Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systematic Analysis of Crosstalk Noise in Folded-Torus-Based Optical Networks-on-Chip

Photonic devices are widely used in optical networks-on-chip (ONoCs) and suffer from crosstalk noise. The accumulative crosstalk noise in large scale ONoCs diminishes the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), causes severe performance degradation, and constrains the network scalability. For the first time, this paper systematically analyzes and models the worst-case crosstalk noise and SNR in folded-torus-based ONoCs. Formal analytical models for the worst-case crosstalk noise and SNR are presented. The crosstalk noise analysis is hierarchically performed at the basic photonic device level, then at the optical router level, and finally at the network level. We consider a general 5 × 5 optical router model to enable crosstalk noise and SNR analyses in folded-torus-based ONoCs using an arbitrary 5 × 5 optical router. Using the general optical router model, the worst-case SNR link candidates, which restrict the network scalability, are found. Also, we present a novel crosstalk noise and loss analysis platform, called CLAP, which can analyze the crosstalk noise and SNR of arbitrary ONoCs. Case studies of optimized crossbar and Crux optical routers using recent photonic device parameters are presented. Moreover, we compare the worst-case crosstalk noise and SNR in folded-torus-based and mesh-based ONoCs using optimized crossbar and Crux optical routers. The quantitative simulation results show the critical behavior of crosstalk noise in large scale ONoCs. For example, in folded-torus-based ONoCs using the Crux optical router, the noise power exceeds the signal power for network sizes larger than 12 × 12; when the network size is 20 × 20 and the injection signal power equals 0 dBm, the signal power and noise power are -9.4 dBm and -6.1 dBm, respectively.
Piezoelectric and dielectric characterization of corona and contact poled PZT-epoxy-MWCNT bulk composites

Three-phase lead zirconate titanate (PZT, PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3)-epoxy-multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) bulk composites were prepared, where the volume fraction of PZT was held constant at 30%, while the volume fraction of the MWCNTs was varied from 1.0%–10%. The samples were poled using either a parallel plate contact or contactless (corona) poling technique. The piezoelectric strain coefficient (d33), dielectric constant (ε), and dielectric loss tangent (tan δ) of the samples were measured at 110 Hz, and compared as a function of poling technique and volume fraction of MWCNTs. The highest values for dielectric constant and piezoelectric strain coefficients were 465.82 and 18.87 pC/N for MWCNT volume fractions of 10% and 6%, respectively. These values were obtained for samples that were poled using the corona contactless method. The impedance and dielectric spectra of the composites were recorded over a frequency range of 100 Hz–20 MHz. The impedance values observed for parallel-plate contact poled samples are higher than that of corona poled composites. The fractured surface morphology and distribution of the PZT particles and MWCNTs were observed with the aid of electron dispersion spectroscopy and a scanning electron microscope. The surface morphology of the MWCNTs was observed with the aid of a field emission transmission electron microscope.
pTask: A smart prefetching scheme for OS intensive applications

Instruction prefetching is a standard approach to improve the performance of operating system (OS) intensive workloads such as web servers, file servers and database servers. Sophisticated instruction prefetching techniques such as PIF [12] and RDIP [17] record the execution history of a program in dedicated hardware structures and use this information for prefetching if a known execution pattern is repeated. The storage overheads of the additional hardware structures are prohibitively high (64-200 KB per core). This makes it difficult for the deployment of such schemes in real systems. We propose a solution that uses minimal hardware modifications to tackle this problem. We notice that the execution of server applications keeps switching between tasks such as the application, system call handlers, and interrupt handlers. Each task has a distinct instruction footprint, and is separated by a special OS event. We propose a sophisticated technique to capture the instruction stream in the vicinity of such OS events; the captured information is then compressed significantly and is stored in a process's virtual address space. Special OS routines then use this information to prefetch instructions for the OS and the application codes. Using modest hardware support (4 registers per core), we report an increase in instruction throughput of 2-14% (mean: 7%) over state of the art instruction prefetching techniques for a suite of 8 popular OS intensive applications.
Can whole-blood parameters be used in follow-up of children with rheumatic valvular heart disease?

