Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cloud data center networks: technologies, trends, and challenges

Large scale data centers are enabling the new era of Internet cloud computing. The computing platform in such data centers consists of low-cost commodity servers that, in large numbers and with software support, match the performance and reliability of expensive enterprise-class servers of yesterday, at a fraction of the cost. The network interconnect within the data center, however, has not seen the same scale of commoditization or dropping price points. Today's data centers use expensive enterprise-class networking equipment and associated best-practices that were not designed for the requirements of Internet-scale data center services -- they severely limit server-to-server network capacity, create fragmented pools of servers that do not allow any service to run on any server, and have poor reliability and utilization. The commoditization and redesign of data center networks to meet cloud computing requirements is the next frontier of innovation in the data center. Recent research in data center networks addresses many of these aspects involving both scale and commoditization. By creating large flat Layer 2 networks, data centers can provide the view of a flat unfragmented pool of servers to hosted services. By using traffic engineering methods (based on both oblivious and adaptive routing techniques) on specialized network topologies, the data center network can handle arbitrary and rapidly changing communication patterns between servers. By making data centers modular for incremental growth, the up-front investment in infrastructure can be reduced, thus increasing their economic feasibility. This is an exciting time to work in the data center networking area, as the industry is on the cusp of big changes, driven by the need to run Internet-scale services, enabled by the availability of low-cost commodity switches/routers, and fostered by creative and novel architectural innovations. What the Tutorial will cover: We will begin with an introduction to data centers for Internet/cloud services. We will survey several next-generation data center network designs that meet the criteria of allowing any service to run on any server in a flat unfragmented pool of servers and providing bandwidth guarantees for arbitrary communication patterns among servers (limited only by server line card rates). These span efforts from academia and industry research labs, including VL2, Portland, SEATTLE, Hedera, and BCube, and ongoing standardization activities like IEEE Data Center Ethernet (DCE) and IEEE TRILL. We will also cover other emerging aspects of data center networking like energy proportionality for greener data center networks.
Progress in Research on CSR and the Hotel Industry (2006-2015)*

This study reviews and synthesizes the contemporary literature focusing on the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the hotel industry over the period 2006-2015. The revision process has covered articles meeting two conditions: first, articles focusing exclusively on the hotel industry (not on the tourism sector as a whole) and, second, the issue of CSR is addressed from a broader perspective (economic-social-environmental) and not only environmental. A total of 48 papers have been identified and grouped in three streams of research: CSR-Practices, CSR-Reporting, and CSR-Impacts; the last one been divided into two sublines of research: one from the consumer perspective (Marketing) and the second from the company’s perspective (Firm Business-Performance). For every line, the variables and topics studied are also established. The research lines “Practices” and “Impacts” have received a similar amount of research interest although there is a growing research interest in the impacts of CSR during recent years, either internal or external. Despite this fact, consumer reactions to CSR and the link between CSR and corporate financial performance (CFP) are still important gaps regarding research on CSR in the hotel industry. It is also worth to highlight that a key CSR stakeholder for hotels, like the local community, is particularly underresearched. Additional gaps of research are identified and suggestions for future lines of research are provided.
Mediterranean and carbohydrate-restricted diets and mortality among elderly men: a cohort study in Sweden.

