Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Minimum energy point of sub-threshold operated pass-transistor circuits

In systems such as energy-harvester powered wireless sensors, energy consumption is the most important design concern. Thus the initial design point is moved from minimum delay to minimum energy point, found in the sub-threshold operation region. An overview of minimum energy approach to circuit design is given in this paper. In order to lower energy consumption, pass-transistor logic circuits are operated in the sub-threshold region. Benefits of combining these technologies are discussed and investigated through Pspice simulations. The results show that it is possible to further lower energy consumption by slowing down the transitions between the input signal logic levels.
A Framework for Blockchain Interoperability and Runtime Selection

The suitability of a particular blockchain for a given use case depends mainly on the blockchain's functional and non-functional properties. Such properties may vary over time, and thus, a selected blockchain may become unsuitable for a given use case. This uncertainty may hinder the widespread adoption of blockchain technologies in general. To mitigate the impact of volatile blockchain properties, we propose a framework that monitors several blockchains, allows the user to define functional and non-functional requirements, determines the most appropriate blockchain, and enables the switchover to that chain at runtime. Our evaluation using a reference implementation shows that switching to another blockchain can save cost and enable users to benefit from better performance and a higher level of trust.
High frequency mode generation by toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes

Nonlinear generation of high frequency mode (HFM) by toroidal Alfven eigenmode (TAE) observed in HL-2A tokamak is analyzed using nonlinear gyrokinetic theory. It is found that, the HFM can be dominated by $|nq-m|=1$ perturbations with predominantly ideal magnetohydrodynamic if the two primary TAEs are co-propagating; while the HFM can be characterized by $nq-m=0$ electrostatic perturbations if the two primary TAEs are counter-propagating. Here, $n$ and $m$ are respectively the toroidal and poloidal mode numbers, and $q$ is the safety factor. The nonlinear process is sensitive to the equilibrium magnetic geometry of the device.
Measuring error-tolerance in SRAM architecture on hardware accelerated neural network

Hardware accelerators for convolutional neural network (CNN) accompany a large amount of SRAM in order to reduce the number of expensive off-chip DRAM accesses. This design trend gives implications to architects: the SRAM area will dominate the entire chip area for the future CNN accelerators. Since the probability of soft errors such as energetic particle strikes goes as the density of SRAM, errors on memory sub-system will become a major concern as process technology scales. In this paper, we investigate the necessity of a fault-tolerant memory system, against such soft errors, in hardware accelerated neural network. We found that convolutional layers have different error tolerance from each other. The error tolerance of a layer tends to get worse as it goes on the output layer.
GroupMorph:: a group collaboration mode approach to shared 3D virtual environments for product design

Virtual reality technology is increasingly being applied to globally distributed teams engaged in collaborative product design. Observations of product design teams have suggested at least four distinct modes of collaboration-complementary, competitive, peer-to-peer, and leader-follower. Another insight from observation is that collaboration consists of fluid transitions between these modes in the accomplishment completion of the design task, driven by a flexible process of subgrouping and regrouping which reflects the structure and progress of the task. Yet most collaborative virtual environment systems support only one mode of collaboration-peer-to-peer-and those that do explicitly support multiple modes (or even individual roles) do not allow fluid transitions between them in the context of the same task. In addition, no explicit support is provided to allow subgroups to be formed and dissolved. To address this problem, a collaborative virtual environment (CVE) for product design that supports multiple collaboration modes and fluid transitions is proposed; two metaphors for collaborative product design (collaboration tree and infinitely recursive conference room) are introduced; the use of a collaboration tree interface widget is detailed; and the Simple Shared Virtual Environment (SSVE) toolkit for collaborative virtual environments is described.
Does the Evolution of Complex Life Depend on the Stellar Spectral Energy Distribution?

This article presents the proportional evolutionary time (PET) hypothesis, which posits that the mean time required for the evolution of complex life is a function of stellar mass. The "biological available window" is defined as the region of a stellar spectrum between 200 and 1200 nm that generates free energy for life. Over the ∼4 Gyr history of Earth, the total energy incident at the top of the atmosphere and within the biological available window is ∼1034 J. The hypothesis assumes that the rate of evolution from the origin of life to complex life is proportional to this total energy, which would suggest that planets orbiting other stars should not show signs of complex life if the total energy incident on the planet is below this energy threshold. The PET hypothesis predicts that late K- and M-dwarf stars (M < 0.7 \documentclass{aastex}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{bm}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{pifont}\usepackage{stmaryrd}\usepackage{textcomp}\usepackage{portland, xspace}\usepackage{amsmath, amsxtra}\usepackage{upgreek}\pagestyle{empty}\DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6}\begin{document} $${{\rm M} }_\odot $$ \end{document}) are too young to host any complex life at the present age of the Universe. F-, G-, and early K-dwarf stars (M > 0.7 \documentclass{aastex}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{bm}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{pifont}\usepackage{stmaryrd}\usepackage{textcomp}\usepackage{portland, xspace}\usepackage{amsmath, amsxtra}\usepackage{upgreek}\pagestyle{empty}\DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6}\begin{document} $${{\rm M}_ \odot }$$ \end{document}) represent the best targets for the next generation of space telescopes to search for spectroscopic biosignatures indicative of complex life.
The covering lemma and q-analogues of extremal set theory problems

We prove a general lemma (inspired by a lemma of Holroyd and Talbot) about the connection of the largest cardinalities (or weight) of structures satisfying some hereditary property and substructures satisfying the same hereditary property. We use it to show how results concerning forbidden subposet problems in the Boolean poset imply analogous results in the poset of subspaces of a finite vector space. We also study generalized forbidden subposet problems in the poset of subspaces.
Retention of Metabolites of 2′,3′-Didehydro-3′-Deoxy-4′-Ethynylthymidine, a Novel Anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Thymidine Analog, in Cells

ABSTRACT 2′,3′-Didehydro-3′-deoxy-4′-ethynylthymidine (4′-Ed4T), a novel thymidine analog, has more potent anti-human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) activity than its progenitor, stavudine (d4T). The profile of the intracellular metabolites of 4′-Ed4T was qualitatively similar to that of zidovudine (AZT) but not to that of d4T, while after drug removal it showed more persistent anti-HIV activity than AZT or d4T in cell culture. When CEM cells were exposed to various concentrations of 4′-Ed4T, 4′-Ed4T was efficiently taken up by the cells and was readily phosphorylated to 4′-Ed4T monophosphate (4′-Ed4TMP), 4′-Ed4T diphosphate (4′-Ed4TDP), and 4′-Ed4T triphosphate (4′-Ed4TTP). Most importantly, 4′-Ed4TTP, the active metabolite of 4′-Ed4T, persisted significantly longer than 4′-Ed4TDP and 4′-Ed4TMP after drug removal. We further investigated the efflux profiles of 4′-Ed4T in the comparison with those of AZT in CEM cells. After drug removal, both 4′-Ed4T and AZT were effluxed from the cells in a time- and temperature-dependent manner. However, the efflux of 4′-Ed4T from cells was much less efficient than that of AZT. 4′-Ed4T was effluxed from cells only in its nucleoside form, while AZT was effluxed from cells in both its nucleoside and monophosphate forms. The mechanism-of-action study showed that the efflux of 4′-Ed4T or AZT nucleoside might be due to unknown nucleoside transporters which were not related to the equilibrative nucleoside transporters, while the efflux of AZT monophosphate might be due to multidrug resistance protein 4 (MRP4/ABCC4). The results demonstrated that no detectable 4′-Ed4TMP efflux and the less efficient efflux of 4′-Ed4T nucleoside from cells might be one of the biochemical determinants of its persistent antiviral activity in cell culture.
Immunologic response in patients with epiglottitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b.

The sera of 13 patients (median age, 31 months) with epiglottitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae, type b (HIB), were studied for bactericidal, hemagglutinating, and radioimmune assay antibodies to the infecting agent. All 10 patients over two years of age and two of three less than two years of age had significant increases in antibody titers; one child, aged 17 months, showed no rise in antibody titer by any of the three assays. The magnitude of the antibody response correlated with the increasing age of the patients. Nineteen other patients who had HIB epiglottitis six months to 15 years before the period of study and their siblings were bled for determination of their current levels of antibody. Seventyfour percent of patients and only 38% of siblings had detectable bactericidal antibodies to HIB. Two children, who had epiglottitis two and six years previously, and two siblings were immunized with HIB capsular polysaccharide material. All developed specific antibodies by the seventh day after immunization.
Design and Analysis of a Tunable Bandpass Filter Employing RF MEMS Capacitors

This letter presents an RF microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) tunable bandpass filter with a tuning range of 30%. An analytical process of designing a bandpass filter is also presented by using MEMS switch, series gap, and etched structure in coplanar waveguide (CPW). The designed structure of the MEMS switch and CPW is used to get a wide tuning range of the filter. The fabricated filter performances show an acceptable agreement between the measured results and the simulation results with a center frequency from 10 to 13.5 GHz.
A Comment on “Estimating Dynamic Discrete Choice Models with Hyperbolic Discounting” by Hanming Fang and Yang Wang

The recent literature often cites Fang and Wang (2015) for analyzing the identification of time preferences in dynamic discrete choice under exclusion restrictions (e.g. Yao et al., 2012; Lee, 2013; Ching et al., 2013; Norets and Tang, 2014; Dube et al., 2014; Gordon and Sun, 2015; Bajari et al., 2016; Chan, 2017; Gayle et al., 2018). Indeed, Fang and Wang's Proposition 2 claims generic identification of a dynamic discrete choice model with hyperbolic discounting. However, this claim uses a definition of "generic" that does not preclude the possibility that a generically identified model is nowhere identified. To illustrate this point, we provide two simple examples of models that are generically identified in Fang and Wang's sense, but that are, respectively, everywhere and nowhere identified. We conclude that Proposition 2 is void: It has no implications for identification of the dynamic discrete choice model. We show how its proof is incorrect and incomplete and suggest alternative approaches to identification.
Eosinophils Maintain Their Capacity to Signal and Release Eosinophil Cationic Protein Upon Repetitive Stimulation with the Same Agonist1

Eosinophils contain in their granules eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) and other basic proteins that have been implicated in immunity to parasites and pathophysiology of chronic allergic responses. In a model of eosinophil degranulation, we show that eosinophils release ECP upon short-term GM-CSF priming and stimulation with either platelet-activating factor (PAF) or the anaphylatoxin C5a, but not eotaxin. Restimulation with the same agonist (PAF or C5a) was unsuccessful as assessed by monitoring intracellular calcium concentration and ECP release. In contrast, upon an intermediate washing step, eosinophils rapidly transduced PAF and C5a signals followed by significant ECP releases. Ligand-binding studies demonstrated that only a proportion of PAF receptors is internalized upon cell stimulation and that washing of the cells removes the agonist from the cell surface. Upon repetitive stimulation, eosinophils with less than 50% of the original ECP content were obtained. Such eosinophils did not increase cellular ECP levels even in the presence of the eosinophil survival factor GM-CSF in overnight cultures. In vivo studies revealed that eosinophils always express detectable amounts of ECP under chronic inflammatory conditions. In conclusion, we have shown that eosinophils maintain their capacity to degranulate upon repetitive stimulation with the same agonist as long as the receptor is not occupied from a previous stimulation. The cellular content of ECP appears to be a no limiting factor in the case of repetitive stimulation, implying that mature eosinophils may not require a significant ECP resynthesis.
Novel Hierarchical Correlation Functions for Quantitative Representation of Complex Heterogeneous Materials and Microstructural Evolution

Effective and accurate characterization and quantification of complex microstructure of a heterogeneous material and its evolution under external stimuli are very challenging, yet crucial to achieving reliable material performance prediction, processing optimization and advanced material design. Here, we address this challenge by developing a set of novel hierarchical statistical microstructural descriptors, which we call the "n-point polytope functions" Pn, for quantitative characterization, representation and modeling of complex material microstructure and its evolution. These novel polytope functions successively include higher-order n-point statistics of the features of interest in the microstructure in a concise, expressive, explainable, and universal manner; and can be directly computed from multi-modal imaging data. We develop highly efficient computational tools to directly extract the Pn functions up to n = 8 from multi-modal imaging data. Using simple model microstructures, we show that these novel statistical descriptors effectively "decompose" the structural features of interest into a set of "polytope basis", allowing one to easily detect any underlying symmetry or emerging features during the structural evolution. We apply these novel Pn functions to quantify and model a variety of heterogeneous material systems, including particle-reinforced composites, metal-ceramic composites, concretes, porous materials; as well as the microstructural evolution in an aged lead-tin alloy. Our results indicate that the Pn functions can offer a practically complete and compact set of basis for quantitative microstructure representation (QMR), for both static 3D complex microstructure and 4D microstructural evolution of a wide spectrum of heterogeneous material systems.
Buffer-aided Resource Allocation for a Price Based Opportunistic Cognitive Radio Network

In this paper, a resource allocation problem for an opportunistic cooperative cognitive radio network is considered, where cognitive radio nodes send their hard decisions to the fusion center. The fusion center plays dual role, i.e., takes the global decision (i.e., decision about the primary user's activity) as well as allocates transmission time durations among cognitive radio nodes. Revenue based utility functions are considered at the fusion center and cognitive radio nodes. An optimization problem is formulated to maximize the fusion center's revenue while satisfying some well defined constraints. User selection among cognitive radio nodes is performed in order to make the optimization problem feasible.
Two-micron wavelength high speed photodiode with InGaAs/GaAsSb type-II multiple quantum wells absorber

Current optical communication system operating at 1.55 {\mu}m wavelength band may not be able to continually satisfy the growing demand on the data capacity within the next few years. Opening a new spectral window at around 2 {\mu}m wavelength with recently developed hollow-core photonic band gap fiber and thulium-doped fiber amplifier is a promising solution to increase the transmission capacity due to the low loss and wide bandwidth properties of these components at this wavelength. However, as a key component, the already demonstrated high speed photodetectors at 2 {\mu}m wavelength are still not comparable with those at 1.55 {\mu}m wavelength band, which chokes the feasibility of the new spectral window. In this work, we, for the first time, demonstrated a high speed uni-traveling carrier photodiode for 2 {\mu}m applications with InGaAs/GaAsSb type-II multiple quantum wells as the absorption region, which is lattice matched to InP. The device shows a 3dB bandwidth of 25 GHz at -3 V bias voltage and is, to the best of our knowledge, the fastest photodiodes among all group III-V and group IV photodetectors working in 2 {\mu}m wavelength range.
Production , Manufacturing and Logistics A simple classifier for multiple criteria ABC analysis

To have an efficient control of a huge amount of inventory items, traditional approach is to classify the inventory into different groups. Different inventory control policies can then applied to different groups. The well-known ABC classification is simple-to-understand and easy-to-use. However, ABC analysis is based on only single measurement such as annual dollar usage. It has been recognized that other criteria are also important in inventory classification. In the paper, we propose a simple model for multiple criteria inventory classification. The model converts all criteria measures of an inventory item into a scalar score. The classification based on the calculated scores using ABC principle is then applied. With proper transformation, we can obtain the scores of inventory items without a linear optimizer. The model can be widely applied to inventory managers with minimal backgrounds in optimization. 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Palliative laser therapy for recurrent head and neck cancer: A phase II clinical study

Objectives: Laser therapy is becoming a more precise, minimally invasive alternative for tumor ablation. Recent reports confirm successful palliation of pain and functional disabilities in patients with advanced deep carcinoma of the head and neck using interstitial laser phototherapy (ILT). Study Design, Patients, and Methods: The current study describes an ongoing Phase II trial of neodymium/yttrium‐aluminum‐garnet (Nd:YAG) laser therapy for palliation of advanced head and neck cancer. A total of 40 advanced cancer patients have been entered into this protocol (25 men and 15 women). Results: Nineteen of these patients had no evidence of recurrence after ILT with an average follow‐up of 11 months (range, 2 to 24 mo). Currently, 19 of these patients are alive, 14 with tumor remission and six with persistent disease. A total of 79 tumor sites received ILT with 43 (54.5%) completely ablated. Stratified by tumor site, ILT led to a complete response in 21 of 24 in the oral cavity, eight of 28 neck tumors, four of 10 in skin, and 10 of 17 in other sites. The procedure was well tolerated in most cases and was repeated at intervals in patients with residual disease or recurrences for a total of 118 laser treatments (average, 2.95 treatments per patient). Conclusions: The results suggest that ILT can be performed safely and repeated as needed, and may be less costly than conventional surgery for head and neck cancer. However, additional follow‐up is needed to obtain convincing evidence of long‐term therapeutic benefits.
Casp8p41 expression in primary T cells induces a proinflammatory response

Objective:HIV infection of CD4 T cells can lead to HIV protease-mediated cleavage of procaspase 8 generating a novel, HIV-specific peptide called Casp8p41. Casp8p41 has at least two biologic functions: induction of cell death via mitochondrial depolarization and release of cytochrome C, as well as activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB). We have previously shown that Casp8p41-induced NFκB activation enhances HIV LTR transcription and consequently increases HIV replication. Herein, we questioned whether Casp8p41-induced NFκB activation impacts the cytokine profile of cells expressing Casp8p41. Design:Analysis of cells expressing Casp8p41 and HIV-infected T cells. Methods:We assessed whether host genes are transcriptionally activated following Casp8p41 production, using microarray analysis, cytokine quantification, followed by western blot and flow cytometry. Results:Microarray analysis identified 259 genes significantly upregulated following expression of Casp8p41. Furthermore, Casp8p41 expression in primary CD4 T cells results in increased production of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-15 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), as well as IL-1RA; whereas levels of granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interferon (IFN)-γ were reduced in the Casp8p41 expressing cells. Intracellular flow cytometry confirmed the co-association of Casp8p41 with elevated TNF in HIV-infected cells. Conclusion:These data indicate that the expression of Casp8p41 in HIV-infected CD4 T cells in addition to promoting apoptosis and enhancing HIV replication also promotes a proinflammatory cytokine milieu, which is characteristic of untreated HIV infection.
Coupled particle light scattering: a new technique for serodiagnosis of Epstein‐Barr virus infection

The Coupled Particle Light Scattering™ technique was evaluated for serological diagnosis of Epstein‐Barr Virus (EBV) infection. Two hundred ninety‐six patient sera selected from several clinical categories (acute infection, non‐primary infection, interfering non‐EBV infection, non‐infected) were tested for IgM and IgG antibodies (anti‐VCA, anti‐EBNA and anti‐EA). Determination of EBV IgG with Copalis multiplex was accurate when compared with Enzygnost® Anti‐EBV/IgG ELISA. Although the sensitivity of Copalis IgM for acute infections was 100% a positive IgM result did not always indicate an acute infection. Strong reactivity to IgG EA (ratio 3, 1) and IgG VCA (ratio 13, 3) correlated with persistent infection or reactivation. The Copalis™I has many advantages over the existing methods, such as the possibility to measure three semi‐quantitative IgG responses to three different EBV antigens simultaneously. J. Med. Virol. 64:519–525, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.