Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extended Kalman filtering and phase detector modeling for a digital phase-locked loop

The realization of a digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) requires to choose a suitable phase detector and to design an appropriate loop filter; these tasks are commonly nontrivial in most applications. In this paper, the phase detector is examined, and a simple model is given to describe the characteristics of the timing function. The DPLL system is then formulated as a state estimation problem; then an extended Kalman filter (EKF) is applied to realize this DPLL for estimating the sampling phase. Therefore, the phase detector and loop filter are simply realized by the EKF. The proposed DPLL has a simple structure and low realization complexity. Computer simulations for a conventional DPLL system are given to compare with those for the proposed timing recovery system. Simulation results indicate that the proposed realization can estimate the input phase rapidly without causing a large jittering.
Decompression in Chiari Malformation: Clinical, Ocular Motor, Cerebellar, and Vestibular Outcome

Background Treatment of Chiari malformation can include suboccipital decompression with resection of one cerebellar tonsil. Its effects on ocular motor and cerebellar function have not yet been systematically examined. Objective To investigate whether decompression, including resection of one cerebellar tonsil, leads to ocular motor, vestibular, or cerebellar deficits. Patients and methods Ten patients with Chiari malformation type 1 were systematically examined before and after (1 week and 3 months) suboccipital decompression with unilateral tonsillectomy. The work-up included a neurological and neuro-ophthalmological examination, vestibular function, posturography, and subjective scales. Cerebellar function was evaluated by ataxia rating scales. Results Decompression led to a major subjective improvement 3 months after surgery, especially regarding headache (5/5 patients), hyp-/dysesthesia (5/5 patients), ataxia of the upper limbs (4/5 patients), and paresis of the triceps and interosseal muscles (2/2 patients). Ocular motor disturbances before decompression were detected in 50% of the patients. These symptoms improved after surgery, but five patients had new persisting mild ocular motor deficits 3 months after decompression with unilateral tonsillectomy (i.e., smooth pursuit deficits, horizontally gaze-evoked nystagmus, rebound, and downbeat nystagmus) without any subjective complaints. Impaired vestibular (horizontal canal, saccular, and utricular) function improved in five of seven patients with impaired function before surgery. Posturographic measurements after surgery did not change significantly. Conclusion Decompression, including resection of one cerebellar tonsil, leads to an effective relief of patients’ preoperative complaints. It is a safe procedure when performed with the help of intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring, although mild ocular motor dysfunctions were seen in half of the patients, which were fortunately asymptomatic.
Evaluating the impact of electromigration on the integrated circuit performance

Electromigration damage in interconnects is a well-known bottleneck of integrated circuits, as it is responsible for performance degradation, affecting parameters like delay and frequency. With the technology scaling, the evaluation of the interconnect reliability for electromigration become more challenge for the chip designers. To guarantee a better performance for longer time, the designers need to identify the critical wires in the circuit layout and to alter it using techniques that retard the electromigration impact on the circuit. Traditional methods based in the Blech Effect and the maximum current density are used to evaluate the circuits concerning wires under electromigration, though conservative. While these methods focus on the magnitude of the current density through each line, the performance variation due to electromigration induced by resistance change is an additional criterion to be considered. Therefore, a more accurate method need to consider besides the interconnect reliability, the circuit performance degradation, due the resistance variation. In this work, it is simulated the effects of the interconnect degradation due the void growth, in the transconductance of transistors from a differential amplifier. After, the analysis is extended to evaluate the unity gain frequency of the amplifier.
An empirical study of file systems on NVM

Emerging byte-addressable, non-volatile memory like phase-change memory, STT-MRAM, etc. brings persistence at latencies within an order of magnitude of DRAM, thereby motivating their inclusion on the memory bus. According to some recent work on NVM, traditional file systems are ineffective and sub-optimal in accessing data from this low latency media. However, there exists no systematic performance study across different file systems and their various configurations validating this point. In this work, we evaluate the performance of various legacy Linux file systems under various real world workloads on non-volatile memory (NVM) simulated using ramdisk and compare it against NVM optimized file system - PMFS. Our results show that while the default file system configurations are mostly sub-optimal for NVM, these legacy file systems can be tuned using mount and format options to achieve performance that is comparable to NVM-aware file system such as PMFS. Our experiments show that the performance difference between PMFS and ext2/ext3 with execute-in-place (XIP) option is around 5% for many workloads (TPCC and YCSB). Furthermore, based on the learning from our performance study, we present few key file system features such as in-place update layout with XIP, and parallel metadata and data allocations, etc. that could be leveraged by file system designers to improve performance of both legacy and new file systems for NVM.
Use of Line Spectral Frequencies for Emotion Recognition from Speech