BACKGROUND Comparative studies on dietary patterns and long-term mortality are sparse. OBJECTIVE The objective was to examine the relations between 10-y mortality and adherence to the World Health Organization dietary guidelines [Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI)], a Mediterranean-like diet, and a carbohydrate-restricted (CR) diet in elderly Swedish men. DESIGN Dietary habits were determined by 7-d dietary records in a population-based longitudinal study of 924 Swedish men (age: 71 ± 1 y). The HDI score (-1 to 8 points), the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS; 0-8 points), and the CR score (2-20 points) were calculated for each participant. Nonadequate reporters of energy intake were identified (n = 413). Mortality was registered during a median follow-up of 10.2 y. Cox proportional hazards regression, with multivariable adjustments, was used to determine the effects of adherence to each dietary pattern. RESULTS Two hundred fifteen and 88 subjects died of all-cause and cardiovascular disease, respectively. In all individuals, risk relations to mortality for each SD increment in the scores were observed for only MDS, with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.99). Among adequate dietary reporters (n = 511), adjusted HRs for each SD increment in scores were enhanced for MDS (ie, 0.71; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.92) for all-cause mortality and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.42, 0.96) for cardiovascular mortality. Corresponding HRs for CR diet score were 1.19 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.45) for all-cause mortality and 1.44 (95% CI: 1.03, 2.02) for cardiovascular mortality. CONCLUSION Adherence to a Mediterranean-like dietary pattern reduced mortality, whereas adherence to a CR dietary pattern appeared to increase mortality in elderly Swedish men, especially when only adequate dietary reporters were considered.
Optimization of resolution enhancement compression technique with plane wave imaging

High frame rate imaging became a world-wide use modality. It achieves by coherently coalescing the received radio frequency signal, as low-resolution image, after emitting plane waves. One common way to increase the image quality is to combine multiple low-resolution images, from different insonification angles, into a high-resolution image. However, this compounding technique significantly decrease the frame rate by a factor equal to the number of insonification. In this study, we proposed to increase the image quality in terms of resolution and contrast by using only one plane wave combine with a resolution enhancement compression technique. In comparison with conventional plane wave imaging, the results show a clear improvement of the axial resolution (31%), signal to noise ratio (13%) and contrast to noise ratio (101%). Moreover, an optimization, based on an experimental received signal from one scatterer as a deconvolution signal, is presented. This innovation allows increasing the contrast-to-noise ratio and signal-to-noise ratio of 159% and 29%, respectively in comparison with conventional plane wave imaging.
Recapitulation of cell signaling events associated with astrogliosis using the brain slice preparation

Astroglial activation constitutes a dominant response to all types of injuries of the CNS. Despite the ubiquitous nature of this cellular reaction to neural injury, a little is known concerning the signaling mechanisms that initiate it. Recently, we demonstrated that astrocytic hypertrophy and enhanced expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein resulting from toxicant‐induced neurodegeneration are linked to activation of the janus kinase (JAK)‐signal transducer and activator of transcription‐3 (STAT3) pathway. These observations implicate ligands at the gp130 receptor as potential upstream effectors of astrogliosis. Here we used the brain slice preparation to examine potential activators of the JAK‐STAT3 pathway. Following incubation of freshly cut striatal slices in phosphate‐free oxygenated buffer for up to 75 min, we found that slicing the striatum itself was a sufficient stimulus to initiate a rapid activation of the JAK‐STAT3 pathway as assessed with immunoblots of pSTAT3(tyr705) using phospho‐state specific antibodies. The mRNA for the gp130 cytokines, leukemia inhibitory factor, interleukin‐6 and oncostatin M or the β‐chemokine, monocyte chemoattractive protein (CCl2) also were up‐regulated in the slice. Moreover, we could enhance the activation of STAT3(tyr705) by adding exogenous cytokines to the slice and we could inhibit phosphorylation of STAT3(tyr705) by addition of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (Lav A and AG490) or neutralizing antibodies directed against leukemia inhibitory factor or oncostatin M. These data suggest that STAT3 activation is an early event in slice‐induced glial activation and establishes the brain slice preparation method as a reliable model to examine the signaling mechanisms that underlie glial activation.
Impact of extreme climate events on poverty in Nigeria: a case of the 2012 flood

