Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A graph-theoretic approach to clock skew optimization

This paper addresses the problem of minimizing the clock period of a circuit by optimizing the clock skews. We incorporate uncertainty factors and present a formulation that ensures that the optimization will be safe. In a paper by J.P. Fishburn (see IEEE Trans. on Computers, vol. 39, no. 7, p. 945-951, 1990) the problem of clock period optimization is formulated as a linear program. We first propose an efficient graph-based solution that takes advantage of the structure of the problem. We also show that the results obtained by Fishburn may result in exceedingly large skews, and propose a method to reduce these skews without sacrificing the optimality of the clock period. Experimental results on several ISCAS89 benchmark circuits are provided. <<ETX>>
Acoustic analysis of Indian classical music using signal processing methods

Identification of music components and further acoustic analysis of Indian classical music are challenging issues, due to large variations in these. This papers consists of two major studies, singing-voice analysis and music-source separation. Indian ragas are divided into lyrical composition and alaap regions, i.e., regions of improvisation that indicate versatility of the singer. Acoustic analyses of both male and female singing voice is carried out by examining the production characteristics. The source feature F0 is obtained using two methods, autocorrelation of linear prediction (LP) residual and zero-frequency filtering (ZFF), for cross-validation. Combined source-filter feature signal energy is examined to identify the regions of alaap and lyrics composition. Spectrogram using short-time Fourier transform are used for validating the results. The music-source separation is carried out using spectral components and exploiting the repetitive nature in the Indian classical music. A measure of separation quality is proposed using a self-similarity matrix technique, which helps in selecting optimal windowing configurations. Performance evaluation results are encouraging. Study helps making the near-ideal choices of the windowing techniques for better separation of lyric (foreground) and the music part (background) in the music-singing voice mixture. Alaap regions are observed to have higher F0 for female singers, and lyrics composition higher F0 for male singers.
Network services definition and deployment in a differentiated services architecture

Next generation Internet architectures will consider the differentiated services paradigm for the provision of quality of service to the individual customer needs and applications. This paper addresses the definition and deployment of specific network services in a DiffServ environment. The proposed network services and the underlying traffic engineering methods are analyzed and simulated. Simulation outcomes prove that the fundamental principles of the network services are fulfilled.
Multi-Cascade of Complementary Features for Fast and Accurate Pedestrian Detection

We propose a cascade of two complementary features to detect pedestrians from static images quickly and accurately. Co-occurrence Histograms of Oriented Gradients (CoHOG) descriptors have a strong classification capability but are extremely high dimensional. On the other hand, Haar-like features are computationally efficient but not highly discriminative for extremely varying texture and shape information such as pedestrians with different clothing and stances. Therefore, the combination of both features enables fast and accurate pedestrian detection. Our framework comprises a cascade of Haar based weak classifiers followed by a CoHOG-SVM classifier. The experimental results on the DaimlerChrysler and INRIA benchmark datasets show that we can reach very close accuracy to the most accurate CoHOG-only classifier but in less than 1/200 of its computational cost. Additionally, we show that by integrating two of our proposed cascades: one full body with another upper body detectors, we can reach higher accuracy than the standalone full body CoHOG-only in about 1/100 of its computational cost.
Orthogonal Fabry-Pérot sensor array system for minimal-artifact photoacoustic tomography

Photoacoustic images of exquisite quality have previously been obtained using planar Fabry-Pérot ultrasound sensors, as they can synthesize detection arrays with small, highly sensitive, elements. However, their planarity prevents reconstruction of structures perpendicular to the sensor plane, which gives rise to limited-view artifacts. Here, a novel FP sensor array configuration is described that incorporates two orthogonal planar arrays in order to overcome this limitation. Three dimensional photoacoustic images of suitably structured phantoms, obtained using a time reversal reconstruction algorithm, are used to demonstrate the significant improvement in the reconstructed images.
Chapter 1 Recommendation Systems inthe-Small

