Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TORD Problem and Its Solution Based on Big Trajectories Data

Identifying a preferable route is an important problem in location-based service. A user may want to find “an optimal route such that it passes by mall, restaurant, and bank, meanwhile go through bank before mall, and arrive at the restaurant at mealtime. ” However, none of the algorithms in the existing work on route planning can be used to answer such queries that exist in real life. Motivated by this, we define the problem of temporal-sensitive optimal route discovery (TORD), which is an NP-hard problem. Since the rise of GPS-equipped mobile devices has led to the emergence of big trajectory data, we propose a hybrid evaluation indicator of routes called preference combined by the distance from the road network and popularity from trajectories. To achieve this goal, we first develop an improved compact minimum bound rectangle algorithm to get the association between trajectory data and road network, which can update the association conveniently for new trajectories. Then, we construct a two-layer preference network that is used for mining the preference and travel time. Finally, we devise three approximation algorithms to answer TORD queries. The results of empirical studies show that all the proposed algorithms are capable of answering TORD queries efficiently.
Effect of the mean vector learning rate in CMA-ES

We investigate the effect of the mean vector learning rate in variants of CMA-ES. The learning rate is set to one in the standard setting, but it is natural to set it to a lower value from the perspective of the CMA-ES as the natural gradient method. Our experiments show that decreasing the mean vector learning rate has an effect similar to increasing the population size in the rank-μ update CMA-ES, and well structured multimodal functions can be solved with the default population size by introducing a small learning rate. On the contrary, the CMA-ES with the cumulative step-size adaptation (CSA) fails to locate the global optimum on well structured multimodal functions with the default population size even if a small learning rate is introduced. The results are discussed from the viewpoint of KL-divergence in relation with the optimal step-size. A parameter setting for the CMA-ES with CSA is reconsidered and evaluated on test problems. The results show the CMA-ES with CSA can solve well structured multimodal functions on dimension up to 80 with high probability with population size of ten if the mean vector learning rate is set small enough.
A meta-converse for private communication over quantum channels

We establish a converse bounds on the private transmission capabilities of a quantum channel. The main conceptual development builds firmly on the notion of a private state, which is a powerful, uniquely quantum method for simplifying the tripartite picture of privacy involving local operations and public classical communication to a bipartite picture of quantum privacy involving local operations and classical communication. This approach has previously led to some of the strongest upper bounds on secret key rates, including the squashed entanglement and the relative entropy of entanglement. Here we use this approach along with a “privacy test” to establish a general meta-converse bound for private communication.
Price Competition in an Oligopoly Market with Multiple IaaS Cloud Providers

As an increasing number of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud providers start to provide cloud computing services, they form a competition market to compete for users of these services. Due to different resource capacities and service workloads, users may observe different finishing times for their cloud computing tasks and experience different levels of service qualities as a result. To compete for cloud users, it is critically important for each cloud service provider to select an "optimal" price that best corresponds to their service qualities, yet remaining attractive to cloud users. To achieve this goal, the underlying rationale and characteristics in this competition market need to be better understood. In this paper, we present an in-depth game theoretic study of such a competition market with multiple competing IaaS cloud providers. We characterize the nature of noncooperative competition in an IaaS cloud market, with a goal of capturing how each IaaS cloud provider will select its optimal prices to compete with the others. Our analyses lead to sufficient conditions for the existence of a Nash equilibrium, and we characterize the equilibrium analytically in special cases. Based on our analyses, we propose iterative algorithms for IaaS cloud providers to compute equilibrium prices, which converge quickly in our study.
Issues in Adopting Agile Methodologies in Global and Local Software Development: A Systematic Literature Review Protocol with Preliminary Results

Software Development companies are adopting agile methodologies in globally software development (GSD) as well as local software development (LSD). Beside the extensive benefits that agile methods offer to GSD and LSD, it also possesses a number of critical issues to both environments during the whole course of software development life cycle (SDLC). This paper presents our contribution in constructing a systematic literature review (SLR) protocol for exploring the critical issues in GSD and LSD environment. The desired outcome of the SLR protocol will be a group of critical risk factors/issues and their concerned practices that will be helpful for vendors to avoid these issues while adopting agile principles in GSD and LSD. This paper also presents the preliminary results of our SLR protocol.
The prediction of nonresponse to pharmacotherapy in panic disorder

