Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Configuration Caching Techniques for FPGA

Although run-time reconfigurable systems have been shown to achieve very high performance, the speedups over traditional microprocessor systems are limited by the cost of hardware configuration. In this paper, we explore the idea of configuration caching. We present techniques to carefully manage the configurations present on the reconfigurable hardware throughout program execution. Through the use of the presented strategies, we show that the number of required reconfigurations is reduced, lowering the configuration overhead. We extend these techniques to a number of different FPGA programming models, and develop both lower bound and realistic caching algorithms for these structures.
Differences Between General and Talented Students’ Perceptions of Their Career and Technical Education Experiences Compared to Their Traditional High School Experiences

Career and technical education represents an important and understudied educational option for high school students. This qualitative study utilized data from one exemplary career and technical education (CTE) center to address the question of how talented and general education students’ part-time CTE experiences differed from their traditional high school experiences. The secondary students in this study simultaneously attended both the CTE center and a traditional high school. Through interviews with students, a trend emerged: students explicitly compared these two educational experiences. Both talented and general students commented favorably on their CTE experiences and negatively on their traditional high school experiences. The four major themes from their comments included autonomy; effective, caring teachers; students with similar interests; and relevant content in an applied setting. Students appreciated the ability to choose courses and determine the order or type of assignments, to self-pace the curriculum, and to experiment with a profession (autonomy). They also commented on the presence of teachers who had high expectations, sought student's strengths, showed personal interest in the students, and had professional experience (effective, caring teachers) in the CTE setting. The student's perspectives included the observation that at the CTE center they were exposed to other students who demonstrated mature and committed behaviors, showed interest in their course of study, and participated in Career and Technical Student Organizations (students with similar interests). Finally, the learning environment at the CTE center offered curricular connections to the profession, hands-on learning, and professional treatment of students in a job-like setting (relevant content in an applied setting).
Power in individuals, groups, and the nursing profession: An expoistion

POWER IN INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, AND THE NURSING PROFESSION: AN EXPOSITION By : Leo Eromonsele Akioyamen ( akioyale@mcmaster.ca ), 2 nd year Undergraduate Nursing Student, School of Nursing, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Abstract Presented in this paper is an examination of the nature of power and its implications for effective group development, team functioning and the nursing profession. Power is defined here as a relationship granting individuals the ability or authority to influence others and thereby effect change. By nursing profession, the author refers primarily to registered nurses. The introduction of the work includes a brief typology of power and a description of the role it plays in individuals’ lives. In the nursing profession, it is essential to be able to work effectively in teams to facilitate the provision of high quality care for clients. Thus, discussion shifts from individual power to the groups they come together to form with a focus on the five stages of group development. The concepts of secondary tension and power distance are included in this discussion to underscore power’s impact on the effective development of the group. The final section of this paper includes a discussion of the impact of the misuse of power in the nursing profession and resultant abuse of nursing students and/or new graduates, as well as seasoned nurses. The summary and conclusion sections of this paper emphasize the need for nursing educators to teach and encourage team members to recognize and challenge unsettling power structures, and to advocate for themselves as well as for their clients so that all may feel empowered. Keywords: power, group process, stages of group development, nursing education, nursing practice implications
Phenotype Sequencing: Identifying the Genes That Cause a Phenotype Directly from Pooled Sequencing of Independent Mutants

Random mutagenesis and phenotype screening provide a powerful method for dissecting microbial functions, but their results can be laborious to analyze experimentally. Each mutant strain may contain 50–100 random mutations, necessitating extensive functional experiments to determine which one causes the selected phenotype. To solve this problem, we propose a “Phenotype Sequencing” approach in which genes causing the phenotype can be identified directly from sequencing of multiple independent mutants. We developed a new computational analysis method showing that 1. causal genes can be identified with high probability from even a modest number of mutant genomes; 2. costs can be cut many-fold compared with a conventional genome sequencing approach via an optimized strategy of library-pooling (multiple strains per library) and tag-pooling (multiple tagged libraries per sequencing lane). We have performed extensive validation experiments on a set of E. coli mutants with increased isobutanol biofuel tolerance. We generated a range of sequencing experiments varying from 3 to 32 mutant strains, with pooling on 1 to 3 sequencing lanes. Our statistical analysis of these data (4099 mutations from 32 mutant genomes) successfully identified 3 genes (acrB, marC, acrA) that have been independently validated as causing this experimental phenotype. It must be emphasized that our approach reduces mutant sequencing costs enormously. Whereas a conventional genome sequencing experiment would have cost $7,200 in reagents alone, our Phenotype Sequencing design yielded the same information value for only $1200. In fact, our smallest experiments reliably identified acrB and marC at a cost of only $110–$340.
Kinematic and EMG activities during front and back squat variations in maximum loads

