Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wire Aware Cache Architecture

Technology scaling has resulted in a steady increase in transistor speed. However, unlike transistors, global wires that span across the chip show a reverse trend of getting slower with shrinking process. Modern processors are severely constrained by wire delay and the widening gap between transistors and wires will only exacerbate the problem. Following the traditional design approach of adopting a single design point for all global wires will be suboptimal in terms of both power and performance. VLSI techniques allow several wire implementations with varying latency, power, and bandwidth properties. The dissertation advocates exposing wire properties to architects and demonstrates that prudent management of wires at the microarchitectural level can lead to significant improvement in power and delay characteristics of future communication bound processors. A heterogeneous interconnect (composed of wires with different latency, bandwidth, and power characteristics) is proposed that leverages varying latency and bandwidth needs of on-chip global messages to alleviate interconnect overhead. The effect of interconnect is more pronounced in large on-chip structures. Since on-chip caches occupy more than 50% of the microprocessor real estate and up to 80% of their access time is attributed to the wire delay, the dissertation focuses on the prudent management of wires for cache accesses. This work demonstrates that a cache design that pays special attention to network parameters and wire properties can be very different from traditional cache models and performs significantly better. The dissertation studies every aspect of communication happening in on-chip caches and proposes techniques that leverage heterogeneous interconnect to reduce their overhead. Finally, in an effort to make the interconnect model explicit to architects and impact future research, a state-of-the-art wire and router modeling is incorporated into a publicly available CACTI tool along with novel methodologies to accurately estimate the delay, power, and area of large caches with uniform and nonuniform access times.
Structural consistency between a system model and its implementation: a design science study in industry

During the development of complex systems, several different development artifacts are created and maintained. It is important to gain insight into the degree to which these artifacts are consistent, but this is challenging, especially in complex industrial settings. In this study, we aim to help engineers in their consistency management efforts by creating consistency checks between a system model and the corresponding code. To that end, we performed a design science study in which we develop a consistency checking tool and integrate it into an existing industrial system and software engineering setting. We evaluated the developed tool through a case study in which we measure the consistency before and after its introduction and evaluate the experiences of engineers using it. Our results show that the introduction of lightweight consistency checks into the continuous integration pipeline is beneficial for consistency management in the studied setting. Moreover, we discuss the practical challenges of introducing consistency checks in an industrial setting and find that the majority is of a nontechnical nature.
The Design Activity Framework: Investigating the Data Visualization Design Process

This dissertation establishes a new visualization design process model devised to guide visualization designers in building more effective and useful visualization systems and tools. The novelty of this framework includes its flexibility for iteration, actionability for guiding visualization designers with concrete steps, concise yet methodical definitions, and connections to other visualization design models commonly used in the field of data visualization. In summary, the design activity framework breaks down the visualization design process into a series of four design activities: understand, ideate, make, and deploy. For each activity, the framework prescribes a descriptive motivation, list of design methods, and expected visualization artifacts. To elucidate the framework, two case studies for visualization design illustrate these concepts, methods, and artifacts in real-world projects in the field of cybersecurity. For example, these projects employ user-centered design methods, such as personas and data sketches, which emphasize our teams’ motivations and visualization artifacts with respect to the design activity framework. These case studies also serve as examples for novice visualization designers, and we hypothesized that the framework could serve as a pedagogical tool for teaching and guiding novices through their own design process to create a visualization tool. To externally evaluate the efficacy of this framework, we created worksheets for each design activity, outlining a series of concrete, tangible steps for novices. In order to validate the design worksheets, we conducted 13 student observations over the course of two months, received 32 online survey responses, and performed a qualitative analysis of 11 in-depth interviews. Students found the worksheets both useful and effective for framing the visualization design process. Next, by applying the design activity framework to technique-driven and evaluation-based research projects, we brainstormed possible extensions to the design model. Lastly, we examined implications of the design activity framework and present future work in this space. The visualization community is challenged to consider on how to more effectively describe, capture, and communicate the complex, iterative nature of data visualization design throughout research, design, development, and deployment of visualization systems and tools.
Low Overhead Data Race Detection Techniques for Large OpenMP Applications

