Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Algorithmic Optimization of BDDs and Performance Evaluation for Multi-level Logic Circuits with Area and Power Trade-offs

Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) can be graphically manipulated to reduce the number of nodes and hence the area. In this context, ordering of BDDs play a major role. Most of the algorithms for input variable ordering of OBDD focus primarily on area minimization. However, suitable input variable ordering helps in minimizing the power consumption also. In this particular work, we have proposed two algorithms namely, a genetic algorithm based technique and a branch and bound algorithm to find an optimal input variable order. Of course, the node reordering is taken care of by the standard BDD package buddy-2.4. Moreover, we have evaluated the performances of the proposed algorithms by running an exhaustive search program. Experi-mental results show a substantial saving in area and power. We have also compared our techniques with other state-of-art techniques of variable ordering for OBDDs and found to give superior results.
Error concealment aware streaming video system over packet-based mobile networks

A compressed video bitstream is extremely sensitive to errors when it is transmitted via networks with bursty packet loss such as 3G and mobile WiMAX. Error concealment techniques have been used to improve the recovered picture quality in cases in which parts of the coded picture are not available at the decoder for reconstruction. However, most conventional error concealment methods show low image reconstruction performance due to unavailable motion information about image blocks during burst packet loss, and require high energy consumption to find the best error concealment method in the receiver. The proposed error concealment aware error resilient streaming video system has an intelligent error concealment selector. The method recommends the best error concealment method per macroblock, by additionally transmitting its error concealment selection codes to the decoder. The streaming client conceals the corrupted MB via the chosen error concealment method, with low energy consumption, even when the frame loss is bursty. The experimental results show that the system is highly effective, in terms of the video quality and energy consumption, at the cost of a slight overhead for transmitted bit streams.
Use-based register caching with decoupled indexing

Wide, deep pipelines need many physical registers to hold the results of in-flight instructions. Simultaneously, high clock frequencies prohibit using large register files and bypass networks without a significant performance penalty. Previously proposed techniques using register caching to reduce this penalty suffer from several problems including poor insertion and replacement decisions and the need for a fully-associative cache for good performance. We present novel mechanisms for managing and indexing register caches that address these problems using knowledge of the number of consumers of each register value. The insertion policy reduces pollution by not caching a register value when all of its predicted consumers are satisfied by the bypass network. The replacement policy selects register cache entries with the fewest remaining uses (often zero), lowering the miss rate. We also introduce a new, general method of mapping physical registers to register cache sets that improves the performance of set-associative cache organizations by reducing conflicts. Our results indicate that a 64-entry, two-way set associative cache using these techniques outperforms multi-cycle monolithic register files and previously proposed hierarchical register files.
The Magnetic Field Structure of Mercury's Magnetotail

In this study, we use the magnetic field data measured by MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging from 2011 to 2015 to investigate the average magnetic field morphology of Mercury's magnetotail in the down tail 0–3 RM (RM = 2,440 km, Mercury's radius). It is found that Mercury has a terrestrial‐like magnetotail; the magnetic field structure beyond 1.5 RM down tail is stretched significantly with typical lobe field 50 nT. A cross‐tail current sheet separating the antiparallel field lines of lobes is present in the equatorial plane. The magnetotail width in north‐south direction is about 5 RM, while the transverse width is about 4 RM. Thus, the magnetotail shows elongation along the north‐south direction. At the cross‐tail current sheet center, the normal component of magnetic field (10–20 nT) is much larger than the cross‐tail component. The lobe‐field‐aligned component of magnetic field over current sheet can be well fitted by Harris sheet model. The curvature radius of field lines at sheet center usually reaches a minimum around midnight (100–200 km) with stronger current density (40–50 nA/m2), while the curvature radius increases toward both flanks (400–600 km) with the decreased current density (about 20 nA/m2). The half‐thickness of current sheet around midnight is about 0.25 RM or 600 km, and the inner edge of current sheet is located at the down tail about 1.5 RM. Our results about the field structure in the near Mercury's tail show an evident dawn‐dusk asymmetry as that found in the Earth's magnetotail, but reasons should be different. Possible reasons are discussed.
A Novel Technique to Enhance Low Resolution CT and Magnetic Resonance Images in Cloud

Image analysis plays a crucial role in the field of medicine, as the analysis guides the radiologist towards perfect diagnosis and treatment planning. This paper presents a novel method to enhance computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) images. The proposed algorithm uses three techniques, namely, Domain Transform, Shape-adaptive edge enhancement, and Adaptive histogram equalization to enhance low resolution images. Visually, the proposed method produces better or comparable enhanced images than several state-of-the-art methods. In addition, we also test the performance of the proposed method using EME and EMEE quality measures.
Aspectual Separation of Feature Dependencies for Flexible Feature Composition

Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) provides effective mechanisms for improving the modularity of feature implementations. However, as features in general are not independent of each other, changes in the implementation of one feature may cause changes to or side effects in the implementation of other features.We address this challenge by separating feature dependencies from feature implementations using AOP techniques. Specifically, this paper contributes by providing aspect-oriented implementation patterns for feature dependencies (e.g. modification dependency and activation dependency). With the resulting clear separation of dependencies, this approach makes each feature implementation easier to understand and reuse. A product line of scientific calculator applications is used to demonstrate and evaluate the proposed approach.
Outcome of Mitral Valve Repair or Replacement: A Comparison by Propensity Score Analysis

Background—There are no randomized trials comparing outcomes after mitral valve (MV) repair and replacement. Propensity scoring is a powerful tool that has the potential to reduce selection bias in nonrandomized studies. Methods—From the BC Cardiac Registries, 2 060 patients presented for MV surgery, with or without CABG between 1991 and 2000. We then identified 322 MV repairs who were then matched by propensity score to an equal number of MV replacement patients. We compared survival and freedom from re-operation outcomes using Cox proportional hazards model analysis. Multivariable analysis was then used to compare outcomes in 358 MV repair patients with 352 MV replacement patients who had undergone chordal sparing surgery. Results—The comparison groups generated using propensity scores were well balanced with respect to all collected baseline risk factors. Median follow-up time was 3.4 years. Patients undergoing MV repair had significantly improved survival (RR 0.46; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.75) but a trend toward more re-operations (RR 2.11; 95% CI, 1.00 to 4.47) compared with patients undergoing replacement. Mitral valve repair patients still had better survival (RR 0.52; 95% CI, 0.32 to 0.85) compared with MV replacement patients who had undergone chordal sparing surgery. Conclusion—We used propensity score methods to reduce selection bias in a population-based cohort of patients undergoing MV repair/replacement. Repair was associated with better survival, but a trend to increased re-operation.
Comprehensive Biothreat Cluster Identification by PCR/Electrospray-Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Technology for comprehensive identification of biothreats in environmental and clinical specimens is needed to protect citizens in the case of a biological attack. This is a challenge because there are dozens of bacterial and viral species that might be used in a biological attack and many have closely related near-neighbor organisms that are harmless. The biothreat agent, along with its near neighbors, can be thought of as a biothreat cluster or a biocluster for short. The ability to comprehensively detect the important biothreat clusters with resolution sufficient to distinguish the near neighbors with an extremely low false positive rate is required. A technological solution to this problem can be achieved by coupling biothreat group-specific PCR with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (PCR/ESI-MS). The biothreat assay described here detects ten bacterial and four viral biothreat clusters on the NIAID priority pathogen and HHS/USDA select agent lists. Detection of each of the biothreat clusters was validated by analysis of a broad collection of biothreat organisms and near neighbors prepared by spiking biothreat nucleic acids into nucleic acids extracted from filtered environmental air. Analytical experiments were carried out to determine breadth of coverage, limits of detection, linearity, sensitivity, and specificity. Further, the assay breadth was demonstrated by testing a diverse collection of organisms from each biothreat cluster. The biothreat assay as configured was able to detect all the target organism clusters and did not misidentify any of the near-neighbor organisms as threats. Coupling biothreat cluster-specific PCR to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry simultaneously provides the breadth of coverage, discrimination of near neighbors, and an extremely low false positive rate due to the requirement that an amplicon with a precise base composition of a biothreat agent be detected by mass spectrometry.
Measuring and decomposing oral health inequalities in an UK population

