Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Timed circuit synthesis using implicit methods

The design and synthesis of asynchronous circuits is gaining importance in both the industrial and academic worlds. Timed circuits are a class of asynchronous circuits that incorporate explicit timing information in the specification. This information is used throughout the synthesis procedure to optimize the design. In order to synthesize a timed circuit, it is necessary to explore the timed state space of the specification. The memory required to store the timed state space of a complex specification can be prohibitive for large designs when explicit representation methods are used. This paper describes the application of BDDs and MTBDDs to the representation of timed state spaces and the synthesis of timed circuits. These implicit techniques significantly improve the memory efficiency of timed state space exploration and allow more complex designs to be synthesized. Implicit methods also allow the derivation of solution spaces containing all valid solutions to the synthesis problem facilitating subsequent optimization and technology mapping steps.
Collaborative reflection: how far do 2:1 models of learning in the practice setting promote peer reflection?

A number of health professional groups have been looking at alternative models to the traditional 1:1 model of practice education in order to meet the increasing shortage of practice placements for pre‐registration students. One such model that has been explored recently is the 2:1 or collaborative model where one practice educator takes responsibility for the education of two or more students. This paper presents the findings of a small research study undertaken to explore facilitation of learning in 2:1 collaborative models of physiotherapy practice education, and focuses on the potential for reflection with particular emphasis on peer reflection within the collaborative model. The study adopted a qualitative approach. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with thirteen educators and eighteen third year physiotherapy students at a number of different NHS practice sites in southeast England. Additional focus groups were held with academic tutors and students at the end of the placement period. Findings from the study indicated that learning was facilitated in a variety of ways with students benefiting from peer learning and teaching approaches. Opportunities for peer reflection appeared to be increased in the 2:1 model. However, some practice educators highlighted the need for further guidance when promoting reflective practice. Further research into the role of reflection within 2:1 models and the facilitation of reflection during clinical education placements is needed.
Science Education With English Language Learners: Synthesis and Research Agenda

This review analyzes and synthesizes current research on science education with ELLs. Science learning outcomes with ELLs are considered in the context of equitable learning opportunities. Then, theoretical perspectives guiding the research studies reviewed here are explained, and the methodological and other criteria for inclusion of these research studies are described. Next, the literature on science education with ELLs is discussed with regard to science learning, science curriculum (including computer technology), science instruction, science assessment, and science teacher education. Science education initiatives, interventions, or programs that have been successful with ELLs are highlighted. The article summarizes the key features (e.g., theoretical perspectives and methodological orientations) and key findings in the literature, and concludes with a proposed research agenda and implications for educational practice.
Recent Advances on Singlemodal and Multimodal Face Recognition: A Survey

High performance for face recognition systems occurs in controlled environments and degrades with variations in illumination, facial expression, and pose. Efforts have been made to explore alternate face modalities such as infrared (IR) and 3-D for face recognition. Studies also demonstrate that fusion of multiple face modalities improve performance as compared with singlemodal face recognition. This paper categorizes these algorithms into singlemodal and multimodal face recognition and evaluates methods within each category via detailed descriptions of representative work and summarizations in tables. Advantages and disadvantages of each modality for face recognition are analyzed. In addition, face databases and system evaluations are also covered.
Design and analysis of clinical trials in the presence of delayed treatment effect

In clinical trials with survival endpoint, it is common to observe an overlap between two Kaplan–Meier curves of treatment and control groups during the early stage of the trials, indicating a potential delayed treatment effect. Formulas have been derived for the asymptotic power of the log‐rank test in the presence of delayed treatment effect and its accompanying sample size calculation. In this paper, we first reformulate the alternative hypothesis with the delayed treatment effect in a rescaled time domain, which can yield a simplified sample size formula for the log‐rank test in this context. We further propose an intersection‐union test to examine the efficacy of treatment with delayed effect and show it to be more powerful than the log‐rank test. Simulation studies are conducted to demonstrate the proposed methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Underwater acoustic noise with generalized Gaussian statistics: Effects on error performance

