Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A unified lower bound estimation technique for high-level synthesis

The importance of effective lower bound estimation (LBE) techniques is well established in high-level synthesis (HLS) since it allows more efficient exploration of the design space while providing other HLS tools with the capability of predicting the effect of specific tools on the design space. Much of the previous work has focused on LBE techniques that use very simple cost models which primarily focus on the functional unit resources. With the push toward submicron technologies, simple models that use functional unit resources alone are not accurate enough to allow effective design space exploration since the effects of storage and interconnect can indeed dominate the cost function. In this paper, we present an integrated approach aimed at predicting lower bounds on hardware resources needed to implement a behavioral description within a given amount of time. Our area cost model accounts for storage (register) and interconnect resources (buses) in addition to functional resources. Our timing model uses a finer granularity that permits the modeling of functional unit, register, and interconnect delays. Our approach is integrated because we consider the dependencies between the different types of resources as well as the ordering in which the resources are allocated. We tested our technique for functional unit, storage, and interconnect requirements on several high-level synthesis benchmarks, and observed near-optimal results. We believe that our comprehensive LBE approach can lead to better quality HLS solutions in less time, and we demonstrate this approach in our paper.
Cyclo-Oxygenase 2 Modulates Chemoresistance in Breast Cancer Cells Involving NF-κB

Background: Breast cancer cells can develop chemoresistance after prolonged exposure to cytotoxic drugs due to expression of the multi drug resistance (MDR) 1 gene. Type 2 cyclo-oxygenase (COX-2) inhibitors reverse the chemoresistance phenotype of a medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line, TT, and of a breast cancer cell line, MCF7, by inhibiting MDR1 expression and P-gp function. Aim: investigate the role of prostaglandin (PG) in modulating chemoresistance in MCF7 cells and to explore the involved intracellular mechanisms. Methods: native and chemoresistant MCF7 cells were treated with PGH2 and resistance to Doxorubicin was tested in the presence or absence of COX-2 inhibitors. Results: PGH2 restores resistance to the cytotoxic effects of Doxo, with concomitant nuclear translocation of the transcription factor NF-κB. Conclusions: COX-2 inhibitors prevent chemoresistance development in breast cancer cells by inhibiting P-gp expression and function by a mechanism that involves PGH2 generation and NF-κB activation.
Endogenous Timing of Investments Yields Modified Stackelberg Outcomes

This paper deals with capacity constrained price competition in a duopoly model. The model resembles that in Kreps and Scheinkman (1983), but the timing of the investment/capacity choice is endogenous. In equilibrium, one of the firms will invest to become the Stackelberg leader, although the ratio between the leader's and the follower's capacities is smaller than in the standard Stackelberg outcome. Capacity is built too early, resulting in welfare losses. The leader and the follower will earn equal profits, except when capacity costs are small.
CYP1A1 Ile462Val Polymorphism Contributes to Lung Cancer Susceptibility among Lung Squamous Carcinoma and Smokers: A Meta-Analysis

Many studies have examined the association between the CYP1A1 Ile462Val gene polymorphisms and lung cancer risk in various populations, but their results have been inconsistent. To assess this relationship more precisely, a meta-analysis was performed. Ultimately, 43 case-control studies, comprising 19,228 subjects were included. A significantly elevated lung cancer risk was associated with 2 Ile462Val genotype variants (for Val/Val vs Ile/Ile: OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.08–1.40; for (Ile/Val +Val/Val) vs Ile/Ile: OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.07–1.23) in overall population. In the stratified analysis, a significant association was found in Asians, Caucasians and lung SCC, not lung AC and lung SCLC. Additionally, a significant association was found in smoker population and not found in non-smoker populations. This meta-analysis suggests that the Ile462Val polymorphisms of CYP1A1 correlate with increased lung cancer susceptibility in Asian and Caucasian populations and there is an interaction with smoking status, but these associations vary in different histological types of lung caner.
Measurements of Heart Rate and Accelerometry to Determine the Physical Activity Level in Boys Playing Paintball

