Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Matching Output Queueing with Combined Input and Output Queueing

At very high aggregate bandwidths, output queueing is impractical because of insufficient memory bandwidth. This problem is getting worse: memory bandwidth is improving slowly, whereas the demand for network bandwidth continues to grow exponentially. The difficulty is that output-queued switches require memories that run at a speedup of N, where N is equal to the number of switch ports. This paper addresses the following question: Is it possible for a switch to exactly match output-queueing with a reduced speedup? We prove that if virtual output queueing is used, a combined input-output queued switch is always work-conserving if its speedup is greater than. This result is proved using a novel scheduling algorithm-the Home Territory Algorithm (HTA). Many commercial switches and routers today employ output queueing. 1 The advantages of output queueing are twofold. First, it allows the throughput to be maximized: so long as no input or output is oversubscribed, the switch will support the traffic. Second, because packets are immediately placed in output queues upon arrival, it is possible to control the latency of packets through the switch. This is very important for supporting QoS in a switch or router. But output 1. When we refer to output queueing in this paper, we include designs that employ centralized shared memory. N 2 ⁄ queueing is complex and expensive. Its complexity arises from a need for the switch fabric and memory to run times as fast as the line rate, assuming an switch. The ratio of a switch's internal bandwidth to its line rate is defined as the speedup of a switch. Hence, an output-queued (OQ) switch has a speedup of. Input queueing has lower complexity, and consequently lower cost. The switch fabric and the memory at the inputs of an input-queued (IQ) switch need only run as fast as the line rate. In other words, an input-queued switch has a speedup of 1. However, if each input maintains a single FIFO queue, input queueing suffers head of line (HOL) blocking, which limits the throughput to just 58.6%. For non-uniform traffic, the performance is even worse [1]. Output queueing is limited by the band-width of commercially available memories. Currently, it seems practical to implement an output-queued switch or router with an aggregate bandwidth of approximately 20Gb/s. But the continued exponential increase in demand for bandwidth is making faster and faster switches necessary. Before long, it may be impractical to build output-queued …
Empathic Features of Absorption and Incongruence

Abstract A study was undertaken to examine whether empathy could be related to absorption and incongruence (repressive coping). The participants were 71 graduate students who completed measures of empathy, absorption, and incongruence (repressive coping). The results confirmed a previous finding that empathy appears positively related to absorption (r = .42, p < .001). The results also suggest that affective components of empathy are inversely related to repressive coping (r = -.29, p < .05) while cognitive components are positively related to the social desirability aspects of incongruence (r = .31, p < .01). The findings are collectively discussed in terms of the Empathic Involvement Hypothesis of Hypnosis (Wickramasekera II, 2001), the Four-factor theory of Repressive Coping (Eysenck, 1997), Incongruence (Rogers, 1957), and the High Risk Model of Threat Perception (I. E. Wickramasekera I, 1998).
A Vector-Based Approach to Software Size Measurement and Effort Estimation

Software size is a fundamental product measure that can be used for assessment, prediction and improvement purposes. However, existing software size measures, such as function points, do not address the underlying problem complexity of software systems adequately. This can result in disproportional measures of software size for different types of systems. We propose a vector size measure (VSM) that incorporates both functionality and problem complexity in a balanced and orthogonal manner. The VSM is used as the input to a vector prediction model (VPM) which can be used to estimate development effort early in the software life-cycle. We theoretically validate the approach against a formal framework. We also empirically validate the approach with a pilot study. The results indicate that the approach provides a mechanism to measure the size of software systems, classify software systems, and estimate development effort early in the software life-cycle to within /spl plusmn/20% across a range of application types.
Facets of Parenting a Child with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

The purpose of the study was to conceptualize the needs of parents of young children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) to provide a theoretical framework to inform the development of future parent interventions. Participants were parents and grandparents (n = 53) of 15 young children who had undergone the Sano surgical approach for HLHS. Analysis of recorded and transcribed single interviews with each participant was done as directed by interpretive description methodology. A model of five facets of parenting was conceptualized. These included survival parenting, “hands-off” parenting, expert parenting, uncertain parenting, and supported parenting. The facets of parenting delineated through this study provide a theoretical framework that can be used to guide the development and evaluation of interventions for parents of children with complex congenital heart disease and potentially other life-threatening conditions. Each facet constitutes a critical component for educational or psychosocial intervention for parents.
A technique to overcome the problem of small size database for automatic speaker recognition

