Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Branch Prediction Architectures for 64-bit Address Space

Processor architectures will increasingly rely on issuing multiple instructions to make full use of available processor resources. When issuing multiple instructions on conventional processors, accurate branch prediction is critical to performance; mispredicted branches may mean that ten’s of cycles may be wasted. Architectures combining very effective branch prediction mechanisms coupled with modified branch target buffers (BTB’s) have been proposed for wide-issue processors. These mechanisms require considerable processor resources; proposals commonly suggest that 16 kilobytes of cache be devoted to branch history and prediction information. Concurrently, the larger address space of 64-bit architectures introduce new obstacles and opportunities. A larger address space means branch target buffers become more expensive, but other branch prediction techniques become more applicable. In this paper, we show how a combination of less expensive mechanisms can achieve better performance than BTB’s. This combination relies on a number of design choices described in the paper. We used trace-driven simulation to show that our proposed design offers 21% better performance than previously proposed alternatives. Our design requires few hardware resources, and is oriented towards 64-bit architectures.
A potential bio-filler: The substitution effect of furfural modified clam shell for carbonate calcium in polypropylene

Shell waste has the potential to be used as a bio-filler. In this work, the commercial calcium carbonate and furfural modified clam shell were used as fillers in polypropylene. Both fillers were characterized and analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer, particle size analyzer, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, and contact angle measurement. The mechanical and thermal properties of unfilled polypropylene and polypropylene composites were investigated as well. X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectrometer analysis indicated that the major phase of calcium carbonate was calcite; of modified clam shell, calcite and aragonite. The calcium carbonate displayed a cubic-like morphology with a smaller particle size as compared with that of modified clam shell. The contact angle measurements indicated that calcium carbonate was fully hydrophobic, while modified clam shell was amphiphilic. Thermal gravimetric analyses confirmed the reinforcement effects of both calcium carbonate and modified clam shell in polypropylene composites. Mechanical property studies showed that the inclusion of modified clam shell played the role mainly of toughening the polypropylene; of calcium carbonate, that of reinforcing, with a nonsignificant toughening effect. The optimal filler ratio of modified clam shell could reach 15 wt. %, as compared with 10 wt. % for calcium carbonate, making it possible for substituting calcium carbonate in polypropylene.
"Man points": masculine capital and young men's health.

OBJECTIVE Health behaviors are important resources for the development and display of masculine identity. The aim of this mixed-method study was to examine how "masculine capital" is accrued via traditionally masculine behaviors and used to permit nonmasculine behavior. METHODS An online survey assessing personal importance of gender identity, gender role stereotypes, and beliefs about the gender of various health behaviors was completed by 731 university students. Interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 16 of these men and women. RESULTS Quantitative data showed significant positive associations between perceived masculinity and engagement in a greater number of traditionally masculine health behaviors. Such patterns were clearest among young men and women who endorsed gender role stereotypes and gave greater importance to their own gender identity. Qualitative data supported the quantitative data: participants with more traditional gender role beliefs had more strict beliefs about the masculinity of various health behaviors. When asked about their own experiences, many men described having engaged in traditionally masculine health-related behaviors so as to accrue masculine capital or use it to permit nonmasculine (or feminine) behavior. CONCLUSIONS The novel use of a gender-relations approach in this mixed-method study of young men and women expanded on earlier smaller scale studies of men and masculine capital. The findings add to understanding of the concept of "masculine capital" and suggest how it may aid efforts to better understand and improve young men's health. Young men's concerns about masculinity could be harnessed to encourage healthy "masculine" behavior. However, such approaches may not be effective for men who eschew traditional definitions of masculinity. Furthermore, failure to question socially constructed definitions of gender may reinforce stereotypes that restrict men's and women's opportunities.
Overcoming Land Injustices: An Experimental Investigation Into the Justice and Injustice of Land Squatting in South Africa*

T he issue of land reform in South Africa is compelling not just as a crucial threat to democratic consolidation, but also as a challenging case for the psychology of justice. In land controversies in transitional regimes around the globe, the unfairness of the past confronts the fairness of the present as alternative conceptions of justice collide and conflict. For instance, to what degree should land rights secured under a prior illicit regime be recognized and honored by the newly formed democratic system? Land reconciliation presents prototypical problems of transitional justice. Based on a survey of a large national sample of South Africans conducted in 2004, this paper investigates the means by which ordinary people adjudicate conflicts between alternatives principles of justice. The survey included a formal experiment, based on a vignette in which the dependent variable is perceptions of fairness in a land dispute in which a squatter is evicted from private property. Judgments of the fairness of squatter evictions are hypothesized to be related to the perceived need and deservingness of the squatter (distributive justice), the due process of the eviction (procedural justice), and the nature of the current use of the land (individual land rights, rule of law). The findings indicate that the race of the respondent determines almost all aspects of justice judgments. The exception is important: South Africans of all races judge the eviction of the squatter as more fair when the squatter is extended procedural justice. In addition, the group identities of black South Africans significantly influence the nature of their justice judgments. Thus, this analysis yields important insights into the role of justice considerations in contemporary land controversies, especially under the condition of conflict among important principles of
On the Potential of Structure-Free Data Aggregation in Sensor Networks

