Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The physical and electrical effects of metal-fill patterning practices for oxide chemical-mechanical polishing processes

In oxide chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) processes, layout pattern dependent variation in the interlevel dielectric (ILD) thickness can reduce yield and impact circuit performance. Metal-fill patterning practices have emerged as a technique for substantially reducing layout pattern dependent ILD thickness variation. We present a generalizable methodology for selecting an optimal metal-fill patterning practice with the goal of satisfying a given dielectric thickness variation specification while minimizing the added interconnect capacitance associated with metal-fill patterning. Data from two industrial-based experiments demonstrate the beneficial impact of metal-fill on dielectric thickness variation, a 20% improvement in uniformity in one case and a 60% improvement in the other case, and illustrate that pattern density is the key mechanism involved. The pros and cons of two different metal-fill patterning practices-grounded versus floating metal-are explored. Criteria for minimizing the effect of floating or grounded metal-fill patterns on delay or crosstalk parameters are also developed based on canonical metal-fill structures. Finally, this methodology is illustrated using a case study which demonstrates an 82% reduction in ILD thickness variation.
Optimum Diversity in the Public Transport Market

Many observers of the transport field believe that the alleviation of road congestion lies in en couraging public transport, using small vehicles operating at high frequency. Several studies have advocated reducing the size of the standard bus. An unexplored option is the operation of small vehicles catering to high-value-of-time travellers alongside large vehicles serving low-value of-time travellers. This paper investigates the viability of these two types of vehicle serving the same route. It shows that the usefulness of introducing the second type of vehicle depends on two factors: its effect on waiting, and its effect on cruising time. Two specialised carriers will increase the former, but may reduce the latter. The viability of two modes depends, therefore, on the im portance of waiting time vs. vehicle time, the dispersion of the value of time, and the size of the market. When frequency and vehicle size are set optimally, congestion has little effect on whether a single mode or multiple modes should be operated, and should not affect the modal split.
Values in action (ViA): combining usability, user experience and user acceptance

The shift in HCI towards emotions, values, needs etc., (third-wave HCI) reflects the new understanding of interactions between users and technology. However, the focus on usability in the first-wave slightly got out of sight in the second-wave, which mainly addressed the user in working environments, and even more in the third-wave HCI. This wave holds a focus on emotions, experiences and values, not only at work but also during leisure time. We have identified a lack of suitable frameworks and concepts, which provide an integrated view on values on the one hand and usability, user experience and user acceptance on the other hand. For evaluating a prototype in an Ambient Assisted Living project we developed an approach for combining value- and user-centered design with factors related to usability, user experience and user acceptance.
Use of Text Message Abbreviations and Literacy Skills in Children with Dyslexia Author Pre-print (submitted) Deposited in Curve September 2012 Use of Text Message Abbreviations and Literacy Skills in Children with Dyslexia

(2011) Use of text message abbreviations and literacy skills in children with dyslexia. Dyslexia: An international journal of research and practice, volume 17 (1): 65-71. (2011) Use of text message abbreviations and literacy skills in children with dyslexia. Dyslexia: An international journal of research and practice, volume 17 (1): 65-71 , which has been published in final form at (wileyonlinelibrary.com). without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. This document is the submitted version of the journal article, as originally submitted to the journal prior to the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it. Abstract This small-scale study compared 10 to 13-year-old dyslexic children's use of text message abbreviations to that of reading-age and chronological-age matched controls. There were no significant difference in the proportion of textisms used between the dyslexic children and the two control groups, although a preference for non-phonetic text abbreviations was observed in the dyslexic group. Unlike the controls, there was little evidence of an association between phonological awareness and textism use in children with dyslexia. These results are discussed in relation to strategy use by dyslexic children when decoding text.
Pull Down Network Minimization, Based on Equivalent Functions Concept, in DCVS Circuit Design

In this paper, a novel method with well defined algorithm is applied for constructing optimized DCVS circuits for a Boolean function. In this approach different methods of designing are studied carefully and compared with each other; afterwards a method which can produce fast, low power, low cost DCVS structures from random Boolean functions is demonstrated. The distinction of this approach despite the others is that it is not heuristic; the designer does not interfere with details and also with no intelligence can create the optimized DCVS circuit from a defined Boolean function.
Sparing of Descending Axons Rescues Interneuron Plasticity in the Lumbar Cord to Allow Adaptive Learning After Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury

This study evaluated the role of spared axons on structural and behavioral neuroplasticity in the lumbar enlargement after a thoracic spinal cord injury (SCI). Previous work has demonstrated that recovery in the presence of spared axons after an incomplete lesion increases behavioral output after a subsequent complete spinal cord transection (TX). This suggests that spared axons direct adaptive changes in below-level neuronal networks of the lumbar cord. In response to spared fibers, we postulate that lumbar neuron networks support behavioral gains by preventing aberrant plasticity. As such, the present study measured histological and functional changes in the isolated lumbar cord after complete TX or incomplete contusion (SCI). To measure functional plasticity in the lumbar cord, we used an established instrumental learning paradigm (ILP). In this paradigm, neural circuits within isolated lumbar segments demonstrate learning by an increase in flexion duration that reduces exposure to a noxious leg shock. We employed this model using a proof-of-principle design to evaluate the role of sparing on lumbar learning and plasticity early (7 days) or late (42 days) after midthoracic SCI in a rodent model. Early after SCI or TX at 7 days, spinal learning was unattainable regardless of whether the animal recovered with or without axonal substrate. Failed learning occurred alongside measures of cell soma atrophy and aberrant dendritic spine expression within interneuron populations responsible for sensorimotor integration and learning. Alternatively, exposure of the lumbar cord to a small amount of spared axons for 6 weeks produced near-normal learning late after SCI. This coincided with greater cell soma volume and fewer aberrant dendritic spines on interneurons. Thus, an opportunity to influence activity-based learning in locomotor networks depends on spared axons limiting maladaptive plasticity. Together, this work identifies a time dependent interaction between spared axonal systems and adaptive plasticity in locomotor networks and highlights a critical window for activity-based rehabilitation.
Modeling single-route bus service with information environment: A multi-agent based approach

This paper studied the characteristics of bus serving process, explored the way passengers cognize and perceive the bus service, as well as their response to information conditions. A multi agent based model was proposed for the purpose of simulating bus serving process and estimating performance of single-route bus service, which is described by an introduction of the simulation platform, SimCUBE. A case study of a regular bus line in Shanghai, China was conducted, simulation results showed a good convergence of passenger agents' cognition. Finally, prospective application of the model and future work were discussed.
Spline and color representation for batik design modification

A computer based system for batik design modification using spline and color representation is proposed to create a new batik design from the existing batik design image. The system can be used to support artisan/designer works for drawing motifs and applying color composition, so the design can be seen visually on the screen without having to make a real design. To evaluate the performance of the system, five batik images are used as the input of the system. The experimental results show that the system generates the similar batik design using spline and color representation from the existing batik design image and the user can edit the spline and its color to create new batik design.
OTHER-REGARDING PREFERENCES AND CONSEQUENTIALISM Abhinash Borah

This dissertation addresses a basic difficulty in accommodating other-regarding preferences within existing models of decision making. Decision makers with such preferences may violate the property of stochastic dominance that is shared by both expected utility and almost any model of non-expected utility. At its core, stochastic dominance requires a decision maker's behavior to conform to a basic form of consequentialism, namely, that her ranking of outcomes should be independent of the stochastic process that generates these outcomes. On the other hand, decision makers with other-regarding preferences may show a concern for procedures; that is they may care not just about what the outcomes of others are but also about how these outcomes are generated and therefore their ranking of outcomes may be intrinsically dependent on the outcome-generating process. We provide theoretical foundations for a new representation of other-regarding preferences that accommodates concerns for procedure and possible violations of stochastic dominance. Our axioms provide a sharp characterization of how a decision maker's ranking of outcomes depends on the procedure by expressing `payoffs' as a weighted average of her concerns for outcomes, and her concerns for procedure. The weight used in evaluating this weighted average, which we call the procedural weight, is uniquely determined and quantifies the relative importance of procedural concerns. In the special case in which procedural concerns are absent our baseline decision model reduces to expected utility, and our most parsimonious representation is one parameter richer than that model. We use our decision model to provide an expressive theory of voting. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Economics First Advisor Andrew Postlewaite
Articulatory features for "meeting" speech recognition

“Meeting” speech, for example from the RT-04S task, contains a mixture of different speaking styles that leads to word error rates higher than 25% even when close-talking microphones are being used. The problem is even more serious, as word error rates are particularly high when speakers use a clear speaking mode, for example because they want to stress an important point. Previous work showed that an approach that combines standard phonebased acoustic models with models detecting the presence or absence of “Articulatory Features” such as “Rounded” or “Voiced” can improve ASR performance particularly for these cases. This paper presents a discriminative approach to automatically computing from training or adaptation data the feature stream weights needed for the above approach, therefore presenting a framework for integrating articulatory features into existing automatic speech recognition systems. We find a 7% relative improvements on top of our best RT-04S system using discriminative adaptation.
Comparing Quadratic Costs of Capital Accumulation: An Empirical Assessment

The incorporation of convex adjustment costs of capital accumulation into dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models has become standard practice in the literature, since these frictions improve the ability of sticky-price models with endogenous investment to match the key features of the data considerably. In this paper, we use a Bayesian approach to investigate empirically how different ad-hoc specifications of adjustment costs affect the fit and the dynamics of a New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with real and nominal frictions featuring several exogenous stochastic disturbances. We consider two different forms of quadratic adjustment costs: investment adjustment costs and capital adjustment costs. Using both euro area and US data, we detect significant differences between certain estimated structural parameters across these model specifications. Further, the implementation of either investment or capital adjustment costs affects the empirical fit and the dynamics of the respective model specifications substantially.
CCRA: Cloud Computing Reference Architecture

As Cloud Computing has become more and more popular, various Cloud Computing architectures or infrastructure have been defined, given their specific circumstances for the applications. However, to effectively achieve the potential of cloud computing, there is need for the definition of system architecture of the software systems involved in the delivery of cloud computing, so that it can be used as a reference for the architects or software engineering. In this paper, reference architecture of Cloud Computing is proposed. Its objective and principles are illustrated. And case studies of a SaaS, PaaS platform architecture instantiated from CCRA are given.
Open Data Portal Quality Comparison using AHP

During recent years, more and more Open Data becomes available and used as part of the Open Data movement. However, there are reported issues with the quality of the metadata in data portals and the data itself. This is a serious risk that could disrupt the Open Data project, as well as e-government initiatives since the data quality needs to be managed to guarantee the reliability of e-government to the public. First quality assessment frameworks emerge to evaluate the quality for a given dataset or portal along various dimensions (e.g., information completeness). Nonetheless, a common problem with such frameworks is to provide meaningful ranking mechanisms that are able to integrate several quality dimensions and user preferences (e.g., a portal provider is likely to have different quality preferences than a portal consumer). To address this multi-criteria decision making problem, our research work applies AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), which compares 146 active Open Data portals across 44 countries, powered by the CKAN software.
Diversity of Virulence Phenotypes among Type III Secretion Negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa Clinical Isolates

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a frequent cause of acute infections. The primary virulence factor that has been linked to clinical disease is the type III secretion system, a molecular syringe that delivers effector proteins directly into host cells. Despite the importance of type III secretion in dictating clinical outcomes and promoting disease in animal models of infections, clinical isolates often do not express the type III secretion system in vitro. Here we screened 81 clinical P. aeruginosa isolates for secretion of type III secretion system substrates by western blot. Non-expressing strains were also subjected to a functional test assaying the ability to intoxicate epithelial cells in vitro, and to survive and cause disease in a murine model of corneal infection. 26 of 81 clinical isolates were found to be type III secretion negative by western blot. 17 of these 26 non-expressing strains were tested for their ability to cause epithelial cell rounding. Of these, three isolates caused epithelial cell rounding in a type III secretion system dependent manner, and one strain was cytotoxic in a T3SS-independent manner. Five T3SS-negative isolates were also tested for their ability to cause disease in a murine model of corneal infection. Of these isolates, two strains caused severe corneal disease in a T3SS-independent manner. Interestingly, one of these strains caused significant disease (inflammation) despite being cleared. Our data therefore show that P. aeruginosa clinical isolates can cause disease in a T3SS-independent manner, demonstrating the existence of novel modifiers of clinical disease.
Characterization of the Ion Exchange Reaction Between Propranolol-H+ or K+ with Amberlite IRP 69 Resin by Both, Isothermal Titration Calorimetry and (Flame) Photometric Equilibrium Analysis

The model system propranolol hydrochloride (PROP-HCl)/Amberlite™ was studied in terms of equilibrium concentrations and amount drug bound to the ion exchanger, and compared to the system potassium chloride (KCl)/Amberlite™. It was found that both the affinity and exchange capacity of Amberlite™ for PROP-H + ions is higher than for K + . Specific heat effects of the exchange reaction measured by isothermal calorimetry and spectroscopy revealed that even at the lowest degree of loading with propranolol, the heat effects surprisingly change continuously with the de- gree of loading, while they are constant for potassium. Involvement of non-specific forces in the binding of propranolol- H + to Amberlite™ is discussed as a possible reason for this behaviour.
Stabilization of a mini rotorcraft with four rotors

F light control of unmanned helicopters is an area that poses interesting problems for control researchers. The classical control strategy for helicopters assumes a linear model obtained for a particular operating point. Applying modern nonlinear control theory can improve the performance of the controller and enable the tracking of aggressive trajectories, as demonstrated in [1] for a 5-ft diameter main rotor helicopter. Civil and military applications of autonomous flying vehicles have been steadily increasing over the last few years. Traffic surveillance, air pollution monitoring, area mapping, agricultural applications, and remote inspection require high maneuverability and robustness with respect to disturbances. Since rotary wing vehicles can take off and land in limited spaces and hover above targets, these vehicles have certain advantages over conventional fixed-wing aircraft for surveillance and inspection tasks. © DIGITAL VISION Experimental implementation of linear and nonlinear control laws
A Visibility-Driven Approach for Zone Management in Simulations

Massively multi-user simulations aim to support a large number of users while keeping the communication among the parties synchronous and highly interactive. In this paper, we present a collaborative virtual architecture that supports a large number of users by dividing the virtual environment into multiple adjacent hexagonal regions in order to manage the interest of the entities. A master node, called a hybrid node, constructs a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) overlay network to connect and manage nodes that lie in its region. Messaging is done at the application layer rather than the network layer, and a node-joining algorithm is proposed to reflect the underlying network physical topology onto the data distribution pathways among the end hosts to enhance the system performance. In addition, the introduction of a buffer zone between adjacent zones reduces the number of connections and disconnections that occur when a node frequently moves at the boundary of the two zones and provides more resilience to the system. We also attempt to shift the messaging among parties in one region from a zone-based method to a visibility-driven method to refine their interest by enabling message filtering. The effectiveness of this collaboration architecture is tested through a prototype implementation and a high level application.
Premature polyadenylation of MAGI3 produces a dominantly-acting oncogene in human breast cancer

Genetic mutation, chromosomal rearrangement and copy number amplification are common mechanisms responsible for generating gain-of-function, cancer-causing alterations. Here we report a new mechanism by which premature cleavage and polyadenylation (pPA) of RNA can produce an oncogenic protein. We identify a pPA event at a cryptic intronic poly(A) signal in MAGI3, occurring in the absence of local exonic and intronic mutations. The altered mRNA isoform, called MAGI3pPA, produces a truncated protein that acts in a dominant-negative manner to prevent full-length MAGI3 from interacting with the YAP oncoprotein, thereby relieving YAP inhibition and promoting malignant transformation of human mammary epithelial cells. We additionally find evidence for recurrent expression of MAGI3pPAin primary human breast tumors but not in tumor-adjacent normal tissues. Our results provide an example of how pPA contributes to cancer by generating a truncated mRNA isoform that encodes an oncogenic, gain-of-function protein. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.14730. 001
The diffuse, relic radio source in Abell 85: estimation of cluster-scale magnetic field from inverse Compton X-rays

We report the first detection of an inverse Compton X-ray emission, spatially correlated with a very steep spectrum radio source (VSSRS), 0038-096, without any detected optical counterpart, in cluster Abell 85. The ROSAT PSPC data and its multiscale wavelet analysis reveal a large scale (linear diameter of the order of 500 h^{-1}_{50} kpc), diffuse X-ray component, in excess to the thermal bremsstrahlung, overlapping an equally large scale VSSRS. The primeval 3 K background photons, scattering off the relativistic electrons can produce the X-rays at the detected level. The inverse Compton flux is estimated to be (6.5\pm 0.5) 10^{-13} erg s^{-1}cm^{-2} in the 0.5-2.4 keV X-ray band. A new 327 MHz radio map is presented for the cluster field. The synchrotron emission flux is estimated to be (6.6\pm 0.90) \times 10^{-14} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} in the 10-100 MHz radio band. The positive detection of both radio and X-ray emission from a common ensemble of relativistic electrons leads to an estimate of (0.95\pm 0.10) 10^{-6} G for the cluster-scale magnetic field strength. The estimated field is free of the `equipartition' conjecture, the distance, and the emission volume. Further, the radiative fluxes and the estimated magnetic field imply the presence of `relic' (radiative lifetime > 10^{9} yr) relativistic electrons with Lorentz factors \gamma \approx 700-1700, that would be a significant source of radio emission in the hitherto unexplored frequency range \nu \approx 2-10 MHz.
Robust 3D Object Model Reconstruction and Matching for Complex Automated Deburring Operations

The deburring processes of parts with complex geometries usually present many challenges to be automated. This paper outlines the machine vision techniques involved in the design and set up of an automated adaptive cognitive robotic system for laser deburring of metal casting complex 3D high quality parts. To carry out deburring process operations of the parts autonomously, 3D machine vision techniques have been used for different purposes, explained in this paper. These machine vision algorithms used along with industrial robots and a high tech laser head, make a fully automated deburring process possible. This setup could potentially be applied to medium sized parts of different light casting alloys (Mg, AlZn, etc.).