Modeling a system by statistical methods needs large amount of data to train the system. In real life such data are sometimes not available or hard to collect. Modeling the system with small size database will produce a system with poor performance. In this paper we propose a method for increasing the size of the database. The method works by generating new samples from the original samples, using combinations of the following methods: speech lengthening, noise adding, and word reversal. To make a proof of concept, we used a severe test condition, in which the original database consists of one sample per speaker, for a speaker recognition system. We tested the system using original samples. The best results were 90% and 90.41% recognition rates for two subsets of the database for 25 and 50 speakers respectively.
Analysis of Rare Variants in the Alcohol Dependence Candidate Gene GATA4

Background Common variants in the gene GATA binding protein 4 (GATA4) show association with alcohol dependence (AD). The aim of this study was to identify rare variants in GATA4 in order to elucidate the role of this gene in AD susceptibility. Identification of rare variants may provide a more complete picture of the allelic architecture at this risk locus. Methods Sanger sequencing of all 6 coding exons of GATA4 was performed in 528 patients and 517 controls. Four in silico prediction tools were used to determine the effect of a DNA variant on the amino acid sequence and protein function. Five variants were included in the replication step. Of these, 4 were successfully genotyped in our replication cohort of 655 patients and 1,501 controls. All patients fulfilled DSM‐IV criteria for AD, and all individuals were of German descent. Results In the discovery step, 19 different heterozygous variants were identified. Four patient‐specific and potentially functionally relevant variants were followed up. Only the variant S379S (c.1137C>T) remained patient specific (1/1,166 patients vs. 0/1,997 controls). None of the variants showed a statistically significant association with AD. Conclusions The present study elucidated the role of GATA4 in AD susceptibility by identifying rare variants via Sanger sequencing and subsequent replication. Although novel patient‐specific rare variants of GATA4 were identified, none received support in the independent replication step. However, given previous robust findings of association with common variants, GATA4 remains a promising candidate gene for AD.
On the different contributions of coherent structures to the spectra of a turbulent round jet and a turbulent boundary layer

This paper examines and compares spectral measurements from a turbulent round jet and a turbulent boundary layer. The conjecture that is examined is that both flows consist of coherent structures immersed in a background of isotropic turbulence. In the case of the jet, a single size of coherent structure is considered, whereas in the boundary layer there are a range of sizes of geometrically similar structures. The conjecture is examined by comparing experimental measurements of spectra for the two flows with the spectra calculated using models based on simple vortex structures. The universality of the small scales is considered by comparing high-wavenumber experimental spectra. It is shown that these simple structural models give a good account of the turbulent flows.
Expression of Spindle and Kinetochore-Associated Protein 1 Is Associated with Poor Prognosis in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Aim. Spindle and kinetochore-associated protein 1 (SKA1) is one subtype of SKA, whose protein can make spindle microtubules attach steadily to the kinetochore in the middle of mitosis. At present, there are fewer researches on the relationship between SKA1 expression and tumor development. Methods. In this study, immunohistochemical analysis was used to determine the expression of SKA1 in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and adjacent tissues. We used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot analysis to further verify the results. Results. We found that SKA1 expression was significantly higher in PTC tissues than normal adjacent tissues (P < 0.05). There existed a significant correlation among a higher SKA1 expression, including lymphoid node (P = 0.005), clinical stage (P = 0.015), and extrathyroid invasion (P = 0.004). Survival analysis showed high SKA1 expression in PTC patients more likely to relapse after surgery. Conclusion. High SKA1 expression is predictive of poor prognosis of PTC, implying that SKA1 may be a promising new target for targeted therapies for PTC.
Internal Marketing Perceptions in Intercollegiate Athletics and Their Influence on Organizational Commitment

While scholars have previously focused on the external impact of marketing efforts in college athletics (e.g., Gladden, Irwin, & Sutton, 2001), little research has been done on the internal marketing orientation of collegiate sport properties and its respective impact on college sport. The purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of internal marketing in college athletics and to examine if those perceptions have an effect on the level of organizational commitment among departmental employees. Survey methodology collected information from 248 athletic department administrators at NCAA FBS and FCS institutions. Results indicate that internal marketing orientation strongly influenced affective commitment to the organization. Further, internal marketing was found to fully mediate the relationship of job function and affective commitment. Finally, theorized moderators of job type, level of competition and gender were not statistically significant. The results support the assertion that an internal marketing orientation can be effectively implemented to foster the development of affective commitment to the organization.
The Effects of a Verbal and a Figural Creativity Training on Different Facets of Creative Potential