Data aggregation protocols can reduce the cost of communication, thereby extending the lifetime of sensor networks. Prior work on data aggregation protocols has focused on tree-based or cluster-based structured approaches. Although structured approaches are suited for data gathering applications, they incur high maintenance overhead in dynamic scenarios for event-based applications. The goal of our work is to design techniques and protocols that lead to efficient data aggregation without explicit maintenance of a structure. As packets need to converge spatially and temporally for data aggregation, we propose two corresponding mechanisms Data-Aware Anycast at the MAC layer and Randomized Waiting at the application layer. We model the performance of the combined protocol that uses both the approaches and show that our analysis matches with the simulations. Using extensive simulations and experiments on a testbed with implementation in TinyOS, we study the performance and potential of structure-free data aggregation.
coreStar : the Core of jStar

Separation logic is a promising approach to program verification. However, currently there is no shared infrastructure for building verification tools. This increases the time to build and experiment with new ideas. In this paper, we outline coreStar, the verification framework underlying jStar. Our aim is to provide basic support for developing separation logic tools. This paper shows how a language can be encoded into coreStar, and gives details of how coreStar works to enable extensions.
The first ICB* competition on iris recognition

Iris recognition becomes an important technology in our society. Visual patterns of human iris provide rich texture information for personal identification. However, it is greatly challenging to match intra-class iris images with large variations in unconstrained environments because of noises, illumination variation, heterogeneity and so on. To track current state-of-the-art algorithms in iris recognition, we organized the first ICB* Competition on Iris Recognition in 2013 (or ICIR2013 shortly). In this competition, 8 participants from 6 countries submitted 13 algorithms totally. All the algorithms were trained on a public database (e.g. CASIA-Iris-Thousand [3]) and evaluated on an unpublished database. The testing results in terms of False Non-match Rate (FNMR) when False Match Rate (FMR) is 0.0001 are taken to rank the submitted algorithms.
Impaired Decisional Impulsivity in Pathological Videogamers

Background Pathological gaming is an emerging and poorly understood problem. Impulsivity is commonly impaired in disorders of behavioural and substance addiction, hence we sought to systematically investigate the different subtypes of decisional and motor impulsivity in a well-defined pathological gaming cohort. Methods Fifty-two pathological gaming subjects and age-, gender- and IQ-matched healthy volunteers were tested on decisional impulsivity (Information Sampling Task testing reflection impulsivity and delay discounting questionnaire testing impulsive choice), and motor impulsivity (Stop Signal Task testing motor response inhibition, and the premature responding task). We used stringent diagnostic criteria highlighting functional impairment. Results In the Information Sampling Task, pathological gaming participants sampled less evidence prior to making a decision and scored fewer points compared with healthy volunteers. Gaming severity was also negatively correlated with evidence gathered and positively correlated with sampling error and points acquired. In the delay discounting task, pathological gamers made more impulsive choices, preferring smaller immediate over larger delayed rewards. Pathological gamers made more premature responses related to comorbid nicotine use. Greater number of hours played also correlated with a Motivational Index. Greater frequency of role playing games was associated with impaired motor response inhibition and strategy games with faster Go reaction time. Conclusions We show that pathological gaming is associated with impaired decisional impulsivity with negative consequences in task performance. Decisional impulsivity may be a potential target in therapeutic management.
Personality Mining from Biographical Data with the "Adjectival Marker" Technique

