Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic Reconfiguration Optimisation with Streaming Data Decompression

This paper presents a high performance reconfiguration controller enhanced with the use of streaming lossless decompression in its data path. Two reconfiguration controllers are designed, the first is a generic controller that utilises standard concepts such as Direct Memory Access, burst mode transfer of data and interrupts to maximise throughput. This controller is then improved by the inclusion of a streaming decompression engine optimised for the Internal Configuration Access Port (ICAP) interface. This new controller significantly improves the reconfiguration speed of the system and throughputs of up to 385 Mbytes/sec are recorded. As power and energy become very important constraints in the system design, an investigation of the overheads associated with the use of the reconfiguration controller are experimentally quantified and presented.
Modeling and Performance Analysis of the Movement-Based Registration with Implicit Registration

This study examines movement-based registration (MBR). In MBR, a mobile station (MS) performs location registration whenever the number of entering cells reaches the specified movement threshold M. MBR is simple and its implementation is quite straightforward. However, it may result in more registrations than other similar schemes. We propose an improved MBR scheme, in which MBR combines with implicit registration (IR), to reduce registration cost. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using a mathematical approach based on the 2-dimensional random walk mobility model in a hexagonal cell configuration. The numerical results for varying circumstances show that the proposed scheme performs better than conventional MBR.
Formation of Diapause Cyst Shell in Brine Shrimp, Artemia parthenogenetica, and Its Resistance Role in Environmental Stresses*

Artemia has attracted much attention for its ability to produce encysted embryos wrapped in a protective shell when subject to extremely harsh environmental conditions. However, what the cyst shell is synthesized from and how the formative process is performed remains, as yet, largely unknown. Over 20 oviparous specifically expressed genes were identified through screening the subtracted cDNA library enriched between oviparous and ovoviviparous Artemia ovisacs. Among them, a shell gland-specifically expressed gene (SGEG) has been found to be involved in the cyst shell formation. Lacking SGEG protein (by RNA interference) caused the cyst shell to become translucent and the chorion layer of the shell to become less compact and pultaceous and to show a marked decrease of iron composition within the shell. The RNA interference induced defective diapause cysts with a totally compromised resistibility to UV irradiation, extremely large temperature differences, osmotic pressure, dryness, and organic solvent stresses. In contrast, the natural cyst would provide adequate protection from all such factors. SGEG contains a 345-bp open reading frame, and its consequentially translated peptide consists of a 33-amino acid residue putative signal peptide and an 81-amino acid residue mature peptide. The results of Northern blotting and in situ hybridization indicate that the gene is specifically expressed in the cells of shell glands during the period of diapause cyst formation of oviparous Artemia. This investigation adds strong insight into the mechanism of cyst shell formation of Artemia and may be applicable to other areas of research in extremophile biology.
Soft-TDMAC: A Software-Based 802.11 Overlay TDMA MAC with Microsecond Synchronization

We implement a new software-based multihop TDMA MAC protocol (Soft-TDMAC) with microsecond synchronization using a novel system interface for development of 802.11 overlay TDMA MAC protocols (SySI-MAC). SySI-MAC provides a kernel independent message-based interface for scheduling transmissions and sending and receiving 802.11 packets. The key feature of SySI-MAC is that it provides near deterministic timers and transmission times, which allows for implementation of highly synchronized TDMA MAC protocols. Building on SySI-MAC's predictable transmission times, we implement Soft-TDMAC, a software-based 802.11 overlay multihop TDMA MAC protocol. Soft-TDMAC has a synchronization mechanism, which synchronizes all pairs of network clocks to within microseconds of each other. Building on pairwise synchronization, Soft-TDMAC achieves tight network-wide synchronization. With network-wide synchronization independent of data transmissions, Soft-TDMAC can schedule arbitrary TDMA transmission patterns. For example, Soft-TDMAC allows schedules that decrease end-to-end delay and take end-to-end rate demands into account. We summarize hundreds of hours of testing Soft-TDMAC on a multihop testbed, showing the synchronization capabilities of the protocol and the benefits of flexible scheduling.
A Gabor Pseudo Fisherface Based Face Recognition Algorithm for LSI Implementation

A face recognition algorithm for LSI implementation suitable for embedded applications is presented. Although many algorithms to recognize a face recently suggested have a relatively stable performance under the variety of environmental disturbances, the problem still lies on computational cost as well as memory usage. In this paper, we will propose an algorithm based on a "Pseudo Fisherface Matrix", which is derived from generic datasets and down-sampled Gabor features, which reduces these costs. We will compare performance of the proposed method with a traditional one based on Eigenface through FERET database. An experimental implementation demonstrated the proposed algorithm draws significant performance rations.
Correlates of prevalent hypertension in a large cohort of HIV-infected women: Women's Interagency HIV Study

