Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study of electron-electron and electron-hole interactions in graphene interfaces of G/SrTiO3 and G/LaAlO3 using spectroscopy ellipsometry (SE)

Graphene possesses novel mechanical, electrical, optical and thermal properties which make it a very viable candidate for device applications. However, being a 2D material, it cannot be used by itself and requires some sort of substrate for it to be applicable in most devices. In this thesis, we employ the use of Spectroscopic Ellipsometry to probe the optical conductivity (0.5-6.3eV) of graphene to study the interaction with which graphene has with its substrate at room temperature. We will be using 2 different substrates to present the substrate dependence of grapheneStrontium Titanate (SrTiO3) and Lanthanum Aluminate (LaAlO3). The study of the interaction at the interface will help better understand the suitability of the sample for device applications. Our results show very strong interactions between Strontium Titanate (SrTiO3) and graphene causing the band structure of graphene to change significantly. The results of the extracted graphene sheet conductivity show several new characteristics such as the occurrence of a new peak as well as UV transparency. In the case of Lanthanum Aluminate (LaAlO3) and graphene, we see a different kind of interaction from SrTiO3 as a substrate as we see the universal value of the sheet conductivity of graphene increase from πe2/2h to 4πe2/2h whilst retaining its peak at 4.6eV as in the case of free standing graphene. In both cases, asymmetry of the optical spectra is observed, characteristic of Fano resonance. The presence of the resonant excitons in both cases exhibit low lifetime, which if we are able to put into device applications, can tremendously improve the frequency and hence speed of MOSFET devices.
Performance Optimization of SpMV Using CRS Format by Considering OpenMP Scheduling on CPUs and MIC

In this study, we evaluate the performance of sparse matrix-vector multiplication (SpMV) using the compressed row storage (CRS) format on CPUs and MIC. We focus on the relationship between OpenMP scheduling and performance. The performance of SpMV is measured using various OpenMP scheduling settings and the results are analyzed, which show that OpenMP scheduling has a considerable effect on the performance of SpMV. We confirm that some scheduling settings resulted in performance improvements compared with default scheduling for particular matrices. The results of the evaluation show that the performance of SpMV is improved by up to 1.57 times compared with SPARC64 IXfx, 2.47 times compared with Xeon Ivy Bridge-EP, and 2.26 times compared with Knights Corner. Next, we modify the SpMV function of OpenATLib, an auto-tuned numerical library, to consider the scheduling of optimization as an additional SpMV implementation. We measure the performance of the GMRES solver and obtain performance improvements of up to 11.4%. These results will help to improve the performance of various numerical calculation applications.
Reviewing independent access to HIV testing, counselling and treatment for adolescents in HIV-specific laws in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for the HIV response

Introduction: AIDS is a leading cause of death among adolescents in sub‐Saharan Africa. Yet, legal, policy and social barriers continue to restrict their access to HIV services. In recent years, access to independent HIV testing and treatment for adolescents has gained increased attention. The 2013 WHO Guidance on HIV testing and counselling and care for adolescents living with HIV (WHO Guidance) calls for reviewing legal and regulatory frameworks to facilitate adolescents’ access to comprehensive HIV services. As of 31 March 2017, some 28 countries in sub‐Saharan Africa have adopted HIV‐specific legislation. But there is limited understanding of the provisions of these laws on access to HIV services for adolescents and their implication on efforts to scale up HIV prevention, testing, treatment and care among this population.
Ontology-based situation recognition for context-aware systems

Today's personal devices provide a stream of information which, if processed adequately, can provide a better insight into their owner's current activities, environment, location, etc. In treating these devices as part of a personal sensor network, we exploit raw and interpreted context information in order to enable the automatic recognition of personal recurring situations. An ontology-based graph matching technique continuously compares a person's 'live context', with all previously-stored situations, both of which are represented as an instance of the DCON Context Ontology. Whereas each situation corresponds to an adaptive DCON instance, initially marked by a person and gradually characterised over time, the live context representation is constantly updated with mashed-up context information streaming in from various personal sensors. In this paper we present the matching technique employed to enable automatic situation recognition, and an experiment to evaluate its performance based on real users and their perceived context data.
Effects of a Smart-phone Application on Psychological, Physiological, and Performance Variables in College-Aged Individuals While Running

International Journal of Exercise Science 8(2) : 104-111, 2015. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of auditory exergaming through the use of a smart-phone app called Zombies, Run! on psychological, physiological, and performance variables in college-aged individuals while running. Participants included both males (n = 10) and females (n = 10). Participants ran three 15 minute trials, after which they completed motivational questionnaires regarding inspiration, enjoyment, confidence, and anxiety levels. The first run got the participants accustomed to the application. The second and third were randomly counterbalanced either using the application again or running with no auditory stimulus. The analysis of the motivational questionnaire and physiological variables found that both sexes felt more inspired to run using the Zombies, Run! application than running with no auditory stimulus (P = .003), males felt more confident they could complete the trials (P = .02), females felt they exerted themselves more during the zombie run (P = .03), males were more motivated than females to run faster to avoid losing items (P = .005) and males felt more motivated than females to collect items and improve their in-game township (P = .002). These results indicated that females perceived more exertion and felt less confident, but were more inspired while running using the Zombies, Run! application. Males felt more confident, more inspired, and more intrigued by the video game itself than females. Therefore, both were more motivated to run with than without the application.
Sp1 and Sp3 foci distribution throughout mitosis

The mammalian transcription factors Sp1 and Sp3 compete for the same DNA binding sites but play different roles in the regulation of expression of numerous genes. It is known that, in the interphase nucleus, Sp1 and Sp3 are organized into distinct foci. In this study, we show that throughout the mitotic process, while being displaced from the condensed chromosomes and dispersed throughout the cell, Sp1 and Sp3 maintain their separate punctate distributions. In metaphase, both Sp1 and Sp3 foci show a high degree of colocalization with microfilaments, suggesting that F-actin is involved in the organization of Sp1 and Sp3 foci during mitosis. Constant Sp1 and Sp3 levels were observed during mitosis, signifying a recovery of the pre-existing Sp1 and Sp3 population in newly formed nuclei. In late telophase, Sp1 and Sp3 are equally segregated between daughter cells, and their subnuclear organization as distinct foci is restored in a sequential fashion with Sp3 regrouping into the newly formed nuclei prior to Sp1. Both Sp1 and Sp3 return to the nuclei ahead of RNA polymerase II. Our results support a model in which entry of Sp1, Sp3 and RNA polymerase II into the newly formed nuclei is an ordered process.
A semantic framework for personalized ad recommendation based on advanced textual analysis

In this paper we present a hybrid recommendation system that combines ontological knowledge with content-extracted linguistic information, derived from pre-trained lexical graphs, in order to produce high quality, personalized recommendations. In the described approach, such recommendations are exemplified in an advertising scenario. We propose a distributed system architecture that uses semantic knowledge, based on terminologically enriched domain ontologies, to learn ontological user profiles and consequently infer recommendations through fuzzy semantic reasoning. A real world user study demonstrates the improvements attained in providing user-relevant recommendations with the aid of semantic profiles.
An approach to automatic detection of software failures in real-time systems

Software supervision is an approach to automatic detection of software failures. A software supervisor observes the inputs and outputs of a target system. It uses a model of correct behavior, derived from the target system's requirements specification. Discrepancies between specified and observed behaviors are reported as failures. The tradeoff between the computational complexity of supervision and the latency of failure reporting is discussed in this paper. Supervisor computational complexity can be significantly reduced at the expense of increased failure reporting latency. For applications such as software testing, this is a practical tradeoff. Such a supervisor is called an out-of-time supervisor. This paper describes the data, flows, algorithms, operation and evaluation of an out-of-time supervisor for communicating finite state machine based requirements specifications. A prototype supervisor was used to monitor the operation a small telephone exchange control program. For a failure reporting latency equal to the worst-case response time of the target system, a reduction in computational complexity of several orders of magnitude was measured.
The Frobenius Anatomy of Relative Pronouns

This paper develops a compositional vector-based semantics of relative pronouns within a categorical framework. Frobenius algebras are used to formalise the operations required to model the semantics of relative pronouns, including passing information between the relative clause and the modified noun phrase, as well as copying, combining, and discarding parts of the relative clause. We develop two instantiations of the abstract semantics, one based on a truth-theoretic approach and one based on corpus statistics.
The RuvC protein dimer resolves Holliday junctions by a dual incision mechanism that involves base‐specific contacts

The Escherichia coli RuvC protein resolves DNA intermediates produced during genetic recombination. In vitro, RuvC binds specifically to Holliday junctions and resolves them by the introduction of nicks into two strands of like polarity. In contrast to junction recognition, which occurs without regard for DNA sequence, resolution occurs preferentially at sequences that exhibit the consensus 5′‐A/TTT↓G/C‐3′ (where ↓ indicates the site of incision). Synthetic Holliday junctions containing modified cleavage sequences have been used to investigate the mechanism of cleavage. The results indicate that specific DNA sequences are required for the correct docking of DNA into the two active sites of the RuvC dimer. In addition, using chemically modified oligonucleotides to introduce a hydrolysis‐resistant 3′‐S‐phosphorothiolate linkage at the cleavage site, it was found that, as long as the sequence requirements are fulfilled, the two incisions could be uncoupled from each other. These results indicate that RuvC protein resolves Holliday junctions by a mechanism similar to that exhibited by certain restriction enzymes.
Tighter and Convex Maximum Margin Clustering

Maximum margin principle has been successfully applied to many supervised and semi-supervised problems in machine learning. Recently, this principle was extended for clustering, referred to as Maximum Margin Clustering (MMC) and achieved promising performance in recent studies. To avoid the problem of local minima, MMC can be solved globally via convex semi-definite programming (SDP) relaxation. Although many efficient approaches have been proposed to alleviate the computational burden of SDP, convex MMCs are still not scalable for medium data sets. In this paper, we propose a novel convex optimization method, LG-MMC, which maximizes the margin of opposite clusters via “Label Generation”. It can be shown that LG-MMC is much more scalable than existing convex approaches. Moreover, we show that our convex relaxation is tighter than state-of-art convex MMCs. Experiments on seventeen UCI datasets and MNIST dataset show significant improvement over existing MMC algorithms.
Usefulness of the Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnoea scale as a measure of disability in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

BACKGROUND Methods of classifying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) depend largely upon spirometric measurements but disability is only weakly related to measurements of lung function. With the increased use of pulmonary rehabilitation, a need has been identified for a simple and standardised method of categorising disability in COPD. This study examined the validity of the Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnoea scale for this purpose. METHODS One hundred patients with COPD were recruited from an outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Assessments included the MRC dyspnoea scale, spirometric tests, blood gas tensions, a shuttle walking test, and Borg scores for perceived breathlessness before and after exercise. Health status was assessed using the St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ). The Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living (EADL) score and Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) score were also measured. RESULTS Of the patients studied, 32 were classified as having MRC grade 3 dyspnoea, 34 MRC grade 4 dyspnoea, and 34 MRC grade 5 dyspnoea. Patients with MRC grades 1 and 2 dyspnoea were not included in the study. There was a significant association between MRC grade and shuttle distance, SGRQ and CRQ scores, mood state and EADL. Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) was not associated with MRC grade. Multiple logistic regression showed that the determinants of disability appeared to vary with the level of disability. Between MRC grades 3 and 4 the significant covariates were exercise performance, SGRQ and depression score, whilst between grades 4 and 5 exercise performance and age were the major determinants. CONCLUSIONS The MRC dyspnoea scale is a simple and valid method of categorising patients with COPD in terms of their disability that could be used to complement FEV1 in the classification of COPD severity.
Adult heart block is associated with disease activity in primary Sjögren's syndrome

Objectives: Congenital heart block occurring in the foetus and neonate may be associated with maternal anti‐SS‐A/anti‐SS‐B autoantibodies (anti‐SSA/anti‐SSB). The adult atrioventricular node is generally thought to be resistant to the damaging effects of anti‐SSA/anti‐SSB. However, case reports suggest that heart block developing in adult Sjögren's syndrome (SS) patients may be associated with these autoantibodies. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between serum antibodies and heart block in adult SS patients. Methods: We abstracted data from clinic patient records. Diagnosis of primary SS was based on American–European classification criteria. Electrocardiograms (EKGs), laboratory immunology parameters, lipid profiles, and focus scores from labial salivary gland biopsies were available for 51 SS patients. Fifteen patients had follow‐up EKGs. PR interval⩾200 ms was considered to be first‐degree heart block. Results: Five patients showed prolonged PR intervals; the presence of heart block was not related to the presence of anti‐SSA antibodies. However, significant differences between patients with prolonged and normal PR intervals were seen for mean focus scores (p<0.0001), anti‐cardiolipin immunoglobulin IgG (p = 0.0009), age (p = 0.01), IgG (p = 0.02), anti‐SSB antibodies (p = 0.02), and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels (p = 0.03). These parameters correlated with prolonged PR intervals. Conclusions: These results suggest an association between disease activity, the presence of anti‐SSB antibodies, and the occurrence of first‐degree heart block in adults with primary SS.
Accelerated photovoltaic maximum power point tracking for partial shading conditions

A maximum power point control suitable for photovoltaic systems operating under uneven irradiance is proposed. Building on the observation that local maxima may occur only at specific string voltage, the searched range is reduced significantly. Thus the proposed controller is proven to identify and track the global maximum much faster than previously proposed ones. In addition the algorithm is simple, does not imply heavy computation and can be implemented in the simplest available micro-processors. Simulation results fully support the proposed approach.
Unfolding partiality and disjunctions in stable model semantics

This article studies an implementation methodology for partial and disjunctive stable models where partiality and disjunctions are unfolded from a logic program so that an implementation of stable models for normal (disjunction-free) programs can be used as the core inference engine. The unfolding is done in two separate steps. First, it is shown that partial stable models can be captured by total stable models using a simple linear and modular program transformation. Hence, reasoning tasks concerning partial stable models can be solved using an implementation of total stable models. Disjunctive partial stable models have been lacking implementations which now become available as the translation handles also the disjunctive case. Second, it is shown how total stable models of disjunctive programs can be determined by computing stable models for normal programs. Thus an implementation of stable models of normal programs can be used as a core engine for implementing disjunctive programs. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated by constructing a system for computing stable models of disjunctive programs using the SMODELS system as the core engine. The performance of the resulting system is compared to that of DLV, which is a state-of-the-art system for disjunctive programs.
Real-time estimate of period derivatives using adaptive oscillators: Application to impedance-based walking assistance

Inferring temporal derivatives (like velocity and acceleration) from a noisy position signal is a well-known challenge in control engineering, due to the intrinsic trade-off between noise filtering and estimation bandwidth. To tackle this problem, in this paper we propose a new approach specifically designed for periodic movements. This approach uses an adaptive oscillator as fundamental building block. It is a tool capable of synchronizing to a periodic input while learning its features (frequency, amplitude, .) in dedicated state variables. Since the oscillator's input and output are perfectly synchronized during steady-state regime, a non-delayed estimate of the input temporal derivatives can be obtained simply by deriving the output analytical form. Pending a (quasi-)periodic input signal, these temporal derivatives are thus synchronized with the actual kinematics, while the signal bandwidth can be arbitrarily tuned by the intrinsic dynamics of the oscillator. We further validate this approach by developing an impedance-based strategy for assisting human walking in the LOPES lower-limb exoskeleton. Preliminary results with a single participant give rise to three main conclusions. First, our method indeed provides velocity and acceleration estimates of the participant's joint kinematics which are smoother and less delayed with respect to the actual kinematics than using a standard Kalman filter. Second, closing the human-robot loop with a high-gain impedance field depending on the acceleration is not possible with a Kalman filter approach, due to unstable dynamics. In contrast, our approach tolerates high gains (up to 70% of the nominal walking torque), showing its intrinsic stability. Finally, no clear benefit of the acceleration-dependent field with respect to a simpler position-dependent field is visible regarding the reduction of metabolic cost. This last result illustrates the challenge of designing sound assistive strategies for complex tasks like walking.
The glycerolipid receptor for Helicobacter pylori (and exoenzyme S) is phosphatidylethanolamine

We have previously shown that Helicobacter pylori specifically binds to a glycerolipid species preferentially found in the antrum of the human stomach. We now show by high-pressure liquid chromatographic analysis that this species is a form of phosphatidylethanolamine and that H. pylori specifically binds to bona fide phosphatidylethanolamine as detected by a thin-layer chromatogram overlay procedure. Considerable variation in the binding of H. pylori to phosphatidylethanolamine from different sources was observed, however, suggesting the importance of the nature of the long-chain hydrophobic moiety. A similar binding specificity was shown by exoenzyme S from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, consistent with our hypothesis that that an exoenzyme S-like adhesin is responsible for the binding of H. pylori to its lipid receptors.
Choices in an Interdependent Economic Environment: Inequity Aversion and Bargaining Games

Experimental economics has revealed an underlying tension between preferences for fairness and the purely self-interested behavior assumed throughout economic theory. Though many models attempt to explain observed behavior that is inconsistent with theory, the motivations behind such deviations from theoretic equilibrium are still largely unknown. This paper investigates preferences for fairness in a controlled laboratory setting using an ultimatum game variant. Payoffs to participants are altered over several treatments to examine if subjects exhibit behavior that is consistent with a preference model which incorporates envy and guilt into an individual’s utility function. The results indicate evidence of both guilt and envy in participant behavior, and shed further light on the tension between fairness preferences and self-interest in the ultimatum bargaining game.
PTM-based VT-variability analysis and compensation of a nanoscaled comparator circuit based on finfets and resistive switches

The impact of process variability on the performance of an unbuffered nanoscaled comparator applied to hybrid nanoelectronic crossbar memory circuits is analyzed. The analysis is done for circuits based on tri-gate (TG) FinFets for 16nm, 14nm, 10nm, and 7nm technology nodes. Monte-Carlo simulations were carried out based on predictive technology models (PTM) incorporating models for metal gate granularity (MGG), line edge roughness (LER) for transistor length and fin width. The results show that the spread of the amplifier's trigger voltage can be larger than 200mV. A static VT-offset cancelation scheme exploiting the multilevel capabilities of resistive switches is proposed and statistically analyzed. The results show that the VT-variability can be reduced below 10mV by using the proposed RS-based reference circuits.