High Performance Computing (HPC) on-node parallelism is of extreme importance to guarantee and maintain scalability across large clusters of hundreds of thousands of multicore nodes. HPC programming is dominated by the hybrid model “MPI + X”, with MPI to exploit the parallelism across the nodes, and “X” as some shared memory parallel programming model to accomplish multicore parallelism across CPUs or GPUs. OpenMP has become the “X” standard de-facto in HPC to exploit the multicore architectures of modern CPUs. Data races are one of the most common and insidious of concurrent errors in shared memory programming models and OpenMP programs are not immune to them. The OpenMP-provided ease of use to parallelizing programs can often make it error-prone to data races which become hard to find in large applications with thousands lines of code. Unfortunately, prior tools are unable to impact practice owing to their poor coverage or poor scalability. In this work, we develop several new approaches for low overhead data race detection. Our approaches aim to guarantee high precision and accuracy of race checking while maintaining a low runtime and memory overhead. We present two race checkers for C/C++ OpenMP programs that target two different classes of programs. The first, ARCHER, is fast but requires large amount of memory, so it ideally targets applications that require only a small portion of the available on-node memory. On the other hand, SWORD strikes a balance between fast zero memory overhead data collection followed by offline analysis that can take a long time, but it often report most races quickly. Given that race checking was impossible for large OpenMP applications, our contributions are the best available advances in what is known to be a difficult NP-complete problem. We performed an extensive evaluation of the tools on existing OpenMP programs and HPC benchmarks. Results show that both tools guarantee to identify all the races of a program in a given run without reporting any false alarms. The tools are user-friendly, hence serve as an important instrument for the daily work of programmers to help them identify data races early during development and production testing. Furthermore, our demonstrated success on real-world applications puts these tools on the top list of debugging tools for scientists at large.
Human Facial Illustrations: Creation and Evaluation

This dissertation presents: a method for creating black-and-white illustrations and caricatures of human faces from source photographs; and series of perceptual studies aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the resulting images relative to photographs. The illustrations are generated by superimposing two images: a thresholded image of the output of a computational brightness model, and a thresholded luminance image. In addition, a new interactive technique is demonstrated for deforming images of faces to create caricatures that highlight and exaggerate representative facial features. The photographs and black-and-white illustrations are evaluated via psychophysical studies to assess speed and accuracy in learning and recognition tasks. These studies show that the facial illustrations and caricatures generated using these techniques are as effective as photographs in the recognition tasks. In the learning studies, tasks involving illustrations or caricatures were performed significantly faster than the same tasks were performed with photographs. The recognition invariance effect is used as an experimental probe in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment. The results of this experiment indicate that viewers may process illustrations differently from photographs. To Amy, More than the Sun, the Moon, and all the Stars.
MORPHOMETRIC EVALUATION OF THE EXTERNAL EAR IN RELATION TO ATTACHMENT PATTERN: A STUDY OF ADULT NIGERIANS RESIDENT IN THE SOUTHERN REGION

There are two configurations of earlobe in humans; attached and unattached earlobe. This study was done to evaluate the morphology of the external ear in relation to attachment pattern and to determine the association between sex and morphology. A total of 450 subjects within the age of 18-45 resident the south-southern region of Nigeria was randomly selected for the study. Parameters measured from subjects who gave their consent include: Total auricular height (TAH), Total auricular width (TAW), Depth of inter-tragal notch (DIN), Auricular Projection (AP), Lobular width (LW), Lobular height (LH), Conchal width (CW), Conchal length (CL), Tragus to outer canthus angle (TCA) for both auricle with attached and unattached earlobe. The mean values of the measured parameters for both sexes was not significant. However, AP, DIN, TCA for males and females with attached earlobe was significant. All measured parameter had higher mean values for males compared to females except LH that was higher in females. Unattached earlobe was predominant in the study especially in females compared to males. Auricle with unattached earlobes are positioned closer to the outer canthus at tragal level than those with attached earlobes. It has therefore established that attachment pattern influences dimensions. A higher proportion of earlobes were unattached compared to the attached. Attachment pattern has no significant effect on the onset of loss of elasticity. Both types of earlobe are only affected either by nature or cultural practices. These findings will be useful in reconstructive surgery, forensic investigations and acoustic products design.
Evaluation of the reliability of nondestructive ultrasonic inspection methods for the detection and the characterization of defects in hydroelectric turbine welded joints