Correlates of hypertension were assessed in 1266 HIV-positive and 368 HIV-negative women in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. Hypertension prevalence was similar in HIV-positive and HIV-negative women (26 versus 28%, P = 0.38). Factors associated with hypertension included increasing age (P < 0.0001), African-American race (P < 0.0001), and body mass index greater than 30 kg/m2 (P < 0.0001), whereas current pregnancy was protective (P < 0.04). HIV infection, CD4 cell count, HIV-1 viral load, and antiretroviral therapy were not associated with hypertension.
Ulnar neuropathy as a first sign of HIV infection: a diagnostic challenge for leprosy endemic countries.

Mycobacterium leprae and HIV are two infectious agents capable of infecting peripheral nerves and, as a result, inducing peripheral neuropathy. In leprosy endemic countries, more refined diagnostic procedures than are currently available are urgently needed to accurately a differential diagnosis between the peripheral neuropathies presenting in both HIV and leprosy since mononeuropathy simplex and multiplex as well as polyneuropathy are known to occur in both diseases (Jardim et al., 2003). Pure neural leprosy (PNL), for example, presents a particularly difficult diagnostic challenge. PNL patients have nerve deficit and/or enlargement of peripheral nerves with or without tenderness in the absence of any sign of skin disease or history of skin patches (Talwar et al., 1992). In this study, the case of a seropositive HIV patient admitted to our Leprosy Outpatient Clinic under suspicion of leprosy neuropathy is described.
Automatic vocal recognition of a child's perceived emotional state within the Speechome corpus

With over 230,000 hours of audio/video recordings of a child growing up in the home setting from birth to the age of three, the Human Speechome Project has pioneered a comprehensive, ecologically valid observational dataset that introduces far-reaching new possibilities for the study of child development. By offering In vivo observation of a child's daily life experience at ultra-dense, longitudinal time scales, the Speechome corpus holds great potential for discovering developmental insights that have thus far eluded observation. The work of this thesis aspires to enable the use of the Speechome corpus for empirical study of emotional factors in early child development. To fully harness the benefits of Speechome for this purpose, an automated mechanism must be created to perceive the child's emotional state within this medium. Due to the latent nature of emotion, we sought objective, directly measurable correlates of the child's perceived emotional state within the Speechome corpus, focusing exclusively on acoustic features of the child's vocalizations and surrounding caretaker speech. Using Partial Least Squares regression, we applied these features to build a model that simulates human perceptual heuristics for determining a child's emotional state. We evaluated the perceptual accuracy of models built across child-only, adult-only, and combined feature sets within the overall sampled dataset, as well as controlling for social situations, vocalization behaviors (e.g. crying, laughing, babble), individual caretakers, and developmental age between 9 and 24 months. Child and combined models consistently demonstrated high perceptual accuracy, with overall adjusted R-squared values of 0.54 and 0.58, respectively, and an average of 0.59 and 0.67 per month. Comparative analysis across longitudinal and socio-behavioral contexts yielded several notable developmental and dyadic insights. In the process, we have developed a data mining and analysis methodology for modeling perceived child emotion and quantifying caretaker intersubjectivity that we hope to extend to future datasets across multiple children, as new deployments of the Speechome recording technology are established. Such large-scale comparative studies promise an unprecedented view into the nature of emotional processes in early childhood and potentially enlightening discoveries about autism and other developmental disorders. Thesis Supervisor: Deb K. Roy Title: Associate Professor, Program in Media Arts and Sciences
The relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership practices

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore the relationship between the emotional intelligence (EI) and transformational leadership practices of academic leaders in Taiwan and the USA. It aims to investigate whether cross‐cultural differences exist in academic leaders' EI, leadership practices, and the relationship between them.Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a casual‐comparative approach to draw cross‐cultural comparisons. Convenience samples of 50 academic leaders in Taiwan and 50 in the USA were selected as two comparison sample groups. Two instruments were selected to measure emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness.Findings – Results of the correlational analyses indicate that Taiwanese participants' overall EI was found to be positively correlated in a statistically significant manner with all five areas of leadership practice. The US participants were found to have statistically significant positive relationships between overall emotional intelligence and all areas of leadersh.
High Prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy in Diabetic Patients Concomitant with Metabolic Syndrome

