Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Leaderless Hierarchical Atomic Broadcast Algorithm

This work presents LHABcast, a Leaderless Hierarchical Atomic Broadcast algorithm that is fully decentralized and allows all processes to send messages simultaneously. Processes use autonomic spanning trees built on top of the VCube overlay network to propagate message timestamps, i.e., local sequence numbers. Processes can fail by crashing. After each process receives the timestamps, it can make a decision about the message delivery sequence. The algorithm is shown to be correct.
Generic O-LLVM Automatic Multi-architecture Deobfuscation Framework Based on Symbolic Execution

Nowadays, the O-LLVM obfuscation framework makes it difficult to analyze various types of malware. To address this problem, this paper proposes a multi-architecture automated deobfuscation framework GOAMD specifically for O-LLVM obfuscation technology, which can intelligently identify the differences of programs on different architectures and perform targeted deobfuscation work on them. The experimental results show that the framework has high deobfuscation accuracy and portability.
A taxonomy on privacy and confidentiality

Ensuring privacy and confidentiality often implies in tailoring a solution to a specific application. We currently lack a common framework to compare and assess different solutions in terms of privacy and confidentiality. All of this makes it harder to establish whether we can reapply strategies to new applications and problems. From the point of view of an application’s stakeholders, the lack of this common framework makes it harder to navigate and search for the correct alternative, significantly if one cannot easily place the application in a context of privacy and confidentiality vulnerabilities. We believe that a taxonomy centered on applications’ privacy and confidentiality vulnerabilities would provide this framework. We then provide a taxonomy on privacy and confidentiality we employed to successfully classify nineteen applications, showcasing the generality of our taxonomy. We have further validated our taxonomy through an orthogonality demonstration and a utility demonstration and its utility by applying it to an intelligent infection analysis system part of a smart campus initiative.
Time Series Data Mining for Sport Data: a Review

Abstract Time series data mining deals with extracting useful and meaningful information from time series data. Recently, the increasing use of temporal data, in particular time series data, has received much attention in the literature. Since most of sports data contain time information, it is natural to consider the temporal dimension in form of time series. However, in sports, the effective use of time series data mining techniques is still under development. The main goal of this paper is therefore to serve as an introduction to time series data mining and a glossary for interested researchers from the sports community. The paper gives an overview about current data mining tasks and tries to identify their potential research direction for further investigation. Furthermore, we want to draw more attention with respect to the importance of mining approaches with sport data and their particular challenges beyond usual time series data mining tasks.
Qualitative study of practices and attitudes towards physical activity among prediabetic men and women in urban and rural Malawi

Objectives Given the decline in physical activity levels in Malawi, like other sub-Saharan African countries, and its implication for non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention, this study aimed to compare and contrast accounts of practices and attitudes towards physical activity among Malawian men and women (previously identified as having pre-diabetes) in urban and rural settings. Setting Two communities: one urban (Lilongwe) and one rural (Karonga). Participants 14 men (urban N=6, rural N=8) and 18 women (urban N=9, rural N=9) classified as prediabetic during their participation in an NCD survey 3-5 years previously. Design A qualitative focus group study (N=4) and thematic analysis, with the ecological model used as a framework to characterise the types of physical activity people engaged in and potential ways to support them to exercise more. Results Participants reported undertaking different types of physical activity across all ecological model domains (household, occupational, transport, recreational). Rural participants reported more vigorous physical activities than urban participants, and women reported more household activities than men. Many participants recognised a need to promote physical activity in Malawi, and the health benefits of doing so, including the importance of physical activity in helping them stay strong to maintain physical functioning. Barriers to physical activity included competing priorities (especially urban men), societal expectations around wealth, use of motorised transport, lack of accessible facilities for women, ageing and ill health. Conclusions Physical activity is declining in Malawi as working and transport practices change in response to economic development, making promotion of alternative forms of physical activity a public health priority. Multilevel interventions emphasising the personal benefits/value of physical activity for all ages, and routine and group-based exercising, as well as investment in accessible recreational facilities (including for women) and active travel infrastructure should be considered to improve physical activity levels in Malawi.
Tourism imagination: a new epistemological debate

ABSTRACT The present CIT review letter explores the ebbs and flows of tourism theory and practice. With a focus on tourism etymology and epistemology, I stress on the urgency and obsession for tourism theorists to calibrate efforts to make a substantiated discipline that has lost sight of the tourism nature. Over years, scholars have enthusiastically theorized on the tourism nature as a growing industry, associated with a complex socio-economic background. Citing Tribe, the managerial gaze not only monopolized a whole portion of published material but also set the agenda in tourism epistemology. From its inception, tourism research was based on three clear paradigms which today should be at least revisited.
Old enough to offend but not to buy a hamster: the argument for raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility

The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Australia is 10 years. The topic of raising the age of criminal responsibility remains a fraught and challenging field of both study and thought. Despite overwhelming evidence to support an increase in the minimum age of criminal responsibility, there remains a resolute opposition in the majority of States in Australia that this age should be raised. However, the grounds for reconsidering the current position are indeed compelling. This paper expounds the persuasive arguments for raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility by examining the current scientific evidence and opinion. Considerations are explored and the relevant literature examined using the author’s framework that decisions should be just, scientific, not racist, humane, cost-effective and generally not ludicrous. Principles for an alternative approach to criminalisation and for managing the harmful behaviour of children are then offered.
On numerical solution of the complex Helmholtz equation

In this paper we consider numerical methods for solving three-dimensional mixed boundary value problems for the complex Helmholtz equation describing electromagnetic fields with a harmonic time dependence. We propose nondivergent finite volume approximations on parallelepiped and tetrahedral grids, which are based on elementwise technologies calculating local balance matrices and assembling a global matrix. For the iterative solution of the obtained real system of linear algebraic equations (SLAE) with a nonsymmetric sparse high-order matrix we describe a preconditioned semi-conjugate residual method.We give results of numerical experiments for a set of model problems on a sequence of denser grids, which demonstrate the second order of accuracy of grid solutions and a high rate of convergence of iterative processes.
A highly divergent mitochondrial genome in extant Cape buffalo from Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa

The reduced costs of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has allowed researchers to generate nuclear and mitochondrial genome data to gain deeper insights into the phylogeography, evolutionary history, and biology of non-model species. While the Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) has been well-studied across its range with traditional genetic markers over the last 25 years, researchers are building on this knowledge by generating whole genome, population-level datasets to improve understanding of its genetic composition and evolutionary history. Using publicly available NGS data, we assembled 40 Cape buffalo mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from four protected areas in South Africa, expanding the geographical range and almost doubling the number of mitogenomes available for this species. Coverage of the mitogenomes ranged from 154-1,036X. Haplotype and nucleotide diversity for Kruger National Park (n = 15) and Mokala National Park (n = 5) were similar to diversity levels in southern and eastern Africa. Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (n = 15) had low levels of genetic diversity, with only four haplotypes detected, reflecting its past bottleneck. Addo Elephant National Park (n = 5) had the highest nucleotide diversity of all populations across Africa, which was unexpected, as it is known from previous studies to have low nuclear diversity. This diversity was driven by a highly divergent mitogenome from one sample, which was also identified in another sample via Sanger sequencing of cytochrome b. Using a fossil-calibrated phylogenetic analysis, we estimated that this mitogenome diverged from all other Cape buffalo approximately 2.15 million years ago. We discuss several potential sources of this mitogenome but propose that it most likely originated through introgressive hybridisation with the extinct long-horned buffalo, Syncerus (Pelorovis) antiquus. We conclude by discussing the conservation consequences of this finding for the Addo Elephant National Park population, proposing careful genetic management to prevent inbreeding depression while maintaining this highly unique diversity.
Construction of model animals to explore intestinal microbiome for detection of breast cancer

Breast cancer ranks first among female cancers and has become a major public health problem in the current society. More studies indicated that these cancers are related to the change in the gut microbiome that can cause metabolic and immune system disorders in the body. However, there are few studies on the changes in gut microbiome caused by the onset of breast cancer, and the relationship between breast cancer and gut microbiome needs to be further clarified. In this study, we inoculated 4T1 breast cancer cells to induce breast cancer tumorigenesis in mice and collected their feces samples at different stages during this process. These intestinal florae were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, and the results showed that at the phylum level, the ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes decreased with the development of the tumor; at the family level, the intestinal microbiome had obvious variations of Lachnospiraceae, Bacteroidaceae, Erysipelotrichaceae, etc. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and COG annotation demonstrated that decreased abundance of cancer related signaling pathways. This study elucidated the relationship between breast cancer and intestinal microbiome, and the research results can be used as an important biomarker for the diagnosis of breast cancer.
Active compensation for changes in TDH3 expression mediated by direct regulators of TDH3 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Genetic networks are surprisingly robust to perturbations caused by new mutations. This robustness is conferred in part by compensation for loss of a gene’s activity by genes with overlapping functions, such as paralogs. Compensation occurs passively when the normal activity of one paralog can compensate for the loss of the other, or actively when a change in one paralog’s expression, localization, or activity is required to compensate for loss of the other. The mechanisms of active compensation remain poorly understood in most cases. Here we investigate active compensation for the loss or reduction in expression of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene TDH3 by its paralogs TDH1 and TDH2. TDH1 and TDH2 are upregulated in a dose-dependent manner in response to reductions in TDH3 by a mechanism requiring the shared transcriptional regulators Gcr1p and Rap1p. Other glycolytic genes regulated by Rap1p and Gcr1p show changes in expression similar to TDH2, suggesting that the active compensation by TDH3 paralogs is part of a broader homeostatic response mediated by shared transcriptional regulators.
Minimal Schubert Varieties Admitting Semistable Points for Exceptional Cases

