Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Achieving low-overhead fault tolerance for parallel accelerators with dynamic partial reconfiguration

While allowing for the fabrication of increasingly complex and efficient circuitry, transistor shrinkage and count-per-device expansion have major downsides: chiefly increased variation, degradation and fault susceptibility. For this reason, design-time consideration of fault tolerance will have to be given to increasing numbers of electronic systems in the future to ensure yields, reliabilities and lifetimes remain acceptably high. Many commonly implemented operators are suited to modification resulting in datapath error detection capabilities with low area overheads. FPGAs are uniquely placed to allow further area savings to be made when incorporating fault avoidance mechanisms thanks to their dynamic reconfigurability. In this paper, we examine the practicalities and costs involved in implementing hardware-software fault tolerance on a test platform: a parallel matrix multiplication accelerator in hardware, with controller in software, running on a Xilinx Zynq system-on-chip. A combination of `bolt-on' error detection logic and software-triggered routing reconfiguration serve to provide low-overhead datapath fault tolerance at runtime. Rapid yet accurate fault diagnoses along with low hardware (area), software (configuration storage) and performance penalties are achieved.
Zimbabwe's Environmental Impact Assessment Policy of 1994: Can it Achieve Sound Environmental Management?

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) constitutes an essential tool for integrating environmental and economic considerations in the planning process. Realising this, the Government of Zimbabwe recently adopted an EIA policy. However, the policy is not yet law and so it is unlikely to have an impact in its present form since no legal compulsion exists for developers and project proponents to follow its mandate. There is an urgent need for a statutory basis to be created for the EIA policy if it is to achieve sustainable management of resources. The article notes that while foreign methodologies are relevant in the search for an appropriate legislative model, they have to be domesticated to suit local environmental problems and priorities.
Improvement of the Management of Infants, Children and Adults with a Molecular Diagnosis of Enterovirus Meningitis during Two Observational Study Periods

Enteroviruses (EVs) are a major cause of aseptic meningitis, and RNA detection using molecular assay is the gold standard diagnostic test. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of an EV positive diagnosis on the clinical management of patients admitted for meningitis over the course of two observational study periods (2005 and 2008–09) in the same clinical departments. We further investigated in multivariate analysis various factors possibly associated with hospital length of stay (LOS) in all age groups (infants, children, and adults). The results showed an overall improvement in the management of patients (n = 142) between the study periods, resulting in a significantly shorter hospital LOS for adults and children, and a shorter duration of antibiotic use for adults and infants. In multivariate analysis, we observed that the time from molecular test results to discharge of patients and the median duration of antibiotic treatment were associated with an increase in LOS in all age groups. In addition, among adults, the turnaround time of the molecular assay was significantly correlated with LOS. The use of CT scan in children and hospital admission outside the peak of EV prevalence in infants tended to increase LOS. In conclusion, the shorter length of stay of patients with meningitis in this study was due to various factors including the rapidity of the EV molecular test (particularly in adults), greater physician responsiveness after a positive result (in adults and children), and greater experience on the part of physicians in handling EV meningitis, as evidenced by the shorter duration of antibiotic use in adults and infants.
Localization of BmpA on the Exposed Outer Membrane of Borrelia burgdorferi by Monospecific Anti-Recombinant BmpA Rabbit Antibodies

Volume 72, no. 4, p. 2280–2287, 2004. We hereby retract the above-entitled article (Infect. Immun. 72:2280–2287, 2004). We have found that the results presented in Fig. 5 cannot be verified in the data record. A manuscript presenting results similar to those in this figure has recently been published by U. Pal, P. Wang, F. Bao, X. Yang, S. Samanta, R. Schoen, G. P. Wormser, I. Schwartz, and E. Fikrig (J. Exp. Med. 205:133–141, 2008).
The Universal Epitope of Influenza A Viral Neuraminidase Fundamentally Contributes to Enzyme Activity and Viral Replication*

Background: The influenza viral neuraminidase has only one universally conserved peptide sequence with unknown function. Results: Sequence alterations in this region decrease substrate binding, enzymatic activity, protein stability, and viral growth. Conclusion: The universal epitope is indispensable for maximal enzymatic function and robust viral propagation. Significance: The universally conserved NA sequence is an attractive target for antiviral intervention and vaccine development. The only universally conserved sequence among all influenza A viral neuraminidases is located between amino acids 222 and 230. However, the potential roles of these amino acids remain largely unknown. Through an array of experimental approaches including mutagenesis, reverse genetics, and growth kinetics, we found that this sequence could markedly affect viral replication. Additional experiments revealed that enzymes with mutations in this region demonstrated substantially decreased catalytic activity, substrate binding, and thermostability. Consistent with viral replication analyses and enzymatic studies, protein modeling suggests that these amino acids could either directly bind to the substrate or contribute to the formation of the active site in the enzyme. Collectively, these findings reveal the essential role of this unique region in enzyme function and viral growth, which provides the basis for evaluating the validity of this sequence as a potential target for antiviral intervention and vaccine development.
Object pose: links between paraperspective and perspective