This study analysed the impact of the 2012 flood that occurred in Nigeria on households’ chance of entering into poverty, using a panel analysis of covariance model and data from the Nigerian General Household Survey of 2011 and 2013. The result of the analyses showed that though the 2012 flood did not significantly affect the per capita expenditure of all the surveyed households, it may have significantly decreased the per capita expenditure of households located in the flood affected areas and were heavily dependent on agriculture for their income. More so, the effects were not uniform across the households as the result showed that the effects were more on female-headed households compared to male-headed households, and more on households that had no access to credit compared to those that had access to credit. These lead to the recommendation that efforts should be made to integrate adaptation to climate change into poverty alleviation/eradication programmes in the country by ensuring that farmers prone to flood and other extreme climate-related disasters have access to finance. They should also be trained on how to build resilience, adaptive, anticipatory and absorptive capacity to climate change, giving priority to female-headed household that earn their living from agriculture.
Rural-urban differences in overweight and obesity among a large sample of adolescents in Ontario.

OBJECTIVE Increasing our understanding of the differences between obesity and overweight status across various geographical areas may have important public health implications. We aimed to explore prevalence and factors (i.e., demographic and lifestyle) associated with overweight and obesity among youth across urban, suburban and rural settings. METHODS A cross-sectional study used self-reported data collected from students (grades 9-12) attending 76 high schools in Ontario, Canada, as part of the SHAPES-Ontario study (2005-2006). Of the 34 578 eligible students selected to complete the Physical Activity Module in the 76 participating schools, 73.5% (n=25 416; 50.8% males, 49.2% females) completed the survey. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using body mass index for weight measurement and self-reported data on lifestyle factors, and self-perception of body weight. RESULTS The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 14.3% and 6.3%, respectively. The prevalence of overweight in urban, suburban and rural areas was 14.6%, 13.8% and 15.1%, respectively, while the prevalence of obesity was 6.3%, 6.0% and 6.7%, respectively, and the difference was significant (chi(2)= 16.53, p<0.05). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, age, TV watching, level of urbanization and perception of body weight were important predictors of overweight and obesity. CONCLUSION Our understanding of how overweight and obesity rates vary depending on the level of urbanization may help health professionals to either tailor programs to the needs of the individuals living in these different areas or to target existing programs to the contexts where they are most likely to have an impact.
Allogeneic Compact Bone-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation Attenuates the Severity of Idiopathic Pneumonia Syndrome in a Murine Bone Marrow Transplantation Model

Background/Aims: Idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS) is a serious and life-threatening lung complication following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) and currently no effective therapies exist. This study was designed to determine whether transplantation of allogeneic murine compact bone derived- mesenchymal stem cells (CB-MSCs) could prevent the development of IPS. Methods: We tested the effects of CB-MSCs transplantation on IPS using an established murine model of C57BL/6 (H-2b)→BALB/c (H-2d). Survival rates, body weight change, clinical GVHD scores, lung histological changes were assessed after IPS induction. Mechanistically, concentrations of cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-4) and chemokines (CCL5, CXCL9 and CXCL10) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from the recipient mice were measured at different time point post-transplantation. CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cell (Treg) percentage, CCR5, CXCR3 and CCR7 expression on CD3+ T cells, and lung CXCR3, CCR5, CCR7, T-bet and GATA-3 mRNA levels were also evaluated at different time point post-transplantation. Results: Co-transplantation of CB-MSCs significantly attenuated the severity of lung injuries and increased survival rate of mice compared to non-cotransplanted mice. A higher Treg percentage, reduction of TNF-α, IFN-γ, CCL5, CXCL9 and CXCL10 levels, down-regulation of CXCR3 and CCR5, as well as up-regulation of CCR7, were observed in MSCs co-transplantation mice. Also, the prophylactic effect of CB-MSCs was associated with a shift of Th1/Th2 balance toward anti-inflammatory Th2 polarization. Conclusions: Allogeneic CB-MSCs effectively controlled the occurrence of IPS due to its profound immunomodulatory capacity. This may offer a novel prophylactic approach for IPS after allo-HSCT.
Social force models for pedestrian traffic – state of the art