Objective To evaluate the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Research Design and Methods We conducted a case-controlled study, with data obtained from 2,551 Chinese participants between 18–79 years of age (representing a population of 1,660,500 in a district of Beijing). 74 cases of DR were found following data assessment by two 45° digital retinal images. Subjects without DR (NDR group) selected from the remaining 2,477 subjects were matched 1:1 to the DR group by HbA1c. MetS was defined by incorporating diagnostic criteria of the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (AHA/NHLBI) and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Results There were no statistical differences between the DR group and NDR group in a number of biological or laboratory tests. However, the percentage of patients with DR increased vs. patients without DR with the number of MetS components from 1 to 5 (14.3% vs. 85.7%, 38.9% vs. 61.1%, 49.1% vs. 50.9%, 61.4% vs. 38.6% and 83.3% vs. 16.7%, respectively) (Pearson χ2 = 9.938, P = 0.037). The trend to develop DR with MetS was significantly higher than that without MetS (NMetS) (χ2 = 5.540, P = 0.019). MetS was an independent statistical indicator of the presence of DR after adjusting for age and sex [odds ratio (95% CI): 2.701(1.248–5.849), P = 0.012], which is still the case with an additional adjustment for WC, SBP, TC, HbA1c and duration of diabetes [odds ratio (95% CI): 2.948(1.134–7.664), P = 0.027]. Conclusion DR is one of the diabetic microvascular complications. Apart from poor glycemic control, the concomitance of other metabolic factors can also influence DR. MetS, defined as a cluster of metabolic risk factors, is a strong and independent indicator of DR, even to the same extent as glycemic control.
Resource-Efficient Data-Intensive System Designs for High Performance and Capacity

Abstract : Data-intensive systems are a critical building block for today's large-scale Internet services. These systems have enabled high throughput and capacity, reaching billions of requests per second for trillions of items in a single storage cluster. However many systems are surprisingly inefficient; for instance, memcached, a widely-used in-memory key-value store system, handles 1-2 million requests per second on a modern server node, whereas an optimized software system could achieve over 70 million requests per second using the same hardware. Reducing such inefficiencies can improve the cost effectiveness of the systems significantly. This dissertation shows that by leveraging modern hardware and exploiting workload characteristics, data-intensive storage systems that process a large amount of fine-grained data can achieve an order of magnitude higher performance and capacity than prior systems that are built for generic hardware and workloads. As examples we present SILT and MICA, which are resource-efficient key-value stores for flash and memory. SILT provides flash-speed query processing and 5.7X higher capacity than the previous state-of-the-art system. It employs new memory-efficient indexing schemes including ECT that requires only 2.5 bits per item in memory, and a system cost model built upon new accurate and fast analytic primitives to find workload-specific system configurations. MICA offers 4X higher throughput over the network than previous in-memory key-value store systems by performing efficient parallel request processing on multi-core processors and low-overhead request direction with modern network interface cards, and by using new key-value data structures designed for specific workload types.
Acoustic source tracking in a reverberant environment using a pairwise synchronous microphone network

This paper considers acoustic source tracking in a room environment using a distributed microphone pair network. Existing time-delay of arrival (TDOA) based approaches usually require all received signals to be transmitted to central processor and synchronized to extract the TDOA measurements. The source positions are then obtained by using a subsequent localization or tracking approach. In this paper, we propose a distributed particle filtering (PF) approach to track the source using a microphone pair network. Each node is constructed by a microphone pair and TDOA measurements are extracted at local nodes. An extended Kalman filter based PF is developed to estimate the first order and the second order statistics of the source state. A consensus filter is then applied to fuse these local statistics between neighboring nodes to achieve a global estimation. Under such an approach, only the state statistics need to be transmitted and the received signals need only to be pairwise synchronized. Consequently, both communication and computational cost can be significantly reduced. Simulations under different reverberant environments demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms the centralized sequential importance sampling based PF approach in single source tracking as well as in non-concurrent multiple source tracking.
A Prospective Model for HIV and AIDS Prevention in an African Setting

The study conceptualizes locus of control as a behavioural mechanism for HIV and AIDS prevention. The locus of control variables that could build the model are: social systems control, self-control, fatalism, achievement-oriented behaviour, willingness to delay gratification, personal values and expectations, and alienation. This study seeks to investigate the possibility of designing a locus of control-based HIV and AIDS model that can be used in South Africa to complement existing health promotion models. While other models tend to take an exploratory approach in which various factors are put together to explain HIV and AIDS risk and prevention, the envisaged model seeks to focus on personality-related factors of Rotter's social learning theory. The model design involves the use of statistical modeling in predicting HIV and AIDS risk.
Joint Communication-Motion Planning in Wireless-Connected Robotic Networks: Overview and Design Guidelines

