Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Applied inference: Case studies in microarchitectural design

We propose and apply a new simulation paradigm for microarchitectural design evaluation and optimization. This paradigm enables more comprehensive design studies by combining spatial sampling and statistical inference. Specifically, this paradigm (i) defines a large, comprehensive design space, (ii) samples points from the space for simulation, and (iii) constructs regression models based on sparse simulations. This approach greatly improves the computational efficiency of microarchitectural simulation and enables new capabilities in design space exploration. We illustrate new capabilities in three case studies for a large design space of approximately 260,000 points: (i) Pareto frontier, (ii) pipeline depth, and (iii) multiprocessor heterogeneity analyses. In particular, regression models are exhaustively evaluated to identify Pareto optimal designs that maximize performance for given power budgets. These models enable pipeline depth studies in which all parameters vary simultaneously with depth, thereby more effectively revealing interactions with nondepth parameters. Heterogeneity analysis combines regression-based optimization with clustering heuristics to identify efficient design compromises between similar optimal architectures. These compromises are potential core designs in a heterogeneous multicore architecture. Increasing heterogeneity can improve bips3/w efficiency by as much as 2.4×, a theoretical upper bound on heterogeneity benefits that neglects contention between shared resources as well as design complexity. Collectively these studies demonstrate regression models' ability to expose trends and identify optima in diverse design regions, motivating the application of such models in statistical inference for more effective use of modern simulator infrastructure.
Simulation Research on the Semi-active Heave Compensation System Based on H8 Robust Control

A semi-active control heave compensation system is proposed, according to the requirements of 6000m deep sea poly-metallic mining system. The heave compensation system is acted upon by interacting of dynamic vibration absorber with accumulator. Magneto-rheological damper is act upon actuator to take semi-active control of heave compensation system. The composition and principle of the heave compensation system is described, and a corresponding mathematics model of this system is built. A H8 Robust controller is designed for the semi-active control heave compensation system by application of robust loop shaping control. In the design process, the performance and robustness requirements of the system are considered. The digital simulation of control effects is carried. The results show that it improve acceleration and velocity response performance of the system in wave energy concentrated domain by a concentration-weighted output feedback control for acceleration and speed. The results also show that this controller is effective in assurance the robust stability of the uncertain system model.
Modelling and Reconstructing the Respiratory Motion of the Liver

In this paper, we present an approach for modelling and predicting organ motion from partial information. We used 4D-MRI sequences of 12 subjects to build a statistical population model for respiratory motion of the liver. Using a Bayesian reconstruction approach, a pre-operative CT scan and a few known surrogate markers, we are able to accurately predict the position of the entire liver at all times. The surrogates may, for example, come from ultrasound, portal images captured during radiotherapy or from implanted electromagnetic beacons. In leave-one-out experiments, we achieve an average prediction error of 1.2 mm over sequences of 20 min with only three surrogates. Our model is accurate enough for clinically relevant treatment intervals and has the potential to be used for adapting the gating window in tumour therapy or even for tracking a tumour continuously during irradiation.
Semantic Image Based Geolocation Given a Map

The problem visual place recognition is commonly used strategy for localization. Most successful appearance based methods typically rely on a large database of views endowed with local or global image descriptors and strive to retrieve the views of the same location. The quality of the results is often affected by the density of the reference views and the robustness of the image representation with respect to viewpoint variations, clutter and seasonal changes. In this work we present an approach for geo-locating a novel view and determining camera location and orientation using a map and a sparse set of geo-tagged reference views. We propose a novel technique for detection and identification of building facades from geo-tagged reference view using the map and geometry of the building facades. We compute the likelihood of camera location and orientation of the query images using the detected landmark (building) identities from reference views, 2D map of the environment, and geometry of building facades. We evaluate our approach for building identification and geo-localization on a new challenging outdoors urban dataset exhibiting large variations in appearance and viewpoint.
A prototype system for object management in private cloud

Today enterprises are increasingly interested in carefully managing, cataloging, and analyzing their information both to insure that it is properly handled and also to make it more useful to their business. Therefore, how to achieve efficient management of large amounts of document objects within certain cost and effort in order to support the business requirements becomes an emerging issue. In order to achieve the goal, a prototype system for object management in private cloud environment is introduced in this paper. The object management system mainly focuses on the functionalities of object manipulations, synchronization among different client devices, and sharing among users. The objective is to extend such sophisticate features and ease the complexities to everyday users and applications.
Homoclinic orbits in a piecewise linear Rössler-like circuit