Abstract Objectives The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between red blood cell distribution width, platelet distribution width, and mean platelet volume and the presence and severity of valvular involvement in patients with rheumatic heart disease. Methods Between April, 2012 and December, 2015, 151 patients who were admitted to the Pediatric Cardiology Unit with diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease and 148 healthy children were included to our study. Transthoracic echocardiography for all children was performed, and the values of red blood cell distribution width, platelet distribution width, and mean platelet volume, besides other blood count parameters, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein levels were recorded. Results Red blood cell distribution width, platelet distribution width, mean platelet volume, and C-reactive protein levels were significantly higher in patients with rheumatic heart disease when compared with healthy controls (p<0.01). Red blood cell distribution width was positively correlated with both C-reactive protein (r=0.271, p=0.035) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r=0.308, p=0.006). When single valve involvement was compared with both aortic valve and mitral valve involvement in the study group, red blood cell distribution width and platelet distribution width were higher in patients with double valve involvement; however, this was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion This is the first study in children with rheumatic heart disease that demonstrated significantly increased red blood cell distribution width, platelet distribution width, and mean platelet volume levels, as well as evaluated all three parameters together. Furthermore, red blood cell distribution width values in the chronical period of acute rheumatic fever, due to the positive correlation with the other chronic inflammatory markers, may help make the diagnosis in children.
Multimodal Emotion Recognition Is Resilient to Insufficient Sleep: Results From Cross-Sectional and Experimental Studies

Objectives Insufficient sleep has been associated with impaired recognition of facial emotions. However, previous studies have found inconsistent results, potentially stemming from the type of static picture task used. We therefore examined whether insufficient sleep was associated with decreased emotion recognition ability in two separate studies using a dynamic multimodal task. Methods Study 1 used a cross-sectional design consisting of 291 participants with questionnaire measures assessing sleep duration and self-reported sleep quality for the previous night. Study 2 used an experimental design involving 181 participants where individuals were quasi-randomized into either a sleep-deprivation (N = 90) or a sleep-control (N = 91) condition. All participants from both studies were tested on the same forced-choice multimodal test of emotion recognition to assess the accuracy of emotion categorization. Results Sleep duration, self-reported sleep quality (study 1), and sleep deprivation (study 2) did not predict overall emotion recognition accuracy or speed. Similarly, the responses to each of the twelve emotions tested showed no evidence of impaired recognition ability, apart from one positive association suggesting that greater self-reported sleep quality could predict more accurate recognition of disgust (study 1). Conclusions The studies presented here involve considerably larger samples than previous studies and the results support the null hypotheses. Therefore, we suggest that the ability to accurately categorize the emotions of others is not associated with short-term sleep duration or sleep quality and is resilient to acute periods of insufficient sleep.
Colistin Resistance in Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae

Background Polymyxins including colistin are an important "last-line" treatment for infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKp). Increasing use of colistin has led to resistance to this cationic antimicrobial peptide. Methods A cohort nested within the Consortium on Resistance against Carbapenems in Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRACKLE) was constructed of patients with infection, or colonization with CRKp isolates tested for colistin susceptibility during the study period of December, 2011 to October, 2014. Reference colistin resistance determination as performed by broth macrodilution was compared to results from clinical microbiology laboratories (Etest) and to polymyxin resistance testing. Each patient was included once, at the time of their first colistin-tested CRKp positive culture. Time to 30-day in-hospital all-cause mortality was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazard modeling. Results In 246 patients with CRKp, 13% possessed ColR CRKp. ColR was underestimated by Etest (very major error rate = 35%, major error rate = 0.4%). A variety of rep-PCR strain types were encountered in both the ColS and the ColR groups. Carbapenem resistance was mediated primarily by blaKPC-2 (46%) and blaKPC-3 (50%). ColR was associated with increased hazard for in-hospital mortality (aHR 3.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.73-6.57; P < .001). The plasmid-associated ColR genes, mcr-1 and mcr-2 were not detected in any of the ColR CRKp. Conclusions In this cohort, 13% of patients with CRKp presented with ColR CRKp. The apparent polyclonal nature of the isolates suggests de novo emergence of ColR in this cohort as the primary factor driving ColR. Importantly, mortality was increased in patients with ColR isolates.
Enlight: A Comprehensive Quality and Therapeutic Potential Evaluation Tool for Mobile and Web-Based eHealth Interventions