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the musculature activity and kinematics of knee and hip joints during front and back squat with maximal loading. Two-dimensional kinematical data were collected and electromyographic activities of vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, rectus femoris, semitendinosus, biceps femoris, gluteus maximus and erector spinae were measured while participants (n = 12, 21.2 ± 1.9 years old) were completing front and back squat exercises with maximum loading. Paired sample t-test was used for comparisons between two techniques. Results showed that the electromyographic activity of vastus medialis was found to be greater in the front squat compared to the back squat during the ascending phase (P < 0.05, d = 0.62; 95% CI, −15.0/−4.17) and the whole manoeuvre (P < 0.05, d = 0.41; 95% CI, −12.8/−0.43), while semitendinosus (P < 0.05, d = −0.79; 95% CI, 0.62/20.59) electromyographic activity was greater in the back squat during the ascending phase. Compared to the front squat version, back squat exhibited significantly greater trunk lean, with no differences occurring in the knee joint kinematics throughout the movement. Results may suggest that the front squat may be preferred to the back squat for knee extensor development and for preventing possible lumbar injuries during maximum loading.
Measurement of Reading Characteristics of Multiplexed Image in QR Code

With the growth of the Internet in recent years, two-dimensional codes, such as a QR code has been widely used in the world. However, as this QR code is just a collective symbol of black and white dots, it does not have a good visual display. To improve this problem, an image or picture is superimposed to this two-dimensional code. This code can still be read without error, but this image is considered to be noisy, which reduces the reading ability. In order to avoid the reduction of the ability for reading the two-dimensional arrangement of code data, the location characteristics of the superimposed image should be studied. In this paper, taking into account the parameters of the error correction, the reading characteristics for different positions of the superimposed image are measured and the best position for it has been studied.
A framework for determining useful parallelism

An approach to finding and forming parallel processes for both sequential and parallel programs is presented. The approach is presented in a framework that can create useful parallelism for a variety of parallel architectures. The framework makes use of a control dependence graph to capture maximal parallelism, a process tree to expose useful parallelism, renaming and storage segregation to reduce data dependencies, and an architecture-specific cost analyzer to evaluate the effectiveness of the potential processes. The framework is currently being implemented.
Acute exacerbations of chronic hepatitis B are rarely associated with superinfection of hepatitis B virus

There are 7 genotypes of hepatitis B virus (HBV). Whether superinfection of HBV carriers with different HBV genotypes occurs remains unknown. We therefore determined the HBV genotype and association between superinfection and acute exacerbation of disease in a cohort of 244 patients with chronic HBV infection who had elevated serum aminotransferase levels for at least 1 year. Within this group, 103 patients experienced acute exacerbation with an annual incidence of 13%, and 20 of the 103 patients had IgM antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (IgM anti‐HBc). These 20 patients had a higher prevalence of genotype C infection (65%) than the remaining 83 anti‐core IgM–negative patients (40%) who also had acute exacerbations (P < .05). Detailed analysis of HBV genotypes and sequences of the variable pre‐S gene were determined in serial samples from 20 patients with IgM anti‐HBc–positive acute exacerbations (group A), 20 patients with IgM anti‐HBc–negative acute exacerbations (group B), and 20 patients without exacerbations (group C). Two (10%) of the group A patients had virologic evidence of HBV superinfection during acute exacerbation, one superinfected with heterotypic virus and the other with homotypic virus. The newly introduced virus disappeared after the exacerbation and the original virus resumed thereafter. The calculated prevalence of HBV superinfection in the hepatitis B carriers and those with acute exacerbations was 0.8% (2 of 244) and 1.9% (2 of 103), respectively. In conclusion, superinfection of HBV on hepatitis B carriers indeed occurs and may cause acute exacerbations, albeit at a low frequency even in hyperendemic areas of HBV infection.
Outage performance of FSO multi-hop parallel relaying

In this paper, we investigate the outage performance of relay-assisted free-space optical (FSO) networks which build upon the combinations of serial and parallel relaying. We assume log-normal atmospheric turbulence channels and derive outage probability expressions for multi-hop parallel relaying scheme under consideration. Our outage probability analysis demonstrates substantial performance improvements with respect to both serial and parallel relaying.
Fast Image Filters for Depth-of-Field Postprocessing