D.F. Dementhon and L.S. Davis (1995) proposed a method for determining the pose of a 3D object with respect to a camera from 3D to 2D point correspondences. The method consists of iteratively improving the pose computed with a weak perspective camera model to converge at the limit, to a pose estimation computed with a perspective camera model. We show that the method of Dementhon and Davis can be extended to paraperspective. The iterative paraperspective pose algorithm that we describe in detail has interesting properties both in terms of speed and rate of convergence. Moreover, we introduce a simple way of taking into account the orthogonality constraint associated with the rotation matrix and we define the optimal experimental setup to be used in the presence of camera calibration errors. <<ETX>>
Towards Security Modeling of e-Voting Systems

As voting systems evolve from paper ballots to electronic voting (E-voting) applications, we have noticed significant efforts to develop real-world securer solutions. E-voting systems are security-critical systems that require early identification of security requirements and controls based on the analyses of potential vulnerabilities, threats, attacks, and associated risks. General purpose modeling languages and current tool support to model security concerns exist. However, they lack a comprehensive solution that includes tool support for verification of security goal completeness and risk analysis in specific domains. Also, communication between stakeholders in large-scale systems is difficult, specially because security is not the core skill of many requirements engineers. To overcome these challenges in the electronic voting domain, we developed EVSec, a domain-specific visual modeling language. EVSec is process-centric language and allows modelers expressing activities and social interactions, while identifying security concerns with associated risks. Comprehensive tool support provides security goals completeness and assists users on the identification of critical parts of the model with higher security risks. We used EVSec to model the Brazilian national election, demonstrating its adequacy.
Neuroimaging and Criminal Law

Methods of neuroimaging have sporadically, though in recent years increasingly, occurred in legal proceedings. By now, however, it seems that they are about to enter courtrooms on a systematic basis. This poses a host of normative problems, to do, for instance, with future applications of neuroimaging to determine culpability, to test the veracity of testimony, or to predict the future dangerousness of perpetrators. The latter two, brain-based lie detection and “neuroprediction” of dangerousness, are examined in this chapter. Functional
Exploiting locality in distributed SDN control

Large SDN networks will be partitioned in multiple controller domains; each controller is responsible for one domain, and the controllers of adjacent domains may need to communicate to enforce global policies. This paper studies the implications of the local network view of the controllers. In particular, we establish a connection to the field of local algorithms and distributed computing, and discuss lessons for the design of a distributed control plane. We show that existing local algorithms can be used to develop efficient coordination protocols in which each controller only needs to respond to events that take place in its local neighborhood. However, while existing algorithms can be used, SDN networks also suggest a new approach to the study of locality in distributed computing. We introduce the so-called supported locality model of distributed computing. The new model is more expressive than the classical models that are commonly used in the design and analysis of distributed algorithms, and it is a better match with the features of SDN networks.
Job Characteristics and Mentoring in Pre-Schools: Mentoring Relationships among the Educational Staff When Challenged by Problem-Solving Tasks.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of problem‐solving tasks on mentoring received, peer mentoring and mentoring provided.Design/methodology/approach – This cross‐sectional survey was based on a questionnaire that was sent to a total of 435 employees from 29 pre‐schools in Norway. A total of 284 responses were returned, a response rate of 65.3 per cent. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to assess the validity and reliability of measurement scales. Research questions were formulated. Stepwise regression analysis was recommended to assess the magnitude and direction of the independent variable on the three dependent variables, when controlled for by demographic and career variables.Findings – The results revealed that problem‐solving tasks have a positive and significant influence on mentoring received, peer mentoring and mentoring provided. This means that performing unfamiliar tasks increases the occurrence of the three mentoring roles.Research limitations/implications –.
Diagnosis of Stator Faults Severity in Induction Motors Using Two Intelligent Approaches

Three-phase induction motors are the primary means of transformation of electrical energy into mechanical energy in industry, since they are robust and present low cost. However, despite being robust, these machines are subject to electrical or mechanical faults. Thus, identifying a defect in a running motor may decrease the risk of possible damage. This paper proposes an alternative approach to identify defects in the stator of these motors, by analyzing current signals in the time domain. In addition, it presents the determination of the consequent fault severity by means of two proposals: 1) a multiagent system with a classifier behavior; and 2) a neural estimator. The faults observed are related to short circuits between turns in the stator coil of 1% to 10%. Experimental results are observed with motors of different powers, under various adverse situations of electrical feed and a wide range of load conditions on the machine shaft.
Preventing delirium: should non-pharmacological, multicomponent interventions be used? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature.