Background Studies of criteria-based assessment tools have demonstrated the feasibility of objectively evaluating eHealth interventions independent of empirical testing. However, current tools have not included some quality constructs associated with intervention outcome, such as persuasive design, behavior change, or therapeutic alliance. In addition, the generalizability of such tools has not been explicitly examined. Objective The aim is to introduce the development and further analysis of the Enlight suite of measures, developed to incorporate the aforementioned concepts and address generalizability aspects. Methods As a first step, a comprehensive systematic review was performed to identify relevant quality rating criteria in line with the PRISMA statement. These criteria were then categorized to create Enlight. The second step involved testing Enlight on 42 mobile apps and 42 Web-based programs (delivery mediums) targeting modifiable behaviors related to medical illness or mental health (clinical aims). Results A total of 476 criteria from 99 identified sources were used to build Enlight. The rating measures were divided into two sections: quality assessments and checklists. Quality assessments included usability, visual design, user engagement, content, therapeutic persuasiveness, therapeutic alliance, and general subjective evaluation. The checklists included credibility, privacy explanation, basic security, and evidence-based program ranking. The quality constructs exhibited excellent interrater reliability (intraclass correlations=.77-.98, median .91) and internal consistency (Cronbach alphas=.83-.90, median .88), with similar results when separated into delivery mediums or clinical aims. Conditional probability analysis revealed that 100% of the programs that received a score of fair or above (≥3.0) in therapeutic persuasiveness or therapeutic alliance received the same range of scores in user engagement and content—a pattern that did not appear in the opposite direction. Preliminary concurrent validity analysis pointed to positive correlations of combined quality scores with selected variables. The combined score that did not include therapeutic persuasiveness and therapeutic alliance descriptively underperformed the other combined scores. Conclusions This paper provides empirical evidence supporting the importance of persuasive design and therapeutic alliance within the context of a program’s evaluation. Reliability metrics and preliminary concurrent validity analysis indicate the potential of Enlight in examining eHealth programs regardless of delivery mediums and clinical aims.
Multiyear surveillance of influenza A virus in wild birds in Portugal

This report presents the results of a multiyear (2005 to 2009) study of avian influenza virus (AIV) occurrence in wild birds in Portugal. A total of 5691 samples from wild birds belonging to 13 different orders were examined. Ninety-three samples tested positive for AIV by matrix reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, giving a total prevalence of 1.63%. Twenty-one viruses were successfully cultured in embryonated chicken eggs, which represent a rate of viral infectivity of 22.6% in the samples. Nine subtypes of haemagglutinin (H1, H3 to H7, H9 to H11) and eight subtypes of neuraminidase (N1 to N4, N6 to N9) were identified in 20 different combinations. The most prevalent subtypes of haemagglutinin detected were H5, H1 and H4, while for neuraminidase subtypes N2 and N6 were the most common. The subtype combinations H4N6 and H1N1 were predominant (15.1%). All H5 and H7 viruses detected in the present study were low pathogenic for poultry as determined by the sequence of amino acids at the cleavage site of haemagglutinin. The full-length nucleotide sequences of five H5, one H7 and five N3 genes were analysed phylogenetically. The Bayesian analysis revealed that all but one of the strains analysed were closely related to isolates detected in the same period in North and Central European countries. Three H5N3 isolates, all from 2007, formed a separate cluster in both H5 and N3 phylogenetic trees. This study provides evidence that various subtypes of AIV, including subtypes H5 and H7, circulate in Portugal, which may pose a risk to industrial poultry.
Commanding a Brain-Controlled Wheelchair Using Steady-State Somatosensory Evoked Potentials

In this work, we propose a novel brain-controlled wheelchair, one of the major applications of brain–machine interfaces (BMIs), that allows an individual with mobility impairments to perform daily living activities independently. Specifically, we propose to use a steady-state somatosensory evoked potential (SSSEP) paradigm, which elicits brain responses to tactile stimulation of specific frequencies, for a user’s intention to control a wheelchair. In our system, a user had three possible commands by concentrating on one of three vibration stimuli, which were attached to the left-hand, right-hand, and right-foot, to selectively control the wheelchair. The three stimuli were associated with three wheelchair commands: turn-left, turn-right, and move-forward. From a machine learning perspective, we also devise a novel feature representation by combining spatial and spectral characteristics of brain signals. In order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed SSSEP-based system, we considered two different tasks: 1) a simple obstacle-avoidance task within a limited time and; 2) a driving task along the predefined trajectory of about 40 m length, where there were a narrow pathway, a door, and obstacles. In both experiments, we recruited 12 subjects and compared the average time of motor imagery (MI) and SSSEP-based controls to complete the task. With the SSSEP-based control, all subjects successfully completed the task without making any collision while four subjects failed it with MI-based control. It is also noteworthy that in terms of the average time to complete the task, the SSSEP-based control outperformed the MI-based control. In the other more challenging task, all subjects successfully reached the target location.
TreeQN and ATreeC: Differentiable Tree-Structured Models for Deep Reinforcement Learning