Paintball is a popular recreational sport played by 3.655 million Americans and may be sufficient physical activity to promote health. Paintball has been played as an organized sport since the 1980’s and is essentially a game of tag, except instead of touching an opponent by hand opponents are tagged by shooting them with a paintball that leaves a mark indicating who has been eliminated. A previous evaluation of paintball as physical activity had 13 subjects undergo a VO2max test to develop a heart rate (HR) /oxygen consumption relationship, and it was observed that heart rates during paintball were 68–73% of the measured maximal HR. The present study used accelerometry and HR monitors to evaluate the quantity and intensity of physical activity in boys playing paintball. Eleven boys (12.7 ± 1.0 y, 51.5 ± 11.3 kg, 161.8 ± 10.1 cm) engaged in a VO2max test to develop a HR/oxygen consumption correlation. On a separate day the boys played 7 games of outdoor paintball while wearing a HR monitor and accelerometer. The boys played paintball for 11.5 ± 6.2 minutes/game for a total of 80.6 ± 10.0 minutes of game play. Average HR during paintball play was 129.6 ± 6.6 beats/min, representing 39.9 ± 12.9% VO2max. Based on accelerometry, the boys accumulated 63.2 ± 15.6 minutes of moderate intensity activity and 2.6 ± 2.8 minutes of vigorous activity during paintball. These data suggest that playing paintball may be considered as physical activity that is > 3 METs, and thus health promoting.
Machine Learning Approaches to Sentiment Analysis Using the Dutch Netlog Corpus Machine Learning Approaches to Sentiment Analysis Using the Dutch Netlog Corpus 1

Sentiment analysis deals with the computational treatment of opinion, sentiment and subjectivity. We constructed and manually annotated a corpus, the Dutch Netlog Corpus, with data extracted from the social networking website Netlog. This corpus was annotated on three levels: 'valence' (expressing the opinion of the writer; we distinguish between 'positive', 'negative', 'both', 'neutral' and 'n/a') and additionally language performance, which is divided into two areas: 'performance' ('standard' versus 'dialect') and 'chat' ('chat' versus 'non-chat'). We tackle sentiment analysis as a text classification task and employ two simple feature sets (the most frequent and the most informative words of the corpus) and three supervised classifiers implemented from the Natural Language ToolKit (the Naïve Bayes, Maximum Entropy and Decision Tree classifiers). The highest obtained accuracy score for valence classification with the entire data set is a 65.1%. We suggest three factors leading to errors in valence classification. First, the nature of the data affects results, since most of the corpus is made up of dialect and chat language, which is more difficult to predict. Second, the number of classes to predict from is larger for valence classification (five classes) than for performance or chat classification (three classes for both), and is therefore also more difficult to process. Third, the skewed class distribution of the corpus probably has the biggest influence on the results. Some classes in the corpus are very well represented, while others are relatively rare, which leaves less training data for the classifiers to work with. We suspect that more training data will solve these current problems. The highest accuracy result for performance classification is 77.6%; for chat classification, it results in 84.2%.
Transnational contention, domestic integration: assimilating into the hostland polity through homeland activism

ABSTRACT While scholars have studied the political incorporation of migrants and refugees through measures related to naturalisation and voting, others have investigated the ways by which participation in protests and other forms of activism foster assimilation. But how is transnational contention connected to domestic integration? Using archival research and life history interviews of Filipino migrant activists in the U.S. and the Netherlands and drawing from the literatures on immigrant assimilation and social movements, I show the processes and mechanisms that enable activists to become simultaneously involved in the movements for homeland regime change for migrant/minority rights in the hostland. Thus, they assimilate into the domestic polity while they participate in transnational politics. I argue that as activists perform the functions associated with homeland activism, they develop relations and networks that allow new forms of collective identities to emerge, often rooted in civil-society spaces in the hostland. This study contributes to the debate on transnationalism and assimilation, which has recently moved from contradiction to synergy.
On-line Path Generation for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using B-Spline Path Templates

In this study we investigate the problem of generating a smooth, planar reference path, given a family of discrete optimal paths. In conjunction with a path representation by a finite sequence of square cells, the generated path is supposed to stay inside a feasible channel, while minimizing certain performance criteria. Constrained optimization problems are formulated subject to geometric (linear) constraints, as well as boundary conditions in order to generate a library of B-spline path templates. As an application to the vehicle motion planning, the path templates are incorporated to represent local segments of the entire path as geometrically smooth curves, which are then joined with one another to generate a reference path to be followed by a closed-loop tracking controller. The on-line path generation algorithm incorporates the path templates such that continuity and smoothness are preserved when switching from one template to another along the path. Combined with the D∗-lite path planning algorithm, the proposed algorithm provides a complete solution to the obstacle-free path generation problem in a computationally efficient manner, suitable for real-time implementation.
Extracting time‐domain Green's function estimates from ambient seismic noise