In addition to the well-known Rossler funnel that consists in near-homoclinic orbits, perfect homoclinic orbits have been found numerically and experimentally in a simplest piecewise linear Rossler-like electronic circuit. The evolution of the system in the homoclinic range exhibits period-bubbling and period-adding cascades when a control parameter is changed. A scaling law in the period-adding cascade between the period of a homoclinic orbit and the bifurcation parameter is evaluated. Other phenomena, such as the coexistence of two homoclinic orbits, homoclinic chaos, symmetry breaking and phase bistability are also demonstrated. The results of numerical simulations are in a good agreement with experiments.
Engagement with Novel Internet Technologies: The Role of Perceived Novelty in the Development of the Deficient Self-Regulation of Internet use and Media Habits

This dissertation attempts to expand our understanding of the deficient selfregulation (DSR) of Internet use and media habit development. Drawing from a social cognitive perspective, DSR is described as lapses in effective self-control that are self-corrected over time. A shortcoming in this area of research is that factors relevant to the technology that may encourage the development of DSR or media habits are rarely, if ever, discussed. A large focus of existing research is instead narrowly placed on individual factors that motivate DSR and media habits. An extension is proposed to theory on DSR in this dissertation by examining the role played by novelty perceptions of technology. In the initial stages of technology use, when perceptions of novelty generally grow, perceived novelty is hypothesized to elicit a state of flow, which in turn diminishes the subfunctions of self-regulation and provokes DSR. The relationship between perceived novelty and flow is moderated by psychosocial problems, boredom proneness, and selfreactive outcome expectation. As perceived novelty of a technology decreases, it is presumed that self-control is restored given that flow no longer inhibits selfregulation. However, DSR and media habits are hypothesized to persist in later technology use if individuals experience psychosocial problems, boredom proneness, or high self-reactive outcome expectations. The manifestation of DSR in later stages of technology use increases the likelihood of forming media habits. The influence of novelty perceptions was evaluated on flow, DSR, and media habits at initial and later stages of technology use. The pretest demonstrated that
Predicting Influential Mobile-Subscriber Churners using Low-level User Features

In the last years, customer churn prediction has been very high on the agenda of telecommunications service providers. Among customers predicted as churners, highly influential customers deserve special attention, since their churns can also trigger churns of their peers. The aim of this study is to find good predictors of churn influence in a mobile service network. To this end, a procedure for determining the weak ground truth on churn influence is presented and used to determine the churn influence of prepaid customers. The determined scores are used to identify good churn-influence predictors among 74 candidate features. The identified predictors are finally used to build a churn-influence-prediction model. The results show that considerably better churn prediction results can be achieved using the proposed model together with the classical churn-prediction-model than by using the classical churn-prediction model alone. Moreover, the successfully predicted churners by the combined approach also have a greater number of churn followers. A successful retention of the predicted churners could greatly affect churn reduction since it could also prevent the churns of these followers.
Quantitative Kinetic Study of the Actin-Bundling Protein L-Plastin and of Its Impact on Actin Turn-Over

Background Initially detected in leukocytes and cancer cells derived from solid tissues, L-plastin/fimbrin belongs to a large family of actin crosslinkers and is considered as a marker for many cancers. Phosphorylation of L-plastin on residue Ser5 increases its F-actin binding activity and is required for L-plastin-mediated cell invasion. Methodology/Principal Findings To study the kinetics of L-plastin and the impact of L-plastin Ser5 phosphorylation on L-plastin dynamics and actin turn-over in live cells, simian Vero cells were transfected with GFP-coupled WT-L-plastin, Ser5 substitution variants (S5/A, S5/E) or actin and analyzed by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). FRAP data were explored by mathematical modeling to estimate steady-state reaction parameters. We demonstrate that in Vero cell focal adhesions L-plastin undergoes rapid cycles of association/dissociation following a two-binding-state model. Phosphorylation of L-plastin increased its association rates by two-fold, whereas dissociation rates were unaffected. Importantly, L-plastin affected actin turn-over by decreasing the actin dissociation rate by four-fold, increasing thereby the amount of F-actin in the focal adhesions, all these effects being promoted by Ser5 phosphorylation. In MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) treatment induced L-plastin translocation to de novo actin polymerization sites in ruffling membranes and spike-like structures and highly increased its Ser5 phosphorylation. Both inhibition studies and siRNA knock-down of PKC isozymes pointed to the involvement of the novel PKC-δ isozyme in the PMA-elicited signaling pathway leading to L-plastin Ser5 phosphorylation. Furthermore, the L-plastin contribution to actin dynamics regulation was substantiated by its association with a protein complex comprising cortactin, which is known to be involved in this process. Conclusions/Significance Altogether these findings quantitatively demonstrate for the first time that L-plastin contributes to the fine-tuning of actin turn-over, an activity which is regulated by Ser5 phosphorylation promoting its high affinity binding to the cytoskeleton. In carcinoma cells, PKC-δ signaling pathways appear to link L-plastin phosphorylation to actin polymerization and invasion.
Iraqi Gulf War Veteran Refugees in the U.S.