We propose the use of the line spectral frequency (LSF) features for emotion recognition from speech, which have not been been previously employed for emotion recognition to the best of our knowledge. Spectral features such as mel-scaled cepstral coefficients have already been successfully used for the parameterization of speech signals for emotion recognition. The LSF features also offer a spectral representation for speech, moreover they carry intrinsic information on the formant structure as well, which are related to the emotional state of the speaker [4]. We use the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) classifier architecture, that captures the static color of the spectral features. Experimental studies performed over the Berlin Emotional Speech Database and the FAU Aibo Emotion Corpus demonstrate that decision fusion configurations with LSF features bring a consistent improvement over the MFCC based emotion classification rates.
Safety of Upper-Room Ultraviolet Germicidal Air Disinfection for Room Occupants: Results from the Tuberculosis Ultraviolet Shelter Study

Objectives. We evaluated the safety of room occupants in the Tuberculosis Ultraviolet Shelter Study (TUSS), a double-blind, placebo-controlled field trial of upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) at 14 homeless shelters in six U.S. cities from 1997 to 2004. Methods. Data collection involved administering questionnaires regarding eye and skin irritation to a total of 3,611 staff and homeless study subjects. Results. Among these subjects, there were 223 reports of eye or skin symptoms. During the active UV period, 95 questionnaires (6%) noted such symptoms, and during the placebo period, 92 questionnaires (6%) did so. In the 36 remaining cases, either the UV period when symptoms took place was unknown or the symptoms spanned both periods. There was no statistically significant difference in the number of reports of symptoms between the active and placebo periods. One definite instance of UV-related keratoconjunctivitis occurred, resulting from a placement of a bunk bed in a dormitory where a single bed had been used when the UV fixtures were first installed. Conclusions. These findings demonstrate that careful application of upper-room UVGI can be achieved without an apparent increase in the incidence of the most common side effects of accidental UV overexposure.
Psychological management of individual performance.

About the Editor About the Contributors Series Preface Preface Part 1: Performance: Concept, Theory, and Predictors Performance Concepts and Performance Theory (Sabine Sonnentag and Michael Frese) 2. Ability and Non-ability Predictors of Job Performance (Ruth Kanfer and Tracy M Kantrowitz) 3. PRACTICE CHAPTER--debis Career Development Center: Personality Scales within a Process-Oriented Development Instrument for Management High Potentials (Jurgen Deller et al) 4. Work Design and Individual Work Performance: Research Findings and an Agenda for Future Inquiry (Sharon K Parker and Nick Turner) 5. PRACTICE CHAPTER--Organizational Design and Organizational Development as a Precondition for Good Job Design and High Job Performance (Oliver Strohm) Part 2: Assessing Performance 6. Appraisal: An Individual Psychological Perspective (Clive Fletcher) 7. PRACTICE CHAPTER--Performance Appraisal (Gesa Drewes and Bernd Runde) 8. Analysis of Performance Potential (Daniela Lohaus and Martin Kleinmann) 9. PRACTICE CHAPTER--Assessing Potential and Future Performance (Wieby Altink and Helma Verhagen) Part 3 Enhancing Performance 10. The High Performance Cycle: Standing the Test of Time (Gary P Latham et al) 11. PRACTICE CHAPTER--Enhancing Performance through Goal-Setting and Feedback Interventions (Jen A Algera et al) 12. Enhancing Performance through Training (Beryl Hesketh and Karolina Ivancic) 13. PRACTICE CHAPTER--Enhancing Performance through Training (Brigitte Winkler) 14. Enhancing Performance through Mentoring (Terri A Scandura and Betti A Hamilton) 15. PRACTICE CHAPTER --Mentoring for World-Class Performance (James G Clawson and Douglas S Newburg) 16. Enhancing Performance through Pay and Reward Systems (Henk Thierry) 17. PRACTICE CHAPTER--Performance Measurement and Pay for Performance (Harrie F J M Tuijl et al) 18. Managing Individual Performance: A Strategic Perspective (Susan E Jackson and Randall S Schuler) 19. PRACTICE CHAPTER--Performance Improvement through Human Resource Management (Sabine Remdisch) Part 4 Ensuring Performance in a Wider Context 20. Performance, Well-being and Self-Regulation (Sabine Sonnentag) 21. PRACTICE CHAPTER--Well-being, Stress Managment and Performance: From Analysis to Intervention (Rendel D de Jong) 22. Integrating the Linkages between Organizational Culture and Individual Outcomes at Work (Paul Tesluk et al) 23. PRACTICE CHAPTER--Organizational Culture: A Case Study (Jaap J van Muijen) Author Index Subject Index
Quantum memory for light with a quantum dot system coupled to a nanomechanical resonator