ABSTRACT Pedestrian simulation plays an important role in the fields of transport station management, building evacuation and safety management of large public events. Among the continuous pedestrian flow models, the social force model is one of the most widespread and supports all of the above use cases. Since its initial proposal by Helbing and Molnar [(1995). Social force model for pedestrian dynamics. Physical Review E, 51, 4282], many improvements of the social force model have been put forward for solving various, but mostly specific, problems. However, an up-to-date and essentially comprehensive review bringing all the model variants into a common context is missing. In this paper, we propose such a framework in terms of assessment criteria for pedestrian models considering pedestrian attributes, motion base cases, self-organisation phenomena and some special cases. Starting with the initial version of Helbing and Molnar [(1995). Social force model for pedestrian dynamics. Physical Review E, 51, 4282] and the escape panic version of Helbing, Farkas, and Vicsek [(2000a). Simulating dynamical features of escape panic. Nature, 407, 487–490], we classify the improvements and assess their degree of the improvements. Further discussion is presented from the perspectives of description ability, parameter calibration and flexible application in a complex environment.
Changes in Education, Wage Inequality and Working Hours Over Time

The US skill premium and college enrollment have increased substantially over the past few decades. In addition, while low-wage earners worked more than highwage earners in 1970, the opposite was true in 2000. We show that a parsimonious neoclassical model featuring skill-biased technical change, endogenous education and labor supply decisions can explain the change in the college education rate between 1967 and 2000 as well as the trend in the wage-hours correlation. Moreover, we show analytically and quantitatively that endogenous labor supply is important. Assuming constant hours significantly biases the estimates of the effects of skillbiased technological progress on college enrollment and the skill premium. Further, we find that limiting the maximum number of hours someone can work lowers welfare for almost all generations. Since it increases the skill premium, the welfare loss is most severe for the low-skilled, reaching almost one percent of life-time consumption.
INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP: WHAT PROFESSORS FROM

As innovation is essential for the competitiveness of enterprises and economic development there is a question which has been raised with some insistence: Do teaching practices make a difference to innovation and entrepreneurship in the work place? Experts were contacted for their views. They say yes, as long as the teaching method is adequate. So, in the USA, a naturally innovative society, a new concept of integrated teaching was developed North America. This concept proved also to be successful in a non-innovative society as is demonstrated by the case of MIETE (a partnership between FEUP and FEP, University of Porto) in Portugal.
The Role of Multinational Oil Companies (MNOCs) and Militancy in Niger Delta

The discovery and exploration of oil in Nigeria seems to have come with good tidings and hope for a better development but today the reverse is the case. Oil has brought agony and insecurity in the country, particularly the oil communities of the Niger Delta region. The high level of marginalization and negligence on the part of the government, the elite and the MNOCs has resulted in militancy, which has consequently inflicted the economic growth of Nigeria. Resource curse is used to examine how the perceive petro dollar turns out to bring curse on the country. Despite different response by the government to address the unrest in the oil rich Niger Delta,yet the insurgency persist. This has been attributed to a commandist and lack of proper consultation with people of the region. This paper therefore, calls for a meaningfulcorroboration between the major actors in the exploration of oil and the people in order to have lasting solution to the prevailing problem and as a consequence a meaningful ataraxia. Keywords : MNOCs, militancy, politics, Niger Delta, Nigeria.
Examining women faculty experiences using the model of human occupation perspective: A qualitative approach in one community college

