Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-power buffered clock tree design

We address the problem of low-power reliable clock tree design in this paper. We study the scaling of clock power dissipation with increasing die sizes, number of receivers, and operating frequencies. The analysis shows that buffering only at the root of the tree is not scalable. However, when buffered clock trees are allowed, the classical H tree is suboptimal in terms of both area and power dissipation. We show that the new power minimization problem is NP hard, and we propose a novel algorithm for low-power clock network design. Our algorithm designs the tree topology and inserts buffers simultaneously. The clock skew is guaranteed to be small in the presence of correlated process variations. Wire sizing is used when necessary, and clock skew can be inserted intentionally if required. The results obtained by our algorithm on benchmark problem instances are significantly better than previous approaches in terms of power dissipation, wire length, rise times, and buffer area. We report HSPICE simulation results for the clock trees designed by the new algorithm.
E-learning and m-learning system at higher academic musical educational institution — Specifics, challenges and results

This report aims presenting the specifics and challenges our team faced in the creation and incorporation of a specialised e-learning and m-learning system at the National Academy of Music “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” (NAM) in Sofia, Bulgaria. The system was designed and implemented specifically for the needs of musical academic educational, following the latest development waves in e-learning and m-learning fields. This report presents also the qualitative and quantitative results from the process of the system's incorporation at NAM in Sofia, Bulgaria, which can be further used in developing and incorporating similar systems in musical academic institutions.
Validation of the Polish version of the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) in patients with osteoarthritis undergoing total knee replacement

Objective To test the clinimetric properties and to evaluate the internal consistency, validity and reliability of the Polish version of the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) in older patients with end-stage knee osteoarthritis undergoing total knee replacement (TKR). Design and setting A prospective cohort study performed at the university hospital and the outpatient clinic. Methods The patients were asked to complete the KOOS questionnaire and the Short Form 36 Health Survey. We evaluated floor/ceiling effects, reliability (using Cronbach's α, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and measurement error), structural validity (performing exploratory principal factor analysis), construct validity (with the use of 3 a priori hypotheses) and responsiveness (using data obtained before and after the surgery, and described by Global Perceived Effect, effect size and standardised response mean). Results The study consisted of 68 participants (mean age 68.8, 82% women). The floor effects were found prior to surgery for the subscales Sports and Recreation Function, and Quality of Life. The Cronbach's α was from 0.90 to 0.92 for all subscales, indicating excellent internal consistency. The test–retest reliability at follow-up was excellent, with ICCs ranging from 0.81 to 0.86 for all KOOS subscales. The minimal detectable change ranged from 18.2 to 24.3 on an individual level and from 2.4 to 2.9 on a group level. All KOOS items were relevant, and all a priori established hypotheses were supported. Responsiveness was confirmed with a statistically significant correlation between all KOOS subscales and the Global Perceived Effect score (ranging from 0.56 to 0.70, p<0.001). Conclusions The Polish version of KOOS demonstrated good reliability, validity and responsiveness for use in patient groups that had undergone TKR. Since the smallest change considered clinically relevant cannot reliably be detected in individual cases, the Polish version of KOOS is advocated for assessment of groups of patients.
Motif Analysis in the Amazon Product Co-Purchasing Network

Online stores like Amazon and Ebay are growing by the day. Fewer people go to departmental stores as opposed to the convenience of purchasing from stores online. These stores may employ a number of techniques to advertise and recommend the appropriate product to the appropriate buyer profile. This article evaluates various 3-node and 4-node motifs occurring in such networks. Community structures are evaluated too.These results may provide interesting insights into user behavior and a better understanding of marketing techniques.
Processes and Resource Management in a Scalable Many-core OS ∗

The emergence of many-core architectures necessitates a redesign of operating systems, including the interfaces they expose to an application. We propose a new operating system, called ROS, designed specifically to address many limitations of current OSs as we move into the many-core era. Our goals are (1) to provide better support for parallel applications for both high-performance and general purpose computing, and (2) to scale the kernel to thousands of cores. In this paper, we focus on the process model and resource management mechanisms of ROS. We expand the traditional process model to include the notion of a ‘many-core’ process designed to naturally support parallel applications. Additionally, we discuss our method of resource management that builds on the ideas of Space-Time Partitioning presented in our previous work [16]. Central to our design is the notion that protection domains should not necessarily be coupled with resource management, and resource partitioning is not necessarily coupled with resource allocation.
Sphere Embedding: An Application to Part-of-Speech Induction

