Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental analysis of read related transistors’ gate width sizing effects on the 3T1D DRAM access time curve

Unlike SRAMs, the access time of 3T1D DRAMs increase as the feature size becomes smaller. To combat this slow down, it has been suggested that the sizes of read related transistors be increased, a technique that has never been thoroughly explored. This paper deals with the exploration of the effects of the said technique, focusing on its effectiveness as a function of the width increase and how it holds up as feature sizes get smaller. Our results show that applying such technique sometimes has unexpected and surprising effects, including deviating the access time curve from its expected shape, and worse, even slowing the memory cell down even further at certain times-of-read. We also discovered that the effectiveness of the technique actually becomes more and more limited as feature sizes get smaller. At a smaller feature size, it would no longer be sufficient by itself, and would have to be combined with another technique to speed up the memory cell.
Synonyms in Health Services Research Methodology

There are often multiple discipline-specific terms for a given statistical concept, which can sow confusion in multidisciplinary teams or study sections if researchers are not aware of the synonyms from other disciplines. This article incorporates synonyms and a uniform definition of terminology related to study designs, elements of an equation, and types of bias. Greater multidisciplinary collaboration and exploration of new methods can be facilitated by this methods thesaurus.
Evaluation of a cell phone-based physical activity diary.

PURPOSE Physical activity (PA) diaries reduce the recall error inherent in self-reported PA but are burdensome. The purpose of this study was to compare a cell phone-based diary with a paper diary and examine the reliability and validity of the cell phone diary. METHODS In a pilot study, 25 women and 23 men, age 45-65 yr, completed cell phone and paper PA diaries 4 d·wk(-1) for three consecutive weeks and a user satisfaction survey. In the subsequent validation study, 623 middle-age participants (52.5% women) were asked to complete the cell phone diary and wear an accelerometer for two 7-d periods, approximately 6 months apart. They also completed two PA questionnaires. Fitness, body mass index, and percent body fat were obtained as indirect validation criteria. RESULTS Estimates of PA from the cell phone and paper diaries were similar (mean within person difference = -43.8 MET·min·d(-1) of total PA, SD = 360, P = 0.49, 7.4 min·d(-1) of moderate-vigorous PA, SD = 66, P = 0.53). Users preferred the cell phone diary over the paper diary (59.6% vs 35.4%). In the subsequent study, intraclass correlations for the cell phone diary ranged from 0.55 for light PA to 0.63 for vigorous PA. Although PA estimates from the cell phone diary were generally significantly higher than those from the accelerometer and the questionnaires, correlations for moderate and vigorous PA were moderate (ρ = 0.25-0.59 with the questionnaires and 0.27-0.35 with the accelerometer). The correlations between the cell phone diary and the indirect validation criteria were generally in the expected direction and of moderate magnitude. CONCLUSIONS A cell phone-based PA diary is equivalent to a paper diary, acceptable to users, and a relatively reliable and valid approach to self-reported PA.
Impact of quality of life on patient expectations regarding phase I clinical trials.

PURPOSE Quality of life (QOL) is increasingly recognized as a critical cancer-treatment outcome measure, but little is known about the impact of QOL on the patient decision-making process. A pilot study was conducted in an effort to (1) measure the expectations of patients, physicians, and research nurses regarding the potential benefits and toxicities from experimental and standard therapies, and (2) determine the relationship of QOL to patient perceptions regarding treatment options. METHODS Thirty cancer patients enrolling in phase I clinical trials, their physicians, and their research nurses were administered questionnaires that assessed demographics, QOL, and treatment expectations. RESULTS Compared with their physicians, patients overestimated potential benefits and toxicities from experimental therapy (mean expected benefit, 59.8% v 23.8%, P <.01; mean expected toxicity, 29.8% v 16.0%, P <.01). Patients estimated a greater potential for benefit (59.8% v 36.8%, P <.01) and less potential for toxicity (29.8% v 45.6%, P =.01) for experimental therapy, compared with standard therapy. Short Form-36 general health perception correlated with patient perception of potential benefit from experimental therapy (r =.48, P =.01). CONCLUSION Participants in phase I clinical trial have high expectations regarding the success of experimental therapy and discount potential toxicity. Patient QOL may affect the expectation of benefit from experimental therapy and, ultimately, treatment choice. Understanding the interactions between QOL and patient expectations may guide the development of improved strategies to present appropriate information to patients considering early-phase clinical trials.
Uniform synchronization in multi‐agent systems with switching topologies