For any simple, simply connected algebraic group G of exceptional types (E 6, E 7, E 8, F 4, and G 2) and for any maximal parabolic subgroup P of G, we describe all minimal (with respect to inclusion) Schubert varieties in G/P admitting semistable points for the action of a maximal torus T with respect to an ample line bundle on G/P. This completes the answer to a question proposed in [8] and settled there in the classical case.
Modeling Flow in an In Vitro Anatomical Cerebrovascular Model with Experimental Validation

Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is a leading cause of mortality that occurs when an embolus becomes lodged in the cerebral vasculature and obstructs blood flow in the brain. The severity of AIS is determined by the location and how extensively emboli become lodged, which are dictated in large part by the cerebral flow and the dynamics of embolus migration which are difficult to measure in vivo in AIS patients. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used to predict the patient-specific hemodynamics and embolus migration and lodging in the cerebral vasculature to better understand the underlying mechanics of AIS. To be relied upon, however, the computational simulations must be verified and validated. In this study, a realistic in vitro experimental model and a corresponding computational model of the cerebral vasculature are established that can be used to investigate flow and embolus migration and lodging in the brain. First, the in vitro anatomical model is described, including how the flow distribution in the model is tuned to match physiological measurements from the literature. Measurements of pressure and flow rate for both normal and stroke conditions were acquired and corresponding CFD simulations were performed and compared with the experiments to validate the flow predictions. Overall, the CFD simulations were in relatively close agreement with the experiments, to within ±7% of the mean experimental data with many of the CFD predictions within the uncertainty of the experimental measurement. This work provides an in vitro benchmark data set for flow in a realistic cerebrovascular model and is a first step towards validating a computational model of AIS.
Predicting the functional effect of compound heterozygous genotypes from large scale variant effect maps

Background Pathogenic variants in PHGDH, PSAT1, and PSPH cause a set of rare, autosomal recessive diseases known as serine biosynthesis defects. Serine biosynthesis defects present in a broad phenotypic spectrum that includes, at the severe end, Neu–Laxova syndrome, a lethal multiple congenital anomaly disease, intermediately in the form of infantile serine biosynthesis defects with severe neurological manifestations and growth deficiency, and at the mild end, as childhood disease with intellectual disability. However, because L-serine supplementation, especially if started early, can ameliorate and in some cases even prevent symptoms, knowledge of pathogenic variants is highly actionable. Methods Recently, our laboratory established a yeast-based assay for human PSAT1 function. We have now applied it at scale to assay the functional impact of 1,914 SNV-accessible amino acid substitutions. In addition to assaying the functional impact of individual variants in yeast haploid cells, we can assay pairwise combinations of PSAT1 alleles that recapitulate human genotypes, including compound heterozygotes, in yeast diploids. Results Results of our assays of individual variants (in haploid yeast cells) agree well with clinical interpretations and protein structure-function relationships, supporting the use of our data as functional evidence under the ACMG interpretation guidelines. Results from our diploid assay successfully distinguish patient genotypes from those of healthy carriers and agree well with disease severity. Finally, we present a linear model that uses individual allele measurements (in haploid yeast cells) to accurately predict the biallelic function (in diploid yeast cells) of ~1.8 million allele combinations corresponding to potential human genotypes. Conclusions Taken together, our work provides an example of how large-scale functional assays in model systems can be powerfully applied to the study of a rare disease.
Results of SemTab 2022

