Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relibability assessment of wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) based on distance-to-neutral point (DNP)

Wafer Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP) is one of the most compact packages which provide good electrical and thermal performance depending on the reliability of the solder joint interconnections to the printed circuit board (PCB). Due to rapid advancements in integrated circuit (IC) fabrication, lower cost per die is achieved when the die count per wafer is high. With the number of IOs (input/output) per die increase which induces the die size and distance to neutral point also increases. Board-level reliability is always a main concern for WLCSP especially without underfill (UF). A common failure mechanism would be solder joint fatigue due to the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch. This would become worse by increasing the distance-to-neutral point (DNP). To improve the reliability, understanding of DNP limitation is necessary. In this paper, different wafer level package configurations are analysed through thermo-mechanical finite element method (FEM) simulation and validated with the thermal cyclic test.
Transmitting What Matters: Task-Oriented Video Composition and Compression

We present a simple yet effective framework – Transmitting What Matters (TWM) – to generate compressed videos containing only relevant objects targeted to specific computer vision tasks, such as faces for the task of face expression recognition, license plates for the task of optical character recognition, among others. TWM takes advantage of the final desired computer vision task to compose video frames only with the necessary data. The video frames are compressed and can be stored or transmitted to powerful servers where extensive and time-consuming tasks can be performed. We experimentally present the trade-offs between distortion and bitrate for a wide range of compression levels, and the impact generated by compression artifacts on the accuracy of the desired vision task. We show that, for one selected computer vision task, it is possible to dramatically reduce the amount of required data to be stored or transmitted, without compromising accuracy.
Mutations in CEP120 cause Joubert syndrome as well as complex ciliopathy phenotypes

Background Ciliopathies are an extensive group of autosomal recessive or X-linked disorders with considerable genetic and clinical overlap, which collectively share multiple organ involvement and may result in lethal or viable phenotypes. In large numbers of cases the genetic defect remains yet to be determined. The aim of this study is to describe the mutational frequency and phenotypic spectrum of the CEP120 gene. Methods Exome sequencing was performed in 145 patients with Joubert syndrome (JS), including 15 children with oral-facial-digital syndrome type VI (OFDVI) and 21 Meckel syndrome (MKS) fetuses. Moreover, exome sequencing was performed in one fetus with tectocerebellar dysraphia with occipital encephalocele (TCDOE), molar tooth sign and additional skeletal abnormalities. As a parallel study, 346 probands with a phenotype consistent with JS or related ciliopathies underwent next-generation sequencing-based targeted sequencing of 120 previously described and candidate ciliopathy genes. Results We present six probands carrying nine distinct mutations (of which eight are novel) in the CEP120 gene, previously found mutated only in Jeune asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy (JATD). The CEP120-associated phenotype ranges from mild classical JS in four patients to more severe conditions in two fetuses, with overlapping features of distinct ciliopathies that include TCDOE, MKS, JATD and OFD syndromes. No obvious correlation is evident between the type or location of identified mutations and the ciliopathy phenotype. Conclusion Our findings broaden the spectrum of phenotypes caused by CEP120 mutations that account for nearly 1% of patients with JS as well as for more complex ciliopathy phenotypes. The lack of clear genotype–phenotype correlation highlights the relevance of comprehensive genetic analyses in the diagnostics of ciliopathies.
The IL18RAP Region Disease Polymorphism Decreases IL-18RAP/IL-18R1/IL-1R1 Expression and Signaling through Innate Receptor–Initiated Pathways

Fine-tuning of cytokine-inducing pathways is essential for immune homeostasis. Consistently, a dysregulated increase or decrease in pattern-recognition receptor (PRR)-induced signaling and cytokine secretion can lead to inflammatory bowel disease. Multiple gene loci are associated with inflammatory bowel disease, but their functional effects are largely unknown. One such region in chromosome 2q12 (rs917997), also associated with other immune-mediated diseases, encompasses IL18RAP. We found that human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) from rs917997 AA risk carriers secrete significantly less cytokines than G carriers upon stimulation of multiple PRRs, including nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 2 (NOD2). We identified that IL-18 signaling through IL-18RAP was critical in amplifying PRR-induced cytokine secretion in MDMs. IL-18RAP responded to NOD2-initiated early, caspase-1–dependent autocrine IL-18, which dramatically enhanced MAPK, NF-κB, PI3K, and calcium signaling. Reconstituting MAPK activation was sufficient to rescue decreased cytokines in NOD2-stimulated IL-18RAP–deficient MDMs. Relative to GG carriers, MDM from rs917997 AA carriers had decreased expression of cell-surface IL-18RAP protein, as well as of IL-18R1 and IL-1R1, genes also located in the IL18RAP region. Accordingly, these risk-carrier MDMs show diminished PRR-, IL-18–, and IL-1–induced MAPK and NF-κB signaling. Taken together, our results demonstrate clear functional consequences of the rs917997 risk polymorphism; this polymorphism leads to a loss-of-function through decreased IL-18RAP, IL-18R1, and IL-1R1 protein expression, which impairs autocrine IL-18 and IL-1 signaling, thereby leading to decreased cytokine secretion in MDMs upon stimulation of a broad range of PRRs.
Evaluation of Efficiency in Selected Areas of Public Services in European Union Countries