This paper deals with uniform synchronization analysis of multi‐agent systems with switching topologies. The agents are assumed to have general, yet identical, linear dynamics. The underlying communication topology may switch arbitrarily within a finite set of admissible topologies. We establish conditions under which the network is uniformly synchronized meaning that synchronization is valid under all possible switching scenarios. The primary conditions established are in terms of a pair of Lyapunov strict inequalities. Following those conditions, small gain and passivity types of conditions are proposed under which uniform synchronization is guaranteed. The proposed results are also extended to the case of observer‐based protocols. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Optimal design of Photovoltaic systems for Wireless Sensor Networks

The development of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has recently become an area of great interest to researchers and industry. WSNs offer the promise of monitoring, data collection, and control of systems with unprecedented scale and spatial granularity. On this regard, the study of a reliable and low cost energy supply for WSNs remains an open challenge. Of course, the correct sizing of a supply system depends on many factors; in particular, as far as wireless node load demand is concerned, it varies mainly with some load characteristics, such as: transmission technology and type and number of sensors. The main goal of this paper is to study how load characteristics impact the optimal sizing of supply system made of a stand alone photovoltaic system. Optimal design consists of determining the appropriate characteristics of photovoltaic cells, batteries as well as BoS (balance of system) so as to find the counterbalance between the energy availability and total cost of the whole system. Other issues such as the size and weight of the components have been also considered. Finally a case study related to the consumptions of a wireless sensor networks for climatic monitoring prototype will be presented.
Expression of recombinant platelet-derived growth factor A- and B-chain homodimers in rat-1 cells and human fibroblasts reveals differences in protein processing and autocrine effects

The autocrine effects of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) A- and B-chain homodimers (PDGF-AA and PDGF-BB) on rat-1 cells and human fibroblasts have been investigated by using human PDGF A- and B-chain cDNA clones expressed in a retroviral vector. Infection with replication-defective virus carrying the B-chain cDNA resulted in a phenotypical transformation resembling that induced by simian sarcoma virus. The resulting cells were focus forming in monolayer cultures, grew to high saturation densities, and formed large colonies in soft agar. The PDGF A-chain transfectants showed no transformed morphology and lacked focus-forming activity but grew to high saturation density in monolayer culture and formed small colonies in soft agar. A similar but weaker effect was obtained with an A-chain cDNA variant containing a 69-base-pair insertion in the 3' end of the protein-coding domain. A- and B-chain transfectants released PDGF receptor-competing activity into the medium, but only the medium conditioned by the B-chain transfectants possessed potent mitogenic activity on human fibroblasts. Both types of transfectants had downregulated levels of PDGF receptors; however, the B-chain transfectants were downregulated to significantly lower levels. Metabolic labeling and immunoprecipitations with PDGF antiserum showed that the PDGF B-chain protein was processed to a 24-kilodalton cell-associated and a 30-kilodalton secreted dimeric protein. The A-chain protein was rapidly secreted as a 31-kilodalton dimeric protein. The present study shows a marked difference in the autocrine effects of PDGF-AA and -BB expressed under the control of a retroviral promoter and suggests that different biological properties may be assigned to these two PDGF isoforms.
Making Maker Space: An exploration of lively things, urban placemaking and organisation

