Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A study on user-level remote memory extension system

The speed of memory capacity expansion of the computer system has not kept up with the speed of the increase of the memory requirement of large memory applications. Also, big memory system has been too expensive for many researchers and students. Therefore, approaches to utilize remote memory has been considered as a cost effective way to run large memory applications in the cluster environment where computing nodes are connected via high speed network. For the general users of HPC cluster system who want to run large memory application without administrator's support, we suggest a user-level remote memory extension method. We designed and implemented a remote memory extension system which mapped remote memory pages to the virtual address space of the large memory application process. The system includes three components such as remote memory consumer, integrated memory manager, and memory provider. We also developed a test program and did experiment to show how good performance the user-level remote memory extension system can achieves. Through the experimental test, we will show the measured latency and bandwidth of user-level remote memory extension system for sequential access pattern and random access pattern.
Cognitive-behavioral mediators of changing multiple behaviors: smoking and a sedentary lifestyle.

BACKGROUND A significant percentage of the U.S. population has multiple poor health behaviors. Understanding the relationship among these behavioral risk factors is important for designing effective multiple risk factor interventions. While there is some evidence suggesting that participation in physical exercise may have a positive impact on smoking cessation, there is much to be learned about the relationships between cognitive-behavioral (self-efficacy, decisional-balance) and motivational mechanisms (stage of change) which have been shown to mediate changes in both exercise and smoking behavior. METHODS The sample comprised 332 smokers employed at two workplaces-a government agency and a medical center-recruited as part of a larger worksite health promotion project and who completed questionnaires on their smoking and exercise behaviors. RESULTS The results revealed significant relationships between smoking variables and exercise variables. Smokers who rated as important the positive benefits of smoking also rated as important the costs associated with increased physical activity. Similarly, the negative consequences of smoking were significantly associated with the positive benefits of physical activity. Self-efficacy for one behavior was significantly associated with self-efficacy for the other. Significant differences by exercise and smoking stage of change were found on the cross-behavior sets of variables (self-efficacy, pros, cons). Smokers who were contemplating a more active lifestyle reported the negative consequences of smoking to be significantly more important to them than smokers who were not considering adoption of a more active lifestyle. Smokers who were exercising regularly reported significantly more confidence in their ability to refrain from smoking than smokers not exercising regularly. Finally, smokers preparing for quitting reported less confidence in their ability to exercise than smokers who had already taken action to change their smoking behavior. CONCLUSIONS The cognitive mechanisms associated with changes in smoking behavior are related to the cognitive variables which have been shown to predict changes in exercise behavior. Significant relationships in mediating mechanisms including decisional balance and self-efficacy between smoking and exercise provide preliminary information on how change in one risk behavior may relate to change in another. These associations have implications for future intervention research and for methods research on multiple risk factors interactions.
Brokering networks for innovation: who and how?

It is now widely recognised that the deployment of research for innovation and development requires a capacity development approach, which involves making better links among a variety of producers and users of information as well as introducing new ways of working to help make those links effective. This, however, begs the question of how this linking up should take place. Are these self-organising networks? Or does it require an organisation to specifically play this role? And, if so, who should this be? All of RIU’s experiments demonstrate different forms of brokering, although the Africa Country Programmes offer perhaps the most obvious examples because of their explicit capacity development agenda.
Monoamine Oxidase Activity and Monoamine Metabolism in Brains of Parkinsonian Patients Treated with l‐Deprenyl

Abstract: Monoamine oxidase (MAO) type A and type B were measured using kynuramine, 3,4‐dihydroxyphenyl‐ethylamine (dopamine, DA), and 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT, serotonin) in 20 brain areas. The highest activities were found in the striatum (caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, and substantia nigra), hypothalamus, and c‐mammilare. The ratio of DA to 5‐HT deamination varied in the different regions, being in favor of DA in the striatum. With kynuramine as the substrate IC50 values of a number of inhibitors indicated that l‐deprenyl was far more potent an inhibitor of human brain MAO than clorgyline or harmaline. N‐Desmethylpropargylindane hydrochloride (AGN 1135) was also shown to have MAO‐B inhibitory selectivity similar to that of l‐deprenyl. Brains obtained at autopsy from l‐deprenyl‐treated Parkinsonian patients showed that, whereas MAO‐B was fully inhibited by the therapeutic doses of l‐deprenyl, substantial MAO‐A activity was still evident. These results are matched by the significant increases of DA noted in caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, putamen, and substantia nigra and the unaltered 5‐HT and 5‐hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5‐HIAA) in the same regions. These data indicate that the therapeutic actions of l‐deprenyl may lie in its selective inhibition of MAO‐B resulting in increased brain levels of DA formed from L‐dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (L‐DOPA).
The Business Value of ISO 9000 Certification for Australian and New Zealand Firms