Little is known about biological predictors of treatment response in panic disorder (PD). In the present study heart rate, blood pressure, plasma cortisol and plasma MHPG were investigated at baseline in a sample of 44 PD patients as possible predictors for nonresponse to treatment. We used a strict definition of nonresponse to find patients who did not respond at all after 12 weeks of treatment with brofaromine or fluvoxamine. Patients were considered nonresponders when they fulfilled two criteria: they did not show a 50% reduction of agoraphobic avoidance and they still experienced panic attacks at endpoint. The variables that differed significantly between the groups were used to predict non-response to drug therapy. Using this strict definition of nonresponse 15 patients (32.6%) were considered nonresponders. These patients were characterised by a higher plasma MHPG concentration and a higher heart rate at baseline. These variables were subsequently used to predict nonresponse.
The Legitimacy of Direct Corporate Humanitarian Investment

Abstract: Private firms are uniquely positioned to provide significant relief to the misery that pervades the developing world. Global misery has persisted due to a variety of failures in the provision of relief by nation-states and non-governmental organizations, including corruption and the absence of strong background institutions in the countries in need of aid. In many situations, private firms have a comparative advantage over these entities in the provision of aid. Examples such as Merck and the cure for river blindness show how firms can use their specific competencies and knowledge to relieve misery through Direct Corporate Humanitarian Investment (DCHI). DCHI is legitimized by marketplace morality and is consistent with the role of business within society, including legal dimensions. Shareholders may formally approve a corporation’s DCHI strategy and all stakeholders may act in support of their moral desires with respect to the firm and its DCHI strategy.
Special values of multiple polylogarithms

Historically, the polylogarithm has attracted specialists and non-specialists alike with its lovely evaluations. Much the same can be said for Euler sums (or multiple harmonic sums), which, within the past decade, have arisen in combinatorics, knot theory and high-energy physics. More recently, we have been forced to consider multidimensional extensions encompassing the classical polylogarithm, Euler sums, and the Riemann zeta function. Here, we provide a general framework within which previously isolated results can now be properly understood. Applying the theory developed herein, we prove several previously conjectured evaluations, including an intriguing conjecture of Don Zagier.
Scientific category : LYMPHOID NEOPLASIA Title : A new biological prognostic model based on immunohistochemistry predicts survival in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Anamarija M. Perry, Teresa M. Cardesa-Salzmann, Paul N. Meyer, Luis Colomo, Lynette M. Smith, Kai Fu, Timothy C. Greiner, Jan Delabie, Randy D. Gascoyne, Lisa Rimsza, Elaine S. Jaffe, German Ott, Andreas Rosenwald, Rita M. Braziel, Raymond Tubbs, James R. Cook, Louis M. Staudt, Joseph M. Connors, Laurie H. Sehn, Julie M. Vose, Armando López-Guillermo, Elias Campo, Wing C. Chan, and Dennis D. Weisenburger
Unified Oblivious-RAM: Improving Recursive ORAM with Locality and Pseudorandomness

Oblivious RAM (ORAM) is a cryptographic primitive that hides memory access patterns to untrusted storage. ORAM may be used in secure processors for encrypted computation and/or software protection. While recursive Path ORAM is currently the most practical ORAM for secure processors, it still incurs large performance and energy overhead and is the performance bottleneck of recently proposed secure processors. In this paper, we propose two optimizations to recursive Path ORAM. First, we identify a type of program locality in its operations to improve performance. Second, we use pseudorandom function to compress the position map. But applying these two techniques in recursive Path ORAM breaks ORAM security. To securely take advantage of the two ideas, we propose unified ORAM. Unified ORAM improves performance both asymptotically and empirically. Empirically, our experiments show that unified ORAM reduces data movement from ORAM by half and improves benchmark performance by 61% as compared to recursive Path ORAM.
DTGR: Disruption-Tolerant Geographic Routing for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

In wireless ad hoc networks, temporary link disruptions can frequently occur due to the presence of obstacles, node mobility, and so on. These disruptions can result in a node’s incorrect perception of its neighbor set when the neighbor set is constructed via beacon sampling (e.g., beacon collisions may result in the removal of a node j from the neighbor set of a node i, although j is within the transmission range of i). Such a behavior can adversely affect the performance of position-based routing algorithms as it may lead to inefficient routing or packet dropping. To address this, the authors propose a scheme that allows node i to associate each of its neighbor j with a reachability value that is a measure of the stability of the link between i and j. They then apply their scheme to greedy perimeter stateless routing (GPSR) and design two new routing algorithms: disruption-tolerant geographic routing—simple forwarding (DTGR-SF) and disruption-tolerant geographic routing—waiting before forwarding (DTGR-WF), in which nodes use reachability values to make forwarding decisions. The authors compare the performances of DTGR-SF and DTGR-WF with that of GPSR in various simulation settings. Their simulation results show that proposed algorithms perform better in settings where disruptions are present. In networks with few occurrences of disruptions, their schemes achieve the same high performance as that of GPSR.
Supplier Selection Using Analytic Hierarchy Process : An Application From Turkey