This visual ethnographic study, which was conducted at Newcastle upon Tyne’s Maker Space, explores the organisational and placemaking processes that emerge from a passion for making things. Placing a particular emphasis on this lively engagement, it examines how makers get beneath the surface of everyday objects and perceive their potential for transformation. Tracing the intimacy that makers develop with materials and the surrounding sense of social vitality and possibility that this gives rise to, the study examines how place and organisation are continually renegotiated and given new meaning. The analysis contributes to the literature on sustainable ways of organizing that emerge from the interstices of everyday life and adds to a growing literature on space and organization. It infuses the metaphor of ‘parkour organisation’ (where parkour is conceived as a disruptive and sensual mind-body engagement with urban space) with a material sensibility drawn from scholarship on lively materials (a fluid conception of things as materials in movement) and ecological sustainability. The organisation that emerges from the needs of makers to engage in a fluid conversation with materials is posited as a sometimes tense yet fruitful negotiation that characterises Maker Space as vibrant and distinctly alive. This process is evaluated as in keeping with approaches to urban development that disrupt ‘non-place’, promoting critical awareness of one’s surroundings, and of civic life, through sensual, richly textured engagement.
Measurement of $d$-Coefficients of CdSiP2 Using Non-Phase-Matched Second Harmonic Generation of 2700 to 4700 NM Radiation

A novel experimental approach, based on re-derivation of the Maker fringe theory, yielded values d<inf>14</inf> and d<inf>36</inf> coefficients of CdSiP<inf>2</inf> using a picosecond duration laser tuned between 2700 and 4700 nm.
An adaptive partitioning scheme for ad-hoc and time-varying database analytics

Data partitioning significantly improves query performance in distributed database systems. A large number of techniques have been proposed to efficiently partition a dataset, often focusing on finding the best partitioning for a particular query workload. However, many modern analytic applications involve ad-hoc or exploratory analysis where users do not have a representative query workload. Furthermore, workloads change over time as businesses evolve or as analysts gain better understanding of their data. Static workload-based data partitioning techniques are therefore not suitable for such settings. In this thesis, we present Amoeba, an adaptive distributed storage system for data skipping. It does not require an upfront query workload and adapts the data partitioning according to the queries posed by users over time. We present the data structures, partitioning algorithms, and an efficient implementation on top of Apache Spark and HDFS. Our experimental results show that the Amoeba storage system provides improved query performance for ad-hoc workloads, adapts to changes in the query workloads, and converges to a steady state in case of recurring workloads. On a real world workload, Amoeba reduces the total workload runtime by 1.8x compared to Spark with data partitioned and 3.4x compared to unmodified Spark. Thesis Supervisor: Samuel Madden Title: Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Qualitative analysis of two reconstruction techniques and their application in dentistry

Although visualization in the field of dentistry has some of the same requirements as the medicine field, the differences in goal demand specific approaches. This paper reports on the implementation of two fundamentally different approaches to reconstruction of structures from planar cross sections and their application to dentistry data. One of the approaches was an implementation of a distance-based sampling technique, and the other is a new algorithm, based on the Delaunay triangulation. Both were tested using contour data of teeth and the results are compared here in the light of the target applications, which are teaching and training dentistry, as well as simulation of dental procedures and illnesses. Widely mentioned problems encountered in local reconstruction methods such as marching cubes for these cases are clearly illustrated in this paper, and a very satisfactory alternative is given.
Prevalence of IncI1-Iγ and IncFIA-FIB type plasmids in extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated from the NICU of a North Indian hospital.