Examining Women Faculty Experiences Using the Model of Human Occupation Perspective: A Qualitative Approach in One Community College by Christine R. Privott Dr. Mimi Wolverton, Dissertation Committee Chair Professor of Educational Leadership University of Nevada, Las Vegas Occupations for women in the academy have been changing over the last century. Contemporary studies that have looked at women faculty work have been mixed in their findings about the relationship between gender and job satisfaction. Few studies have focused on two-year-college models of women’s experiences as faculty. Set in the context of occupational science theories, this qualitative study explored the daily work of women faculty in one community college. The concept of faculty work was viewed through Kielhofher’s Model of Human Occupation, which suggests that occupations are made up of three subsystems of human action or doing: volition, habituation, and performance. Volition is an individual’s intrinsic drive to act on the world and experience a sense of cause and effect with others. Habituation is behavior that is routine for individuals and includes the roles they play at home and in the workplace. Performance is the actual motor and cognitive skills individuals need to perform. Six full-time women faculty from the Community College of Southern Nevada were observed and interviewed in-depth over the course of one academic semester using
Characterization of the intracellular mechanisms involved in the antiaggregant properties of cinnamtannin B-1 from bay wood in human platelets.

Cinnamtannin B-1, a natural A-type proanthocyanidin recently identified as a radical scavenger component of Laurus nobilis L. , exerts antiaggregant and antiapoptotic effects in human platelets. Here, we have investigated the intracellular mechanisms involved in the antiaggregant effects of cinnamtannin B-1. Cinnamtannin B-1 showed a greater free radical scavenging activity than vitamin C, vitamin E, or Trolox, among other antioxidants and reduced thrombin-evoked tubulin reorganization and platelet aggregation. Thrombin-evoked activation of Btk and pp60(src) was also inhibited by cinnamtannin B-1. In conclusion, we show that cinnamtannin B-1 is a powerful oxygen radical scavenger that reduces thrombin-evoked microtubular remodeling and activation of the tyrosine kinases Btk and pp60(src), which leads to inhibition of platelet aggregation. These observations suggest that cinnamtannin B-1 may prevent thrombotic complications associated to platelet hyperaggregability and hyperactivity, although further studies are necessary to establish appropriate therapeutic strategies.
Characteristics of Lawyers Who are Subject to Complaints and Misconduct Findings

Regulators of the legal profession are charged with protecting the public by ensuring lawyers are fit to practice law. However, their approach tends to be reactive and case based, focusing on the resolution of individual complaints. Regulators generally do not seek to identify patterns and trends across their broader caseloads and the legal profession as a whole. Using administrative data routinely collected by the main regulator of the legal profession in Victoria, Australia, we characterized complaints lodged between 2005 and 2015 and the lawyers against whom they were made. We also analyzed risk factors for complaints and misconduct findings. We found the odds of being subject to a complaint were higher among lawyers who were male, older, had trust account authority and whose practices were smaller, in non-urban locations, and incorporated. A deeper understanding of these risk factors could support efforts to improve professional standards and reform regulatory practices.
Identification and Functional Outcome of mRNAs Associated with RNA-Binding Protein TIA-1

ABSTRACT The RNA-binding protein TIA-1 (T-cell intracellular antigen 1) functions as a posttranscriptional regulator of gene expression and aggregates to form stress granules following cellular damage. TIA-1 was previously shown to bind mRNAs encoding tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), but TIA-1 target mRNAs have not been systematically identified. Here, immunoprecipitation (IP) of TIA-1-RNA complexes, followed by microarray-based identification and computational analysis of bound transcripts, was used to elucidate a common motif present among TIA-1 target mRNAs. The predicted TIA-1 motif was a U-rich, 30- to 37-nucleotide (nt)-long bipartite element forming loops of variable size and a bent stem. The TIA-1 motif was found in the TNF-α and COX-2 mRNAs and in 3,019 additional UniGene transcripts (∼3% of the UniGene database), localizing preferentially to the 3′ untranslated region. The interactions between TIA-1 and target transcripts were validated by IP of endogenous mRNAs, followed by reverse transcription and PCR-mediated detection, and by pulldown of biotinylated RNAs, followed by Western blotting. Further studies using RNA interference revealed that TIA-1 repressed the translation of bound mRNAs. In summary, we report a signature motif present in mRNAs that associate with TIA-1 and provide support to the notion that TIA-1 represses the translation of target transcripts.