Motivated by an application to unsupervised part-of-speech tagging, we present an algorithm for the Euclidean embedding of large sets of categorical data based on co-occurrence statistics. We use the CODE model of Globerson et al. but constrain the embedding to lie on a high-dimensional unit sphere. This constraint allows for efficient optimization, even in the case of large datasets and high embedding dimensionality. Using k-means clustering of the embedded data, our approach efficiently produces state-of-the-art results. We analyze the reasons why the sphere constraint is beneficial in this application, and conjecture that these reasons might apply quite generally to other large-scale tasks.
Essential epidemiological mechanisms underpinning the transmission dynamics of seasonal influenza

Seasonal influenza has considerable impact around the world, both economically and in mortality among risk groups, but there is considerable uncertainty as to the essential mechanisms and their parametrization. In this paper, we identify a number of characteristic features of influenza incidence time series in temperate regions, including ranges of annual attack rates and outbreak durations. By constraining the output of simple models to match these characteristic features, we investigate the role played by population heterogeneity, multiple strains, cross-immunity and the rate of strain evolution in the generation of incidence time series. Results indicate that an age-structured model with non-random mixing and co-circulating strains are both required to match observed time-series data. Our work gives estimates of the seasonal peak basic reproduction number, R0, in the range 1.6–3. Estimates of R0 are strongly correlated with the timescale for waning of immunity to current circulating seasonal influenza strain, which we estimate is between 3 and 8 years. Seasonal variation in transmissibility is largely confined to 15–30% of its mean value. While population heterogeneity and cross-immunity are required mechanisms, the degree of heterogeneity and cross-immunity is not tightly constrained. We discuss our findings in the context of other work fitting to seasonal influenza data.
N-(2-Methoxyphenyl)benzenesulfonamide

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C13H13NO3S, contains two crystallographically independent molecules in which the dihedral angles between the phenyl and benzene rings are 88.16 (12) and 44.50 (12)°. One of the molecules features an intramolecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond. In the crystal, the molecules are linked into dimers by pairs of N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The dimers are further connected by C—H⋯O and C—H⋯π interactions, forming a three-dimensional network.
Survey of Energy-Cognizant Scheduling Techniques

Execution time is no longer the only metric by which computational systems are judged. In fact, explicitly sacrificing raw performance in exchange for energy savings is becoming a common trend in environments ranging from large server farms attempting to minimize cooling costs to mobile devices trying to prolong battery life. Hardware designers, well aware of these trends, include capabilities like DVFS (to throttle core frequency) into almost all modern systems. However, hardware capabilities on their own are insufficient and must be paired with other logic to decide if, when, and by how much to apply energy-minimizing techniques while still meeting performance goals. One obvious choice is to place this logic into the OS scheduler. This choice is particularly attractive due to the relative simplicity, low cost, and low risk associated with modifying only the scheduler part of the OS. Herein we survey the vast field of research on energy-cognizant schedulers. We discuss scheduling techniques to perform energy-efficient computation. We further explore how the energy-cognizant scheduler's role has been extended beyond simple energy minimization to also include related issues like the avoidance of negative thermal effects as well as addressing asymmetric multicore architectures.
AppFunnel: a framework for usage-centric evaluation of recommender systems that suggest mobile applications

Mobile phones have evolved from communication to multi-purpose devices that assist people with applications in various contexts and tasks. The size of the mobile ecosystem is steadily growing and new applications become available every day. This increasing number of applications makes it difficult for end-users to find good applications. Recommender systems suggesting mobile applications are being built to help people to find valuable applications. Since the nature of mobile applications differs from classical items to be recommended (e.g. books, movies, other goods), not only can new approaches for recommendation be developed, but also new paradigms for evaluating performance of recommender systems are advisable. During the lifecycle of mobile applications, different events can be observed that provide insights into users' engagement with particular applications. This gives rise to new approaches for evaluation of recommender systems. In this paper, we present AppFunnel: a framework that allows for usage-centric evaluation considering different stages of application engagement. We present a case study and discuss capabilities for evaluating recommender engines by applying metrics to the AppFunnel.
Myosin-Va restrains the trafficking of Na+/K+-ATPase-containing vesicles in alveolar epithelial cells

