Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two-phase multiobjective genetic algorithm for constrained circuit clustering on FPGAs

In this paper, we propose a novel technique based on multiobjective genetic algorithms (MOGA) to solve the circuit clustering problem in field-programmable gate array (FPGA) computer aided design (CAD) flow. As the circuit clustering result is subsequently used by the circuit place-and-route process at the post-synthesis stage, the clustering quality significantly affects the routing cost and the utilisation of FPGA. Among clustering metrics, reducing the global interconnects (global nets) between configurable logic blocks (CLBs) can be viewed as the most efficient precondition to improve the clustering quality. Since the circuit has many connection properties, it is difficult to identify the proper component combinations for sub-circuits that optimise interconnect, and it is even more complicated when CLBs pose constraints. In our technique, we break the circuit clustering task into two phases. We firstly apply the MOGA to identify the best component combinations to FPGA CLBs while respecting constraints, and a second MOGA takes clustering results from the first phase and performs further optimisation. Our proposed method is tested using the MCNC-20 benchmark. The results show that the proposed technique produces better results than state-of-art algorithms in reducing global nets. The overall improvement is up to 4.33% and 14.24% in reducing the cluster number and the global net number compared to the FPGA circuit packer, iRAC, which is considered to be the best clustering method to reduce global nets.
A new method for magnetic position and orientation tracking

The method is based on two-axis generation of a quasi-static rotating magnetic field and three-axis sensing. Two mutually orthogonal coils fed with phase-quadrature currents comprise the excitation source, which is equal to a mechanically rotating magnetic dipole. The resulting excitation field rotates elliptically at any position in the near-field region. The AC part of the squared field magnitude is a sinusoidal wave at twice the excitation frequency. The following set of parameters uniquely characterize the excitation at the sensor's position: the phase of the squared field waveform, relative to the excitation currents, the minimum field value, the ratio of the field extremes, and the orientation of the excitation field plane. Simple and explicit analytical expressions are given which relate the first three parameters to the azimuth, elevation, and distance from the source to the sensor, respectively. The orientation of the sensor axes, relative to the plane of the excitation, can easily be determined by comparing the phase and amplitude of the measured signals against the phase and amplitude of the excitation field at the sensor's position. Apart from simplicity, the proposed method increases the speed of tracking; a single period of excitation is in principle sufficient to obtain all of the information needed to determine both the sensor's position and orientation. A continuous sinusoidal excitation mode allows an efficient phase-locking and accurate detection of the sensor output. It also improves the electromagnetic compatibility of the method.
Generic ring fourier descriptors for shape description

The traditional Fourier descriptor (FD) can only be used to objects with single boundary. We develop a novel method, Generic Ring Fourier Descriptor (GRFD), which can be applicable to gray-scale image. Firstly, we take an unconventional view of the traditional FDs, as we treat the boundary as a closed-curve in a 2-D binary image. Consequently, the generated FD (GFD) is proposed such that it can be applicable to a closed-curve with gray value in an image. Then GFD is applied to concentric circles with different radius in the image and GRFDs are derived. Objects can be represented by these GRFDs which are invariant to translation, scaling and rotation. Experiments using images from the coil-20 database have been conducted to compare the performance of the proposed descriptors with Hu's moments and Complex moments (CMs). The proposed method demonstrated superior performance.
Spectrin's E2/E3 ubiquitin conjugating/ligating activity is diminished in sickle cells

Erythrocyte spectrin contains E2/E3 ubiquitin conjugating/ligating activity in its α subunit. Ankyrin is a target of spectrin's E2/E3 ubiquitin conjugating/ligating activity in vitro and in vivo. We compare the ubiquitination levels of ankyrin mediated by control and sickle cell spectrin using a biotinylated ubiquitin cell‐free assay. Sickle cell spectrin has diminished ability to transfer ubiquitin from an intermediate spectrin–ubiquitin thioester adduct (α′ spectrin) to ankyrin, which may be due to glutathiolation of spectrin's E2 and/or E3 active site cysteines. There is also a diminished ability of the sickle cell ankyrin to serve as target of spectrin's E2/E3 activity, probably due to oxidative damage to ankyrin. A direct correlation exists between the α′/α spectrin ratio and spectrin's ability to ubiquitinate ankyrin. There is also an inverse correlation between severity of the disease and the α′/α spectrin ratio in SS erythrocytes. These results suggest that reduced spectrin E2/E3 activity is an important determinant of sickle cell severity. Am. J. Hematol. 79:89–96, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Improving Brain Delivery of Biomolecules via BBB Modulation in Mouse and Rat: Detection using MRI, NIRF, and Mass Spectrometry

There is an urgent need to develop new and alternative methods to deliver functional biomolecules to the brain for diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases. The goal of this study was to evaluate the activity of blood-brain barrier (BBB) modulators (i.e., HAV and ADT peptides) to deliver functional biomolecules (i.e., galbumin, IRdye800cw-cLABL, and cIBR7) to the brains of mice and rats. HAV6, cHAVc3, and ADTC5 peptides but not HAV4 peptide significantly enhanced the brain delivery of 65 kDa galbumin compared to control in Balb/c mice as quantified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Ten-minute pretreatment with ADTC5 peptide still significantly increased brain delivery of galbumin; however, no enhancement was observed after 10-min pretreatment with HAV6. There was no enhancement of galbumin deposition following 40-min pretreatment with ADTC5 or HAV6, suggesting a short duration of the BBB opening for large molecules. ADTC5 peptide also improved the brain delivery of IRdye800cw-cLABL peptide about 3.5-fold compared to control in Balb/c mice as detected by near infrared fluorescence (NIRF). The BBB modulator activity of ADTC5 to deliver cIBR7 peptide was also evaluated in vivo using Sprague-Dawley rats. The amount of cIBR7 in the brain was detected by LC-MS/MS. ADTC5 peptide enhanced the delivery of cIBR7 peptide into rat brain about 4-fold compared to control and the intact cIBR7 can be efficiently extracted and detected in rat brain. In conclusion, HAV and ADT peptides enhance the brain delivery of functional peptides (e.g., cLABL and cIBR7) and protein (e.g., 65 kDa galbumin) in two animal models, and the duration of the BBB opening for a large molecule (e.g., galbumin) was short.
Hierarchical Bayesian LASSO for a negative binomial regression

ABSTRACT Numerous researches have been carried out to explain the relationship between the count data y and numbers of covariates x through a generalized linear model (GLM). This paper proposes a hierarchical Bayesian least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) solution using six different prior models to the negative binomial regression. Latent variables Z have been introduced to simplify the GLM to a standard linear regression model. The proposed models regard two conjugate zero-mean Normal priors for the regression parameters and three independent priors for the variance: the Exponential, Inverse-Gamma and Scaled Inverse- distributions. Different types of priors result in different amounts of shrinkage. A Metropolis–Hastings-within-Gibbs algorithm is used to compute the posterior distribution of the parameters of interest through a data augmentation process. Based on the posterior samples, an original double likelihood ratio test statistic have been proposed to choose the most relevant covariates and shrink the insignificant coefficients to zero. Numerical experiments on a real-life data set prove that Bayesian LASSO methods achieved significantly better predictive accuracy and robustness than the classical maximum likelihood estimation and the standard Bayesian inference.
N‐acetylcysteine attenuates the decline in muscle Na+,K+‐pump activity and delays fatigue during prolonged exercise in humans

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been linked with both depressed Na+,K+‐pump activity and skeletal muscle fatigue. This study investigated N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) effects on muscle Na+,K+‐pump activity and potassium (K+) regulation during prolonged, submaximal endurance exercise. Eight well‐trained subjects participated in a double‐blind, randomised, crossover design, receiving either NAC or saline (CON) intravenous infusion at 125 mg kg−1 h−1 for 15 min, then 25 mg kg−1 h−1 for 20 min prior to and throughout exercise. Subjects cycled for 45 min at 71%, then continued at 92% until fatigue. Vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were taken before exercise, at 45 min and fatigue and analysed for maximal in vitro Na+,K+‐pump activity (K+‐stimulated 3‐O‐methyfluorescein phosphatase; 3‐O‐MFPase). Arterialized venous blood was sampled throughout exercise and analysed for plasma K+ and other electrolytes. Time to fatigue at 92% was reproducible in preliminary trials (c.v. 5.6 ± 0.6%) and was prolonged with NAC by 23.8 ± 8.3% (NAC 6.3 ± 0.5 versus CON 5.2 ± 0.6 min, P < 0.05). Maximal 3‐O‐MFPase activity decreased from rest by 21.6 ± 2.8% at 45 min and by 23.9 ± 2.3% at fatigue (P < 0.05). NAC attenuated the percentage decline in maximal 3‐O‐MFPase activity (%Δactivity) at 45 min (P < 0.05) but not at fatigue. When expressed relative to work done, the %Δactivity‐to‐work ratio was attenuated by NAC at 45 min and fatigue (P < 0.005). The rise in plasma [K+] during exercise and the Δ[K+]‐to‐work ratio at fatigue were attenuated by NAC (P < 0.05). These results confirm that the antioxidant NAC attenuates muscle fatigue, in part via improved K+ regulation, and point to a role for ROS in muscle fatigue.
Particle swarm optimisation algorithm with forgetting character

In order to improve the performance of particle swarm optimisation algorithm in the complicated function optimisation, a new improved measure was advanced. The new algorithm only memorised the individual information of finite steps in the iterations and utilised the average information of swarm. Due to the individuals forgetting the former best positions, the forgetting character was hold. The ability of exploration was improved because of using forgetting character and average information of swarm. The simulations of complicated function optimisation show that the new algorithm can find the global best solution more easily than the common particle swarm optimisation algorithm.
Feasibility analysis of a HAP-LEO optical link for data relay purposes

The aim of the paper is to prove the technical feasibility and the advantages of a joint RF and optical communication system. The reference scenario foresees the use of a HAP (high altitude platform) or multiple HAPs for data relay purposes. HAPs are based on airships or balloons placed at about 20 km height and they combine both the advantages of terrestrial networks (the highest mast in the town) and of satellites (a LEO in very low orbit). As earth observation (EO) satellites need the download of huge amount of data, HAPs could establish an optical link with a LEO EO satellite in order to exploit the high data rate. Optical space communications offer a wide bandwidth and low interference channel. By the use of this system, it is possible to increase the amount of information downloaded by a high altitude platform from a LEO satellite, reaching data rate up to 10 Gbit/s. There are some critical points to face in order to dimension this link. First of all, a fast pointing acquisition and tracking procedure must be implemented. Another point is related to the high relative speed between LEO satellite and HAP that leads to an important contribution of Doppler shift in the received signal spectrum, this phenomenon is not stochastic and it can be managed by a tunable filter. The third point to focus on, strictly related to the transmitter design, is the optical carrier choice. It is important to take into account the atmospheric layer from 20 to 100 km, in terms of absorption and scattering spectra, temperature and refractive index variations in altitude and time varying phenomena. The transmitter is designed choosing the best performing technology in different optical window frequencies in which the channel presents low absorption and scattering, this choice involves the modulation format, as well. Three optical windows are available: 850nm, 1064nm and 1550nm. The first one is the most affected by Doppler effect but offers high gain telescope and low cost components; devices that work in the second window can transmit high amount of power but the modulation constraints of laser source can make the design more complicated; the third window is the most used in terrestrial communication systems and many devices are available, the Doppler effect is lower than at other frequencies and for this carrier it is possible to carry out DPSK (differential phase shift keying) modulation schemes other than classical OOK (on off keying) techniques. Moreover, HAPs could use terrestrial electronics equipments in order to store the data received by the optical link (e.g. hard disks). The link between HAP and ground can be exploited by the use of high data rate RF links in Ka-band or X-band (mainly used in EO satellites), V-band (allocated for HAPs) or W-Band (the new frontier). Despite the impact by weather and atmospherics, it was demonstrated that the availability of W-band satellite links is at least 95% (Fragale, 2004). This scenario overcomes the limits imposed by the short time window for EO satellites data download, using an advanced "store and forward-data relay" concept
Combined use of biochemical and volumetric biomarkers to assess the risk of conversion of mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease.

INTRODUCTION The aim of our study was to evaluate the usefulness of several biomarkers in predicting the conversion of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease (AD): β-amyloid and tau proteins in cerebrospinal fluid and the volumetric evaluation of brain structures including the hippocampus in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MATERIAL AND METHODS MRI of the brain with the volumetric assessment of hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, posterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, superior, medial and inferior temporal gyri was performed in 40 patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. Each patient had a lumbar puncture to evaluate β-amyloid and tau protein (total and phosphorylated) levels in the cerebrospinal fluid. The observation period was 2 years. RESULTS Amongst 40 patients with MCI, 9 (22.5%) converted to AD within 2 years of observation. Discriminant analysis was conducted and sensitivity for MCI conversion to AD on the basis of volumetric measurements was 88.9% and specificity 90.3%; on the basis of β-amyloid and total tau, sensitivity was 77.8% and specificity 83.9%. The combined use of the results of volumetric measurements with the results of proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid did not increase the sensitivity (88.9%) but increased specificity to 96.8% and the percentage of correct classification to 95%.
Leveraging Transient Resources for Incremental Graph Processing on Heterogeneous Infrastructures

Incremental graph processing as emerged as a key technology, with applications in many different areas. These applications, regardless of their differences, have the common characteristic of continuous processing, thus requiring the system to run on a 24/7 basis. For deployments in public cloud infrastructures, these long term deployments may incur very high costs. However, cloud providers offer transient lived resources, with significantly reduced prices compared to the regular resources, with the proviso that the former can be evicted at any time. Thus, this type of resources is a huge opportunity to significantly reduce operational costs, missed so far by existing approaches. In this work we present Hourglass, a deployment engine for existing incremental graph processing systems. The system aims at leveraging the resource heterogeneity in public cloud infrastructures, as well as transient resource markets, to significantly reduce operational costs. Hourglass exploits features of the workload, such as the imbalance in vertex communication patterns, to do a resource-aware distribution of graph partitions among the existing machines. By constantly analyzing transient market conditions, it is able to select the cheapest deployment configuration in each moment, allowing a periodic reconfiguration of the system. Knowledge about the computation being performed allows Hourglass to choose the right moment to transition between deployments. This allows the underlying system to operate on a fraction of the cost of a system composed exclusively of reserved machines, with minimal impact in performance.
Robust Synthesis Scheme for Secure Multi-Beam Directional Modulation in Broadcasting Systems

Recently, directional modulation has become an active research area in wireless communications due to its security. Unlike existing research work, we consider a multi-beam directional modulation (MBDM) scenario with imperfect desired direction knowledge. In such a setting, a robust synthesis scheme is proposed for MBDM in broadcasting systems. In order to implement the secure transmission of a confidential message, the beamforming vector of the confidential message is designed to preserve its power as possible in the desired directions by minimizing its leakage to the eavesdropper directions while the projection matrix of artificial noise (AN) is to minimize the effect on the desired directions and force AN to the eavesdropper directions by maximizing the average receive signal-to-artificial-noise ratio at desired receivers. Simulation results show that compared with conventional methods, the proposed robust scheme achieves much better bit error rate performance along desired directions for a given signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). From the secrecy-rate aspect, the proposed scheme performs better than conventional methods for almost all SNR regions. In particular, in the medium and high SNR regions, the rate improvement of the proposed scheme over conventional methods is significant.
Boundary Feedback Stabilization of an Unstable Heat Equation

In this paper we study the problem of boundary feedback stabilization for the unstable heat equation ut(x,t) = uxx(x,t)+a(x) u(x,t). This equation can be viewed as a model of a heat conducting rod in which not only is the heat being diffused (mathematically due to the diffusive term uxx) but also the destabilizing heat is generating (mathematically due to the term a u with a >0). We show that for any given continuously differentiable function a and any given positive constant $\l$ we can explicitly construct a boundary feedback control law such that the solution of the equation with the control law converges to zero exponentially at the rate of $\l$. This is a continuation of the recent work of Boskovic, Krstic, and Liu [IEEE Trans. Automat. Control, 46 (2001), pp. 2022--2028] and Balogh and Krstic [European J. Control, 8 (2002), pp. 165--176].
A unified controllability/observability theory for some stochastic and deterministic partial differential equations

The purpose of this paper is to present a universal approach to the study of controllability/observability problems for infinite dimensional systems governed by some stochastic/deterministic partial differential equations. The crucial analytic tool is a class of fundamental weighted identities for stochastic/deterministic partial differential operators, via which one can derive the desired global Carleman estimates. This method can also give a unified treatment of the stabilization, global unique continuation, and inverse problems for some stochastic/deterministic partial differential equations.
A Detailed Analysis of the GOOSE Message Structure in an IEC 61850 Standard-Based Substation Automation System

In order to implement an IEC 61850 communication system, there needs to be a complete understanding of the methods, tools and technologies associated with the communication network, protocol and messaging underpinning the services. The IEC 61850 standard allows for communication between devices within a substation where a peer-to-peer model for Generic Substation Events (GSE) services is used for fast and reliable communication between Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). One of the messages associated with the GSE services is the Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) message. A detailed analysis of the structure for the GOOSE message is required for fault diagnosis, or when developing hardware that is compliant with the IEC 61850 standard. This is one of the stated objectives of the Centre for Substation Automation and Energy Management Systems (CSAEMS) in the training of prospective specialists and engineers. A case study is presented where the structure of the GOOSE message as described in IEC 61850-8-1 is confirmed using firstly simulation, then experimentation with actual IEDs. In the first instance the message structure is confirmed by simulation of the GOOSE message and capturing it using network protocol analyzer software, after which analysis of the packet frame is performed. Data encoding of the GOOSE Protocol Data Unit (PDU) is analyzed with emphasis on the Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN. 1) Basic Encoding Rules (BER). The second part of the case study is conducted through experimentation with IEDs which are used to generate a GOOSE message and network protocol analyzer software is used to analyze the structure. Both the simulation and practical experimentation with actual devices confirm the GOOSE message structure as specified in part 8-1 of the IEC 61850 standard.
Thermal Aware Global Routing of VLSI Chips for Enhanced Reliability

In this paper we propose thermal aware global routing of interconnects which reduces the probability of failure of chips due to interconnect failures. Temperature has a very serious effect on the mean time to failure (MTF) of interconnects because of electromigration. We present TAGORE, a thermal aware global router. TAGORE achieves a reduction in the probability of failure by routing more wires in the colder regions of the chip and less wires in the hotter regions of the chip. We observed that TAGORE reduced the number of wires in the hottest region of a chip by up to 19.95 % and by an average of 12.29 %. This resulted in a decrease in the failure rate by up to 292 failures per million hours of operation. We also perform an analytical examination of the reduction in the probability of interconnect failure and the failure rate. The analysis shows that there is a reduction in the probability of failure of a chip if fewer wires are routed in the hot regions. This approach to reliability improvement does not require any addition of redundant wires or vias.