ISO 9000 certification is one of the most popular quality assurance systems in the world. Despite this overwhelming popularity, there is considerable confusion and frustration surrounding the role and business value of ISO 9000 certification. A review of the literature revealed a major gap in research in this area of quality/operations management. The purpose of this study is to test the strength of the relationship between ISO 9000 certification and organisational performance in the presence and absence of a total quality management (TQM) environment. Our analysis is primarily of a large random sample of manufacturing companies in Australia and New Zealand. The central finding is that ISO 9000 certification is not shown to have a significantly positive effect on organisational performance in the presence or absence of a TQM environment. This supports the view that on average, ISO 9000 certification has little or no explanatory power of organisational performance.
Network-Based Strategy Making for Events Tourism

Purpose – Seeks to understand the inter‐organisational networks that influence events tourism strategy making by public‐sector event development agencies in Australia.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative methodology of convergent interviews, followed by multiple case research across six Australian states and territories, was employed. The inter‐organisational relationships and networks of events agencies that impact on their strategy processes for events tourism were the “cases” in focus.Findings – Strategies of a reactive‐proactive nature mostly guide events tourism development by Australia's corporatised event development agencies. These agencies maintain “soft”, loosely formed networks that consist of relatively stable clusters of intra‐governmental and corporate membership with a peripheral, ad hoc membership of other stakeholders.Research limitations/implications – Although the paper studies perceptions of strategy making at a single point in time, it provides valuable insights into the public.
Dispersion Trading in South Africa: An Analysis of Profitability and a Strategy Comparison

A dispersion trade is entered into when a trader believes that the constituents of an index will be more volatile than the index itself. The South African derivatives market is fairly advanced, however it still experiences inefficiencies and dispersion trades have been known to perform well in inefficient markets. This paper tests the South African market for dispersion opportunities and explores various methods of executing these trades. The South African market shows positive results for dispersion trading; namely short-term reverse dispersion trading. Call options and Cross-Sectional Volatility (CSV) swaps are also tested. CSV swaps performed poorly whereas call options experienced annual returns well above the market.
AREDS--two years later.

Objective: To estimate the potential public health impact of the findings of the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) on reducing the number of persons developing advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) during the next 5 years in the United States. Methods: The AREDS clinical trial provides estimates of AMD progression rates and of reduction in risk of developing advanced AMD when a high-dose nutritional supplement of antioxidants and zinc is used. These results are applied to estimates of the US population at risk, to estimate the number of people who would potentially avoid advanced AMD during 5 years if those at risk were to take a supplement such as that used in AREDS. Results: An estimated 8 million persons at least 55 years old in the United States have monocular or binocular intermediate AMD or monocular advanced AMD. They are considered to be at high risk for advanced AMD and are those for whom the AREDS formulation should be considered. Of these people, 1.3 million would develop advanced AMD if no treatment were given to reduce their risk. If all of these people at risk received supplements such as those used in AREDS, more than 300000 (95% confidence interval, 158000-487000) of them would avoid advanced AMD and any associated vision loss during the next 5 years. Conclusion: If people at high risk for advanced AMD received supplements such as those suggested by AREDS results, the potential impact on public health in the United States would be considerable during the next 5 years.
The effect of media exposure on contraceptive adoption across “poverty line”