Many recommendation systems rely on data mining to produce their recommendations. While data mining is useful, it can have significantly implications on the infrastructure needed to support and to maintain an RSSE; moreover, it can be computationally expensive. This chapter examines recommendation systems in-thesmall (RITSs), which do not rely on data mining. Instead, they take small amounts of data from the developer’s local context as input and use heuristics to generate recommendations from that data. We provide an overview of the burdens imposed by data mining, and how these can be avoided by a RITS through the use of heuristics. Several examples drawn from the literature illustrate the constraints and design choices of RITSs. We provide an introduction to the development of the heuristics typically needed by a RITS. We discuss the general limitations of RITSs.
Analysis of Photonic Band-Gap (PBG) Structure using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) Algorithm

EM simulation and design of circuits based on thick substrates require appropriate processing of the simulated and measured results. The propagation characteristics of a PBG structure has been analysed using a "field-deembedding" approach. The PBG structure acts as an effective filter in suppressing the surface and substrate waves in the designed frequency band. An in-house non-uniform Finite Difference Time Domain (nu-FDTD) algorithm and several commercial software packages in time and frequency domain have been used for comparison of results on PBG structures. The different EM simulators show different results, which originate from underlying assumptions on the field excitation in the structure.
Investigating the link between action language and action performance

Proponents of embodied cognition claim that the meaning of language is not stored amodally but is grounded within modality-specific brain regions. A large body of work supports this view by demonstrating that action language processing elicits motoric activation and behaviourally interacts with action performance. The fMRI and behavioural experiments described in the following chapters aimed to address several gaps in our current understanding of the nature of these language-induced motoric representations. By manipulating particular aspects of action language such as hand use and physical effort, the fMRI data supports the hypothesis that language evokes the activation of very specific and detailed action representations. As the effort information could only be derived from the combination of word meaning across the sentence, it was shown that these effects are not simply driven by single action verbs but by the integration of several activated semantic networks. Furthermore, the regions that were activated by action language are those that are involved in action planning as opposed to action execution, highlighting that these action representations are of a cognitive and abstract nature. Behavioural experiments were conducted to evaluate the functional significance of these embodied motoric activations. Despite observing modality specific representations using fMRI, when action and language shared specific physical effort attributes, behavioural interaction effects were absent, indicating that motoric activity may not necessarily be required for the processing of action language. The role that the motor system plays in the comprehension of action language is unclear from the evidence presented, as methodological issues may have played a part in generating this null result. The conclusions made from this selection of experiments and the implications of this research within the wider literature are further discussed.
Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights (review)

Card, Claudia. 1990. Against marriage and motherhood. Hypatia 11 (3): 1–23. Elshtain, Jean Bethke. 1981. Public man, private woman. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Friedman, Marilyn. 1993. What are friends for? Feminist perspectives on personal relationships and moral theory. Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press. Held, Virginia. 1993. Feminist morality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hoagland, Sarah Lucia. 1991. Some thoughts about “caring. ” In Feminist ethics, ed. Claudia Card. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press. MacIntyre, Alasdair. 1981. After virtue: A study in moral theory. Notre Dame, Ind. : Notre Dame University Press. ———. 1984. After virtue: A study in moral theory. 2nd ed. Notre Dame, Ind. : Notre Dame University Press. Nelson, Margaret K. 1990. Mothering others’ children: The experiences of family day care providers. In Circles of care: Work and identity in women’s lives, ed. Emily K. Abel and Margaret K. Nelson. Albany: SUNY Press. Noddings, Nel. 1984. Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Ruddick, Sara. 1983. Maternal thinking. In Mothering: Essays in feminist theory, ed. Joyce Trebilcot. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman & Allanheld. ———. 1989. Maternal thinking: Toward a politics of peace. New York: Ballantine. Tronto, Joan C. 1993. Moral boundaries: A political argument for an ethic of care. New York: Routledge. Uttal, Lynet. 1996. Custodial care, surrogate care, and coordinated care: Employed mothers and the meaning of child care. Gender and Society 10 (3): 291–311.
Locus of Control and Death Anxiety among Police Personnel