This study investigated the effects of different types of creativity interventions on different facets of creative potential, also including more school-related creativity demands. In a sample of 77 fourth-graders in the age between 9 and 12 years, we administered a verbal and a figural creativity training, realized in two school lessons over two consecutive days each. As outcome measures, creative potential in both the verbal and the figural domain by means of two well-established divergent thinking tasks was assessed. As additional measures of creative potential, a story completion task and a picture painting task were administered to examine training effects on more school-related types of creative behavior. The verbal training was found to increase both verbal and figural divergent thinking ability, but not creative potential in the story completion and the picture painting task. The figural training yielded significant training effects only regarding the picture painting task. Findings suggest a specific training effect of the figural creativity training, and moreover indicate that the verbal creativity training, rather than stimulating “verbal” creative abilities per se, was more strongly concerned with domain-general creativity processes including ideational fluency, flexibility, and originality that are characteristics of divergent thinking tasks across different domains.
Properties of the first excited state of nonbipartite Heisenberg spin rings

Systematic properties of the first excited state are presented for various ring sizes and spin quantum numbers which are only partly covered by the theorem of Lieb, Schultz and Mattis. For odd ring sizes the first excited energy eigenvalue shows unexpected degeneracy and related shift quantum numbers. As a byproduct the ground state energy as well as the energy of the first excited state of infinite chains are calculated by extrapolating the properties of only a few, finite, antiferromagnetically coupled Heisenberg rings using the powerful Levin sequence acceleration method.
Perron vectors of an irreducible nonnegative interval matrix

As is well known, an irreducible nonnegative matrix possesses a uniquely determined Perron vector. As the main result of this article we give a description of the set of Perron vectors of all the matrices contained in an irreducible nonnegative interval matrix A. This result is then applied to show that there exists a subset A * of A parameterized by n parameters (instead of n 2 ones in the description of A) such that for each A∈ A there exists a matrix A′∈ A * having the same spectral radius and the same Perron vector as A.
An Experimental Study for Inter-User Interference Mitigation in Wireless Body Sensor Networks

Inter-user interference degrades the reliability of data delivery in wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) in dense deployments when multiple users wearing WBSNs are in close proximity to one another. The impact of such interference in realistic WBSN systems is significant but is not well explored. To this end, we investigate and analyze the impact of inter-user interference on packet delivery ratio (PDR) and throughput. We conduct extensive experiments based on the TelosB WBSN platform, considering unslotted carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) with collision avoidance (CA) and slotted CSMA/CA modes in IEEE 802.15. 4 MAC, respectively. In order to mitigate interuser interference, we propose a light-weight hopping approach based on practical WBSN systems and investigate the performance in a realistic environment. Our experimental results show that the unslotted CSMA/CA is only effective in light inter-user interference scenarios. Comparably, the slotted CSMA/CA can provide dramatic performance improvement (2.7 times higher in PDR and 1.7 times higher in throughput on average), when severe inter-user interference occurs in WBSN deployment. In addition, the experimental results validate the effectiveness and correctness of our idea of a hopping approach for inter-user interference mitigation, which is based on slotted CSMA/CA mode and with low complexity.
Do financial frictions amplify fiscal policy? Evidence from business investment stimulus

We estimate the effect of temporary tax incentives on equipment investment using shifts in accelerated depreciation. Analyzing data for over 120,000 firms, we present three findings. First, bonus depreciation raised investment 17.3 percent on average between 2001 and 2004 and 29.5 percent between 2008 and 2010. Second, financially constrained firms respond more than unconstrained firms. Third, firms respond strongly when the policy generates immediate cash flows but not when benefits only come in the future. Implied discount rates are too high to match a frictionless model and cannot be explained entirely by costly finance, unless firms neglect future financial constraints.
CS 224 n Final Project Stock Price Prediction Using News Articles

The basic form of efficient market hypothesis postulates that publicly available information is incorporated into stock prices. The stronger form of the hypothesis asserts that all information are immediately reflected in the market as soon as they become available; whereas the weaker form allows a certain lag period in which the information is digested by the public and stock prices move gradually towards the efficient target. Previous research suggests that there is correlation between news articles and future stock movement, and several methods have been proposed for making prediction on stock market and devising profit-generating trading strategies. In this project, building on previous research by falvi and Elkan [1], Fung et al. [3] and a similar final project from previous year by Timmons and Lee [6], we build two models using Naive Bayes and Maximum Entropy classifiers to predict stock price movement based on archived news articles from the Wall Street Journal and the Reuters Financial corpus, and evaluate their effectiveness.
A 3-10 GHz bandwidth low-noise and low-power amplifier for full-band UWB communications in 0.25- /spl mu/m SiGe BiCMOS technology

