Big-Data Streaming Applications Scheduling Based on Staged Multi-Armed Bandits

Several techniques have been recently proposed to adapt Big-Data streaming applications to existing many core platforms. Among these techniques, online reinforcement learning methods have been proposed that learn how to adapt at run-time the throughput and resources allocated to the various streaming tasks depending on dynamically changing data stream characteristics and the desired applications performance (e.g., accuracy). However, most of state-of-the-art techniques consider only one single stream input in its application model input and assume that the system knows the amount of resources to allocate to each task to achieve a desired performance. To address these limitations, in this paper we propose a new systematic and efficient methodology and associated algorithms for online learning and energy-efficient scheduling of Big-Data streaming applications with multiple streams on many core systems with resource constraints. We formalize the problem of multi-stream scheduling as a staged decision problem in which the performance obtained for various resource allocations is unknown. The proposed scheduling methodology uses a novel class of online adaptive learning techniques which we refer to as staged multi-armed bandits (S-MAB). Our scheduler is able to learn online which processing method to assign to each stream and how to allocate its resources over time in order to maximize the performance on the fly, at run-time, without having access to any offline information. The proposed scheduler, applied on a face detection streaming application and without using any offline information, is able to achieve similar performance compared to an optimal semi-online solution that has full knowledge of the input stream where the differences in throughput, observed quality, resource usage and energy efficiency are less than 1, 0.3, 0.2 and 4 percent respectively. � 2016 IEEE

Big-Data Streaming Applications Scheduling Based on Staged Multi-armed Bandits

Several techniques have been recently proposed to adapt Big-Data streaming applications to existing many core platforms. Among these techniques, online reinforcement learning methods have been proposed that learn how to adapt at run-time the throughput and resources allocated to the various streaming tasks depending on dynamically changing data stream characteristics and the desired applications performance (e.g., accuracy). However, most of state-of-the-art techniques consider only one single stream input in its application model input and assume that the system knows the amount of resources to allocate to each task to achieve a desired performance. To address these limitations, in this paper we propose a new systematic and efficient methodology and associated algorithms for online learning and energy-efficient scheduling of Big-Data streaming applications with multiple streams on many core systems with resource constraints. We formalize the problem of multi-stream scheduling as a staged decision problem in which the performance obtained for various resource allocations is unknown. The proposed scheduling methodology uses a novel class of online adaptive learning techniques which we refer to as staged multi-armed bandits (S-MAB). Our scheduler is able to learn online which processing method to assign to each stream and how to allocate its resources over time in order to maximize the performance on the fly, at run-time, without having access to any offline information. The proposed scheduler, applied on a face detection streaming application and without using any offline information, is able to achieve similar performance compared to an optimal semi-online solution that has full knowledge of the input stream where the differences in throughput, observed quality, resource usage and energy efficiency are less than 1%, 0.3%, 0.2% and 4% respectively

The socioeconomic dynamics of the shifta conflict in Kenya, c. 1963-8

Using a set of oral testimonies, together with military, intelligence, and administrative reports from the 1960s, this article re-examines the shifta conflict in Kenya. The article moves away from mono-causal, nationalistic interpretations of the event, to focus instead on the underlying socioeconomic dynamics and domestic implications of the conflict. It argues that the nationalist interpretation fails to capture the diversity of participation in shifta, which was not simply made up of militant Somali nationalists, and that it fails to acknowledge the significance of an internal Kenyan conflict between a newly independent state in the process of nation building, and a group of ‘dissident’ frontier communities that were seen to defy the new order. Examination of this conflict provides insights into the operation of the early postcolonial Kenyan stateThe Arts and Humanities Research Council,The Royal Historical Society, Martin Lynn Scholarshi

Covid-19, Human Displacement, and Expanding Crises of Insecurity in Africa: The case of Almajiri Children in Nigeria

Governance failures, inadequate policy efforts, poverty, unemployment, insurgency, climate change, socio-economic downturns, religious fanatics or bandits, and other related factors have all been blamed for insecurity in Africa. This has left some holes in assessing Africa's present catastrophic insecurity situation via the prism of Covid-19 and human displacement. The research fills the gaps by presenting a fresh understanding of how Covid-19 and the illogical displacement of Almajiri children play a role in Nigeria's recent rise in instability. It makes considerable use of secondary sources and reviews empirical works on the issue. The results demonstrated that the Covid-19 shutdown sparked more banditry. Almajiri children were exposed to rebels and bandits who used them to carry out dangerous attacks on the Nigerian state. The breakout of Covid-19, according to results, partly contributed to the increase in insecurity in Nigeria

Protecting Surface Transportation Systems and Patrons from Terrorist Activities, Research Report 94-04