The present study intended to identify the relationship between belief in personal control and death anxiety among police personnel. The sample constituted male police personnel (N = 285) with age range of 18 to 58 years. Belief in Personal Control Scale (Batool, 2003) and Death Anxiety Scale (Kausar, 2002) were used to assess the nature of personal control and anxiety related to death, respectively. Results showed that death anxiety exhibited significant negative relationship with internal locus of control and significant positive association with external locus of control. Similarly, internal and external loci of control were negatively associated with each other. Regression analysis indicated external locus of control as a significant predictor of death anxiety. Police personnel scored high on externality revealed more death anxiety as compared to those identified as high on internality. Post hoc analysis revealed significant mean differences for the parameters of job stations, age, and job duration. Findings revealed that respondents posted at check posts, falling in senior age group, and extended job duration exhibited significantly elevated levels of death anxiety and external locus of control with lesser manifestation of internal locus. Hierarchical regression illustrated age, job duration, and job station as significant predictors of death anxiety. Future implications of the study were also discussed.
Dispatcher Based Dynamic Load Balancing on Web Server System

The traffic increasing in the network creates bulk congestion while the bulk transfer of data evolves. Performance evaluation and high availability of servers are important factors to resolve this problem using various cluster based systems. There are several low-cost servers using the load sharing cluster system which are connected to high speed networks, and apply load balancing technique between servers. It offers high computing power and high availability. A distributed website server can provide scalability and flexibility to manage with emergent client demands. Efficiency of a replicated web server system will depend on the way of distributed incoming requests among these replicas. A distributed Web-server architectures schedule client requests among the multiple server nodes in a user-transparent way that affects the scalability and availability. The aim of this paper is the development of a load balancing techniques on distributed Web-server systems.
Detection and attribution of vegetation greening trend in China over the last 30 years

The reliable detection and attribution of changes in vegetation growth is a prerequisite for the development of strategies for the sustainable management of ecosystems. This is an extraordinary challenge. To our knowledge, this study is the first to comprehensively detect and attribute a greening trend in China over the last three decades. We use three different satellite‐derived Leaf Area Index (LAI) datasets for detection as well as five different process‐based ecosystem models for attribution. Rising atmospheric CO2 concentration and nitrogen deposition are identified as the most likely causes of the greening trend in China, explaining 85% and 41% of the average growing‐season LAI trend (LAIGS) estimated by satellite datasets (average trend of 0.0070 yr−1, ranging from 0.0035 yr−1 to 0.0127 yr−1), respectively. The contribution of nitrogen deposition is more clearly seen in southern China than in the north of the country. Models disagree about the contribution of climate change alone to the trend in LAIGS at the country scale (one model shows a significant increasing trend, whereas two others show significant decreasing trends). However, the models generally agree on the negative impacts of climate change in north China and Inner Mongolia and the positive impact in the Qinghai–Xizang plateau. Provincial forest area change tends to be significantly correlated with the trend of LAIGS (P < 0.05), and marginally significantly (P = 0.07) correlated with the residual of LAIGS trend, calculated as the trend observed by satellite minus that estimated by models through considering the effects of climate change, rising CO2 concentration and nitrogen deposition, across different provinces. This result highlights the important role of China's afforestation program in explaining the spatial patterns of trend in vegetation growth.
Determinantal Regularization for Ensemble Variable Selection