We studied the molecular mechanism of resistance in extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of one of the hospitals in North India. A total of 3000 clinical samples were collected from a NICU (January 2009 to February 2011), of which 523 strains were K. pneumoniae positive and 262 of them were ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae strains. All of the ESBL-producing clinical isolates were susceptible to carbapenems. However, the majority of the clinical isolates (30-96 %) were resistant to a wide range of antibiotics including antibiotic/inhibitor combinations. The MIC values confirmed that these isolates were highly resistant to cephalosporins and aztreonam. In the 262 ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae isolates, 15 different enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR-typed phylogenetic groups were identified and reconfirmed by PFGE. Characterization of plasmids from each representative member of these phylogenetic groups revealed the presence of three plasmids of different sizes. Conjugation experiments confirmed the presence of different resistance markers only on the 154 kb plasmid. PCR amplification and sequence analysis revealed that blaCTX-M-3, blaTEM-1, blaSHV-1, blaOXA-1 and armA were the predominant resistance markers. Plasmid-replicon typing showed that IncI1-Iγ and IncFIA-FIB types are the most prevalent. This study shows the co-existence of multiple ESBL-encoding genes and their polyclonal dissemination among K. pneumoniae clinical isolates in the NICU of a North Indian hospital.
T-cell therapy for cytomegalovirus infection

Purpose of reviewHuman cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation and disease remains one of the major complications after allogeneic haemopoietic stem cell transplantation. Cell-mediated immunity is essential in counteracting CMV infection as evident by detection of high frequencies of CMV-specific CD8+ and CD4+ lymphocytes among the healthy CMV-seropositive individuals. Adoptive transfer of CMV-specific T cells to speed up reconstitution of CMV-specific immunity potentially offers clinical protection and reduces drug toxicities as well as outgrowth of drug-resistant strains from prolonged antiviral therapy. Recent findingsDifferent strategies to generate CMV-specific T cell have been explored. Similarly, vast diversities in term of cell dose and composition of the cellular product have been infused into small cohorts of patients. To date, a number of phase I/II clinical trials have demonstrated the feasibility of adoptive transferred CMV-specific T cells as prophylaxis, pre-emptive or therapeutic measure. In general, all these strategies showed variable degrees of efficacy without obvious adverse event particularly with regard to the induction of graft-versus-host disease. SummaryIn this review, we would like to give a comprehensive synopsis regarding therapeutic application of CMV-specific T cells in fighting CMV infection.
Miniaturized Distributed Marchand Balun Using Coupled Synthesized CPWs

A miniaturized distributed Marchand balun, composed of two unequal sections of coupled slow-wave synthesized coplanar waveguides, is developed in this letter. With the even odd mode analysis, the propagation characteristics of the coupled synthesized lines are analyzed. A simple phase compensation scheme, with unequal coupling sections, is proposed to compensate for the phase imbalance due to the non-zero connection line between the coupled-line sections. Without the need of surface-mounted capacitors, the proposed balun provides a comparable miniaturization capability but wider bandwidth when compared with its lumped-distributed counterparts. The circuit topology, design consideration, and simulated and experimental results are discussed thoroughly.
Adaptive fuzzy particle swarm optimization for flow-shop scheduling problem

This paper describes the application of a hybrid of fuzzy logic and swarm intelligence in order to achieve sub-optimal solutions for flow-shop scheduling problem. A novel adaptive approach with fuzzy particle swarm optimization is proposed. The developed model is tested with the standardized test functions and compared with selected stochastic algorithms (first with one objective functions and later with multi objective functions) to determine its applicability to general problems. Benchmark examples were utilized to evaluate the approach and determine the optimal number of the algorithm evaluations. Finally, the proposed model is applied on two practical problems of flow production problems (assembly lines and packaging lines). The results achieved were compared with the conventional priority rules and the effectiveness of the application of hybrid fuzzy logic and adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm was demonstrated.
Optimal management of battery charging of electric vehicles: A new microgrid feature