The original and primary motivation for the work described in this thesis is depth of field post-processing. Previous methods for simulating depth of field were either too slow, or of low quality. Depth of field post-processing is a critical component of high quality rendering. Without depth of field, everything is in perfectly sharp focus, lending an unnatural, overly crisp look. In fact, lack of depth of field is an important tip-off that an image is computer generated. Depth of field is challenging to achieve when both high quality and high speed are desired simultaneously. This is because high quality methods are traditionally based on brute force, and fast methods make too many approximations. Intuitively, it seems odd that depth of field is so computationally expensive. Depth of field is a type of blur, and blur inherently removes information from an image, producing an output lacking high frequencies. Producing a simpler image should not be so expensive, and this thesis shows that, indeed, high quality depth of field blurring can be achieved in real time. Central to this thesis are the concepts of gathering and spreading. Gathering is the process of forming an output pixel by taking a linear combination of input pixels. Spreading is the process of expanding each input pixel into a point spread function (PSF) of some kind, and accumulating those PSFs into the output image. Image filtering is traditionally thought of as gathering, but a central idea of this thesis is that depth of field (and a variety of other applications) is much better suited to spreading. In the course of developing the mathematical theory of filter spreading, we happened upon a new type of image filter that is equally well-described as gathering and spreading. This new method, which we refer to as the tensor filter, is conceptually simple and can leverage the benefits of any combination of gathering and spreading algorithms. We have developed a variety of new fast, high quality image filtering algorithms. Except for the tensor method, all of these are spreading methods. The reason why we have a variety of techniques is because there are a variety of PSFs that one may wish to use. Our methods achieve speed by exploiting structure in the PSFs. As such, truly arbitrary PSFs are problematic, but high quality results can be achieved with both polynomial and Gaussian PSFs, as well as PSFs that have an arbitrary outline but a constant-intensity interior. While the original motivation for this work was depth of field, filter spreading actually has a variety of other applications. We have developed proof-of-concept applications for motion blur, implicit curves, and image warping. Filter spreading may also be useful for radial basis function evaluation and volume rendering.
Factors Influencing Expression of Antixenosis in Soybean to Anticarsia gemmatalis and Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate some factors that influence the expression of antixenosis in soybean genotypes against Anticarsia gemmatalis Hübner and Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Free-choice and no-choice feeding assays were performed with the resistant soybean genotype IAC 100 and the susceptible genotype BRSGO 8360 using A. gemmatalis and S. frugiperda larvae. The following factors that may affect expression of resistance were evaluated: one larva versus two larvae per leaf disc; use of larvae without prior feeding suspension versus larvae starved for 3 h prior to the assay; leaf discs versus entire leaflets; upper part versus lower part of the plant; and, vegetative versus reproductive growth stages. The level of resistance exhibited by the genotype IAC 100 was high enough to not be obscured by the effects of all factors assayed in the present study upon the feeding preference of A. gemmatalis and S. frugiperda larvae. However, our results demonstrate the importance of knowing the optimal conditions for conducting an assay for evaluating resistance of genotypes for specialist and generalist insect species. Utilization of two larvae of A. gemmatalis per leaf disc, not starved before the assays, with leaf discs from the upper part of plants at the reproductive growth stage provided better discrimination of differences in antixenosis expression in soybean genotypes. For S. frugiperda, use of one larva per leaf disc, not starved before the assays, with leaf discs from the lower part of plants at the reproductive growth stage gave more satisfactory results for feeding preference tests.
Design of robust superdirective beamformers as a convex optimization problem

Broadband data-independent beamforming designs aiming at constant beamwidth often lead to superdirective beamformers for low frequencies, if the sensor spacing is small relative to the wavelengths. Superdirective beamformers are extremely sensitive to spatially white noise and to small errors in the array characteristics. These errors are nearly uncorrelated from sensor to sensor and affect the beamformer in a manner similar to spatially white noise. Hence the White Noise Gain (WNG) is a commonly used measure for the robustness of beamformer designs. In this paper, we present a method which incorporates a constraint for the WNG into a least-squares beamformer design and still leads to a convex optimization problem that can be solved directly, e.g. by Sequential Quadratic Programming. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by design examples.
cisRED: a database system for genome-scale computational discovery of regulatory elements

We describe cisRED, a database for conserved regulatory elements that are identified and ranked by a genome-scale computational system (). The database and high-throughput predictive pipeline are designed to address diverse target genomes in the context of rapidly evolving data resources and tools. Motifs are predicted in promoter regions using multiple discovery methods applied to sequence sets that include corresponding sequence regions from vertebrates. We estimate motif significance by applying discovery and post-processing methods to randomized sequence sets that are adaptively derived from target sequence sets, retain motifs with p-values below a threshold and identify groups of similar motifs and co-occurring motif patterns. The database offers information on atomic motifs, motif groups and patterns. It is web-accessible, and can be queried directly, downloaded or installed locally.
The New Focal Point Localization Algorithm for Fingerprint Registration