Recent years have seen growing interest in deterministic search approaches to spike-andslab Bayesian variable selection. Such methods have focused on the goal of finding a global mode to identify a “best model”. However, the report of a single model will be a misleading reflection of the model uncertainty inherent in a highly multimodal posterior. Motivated by non-parametric variational Bayes strategies, we move beyond this limitation by proposing an ensemble optimization approach to identify a collection of representative posterior modes. By deploying determinantal penalty functions as diversity regularizers, our approach performs regularization over multiple locations of the posterior. The key driver of these determinantal penalties is a kernel function that induces repulsion in the latent model space domain.
Minimum blocking sets of circles for a set of lines in the plane

The invention comprises a stepped bottom structure of a boat, in which the steps (5) are mainly straight. The number of the steps is from 2 to 4, preferably 3, and the angle between the mainly straight edge (8) of the step and the keel (1) is from 20 DEG to 60 DEG , preferably from 20 DEG to 45 DEG . In addition, the bottom structure includes rising laths (10), in which the side (19) facing the keel (1) is narrower than the side (20) facing the side of the boat.
Insect Pathogenic Bacteria in Integrated Pest Management

The scientific community working in the field of insect pathology is experiencing an increasing academic and industrial interest in the discovery and development of new bioinsecticides as environmentally friendly pest control tools to be integrated, in combination or rotation, with chemicals in pest management programs. In this scientific context, market data report a significant growth of the biopesticide segment. Acquisition of new technologies by multinational Ag-tech companies is the center of the present industrial environment. This trend is in line with the requirements of new regulations on Integrated Pest Management. After a few decades of research on microbial pest management dominated by Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), novel bacterial species with innovative modes of action are being discovered and developed into new products. Significant cases include the entomopathogenic nematode symbionts Photorhabdus spp. and Xenorhabdus spp. , Serratia species, Yersinia entomophaga, Pseudomonas entomophila, and the recently discovered Betaproteobacteria species Burkholderia spp. and Chromobacterium spp. Lastly, Actinobacteria species like Streptomyces spp. and Saccharopolyspora spp. have gained high commercial interest for the production of a variety of metabolites acting as potent insecticides. With the aim to give a timely picture of the cutting-edge advancements in this renewed research field, different representative cases are reported and discussed.
RNApathwaysDB—a database of RNA maturation and decay pathways

Many RNA molecules undergo complex maturation, involving e.g. excision from primary transcripts, removal of introns, post-transcriptional modification and polyadenylation. The level of mature, functional RNAs in the cell is controlled not only by the synthesis and maturation but also by degradation, which proceeds via many different routes. The systematization of data about RNA metabolic pathways and enzymes taking part in RNA maturation and degradation is essential for the full understanding of these processes. RNApathwaysDB, available online at http://iimcb.genesilico. pl/rnapathwaysdb, is an online resource about maturation and decay pathways involving RNA as the substrate. The current release presents information about reactions and enzymes that take part in the maturation and degradation of tRNA, rRNA and mRNA, and describes pathways in three model organisms: Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Homo sapiens. RNApathwaysDB can be queried with keywords, and sequences of protein enzymes involved in RNA processing can be searched with BLAST. Options for data presentation include pathway graphs and tables with enzymes and literature data. Structures of macromolecular complexes involving RNA and proteins that act on it are presented as ‘potato models’ using DrawBioPath—a new javascript tool.
Identification of the bHLH Factor Math6 as a Novel Component of the Embryonic Pancreas Transcriptional Network