Over the past 40 years, the service sector has become the dominant area of market economies. The public sector and services financed from public financing represent a specific group within the services sector. This paper aims to evaluate the efficiency of EU countries and find the extent to which the volume of public services (and the respective financial allocations) can have an impact on selected economic indicators. To this end, the efficiency of public expenditure in five areas of public services (general public services; health; education; social protection; and recreation, culture, and religion) in 2009 and 2016 was evaluated in relation to selected economic indicators (GDP per capita and employment in services). In addition, the efficiency of public expenditure in EU countries was evaluated in relation to the size of the public sector and traditions of public administration. For cross-country analyses within the 27 European countries, data envelopment analysis and the input-oriented variable returns to scale (VRS) model were applied. The results demonstrated that in 2009, 13 out of 27 countries were efficient as opposed to 2016, where only seven countries were efficient. In countries with bigger size of public sector, the efficiency of public expenditure on services was not established. However, there was a similarity in the efficiency of public expenditure on services between groups of EU countries regarding the tradition of public administration.
A New Design Technique of CMOS Current Feed Back Operational Amplifier (CFOA)

A new design technique employing CMOS Current Feedback Operational Amplifier (CFOA) is presented. This design approach applies CFA OTA as input stage cascaded with class AB cross-coupled buffer stage. The performance parameters of CMOS CFOA such as bandwidth, slew rate, settling time are extensively improved compared with conventional CFOA. These parameters are very important in high frequency applications that use CMOS CFOA as an active building block such as A/D converters, and active filters. Also the DC input offset voltage and harmonic distortion (HD) are very low values compared with the conventional CMOS CFOA are obtained. P-Spice simulation results using 0.35 μm MI-ETEC CMOS process parameters shows considerable improvement over existing CMOS CFOA simulated model. Some of the performance parameters for example are DC gain of 67.2 dB, open-loop gain bandwidth product of 104 MHz, slew rate (SR+) of +91.3 V/μS, THD of -67 dB and DC input offset voltage of -0.2 mV.
Study of the Ultrasonic Three-Dimensional Wind Speed Measurement Methods Based on the Phase Difference

This paper presents a three-dimensional ultrasonic wind speed and direction measurement method based on the space vector analysis. It realizes the wind speed measurement indirectly by using the phase difference to measure the time difference. By using regular tetrahedron sensor configuration, it establishes a mathematical model of the relationship between the phase difference and the wind speed as well as the direction, which solves the problems of traditional methods that always need large structure and high costs. The design presents a viable method for low-cost, small structures and fast three-dimensional wind speed measurement study, which has a broad application prospect in the field of meteorological application and wind energy utilization.
Pupillary function in human amblyopia

Quantitative measurements of pupillary function (response amplitude and latency) were made for normal eyes and For normal and fellow amblyopic eyes of groups of strabismic and anisometropic amblyopes. Stimuli consisted of luminance modulation of a large, evenly lit area (pupil light reflex) as well as contrast modulation of sinusoidal gratings (pupil grating response) of fixed, space‐averaged luminance. Measurements were made of the direct and the consensual reflex under monocular stimulation. A comparison of the amplitude of the pupil light reflex as a function of luminance modulation showed no significant differences between normal and fellow amblyopic eyes for both the strabismic and anisometropic groups of amblyopes studied. A similar comparison of the associated response latencies showed significant difference between normal and fellow amblyopic eyes for both groups. In general, reductions in response amplitude and latency of (he pupil grating response were found in individuals from each group when comparing the good and the affected eyes, although the observed group differences were only significant in the strabismic group. Interestingly, statistically significant reductions in both amplitude and latency for both the pupil light reflex and the pupil grating response were found between the eyes of normal observers and the so‐called normal eyes of amblyopes in both groups studied. These results suggest that the type of pupillary deficit in amblyopia is a complicated one, depending not only on the type of amblyopia (strabismic or anisometropic) and the type of stimulus employed (light or pattern), but also on the parameter assessed (amplitude or latency) and whether the amblyopic result is referenced to its fellow normal eye or to the normal eye of a non‐amblyopic observer‐ Since the pupil response to light flux changes is not mediated exclusively via the retinal projection to the midbrain and may also involve the activity of central visual pathways, the results obtained in this study cannot be used to provide definitive evidence for the site of abnormality in amblyopia.
Low pH Is Required for Avian Sarcoma and Leukosis Virus Env-Dependent Viral Penetration into the Cytosol and Not for Viral Uncoating