Decision making is one of the most important activities in companies. Making the right decisions have an important effect on companies’ profit and success. In this paper our purpose is to choose the best supplier for computer and printer purchasing for General Directorate of Land Registry. We use Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for selection methodology. First of all, we determine our main and sub-criteria. We have 4 main criteria and 16 sub-criteria. Our potential suppliers are A, B and C. Then we apply AHP on our problem and finally we determined the best supplier.
A Monte Carlo evaluation of predicted selection response.

This study utilizes a computer programme that simulates the effects of selection, linkage, and environmental variation on the genetic progress of finite populations. The results, with respect to selection advance and the inbreeding that occurs in small populations, have been discussed previously (Gill 1965). In the present paper, the correspondence of Monte Carlo results to the hypothetical progress predicted according to a mathematical formulation given by Griffing (1960) is evaluated.
Faith matters: faith-based organisations, civil society and international development

Growing interest in faith-based organisations (FBOs) and development risks compounding conceptual and programmatic biases in recent donor discourse on civil society and development. This article develops this argument in two main respects. First, it argues, donors have traditionally focused on supporting organisations associated with the mainstream Christian Churches and current patterns of engagement risk compounding this trend. Second, different types of faith-based organisation play an active role in the lives of the poor and in the political contests that affect them. Improving the conceptual and programmatic rationale for donor engagement with FBOs depends in significant part on developing an appreciation of these organisational types and the resultant challenges. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Managing Managerial Identities: Organizational Fragmentation, Discourse and Identity Struggle

This is a case study of managerial identity work, based on an in-depth case of a senior manager and the organizational context in which she works. The article addresses the interplay between organizational discourses, role expectations, narrative self-identity and identity work. Identity is conceptualized in processual terms as identity work and struggle. The article illuminates fragmentation as well as integration in the interplay between organizational discourses and identity. It aims to contribute to a processual oriented identity theory and to the methodology of identity studies through showing the advantage of a multi-level intensive study.
Research, part of a Special Feature on Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Cultural Landscapes: Analysis and Management Options The importance of ecosystem services for rural inhabitants in a changing cultural landscape in Romania

Many traditional cultural landscapes evolved as coupled social-ecological systems. It is important to understand how such systems navigate novel challenges posed by globalization. To address this issue, we bring together two components of a pilot study carried out in a cultural landscape from Central Romania. The region was affected by major social and economic perturbations in the past century, affecting ethnic composition, community cohesion, land property regimes, and the management of common resources. The first component of our study investigated how rural inhabitants appreciated ecosystem services through questionnaires with 98 people in 30 villages. The second component aimed to assess the perception of people about ongoing changes in their communities through semistructured interviews with 50 people in 5 villages. Rural inhabitants particularly valued provisioning ecosystem services such as firewood, water, and crops, but also healthy soils. Rural communities were characterized by a number of social and economic issues, especially individualism, lack of trust, corruption, and poverty. People from communities with many initiatives, e.g., NGOs, associations, and active individuals, were more optimistic regarding the future of their communities than people from villages with few or no initiatives. A major challenge for cultural landscapes such as those in Central Romania is to find new, meaningful ways to keep the social and ecological systems connected. Otherwise there is a risk that (short-term) socioeconomic interests may impair the provisioning of important ecosystem services.
Causal Effects of Inclusion on Postsecondary Education Outcomes of Individuals With High-Incidence Disabilities

Using data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study–2 results of a propensity score analysis revealed significant causal effects for inclusive placement in high school on postsecondary education outcomes for adolescents with learning disabilities or emotional-behavior disorders 2 years after high school completion. Students earning 80% or more of their academic credits in general education settings (inclusive placement) were twice as likely to enroll and persist in postsecondary education when compared with students receiving fewer credits in inclusive classroom settings. These findings extend results of past descriptive and correlational studies by detecting a direct causal link between inclusion and postsecondary education.
Exploring the Intersection of Mental Health and Release Status with Recidivism