Background Basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors play important roles in differentiation processes during embryonic development of vertebrates. In the pancreas, the atonal-related bHLH gene Neurogenin3 (Neurog3) controls endocrine cell fate specification in uncommitted progenitor cells. Therefore, it is likely that Neurog3-regulated factors will have important functions during pancreatic endocrine cell differentiation. The gene for the atonal-related bHLH factor Math6 was recognized as a potential target of Neurog3 in a genomic scale profiling during endocrine differentiation. Herein we have explored the role of Math6 during endocrine pancreas development. Results We demonstrate that the Math6 gene is a direct target of Neurog3 in vitro and that, during mouse development, Math6 is expressed in both endocrine and exocrine pancreatic precursor cells. We have investigated the role of Math6 in endocrine differentiation by over-expressing this factor in pancreatic duct cells. Math6 possesses intrinsic transcriptional repressor activity and, in contrast to Neurog3 it does not induce the endocrine differentiation program; however, it can modulate some of the pro-endocrine functions of Neurog3 in this system. In addition, we show that Math6 is broadly expressed in mouse embryonic tissues and its expression is induced by tissue-specific bHLH genes other than Neurog3. Furthermore, inactivation of the Math6 gene in the mouse results in early embryonic lethality demonstrating an essential role of this factor in organismal development. Conclusions These data demonstrate that Math6 is a novel component of the pancreatic transcriptional network during embryonic development and suggest a potential role for Math6 as a modulator of the differentiation program initiated by the pro-endocrine factor Neurog3. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that Math6 is indispensable for early embryonic development and indicate a more widespread function for this factor in tissue-specific differentiation processes that are dependent on class II bHLH genes.
A 3.9 compression-ratio Huffman encoding scheme for the large ion collider on 65nm and 130nm CMOS technologies

A Huffman coding scheme with 3.9 compression ratio for the Large Hadron Collider experiment is proposed. A fully-synthesized scheme draws a small footprint layout of 60μm × 60μm in 65nm and 105μm × 105μm in 130nm CMOS process. The maximum operation frequencies are 435MHz for 65nm and 333MHz for 130nm, whereas the power consumption is 1.2mW and 1.9mW respectively. The resulting scheme enables a front-end electronics without any loss of data.
A Low Power Side Channel Attack Resistant Data Flow Rindael Encryption ASIC

THDFAES04 is a data flow random execution Rijndael encryption ASIC, which can resist against side-channel attacks and is low power. It is based on dynamic data-flow architecture. It performs token matching and random service jointly by the token Hold-Match-Fetch components. In experiments, it could resist 15000 less samples correlation power analysis attack. The fabricated chip's average energy of one 128 bits key AES encryption is 0.053 muJ. Its die size is 2.21 mm2. Its throughput distributes between 59 Mbps and 63 Mbps.
Impact of the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine in the Management of Highly Febrile Children Aged 6 to 24 Months in an Emergency Department

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the introduction of the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) in the management of children aged 6 to 24 months with high fever without source (FWS) in a pediatric emergency department (PED). Methods: Retrospective study of 770 patients aged 6 to 24 months attended in a pediatric ED between October 2004 and April 2005 with FWS 39°C or higher without alteration in the dipstick. Results: Out of 770 children, 215 (27.9%) were PCV-7 fully vaccinated (group A), and 555 (72.0%) were either incompletely PCV-7 vaccinated or not vaccinated at all (group B). Both groups did not show differences related to temperature registered at home or in the ED. Complete blood count (CBC) and blood culture were practiced in 163 (21.1%) patients, chest radiograph in 117 (15.1%), and lumbar puncture in 15 (1.9%). Thirty-three patients (4.3%) received a dose of intramuscular ceftriaxone, 20 (2.6%) were admitted to the observation unit, and 5 (0.6) were admitted to the hospital. One blood culture was positive, and 2 other children had a consolidation in the chest radiograph (all in group B). In patients not fully vaccinated with PCV-7, CBC and blood culture were practiced more frequently (group B, 26.6% vs. group A, 7%; P < 0.000001; odds ratio, 4.85 [limits, 2.70-8.83]) and ceftriaxone was also more frequently administered (group B, 5.3% vs. group A, 1.3%; P = 0.02; odds ratio, 4.04 [limits, 1.16-16.77]). Three children in group A (1.4%) were admitted to the observation unit or to floor versus 22 in group B (4%, P = 0.11). Conclusions: Inclusion of PCV-7 vaccinal status in the management of highly febrile children aged 6 to 24 months significantly reduces CBC and blood cultures practiced in the ED and the administration of ceftriaxone.