Stimulation of Na+/K+-ATPase activity in alveolar epithelial cells by cAMP involves its recruitment from intracellular compartments to the plasma membrane. Here, we studied the role of the actin molecular motor myosin-V in this process. We provide evidence that, in alveolar epithelial cells, cAMP promotes Na+/K+-ATPase recruitment to the plasma membrane by increasing the average speed of Na+/K+-ATPase-containing vesicles moving to the cell periphery. We found that three isoforms of myosin-V are expressed in alveolar epithelial cells; however, only myosin-Va and Vc colocalized with the Na+/K+-ATPase in intracellular membrane fractions. Overexpression of dominant-negative myosin-Va or knockdown with specific shRNA increased the average speed and distance traveled by the Na+/K+-ATPase-containing vesicles, as well as the Na+/K+-ATPase activity and protein abundance at the plasma membrane to similar levels as those observed with cAMP stimulation. These data show that myosin-Va has a role in restraining Na+/K+-ATPase-containing vesicles within intracellular pools and that this restrain is released after stimulation by cAMP allowing the recruitment of the Na+/K+-ATPase to the plasma membrane and thus increased activity.
Generation of Compound Words in Statistical Machine Translation into Compounding Languages

In this article we investigate statistical machine translation (SMT) into Germanic languages, with a focus on compound processing. Our main goal is to enable the generation of novel compounds that have not been seen in the training data. We adopt a split-merge strategy, where compounds are split before training the SMT system, and merged after the translation step. This approach reduces sparsity in the training data, but runs the risk of placing translations of compound parts in non-consecutive positions. It also requires a postprocessing step of compound merging, where compounds are reconstructed in the translation output. We present a method for increasing the chances that components that should be merged are translated into contiguous positions and in the right order and show that it can lead to improvements both by direct inspection and in terms of standard translation evaluation metrics. We also propose several new methods for compound merging, based on heuristics and machine learning, which outperform previously suggested algorithms. These methods can produce novel compounds and a translation with at least the same overall quality as the baseline. For all subtasks we show that it is useful to include part-of-speech based information in the translation process, in order to handle compounds.
Application of silver films with different roughness parameter for septic human serum albumin detection by Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

In this paper, the rough silver films parameters investigation, used as media for surface enhancement Raman spectroscopy for health and septic human serum albumin (HSA) study results have been presented. The detection of small concentrations of HSA isolated from blood serum and it main vibrational groups identification has been done.
Layered representation for motion analysis

Standard approaches to motion analysis assume that the optic flow is smooth; such techniques have trouble dealing with occlusion boundaries. The image sequence can be decomposed into a set of overlapping layers, where each layer's motion is described by a smooth flow field. The discontinuities in the description are then attributed to object opacities rather than to the flow itself, mirroring the structure of the scene. A set of techniques is devised for segmenting images into coherently moving regions using affine motion analysis and clustering techniques. It is possible to decompose an image into a set of layers along with information about occlusion and depth ordering. The techniques are applied to a flower garden sequence. The scene can be analyzed into four layers, and, the entire 30-frame sequence can be represented with a single image of each layer, along with associated motion parameters. <<ETX>>
Finite Element Analysis on a Newly-Modified Method for the Taylor Impact Test to Measure the Stress-Strain Curve by the Only Single Test Using Pure Aluminum

In this study, finite element analyses are performed to obtain a stress-strain curve for ductile materials by a combination between the distributions of axial stress and strain at a certain time as a result of one single Taylor impact test. In the modified Taylor impact test proposed here, a measurement of the external impact force by the Hopkinson pressure bar placed instead of the rigid wall, and an assumption of bi-linear distribution of an axial internal force, are introduced as well as a measurement of deformed profiles at certain time. In order to obtain the realistic results by computations, at first, the parameters in a nonlinear rate sensitive hardening law are identified from the quasi-static and impact tests of pure aluminum at various strain rates and temperature conducted. In the impact test, a miniaturized testing apparatus based on the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) technique is introduced to achieve a similar level of strain rate as 104 s−1, to the Taylor test. Then, a finite element simulation of the modified test is performed using a commercial software by using the user-subroutine for the hardening law with the identified parameters. By comparing the stress-strain curves obtained by the proposed method and direct calculation of the hardening law, the validity is discussed. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed method is studied.
Iron-Induced Virulence of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium at the Intestinal Epithelial Interface Can Be Suppressed by Carvacrol