The purpose of this study was to explore how the intersection of offenders' mental health (MH) problems and release statuses impacts recidivism. We examined three-years of postrelease recidivism data for former inmates that reintegrated into New Jersey communities in 2006 (n = 10,777). We constructed Cox regression models predicting various forms of criminal and non-criminal recidivism including rearrests, reconvictions, parole revocations, and a combined measure of rearrests and parole revocations. In addition to models that included all returning offenders, we constructed smaller models that isolated the impact of MH problems for parolees and unconditionally released inmates as well as the impact of supervision status for inmates with and without MH problems. Our results indicate that parole supervision can aid those with MH concerns in making a successful transition into the community. Parole decreased the likelihood of experiencing a new arrest by 30% while controlling for MH problems and MH problems increased the likelihood of experiencing a new arrest by 20% while controlling for release status. Findings are discussed within the contexts of service availability and case management.
Comparison of Neurite Outgrowth Induced by Intact and Injured Sciatic Nerves: A Confocal and Functional Analysis

Mechanisms regulating axon growth in the peripheral nervous system have been studied by means of an in vitro bioassay, the tissue section culture, in which regenerating neurons are grown on substrata made up of tissue sections. Sections from intact and degenerated sciatic nerves proved to be different in their ability to support neurite outgrowth of embryonic chick sensory neurons from both qualitative and quantitative points of view. On denervated nerve sections, the total length of neurites elaborated per neuron was almost twice that found on intact nerve sections. In addition, confocal microscopy revealed a striking difference between intact and denervated nerve substrata: on denervated nerve sections, neurites grew inside the internal structures of endoneurial Schwann cell tubes, within the underlying tissue sections, whereas on intact nerve sections neurites extended along endoneurial basal laminae but never entered Schwann cell tubes. Perturbation experiments were used to analyze some of the molecular determinants that control neurite outgrowth in this system. Antibodies directed against the β1-integrin subunit inhibited neurite extension on both normal and degenerated rat sciatic nerve tissue. Strikingly, however, differential inhibition was observed using antibodies directed against extracellular matrix molecules. Anti-laminin-2 (merosin) antibodies drastically reduced both the percentage of growing neurons and the total length of neurites on denervated nerve sections, but they did not modify these parameters on sections of normal nerve. Taken together, these results suggest that laminin-2/merosin promotes neurite outgrowth in peripheral nerve environments but only after Wallerian degeneration, which is when axons are allowed to extend within endoneurial tubes.
Key questions regarding work engagement

This article discusses the concept of work engagement and summarizes research on its most important antecedents. The authors formulate 10 key questions and shape a research agenda for engagement. In addition to the conceptual development and measurement of enduring work engagement, the authors discuss the importance of state work engagement. Further, they argue that the social context is crucial and may set the stage for a climate for engagement with an important role for management. Engaged employees conserve their own engagement through a process of job crafting. After discussing possible dark sides of engagement and the relationship between engagement and health, the article closes with a discussion of organizational interventions to increase work engagement.
Economics, D arwinism, and the Case of Disciplinary Imports

The problem of causality in economics is still contended by various epistemological alternatives. The article builds on the received view of Darwinism in economics and examines the way in which economics and biology find common ground in concepts and assumptions that reflect causal commonalities of the natural and the social world. We claim that the role the contingent pattern plays in understanding socioeconomic change provides reasons to concede corrections to a rule-based causal mechanism. The article concludes on the merits of advancing the ontological equivalent of interdisciplinary studies as one possible standard in reference to which to judge the epistemic adequacy of any import.
Distributed negotiation in future power networks: Rapid prototyping using multi-agent system

Technologies like multi-agent system (MAS) have the capability to deal with future power grid requirements such as frequency management and voltage control under a flexible, intelligent and active feature. Based on web of cells (WoC) architecture proposed by European Liaison on Electricity Committed Towards longer-term Research Activity Integrated Research Programme (ELECTRA IRP), a distributed MAS with distributed negotiation ability for future distributed control (including frequency management and voltage control) is proposed. Each cell is designed as an intelligent agent and is investigated in case studies with constraints, where each agent can only communicate with its neighbouring agents. The interaction logic among agents is according to the distributed negotiation algorithm under consideration by the authors. Simulation results indicate that the WoC architecture could negotiate resources in a distributed manner and achieve successful exchange of resources by coordinating distributed agents. Moreover, the prototype reported in this paper can be extended further for future grids' distributed control regimes. The option of MAS to be exploited for the support of the development and integration of novel power system concepts is explored.