Carbon-Awareness in CI/CD

While the environmental impact of digitalization is becoming more and more evident, the climate crisis has become a major issue for society. For instance, data centers alone account for 2.7% of Europe's energy consumption today. A considerable part of this load is accounted for by cloud-based services for automated software development, such as continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) workflows. In this paper, we discuss opportunities and challenges for greening CI/CD services by better aligning their execution with the availability of low-carbon energy. We propose a system architecture for carbon-aware CI/CD services, which uses historical runtime information and, optionally, user-provided information. We examined the potential effectiveness of different scheduling strategies using real carbon intensity data and 7,392 workflow executions of Github Actions, a popular CI/CD service. Our results show, that user-provided information on workflow deadlines can effectively improve carbon-aware scheduling.Comment: 21st International Conference on Service-Oriented Computing (ICSOC '24) Workshop

Identification of compounds with anti-convulsant properties in a zebrafish model of epileptic seizures

The availability of animal models of epileptic seizures provides opportunities to identify novel anticonvulsants for the treatment of people with epilepsy. We found that exposure of 2-day-old zebrafish embryos to the convulsant agent pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) rapidly induces the expression of synaptic-activity-regulated genes in the CNS, and elicited vigorous episodes of calcium (Ca2+) flux in muscle cells as well as intense locomotor activity. We then screened a library of ∼2000 known bioactive small molecules and identified 46 compounds that suppressed PTZ-inducedtranscription of the synaptic-activity-regulated gene fos in 2-day-old (2 dpf) zebrafish embryos. Further analysis of a subset of these compounds, which included compounds with known and newly identified anticonvulsant properties, revealed that they exhibited concentration-dependent inhibition of both locomotor activity and PTZ-induced fos transcription, confirming their anticonvulsant characteristics. We conclude that this in situ hybridisation assay for fos transcription in the zebrafish embryonic CNS is a robust, high-throughput in vivo indicator of the neural response to convulsant treatment and lends itself well to chemical screening applications. Moreover, our results demonstrate that suppression of PTZ-induced fos expression provides a sensitive means of identifying compounds with anticonvulsant activities

The Forgotten Courier to the Delegation of the Polish Government. Second Lieutenant Napoleon Segieda “Wera” (1908–1991)

Artykuł o ppor. Napoleonie Segiedzie (vel Gustav Molin „Wera”), a po wojnie Jerzym Salskim (1908–1991), urodzonym na Zamojszczyźnie, mieszkańcu Pomorza, zaś w czasie wojny kurierze politycznym do władz Polskiego Państwa Podziemnego zrzuconym do kraju w nocy z 7 na 8 listopada 1941 r., jest pierwszą próbą przedstawienia zarysu jego biografii i wojennych dokonań. Był uczestnikiem wojny 1939 r. (obrona Warszawy), a następnie jeńcem wojennym niemieckich obozów, skąd po wielu perypetiach dotarł do PSZ w Wielkiej Brytanii. Po wykonaniu misji w kraju Segieda latem 1942 r. wyruszył ponownie do Londynu z pierwszym kompleksowym raportem Polskiego Państwa Podziemnego do władz rządu emigracyjnego w Londynie. Już w 1942 r. jako świadek zagłady alarmował świat o Holokauśc ie; raczej bez skutku, gdyż Zachód nie był tym problemem specjalnie zainteresowany. Napoleon Segieda od wiosny do lata 1942 r. przebywał w mieście Oświęcim, gdzie zbierał informacje o obozie koncentracyjnym w Auschwitz. 8 sierpnia 1942 r. opuścił Warszawę, by przez Kraków i Wiedeń w ciągu pięciu dni dotrzeć do Szwajcarii, gdzie z niewyjaśnionych przyczyn na kilka miesięcy utknął w drodze do Londynu. Jego raport później był znany wśród wielu ważnych, wpływowych polityków społeczności alianckiej, m.in. w Wielkiej Brytanii oraz USA. Warto wspomnieć, iż o zagładzie Żydów docierały do Londynu, również od lata 1942 r., depesze Stefana Korbońskiego, szefa Kierownictwa Walki Cywilnej. Po wojnie Napoleon Segieda już pod nazwiskiem Jerzy Salski osiadł w wielkim Londyn ie, gdzie zmarł, całkowicie zapomniany.The article presents Second Lieutenant Napoleon Segieda, alias Gustav Molin “Wera” or Jerzy Salski (after the war), born in the Zamość region, a resident of Pomerania, and a political courier to the government of the Polish Underground State (during the war), parachuted to the country on the night of 7th November 1941. The paper is the first attempt to show his biography and military achievements. He was a participant in the war of 1939 (the defense of Warsaw), and then, a prisoner of war in the German camps, whence, after many trials and tribulations, he arrived at the Polish Forces base in Great Britain. On completing his mission in the country (summer 1942), Segieda set off to London again with the first comprehensive report of the Polish Underground State to the Polish government-in-exile, London. As early as in 1942, being a witness to the extermination, he alerted the world to the Holocaust, to practically no effect, since the West was not particularly interested in the problem. From spring to summer 1942, Napoleon Segieda stayed in the city of Oświęcim where he collected information about the Concentration Camp Auschwitz. On 8th August 1942, he left Warsaw and, via Cracow and Vienna, reached Switzerland where, for unknown reasons, he got stuck on the way to London for a few months. His report was later distributed among many important and influential politicians of the allied community in Great Britain and the USA. It is worth mentioning that the messages on the Holocaust by Stefan Karboński (the head of the leadership of civil combat) also arrived in London during the summer 1942. After the war, Napoleon Segieda settled down in London, under the surname of Jerzy Salski, where he died completely forgotten

Family constellations. Joanna Piotrowska’s photobook „Frowst” in context of family photography in Poland.