Large deployment of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) will put new challenges regarding the power systems operation. The MicroGrid (MG) concept can be exploited to support the progressive integration of PHEVs into the Low Voltage (LV) networks by developing smart charging strategies to manage the PHEVs batteries charging procedures in order to avoid reinforcements in the grid infrastructures. Assuming that a number of PHEVs owners allow managing the batteries charging when their cars are parked, this paper proposes an approach that aims to find suitable individual active power set-points corresponding to the hourly charging rate of each PHEV battery connected to the LV grid. The Evolutionary Particle Swarm Optimization (EPSO) tool is used to find these active power set points. This requires an additional software module to be housed in the MV/LV secondary substation level, called Optimal Power Set-points Calculator (OPSC).
Control of Endogenous Auxin Levels in Plant Root Development

In this review, we summarize the different biosynthesis-related pathways that contribute to the regulation of endogenous auxin in plants. We demonstrate that all known genes involved in auxin biosynthesis also have a role in root formation, from the initiation of a root meristem during embryogenesis to the generation of a functional root system with a primary root, secondary lateral root branches and adventitious roots. Furthermore, the versatile adaptation of root development in response to environmental challenges is mediated by both local and distant control of auxin biosynthesis. In conclusion, auxin homeostasis mediated by spatial and temporal regulation of auxin biosynthesis plays a central role in determining root architecture.
Solving protein structures using short-distance cross-linking constraints as a guide for discrete molecular dynamics simulations

Short-distance cross-linking constraints combined with discrete molecular dynamics enable rapid prediction of protein structures. We present an integrated experimental and computational approach for de novo protein structure determination in which short-distance cross-linking data are incorporated into rapid discrete molecular dynamics (DMD) simulations as constraints, reducing the conformational space and achieving the correct protein folding on practical time scales. We tested our approach on myoglobin and FK506 binding protein—models for α helix–rich and β sheet–rich proteins, respectively—and found that the lowest-energy structures obtained were in agreement with the crystal structure, hydrogen-deuterium exchange, surface modification, and long-distance cross-linking validation data. Our approach is readily applicable to other proteins with unknown structures.
Staphylococcus aureus and other Staphylococcus species in milk and milk products from Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia

Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen that can cause Staphylococcal Food Poisoning (SFP). Milk and dairy products are frequently contaminated by this bacterium. In this study, 310 samples (168 bovine raw milk and 142 dairy products) were collected in the Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia, with the objective of detection and enumeration of S. aureus and other Staphylococcus species. Baird-Parker agar for isolation and 16S rRNA gene sequencing for species identification were employed. S. aureus was found in 38.7% of samples with mean count of 4.35 +/- 0.97 log 10 CFU ml -1. The prevalence of S. aureus was significantly greater in raw milk samples (47%) than in dairy products (28.8%). Of all S. aureus positive samples, 34.2% contained >5 log10 CFU ml-1. Samples from cafeterias and restaurants showed the greatest prevalence of S. aureus (P<0.05) compared to other sampling points. Samples from small-scale dairies were twice more likely to be contaminated by S. aureus than traditionally managed dairies (P<0.05, OR=2.0). Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) were found in 51.6% of the samples, with mean count of 6.0±1.21 log10 CFU ml-1. Ten species of CNS were identified and S. epidermidis (36.13%) was the most frequent. The frequency of isolation found in this study indicates that S. aureus and other Staphylococcus spp. may impose public health hazard in dairy products. Therefore, further studies on the enterotoxigenic potential of the isolates, and molecular epidemiology to trace the sources of the contamination are recommended. Key words: Coagulase negative staphylococcus (CNS), dairy products, Ethiopia, Staphylococcus aureus, raw milk.
Process 3TUP

The software engineering is marked by the emergence of two paradigms: SOC (Service Oriented Computing) and CAC (Context-Aware Computing). The SOC paradigm aims to deal with the problems of interoperability. The CAC paradigm aims to challenge the adaptability of IS contexts. The adoption of these two paradigms, has raised the challenge of the development process Oriented Systems Services (SOS) adaptable to the context. The purpose of this paper is to propose the development process 3TUP Services-Oriented Systems adaptable to contexts of users. To streamline and guide the development of SOS adapted from business requirements.