ABSTRACT A novel entry mechanism has been proposed for the avian sarcoma and leukosis virus (ASLV), whereby interaction with specific cell surface receptors activates or primes the viral envelope glycoprotein (Env), rendering it sensitive to subsequent low-pH-dependent fusion triggering in acidic intracellular organelles. However, ASLV fusion seems to proceed to a lipid mixing stage at neutral pH, leading to the suggestion that low pH might instead be required for a later stage of viral entry such as uncoating (L. J. Earp, S. E. Delos, R. C. Netter, P. Bates, and J. M. White. J. Virol. 77:3058-3066, 2003). To address this possibility, hybrid virus particles were generated with the core of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), a known pH-independent virus, and with subgroups A or B ASLV Env proteins. Infection of cells by these pseudotyped virions was blocked by lysosomotropic agents, as judged by inhibition of HIV-1 DNA synthesis. Furthermore, by using HIV-1 cores that contain a Vpr-β-lactamase fusion protein (Vpr-BlaM) to monitor viral penetration into the cytosol, we demonstrated that virions bearing ASLV Env, but not HIV-1 Env, enter the cytosol in a low-pH-dependent manner. This effect was independent of the presence of the cytoplasmic tail of ASLV Env. These studies provide strong support for the model, indicating that low pH is required for ASLV Env-dependent viral penetration into the cytosol and not for viral uncoating.
THE SPIRIT OF TECHNOLOGY IN E-GOVERNMENT: DESIGNING DEMOCRACY CAPABILITIES FOR ONLINE CITIZEN-GOVERNMENT INTERACTION

This paper aims to better understand the various democratic ideals manifested in designs of online crowdsourcing tools that are contracted by government entities. It seeks to answer questions about crowdsourced tools that are developed to serve a democratic purpose, including: (1) how are designers’ intentions incorporated? (2) what are the imagined user groups? and (3) what are the expected outcomes? The startup and technology vendors that contract with North American government bodies provide a particular context in which democratic freedoms are valued. The sample for this study consists of firms that have contracts for crowdsourced tools with Canadian or American government bodies. Questions were addressed through interviews with the founders or programmers of these technology firms to learn about the design of their products. To advance knowledge across disciplinary boundaries, we review literature on design from science and technology studies, democratic values from political science, and stakeholder theory from management. This study reveals how these perspectives have implications for contracting practical, technical solutions for government.
Allometric Analysis of Physical Performance Measures in Older Adults

Background and Purpose. Body mass is a confounding variable in human performance, and adjusting physical performance measures for body mass differences would allow meaningful individual and group comparisons. The purpose of this study was to allometrically determine the relationship between body mass and handgrip and ankle dorsiflexor performance on the Timed “Up & Go” Test (TUGT). Subjects. One hundred thirty-one subjects (33 male and 98 female) participated. Methods. All physical performance measures were adjusted for the influence of body mass, sex, and age using an allometric scaling procedure. Results. For handgrip force, the body mass exponent from allometric analysis was 0.63. For the TUGT, the body mass exponent was 0.073. For ankle dorsiflexor force and torque, the body mass exponents were 0.82 and 0.91, respectively. Discussion and Conclusion. The body mass exponents for handgrip force and the TUGT agree with previous clinical data and theoretical expectations. Studies investigating normalized handgrip force in older adults should consider an allometric scaling approach.
Catching the tip of the iceberg – Evaluation of sample preparation protocols for metaproteomic studies of the rumen microbiota

Various metabolic processes are performed in the rumen caused by a complex microbiota comprising bacteria, archaea, protozoa, and fungi. Thus, the description of the active microbial fraction and their functions are of great interest for animal nutrition, biotechnology, and climatology. Metaproteomic studies of the rumen microbiota are challenged by the need of optimized sample preparation protocols in order to retrieve an enhanced amount of prokaryotic instead of plant‐ and bovine‐derived cells before protein extraction and subsequent LC‐MS/MS analysis. The present study evaluates three different protocols applied to the rumen microbiota either attached to plant fibers or present as planktonic cells. The findings of our work suggest the integration of cheesecloth‐gauze filtration in sample preparation to achieve a better protein identification ratio. Our data have been deposited to ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001526 (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD001526).
Central control of song in the canary, Serinus canarius