Purpose – This study aims to explore the effect of mass media exposure on women contraceptive adoption. The intent was to show how factors affected contraceptive use, such as education, standards of living, etc., behave differently across the poverty line. Design/methodology/approach – Logistic regression was used to test the effect of exposure of various mass media on contraceptive adoption. Indian Human Development Survey (2005) was used for the analysis. Analysis was performed to compare results across the poverty line. Findings – Television exposure was found to be significant, and it had a strong effect on the likelihood that the family uses contraceptives. Newspaper readership was found significant above the poverty line and insignificant below. Research limitations/implications – The present study only analyzes cross-sectional data. A longitudinal study would be better suited to determine how these factors affect contraceptive use over time. Practical implications – The findings of this study can b.
Die Reaktionsweise von Investoren auf affektive Managementstatements

the results indicate that unexpe-rienced private investors tend to expect that the aggregate of investors predicts a significantly higher (lower) stock return if positively (negatively) formulated management statements are read. It can be concluded that in the eyes of this type of investor, consciously and/or unconsciously influencing, the wording contains substantial information. From a practical point of view, this would imply that the management could systematically influence the expectations and evaluations of unexperienced private investors. These interdependencies could not be identified in the case of professional investors and experienced private investors
Corporate Governance and Conditional Skewness in the World's Stock Markets

We investigate why stock returns in emerging markets tend to be more positively skewed than those in developed markets. We argue that differences in the quality of corporate governance matter to return skewness. Using return data from more than fourteen thousand individual stocks in 38 countries, we find that positive skewness is most profound in stocks from markets that have poor corporate governance. Our results are robust to a variety of model specifications, different measures of return asymmetries, and alternative measures of corporate governance. Finally, analogous results are also obtained from aggregate stock market returns.
Energetic performances of an induction heating system with half-controlled rectifier destined for drying of current transformers

The paper presents the energetic performances of a system used for drying of current transformer from 110 kV Ciungetu power station. In fact, the drying process is based on an induction heating system that contains a half-controlled rectifier and a voltage source inverter that operates with resonant load. Two frequencies are taken into consideration for the inverter control. The former is the resonance frequency of the equivalent load and the latter is the frequency that determines the zero current switching of the inverter's IGBTs.
CONSTRUCTION AND PROPERTIES OF VOLATILITY INDEX FOR WARSAW STOCK EXCHANGE

Volatility indices became a important factors on c apital markets and are considered as fear factors. First volatilit y index VIX, was defined for Chicago Board of Trade in 1993, and was developed i n 2003. In next years we observed growing numbers of volatility indices o n main capital market around of the world. There were more than 20 volati lity indices on capital markets at the end of 2012. The aim of this study i s construction of the volatility index considering to Warsaw Stock Exchan ge trading rules and market participants. We also test the “fear factor” properties of this index.
Eingebettete, vernetzte und autonom handelnde Computersysteme: Szenarien und Visionen

Computer sind bereits heute in zahlreichen Bereichen unseres Lebens präsent. Und sie werden unseren Alltag noch viel stärker durchdringen, weil sie immer kleiner, billiger, leistungsfähiger werden. Hält diese Entwicklung an, erscheint es möglich, dass unsere Welt in Zukunft durchsetzt sein wird von praktisch unsichtbaren Computersystemen, die mit Sensoren ihre Umgebung laufend erfassen und die aktuelle Situation interpretieren, um dann miteinander zu kooperieren und mittels Aktoren steuernd in die Realität einzugreifen.
Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, Tolerability, and Safety of a Novel Sorbitol Dehydrogenase Inhibitor in Healthy Participants

Increased glucose flux through the polyol pathway and the resultant oxidative stress is thought to be a major mechanistic contributor to microvascular diabetic complications. Inhibition of flux through this pathway can be blocked through inhibition of either of 2 enzymes, aldose reductase (AR) or sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH). This report describes the pharmacokinetics, biomarker pharmacodynamics, and safety of CP‐642,931, a potent and specific sorbitol dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDI). CP‐642,931 was administered for 7 days to 57 healthy volunteers in doses ranging from 1 to 35 mg daily. After the 35‐mg dose, CP‐642,931 showed a t1/2 of 20.1 hours and tmax at 0.5 to 1.25 hours. After a 35‐mg dose, maximum inhibition of SDH was 91% (on days 1 and 7), and maximum serum sorbitol increase was 152‐fold on day 7 compared to control. Five participants discontinued the study due to adverse events, including myalgia, muscle spasm, and muscle fatigue. All symptoms resolved in all but 1 participant, who continued to report intermittent muscle fasciculations upon follow‐up. In conclusion, CP‐642,931 is a potent and specific SDI that is rapidly absorbed through the oral route and effectively inhibits SDH. However, the drug is not well tolerated due to adverse neuromuscular effects.
Career Development & Advancement Patterns of Aboriginal Executives in the Canadian Federal Public Service