The new algorithm of unique point localization for fingerprint registration is proposed. The focal point, an average center of curvature of fingerprint, is the unique and reliable reference point, suitable for fingerprint registration. In this paper, the new approach demonstrates fast and reliable reference point. Moreover, the focal point can be located even if it is out of original fingerprint boundary and singularity does not exist
Ribonucleoprotein multimers and their functions

Ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) play key roles in many cellular processes and often function as RNP enzymes. Similar to proteins, some of these RNPs exist and function as multimers, either momomeric or heteromeric. While in some cases the mechanistic function of multimerization is well understood, the functional consequences of multimerization of other RNPs remain enigmatic. In this review we will discuss the function and organization of small RNPs that exist as stable multimers, including RNPs catalyzing RNA chemical modifications, telomerase RNP, and RNPs involved in pre-mRNA splicing.
Ca2+ Induces Spontaneous Dephosphorylation of a Novel P5A-type ATPase

Background: P5 ATPases are omnipresent putative Ca2+ pumps in eukaryotes, but their substrate specificity remains disputed. Results: Phosphoenzyme stability of a plant P5A ATPase is influenced by Ca2+ ions independently of transport. Conclusion: Ca2+ ions might modulate P5A ATPase activity but are not transported ligands. Significance: The effect of P5A ATPases on Ca2+ homeostasis is indirect, possibly via the vesicular transport machinery. P5 ATPases constitute the least studied group of P-type ATPases, an essential family of ion pumps in all kingdoms of life. Although P5 ATPases are present in every eukaryotic genome analyzed so far, they have remained orphan pumps, and their biochemical function is obscure. We show that a P5A ATPase from barley, HvP5A1, locates to the endoplasmic reticulum and is able to rescue knock-out mutants of P5A genes in both Arabidopsis thaliana and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. HvP5A1 spontaneously forms a phosphorylated reaction cycle intermediate at the catalytic residue Asp-488, whereas, among all plant nutrients tested, only Ca2+ triggers dephosphorylation. Remarkably, Ca2+-induced dephosphorylation occurs at high apparent [Ca2+] (Ki = 0.25 mm) and is independent of the phosphatase motif of the pump and the putative binding site for transported ligands located in M4. Taken together, our results rule out that Ca2+ is a transported substrate but indicate the presence of a cytosolic low affinity Ca2+-binding site, which is conserved among P-type pumps and could be involved in pump regulation. Our work constitutes the first characterization of a P5 ATPase phosphoenzyme and points to Ca2+ as a modifier of its function.
Adjusting to the Emergent: A Process Theory Perspective on Organizational Socialization and Newcomer Innovation

6 Dansk resume . 8 Acknowledgements . 10 PART 1 : INTRODUCTION AND FIELD . 17 1. Introduction . 19 The papers . 20 The thesis . 22 2. Organizational socialization and innovation during entry . 25 2.1 Questioning the dominant socialization discourse . 25 2.1. 1 Socialization versus innovation . 26 2.1. 2 Formalized induction and informal local socialization . 28 2.3 Innovation approaches in specific studies . 31 2.3. 2 Induction as ‘change spaces’ . 32 2.2.3 Induction as ‘generative dance’ . 34 2.3. 4 ‘Newcomer innovation’ in experimental work groups . 37 2.4 Case study design and data collection . 41 2.4. 1 Case organization and case study entry cases . 41 2.4. 2 Data collection . 41 2.4. 3 Induction practices in the case company . 43 2.4. 4 The role of the entry cases in the process of analysis . 44 PART 2 : APPARATUS OF OBSERVATION . 47 3. Constituting an inquiry . 49 3.1 Breakdown-in-understanding I: Questioning organizational unity and coherence . 49 3.1. 1 Case narrative: Prior acquaintance between newcomer and hiring manager . 49 3.1. 2 From nebulous organization to relational histories . 52 3.1. 3 Interview excerpt: Shared culture beyond organizational borders . 53 3.1. 4 Established and Outsiders . 55
Telehealth using ECG sensor and accelerometer

The increasing size of the elderly population is driving the development of ambient assisted living systems and telehealth. The recognition of the user's everyday activities and detection of alarming situations are important components of such systems. Moreover, the monitoring of vital signs, like the ECG, has a key role in telecare and telemonitoring systems. Therefore, in this paper we propose a system that monitors the user by combining an ECG sensor and two accelerometers. Our system recognizes the user's activities and detects falls using the accelerometer data. The ECG data is analyzed in order to extract relevant physiological signals: heart rate, respiration rate, etc. In order to improve the reliability and robustness of the system, the measured accelerometer signals can be combined with the ECG signal in order to detect anomalies in the user's behavior and heart-related problems. The proposed proof-of-concept system could contribute significantly to the quality, unobtrusiveness and robustness of the health care and patient safety.