BACKGROUND Delirium is a complex neuropsychiatric syndrome that is common among elderly inpatients. It has been associated with increased mortality, longer hospital stays, cognitive and functional decline and increased institutionalisation rates. Multicomponent interventions, a series of non-pharmacological strategies frequently handled by nursing staff, might be useful for prevention. OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy of multicomponent interventions in preventing incident delirium in the elderly. METHODS A systematic review of randomised trials was undertaken. Two independent reviewers performed iterative literature searches in seven databases without language restrictions. Grey literature repositories were considered as well. The quality of included trials was assessed by using the criteria established by the Cochrane Collaboration. When possible, data were synthesised into a meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was assessed using the χ2 and I2 tests. FINDINGS A total of 21,788 citations were screened, and seven studies of diverse quality were included in the review, comprising 1,691 participants. Multicomponent interventions significantly reduced incident delirium (relative risk [RR] 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63-0.85, P<0.001) and accidental falls during the hospitalisation (RR 0.39, 95% CI 0.21, 0.72, P=0.003), without evidence of differential effectiveness according to ward type or dementia rates. Non-significant reductions in delirium duration, hospital stay and mortality were found as well. INTERPRETATION Multicomponent interventions are effective in preventing incident delirium among elderly inpatients. Effects seemed to be stable among different settings. Due to the limited amount of data, potential benefits in survival need to be confirmed in further studies. Future research should be aimed at contrasting different multicomponent programmes to select the most useful interventions.
Factors Associated with Opinion Seeking

Abstract This study examines the relationship between opinion seeking and cultural values and individual characteristics in the context of electronic products by surveying cosmopolitan adults of 15 nationalities, namely, American, Australian, British, Dutch, Filipino, German, Hong Konger, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Malaysian, New Zealander, Singaporean, Swedish, and Thai. It finds (i) positive correlation between opinion seeking and power distance, category knowledge, category purchase intention, category innovativeness, opinion giving, market maven, brand loyalty, and susceptibility to interpersonal influence, (ii) negative correlation between opinion seeking and the masculinity and uncertainty avoidance cultural dimensions, category ownership, self-esteem, education, and age, and (iii) no correlation between opinion seeking and individualism, long-term orientation, and risk taking. It then discusses the managerial implications of the findings.
Improvement of a Three-Party Password-Based Key Exchange Protocol with Formal Verification

A Three-party Password-based Authenticated Key Exchange (3PAKE) protocol allows two users to establish a secure session key over an insecure communication channel with the help of a third party, which is a trusted server. Recently, Lou and Huang proposed a 3PAKE which is efficient and suitable for running on resource-constrained devices such as smart cards and mobile phones. In this paper, we show that their scheme is vulnerable to off-line password guessing attack and partition attack. We then propose an efficient method to fix these problems. Additionally, the mutual authentication and session key secrecy of the proposed protocol are verified using a formal verification tool. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.itc. 42.3. 1905
Psychosocial work environment and cardiovascular risk factors in an occupational cohort in France.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Concordant results have been reported in several studies for the effects of job stress on cardiovascular disease, but the potential mechanisms of these effects have seldom been explored. The aim of this study was therefore to examine, in women and men, the cross sectional relations between psychosocial work variables (psychological demands, decision latitude, and social support) and cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, overweight, smoking, and alcohol consumption). PARTICIPANTS: The original cohort comprised 20,625 volunteers (men aged from 40 to 50 and women from 35 to 50) employed by the French Company Electricité De France-Gaz De France and followed up yearly since 1989. The study was restricted to the 13,226 volunteers in the cohort who were still working and answered a self administered questionnaire on psychosocial work factors in 1995. DESIGN: Data were based on replies to this questionnaire. Three psychosocial work environment exposure scores were used to assess psychological demands, decision latitude, and social support at work respectively. The main outcome measures were the prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, and diabetes within the previous 12 months, overweight, smoking, and alcohol consumption. MAIN RESULTS: Psychosocial work factors were significantly associated with hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, overweight, smoking, and alcohol consumption, but not with diabetes. In men, low decision latitude was associated with hypertension, high decision latitude and high social support with overweight, low decision latitude with alcohol consumption. Moreover, the risk of hyperlipidaemia increased in men exposed to both high psychological demands and low social support. In women, low decision latitude was related to hyperlipidaemia, high psychological demands with overweight, high psychological demands and high decision latitude with smoking, and low social support with alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: These cross sectional results underline the potential effects of psychosocial work characteristics on cardiovascular risk factors and the differences between the effects of job stress in men and women, and confirm the direct mechanisms (through physiological variables) and indirect mechanisms (through behavioural risk factors) potentially involved in the relation between psychosocial work characteristics and cardiovascular disease.
Fair reactive programming

Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) models reactive systems with events and signals, which have previously been observed to correspond to the "eventually" and "always" modalities of linear temporal logic (LTL). In this paper, we define a constructive variant of LTL with least fixed point and greatest fixed point operators in the spirit of the modal mu-calculus, and give it a proofs-as-programs interpretation as a foundational calculus for reactive programs. Previous work emphasized the propositions-as-types part of the correspondence between LTL and FRP; here we emphasize the proofs-as-programs part by employing structural proof theory. We show that the type system is expressive enough to enforce liveness properties such as the fairness of schedulers and the eventual delivery of results. We illustrate programming in this calculus using (co)iteration operators. We prove type preservation of our operational semantics, which guarantees that our programs are causal. We give also a proof of strong normalization which provides justification that our programs are productive and that they satisfy liveness properties derived from their types.
Uterine EHG Processing for Obstetrical Monitorng

The temporal and spectral properties of the human uterine electromyogram are first described, related to two different situations: pregnancy and parturition. Thus, a parameter set is selected, and a discriminant analysis is performed, in order to obtain the best discriminant vector for these two situations. A dynamic control of the efficiency of the contractions during labor is described. The good results of this dynamic control permit us to propose a monitoring device providing information on contraction rate and efficiency.
A serine‐rich glycoprotein of Streptococcus sanguis mediates adhesion to platelets via GPIb

Streptococcus sanguis is the most common oral bacterium causing infective endocarditis and its ability to adhere to platelets, leading to their activation and aggregation, is thought to be an important virulent factor. Previous work has shown that S. sanguis can bind directly to platelet glycoprotein (GP) Ib but the nature of the adhesin was unknown. Here, we have shown that a high molecular weight glycoprotein of S. sanguis mediates adhesion to glycocalacin. The bacterial glycoprotein was purified from cell extracts by chromatography on GPIb‐ and wheatgerm agglutinin affinity matrices and its interaction with GPIb was shown to be sialic acid‐dependent. We designated the glycoprotein serine‐rich protein A (SrpA). An insertional inactivation mutant lacking the SrpA of S. sanguis showed significantly reduced binding to glycocalacin, reduced adherence to platelets and a prolonged lag time to platelet aggregation. In addition, under flow conditions, platelets rolled and subsequently adhered on films of wild‐type S. sanguis cells at low shear (50/s) but did not bind to films of the SrpA mutant. Platelets did not bind to wild‐type bacterial cells at high shear (1500/s). These findings help to understand the mechanisms by which the organism might colonize platelet‐fibrin vegetations.
Enhanced MLP performance and fault tolerance resulting from synaptic weight noise during training

We analyze the effects of analog noise on the synaptic arithmetic during multilayer perceptron training, by expanding the cost function to include noise-mediated terms. Predictions are made in the light of these calculations that suggest that fault tolerance, training quality and training trajectory should be improved by such noise-injection. Extensive simulation experiments on two distinct classification problems substantiate the claims. The results appear to be perfectly general for all training schemes where weights are adjusted incrementally, and have wide-ranging implications for all applications, particularly those involving "inaccurate" analog neural VLSI.
Exactness of Approximate MAP Inference in Continuous MRFs

Computing the MAP assignment in graphical models is generally intractable. As a result, for discrete graphical models, the MAP problem is often approximated using linear programming relaxations. Much research has focused on characterizing when these LP relaxations are tight, and while they are relatively well-understood in the discrete case, only a few results are known for their continuous analog. In this work, we use graph covers to provide necessary and sufficient conditions for continuous MAP relaxations to be tight. We use this characterization to give simple proofs that the relaxation is tight for log-concave decomposable and log-supermodular decomposable models. We conclude by exploring the relationship between these two seemingly distinct classes of functions and providing specific conditions under which the MAP relaxation can and cannot be tight.
Triangulene C, A New Cubitane-Based Diterpenoid from the Soft Coral Sinularia Triangula

A new cubitane-based diterpenoid, triangulene C (1), was isolated from the soft coral Sinularia triangula and its structure was elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. Compound 1 was not cytotoxic (IC50 >20 μg/mL) toward the four human cancer cell lines tested (HL60, MDA-MB-231, HCT-116 and DLD-1).