It has been demonstrated experimentally and theoretically that an estimate of the Green's function between two seismic stations can be obtained from the time‐derivative of the long‐time average cross correlation of ambient noise between these two stations. This TDGF estimate from just the noise field includes all tensor components of the Green's function and these Green's function estimates can be used to infer Earth structure. We have computed cross correlations using 1 to 30 continuous days of ambient noise recorded by over 150 broadband seismic stations located in Southern California. The data processing yielded thousands of cross‐correlation pairs, for receiver separations from 4–500 km, which clearly exhibit coherent broadband propagating dispersive wavetrains across frequency band 0.1–2 Hz.
WAFFle: Fingerprinting Filter Rules of Web Application Firewalls

Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) are used to detect and block attacks against vulnerable web applications. They distinguish benign requests from rogue requests using a set of filter rules. We present a new timing side channel attack that an attacker can use to remotely distinguish passed requests from requests that the WAF blocked. The attack works also for transparent WAFs that do not leave any trace in responses. The attacker can either conduct our attack directly or indirectly by using Cross Site Request Forgeries (CSRF). The latter allows the attacker to get the results of the attack while hiding his identity and to circumvent any practical brute-force prevention mechanism in the WAF. By learning which requests the WAF blocks and which it passes to the application, the attacker can craft targeted attacks that use any existing loopholes in the WAF's filter rule set. We implemented this attack in the WAFFle tool and ran tests over the Internet against ModSecurity and PHPIDS. The results show that WAFFle correctly distinguished passed requests from blocked requests in more than 95% of all requests just by measuring a single request.
Investigating Flank Wear and Cutting Force on Hard Steels by CBN Cutting Tool by Turning

In this research work a series of tests were conducted in order to determine flank wear and cutting force FY on hard AISI 440 C martensitic stainless steel and SCM 440 alloy steels. The operating parameters are cutting speed, feed rate and a constant depth of cut to investigate the flank wear and cutting force. No cutting fluid was used during the turning process. The cutting tool used was CBN tool. The flank wear was more on CBN tool and caused by thermal softening at cutting edge. In turning alloy steel, low temperature generated and less flank wear formed. The cutting force measured on stainless steel was low due to chip softening. The less concentration of heat on the chips result more cutting force while turning SCM 440 steel. Saw tooth chips were formed in turning AISI 440 C steel in all cutting parameters and no such chips produced by SCM 440 steel.
Shock and Awe: Trauma as the New Colonial Frontier

The health of Indigenous girls in Canada is often framed and addressed through health programs and interventions that are based on Western values systems that serve to further colonize girls’ health and their bodies. One of the risks of the recent attention paid to Indigenous girls’ health needs broadly and to trauma more specifically, is the danger of contributing to the “shock and awe” campaign against Indigenous girls who have experienced violence, and of creating further stigma and marginalization for girls. A focus on trauma as an individual health problem prevents and obscures a more critical, historically-situated focus on social problems under a (neo)colonial state that contribute to violence. There is a need for programs that provide safer spaces for girls that address their intersecting and emergent health needs and do not further the discourse and construction of Indigenous girls as at-risk. The author will present her work with Indigenous girls in an Indigenous girls group that resists medical and individual definitions of trauma, and instead utilizes an Indigenous intersectional framework that assists girls in understanding and locating their coping as responses to larger structural and systemic forces including racism, poverty, sexism, colonialism and a culture of violence enacted through state policy and practices.
Membership in an Imagined Home Community and Stance Toward English among University Students in Japan

ABSTRACT This article was prompted by my experience teaching a Japanese university English course in which students journaled about their English learning. In doing so, they drew heavily upon perceived membership in an imagined community associated with being Japanese as a means to explain their relationship with English. Analyzing this body of students’ work, I tease out important aspects of selfhood meaningful to these individuals in understanding their stance toward English. These include being a speaker of the Japanese language, a resident of Japan, a stakeholder in the Japanese nation-state, a student in Japanese formal education, and a guardian of Japanese culture. While much scholarship has considered the imagined community associated with the target language, this study highlights the importance of an imagined “home” community for language learning. These findings shed light upon relationships among identity, the role of imagined communities for language learners, ideology, and Japanese English education.
An Empirical Analysis of Specialist Trading Behavior at the New York Stock Exchange

I establish stylized empirical facts about the trading behavior of New York Stock Exchange specialists. Specifically, I look at the effect of future price movements, the specialist's explicit role, and the specialist's inventory levels on specialist trading behavior. The motivation for this empirical study is to infer whether the specialist behaves like an active investor who has an information advantage which he obtains while acting as a broker for other traders. If this were the case, one would expect that the specialist would engage in a profit maximizing strategy, buying low and selling high, which is opposite to the prediction of the traditional inventory model. I find that specialists behave like active investors who seek to buy stocks when prices are low and to sell when prices are high. I also find that when specialists are not performing their trading obligations of being on the opposite side of the market they are in almost 85 percent of their trades, buying low and selling high. The findings of this paper indicate that the NYSE specialist is best represented in theoretical models as a constrained profit maximizing, informed investor rather than as a zero profit trader.
The views of service users on the accessibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy

Purpose This study aimed to assess how accessible, acceptable, and effective psychodynamic psychotherapy (PP) is perceived to be by service users. Method Interviews were conducted with 10 participants, who had finished, or were attending, PP. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Most participants understood how they had accessed PP. However, a minority were unsure. Some found traveling to sessions anxiety-provoking and appreciated a friendly greeting upon arrival. Participants highlighted feeling listened to. However, many participants were unhappy about therapy ending and struggled to share what they had learned. Some were surprised by the content of sessions. Finally, most participants highlighted problems that had improved because of therapy. Implications Clinicians should ensure that service users understand the nature of PP before starting sessions and identify clear goals. Support traveling to sessions may improve attendance, Finally, the importance of planning the ending of therapy was highlighted. Originality value The paper captures the views of those with ID on the accessibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of PP.
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$EVWUDFW Negative affective states such as boredom and disengagement , experienced in educational environments, cause student disinterest and lack of concentration. In fact, they are harmful to students' progress since they decrease their learning gains. This is why regulating learner's emotions and reengaging him into the learning process, is of primary interest. In this paper, we propose to investigate learner's negative affective states namely frustration and disengagement since they can divert the student from his learning goal. We assessed also his/her position during a game as well as his behavior in term of tasks performed and objects explored in order to recommend regulation strategies. An experimental study was conducted where physiological data as well as additional features extracted from log files were used as inputs in machine learning classification algorithms. An accuracy of was reached by Decision Tree clas-sifier. Results demonstrated that based on students' affects and behaviors we were able to identify the adequate regulation strategy. In the last decade, affect has become a motivating research area in learning especially in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). Significant researches have emerged on affective states assessment and detection in an effort to investigate their impact on learning outcomes and improving knowledge's acquisition. Affective learner modeling plays an important role in ITS in order to understand tutoring process. For instance, building an affective user model is a way to identify learners' emotions as well as their interaction behaviors in order to assess how they are related to On the other side, detecting emotions occurring during learning is in increasing interest. Students can experience positive (motivation, engagement, etc.) as well as negative (boredom, frustration, etc.) emotions. Investigating factors that lead to positive emotions is essential since they could be considered as tools to cope with negative affects Some results reported that students, with prior content knowledge or experience about a specific concept, tended to be more engaged (Rowe, Shores et al. 2011, Derbali and Frasson 2012). However, students may exhibit a lack of motivation and attention because of an uninteresting or a difficult learning content. Several approaches were introduced to predict affective states: machine learning techniques for early prediction of user frustration (Mcquiggan, Lee et al. 2007), eye-tracking data for predicting boredom and curiosity (Wang, Chignell et al. 2006, Jaques, Conati et al. 2014) and also using electrophysiological sensors as well as cognitive and personal criteria to predict students' uncertainty (Jraidi and Frasson 2013). …
On the fly estimation of the processes that are alive/crashed in an asynchronous message-passing system

It is well-known that, in an asynchronous system where processes are prone to crash, it is impossible to design a protocol that provides each process with the set of processes that are currently alive. Basically, this comes from the fact that it is impossible to distinguish a crashed process from a process that is very slow or with which communications are very slow. Nevertheless, designing protocols that provide the processes with good approximations of the set of processes that are currently alive remains a real challenge in fault-tolerant distributed computing. This paper proposes such a protocol. To that end, it considers a realistic computation model where the processes are provided with non-synchronized local clocks and a function alpha(). That function takes a local duration as a parameter, and returns an integer that is an estimate of the number of processes that can crash during that duration. A simulation-based experimental evaluation of the protocol is also presented. The experiments show that the protocol is practically relevant
ADAPTIVE TRANSMIT DIVERSITY SELECTION (ATDS) BASED ON STBC AND SFBC FIR 2X1 MIMO OFDM SYSTEMS

In this paper, a new adaptive transmit diversity selection (ATDS) scheme is proposed for future wireless communication system to provide high spectral efficiency (SE) and good quality of service (QOS) . The ATDS scheme selects the space time block code (STBC) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme for flat fading channel and it selects space frequency block code (SFBC) OFDM scheme for frequency selective fading channel. The proposed scheme provides low average bit error rate (BER) and high average SE by using the benefits of STBC-OFDM for flat fading channel and SFBC-OFDM for frequency selective fading channel. The obtained simulation results validate this statement.