The last decade has witnessed significant work in personality mining from lexical cues in social media data. Not much work has yet been undertaken in extracting these lexical cues from biographical data populating social media. Most of this work involves a large crowd of researchers leveraging dictionary-based approaches such as LIWC (which primarily focus on function words). By means of this paper we intend to introduce a novel method of personality mining from social media data called “Adjectival-marker Technique”. This method involves extracting lexical features from descriptive texts (e.g. biographical data) to train a learning model, so as to predict the respective personality traits of the subject. Conceptually, it draws heavily from the last 78 years of work in lexical psychology and the Big Five personality test. However, it is not only a computational variant of the primordial theories of lexical psychology, but is also competent in conferring a substantial accuracy of personality prediction, matching that obtained by psychometric tests. In this study, we propose a variant of the Lexical Hypothesis from psychology. This modified hypothesis is validated by the computational results of personality prediction achieved by the Adjectival Marker Technique discussed below. The paper also discusses some insights illustrating the coherence of people's judgments about the subject's personality (virtual personality). The average accuracy (i.e. matching that achieved by psychometric tests for Big 5) for prediction approximated to Extraversion 82.82% Agreeableness 89.62%, Conscientiousness 92.48% and Imaginativeness/Intellect 81.67%.
The continuous zoom: a constrained fisheye technique for viewing and navigating large information spaces

Navigating and viewing large information spaces, such as hierarchically-organized networks from complex realtime systems, suffer the problems of viewing a large space on a small screen. Distorted-view approaches, such as fisheye techniques, have great potential to reduce these problems by representing detail within its larger context but introduce new issues of focus, transition between views and user disorientation from excessive distortion. We present a fisheyebased method which supports multiple focus points, enhances continuity through smooth transitions between views, and maintains location constraints to reduce the user’s sense of spatial disorientation. These are important requirements for the representation and navigation of networked systems in supervisory control applications. The method consists of two steps: a global allocation of space to rectangular sections of the display, based on scale factors, followed by degree-of-interest adjustments. Previous versions of the algorithm relied solely on relative scale factors to assign size; we present a new version which allocates space more efficiently using a dynamically calculated degree of interest. In addition to the automatic system sizing, manual user control over the amount of space assigned each area is supported. The amount of detail shown in various parts of the network is controlled by pruning the hierarchy and presenting those sections in summary form.
Pseudarthrose de l'extrémité inférieure du fémur traitée par mégaprothèse: à propos d'un cas et revue de la littérature

Les pseudarthroses de l'extrémité distale du fémur sont relativement rares du fait de la qualité de la vascularisation de cette région. La prise en charge d'une telle complication pose un certain nombre de difficultés. Le traitement chirurgical fait appel à plusieurs techniques conservatrices, le traitement par prothèse peut s'avérer utile quand la perte de substance est importante chez le sujet âgé. L'objectif de ce travail est de discuter l'intérêt de la mégaprothèse du genou dans le traitement de la pseudarthrose de l'extrémité distale du fémur, à travers l’étude de l'observation d'une patiente et revue de la littérature. Il s'agit d'une patiente âgée de 62 ans qui présente une pseudarthrose de l'extrémité distale du fémur gauche. Sur le plan clinique la patiente présente des douleurs du genou gauche, avec gène fonctionnelle importante. Le score de l'IKS préopératoire était de 60. Elle a bénéficié d'un remplacement prothétique par une mégaprothèse du genou. En postopératoire la flexion du genou était à 90°, le score de l'IKS était de 130. A travers l’étude de cette observation, et la revue de la littérature, nous pensons que l'utilisation de mégaprothèse du genou, constitue une solution efficace et durable pour le traitement des pseudarthroses du fémur distal et particulièrement chez le sujet âgé. Cette technique permet de répondre aux impératifs d'un tel aléa de la consolidation: lutter contre la douleur et garantir une mobilité satisfaisante permettant de répondre aux besoins de la vie quotidienne du patient et ainsi améliorer sa qualité de vie.
Primary Cutaneous CD8+ Small- to Medium-Sized Lymphoproliferative Disorder in Extrafacial Sites: Clinicopathologic Features and Concept on Their Classification

Abstract:Three cases with CD8+ small- to medium-sized lymphoproliferations in the skin at extrafacial sites are described. Clinically, the patients presented with papulonodular or plaque-like lesions without preceding patches. Histopathologically, nonepidermotropic nodular or diffuse infiltrates were composed of small- to medium-sized pleomorphic lymphocytes, which expressed CD8 (more than 80% of the cells) and granzyme B (60%–70% of the cells), but were negative for CD4, CD30, and CD56. There was no association with Epstein–Barr virus. A clonal T-cell population was detected in 2 patients. Staging examinations did not reveal extracutaneous involvement. The 2 patients with solitary lesions underwent complete remission after radiation therapy, whereas 1 patient developed multifocal lesions and several recurrences. These CD8+ small- to medium-sized lymphoproliferations of the skin at extrafacial sites may belong to a spectrum of phenotypically and prognostically heterogeneous cutaneous small- to medium-sized lymphoid proliferations, which are characterized by an indolent course in most patients.
The Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule Is a Receptor for Rabies Virus