Abstract Veterans of the Gulf War present various symptoms and maladies. Reports by governmental and private entities have yielded mixed results and have been fraught with criticisms of biased research design. The vast majority of these studies have focused on U.S. veterans, with a much smaller number focusing upon British veterans. Very few have examined Iraqi Gulf War veterans. Our study involves administering a health issues questionnaire to a sample of Iraqi Gulf War veteran refugees in the U.S. Results indicate relationships between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) scores and health outcome measures of chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, functional status, quality of life, and health care utilization in terms of frequency and level of intensity. Implications for further inquiry are presented.
A 0.9 V 0.4–6 GHz Harmonic Recombination SDR Receiver in 28 nm CMOS With HR3/HR5 and IIP2 Calibration

A software-defined radio receiver is presented, operating from 400 MHz to 6 GHz. The split front-end architecture has a low-band RF path (0.4-3 GHz) using 8-phase passive mixers and a high-band RF path (3-6 GHz) using 4-phase passive mixers. DC-offset, IIP 2, and harmonic recombination for harmonic rejection may be calibrated to achieve true wideband specifications. A 0.5-50 MHz tunable baseband bandwidth implies compliance with LTE and future standards. Despite having a 0.9 V supply, the receiver architecture ensures high out-of-band linearity. The 0.6 mm2, 28 nm CMOS receiver achieves down to 1.8 dB NF, >+3 dBm out-of-band IIP3, >70 dB calibrated HR3/5 and >+80 dBm calibrated IIP2. It tolerates 0 dBm blockers at 80 MHz offset with a blocker NF of 10 dB for a power consumption of 20-40 mW.
Theory-based course evaluation: Implications for improving student success in postsecondary education

Abstract While student global ratings of college courses historically predict learning achievement, the majority of recent U.S. college graduates lack proficiency in desired skills. TALQ, a new course evaluation instrument, was developed from validated instructional theory that predicts student success. A survey of 193 students in 111 different courses at multiple institutions was conducted using TALQ. Results indicated strong associations ( p < 0.0286) among student ratings of first principles of instruction, academic learning time, perceptions of learning gains, satisfaction with courses, perceived mastery of course objectives, and their overall evaluation of courses and instructors. Instructors can implement the theoretically-derived first principles of instruction by challenging students with real-world problems or tasks, activating student learning, demonstrating what is to be learned, providing feedback on student learning attempts, and encouraging student integration of learning into their personal lives.
Are Retrospective Measures of Change in Quality of Life More Valid Than Prospective Measures?

Background:Adaptation to changing health presents a challenge to measuring change in quality of life (QoL). Previous studies have shown that different methods for measuring change yield different results, but it is unclear which method provides a more valid measurement of change. We investigated which of 3 commonly used methods for measuring change in QoL yielded the strongest associations with clinical measures of change in health status. Methods:A total of 268 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1-infected patients starting highly active antiretroviral therapy completed QoL measures at baseline and after 36 weeks. We calculated Pearson correlation coefficients between change in QoL according to a prospective baseline and prospective follow-up measurement, a retrospective baseline and prospective follow-up measurement, or retrospective transition questions and change in CD4-cell count, plasma viral-load, body mass index, and hemoglobin concentration. Results:Patients evaluated their QoL significantly worse on the retrospective than on the prospective baseline measurement (P < 0.01). These results may indicate that patients’ reference value by which they evaluate their QoL changed over time, which would invalidate prospective serial QoL measurements. The retrospective baseline measurement method yielded strongest associations with clinical measures of change (P = 0.02 to P < 0.01). Distinguishing between the change inferred from the conventional prospective and the retrospective baseline measurement method was meaningful because the prospective method did not lead to changes that would be considered clinically significant, whereas the retrospective baseline measurement method did. Conclusions:A method for measuring change in QoL incorporating a retrospective baseline-measurement showed strongest associations with change in clinical indicators of health status, suggesting a more valid measurement of change in QoL than a conventional prospective method.
Design of a two-capacitor sample & hold circuit using a two-stage OTA with hybrid cascode compensation

This paper presents a well-established low power sample & hold circuitry, implemented in 180-nm CMOS technology. This circuit uses a systematic and optimal design of hybrid cascode compensation method which is used in fully differential two-stage CMOS operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs). The circuit achieves minimum SNR of 74dB in all corner cases. Also average current dissipation of the whole circuit is measured to be 7.1mA in Typical-Typical corner case. SNR and total current dissipation of the circuit is calculated and listed in different corner cases. Although the sample and hold circuit meets the requirements of SNR specifications, this success does not seem to be outstanding. However, small amount of current dissipation which comes from the low-power OTA configuration is a great success.
Exposure to violence and mental health of adolescents: South African Health and Well-being Study