Due to the competitive environment of the industrial world, manufacturers continuously try to optimize their production processes and to benefit their facilities as efficiently as possible. Their efforts concentrate on maximizing the overall effectiveness of production equipment and their service life. As an example, in the electricity generation field, the growing need for electricity pushes producers to extend the use of their production facility and to avoid unnecessary downtime due to premature failures. In hydroelectric power plants, where turbine runners spin under cyclically varying loads, the fatigue phenomenon is one of the main degradation processes limiting the service life of generation equipment. Therefore, the use of fracture mechanics based models to estimate the fatigue life of this equipment is increasingly growing. Since unplanned production halts due to premature failure or unnecessary replacement of major production parts is fairly costly in terms of time and money, it is essential to more precisely specify their estimated fatigue life. In our case of interest, the life of a part is based on damage tolerance approach in which a fraction of the number of cycles that, based on fracture mechanics, are required to grow a crack from an initial size determined by inspection (or by the detection threshold) to failure. Accordingly, the dimension of existing flaws in the structure is one of the main inputs of these models. This input is generally characterized using the results of nondestructive testing (NDT) methods which, therefore, should be reliable in order to have a factual picture of the integrity of components. In this context, it is crucial to have detailed knowledge on the commonly occurring flaws as well as on the inspected material properties because they impact NDT efficiency and reliability. In the proposed research, we will first try to thoroughly study the acoustic properties of the most frequently used materials in turbine runners. Indeed, ultrasonic testing is the most widely used NDT method for runner inspection for internal flaws. In the second step, the effect of heat treatment on the acoustic properties of martensitic stainless steel, one of the most extensively used steel grades for runner manufacturing, is assessed. Finally, an evaluation of the characteristics of flaws commonly detected in the welded joints of runners is carried out. The outcome of this research could be employed for studying the probability of occurrence (POO) and the probability of detection (POD) of welding flaws while inspecting turbine runner joints.
Lie Group Invariance Properties of Radiation Hydrodynamics Equations

The Lie group invariance properties of the one‐dimensional radiation hydrodynamic equations with the equilibrium diffusion approximation, a local thermodynamical equilibrium assumption, and an arbitrary material equation of state are derived. These properties are used systematically to generate similarity solutions of these equations for a given form of the equation of state. A comprehensive list of allowed similarity solutions for a perfect gas is presented. Several special cases that have been found previously by other authors appear in the list. Many other cases not reported previously are also presented. An example numerical solution is given for a piston‐driven shock with a thermal precursor.
Cholesterol Effectively Blocks Entry of Flavivirus (cid:1)

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and dengue virus serotype 2 (DEN-2) are enveloped ﬂaviviruses that enter cells through receptor-mediated endocytosis and low pH-triggered membrane fusion and then replicate in intracellular membrane structures. Lipid rafts, cholesterol-enriched lipid-ordered membrane domains, are platforms for a variety of cellular functions. In this study, we found that disruption of lipid raft formation by cholesterol depletion with methyl- (cid:1) -cyclodextrin or cholesterol chelation with ﬁlipin III reduces JEV and DEN-2 infection, mainly at the intracellular replication steps and, to a lesser extent, at viral entry. Using a membrane ﬂotation assay, we found that several ﬂaviviral nonstructural proteins are associated with deter-gent-resistant membrane structures, indicating that the replication complex of JEV and DEN-2 localizes to the membranes that possess the lipid raft property. Interestingly, we also found that addition of cholesterol readily blocks ﬂaviviral infection, a result that contrasts with previous reports of other viruses, such as Sindbis virus, whose infectivity is enhanced by cholesterol. Cholesterol mainly affected the early step of the ﬂavivirus life cycle, because the presence of cholesterol during viral adsorption greatly blocked JEV and DEN-2 infectivity. Flavirial entry, probably at fusion and RNA uncoating steps, was hindered by cholesterol. Our results thus
Improved Detection of F-Speciﬁc RNA Coliphages in Fecal Material by Extraction and Polyethylene Glycol Precipitation (cid:1) †

Male-speciﬁc RNA coliphages (F-RNA coliphages) have been proposed as a potential viral indicator of fecal contamination in water and foods because they are easy to culture and are a normal component of the mammalian gut ﬂora. F-RNA coliphage plaque numbers are typically obtained by directly plating a 10-fold dilution o f 1 g offecal material, but the numbers of F-RNA coliphages shed by animals and humans may be too low for direct enumeration. Therefore, the sensitivity of detecting F-RNA coliphages in fecal material was improved by extracting and precipitating F-RNA coliphage from a 10-g fecal sample by use of polyethylene glycol (PEG). The highest recovery of F-RNA coliphage with 10% beef extract, pH 7.2, was obtained in the presence of 1 M NaCl and 10% PEG after 16 h of precipitation, but a pellet was not obtained after a short precipitation time of 2 h. There was no signiﬁcant difference between eluant-to-fecal-material ratios of 4:1 and 9:1 or homogenization with a stomacher or pulsiﬁer. F-RNA coliphage were detected in 64% (16 of 25 samples) of fecal samples from various sources when the sample size was 10 g but in 36% (9 of 25 samples) of samples when the sample size was 1 g. When F-RNA coliphage were detected in 1-g samples, they
Structure-Based Discovery of the Novel Antiviral Properties of Naproxen against the Nucleoprotein of Inﬂuenza A Virus