Contemporary terrorists have made public transportation a new theater of operations. Algerian extremists set off bombs on the subways of Paris in 1995 and 1996; the Irish Republican Army has waged a long running terrorist campaign against Britain’s passenger trains and London’s subways; Palestinian terrorists have carried out suicide bombings on Israel’s buses; and an individualor a group calling itself “Sons of the Gestapo” derailed a passenger train in Arizona in 1995. Islamic extremists planned to set off car bombs in New York’s tunnels and bridges in 1993 and in 1997 they plotted suicide bombings in New York subways. The nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subways by members of the Aum Shinrikyo sect in 1995 raised the specter that terrorists in the future might resort to weapons of mass destruction to which public transportation is uniquely vulnerable. In order to effectively meet the threat posed by terrorism and other forms of violent crime, it is essential that transportation system operators have a thorough understanding of the security measures employed elsewhere, especially by those transportation entities that have suffered terrorist attacks or that confront high threat levels. This volume reports on the first phase of a continuing research effort carried out by the Norman Y. Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies (IISTPS) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It comprises a chronology of attacks on surface transportation systems; four case studies of transportation security measures (in Paris, Atlanta, and New York, and at Amtrak); security surveys of nine additional cities in the United States; and an annotated bibliography of current literature on the topic

Bandits, neighbours, Japanese soldiers: Security threats and survival strategies in Taishan and Kaiping villages, 1937–1949

To say that the familial and cultural ties that bound Chinese society were severed or weakened and that “patriotism transcended regionalism, localism, and familism” during the Resistance War, as Diana Lary claims in The Chinese People at War, is too general. Nationalism and patriotism might have been priorities for urban intellectuals and elites, but such priorities were not necessarily shared by everyone. People at the rural grassroots in southern Guangdong did not share them. This thesis argues that Siyi villagers’ survival tactics against security threats between 1937 and 1949 were borne out of self-preservation and localism, not nationalism. Based on oral interviews conducted in Hong Kong, Vancouver, and Burnaby of seniors who lived in Taishan or Kaiping villages between 1932 and 1949, this project examines the villagers’ survival tactics and motives when faced with changing security threats during the prewar, wartime, and postwar periods. Village feuds, bandits, the Japanese armed forces, food scarcity, and traditional gender roles were the most dangerous threats facing villagers. The villagers’ survival tactics reveal a pattern of independence from state institutions while relying on local and familial connections. Nationalism and patriotism did not impact Taishan and Kaiping villagers as much as localism did

The Progress, Challenges, and Perspectives of Directed Greybox Fuzzing

Most greybox fuzzing tools are coverage-guided as code coverage is strongly correlated with bug coverage. However, since most covered codes may not contain bugs, blindly extending code coverage is less efficient, especially for corner cases. Unlike coverage-guided greybox fuzzers who extend code coverage in an undirected manner, a directed greybox fuzzer spends most of its time allocation on reaching specific targets (e.g., the bug-prone zone) without wasting resources stressing unrelated parts. Thus, directed greybox fuzzing (DGF) is particularly suitable for scenarios such as patch testing, bug reproduction, and specialist bug hunting. This paper studies DGF from a broader view, which takes into account not only the location-directed type that targets specific code parts, but also the behaviour-directed type that aims to expose abnormal program behaviours. Herein, the first in-depth study of DGF is made based on the investigation of 32 state-of-the-art fuzzers (78% were published after 2019) that are closely related to DGF. A thorough assessment of the collected tools is conducted so as to systemise recent progress in this field. Finally, it summarises the challenges and provides perspectives for future research.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

CENTRAL STATE VS REGIONAL AUTONOMY - POLITICAL ELITE’S ACTION STRATEGY

The role of the autonomous institutions is significant in the elaboration of the specific strategies conducive for the political elite of either regional autonomy or central state to achieve their territorial, political and economic goals. Functional autonomous institutions enable the political elite to mobilize its ethnic group and radicalize demands. Rational assessment of the geographic location, instrumentalization of primordial markers (focus on historical memory) and constructivist ascriptions along with structural situation in and out of both, the autonomy and central state defines contemplated ethnic politics with far-going consequences of the both, central state and autonomy. Autonomy’s political elite activates primordial ascriptions, as well as, constructionist attitudes, considers geographic location to mobilize ethnic followers, press claims for secession and influence central authority to upgrade autonomous status through negotiations or violent confrontation. The Central state political elite’s decision about action strategy selection depends on the structure of situation inside and outside of the country. While operationalizing selected strategy central administration applies primordial and constructivist approaches to impact local authority’s decision- making process.  Two autonomous republics of the Russian Federation, Tatarstan and Chechnya, are explored in the first decade after collapse of the Soviet Union to test theoretically identified factors impacting formation of ethnic politics and action strategies in the central state and autonomy. The methods’ triangulation (process-tracing method, discourse analysis of the official document and public speeches and semi-structured interviewing) was utilized to validate the research findings. On its way to upgrade autonomous status, Tatarstan built civic nationalism guaranteeing peaceful coexistence of the ethnic groups. Chechnya’s oppressive historic experience intensified rigid ethnic politics leading to protracted ethnic confrontation