Recent years have witnessed the prosperity of robots and in order to support consensus and cooperation for multi- robot system, wireless communications and networking among robots and the infrastructure have become indispensable. In this technical note, we first provide an overview of the research contributions on communication-aware motion planning (CAMP) in designing wireless-connected robotic networks (WCRNs), where the degree-of-freedom (DoF) provided by motion and communication capabilities embraced by the robots have not been fully exploited. Therefore, we propose the framework of joint communication-motion planning (JCMP) as well as the architecture for incorporating JCMP in WCRNs. The proposed architecture is motivated by the observe-orient-decision-action (OODA) model commonly adopted in robotic motion control and cognitive radio. Then, we provide an overview of the orient module that quantify the connectivity assessment. Afterwards, we highlight the JCMP module and compare it with the conventional communication-planning, where the necessity of the JCMP is validated via both theoretical analysis and simulation results of an illustrative example. Finally, a series of open problems are discussed, which picture the gap between the state-of-the-art and a practical WCRN.
Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation in Macrocell-Smallcell Heterogeneous Networks

—Cellular users in indoor environments have difficulty to enjoy high rate services supplied only by macro base station (MBS) due to the penetration loss. Smallcell, as a complement to Macrocell, provide the enhanced coverage through constituting heterogeneous network (HetNet) with MSBs. HetNet is an effective candidate for green communications. However, the interference in HetNet is still a challenging issue. In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient subchannel and power allocation scheme (called EEmax) for a downlink of Macrocell-Smallcell HetNet. The resource allocation to maximize the Energy Efficiency (EE) for all Smallcell Base Stations (SBSs) is formulated a non-convex optimization problem with the condition of the guaranteed data rate and the cross-tier interference constraint. Through an equivalent transformation, an iterative algorithm and the closedform solution for the optimal power and resource block allocation are obtained. Simulation results show that the proposed EEmax algorithm ballance the resource efficiency both energy and spectrum efficiency.
Parallel Discrete Event Simulation

This tutorial surveys the state of the art in executing discrete event simulation programs on a parallel computer. Specifically, we will focus attention on asynchronous simulation programs where few events occur at any single point in simulated time, necessitating the concurrent execution of events occurring at different points in time. We first describe the parallel discrete event simulation problem, and examine why it so difficult. We review several simulation strategies that have been proposed, and discuss the underlying ideas on which they are based. We critique existing approaches in order to clarify their respective strengths and weaknesses.
Evidence-Based Sexuality Education Programs in Schools: Do They Align with the National Sexuality Education Standards?

While many states mandate some type of sexuality education in schools, state legislation varies widely across the United States. Nevertheless, though much has been written about the behavioral outcomes of sexuality education programs shown to be effective at reducing one or more risky sexual behaviors in teenagers, less is known about the exact content taught by these programs, and whether it aligns with national recommendations for sexuality education programming in school. This article reviews the content of evidence-based sexuality education programs in schools (n = 10) from the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) to assess the extent to which programs are following a comprehensive model of sexual health endorsed by the National Sexuality Education Standards. Results indicate that the majority of programs provide education on sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancy, abstinence, and contraceptive use. Far fewer address components related to healthy dating relationships, including interpersonal violence and an understanding of gender roles. No programs address nonheterosexual orientations. Analysis of the programs and implications of the findings are discussed.
Symbolic Representation Techniques in Dynamic Reliability Evaluation

The increasing demand of quality presses towards more specific requirements, tighter constraints, and higher standards. It is thus necessary to provide new paradigms, techniques, and tools to adequately model and evaluate complex systems. This paper mainly focuses on reliability aspects, also taking into account dynamic-dependent interactions among components. Starting from the conservation of reliability principle, we characterize the time to failure of the system components through continuous phase type distributions. The system reliability is thus modeled by an expanded Markov chain expressed in terms of Kronecker algebra in order to face the state space explosion and to represent the memory policies related to the aging process. A two-component system is taken as example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique and to validate it.
One-cycle controlled three-switch buck-type rectifier

This paper presents a robust control scheme derived from one-cycle control (OCC) for three-switch buck-type rectifier under normal and unbalanced inputs. The developed control scheme is desired to make the rectifier insensitive to the input disturbances. The detailed modulation and implementation of the developed OCC method as well as the conventional space vector modulation (SVM) are presented for the purpose of comparison. The design consideration of the passive components in the topology is also formulated for system integration. The simulation results from normal and abnormal input voltages have demonstrated the feasibility and performance of the developed OCC scheme for the studied rectifier. The comparison between the developed OCC scheme and the conventional SVM has shown that the rectifier is insensitive to the input disturbances by utilizing the developed OCC principle.