Temat mojej pracy stanowi fotografia rodzinna w Polsce oraz przemiany zachodzące w konwencjach obrazowania rodzin na przestrzeni XIX, XX i XXI wieku. W swojej pracy zestawiam tradycyjną fotografię rodzinną z poruszającą ten sam temat pracą „Frowst” współczesnej polskiej fotografki Joanny Piotrowskiej. W pierwszym rozdziale przedstawiam stan badań, dotyczący fotografii rodzinnej w Polsce. Następnie opisuję historię tego rodzaju fotografii, od powstania pierwszych zakładów fotograficznych w Polsce, przez rozwój fotoamatorstwa, powstanie fotografii chłopskiej, po sposoby fotografowania rodzin w XXI wieku. W części teoretycznej pracy, w oparciu o publikacje z drugiej połowy XX wieku oraz XXI wieku skupiam się na wykazaniu różnorodnych funkcji rodzinnych fotografii oraz czynników, jakie wpłynęły na sposób jej kształtowania. Drugą część pracy poświęcam opisowi i analizie książki fotograficznej „Frowst” autorstwa Joanny Piotrowskiej, dokonując porównań pomiędzy pracami Piotrowskiej a wcześniej opisanymi tradycyjnymi fotografiami rodzinnymi. Celem mojej pracy jest ukazanie przemian zachodzących w sposobach obrazowania rodzin, analiza czynników, jakie miały wpływ na wciąż zmieniające się konwencje oraz wykazanie oryginalności dzieła Piotrowskiej, interesującego mnie zarówno ze względu na swoją odrębność w stosunku do innych współczesnych cykli fotograficznych podejmujących temat relacji rodzinnych, jak i sposób, w jaki artystka korzystając z utartych konwencji i schematów fotografii rodzinnej dekonstruuje jej tradycyjną funkcję, ukazując podejmowany temat w zupełnie nowym świetle.Family photography in Poland and it’s transformations in XIXth, XXth and XXIst century is the main theme of my work. I would also like to juxtapose traditional family photography with “Frowst”, work of contemporary polish photographer Joanna Piotrowska. The purpose of this study is to investigate different methods and conventions of imaging families and how they have been changing during the XIXth, XXth and XXIst century. The first, historical part of my work shows the process of forming family photography since 1839 till the present day. In the second, theoretical part of my study I try to demonstrate the constitutive role of family photography within shaping family collective memory and forming family myths. In last part of my work I focus on describing and analising Joanna Piotrowska’s contemporary photobook “Frowst”, which also takes up the matter of family, but deriving from traditional photography “Frowst” deconstructs it’s conventional features

Shareholder Influence over Director Nomination via Proxy Access: Implications for Agency Conflict and Stakeholder Value

Corporate governance research indicates that corporate boards of directors may be overly beholden to management, which can be detrimental to firm value creation. Drawing upon agency theory and the governance law literature, we examine the effects of a new SEC rule designed to lessen managerial power by increasing large, long-term shareholders’ influence in the director nomination process. We predict and find support for a positive overall market reaction to the rule’s announcement as well as a greater reaction for firms with characteristics that suggest compromised board independence or greater CEO control. Moreover, we examine the implications of greater shareholder voice for another key stakeholder group, firm bondholders, and find evidence that it is also value increasing. We conclude by discussing important implications for theory and practice

Fuzzy Profiles: Comparing and Contrasting Latent Profile Analysis and Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis for Person-Centered Research

Person-centered approaches to organizational scholarship can provide critical insights into how sets of related constructs uniquely combine to predict outcomes. Within micro topics, scholars have begun to embrace the use of latent profile analysis (LPA), identifying constellations of constructs related to organizational commitment, turnover intentions, emotional labor, recovery, and well-being, to name a few. Conversely, macro scholars have utilized fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine numerous phenomena, such as acquisitions and business strategies, as configurations of explanatory conditions associated with firm-level outcomes. What remains unclear, however, is the extent to which these two approaches deliver similar versus unique insights when applied to the same topic. In this paper, we offer an overview of the ways these two methods converge and diverge, and provide an empirical demonstration by applying both LPA and fsQCA to examine a multidimensional personality construct—core self-evaluations (CSE)—in relation to job satisfaction. In so doing, we offer guidance for scholars who are either choosing between these two methods, or are seeking to use the two methods in a complementary, theory-building manner