The nucleoprotein (NP) binds the viral RNA genome and associates with the polymerase in a ribonucleoprotein complex (RNP) required for transcription and replication of inﬂuenza A virus. NP has no cellular counterpart, and the NP sequence is highly conserved, which led to considering NP a hot target in the search for antivirals. We report here that monomeric nucleoprotein can be inhibited by a small molecule binding in its RNA binding groove, resulting in a novel antiviral against inﬂuenza A virus. We identiﬁed naproxen, an anti-inﬂammatory drug that targeted the nucleoprotein to inhibit NP-RNA association required for NP function, by virtual screening. Further docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations identiﬁed in the RNA groove two NP-naproxen complexes of similar levels of interaction energy. The predicted naproxen binding sites were tested using the Y148A, R152A, R355A, and R361A proteins carrying single-point mutations. Surface plasmon resonance, ﬂuorescence, and other in vitro experiments supported the notion that naproxen binds at a site identiﬁed by MD simulations and showed that naproxen competed with RNA binding to wild-type (WT) NP and protected active monomers of the nucleoprotein against proteolytic cleavage. Naproxen protected Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells against viral challenges with the H1N1 and H3N2 viral strains and was more effective than other cyclooxygenase inhibitors in decreasing viral titers of MDCK cells. In a mouse model of intranasal infection, naproxen treatment decreased the viral titers in mice lungs. In conclusion, naproxen is a promis-ing lead compound for novel antivirals against inﬂuenza A virus that targets the nucleoprotein in its RNA binding groove.
Speciation of green iron nanoparticles in situ by a simple UV-Visible technique

: In order to develop green manufacturing processes for nanomaterials, plants extracts are used to synthesize the nanoparticles in present days. In this context, synthesizing iron nanoparticles using plant extract was developing from past few years since metallic iron nanoparticles was known for its wide variety of applications. But the preliminary characterization techniques like UV-Visible spectroscopy and Powder XRD do not give the necessary Information on the type of iron nanoparticles present in green iron colloids which needs expensive Mossbauer spectroscopy, Raman spec troscopy, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) study. So, the present study has developed a simple UV-Visible based spectrophoto metric technique where baseline correction plays an important role in characterizing the type of nanoparticles present in green iron colloids synthesized by plant extract. This was the novelty of the present technique wh'ich has made an easiest tool to speciate green nZVI without using costly microscopic techniques from iron oxide nanoparticles. Phenolic rich Terminalia chebula aqueous extract was used for reduction of iron salt.
Dose–response of RAG2 − / − / (cid:1) c − / − mice to busulfan in preparation for spermatogonial transplantation

Practical applications of spermatogonial transplantation require good rates of colonization by the donor cells. Recipient testes are usually depleted of competing endogenous spermatogonia by administration of 32–44 mg busulfan kg − 1 body weight before transplantation. However, it is not clear that this is the optimum dose, especially for immunodeﬁcient mice. In the present study, the response of adult RAG2 − / − / (cid:1) c − / − (RAG2) male mice to treatment with 10–50 mg busulfan kg − 1 body weight was determined in terms of mortality rates, testicular masses and histology, and colonization of seminiferous tubules by transplanted spermatogonia. Mortality increased from 0 to 50% at doses between 20 mg busulfan kg − 1 and 40 mg busulfan kg − 1 , whereas the maximum effects on testicular mass and histology were observed at 20 mg busulfan kg − 1 . Colonization of testes by genetically marked spermatogonia after treatment of mice with 20 mg busulfan kg − 1 was equivalent to rates previously reported in recipients treated with 32–44 mg busulfan kg − 1 . Thus, 20 mg busulfan kg − 1 appears to be the optimum dose for preparing RAG2 mice for spermatogonial transplantation. However, because the steepness of the dose–response curves indicates that direct administration of busulfan is not ideal for this purpose, 15 mg busulfan kg − 1 was administered to pregnant females at various times between day 10.5 and day 16.5 of gestation to determine whether this would deplete the number of germ cells in male offspring. Although there were large variations in testicular mass and histology, no mortality was observed and administration of busulfan at day 10.5 or 12.5 after mating delayed initiation of spermatogenesis, indicating that prenatal administration of busulfan combined with neonatal transplantation might be an effective method for further increasing rates of colonization by donor spermatogonia.