Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asymmetric Gate Schottky-Barrier Graphene Nanoribbon FETs for Low-Power Design

The ambipolar behavior limits the performance of Schottky-barrier-type graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistors (SB-GNRFETs). We propose an asymmetric gate (AG) design for SB-GNRFETs, and show that it can significantly reduce the IOFF. Simulation results indicate at least 40% and 5× improvement in the subthreshold swing and the ION/IOFF ratio, respectively. We build an accurate semianalytical closed-form model for the current-voltage characteristics of SB-GNRFETs. The proposed Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE)-compatible model considering various design parameters and process variation effects, which enables efficient circuit-level simulations of SB-GNRFET-based circuits. Simulation results of benchmark circuits show that the average energy-delay product of the AG SB-GNRFETs is only ~22% of that of a symmetric gate for the ideal case and ~88% for devices with line edge roughness.
Trauma and PTSD Among Youths in Outpatient Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorders

This article examines the relationships among trauma histories and diagnoses of partial or full posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among 106 youths in outpatient treatment for alcohol use disorders (AUD). Subjects were 13 to 18 years old and were recruited from treatment facilities, schools, and juvenile corrections programs. Chi-square (χ2) tests and one-way analyses of variance examined prevalence estimates of exposure to traumatic stressors, PTSD status, and related characteristics. Pearson’s correlation coefficients, K-Cluster procedure, and logistic regression examined correlates of PTSD status. Almost 90% reported a trauma history, and 13% met criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. Logistic regression analyses indicated that sexual abuse history, comorbid psychiatric symptom severity, and suicide ideation were associated with PTSD. These findings underscore the importance of addressing trauma with youths in AUD treatment.
Patients rank toxicity against progression free survival in second-line treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma

Abstract Background: The aims of this study were to quantify and contrast patient preferences between second-line advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) medication profiles and their associated benefits and toxicities, and to help frame the doctor–patient discussion about selecting appropriate RCC therapies. Research design and methods: Adult residents of the US with a diagnosis of RCC completed a Web-enabled choice-format conjoint survey consisting of a series of 10 treatment-choice questions, each of which included a pair of hypothetical RCC medication profiles. Each profile was described by various medication attributes (features or outcomes) with varying levels. The attributes included efficacy (progression-free survival [PFS]), tolerability (fatigue, stomach problems, mucositis or stomatitis, hand–foot syndrome [HFS]), serious but rare adverse events (pneumonitis, hepatic impairment), and mode of administration. Treatment-choice questions were based on an experimental design with known statistical properties. Random-parameters logit regression was used to estimate relative preference weights for each attribute level. Benefit equivalent measures (additional months of PFS in exchange for toxicities) were also calculated. Results: Of the 272 patients who completed the survey, the majority were female (53%), white (92%), and had at least a college degree (66%). The mean age was 57 years (standard deviation: 10 years). Over the range of attributes and attribute levels included in the survey, PFS was the most important attribute, followed by fatigue, stomach problems, hepatic impairment, mucositis or stomatitis, HFS, pneumonitis, and mode of administration. To reduce severe fatigue to mild-to-moderate fatigue, patients on average would be willing to forego 4.4 months of PFS. To reduce hepatic impairment risk from 0.5% to 0.0%, patients on average would be willing to forego 1.0 month of PFS. The main study limitation was that patients answered hypothetical treatment-choice questions. Conclusions: This study provides information to physicians about patient priorities when reviewing and selecting RCC therapies with patients.
On-Chip Sensor Network for Efficient Management of Power Gating-Induced Power/Ground Noise in Multiprocessor System on Chip

Reducing feature sizes and power supply voltage allows integrating more processing units (PUs) on multiprocessor system on chip (MPSoC) to satisfy the increasing demands of applications. However, it also makes MPSoC more susceptible to various reliability threats, such as high temperature and power/ground (P/G) noise. As the scale and complexity of MPSoC continuously increase, monitoring and mitigating reliability threats at runtime could offer better performance, scalability, and flexibility for MPSoC designs. In this paper, we propose a systematic approach, on-chip sensor network (SENoC), to collaboratively predict, detect, report, and alleviate runtime threats in MPSoC. SENoC not only detects reliability threats and shares related information among PUs, but also plans and coordinates the reactions of related PUs in MPSoC. SENoC is used to alleviate the impacts of simultaneous switching noise in MPSoC's P/G network during power gating. Based on the detailed noise behaviors under different scenarios derived by our circuit-level MPSoC P/G noise simulation and analysis platform, simulation results show that SENoC helps to achieve on average 26.2 percent performance improvement compared with the traditional stop-go method with 1.4 percent area overhead in an 8*8-core MPSoC in 45 nm. An architecture-level cycle-accurate simulator based on SystemC is implemented to study the performance of the proposed SENoC. By applying sophisticated scheduling techniques to optimize the total system performance, a higher performance improvement of 43.5 percent is achieved for a set of real-life applications.
An Oak (Quercus agrifolia) Specialist (Neotoma macrotis) and a Sympatric Generalist (Neotoma lepida) Show Similar Intakes and Digestibilities of Oak

