Privacy Policy Negotiation in Social Media

Social Media involve many shared items, such as photos, which may concern more than one user. The challenge is that users’ individual privacy preferences for the same item may conflict, so an approach that just merges in some way the users’ privacy preferences may provide unsatisfactory results. Previous proposals to deal with the problem were either time-consuming or did not consider compromises to solve these conflicts (e.g., by considering unilaterally-imposed approaches only). We propose a negotiation mechanism for users to agree on a compromise for the conflicts found. The second challenge we address in this paper relates to the exponential complexity of such a negotiation mechanism. To address this, we propose heuristics that reduce the complexity of the negotiation mechanism and show how substantial benefits can be derived from the use of these heuristics through extensive experimental evaluation that compares the performance of the negotiation mechanism with and without these heuristics. Moreover, we show that one such heuristic makes the negotiation mechanism produce results fast enough to be used in actual Social Media infrastructures with near-optimal results

Choreographing Configuration Changes

This paper describes the automatic generation of a set of reactive agents capable of autonomously reconfiguring a computing infrastructure into a specified goal state. The agent interactions are guaranteed to be deadlock/live-lock free, can preserve pre-specified global constraints during their execution, and autonomically maintain the goal state once it has been achieved. We describe novel algorithms for the generation and execution of the agent model, and evaluate the results on some realistic problems, using a prototype implementation

How to make a sex chromosome

Sex chromosomes can evolve once recombination is halted between a homologous pair of chromosomes. Owing to detailed studies using key model systems, we have a nuanced understanding and a rich review literature of what happens to sex chromosomes once recombination is arrested. However, three broad questions remain unanswered. First, why do sex chromosomes stop recombining in the first place? Second, how is recombination halted? Finally, why does the spread of recombination suppression, and therefore the rate of sex chromosome divergence, vary so substantially across clades? In this review, we consider each of these three questions in turn to address fundamental questions in the field, summarize our current understanding, and highlight important areas for future work

Report on the CyCAT winter school on fairness, accountability, transparency and ethics (FATE) in AI

The first FATE Winter School, organized by the Cyprus Center for Algorithmic Transparency (CyCAT) provided a forum for both students as well as senior researchers to examine the complex topic of Fairness, Accountability, Transparency and Ethics (FATE). Through a program that included two invited keynotes, as well as sessions led by CyCAT partners across Europe and Israel, participants were exposed to a range of approaches on FATE, in a holistic manner. During the Winter School, the team also organized a hands-on activity to evaluate a tool-based intervention where participants interacted with eight prototypes of bias-aware search engines. Finally, participants were invited to join one of four collaborative projects coordinated by CyCAT, thus furthering common understanding and interdisciplinary collaboration on this emerging topic

Genome of the Komodo dragon reveals adaptations in the cardiovascular and chemosensory systems of monitor lizards

Monitor lizards are unique among ectothermic reptiles in that they have high aerobic capacity and distinctive cardiovascular physiology resembling that of endothermic mammals. Here, we sequence the genome of the Komodo dragon Varanus komodoensis, the largest extant monitor lizard, and generate a high-resolution de novo chromosome-assigned genome assembly for V. komodoensis using a hybrid approach of long-range sequencing and single-molecule optical mapping. Comparing the genome of V. komodoensis with those of related species, we find evidence of positive selection in pathways related to energy metabolism, cardiovascular homoeostasis, and haemostasis. We also show species-specific expansions of a chemoreceptor gene family related to pheromone and kairomone sensing in V. komodoensis and other lizard lineages. Together, these evolutionary signatures of adaptation reveal the genetic underpinnings of the unique Komodo dragon sensory and cardiovascular systems, and suggest that selective pressure altered haemostasis genes to help Komodo dragons evade the anticoagulant effects of their own saliva. The Komodo dragon genome is an important resource for understanding the biology of monitor lizards and reptiles worldwide

Diversification of Hemidactylus geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in coastal plains and islands of southwestern Arabia with descriptions and complete mitochondrial genomes of two endemic species to Saudi Arabia

The systematic, phylogenetic, and biogeographic aspects of the rich squamate fauna of the Arabian Peninsula are becoming increasingly well understood. The Arabian members of the gecko genus Hemidactylus, the most diverse genus among Arabian squamates, have been the subject of several phylogenetic revisions in recent years. However, large parts of the peninsula lacked thorough sampling, for example, the coastal hyper-arid plains along the Red Sea and some offshore islands. In this study, we examine the genetic, morphological, and ecological diversification of a Hemidactylus clade that straddles the Red Sea and contains ten Arabian and three African species. We compiled a genetic dataset of seven markers (two mitochondrial and five nuclear) to reconstruct their phylogenetic relationships and collected morphological data to assess the level of interspecific morphological disparification. Our results support the existence of four yet undescribed species within the clade – two from Arabia and two from Ethiopia. We provide taxonomic descriptions of the two new Arabian species, one from the western Asir Mountains foothills and one from the Farasan Islands. The new species from the Asir Mountains foothills highlights the role of the southern Arabian coastal desert as an important yet often overlooked local biodiversity hotspot. The new species from the Farasan Islands represents the second vertebrate species endemic to the archipelago. Together with the descriptions of the diagnostic features of both species, we provide complete annotated mitochondrial genomes of both holotypes and of holotypes of two other species from the clade to characterize their mitogenomic composition and architecture.JŠ was supported by the Charles University Research Centre program No. 204069, and by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic (DKRVO 2019–2023/6.VII.d, 00023272). MU was supported by Charles University (SVV 260571/2022). LN was supported by project OP RDE, called International mobility of researchers at Charles University (MSCA-IF IV), with reg. n. CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/20_079/. SC was supported by grant PGC2018-098290-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE), Spain.Peer reviewe