SemTab 2022 was the fourth edition of the Semantic Web Challenge on Tabular Data to Knowledge Graph Matching, successfully collocated with the 21 st International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC) and the 17 th Ontology Matching (OM) Workshop. SemTab provides a common framework to conduct a systematic evaluation of state-of-the-art systems. In this paper, we give an overview of the 2022’s edition of the challenge and summarize the results
A preliminary study understanding the possibility and benefits of solar photovoltaic collector integration with vertical green balconies in building facade reconstruction

The facades of buildings provide significant potential for photovoltaic panels integration, allowing renewable energy deployment within the built environment. In literature, various options, such as building-integrated photovoltaics, building-integrated photovoltaics-thermal collectors, building-attached photovoltaics, and rooftop photovoltaics, have already been explored. However, this study aimed to develop a new solar photovoltaic collectors’ integration with vertical-green balconies in old high-rise buildings considering the façade reconstruction concepts mainly focusing on the water heating application. The objective of this study is to conduct a preliminary research study investigating such integration possibilities with old buildings considering the façade reconstruction concepts, followed by exploring various benefits. For this, an old high-rise building was rebuilt scientifically and rationally. PHOENICS tool was used to gauge and assess the building’s wind environment first, followed by the solar photovoltaic collector-based facade installation and preliminary assessment. The results include the system design, economic analysis of the solar photovoltaic collector’s application for water heating, calculation of the energy-saving rate, and functional analysis of the solar photovoltaic collectors combined with a vertical green balcony. The outcome of this study suggested that the process-specific rationalization plan can be applied in future urban architecture renovation.
Are long-term climate projections useful for on-farm adaptation decisions?

The current literature on climate services for farmers predominantly focuses on seasonal forecasts, with an assumption that longer-term climate projections may not be suitable for informing farming decisions. In this paper, we explore whether certain types of long-term climate projections may be useful for some specific types of farming decisions. Through interviews with almond tree crop farmers and farm advisors in California, we examine how farmers perceive the utility and accuracy levels of long-term climate projections and identify the types of projections that they may find useful. The interviews revealed that farmers often perceive long-term climate projections as an extension of weather forecasts, which can lead to their initial skepticism of the utility of such information. However, we also found that when farmers were presented with long-term trends or shifts in crop-specific agroclimatic metrics (such as chill hours or summer heat), they immediately perceived these as valuable for their decision-making. Hence, the manner in which long-term projections are framed, presented, and discussed with farmers can heavily influence their perception of the potential utility of such projections. The iterative conversations as part of the exploratory interview questions, served as a tool for “joint construction of meaning” of complex and ambiguous terms such as “long-term climate projections,” “long-term decisions” and “uncertainty. ” This in-turn supported a joint identification (and understanding) of the types of information that can potentially be useful for on-farm adaptive decisions, where the farmer and the interviewer both improvise and iterate to find the best types of projections that fit specific decision-contexts. Overall, this research identifies both the types of long-term climate information that farmers may consider useful, and the engagement processes that are able to effectively elicit farmers' long-term information needs.
MRI VS. FDG-PET for diagnosis of response to neoadjuvant therapy in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer

Aim In this study, we aimed to compare the diagnostic values of MRI and FDG-PET for the prediction of the response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NACT) of patients with locally advanced Rectal cancer (RC). Methods Electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane library, were systematically searched through December 2021 for studies that investigated the diagnostic value of MRI and FDG-PET in the prediction of the response of patients with locally advanced RC to NACT. The quality of the included studies was assessed using QUADAS. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratio (PLR and NLR), and the area under the ROC (AUC) of MRI and FDG-PET were calculated using a bivariate generalized linear mixed model, random-effects model, and hierarchical regression. Results A total number of 74 studies with recruited 4,105 locally advanced RC patients were included in this analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and AUC for MRI were 0.83 (95% CI: 0.77–0.88), 0.85 (95% CI: 0.79–0.89), 5.50 (95% CI: 4.11-7.35), 0.20 (95% CI: 0.14–0.27), and 0.91 (95% CI: 0.88–0.93), respectively. The summary sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR and AUC for FDG-PET were 0.81 (95% CI: 0.77-0.85), 0.75 (95% CI: 0.70–0.80), 3.29 (95% CI: 2.64–4.10), 0.25 (95% CI: 0.20–0.31), and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.82–0.88), respectively. Moreover, there were no significant differences between MRI and FDG-PET in sensitivity (P = 0.565), and NLR (P = 0.268), while the specificity (P = 0.006), PLR (P = 0.006), and AUC (P = 0.003) of MRI was higher than FDG-PET. Conclusions MRI might superior than FGD-PET for the prediction of the response of patients with locally advanced RC to NACT.