Dietary specialization is thought to be rare in mammalian herbivores as a result of either a limitation in their detoxification system to metabolize higher doses of plant secondary compounds or deficiencies in nutrients present in a diet composed of a single species of plant. Neotoma macrotis is an oak specialist, whereas Neotoma lepida is a dietary generalist when sympatric with N. macrotis. We hypothesized that N. macrotis would have a higher tolerance for and digestibility of oak. We determined the two species' tolerances for oak by feeding them increasing concentrations of ground oak leaves until they could no longer maintain body mass. The highest concentration on which both species maintained body mass was 75% oak. There were no differences between the species in their abilities to digest dry matter, nitrogen, or fiber in the oak diets. The species' similar tolerances for oak were probably due to their similar abilities to digest and potentially assimilate the ground oak leaves.
Measuring semantic relatedness with vector space models and random walks

Both vector space models and graph random walk models can be used to determine similarity between concepts. Noting that vectors can be regarded as local views of a graph, we directly compare vector space models and graph random walk models on standard tasks of predicting human similarity ratings, concept categorization, and semantic priming, varying the size of the dataset from which vector space and graph are extracted.
Trans-Repression of Gene Activity Upstream of T-DNA Tagged RLK902 Links Arabidopsis Root Growth Inhibition and Downy Mildew Resistance

Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) constitute a large family of signal perception molecules in Arabidopsis. The largest group of RLKs is the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) class that has been described to function in development and defense. Of these, CLAVATA1 (CLV1) and ERECTA (ER) receptors function in maintaining shoot meristem homeostasis and organ growth, but LRR RLKs with similar function in the root remain unknown. For the interaction of Arabidopsis with the oomycete pathogen Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis the involvement of LRR RLKs has not been demonstrated. A set of homozygous T-DNA insertion lines mutated in LRR RLKs was investigated to assess the potential role of these receptors in root meristem maintenance and compatibility. One mutant line, rlk902, was discovered that showed both reduced root growth and resistance to downy mildew in a recessive manner. The phenotypes of this mutated line could not be rescued by complementation, but are nevertheless linked to the T-DNA insertion. Microarray studies showed that gene expression spanning a region of approximately 84 kb upstream of the mutated gene was downregulated. The results suggest T-DNA mediated trans-repression of multiple genes upstream of the RLK902 locus links both phenotypes.
Acute Reduction of an Origin Recognition Complex (ORC) Subunit in Human Cells Reveals a Requirement of ORC for Cdk2 Activation*

The origin recognition complex (ORC) is involved in formation of prereplicative complexes (pre-RCs) on replication origins in the G1 phase. At the G1/S transition, elevated cyclin E-CDK2 activity triggers 1DNA replication to enter S phase. The CDK cycle works as an engine that drives progression of cell cycle events by successive activation of different types of cyclin-CDK. However, how the CDK cycle is coordinated with replication initiation remains elusive. Here we report that acute depletion of ORC2 by RNA interference (RNAi) arrests cells with low cyclin E-CDK2 activity. This result suggests that loss of a replication initiation protein prevents progression of the CDK cycle in G1. p27 and p21 proteins accumulate following ORC2 RNAi and are required for the CDK2 inhibition. Restoration of CDK activity by co-depletion of p27 and p21 allows many ORC2-depleted cells to enter S phase and go on to mitosis. However, in some cells the release of the CDK2 block caused catastrophic events like apoptosis. Therefore, the CDK2 inhibition observed following ORC2 RNAi seems to protect cells from premature S phase entry and crisis in DNA replication. These results demonstrate an unexpected role of ORC2 in CDK2 activation, a linkage that could be important for maintaining genomic stability.
Understanding directional load balancing using per call measurement data

Several load balancing techniques have been proposed and studied for CDMA systems using a variety of simulation-based data-sets. In this study, we present actual call data captured at Wellington, New Zealand, from their leading telephone services provider, in order to understand how calls in the active-set are shared amongst cell-sites. Two groups of cell-sites are analysed to understand this phenomenon including (a) The busiest cell-sites, which experience the highest call volume and (b) The cell-sites with the poorest coverage or reference pilot signal strength. We obtain a day long trace on the date of an All Blacks Rugby game in Wellington, New Zealand and further delineate the rush-hour data on this day. Rush hour is defined as the hour at which the most calls are placed during the day, which co-incided with the time at which the Rugby game started. We observe that the busiest sites are located in downtown Wellington and calls in the active set migrate in the direction of caller traffic, which was moving towards the Westpac stadium, where the Rugby game was held. Calls are not picked up by the nearest neighbors (to the busiest sites) and are absorbed by the neighbors that are proximal to the stadium, suggesting directional load balancing. In the case of cell-sites with poor coverage, the load is distributed amongst the nearest neighbors, when the coverage of a particular cell-site reduces, over time.
Recovery of post stroke proximal arm function, driven by complex neuroplastic bilateral brain activation patterns and predicted by baseline motor dysfunction severity

Objectives: Neuroplastic changes that drive recovery of shoulder/elbow function after stroke have been poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between neuroplastic brain changes related to shoulder/elbow movement control in response to treatment and recovery of arm motor function in chronic stroke survivors.Methods: Twenty-three chronic stroke survivors were treated with 12 weeks of arm rehabilitation. Outcome measures included functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) for the shoulder/elbow components of reach and a skilled motor function test (Arm Motor Abilities Test, AMAT), collected before and after treatment.Results: We observed two patterns of neuroplastic changes that were associated with gains in motor function: decreased or increased task-related brain activation. Those with significantly better motor function at baseline exhibited a decrease in brain activation in response to treatment, evident in the ipsilesional primary motor and contralesional supplementary motor regions; in contrast, those with greater baseline motor impairment, exhibited increased brain activation in response to treatment. There was a linear relationship between greater functional gain (AMAT) and increased activation in bilateral primary motor, contralesional primary and secondary sensory regions, and contralesional lateral premotor area, after adjusting for baseline AMAT, age, and time since stroke.Conclusions: Recovery of functional reach involves recruitment of several contralesional and bilateral primary motor regions. In response to intensive therapy, the direction of functional brain change (i.e., increase or decrease in task-related brain recruitment) for shoulder/elbow reach components depends on baseline level of motor function and may represent either different phases of recovery or different patterns of neuroplasticity that drive functional recovery.
Personality Predicts Individual Variation in Fear Learning

Although fear-learning research has tended to focus on typical responses, there is substantial individual variation in response to threat. Here, we investigated how personality is related to variability in associative fear learning. We used multilevel growth curve modeling to examine the unique and interactive effects of Stress Reaction (SR) and Harmavoidance (HA; Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire scales) and their corresponding higher-order factors on differential fear conditioning (n = 225) and extinction (n = 109; 24–48 hr later). Fear was indexed by fear potentiation of the eyeblink startle reflex. Our findings demonstrated weaker discrimination between threat and safety with high levels of SR. Subsequently, both retention of differential fear acquisition and extinction were weaker with high levels of SR and HA, thereby indicating maladaptive fear learning, whereas they were stronger with low levels of SR and high levels of HA, which suggests efficient fear learning. These findings illustrate how specific personality traits may operate to confer vulnerability or resilience for anxiety disorders.
A Study on Cloud Forensics and Challenges in SaaS Application Environment

With virtualization technique, cloud computing is developed rapidly. However, aspects of the collecting of digital proofs for forensics in cloud computing environment, certain guideline is not yet. Therefore, cloud forensic researches in progress for reactivating security incidents in cloud computing. In this paper, we analyze forensic issue, challenges, already proposed forensic model in previous researches for adopting cloud forensic. And we suggest a novel model and approach for cloud forensic in SaaS and discuss needs of Service Level Agreements (SLA) and possibilities of Forensic-as-a-Service.
Educational Programs and Recidivism in Oklahoma: Another Look

Prior research suggests that educational programs are one of the most effective tools in reducing recidivism rates. In this study, however, the authors found that some educational programs administered in Oklahoma may not have an ameliorative effect on criminality. Specifically, they found that completion of a general equivalency diploma program was strongly associated with longer survival times outside of prison, particularly for women. However, for both men and women, completion of vocational-technical training while incarcerated was linked to shorter survival times. This indicates the need to evaluate the types of training offered in prisons.
Differentiation of amnesic and demented patients with the wechsler memory scale -revised

Abstract The Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) was administered to 16 amnesic patients, 20 patients with Alzheimer's Disease, 24 patients with Huntington's Disease and 28 normal control subjects. The findings for the five memory indices demonstrated that the amnesics' General and Delayed Memory Indices (69 and 56, respectively) were more accurate estimates of their severe anterograde memory problems than was the single MQ from the original WMS. It was also noted that amnesic patients could be distinguished from demented patients and control subjects on the basis of the differences between the Attention/Concentration and General Memory Indices (AC-GM) and between the General and Delayed Memory Indices (GM-DM). Savings scores calculated for the Logical Memory and Visual Reproduction tests showed that both the amnesic and Alzheimer patients forgot verbal and figural materials more quickly than did the Huntington's patients and normal control subjects. When the amnesic group was divided according to presu.
CoNLL 2016 Shared Task on Multilingual Shallow Discourse Parsing

The CoNLL-2016 Shared Task is the second edition of the CoNLL-2015 Shared Task, now on Multilingual Shallow discourse parsing. Similar to the 2015 task, the goal of the shared task is to identify individual discourse relations that are present in natural language text. Given a natural language text, participating teams are asked to locate the discourse connectives (explicit or implicit) and their arguments as well as predicting the sense of the discourse connectives. Based on the success of the previous year, we continued to ask participants to deploy their systems on TIRA, a web-based platform on which participants can run their systems on the test data for evaluation. This evaluation methodology preserves the integrity of the shared task. We have also made a few changes and additions in the 2016 shared task based on the feedback from 2015. The first is that teams could choose to carry out the task on Chinese texts, or English texts, or both. We have also allowed participants to focus on parts of the shared task (rather than the whole thing) as a typical system requires substantial investment of effort. Finally, we have modified the scorer so that it can report results based on partial matches of the arguments. 23 teams participated in this year’s shared task, using a wide variety of approaches. In this overview paper, we present the task definition, the training and test sets, and the evaluation protocol and metric used during this shared task. We also summarize the different approaches adopted by the participating teams, and present the evaluation results. The evaluation data sets and the scorer will serve as a benchmark for future research on shallow discourse parsing.
Fast adaptive shape matching deformations

We present a new shape-matching deformation model that allows for efficient handling of topological changes and dynamic adaptive selection of levels of detail. Similar to the recently presented Fast Lattice Shape Matching (FLSM), we compute the position of simulation nodes by convolution of rigid shape matching operators on many overlapping regions, but we rely instead on octree-based hierarchical sampling and an interval-based region definition. Our approach enjoys the efficiency and robustness of shape-matching deformation models, and the same algorithmic simplicity and linear cost as FLSM, but it eliminates its dense sampling requirements. Our method can handle adaptive spatial discretizations, allowing the simulation of more degrees of freedom in arbitrary regions of interest at little additional cost. The method is also versatile, as it can simulate elastic and plastic deformation, it can handle cuts interactively, and it reuses the underlying data structures for efficient handling of (self-)collisions. All this makes it especially useful for interactive applications such as videogames.
Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory and Its Application in Geography in Higher Education

Abstract Kolb's experiential learning theory is one of the best known educational theories in higher education. The theory presents a way of structuring a session or a whole course using a learning cycle. The different stages of the cycle are associated with distinct learning styles. Individuals differ in their preferred learning styles, and recognizing this is the first stage in raising students' awareness of the alternative approaches possible. This article presents some case studies of ways in which the theory can be applied in university geography.
Inhibition of interleukin‐8 production in human endothelial cells by Staphylococcus aureus supernatant

Recent reports have shown that Staphylococcus aureus infection increases the expression of cytokines and cell adhesion molecules in endothelial cells and enhances leucocyte migration, thereby resulting in bacterial elimination. In this study, we analysed the production of the chemokine interleukin (IL)‐8 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) infected with several S. aureus strains by using reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. We found that the avirulent strains (00–51 and 00–62) increased IL‐8 production but the virulent strains (A17 and A151) decreased it at both the mRNA and protein levels. We considered that the inhibition of IL‐8 production depended on certain inhibitory factor(s) secreted by bacteria. This was because S. aureus also abolished IL‐8 expression in HUVEC treated with cytochalasin D, and the addition of culture supernatants of strains A17 and A151 decreased IL‐8 production in HUVEC. This factor(s) in the bacterial culture supernatant inhibited both basal and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐α‐induced IL‐8 production. In contrast, no inhibitory effect was observed on monocyte chemotactic protein‐1 (MCP‐1) production. These results indicate that S. aureus can down‐regulate IL‐8 release in endothelial cells through the secretion of inhibitory factor(s), and this may result in decreased neutrophil recruitment, thus interfering with the host immune response to bacterial infection.
English Language Learners' Discourse Strategies in Science Instruction

Abstract This study focuses on the characteristics of discourse between Latino immigrant children and their teacher during science instruction. Peer interaction was analyzed to identify the use and importance of the native language (L1) for the development of content knowledge during group collaboration. In addition, the interaction between teacher and children was analyzed to determine the importance of the adult's use of the L1 in providing instructional support to make science and literacy meaningful for linguistically and culturally diverse students. Classroom observations over the course of 1 year focused on how a Spanish-English bilingual teacher approached the demands of science inquiry in an urban fourth-grade classroom in northern California. The analysis centers on a discourse analysis of the students' conversations while they participated in and completed a science activity. In their conversations, children employed different discourse strategies to accomplish their communicative goals during the science activities. Whereas Spanish was the main language of instruction during the science activity, children also used English and code-switches to challenge each other, reinforce major science concepts, and develop literacy skills. Discourse strategies that can promote academic achievement among English language learners through the use of their native language are discussed.