This study was designed to examine the career development and advancement patterns of Aboriginal executives in Canada’s Federal Public Service to determine whether developmental opportunities; job assignments; education levels; training; mentoring; leadership experience; and networking increase the advancement of Aboriginal People to the executive category within the Canadian Federal Public Service. To obtain this data, multiple strategies were employed, including a mailed survey questionnaire to 55 self-identified Aboriginal executives in the Canadian Federal Public Service; in-depth interviews with randomly selected individuals from the cohort pool; a document review of Public Service internal executive recruitment notices; career development and advancement materials; and reports. The data indicated that Aboriginal executives within Canada’s Federal Public Service utilized strategies providing leadership experience, training, and education to further their development and chances of advancement to the executive category. Future research needs to build on this study to examine career development and advancement patterns in the private sector with Aboriginal executives. The study may be replicated using different employment equity groups in order to generate comparative findings. There is also a need to examine further the influence of cultural differences on career development and advancement patterns among Aboriginal People.
Coercion in psychiatric care: systematic review of correlates and themes.

OBJECTIVE This study systematically examined the empirical literature on the themes and correlates of coercion as defined by the subjective experience of patients in psychiatric care. METHODS The study was a systematic review of the literature on coercion as covered in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL. From qualitative studies, themes that the authors identified were extracted. From quantitative studies, correlational and outcome data were extracted. RESULTS The final analysis included 27 articles. Themes related to perceived coercion were almost all negative. Correlation and outcome data were insufficiently homogeneous to allow meaningful combined statistical analysis. There was no strong quantitative evidence that the experience of coercion is negatively or positively associated with psychopathology or general well-being. CONCLUSIONS Coercion was commonly felt by patients as dehumanizing. Compulsory actions likely to increase perceived coercion had mixed correlates, and it was therefore difficult to predict who is at greatest risk of experiencing coercion as a "side effect" of intervention. Clinicians should routinely consider that all patients have the potential to experience an intervention as coercive.
Exposure opportunities of families of farmer pesticide applicators.

BACKGROUND Families of farmer pesticide applicators have unusual opportunities for exposure, directly or indirectly, to pesticides. These exposures are not well characterized. METHODS Subjects were 26,793 licensed private pesticide applicators enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study, a cohort study being conducted in Iowa and North Carolina. Questionnaires were completed by the applicators and their spouses. RESULTS Many indirect exposure opportunities exist; for example, 21% of homes are within 50 yards of pesticide mixing areas, 27% of applicators store pesticides in their homes, and 94% of clothing worn for pesticide work is washed in the same machine as other laundry. Direct exposure opportunities also occur; for example, 51% of wives of applicators worked in the fields in the last growing season, 40% of wives have ever mixed or applied pesticides, and over half of children aged 11 or more do farm chores. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS The extent of the opportunities for exposure of family members of farmer pesticide applicators makes studies of their health important.
Expression of bone morphogenetic protein messenger RNA in prolonged cultures of fetal rat calvarial cells

In addition to structural proteins of bone, such as type I collagen, bone cells synthesize a number of growth regulatory peptides that are also stored in the bone matrix, presumably as a consequence of local production by osteoblasts. Among the bone growth regulatory peptides found in the bone matrix are the recently described bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). These factors were purified from bone matrix by their capacity to stimulate ectopic bone formation, but it is not known whether they are produced by normal bone cells and influence normal bone formation. To determine whether they are expressed by normal osteoblasts during differentiation, we used the technique of prolonged primary culture of fetal rat calvarial osteoblasts. These cultures have been shown to be an informative model for studying expression of bone‐related genes by cultured osteoblasts, since specific genes are expressed as the cells undergo proliferation and differentiation. We found that the bone morphogenetic proteins 1, 2, 4, and 6 are expressed by cultures of fetal rat calvarial osteoblasts before they form mineralized bone nodules and as they express alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, and osteopontin. This model can be used for study of regulation of expression of bone morphogenetic proteins by osteoblasts.