Objectives With health inequalities high on the policy agenda, this study measures oral health inequalities in the UK. Methods We compare an objective clinical measure of oral health (number of natural teeth) with a self-reported measure of the impact of oral health (the Oral Health Impact Profile, OHIP) to establish whether the type of measure affects the scale of inequality measured. Gini coefficients and Concentration Indices (CIs) are calculated with subsequent decompositions using data from the 1998 UK Adult Dental Health Survey. Because the information on OHIP is only available on dentate individuals, analyses on the number of natural teeth are conducted for two samples – the entire sample and the sample with dentate individuals only, the latter to allow direct comparison with OHIP. Results We find considerable overall pure oral health inequalities (number of teeth: Gini = 0.68 (including edentate), Gini = 0.40 (excluding edentate); OHIP: Gini = 0.33) and income-related inequalities for both measures (number of teeth: CI = 0.35 (including edentate), CI = 0.15 (excluding edentate); OHIP: CI = 0.03), and the CI is generally higher for the number of teeth than for OHIP. There are differences across age groups, with CI increasing with age for the number of teeth (excluding edentate: 16–30 years: CI = 0.01, 65 + years: CI = 0.11; including edentate: 16–30 years: CI = 0.01, 65 + years: CI = 0.19). However, inequalities for OHIP were highest in the youngest age group (CI = 0.05). Number of teeth reflects the accumulation of damage over a lifetime, while OHIP records more immediate concerns. Conclusions There are considerable pure oral health inequalities and income-related oral health inequalities in the UK. Using sophisticated methods to measure oral health inequality, we have been able to compare inequality in oral health with inequality in general health. The results provide a benchmark for future comparisons but also indicate that the type of health measure may be of considerable significance in how we think about and measure oral health inequalities.
The Gemini Deep Deep Survey: VIII. When Did Early-type Galaxies Form?

We have used the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (Ford et al. 2003) to measure the cumulative mass density in morphologically-selected early-type galaxies over the redshift range 0.8<z<1.7. Our imaging data set covers four well-separated sight-lines, and is roughly intermediate (in terms of both depth and area) between the GOODS/GEMS imaging data, and the images obtained in the Hubble Deep Field campaigns. Our images contain 144 galaxies with ultra-deep spectroscopy obtained as part of the Gemini Deep Deep Survey. These images have been analyzed using a new purpose-written morphological analysis code which improves the reliability of morphological classifications by adopting a 'quasi-Petrosian' image thresholding technique. We find that at z \~ 1 about 80% of the stars living in the most massive galaxies reside in early-type systems. This fraction is similar to that seen in the local Universe. However, we detect very rapid evolution in this fraction over the range 0.8<z<1.7, suggesting that over this redshift range the strong morphology-mass relationship seen in the nearby Universe is beginning to fall into place. By comparing our images to published spectroscopic classifications, we show that little ambiguity exists in connecting spectral classes to morphological classes for spectroscopically quiescent systems. However, the mass density function of early-type galaxies is evolving more rapidly than that of spectroscopically quiescent systems, which we take as further evidence that we are witnessing the formation of massive early-type galaxies over the 0.8<z<1.7 redshift range.
Formal Verification of Smart Contracts: Short Paper

Ethereum is a framework for cryptocurrencies which uses blockchain technology to provide an open global computing platform, called the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). EVM executes bytecode on a simple stack machine. Programmers do not usually write EVM code; instead, they can program in a JavaScript-like language, called Solidity, that compiles to bytecode. Since the main purpose of EVM is to execute smart contracts that manage and transfer digital assets (called Ether), security is of paramount importance. However, writing secure smart contracts can be extremely difficult: due to the openness of Ethereum, both programs and pseudonymous users can call into the public methods of other programs, leading to potentially dangerous compositions of trusted and untrusted code. This risk was recently illustrated by an attack on TheDAO contract that exploited subtle details of the EVM semantics to transfer roughly $50M worth of Ether into the control of an attacker. In this paper, we outline a framework to analyze and verify both the runtime safety and the functional correctness of Ethereum contracts by translation to F*, a functional programming language aimed at program verification.
Epidemiology of Drug Use and HIV-Related Risk Behaviors among People Who Inject Drugs in Mwanza, Tanzania

Heroin trafficking and consumption has increased steadily over the past decade in Tanzania, but limited information regarding HIV and drug use exists for the city of Mwanza. Our study investigates the epidemiology of drug use, and HIV risk behaviors among drug users in the northwestern city of Mwanza. Using a combination of targeted sampling and participant referral, we recruited 480 participants in Mwanza between June and August 2014. The sample was 92% male. Seventy-nine (16.4%) participants reported injecting heroin, while 434 (90.4%) reported smoking heroin. Unstable housing and cohabitation status were the only socioeconomic characteristics significantly associated with heroin injection. More than half of heroin injectors left syringes in common locations, and half reported sharing needles and syringes. Other risk behaviors such as lack of condom use during sex, and the use of illicit drugs during sex was widely reported as well. Among the study sample, there was poor awareness of health risks posed by needle/syringe sharing and drug use. Our results show that heroin use and HIV risk related behaviors are pressing problems that should not be ignored in Mwanza. Harm reduction programs are urgently needed in this population.
Complex mitochondrial DNA rearrangements in individual cells from patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis

Abstract Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) rearrangements are an important cause of mitochondrial disease and age related mitochondrial dysfunction in tissues including brain and skeletal muscle. It is known that different mtDNA deletions accumulate in single cells, but the detailed nature of these rearrangements is still unknown. To evaluate this we used a complementary set of sensitive assays to explore the mtDNA rearrangements in individual cells from patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis, a late-onset inflammatory myopathy with prominent mitochondrial changes. We identified large-scale mtDNA deletions in individual muscle fibres with 20% of cytochrome c oxidase-deficient myofibres accumulating two or more mtDNA deletions. The majority of deletions removed only the major arc but ∼10% of all deletions extended into the minor arc removing the origin of light strand replication (OL) and a variable number of genes. Some mtDNA molecules contained two deletion sites. Additionally, we found evidence of mitochondrial genome duplications allowing replication and clonal expansion of these complex rearranged molecules. The extended spectrum of mtDNA rearrangements in single cells provides insight into the process of clonal expansion which is fundamental to our understanding of the role of mtDNA mutations in ageing and disease.
Development and Characterization of a Genotype 4 Hepatitis E Virus Cell Culture System Using a HE-JF5/15F Strain Recovered from a Fulminant Hepatitis Patient

ABSTRACT We developed an efficient cell culture system for genotype 4 hepatitis E virus using the HE-JF5/15F strain recovered from a fulminant hepatitis patient. The sixth-passage virus in the culture supernatant reached 1.5 × 108 copies/ml at 10 days postinoculation and possessed 10 nucleotide mutations with four amino acid changes.
Glacier recession in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia in 1990–2016

ABSTRACT Relatively little is known about glaciers in the continental climates of North Asia and even less is known about the glaciers of the Mongolian Altai. In an attempt to fill this knowledge gap, we present a new satellite-derived glacier inventory for the Altai Mountains of Mongolia, using the recently launched Landat-8 OLI and Sentinel-2A MSI sensors to monitor glacier change from 1990 to 2016. We examine changes in climatic trends and glacier topomorphological parameters in conjunction with glacier fluctuations to determine governing controls over glacier recession in the Altai Mountains. Our glacier mapping results produced 627 debris-free glaciers with an area of 334.0 ± 42.3 km2 as of 2016. These data were made available for download through the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initiative. A subsample of 206 glaciers that were mapped in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2016 revealed that from 1990 to 2016, glacier area reduced by 43% at 6.4 ± 0.4 km2 yr−1. Glacier recession was greatest from 1990 to 2000 at a rate of 10.9 ± 0.8 km2 yr−1, followed by 2010–2016 at 4.4 ± 0.3 km2 yr−1. Rates of glacier recession were significantly correlated with intrinsic glacier parameters, including mean, minimum and range elevations, mean slope and aspect. Furthermore, climate records indicated the warmest summer temperatures occurred during periods of high glacier recession.
Autochthonous Mouse Melanoma and Mammary Tumors do not Express the Pluripotency Genes Oct4 and Nanog

The homeodomain transcription factors Oct4 and Nanog maintain pluripotency and self-renewal in embryonic stem cells. In somatic cells, inappropriate expression of these genes has been associated with loss of differentiation, malignant transformation, and the acquisition of cancer stem cell-like properties. As cancer stem cells have been suggested to underlie the growth and malignancy of tumors, Oct4 and Nanog may represent therapeutic targets. Their expression could also act as a marker of the cancer stem cell population, permitting its isolation and characterisation. Nevertheless, the existence of multiple pseudogenes and isoforms of these genes has complicated the interpretation of the data that supports a role for Oct4 and Nanog in the cancer context. Here we addressed this issue using knockin mice in which IRES elements are used to allow GFP expression under the control of the endogenous Oct4 or Nanog promoters, while maintaining correct expression of the Oct4 or Nanog gene. These mice were crossed with MT/ret mice that develop melanomas, and with MMTV-PyMT mice and MMTV-Neu mice that develop mammary adenocarcinomas. We analysed the tumors that developed in these compound mice for GFP expression. In this way we could assess transcription of Oct4 and Nanog in autochthonous cancers without the complication of factors such as pseudogene expression, alternative splicing and antibody specificity. Both the Oct4 and Nanog knockin tumor-bearing mice expressed GFP in blastocysts and testes as expected. However, we could find no evidence for expression of the GFP reporter above background levels in tumors using FACS, qPCR and immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, cultivation of Oct4GFP and NanogGFP MMTV-PyMT tumor cells either adherently or as spheroids had no effect on the expression of the GFP reporter. Together these data suggest that Oct4 and Nanog are not expressed in tumor cells that arise in the autochthonous cancer models studied here.