Noise in an underwater acoustic (UWA) channel does not necessarily follow Gaussian statistics, especially in a shallow water environment which is dominated by impulsive noise sources. However most of the receivers are designed with the assumption that the channel noise is additive white Gaussian (AWGN). Such receivers may not be the optimum ones to deal with the non-Gaussian UWA noise. Several non-Gaussian statistics have been proposed in previous literature to model UWA noise among which the Generalized Gaussian (GG) model has been very popular due to its flexible parametric form. However, to the best of our knowledge, no analytical error analysis with the assumption of channel noise being generalized Gaussian has yet been reported. In this paper, we derive the analytical expression for probability of error considering the presence of GG noise in the UWA channel. We also try to study the performance of an AWGN receiver in the presence of non-Gaussian noise. We consider three different communication systems using BPSK, QPSK and M-ary PAM constellations, and observe, for all three of them, that if noise kurtosis is greater than the Gaussian kurtosis, the system performance degrades. Thus here is an initial phase of designing UWA system with GG noise assumptions instead of the traditional Gaussian receiver. It is still a matter of argument, due to all possible redesign complexities, whether it is worth taking all the redesign complexities or the performance degradation can be tolerated as per the requirements of system application.
Challenging behaviours following paediatric acquired brain injury (ABI): the clinical utility for a manualised behavioural intervention programme

Purpose – Children with acquired brain injury (ABI) are at significant risk of serious behavioural and social difficulties. The burgeoning growth of research documenting behavioural sequelae after paediatric ABI has not been met with a concomitant level of research aimed at treating the problem. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a manualised behavioural intervention support programme could reduce challenging behaviours in children with ABI and improve family-parental well-being and functioning. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 61 parents (48 mothers and 13 fathers) of 48 children aged between three and 12 years with mild, moderate, or severe ABI received an ABI adapted “Signposts for Building Better Behaviour” programme (Hudson et al., 2001) in group-support (GS) or telephone-support (TS) format. Trained “Signposts” practitioners delivered the programme over a five-month period. The programme consisted of nine information booklets, a DVD, and workbook. All families completed pre-.
Perfil vocal de regentes de coral do estado de São Paulo

OBJETIVO: tracar o perfil vocal de regentes de corais do Estado de Sao Paulo. METODOS: participaram deste estudo 150 regentes de corais do Estado de Sao Paulo. A coleta foi feita individualmente pelo mesmo avaliador, nos locais de trabalho dos entrevistados, atraves de questionario fechado. RESULTADOS: os regentes tem em media 8,4 anos de exercicio da profissao, regem 1 coral e ja fizeram de 1 a 5 anos de aula de canto. Ensaiam os naipes em separado, cantam junto com os naipes, fazem aquecimento e nao fazem desaquecimento vocal. Para a afinacao do coral, usam piano e/ou a propria voz. A maior parte considera a voz falada igual a cantada e ambas eficientes, ha concordância no que se refere ao dom e a tecnica como componentes necessarios a uma boa voz cantada. Com os anos de exercicio de regencia, a tessitura vocal esta mais ampla, a qualidade mais estavel, a passagem mais controlada e a intensidade no pianissimo e no fortissimo permaneceram inalteradas. As queixas vocais mais apontadas foram: pigarro, rouquidao, garganta seca, acumulo de secrecao na garganta, cansaco apos fala, cansaco apos canto e tensao na garganta. A maior parte dos regentes apresenta ate 3 sintomas vocais, nao fumam, nao bebem, nao costumam gritar, nao pigarreiam, falam muito e comem tarde da noite. CONCLUSAO: houve associacao de sintomas vocais com piora e/ou restricao de diversos parâmetros especificos da voz cantada. O parâmetro que mais se alterou frente aos sintomas vocais foi a qualidade vocal.
Scaling Up Evidence-Based Practices for Children and Families in New York State: Toward Evidence-based Policies on Implementation for State Mental Health Systems

Dissemination of innovations is widely considered the sine qua non for system improvement. At least two dozen states are rolling out evidence-based mental health practices targeted at children and families using trainings, consultations, webinars, and learning collaboratives to improve quality and outcomes. In New York State (NYS) a group of researchers, policymakers, providers, and family support specialists have worked in partnership since 2002 to redesign and evaluate the children's mental health system. Five system strategies driven by empirically based practices and organized within a state-supported infrastructure have been used in the child and family service system with more than 2,000 providers: (a) business practices, (b) use of health information technologies in quality improvement, (c) specific clinical interventions targeted at common childhood disorders, (d) parent activation, and (e) quality indicator development. The NYS system has provided a laboratory for naturalistic experiments. We describe these initiatives, key findings and challenges, lessons learned for scaling, and implications for creating evidence-based implementation policies in state systems.
Towards automatic coin classification

Automatic image classification algorithms can support coin experts in their analysis and study of coins. These algorithms take digital images of coins as input and generate a class as output. Automatic classification proceeds in two stages. In the feature-extraction stage, the image is transformed into a compact representation that contains information on the presence of features. In the classification stage, the feature representations are mapped onto a class. This paper focuses on the first stage by presenting and evaluating two feature types for automatic classification of modern coins: contour features and texture features. For the second stage, a standard (nearest-neighbour or naive Bayes) classifier is used. We evaluate the classification performance obtained with both feature types on an image collection of modern coins. The classification results are promising. In addition, we test the performance on a collection of medieval coins. We show that the effectiveness of the features does not generalize to medieval coins, probably due to erroneous labelling of the images. The paper concludes by stating that automatic image classification algorithms may support coin experts in their analysis of modern coins. Future work is directed towards finding appropriate features for ancient coins.
The mechanism of amphotericin-induced distal acidification defect in rats.

1. The effect of chronic and acute administration of amphotericin B on renal function, especially urinary acidification, was studied in rats. Chronic intraperitoneal administration of amphotericin B resulted in blood concentrations similar to or higher than those seen in patients treated with the antibiotic, but failed to produce hyperchloraemic acidosis. The minimum urine pH achieved during NH 4 Cl-induced acidosis was significantly higher in amphotericin-treated rats than in controls; net acid excretion, however, was not significantly different from that of controls. These data were interpreted as indicating the presence of an incomplete distal acidification defect. 2. The ability to raise urine-blood (U-B) P co 2 during alkalinization of the urine was examined in another group of amphotericin-treated rats. The data on amphotericin-treated rats could be artificially divided into two groups. One group had a normal glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and was able to raise the (U-B) P co 2 gradient during administration of the HCO − 3 to the same as that seen in control rats infused with the vehicle for amphotericin, sodium deoxycholate. The second group, which comprised only 15% of the total, had a decreased glomerular filtration rate and an abnormally low (U-B) P co 2 . The normal (U-B) P co 2 was interpreted as the result of normal H + secretion during alkalinization of the urine. The low (U-B) P co 2 in the second group was attributed to the low urinary HCO − 3 concentration. 3. In order to investigate the effect of large concentrations of amphotericin on distal H + secretion, amphotericin was administered acutely to HCO − 3 -loaded rats. Acute intravenous administration of amphotericin resulted in a significant decrease in (U-B) P co 2 and urine HCO − 3 concentration; the decrease in urinary P co 2 was of greater magnitude than the decrease in urine HCO − 3 concentration, leading to a rise in urine pH. The maximum urine pH achieved during HCO − 3 loading (maximal urine HCO − 3 was the same in both groups) was significantly higher in the animals infused acutely with amphotericin than in controls, thus indicating that amphotericin-treated animals have a distal acidification defect. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that amphotericin induces an acidification defect by increasing H + back-diffusion in the form of carbonic acid or dissolved CO 2 when the urine is highly alkaline and in the form of weak acid or proton when the urine is acid.
Invariant Feature Matching for Image Registration Application Based on New Dissimilarity of Spatial Features

An invariant feature matching method is proposed as a spatially invariant feature matching approach. Deformation effects, such as affine and homography, change the local information within the image and can result in ambiguous local information pertaining to image points. New method based on dissimilarity values, which measures the dissimilarity of the features through the path based on Eigenvector properties, is proposed. Evidence shows that existing matching techniques using similarity metrics—such as normalized cross-correlation, squared sum of intensity differences and correlation coefficient—are insufficient for achieving adequate results under different image deformations. Thus, new descriptor’s similarity metrics based on normalized Eigenvector correlation and signal directional differences, which are robust under local variation of the image information, are proposed to establish an efficient feature matching technique. The method proposed in this study measures the dissimilarity in the signal frequency along the path between two features. Moreover, these dissimilarity values are accumulated in a 2D dissimilarity space, allowing accurate corresponding features to be extracted based on the cumulative space using a voting strategy. This method can be used in image registration applications, as it overcomes the limitations of the existing approaches. The output results demonstrate that the proposed technique outperforms the other methods when evaluated using a standard dataset, in terms of precision-recall and corner correspondence.
Mouse × pig chimeric antibodies expressed in Baculovirus retain the same properties of their parent antibodies

The development of hybridoma and recombinant DNA technologies has made it possible to use antibodies against cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases in humans. These advances in therapy, as well as immunoprophylaxis, could also make it possible to use these technologies in agricultural species of economic importance such as pigs. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an arterivirus causing very important economic losses to the industry. Passive transfer of antibodies obtained by biotechnology could be used in the future to complement or replace vaccination against this and other pig pathogens. To this end, we constructed and studied the properties of chimeric mouse × pig anti‐PRRSV antibodies. We cloned the constant regions of gamma‐1 and gamma‐2 heavy chains and the lambda light chain of pig antibodies in frame with the variable regions of heavy and light chains of mouse monoclonal antibody ISU25C1, which has neutralizing activity against PRRSV. The coding regions for chimeric IgG1 and IgG2 were expressed in a baculovirus expression system. Both chimeric antibodies recognized PRRSV in ELISA as well as in a Western‐blot format and, more importantly, were able to neutralize PRRSV in the same fashion as the parent mouse monoclonal antibody ISU25C1. In addition, we show that both pig IgG1 and IgG2 antibodies could bind complement component C1q, with IgG2 being more efficient than IgG1 in binding C1q. Expressing chimeric pig antibodies with protective capabilities offers a new alternative strategy for infectious disease control in domestic pigs. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 2009
Poor adherence to antipsychotics amongst schizophrenia patients in Nigeria

The aim of this study was to examine the experience of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia in the low-income country of Nigeria. A phenomenological approach was adopted to explore the relationship of poverty and poor adherence to antipsychotics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed. A reiterative process allowed the development of two major categories. It was found that the experience of taking medication was associated with both wellness and side-effects, which could affect the ability to function. Poverty was associated with poor adherence to antipsychotics. The results show that poverty and poor adherence to antipsychotics significantly overlap and result in lack of money to purchase antipsychotics, food insecurity, feelings of vulnerability and social exclusion. Respondents' in this study experienced significant poverty, which impacted negatively on health and wellbeing, and this needs to be urgently addressed. The development of social policy to include the waiving of prescription charges for individuals within this group would not only ensure that healthcare services are available, but would also actively contribute to improving their healthcare outcomes.
Treating the Purple Menace

This article outlines the ethical considerations for sexual orientation conversion therapy for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. There are numerous reasons not to acquiesce to a client’s desire to change his or her sexual orientation. There is no empirical evidence to show that conversion therapy is effective in reorienting a lesbian, gay, or bisexual person to heterosexuality. Moreover, these types of treatments perpetuate society’s stance that homosexuality is an inferior state and assume that the client’s struggle is pathological and not in reaction to the sociopolitical context in which lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons exist. Guidelines for responding to a client seeking reorientation and evaluating one’s biases regarding lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations are presented. Future research implications are discussed.
From Multi-Labeling to Multi-Domain-Labeling: A Novel Two-Dimensional Approach to Music Genre Classification

In this publication we describe a novel two-dimensional approach for automatic music genre classification. Although the subject poses a well studied task in Music Information Retrieval, some fundamental issues of genre classification have not been covered so far. Especially many modern genres are influenced by manifold musical styles. Most of all, this holds true for the broad category “World Music”, which comprises many different regional styles and a mutual mix up thereof. A common approach to tackle this issue in manual categorization is to assign multiple genre labels to a single recording. However, for commonly used automatic classification algorithms, multilabeling poses a problem due to its ambiguities. Thus, we propose to break down multi-label genre annotations into single-label annotations within given time segments and musical domains. A corresponding multi-stage evaluation based on a representative set of items from a global music taxonomy is performed and discussed accordingly. Therefore, we conduct 3 different experiments that cover multi-labeling, multi-labeling with time segmentation and the proposed multi-domain labeling.
Diabetes Perturbs Bone Microarchitecture and Bone Strength through Regulation of Sema3A/IGF-1/β-Catenin in Rats

Purpose: Increasing evidence supported that semaphorin 3A (Sema3A), insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 and β-catenin were involved in the development of osteoporosis and diabetes. This study is aimed to evaluate whether Sema3A/IGF-1/β-catenin is directly involved in the alterations of bone microarchitecture and bone strength of diabetic rats. Methods: Diabetic rats were induced by streptozotocin and high fat diet exposure. Bone microarchitecture and strength in the femurs were evaluated by micro-CT scanning, three-point bending examination and the stainings of HE, alizarin red S and safranin O/fast green, respectively. The alterations of lumbar spines microarchitecture were also determined by micro-CT scanning. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses were used to examine the expression of Sema3A, β-catenin, IGF-1, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and cathepsin K in rat tibias. Results: Diabetic rats exhibited decreased trabecular numbers and bone formation, but an increased trabecular separation in the femurs and lumbar spines. Moreover, the increased bone fragility and decreased bone stiffness were evident in the femurs of diabetic rats. Diabetic rats also exhibited a pronounced bone phenotype which manifested by decreased expression of Sema3A, IGF-1 and β-catenin, as well as increased expression of cathepsin K and PPARγ. Conclusions: This study suggests that diabetes could perturb bone loss through the Sema3A/IGF-1/β-catenin pathway. Sema3A deficiency in bone may contribute to upregulation of PPARγ and cathepsin K expression, which further disrupts bone remodeling in diabetic rats.