Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of insulated Cu wire ball bonding

Insulated Cu wire is the next generation technology in fine pitch and high density wire bonding, which enables wire crossing and touching without concern for wire-to-wire shorts. However, insulated Cu wire bonding is still at the infant stage compared to Cu wire bonding. This study investigates the wire bond process in term of free air ball (FAB) and ball formation using 20μm Cu wire and insulated Cu wire with target bonded ball size about 35μm. Insulated Cu wire needs a different set of EFO setting compared to Cu wire. Spherical and residue free FAB of insulated Cu was able to form with forming gas. With a set electric flame off (EFO) setting, insulated Cu FAB consistently larger than Cu FAB. The experimental results show clearly that the energy required for the FAB formation for insulated Cu wire is ~20% lower than the Cu wire, probably due to the lesser heat loss from the wire during the EFO firing. Key bonding parameters for insulated Cu were EFO current, EFO time, bond power and bond force to meet the required ball size. This study shows that insulated Cu wire requires less demanding ball bond parameters than Cu wire, indicating softer ball which could be favorable for the sensitive bond structures. Bonding strength in term of ball shear and wire pull strength between the insulated Cu wire and Cu wire is very similar. Other key responses such as Al remnant, pad cratering and intermetallic compound have been studied and will be discussed in details in the paper. Our research successfully established good wire bonding process conditions for the insulated Cu wire and subsequently demonstrated that the technology is feasible using presently available wire bonder.
The Effect of 52 Week Highs and Lows on Analyst Stock Recommendations

In this study, I examine whether analysts use the 52 week high and low as reference prices for recommendation revisions. My results show that the proximity and recency of the 52 week high increase the odds of stocks being upgraded. When analysts upgrade a stock whose 52 week high occurred in the distant past, they provide more valuable information to investors than that based on the proximity ratio of the 52 week high. More‐experienced analysts provide more valuable recommendations when they upgrade (downgrade) based on either the nearness or recency of the 52 week high (low) than less‐experienced analysts do.
Novel Ultra-Wideband Bandpass Filter Using Shorted Coupled Lines and Transversal Transmission Line

A novel ultra-wideband (UWB) bandpass filter using two shorted coupled lines and a 270° transversal transmission line is proposed. The two shorted coupled lines are utilized to realize 180° phase inversion, while a folded transversal transmission line of 270° is introduced to perform as another power transmission path. Good impedance matching, UWB passband and wider upper stopband can be achieved. One prototype is fabricated for demonstration, good agreement is observed between simulated and measured performances of the UWB filter, indicating a fractional bandwidth of 124.6% (3-11.6 GHz).
Food Insecurity and Rising Food Prices: What Do We Learn from Experiential Measures?

Throughout many countries in the world, the measurement of food security currently includes accounting for the importance of perception and anxiety about meeting basic food needs. Using panel data from Malawi, this paper shows that worrying about food security is linked to self-reports of having experienced food insecurity, and the analysis provides evidence that rapidly rising food prices are a source of the anxiety and experiences of food insecurity. This finding controls for individual-level fixed effects and changes in the economic well-being of the individual. A particularly revealing finding of the importance of accounting for anxiety in assessing food insecurity is that individuals report a significant increase in experiences of food insecurity in the presence of rapidly rising food prices even when dietary diversity and caloric intake is stable.
Applying connectionist temporal classification objective function to Chinese Mandarin speech recognition

In automatic speech recognition (ASR), connectionist temporal classification (CTC) is regarded as a method to achieve end-to-end system. Actually, not only characters (Chars) but also context independent phonemes (CI-Phns) or context dependent phoneme (CD-Phns) can be used as output units of CTC-trained neural network. The contribution of this paper mainly lies in three aspects: First, we trained CTC models with three different units (Char, CI-Phn and CD-Phn) on Chinese Mandarin. The CTC-trained CD-Phn model might be first realized on Mandarin speech recognition (SR). Second, we optimize the training and decoding procedures, which benefit our CTC-trained models. Our Char model, a real end-to-end system, achieves a character error rate (CER) of 34.22% on HKUST corpus which surpasses the result (39.70%) reported by EESEN. Additionally, our CD-Phn model outperforms our hybrid model. Finally, we build a CTC-based online system using unidirectional Long Short-term Memory (UniLSTM) with row convolution (RC), which achieves comparable performance with our bidirectional LSTM (BiLSTM).
Reduced glucose‐induced insulin secretion in low‐protein‐fed rats is associated with altered pancreatic islets redox status

In the present study, we investigated the relationship between early life protein malnutrition‐induced redox imbalance, and reduced glucose‐stimulated insulin secretion. After weaning, male Wistar rats were submitted to a normal‐protein‐diet (17%‐protein, NP) or to a low‐protein‐diet (6%‐protein, LP) for 60 days. Pancreatic islets were isolated and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), oxidized (GSSG) and reduced (GSH) glutathione content, CuZn‐superoxide dismutase (SOD1), glutathione peroxidase (GPx1) and catalase (CAT) gene expression, as well as enzymatic antioxidant activities were quantified. Islets that were pre‐incubated with H2O2 and/or N‐acetylcysteine, were subsequently incubated with glucose for insulin secretion measurement. Protein malnutrition increased CAT mRNA content by 100%. LP group SOD1 and CAT activities were 50% increased and reduced, respectively. H2O2 production was more than 50% increased whereas GSH/GSSG ratio was near 60% lower in LP group. Insulin secretion was, in most conditions, approximately 50% lower in LP rat islets. When islets were pre‐incubated with H2O2 (100 μM), and incubated with glucose (33 mM), LP rats showed significant decrease of insulin secretion. This effect was attenuated when LP islets were exposed to N‐acetylcysteine.
A measure of quality of life in early old age: The theory, development and properties of a needs satisfaction model (CASP-19)

Quality of life is the subject of much research. However it lacks an agreed theoretical basis. In studies with older populations (ill) health has been used as a proxy measure for quality of life (QoL). We have developed a needs satisfaction measure of QoL in early old age. Our measure has four ontologically grounded domains: control, autonomy, pleasure, and self-realization. The measure was piloted with focus groups, a self-completion pilot, and cognitive interview testing. This produced a 22-item scale that was included in a postal questionnaire and sent to 286 people aged 65-75 years. A 92% response rate was achieved. The scale was reduced to 19 items on the basis of statistical analysis. The domains have Cronbach's alphas between 0.6 and 0.8. Correlations between the four domains range from 0.4 to 0.7. A second order factor analysis revealed a single latent QoL factor. The scores for the 19-item scale are well distributed along the range although they exhibit a slight negative skew. Concurrent validity was assessed using the Life Satisfaction Index--well being. A strong and positive association was found between the two scales (r = 0.6, p = 0.01). The CASP-19 appears to be a useful scale for measuring QoL in older people.
Detection of native‐like models for amino acid sequences of unknown three‐dimensional structure in a data base of known protein conformations

We present an approach which can be used to identify native‐like folds in a data base of protein conformations in the absence of any sequence homology to proteins in the data base. The method is based on a knowledge‐based force field derived from a set of known protein conformations. A given sequence is mounted on all conformations in the data base andthe associated energies are calculated. Using several conformations and sequences from the globin family we show that the native conformation is identified correctly. In fact the resolution of the force field is high enough to discriminate between a native fold and several closely related conformations. We then apply the procedure to several globins of known sequence but unknown three dimensional structure. The homology of these sequences to globins of known structures in the data base ranges from 49 to 17%. Withone exception we find that for all globin sequences one of the known globinfolds is identified as the most favorable conformation. These results are obtained using a force field derived from a data base devoid of globins of known structure. We briefly discuss useful applications in protein structurlresearch and future development of our approach. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Hemostatic function of buffy coat platelets in additive solution treated with pathogen reduction technology

BACKGROUND: Pathogen reduction technologies (PRTs) may influence the hemostatic potential of stored platelet (PLT) concentrates. To investigate this, buffy coat PLTs (BCPs) stored in PLT additive solution (SSP+) with or without Mirasol PRT treatment (CaridianBCT Biotechnologies) were compared by functional hemostatic assays.
Ruling Frameworks and Fire Use‐Conflicts in Tropical Forests of Chiapas, Mexico: A Discourse Analysis

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Abstract The use of fire within tropical forests to settle agriculture and livestock systems has long been causing a bottle-neck for governmental and environmental development agencies, especially in natural forested areas with local population. An international strategy followed since many years ago is the decree of special territories with vast forests as natural protected areas (NPA). In Mexico, environmental laws can run contrary to customs and practices of natural resource-dependent communities which still use fire to farm their lands as unique livelihood activity. The chapter examines two conflicting frameworks of resource management (forest and soil) and governance in a forest village's efforts to comply with federal policies against fires in a NPA of Chiapas, Mexico. Forest and soil management is a key locus in California village, where governance analysis were used as main tools for the analysis of information. While the State leads the conservation efforts and limits cultural activities and local actions through coercive laws, the land use and resource-dependent communities defend their access rights, and they also determine how to individual or collectively manage fires in daily activities. Finding collective solutions with horizontal-dialogue strategies represent an important issue and a pending task for the development and preservation agencies focused on forested areas. Backstage dialogue is a tool for village self-preservation when livelihood strategies are at odds with protectionist conservation efforts.
Using Social Networks to Recruit an HIV Vaccine Preparedness Cohort

Objectives:To evaluate a social network approach to develop an adolescent cohort for HIV vaccine preparedness and investigate characteristics that influence recruitment. Methods:We summarize baseline data from a prospective cohort study that included 4 sessions over 6 months. Fifty-nine HIV-infected adolescent and adult patients of a family-based HIV clinic named significant others and indicated willingness to involve them in this study. Sixty-two adolescent and adult significant others not known to be HIV infected were enrolled. Logistic regression was used to estimate factors associated with willingness. Results:Participants identified 624 social network members including 276 adolescents (44%). Network member's awareness of the index's HIV positivity (P < 0.01) and older age (P = 0.05) affected willingness. Respondents were less willing to invite drug-risk alters (P = 0.006). Adolescents were willing to invite more adolescents than were adults (P < 0.0001). Adolescents younger than 18 years old reported fewer sexual and drug-using risk behaviors than expected. Conclusions:HIV-infected patients are willing to recruit their social networks, provided concerns about disclosure of HIV status are addressed. Using social networks to identify and recruit adolescent populations is appropriate and feasible for vaccine preparedness activities, future vaccine trials, and other prevention programs, but procedures are needed to selectively identify and retain high-risk youth.
Improvement of Color Temperature Constancy of Phosphor Converted LEDs by Adaption of the Thermo-Optic Coefficients of the Color Conversion Materials

We present an approach to diminish temperature induced color shifts of phosphor converted LEDs. In particular, we discuss the impact of the thermo-optic coefficients of the materials constituting the color conversion elements (CCEs) on the constancy of the CIE chromaticity coordinates. While silicones have a comparably large thermo-optic coefficient, phosphors, e.g., Ce:YAG have a much smaller one. Hence, increasing temperature will lead to an increase in the differences of the refractive indexes of phosphor and matrix. This will enhance light-scattering which for itself would give reason for a more yellowish emission. Thus, on the one hand the thermo-optic coefficient of the silicone matrix has to be considered for as a potential source of failure for color temperature deviation upon device operation. However, on the other hand adjusting the thermo-optic coefficient of the silicone matrix by an appropriate materials engineering to the temperature induced luminescence loss of a phosphor can be applied to counterbalance a shift of the chromaticity coordinates of the white light in this regard.
Sharlit—a tool for building optimizers

A complex and time-consuming function of a modern compiler is global optimization. Unlike other functions of a compiler such as parsing and code generation which examine only one statement or one basic block at a time, optimizers are much larger in scope, examining and changing large portions of a program all at once. The larger scope means optimizers must perform many program transformations. Each of these transformations makes its own particular demands on the internal representation of programs; each can interact with and depend on the others in different ways. This makes optimizers large and complex. Despite their complexity, few tools exist to help in building optimizers. This is in stark contrast with other parts of the compiler where years of experience have culminated in tools with which these other parts can be constructed easily. For example, parser generators are used to build front-ends, and peephole optimizers and tree matchers are used to build code generators. This paper presents Sharlit, a tool to support the construction of modular and extensible global optimizers. We will show how Sharlit helps in constructing data-flow analyzers and the transformations that use data-flow analysis information, both are major components of any optimizer. Sharlit is implemented in C++ and uses C++ in the same way that YACC uses C. Thus we assume the reader has some familiarity with C++[9].
Vertical GAAFETs for the Ultimate CMOS Scaling

In this paper, we compare the performances of FinFETs, lateral gate-all-around (GAA) FETs, and vertical GAAFETs (VFETs) at 7-nm node dimensions and beyond. Comparison is done at ring oscillator level accounting not only for front-end of line devices but also for interconnects. It is demonstrated that FinFETs fail to maintain the performance at scaled dimensions, while VFETs demonstrate good scalability and eventually outperform lateral devices both in speed and power consumption. Lateral GAAFETs show better scalability with respect to FinFETs but still consume 35% more energy per switch than VFETs if made under 5-nm node design rules.
Effectiveness of Fungicide on Soybean Rust in the Southeastern United States: A Meta-Analysis

Soybean rust (SBR), caused by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi Sydow, has been of concern to soybean (Glycine max Merrill) growers in the southern United States since its introduction in 2004. As this fungus develops, pustules become numerous on the underside of leaves, which then turn yellow and drop prematurely, resulting in fewer pods, and poorly developed seeds. Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of fungicide use in controlling SBR by conducting a meta-analysis of 61 published and unpublished trials across the southern United States from 2004 to 2014. We analyzed fungicide efficacy based on factors such as specific classes of fungicide, active ingredients, number of fungicide applications, target growth stage upon initial application, level of disease pressure, and year of the study. Fungicides significantly increased yield and 100-seed weight and decreased the severity of SBR. The means of SBR severity, yield, and 100-seed weight in fungicide-treated plants were 9% (95% confidence interval: 2%, 21%), 128% (121%, 135%), and 121% (116%, 128%), respectively, of those calculated in the control plants. By using meta-analysis to analyze fungicide efficacy across multiple field trials, we were able to determine that one application of a strobilurin fungicide when plants were either beginning pod development (R3) or developing seeds (R5) was the most cost-effective approach to controlling SBR and increasing 100-seed weight.
Fibrin Down-regulates LPS- and PMA-induced Tissue Factor Expression by Blood Mononuclear Cells

Summary Several studies indicate that fibrin may play a functional role in inflammation by modulating a variety of cellular functions. We investigated the effect of fibrin on tissue factor (TF) production by blood mononuclear cells (MNC). Citrated human blood was recalcified and incubated at 37° C for 1-4 h. The resulting clot was lysed by the addition of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and MNC were isolated by density gradient centrifugation. A control blood sample was processed in the same way but omitting calcium addition and clot formation. Clot-and blood-derived MNC did not express detectable TF activity and antigen whatever the incubation time. Clot-derived MNC, however, generated on average 5 fold less TF (activity and antigen) than control cells, when stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 1 µg/ml) for 3 h at 37° C. A reduced TF response of clot-derived cells was also observed at mRNA level as indicated by RT-PCR and in situ hybridization. The effect was dependent on the incubation time within the clot, could not be reversed by enhancing LPS concentration or by adding serum, and was maintained if LPS was replaced by the tumor promoter PMA. A reduced TF response was also found when washed MNC were incorporated for 1 h at 37° C within purified fibrin but not when the cells were incubated with fibrinogen, thrombin or fibrin split products alone, indicating that contact with fibrin was responsible for the inhibition of TF production. Fibrin-induced down-regulation of TF response to LPS and PMA by MNC may represent a negative feed-back aimed at limiting excessive blood clotting activation in immuneinflammatory diseases.
Migration of industrial process control systems to service-oriented architectures

ABSTARCT The use of Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) in industrial automation promises an improved cross-layer integration as well as a functionality decoupled from the technical implementation. Compared with the earlier investigated manufacturing industry, control systems in the process industry reveal additional challenges in terms of migration from a legacy control system to an SOA control system. The successful migration of a highly integrated process control system, without reducing reliability or availability and, at the same time, preserving functionality and productivity, requires a detailed plan and certain specialised technology. This paper presents the challenges in the migration of a process control system and proposes a structured method for migration. The migration procedure proposed comprises four steps: initiation, configuration, data processing, and control execution. A technology demonstration at a pelletizing plant illustrates how the first of these steps could be implemented.
Viral Heart Disease and Acute Coronary Syndromes - Often or Rare Coexistence?

BACKGROUND Clinical presentation of viral myocarditis can mimic acute coronary syndrome and making diagnosis of viral heart disease (VHD) may be challenging. The presence of coronary artery disease (CAD) does not always exclude VHD and these entities can coexist. However, the incidence of co-occurrence of CAD and VHD is not precisely known. Moreover, inflammatory process caused by viruses may result in atherosclerotic plaque destabilization. METHODS The goal of this work is to summarize the current knowledge about co-occurrence of VHD and CAD. This article presents the importance of inflammatory process in both diseases and helps to understand pathophysiological mechanisms underlying their coexistence. It provides information about making differential diagnosis between these entities, including clinical presentation, noninvasive imaging features and findings in endomyocardial biopsy. Although currently there are no standard therapy strategies in coexistence of VHD and CAD, we present some remarkable aspects of treatment of patients, in whom VHD co-occurs with CAD. RESULTS Viral heart disease may occur both in patients without and with atherosclerotic plaques in coronary arteries. Destabilization of atherosclerotic plaques in coronary arteries can be facilitated by inflammatory process. Increased inflammatory infiltrates in the coronary lesions of patients with VHD can lead to plaques' instability and consequently trigger acute coronary syndrome. CONCLUSION In this article we attempted to present that co-occurrence of VHD and CAD may have therapeutic implications and as specific antiviral treatment is currently available, proper diagnosis and treatment can improve patient's condition and prognosis.
Modeling Systemic Risk: Time-Varying Tail Dependence When Forecasting Marginal Expected Shortfall

In this article, a copula-based model is proposed to estimate the marginal expected shortfall. The model is based on a dynamic mixture copula. The proposed model captures time-varying nonlinear dependence, which is assumed to be constant in alternative approaches. The time-varying copula parameters are endowed with generalized autoregressive score dynamics. For the institutions of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, several variations of the proposed model are considered and compared with alternative, competing models. It is shown that the proposed model outperforms standard benchmarks and produces reasonable findings regarding the risk contributions of the sectors of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.