Background Material and social environmental stressors affect mental health in adolescence. Protective factors such as social support from family and friends may help to buffer the effects of adversity. Aims The association of violence exposure and emotional disorders was examined in Cape Town adolescents. Method A total of 1034 Grade 8 high school students participated from seven government co-educational schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Exposure to violence in the past 12 months and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were measured by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, depressive and anxiety symptoms by the Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire and the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. Results Exposure to violence was associated with high scores on depressive (odds ratio (OR)=6.23, 95% CI 4.2–9.2), anxiety (OR=5.40, 95% CI 2.4–12.4) and PTSD symptoms (OR=8.93, 95% CI 2.9–27.2) and increased risk of self-harm (OR=5.72, 95% CI 1.2–25.9) adjusting for gender and social support. Conclusions We found that high exposure to violence was associated with high levels of emotional disorders in adolescents that was not buffered by social support. There is an urgent need for interventions to reduce exposure to violence in young people in this setting.
A transformer-based 60GHz CMOS LNA for low voltage applications

A novel Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) topology with a transformer-based input integrated matching is here proposed and its application to 60-GHz. This new architecture achieves both input matching and gain boosting in cascode amplifier without requiring the conventional inductive source degeneration, which is known for gain decreasing at high frequency. The transformer has been designed with the 3-D electromagnetic simulator HFSSTM and is fully compatible with a CMOS bulk general purpose process design flow. Implemented in a 65 nm, post-layout simulations exhibit a -17 dB input matching and a 7.5 dB Noise Figure (NF) at 60 GHz. Biased under 1.2 V, this two-stage LNA reaches a 12.5 dB S21 for a 34 mW power consumption. Thanks to a lumped component design approach, the final circuit takes place in a 540 mum x 690 mum silicon area with PADs.
Correction of extrinsic information for iterative decoding in a serially concatenated multiuser DS-CDMA system

The system under study is a coded asynchronous DS-CDMA system with orthogonal modulation in time-varying Rayleigh fading multipath channels. Information bits are convolutionally encoded, block interleaved, and mapped to M-ary orthogonal Walsh codes, where the last step is essentially a process of block coding. This paper aims at tackling the problem of joint iterative decoding of this serially concatenated inner block code and outer convolutional code and estimating frequency-selective fading channels in multiuser environments. The (logarithm) maximum a posteriori probability, (Log)-MAP criterion is used to derive the iterative decoding schemes. In our system, the soft output from inner block decoder is used as a priori information for the outer decoder. The soft output from outer convolutional decoder is used for two purposes. First, it may be fed back to the inner decoder as extrinsic information for the systematic bits of the Walsh codeword. Secondly, it is utilized for channel estimation and multiuser detection (MUD). We also show that the inner decoding can be accomplished without extrinsic information, and in some cases, e.g., when the system is heavily loaded, yields better performance than the decoding with unprocessed extrinsic information. This implies the need for correcting the extrinsic information obtained from outer decoder. Different schemes are examined and compared numerically, and it is shown that iterative decoding with properly corrected extrinsic information or with non-extrinsic/extrinsic adaptation enables the system to operate reliably in the presence of severe multiuser interference, especially when the inner decoding is assisted by decision directed channel estimation and interference cancellation techniques.
Association between Plain Water and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Total Energy Intake among Mexican School-Age Children

Water consumption promotes a decrease in total diet energy intake, and one explanation for this fact is the replacement of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) by plain water (PW). The objective of this study was to analyze the association between SSB and PW consumption as a part of the total energy intake. Dietary information was obtained by one 24 h recall of 2536 school-age children who participated in the National Nutrition Survey in Mexico. PW and SSB consumption was measured in mL and servings (240 mL), and consumption was stratified into two levels (<2 and ≥2 servings/day). Linear regression models were used to evaluate the association between PW and SSB consumption in relation to total energy intake. Models were adjusted for age, sex, the proportion of energy obtained from non-beverage food, area of residence, and socioeconomic status (based on information regarding housing conditions and ownership of home appliances). PW consumption at the national level was two servings/day, and was not associated with total energy intake. However, the combination of the high consumption of PW and the low consumption of SSB was associated with less total energy intake (p < 0.05). Promoting higher PW and lower SSB consumption provides a useful public health strategy for reducing total energy intake and preventing overconsumption among Mexican school-age children.