ABSTRACT Oral iron therapy can increase the abundance of bacterial pathogens, e.g., Salmonella spp. , in the large intestine of African children. Carvacrol is a natural compound with antimicrobial activity against various intestinal bacterial pathogens, among which is the highly prevalent Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. This study aimed to explore a presumed interaction between carvacrol and bacterial iron handling and to assess the potential of carvacrol in preventing the increase of bacterial pathogenicity during high iron availability. S. Typhimurium was cultured with increasing concentrations of iron and carvacrol to study the effects of these combined interventions on growth, adhesion to intestinal epithelial cells, and iron uptake/influx in both bacterial and epithelial cells. In addition, the ability of carvacrol to remove iron from the high-affinity ligand transferrin and an Fe-dye complex was examined. Carvacrol retarded growth of S. Typhimurium at all iron conditions. Furthermore, iron-induced epithelial adhesion was effectively reduced by carvacrol at high iron concentrations. The reduction of growth and virulence by carvacrol was not paralleled by a change in iron uptake or influx into S. Typhimurium. In contrast, bioavailability of iron for epithelial cells was moderately decreased under these conditions. Further, carvacrol was shown to lack the properties of an iron binding molecule; however, it was able to weaken iron-ligand interactions by which it may possibly interfere with bacterial virulence. In conclusion, our in vitro data suggest that carvacrol has the potential to serve as a novel dietary supplement to prevent pathogenic overgrowth and colonization in the large intestine during oral iron therapy.
Inverse Optimization , Calibration and Validation of Simulation Models at the Field Scale

An overview is given of the issues of parameter estimation, model verification, and model validation as applied to field-scale subsurface flow and transport problems. We briefly review inverse optimization methods for estimating soil hydraulic parameters from a variety of field experiments, including tension disc infiltrometry, cone penetrometry, and gravity drainage experiments. An example is presented showing calibration of the numerical HYDRUS-2D model using data of a tile-drainage experiment. The hydraulic characteristics of the layered soil profile at the site were identified based on the joined use of laboratory data, field monitoring data, and the numerical model. A split sampling technique was used to test applicability of the numerical model for this study.
G2677T and C3435T Genotype and Haplotype Are Associated With Hepatic ABCB1 (MDR1) Expression

O of drug therapy many times involves circumvention of the body’s defense mechanisms. P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a member of the large adenosine triphosphate–binding cassette superfamily of transport proteins, is the product of the human multidrug resistance gene 1 (MDR1, ABCB1). Localized to the apical (luminal) surface of organs and tissues with excretory or barrier functions such as intestine, kidney, and blood-brain barrier, P-gp safeguards the body by limiting oral absorption and distribution and by facilitating renal excretion of drugs. P-gp is also found in the hepatobiliary tree, where it is expressed by hepatocytes at the biliary canalicular front and by epithelial cells in small biliary ductules at the apical (luminal or central canal) surface. Consequently, P-gp is believed to alter the hepatic drug elimination by reducing oxidative and conjugative drug metabolism secondary to modulation of intracellular substrate levels and/or enhancing biliary excretion. For example, studies using mdr1 knockout mice demonstrate that the hepatic extraction ratio of dual CYP3A and P-gp substrates, for example, vinblastine, paclitaxel, doxorubicin, and erythromycin, was significantly increased. However, this paradigm did not apply to all dual CYP3A/P-gp substrates since the hepatic extraction of tacrolimus was greatly decreased in mdr1 knockout (KO) animals. Independently, P-gp can enhance hepatic extraction by excreting drug directly into the bile. Indeed, of P-gp at the canalicular pole of hepatocytes by drugs such as the calcium channel blocker verapamil or the immunosuppressant cyclosporin A can block excretion of substrates into bile, resulting in decreased clearance and increased drug exposure. Considering the importance of P-gp in hepatic elimination, it is likely that variable expression and function of hepatic P-gp contributes significantly to the large interindividual variability in the disposition of drugs whose elimination relies heavily on the liver. For example, African Americans have higher hepatic clearance for numerous drugs as compared to Caucasians despite having lower hepatic CYP3A4 activity, which suggests differences in hepatic P-gp activity may significantly affect drug disposition. A number of genetic variants of the ABCB1 gene have been described, but unfortunately, a causal link between single loci genetic variation (eg, C3435T) and disposition of P-gp substrates remains elusive. Recently, it has been suggested that haplotype analysis at multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; ABCB1 G2677T and C3435T) in lieu of unphased genotype data be used to reconcile these differences. The objective of this study was to determine whether genotypes and BRIEF REPORTS/PHARMACOGENOMICS
Approximate String Similarity Join using Hashing Techniques under Edit Distance Constraints

The string similarity join, which is employed to find similar string pairs from string sets, has received extensive attention in database and information retrieval fields. To this problem, the filter-and-refine framework is usually adopted by the existing research work firstly, and then various filtering methods have been proposed. Recently, tree based index techniques with the edit distance constraint are effectively employed for evaluating the string similarity join. However, they do not scale well with large distance threshold. In this paper, we propose an efficient framework for approximate string similarity join based on Min-Hashing locality sensitive hashing and trie-based index techniques under string edit distance constraints. We show that our framework is flexible between trading the efficiency and performance. An empirical study using the real datasets demonstrates that our framework is more efficient and scales better.