The specific features including high factor and long vibration lifetime of nanomechanical resonator (NR) in nano-optomechanical systems have stimulated research to realize some optical devices. In this work, we demonstrate theoretically that it is possible to achieve quantum memory for light on demand via a quantum dot system coupled to a nanomechanical resonator. This quantum memory for light is based on mechanically induced exciton polaritons, which makes the dark-state polariton reaccelerated and converted back into a photon pulse. Our presented device could open the door to all-optical routers for light memory devices and quantum information processing.
New automated method for measuring glucose by glucose oxidase

An economical, very sensitive and precise automated method for the determination of plasma glucose by glucose oxidase is presented. At 60 determinations per hour the method required 0·05 ml. of plasma and can conveniently determine glucose levels in the range of 0 to 500 mg/100 ml. Recovery experiments gave mean yields of 99% and, for 100 specimens analysed in duplicate, the precision was 1·24 mg/100 ml.
Wheeled inverted pendulum type assistant robot: inverted mobile, standing, and sitting motions

This paper describes the mobile control and the standing and sitting motions of an Inverted PENdulum type assistant robot-(I-PENTAR) aiming at the coexistence of safety and work capability. I-PENTAR consists of a body with a high powered waist joint, arms designed for safety, and a wheeled inverted pendulum mobile platform. It is modeled as a three-dimensional robot with controls for inclination angle, linear position, and steering angle, and is controlled by state feedback control based on the LQR method. The motion planning of standing and sitting-important motions for an inverted pendulum type robot in practical use-is proposed. It was experimentally confirmed that I-PENTAR could realize a series of fundamental motions required in practical use, which are standing, running, turning, and sitting stably.
Context Awareness over Transient Clouds

The exponential increase in the number and types of mobile devices, along with their ever-growing sets of capabilities, have enabled the development of new architectures that aim to harness such heterogeneity. Transient Clouds (TCs) are examples of mobile clouds which are created on-the-fly by the devices present in an environment to share their physical resources (e.g., CPU, memory, network) and would disappear as the nodes leave the network. They enable a device to go beyond its own physical limitations through utilizing the capabilities offered by nearby devices over an ad-hoc network. In this paper we present a Transient Context-Aware Cloud (TCAC) in which the nodes of the network care more about providing/learning higher level functionalities rather than lower level capabilities. We make the case for such an architecture in scenarios where it is not feasible for all the nodes to compute the context due to privacy, energy, and delay constraints rather than an unreachable network.We present a prototype implementation of our architecture over Android smartphones connected via WiFi along with the performance metrics (power/energy consumption and accuracy)to show the benefits of context awareness in TCs.
Aggressive Sexual Behaviour of Alcohol-Dependent Men

Abstract The purpose of this study is to report the aggressive sexual behaviour of alcohol-dependent men and its implications in clinical practice. A total of thirty women of male alcohol-dependent partners were taken from a psychiatric clinic and matched with a control group of spouses of healthy non-drinking men for the variables of age, gender, ethnicity and social class. These groups were tested for sexually induced marks over a one month period, areas of the body that were marked, duration of body marks and lovemaking experiences. Our findings indicate that the spouses of alcohol-dependent men are subjected to more aggressive and painful sexual experiences, more body marks in more regions that lasted an average of 7 days and more biting of body surfaces than wives of non-alcohol-dependent men. These behaviours are interpreted as subtle signs of domestic violence which should not be ignored in clinical practice.
Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase Is Essential for Human B Cell Tolerance

Most polyreactive and antinuclear antibodies are removed from the human antibody repertoire during B cell development. To elucidate how B cell receptor (BCR) signaling may regulate human B cell tolerance, we tested the specificity of recombinant antibodies from single peripheral B cells isolated from patients suffering from X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA). These patients carry mutations in the Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) gene that encode an essential BCR signaling component. We find that in the absence of Btk, peripheral B cells show a distinct antibody repertoire consistent with extensive secondary V(D)J recombination. