Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new two-step Σ∆ architecture column-parallel ADC for CMOS image sensor

—The demand for high resolution CMOS image sensors (CIS) is rising. Analog-to-digital converters (ADC) represent one of the major bottleneck of CIS. One of the candidates to overcome the existing limits is the column-parallel ADC. Column-parallel extended counting ADCs (EC-ADC) are able to reach high resolution thanks to their two-step conversion. However the EC-ADC area increases due to the two-step design. A solution is to use the same hardware twice to perform both steps. This paper proposes a 14-b, 100 kHz Nyquist frequency, two-step incremental Σ∆ (IΣ∆) analog-to-digital converter suitable for column-parallel CIS. Several architectures with different modulator order are compared to determine the most promising one. The proposed architecture, compared to a one-step second order modulator, reduces the total oversampling ratio (OSR) from 150 to 60 to reach a resolution of 14-b. The operational transconductance amplifiers (OTA) is the most critical part in our ADCs. Its required DC-gain is around 80 dB for a 120 MHz gain-bandwidth product (GBW). The ideal DNL and INL of our two-step IΣ∆ ADC are respectively +0.55/-0.6 LSB and +0.5/-0.5 LSB. This work achieves a SNDR of 89 dB when a full scale sinusoid of 100 kHz is applied. Index Terms—ADC, incremental, sigma-delta (Σ∆), two-step, CMOS Image Sensor, column-parallel ADC, second-order Σ∆
Worker Heterogeneity and the Economic Importance of Risk and Matching : Evidence from Contractual Data and Field Experiments

We measure the importance of risk within a firm that pays its workers piece rates, exploiting data from payroll records and a series of field experiments conducted within the firm. These data are used to identify and estimate worker preferences, abilities and risk exposure. These estimates are combined to measure the workers’ cost of risk: their willingness to pay to avoid risky contracts. We find that costs of risk are, on average, small (1% of daily earnings). However, these costs are found to vary substantially across workers (reaching up to 39% of daily earnings), reflecting substantial heterogeneity in worker productivity and risk tolerance. Furthermore, we measure the potential benefits to the firm of reducing risk exposure to risk-averse agents by matching workers to work conditions. We find that matching could increase overall firm profits by up to 12%. JEL Codes: J33, M52, C93
Approaches to dimensionality reduction in proteomic biomarker studies

Mass-spectra based proteomic profiles have received widespread attention as potential tools for biomarker discovery and early disease diagnosis. A major data-analytical problem involved is the extremely high dimensionality (i.e. number of features or variables) of proteomic data, in particular when the sample size is small. This article reviews dimensionality reduction methods that have been used in proteomic biomarker studies. It then focuses on the problem of selecting the most appropriate method for a specific task or dataset, and proposes method combination as a potential alternative to single-method selection. Finally, it points out the potential of novel dimension reduction techniques, in particular those that incorporate domain knowledge through the use of informative priors or causal inference.
Channel Hopping Multiple Access with Packet Trains for Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract : We present a new medium-access control protocol for ad hoc networks that does not require carrier sensing or the preassignment of unique codes to nodes to ensure that intended receivers receive unicast, or multicast, or broadcast data packets without interference from hidden sources. We call this new protocol channel hopping access with trains (CHAT). CHAT combines the notion of packet trains with synchronous channel hopping to improve channel utilization. We compare CHAT against two of the most efficient protocols proposed to date based on the preassignment of codes (MACA-CT), or channel hopping with no predefined code assignment (CHMA) via simulations. The results show that CHAT provides considerable improvement in the throughput of an ad hoc network for unicast traffic, broadcast traffic and mixed traffic consisting of both unicast and broadcast transmissions. CHAT is applicable to ad hoc networks based on commercial off-the- shelf spread spectrum radios operating in unlicensed frequency bands.
Personal dietary assessment using mobile devices

Dietary intake provides valuable insights for mounting intervention programs for prevention of disease. With growing concern for adolescent obesity, the need to accurately measure diet becomes imperative. Assessment among adolescents is problematic as this group has irregular eating patterns and have less enthusiasm for recording food intake. Preliminary studies among adolescents suggest that innovative use of technology may improve the accuracy of diet information from young people. In this paper we describe further development of a novel dietary assessment system using mobile devices. This system will generate an accurate account of daily food and nutrient intake among adolescents. The mobile computing device provides a unique vehicle for collecting dietary information that reduces burden on records that are obtained using more classical approaches. Images before and after foods are eaten can be used to estimate the amount of food consumed.
Analytical and Experimental Studies of the Mechanics of Deformation in a Solid With a Wavy Surface Profile

The analytical solution is obtained for a semi-infinite linear elastic solid with a sinusoidal, "wavy" surface profile subject to applied strain. The amplitude A of a deformed wavy surface is related to the initial amplitude A o and the applied strain e a through the simple expression A =A 0 (1 - ea). This relation is confirmed independently by finite element analyses and experimental measurements of strained wavy poly(dimethylsiloxane) surfaces. Analytical solutions are also obtained for a wavy solid subject to stretch and lateral displacement.
Detection and Identification of Old World Leishmania by High Resolution Melt Analysis

Background Three major forms of human disease, cutaneous leishmaniasis, visceral leishmaniasis and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, are caused by several leishmanial species whose geographic distribution frequently overlaps. These Leishmania species have diverse reservoir hosts, sand fly vectors and transmission patterns. In the Old World, the main parasite species responsible for leishmaniasis are Leishmania infantum, L. donovani, L. tropica, L. aethiopica and L. major. Accurate, rapid and sensitive diagnostic and identification procedures are crucial for the detection of infection and characterization of the causative leishmanial species, in order to provide accurate treatment, precise prognosis and appropriate public health control measures. Methods/Principal Findings High resolution melt analysis of a real time PCR product from the Internal Transcribed Spacer-1 rRNA region was used to identify and quantify Old World Leishmania in 300 samples from human patients, reservoir hosts and sand flies. Different characteristic high resolution melt analysis patterns were exhibited by L. major, L. tropica, L. aethiopica, and L. infantum. Genotyping by high resolution melt analysis was verified by DNA sequencing or restriction fragment length polymorphism. This new assay was able to detect as little as 2-4 ITS1 gene copies in a 5 µl DNA sample, i.e., less than a single parasite per reaction. Conclusions/Significance This new technique is useful for rapid diagnosis of leishmaniasis and simultaneous identification and quantification of the infecting Leishmania species. It can be used for diagnostic purposes directly from clinical samples, as well as epidemiological studies, reservoir host investigations and vector surveys.
Modeling intentions to sanction among anglers in a catch-and-release recreational fishery for golden dorado (Salminus brasiliensis) in Salta, Argentina

ABSTRACT Catch-and-release (C&R) angling is a powerful tool for reducing impacts on recreationally targeted fishes. Although C&R can be mandated in fisheries through regulation, voluntary adoption and informal management are often critical due to minimal enforcement opportunities. Anglers themselves may play a role in increasing C&R adoption through interpersonal sanctioning (i.e., self-policing). To date, little research has examined factors that predict the willingness of anglers to sanction others’ behavior. We present results from surveys (n = 49) with anglers in Argentina to explore their motivations to sanction other anglers within their stakeholder community. Anglers with the strongest intentions to sanction were younger and more open to adopting best practices, identified fishing as important to their lifestyle, and expressed high environmental concern relative to other anglers. Our findings highlight the role that recreational anglers can play in promoting best practices via interpersonal sanctioning and identify barriers that inhibit this type of action.
Open interfaces and databases of a modular Internet charge calculation and accounting system