ABSTRACT Previous reports strongly suggest that, in addition to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, rabies virus can use other, as-yet-unidentified receptors. We found that laboratory cell lines susceptible to rabies virus infection express the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) (CD56) on their surface, whereas resistant cells do not, supporting the idea that NCAM could be a rabies virus receptor. We observed that (i) incubation with rabies virus decreases the surface expression of NCAM; (ii) treatment of susceptible cells with heparan sulfate, a ligand for NCAM, or with NCAM antibodies significantly reduces the rabies virus infection; and (iii) preincubation of rabies virus inoculum with soluble NCAM protein as a receptor decoy drastically neutralizes the capacity of rabies virus to infect susceptible cells. Moreover, we demonstrated that transfection of resistant L fibroblasts with the NCAM-encoding gene induces rabies virus susceptibility whereas absence of NCAM in the primary cortical cell cultures prepared from NCAM-deficient mice reduces the rabies virus infection and virus production. This provides evidence that NCAM is an in vitro receptor for the rabies virus. Moreover, the in vivo relevance for the use of NCAM as a receptor was demonstrated by the infection of NCAM-deficient mice, in which rabies mortality was delayed and brain invasion by rabies virus was drastically restricted. Our results showed that NCAM, which is expressed mainly in the adult nervous system, plays an important role in rabies infection. However, it cannot be excluded that receptors other than NCAM are utilized. Thus, the description of NCAM as a new rabies virus receptor would be another example of the use by viruses of more than one receptor to gain entry into the host.
Resilience of thick-line WSN based surveillance systems under irregular crossings

Surveillance application has become one of promising application areas of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) which aims to monitor any anomaly at real time. Network lifetime is a critical concern in the design of such a network. However, due to non uniform crossings and irregular area geography, sensors deployed along the monitored area may run out of energy. A failure of these sensors may cause a hole in the network coverage. It is essential then to provide a deployment scheme taking into account the irregular models of intruders in order to maximize the network lifetime. The focus of this work is, first, to provide a deployment strategy of thick-line WSN in order to ensure an optimal structure of the network under the irregular intrusions as it represents a more realistic sensor placement strategy than the random deployment where we propose a novel model to formally define the lifetime of WSN based on energy consumed caused by the irregular crossings. Then, propose a resilience method for WSN based surveillance systems under irregular intrusions in order to preserve a network lifetime as long as possible.
Content caching and replication schemes for peer-to-peer file sharing in wireless mesh networks

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) have emerged as an important technology in building next generation fixed wireless broadband networks that provide low cost Internet access for fixed and mobile users. An orthogonal evolution in computer networking has been the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications such as P2P file sharing. It is of interest to enable effective P2P file sharing in this type of networks. Our main contribution in this paper is innovative schemes for content caching and replication at mesh routers that enhance the performance of P2P file sharing in WMNs. We first motivate our proposed schemes by showing the impact of caching P2P content at mesh routers on the performance of P2P file sharing in WMNs. We then describe the design and operation of our content caching and replication schemes. Finally, we compare the performance of our proposed schemes against other existing schemes using simulations. We focus on P2P file sharing but other applications can also be supported by the proposed schemes.
Prevention of Cerebral Thromboembolism by Low-Dose Anticoagulant Therapy in Atrial Fibrillation with Mitral Regurgitation

Controversy exists regarding the influence of mitral regurgitation (MR) on thromboembolic risk in patients with atrial fibrillation. We aimed to investigate retrospectively a reduction of risk for stroke due to MR in atrial fibrillation and to evaluate the effectiveness of low-intensity anticoagulation therapy. In 313 patients with atrial fibrillation, transthoracic echocardiography was performed and MR was graded. Between the groups with no or mild MR (n = 209) and with moderate or severe MR (n = 104), age, sex, treatment, history of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipemia and mitral stenosis, and previous stroke were compared. No significant differences in clinical characteristics, treatment, or history were observed between the two groups. The incidence of thromboembolism was significantly higher in the group with no MR (48 patients [23%]) than in the group with MR (14 patients [13%], p < 0.05). In the MR group, previous stroke was frequently observed in patients without warfarin treatment (11 of 51 patients) compared with patients with low-dose warfarin treatment (international normalized ratio of 1.6–1.8) (3 of 53 patients, p < 0.05). Consequently, the thromboembolic event was markedly prevented by low-dose warfarin treatment.