Combining deep model-free reinforcement learning with on-line planning is a promising approach to building on the successes of deep RL. On-line planning with look-ahead trees has proven successful in environments where transition models are known a priori. However, in complex environments where transition models need to be learned from data, the deficiencies of learned models have limited their utility for planning. To address these challenges, we propose TreeQN, a differentiable, recursive, tree-structured model that serves as a drop-in replacement for any value function network in deep RL with discrete actions. TreeQN dynamically constructs a tree by recursively applying a transition model in a learned abstract state space and then aggregating predicted rewards and state-values using a tree backup to estimate Q-values. We also propose ATreeC, an actor-critic variant that augments TreeQN with a softmax layer to form a stochastic policy network. Both approaches are trained end-to-end, such that the learned model is optimised for its actual use in the tree. We show that TreeQN and ATreeC outperform n-step DQN and A2C on a box-pushing task, as well as n-step DQN and value prediction networks (Oh et al. 2017) on multiple Atari games. Furthermore, we present ablation studies that demonstrate the effect of different auxiliary losses on learning transition models.
A meta-analysis of positive and negative age stereotype priming effects on behavior among older adults.

OBJECTIVE Evidence has shown that age stereotypes influence several behavioral outcomes in later life via stereotype valence-outcome assimilation; however, a direct comparison of positive versus negative age stereotyping effects has not yet been made. METHODS PsycINFO and Pubmed were used to generate a list of articles (n = 137), of which seven were applicable. From these articles, means, standard errors (SEs), and other relevant data were extracted for 52 dependent measures: 27 involved negative age primes and 25 involved positive age primes. Independent samples analysis of variance tests were used to explore the influence of prime valence and awareness on behavior compared with a neutral referent. RESULTS A significant main effect for prime valence was found such that negative age priming elicited a greater effect on behavior than did positive age priming (F(1,48) = 4.32, p = . 04). In fact, the effects from negative age priming were almost three times larger than those of positive priming when compared with a neutral baseline. This effect was not influenced by prime awareness, discipline of study, study design, or research group. DISCUSSION Findings show that negative age stereotyping has a much stronger influence on important behavioral outcomes among older adults than does positive age stereotyping.
The effect of ventricular pre-excitation on ventricular wall motion and left ventricular systolic function

Aims The relationship between ventricular pre-excitation and left ventricular dysfunction has been described in the absence of sustained supraventricular tachycardia in a series of case reports. There have been no systematic studies about the effect of ventricular pre-excitation with different accessory pathway locations on ventricular wall motion and left ventricular (LV) systolic function. Methods and results Thirty patients were selected for each of 4 groups, including those with right septal pathways (Group 1), right free-wall pathways (Group 2), left free-wall pathways (Group 3), and non-pre-excited patients undergoing electrophysiological evaluation for supraventricular tachycardia. We analysed the influence of the location of the accessory pathway on ventricular wall motion, systolic function, ventricular synchronism, and LV size. Right-sided accessory pathways were associated with abnormal motion of the interventricular septum, LV dyssynchrony, decreased LV systolic function, and increased LV diameter. Eighteen of 60 cases (30.0%) with right-sided accessory pathways had LV dyssynchrony, and these patients had lower LV ejection fraction and higher LV end-diastolic diameter. Conclusion Right-sided accessory pathways may impair ventricular wall motion and LV systolic function, resulting in decreased LV ejection fraction and increased LV end-diastolic diameter. These effects occurred in patients with LV dyssynchrony. These effects, including LV dyssynchrony, resolved after radiofrequency ablation. A right-sided free-wall accessory pathway may have more detrimental effects than a septal accessory pathway. Left ventricular dyssynchrony and abnormal interventricular septal motion appeared to be responsible for the pathogenesis of LV dysfunction and remodelling.
EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF ANTI- STRIPPING ADDITIVES ON POROUS ASPHALT MIXTURES

The open structure of porous asphalt mix influences its strength and durability against air, water and clogging materials. These factors cause loss of adhesion between binder-aggregate interface and loss of cohesion within the binder film. This could lead to stripping problem which contribute to premature failures as well as deterioration in the performance and service life of porous asphalt. Therefore, this study is aimed to evaluate the potential of diatomite as anti-stripping additives in porous asphalt and compared with hydrated lime and Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) test and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy analysis (EDX) were conducted to investigate the microstructure and chemical composition of the anti-stripping additives. A number of gyratory compacted samples of porous asphalt mixture with Malaysian gradation were prepared. Each sample was incorporated with 2% of anti-stripping additives as filler then mixed with polymer modified bitumen of PG76. The samples were measured for air voids content, permeability rate, resilient modulus and abrasion loss. The results indicate that samples prepared with hydrated lime show higher permeability rate and lower abrasion loss compared to samples with OPC and diatomite. However, the samples prepared with diatomite show enhanced resilient modulus compared to those with hydrated lime and OPC.