and its performance in the midst of four different types of circuits in the world academic system: (a) mainstream ‘international’ publishing circuits, sustained by major private enterprises and publishing houses (Thomson Reuters, Elsevier, Google); (b) transnational networks and repositories built as open access (DOAJ, Dial-net, INASP) to create an alternative to previous (c) regional Southern circuits (LATINDEX, SCIELO, CLACSO, REDALYC, AJOL); and (d) national circuits based on local publications. Given that these four circuits all come into play in national scientific fields, this article addresses the case of Argentina in order to prove that these circuits are segmented, partly due to the hierarchies of the World Scientific System and partly to structural constraints and the local history of professionalization. Focusing on tenure evaluations for research positions at Argentina’s National Scientific Research Council (CONICET), the article examines the results of a survey among coordinators of the council’s evaluation committees in order to analyze the relationship between international publishing and tenure. By exploring the evaluative culture at CONICET, common trends are highlighted along with alternative forms of regional academic prestige.
TSV/FET proximity study using dense addressable transistor arrays

Addressable transistor arrays (~20,000 devices) provide an attractive test vehicle to study TSV/FET proximity effects in a statistically meaningful way. FET/TSV proximity effect studies have been performed at the 45 nm node using a dense addressable parametric diagnostic (APD). We have found that a carefully designed TSV integration sequence at this node has minimal impact on the quality of devices. For the integration scheme studied, it was found that stress of the Si in the vicinity of the TSV had minimal impact on device characteristics for annular Cu TSVs, for devices placed as close as ~3μm to the TSV.
Caring in a Small Urban High School

This article focuses on a small urban high school that developed a culture devoted to caring for their historically underserved students. Interviews with school founders, teachers, and alumni, as well as observations of classrooms and professional activities, revealed the high school attended to the affective needs of their students, which improved attendance and graduation rates, but often neglected to hold students to high academic standards, which led to future underperformance. The article concludes that, absent a fundamental belief that students are capable of high-quality work, other forms of caring are insufficient.
The Influence of Intuition on the Development of Spirituality

Intuition is a way of perceiving the world that is fast, automatic, associative, and emotionally driven. In its most extreme form intuition is psychic ability, a sixth sense. Intuitive persons prefer to use intuition across many situations and do so consistently over time. Prior research links intuition with spirituality, yet fails to define a causal pathway. This dissertation aims at determining a causal connection through Structural Equation Modeling that shows that intuition influences spiritual experience, then spiritual belief or religious belief, or religious belief through spiritual belief, and then finally religious fundamentalism. It also tests a causal connection from intuition to schizotypy (mild, non-clinical schizophrenia-like symtpoms). A first model shows how intuition leads to spiritual experience, then to spiritual belief, then to religiousness, and finally to religious fundamentalism. The relationship between intuition and schizotypy proved not significant, yet not trivial. A second model, developed to account for more of the data and to use more generally accepted statistical procedures that are not ―data based‖, shows similar relationships (intuition leads to spiritual experience and spiritual experience leads to spiritual belief) with some minor variations and more detail about the mediating factors involved in these relationships. And it shows how a new factor, contemplative, mediates the relationship between intuition and spiritual experiences, intuition and religiousness, openness and religiousness, and openness and spiritual experiences. In this second model the path from