We have developed a SiGe HBT low-noise amplifier (LNA) for ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. We reduced the noise figure (NF) over the frequency range from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz (the FCC-specified UWB range) by using a novel LNA structure with an inductor-terminated, common-base input stage in front of a resistive-feedback amplifier. The circuit topology simultaneously enables increased gain for the input stage and wideband noise matching. On-chip measurement using microwave probes has shown that the LNA - fabricated using commercially available 0.25- /spl mu/m SOI SiGe BiCMOS technology - provides a wide 3-dB bandwidth of 14.5 GHz, an S21 of 22 dB, and a low noise figure ranging from 2.7 dB to 3.9 dB, along with low power consumption of 13.2 mW. Deviation of the S21 group delay is kept within 25 ps to ensure faithful signal amplification. The LNA occupies a chip area of 0.49 mm/sup 2/.
Protection from renal ischemia-reperfusion injury by the 2-methylaminochroman U83836E.

BACKGROUND In a prior study the 21-aminosteroid (lazaroid) U74389F provided in vivo protection from oxidative stress when used as a preventive therapy in ischemia-reperfusion injury in the kidney. As the cell membrane is the principal site for lipoperoxidation, in the current study the very lipophilic 2-methylaminochroman U83836E, a recently developed lazaroid, was administered to rats at 3 mg/kg before renal ischemia-reperfusion. In addition to the biochemical parameters, the renal function and the histological appearance were carefully evaluated. METHODS Glutathione, adenine nucleotides and lipid peroxidation products were determined in kidneys reperfused for 2 and 24 hours after 90 minutes of ischemia. Renal function was assessed by plasma creatinine, and renal injury by histological examination. RESULTS Reperfusion-induced glutathione oxidation, expressed as an oxidized-to-total glutathione ratio, was significantly attenuated both after 2 and 24 hours of reperfusion by treatment with U83836E. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was still significantly depleted after 24 hours in the control group, while at the same time treated animals had already recovered to baseline values. Lipid peroxidation products were significantly lower in lazaroid-groups both after 2 and 24 hours of reperfusion. Renal function after 24 hours of reperfusion was notably better in the treated rats. Histological examination confirmed the protective action of the drug. After 24 hours the control group showed large areas of parenchymal hemorrhage and necrosis with dilated tubules and blood vessel thrombosis, while treated animals showed small necrotic areas with a background of mild interstitial inflammatory cells. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that there is a protective effect of U83836E in ischemia-reperfusion injury, in that tissue damage due to oxidative stress is reduced, thus ameliorating renal function impairment.
Comparison of clinical, ultrasonographic, and biochemical differences at the beginning of puberty in healthy girls born either small for gestational age or appropriate for gestational age: preliminary results.

CONTEXT There are limited and controversial data concerning puberty characteristics in girls born small for gestational age (SGA). OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to document clinical, ultrasonographic, and biochemical characteristics at the beginning of puberty in matched healthy girls born either SGA or appropriate for gestational age (AGA) recruited from the community. PATIENTS Inclusion criteria were breast Tanner stage II and a body mass index between the 10th and 95th percentiles. INTERVENTIONS Recruited subjects underwent a complete physical exam, bone age, and ultrasound measurements of the internal genitalia. Hormonal assessment included fasting early morning dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, androstenedione, SHBG, inhibin-B, FSH, LH, estradiol (E2), 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17OH Prog), and testosterone. Thereafter, a GnRH agonist test (leuprolide 500 microg, sc) was performed with FSH and LH at time 3 and 24 h for E2, 17OH Prog, and testosterone. RESULTS Sixty-five girls (35 AGA, 30 SGA) with a mean age of 9.9 +/- 1.03 (7.8-12.5) yr, similar bone age/chronological age (1.02 +/- 0.8 in AGA and 1 +/- 0.76 in SGA), median height of 1.35 +/- 0.06 cm, and similar waist to hip ratio were included. No differences in the presence of pubic hair, axillary hair, apocrine odor, or ultrasound measurements were found. SGA girls had increased baseline E2 as well as stimulated E2 and 17OH Prog. CONCLUSIONS In a preliminary sample of lean, healthy girls recruited from the community born either SGA or AGA, we observed slight hormonal differences at the beginning of puberty. Longitudinal follow-up of this cohort will allow us to understand whether these differences are maintained and have a clinical impact in their pubertal development.