We have traced central nervous pathways controlling bird son in the canary using a combination of behavioral and anatomical techniques. Unilateral electrolytic brain lesions were made in adult male canaries whose son had been previously recorded and analysed on a sound spectrograph. After severral days of postoperative recording, the birds were sacrificed and their brains processed histologically for degeneration staining with the Fink‐Heimer technique. Although large lesions in the neostriatum and rostral hyperstriatum had no effect on song, severe song deficits followed damage to a discrete large‐celled area in the caudal hyperstriatum ventrale (HVc). Degenerating fibers were traced from this region to two other discrete nuclei in the forebrain: one in the parolfactory lobe (area X, a teardrop‐shaped small‐celled nucleus) and a round large‐celled nucleus in the archistriatum (RA). Unilateral lesions of X had no effect on song; lesions of RA, however, caused severe song deficits. Degenerating fibers from RA joined the occipitomesencephalic tract and had widespread ipsilateral projections to the thalamus, nucleus intercollicularis of the midbrain, reticular formation, and medulla. It is of particular interest that direct connections were found onto the cells of the motor nucleus innervating the syrinx, the organ of song production. Unilateral lesions of n. intercollicularis (previously implicated in the control of vocal behavior) had little effect on song.
Multiple keywords assignment to images using SVM

Use of semantic content is one of the important tasks in image analysis, which needs to be addressed for improving image retrieval effectiveness. We present a method to assign multiple keywords to image using SVMs. Images are divided into three-level regions called global image, semi-global images and sub-images. For each of them, color, texture and edge features are extracted. Then, the trained SVMs are employed and the results of classification are added based on the weight of the levels. The keywords are assigned according to the total of the results. Experiment results show the method is helpful to represent main contents of images.
The Comparison Of Time-Frequency Analysis On The Feature Extraction Of Maglev' Track Long-Wave Irregularity

In the signal processing, the theories and methods, such as optimization, auto-adaptive, high resolution and multi-dimension, is become systematic. We are looking forward to higher research. Many people are focusing on the signal of non-stationary, non-Guassian, non-minimum phase, nonlinear system and so on. As a result, the method of the analysis is changed from time analysis and frequency analysis to time-frequency analysis. In this paper, we simulate the data of the maglev' track, according to the data from the real testing of the maglev on the railway. Some typical time-frequency method is used to analyze the data, to estimate and recompose the track irregularity signal, including short time Fourier transform (STFT), Wigner-Ville distribution(WVD), Gabor distribution(DGS), Hilbert-Huang transform(HHT), and wavelet transform(WT). On the base of the analytic results, the difference of each method, which is used to analyze the data of maglev' track in this paper, is compared. Some feature of the method is given in this application. Because of the purpose of this thesis to complete the engineering project, all of the arithmetic programs in this system have been validated in practice. According to the analysis of practical measurement, the measurement system is proved to be a success and the performance meets the expectations.
Extended Pedigree with Multiple Cases of XX Sex Reversal in the Absence of SRY and of a Mutation at the SOX9 Locus

It is well established that testicular differentiation of the human embryonic gonad depends on the action of the Y-chromosomal gene SRY. However, exceptional cases such as SRY-negative cases of 46,XX testicular disorder of sexual development (DSD), and of 46,XX ovotesticular DSD document that testicular tissue can develop in the absence of the SRY gene. These SRY-negative XX sex reversal cases are very rare and usually sporadic, but a few familial cases have been reported. We present a large, consanguineous family with nine affected individuals with phenotypes ranging from 46,XX testicular DSD to 46,XX ovotesticular DSD, with predominance of male characteristics. Absence of SRY in peripheral blood was documented by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and PCR analysis in all nine affected individuals, and by FISH analysis on gonadal sections with testicular tissue in four affected individuals. By quantitative PCR, a duplication of the SOX9 gene was excluded. In addition, as linkage analysis showed that the nine affected members of the family do not share a common SOX9 haplotype, any mutation at the SOX9 locus could be ruled out. Together, these findings implicate a mutation at a sex-determining locus other than SRY and SOX9 as the cause for the XX sex reversal trait in this family.
An Empirical Discourse Analysis on Correlations between Exchange Rate and Agricultural Product Export

This study’s objective focuses on empirically analysing the discourse on the correlations between exchange rate and agricultural product export, which is a part of a discourse has been reproduced constantly and extensively in Thai society by authorities from academic circles and public and private sectors. Hence, this study analyses the time series data of exchange rate and agricultural product export by means of advanced statistical methodologies, the regression analysis and Johansen’s cointegration test. The regression analysis finds that the exchange rate is negatively correlated to the agricultural product export, but Johansen’s cointegration test results contrariwise that there is no cointegrating relationship in-between. Therefore, such claim, even just on agricultural products, is not an error made in good faith but another example of domineering discourses enabling the elites to take advantages by disguising them as knowledge and truths, over which the other members in the society dare not to doubt nor dispute.