While differentiated services (DiffServ) offer a suitable technology support for quality-of-service (QoS) in multi-service networks, there is a lack of appropriate and technically feasible pricing schemes which would mainly provide an incentive for customers to choose efficiently among various service classes. This paper presents the basics of an implementation of recent developments in the area of charging differentiated services, in detail an Internet charge calculation and accounting system (ICCAS), including its modular architecture, components, open interfaces and databases. Finally, the explicit application of the newly developed cumulus pricing scheme (CPS) onto the ICCAS and DiffServ is discussed as a suitable example use.
Virtual machine placement algorithm for virtualized desktop infrastructure

Finding optimal placement of virtual machines on numerous physical servers is one kind of bin-packing problem, which is known as an NP-hard. We propose the use of a heuristic algorithm to solve this problem where the virtual machines play the roles of personal desktops. As we have found out that the changes in the amount of hardware resources required by a desktop often repeat a certain pattern, in the proposed algorithm, we uses the correlation between the patterns to find the group of desktops that are most suitable for sharing the same physical server. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can be used to reduce the number of physical servers required for hosting a certain number of virtual desktops.
A flexible solution for detection and tracking of multiple objects

This paper proposes a two-level approach to the multiple objects tracking problem. One particle filterbased tracker will search the whole state space for new hypotheses, and when a hypothesis becomes strong enough, an individual object tracker will be activated, which will track it until the object is lost. The initialization tracker and the individual object trackers use two types of cues, a stereovision-based obstacle grid and a symmetry measure computed by grayscale image processing. The proposed solution is a simple and robust one, adaptable to different types of object models and extendable to different types of sensors.
Malaria circumsporozoite protein inhibits protein synthesis in mammalian cells

Native Plasmodium circumsporozoite (CS) protein, translocated by sporozoites into the cytosol of host cells, as well as recombinant CS constructs introduced into the cytoplasm by liposome fusion or transient transfection, all lead to inhibition of protein synthesis in mammalian cells. The following findings suggest that this inhibition of translation is caused by a binding of the CS protein to ribosomes. (i) The distribution of native CS protein translocated by sporozoites into the cytoplasm as well as microinjected recombinant CS protein suggests association with ribosomes. (ii) Recombinant CS protein binds to RNase‐sensitive sites on rough microsomes. (iii) Synthetic peptides representing the conserved regions I and II‐plus of the P.falciparum CS protein displace recombinant CS protein from rough microsomes with dissociation constants in the nanomolar range. (iv) Synthetic peptides representing region I from the P.falciparum CS protein and region II‐plus from the P.falciparum, P.berghei or P.vivax CS protein inhibit in vitro translation. We propose that Plasmodium manipulates hepatocyte protein synthesis to meet the requirements of a rapidly developing schizont. Since macrophages appear to be particularly sensitive to the presence of CS protein in the cytosol, inhibition of translation may represent a novel immune evasion mechanism of Plasmodium.
On unsupervised grammar induction from untagged corpora

In this paper we describe the theoretical motivation and the implementation of an unsupervised morphology induction algorithm. We show that we can induce morphologies with very high precision, using simple unsupervised statistical algorithms. The results are not only relevant from a theoretical point of view, but they also have various potential applications in natural language processing.
Opportunities for AI in Intelligent Web-Based Technology-Supported Learning

The Web is still changing at a rapid rate. Principles that define the Web 2.0 are now better understood than a few years ago, but continue to evolve. The Semantic Web is coming of age, resulting, for instance, in a significant amount of data now being available as Linked Open Data. Advanced Web services make sophisticated functionality such as entity extraction and location-data available for free. Against this background, we feel that the potential of today's Web for intelligent technology-supported learning is under-exploited. Especially for AI exciting research opportunities arise from building on top of available data and services. In this paper, we sketch the current state of the art of Web data and services, highlight potential future development and point out opportunities and challenges for Web-based technology-supported learning.
Integrin Expression in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Loss of the Physiological Integrin Expression Pattern Correlates with Disease Progression

The integrins are a family of heterodimeric transmembrane signaling receptors that mediate the adhesive properties of epithelial cells affecting cell growth and differentiation. In many epithelial malignancies, altered integrin expression is associated with tumor progression and often correlates with unfavorable prognosis. However, only few studies have investigated the role of integrin expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Using a novel quantifying immunofluorescence-staining assay, we investigated the expression of the integrins α2β1, α3β1, α6β1, and α6β4 in primary ESCC of 36 patients who underwent surgical resection. Magnitude and distribution of expression were analyzed in primary tumor samples and autologous esophageal squamous epithelium. The persistence of the physiologically polarized expression of the subunits α6, β1, and β4 in the tumor tissue was significantly associated with prolonged relapse-free survival (p = 0.028, p = 0.034, p = 0.006). In contrast, patients with reduced focal α6 expression at the tumor invasion front shared a significantly shortened relapse-free survival compared to patients with strong α6 expression at their stromal surfaces, as it was regularly observed in normal esophageal epithelium (p = 0.001). Multivariate regression analysis identified the maintenance of strong α6 immunoreactivity at the invasion front as an independent prognostic factor for increased relapse-free and disease-specific survival (p = 0.003; p = 0.003). Our findings suggest that alterations in both pattern and magnitude of integrin expression may play a major role in the disease progression of ESCC patients. Particularly, the distinct expression of the integrins α6β4 and α6β1 at the invasion front as well as the maintenance of a polarized integrin expression pattern in the tumor tissue may serve as valuable new markers to assess the aggressiveness of ESCC.
Reconfigurable foot-to-gripper leg for underwater bottom operator, Hexaquad

This paper presents the development of a configurable leg-to-arm for configurable robot, named Hexapod-to-Quadruped (Hexaquad) robot, which is designed and developed for riverbed/seabed exploration and related works. Reconfigurable legged robot, one of robotics research areas, is generally focused on optimizing the usage of leg during locomotion. Until recently, most of the researches have emphasized on leg reconfigurable design in order to solve issues related to fault tolerant, stability, multitasking and energy efficiency. However, the emphasis of Hexaquad robot is on providing optimum leg usage, actuation configuration as well as satisfying the legged robot stability criterion in reconfiguration mechanism. Inspired by foot-to-gripper (FTG) transformation of crab chelipads, each leg of the proposed Hexaquad robot have mass affect avoidance. The minimum torque on each leg joint is calculated as well as FTG using static torque calculation on multi-link structure before selecting the actuator/motor. Performance tests are done by performing fundamental testing on optimum standing posture, stress and displacement analysis on FTG model, including gripping tests to several shapes of objects both in the air and underwater environment.
Sodium ion ordering in NaxCoO2: Electron diffraction study

The layered sodium cobalt oxide NaxCoO2 is studied by electron diffraction for a wide range of sodium contents, 0.15 , x, 0.75. An extensive series of ordered Na ion-Na vacancy superlattices is found beyond the simple hexagonal average structure. The most strongly developed superlattice is found for the composition Na0.5CoO2, which displays Co 3+ /C o 4+ charge ordering at low temperatures. The structural principle for some of the observed ordering schemes, particularly near x = 0.5, is, surprisingly, the presence of lines of Na ions and vacancies rather than simply maximized Na-Na separations.
SSR marker-assisted screening of commercial tomato genotypes under salt stress

Salt stress was applied to tomato commercial genotypes to study adverse effects on their phenotypic traits. Three were saline tolerant (San Miguel, Romelia and Llanero), two were mildly tolerant (Perfect peel HF1 and Heinz 1350) whereas the remaining were sensitive. Genotyping cultivars using 19 polymorphic SSRs out of 25 tested produced a total of 70 alleles with an average of 3.68 alleles per locus and PIC values ranging from 0.22 (SSR 26, 92, 66 and TG35) to 0.82 (SSR 356). Principal component analysis (PCA) showed two contrasting panels discriminating tolerant and sensitive groups and one panel with scattered genotypes. STRUCTURE analysis clustered genotypes within three groups in accordance with their salt stress behavior. The success of tomato salt-tolerance breeding programs can be enhanced through molecular characterization of diversity within commercial cultivars that adapt differently to stress conditions. To this end, we combined phenotypes and SSR marker-genotypes to seek sources of salt tolerance that might be tomato species-specific. We integrated and represented genotype-phenotype associations from multiple loci into a multi-layer network representation. It is a systemic view linking discriminating genotypes to salt stress phenotypes, which may guide strategies for the introgression of valuable traits in target tomato varieties to overcome salinity.
Development and Reproducibility of a Computed Tomography–Based Measurement for Upper Body Subcutaneous Neck Fat

Background Upper body subcutaneous neck fat (UBSF) is a unique fat depot anatomically separate from visceral abdominal fat that appears to be associated with cardiometabolic risk above and beyond generalized adiposity. We sought to develop a protocol to quantify UBSF using multidetector computed tomography measurements. Methods and Results Protocol development was performed in participants from the Framingham Heart Study who had participated in the multidetector computed tomography scanning substudy, consisting of chest scans. Volumetric assessment of UBSF was defined by 40 contiguous 0.625‐mm slices superior to the body of the sternum. The reader manually traced the chest to identify total neck fat. Breast tissue exterior to the chest wall was excluded. Subcutaneous and visceral fat volumes were obtained using standard protocols. Age‐ and sex‐adjusted Pearson correlation coefficients were used to assess the association among UBSF, traditional adiposity measures, and cardiometabolic risk factors. Inter‐ and intrareader reproducibility was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients. Volumetric assessments were obtained in 92 participants because 8 scans were not readable (51% women; mean age: 59 years [women], 58 years [men]). The mean volume of UBSF was 310 cm3 for women and 345 cm3 for men. Intra‐ and interreader class correlation coefficients were 0.99 and 0.99, respectively. UBSF was correlated with waist circumference (r=0.90), neck circumference (r=0.75), body mass index (r=0.89), subcutaneous adipose tissue (r=0.87), and visceral adipose tissue (r=0.86). Conclusions UBSF can be quantified reproducibly using computed tomography in a community‐dwelling sample from the Framingham Heart Study.
First DENIS I-band extragalactic catalog

This paper presents the rst I-band photomet- ric catalog of the brightest galaxies extracted from the Deep Near Infrared Survey of the Southern Sky (DENIS) An automatic galaxy recognition program has been de- veloped to build this provisional catalog. The method is based on a discriminating analysis. The most discrimi- nant parameter to separate galaxies from stars is proved to be the peak intensity of an object divided by its ar- ray. Its eciency is better than 99%. The nominal ac- curacy for galaxy coordinates calculated with the Guide Star Catalog is about 6 arcsec. The cross-identication with galaxies available in the Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic DAtabase (LEDA) allows a calibraton of the I-band pho- tometry with the sample of Mathewson et Al. Thus, the catalog contains total I-band magnitude, isophotal di- ameter, axis ratio, position angle and a rough estimate of the morphological type code for 20260 galaxies. The internal completeness of this catalog reaches magnitude Ilim =1 4 :5, with a photometric accuracy of 0:18 m. 25% of the Southern sky has been processed in this study. This quick look analysis allows us to start a radio and spectrographic follow-up long before the end of the survey.
A tool for the maintenance of C++ programs

The author describes a software tool that helps programmers understand object-oriented software systems written in C++. This task is accomplished by providing information about the set of classes and files of which the system is comprised and the relationships among them. The tool described enables its users to browse easily through the system on the basis of the relations among its classes, files, and even identifiers. In addition, the flexible use of global text styles enhances the readability of the source code. The implementation of the tool is described. In particular, problems are mentioned that arise when performing static analysis of C++ programs. <<ETX>>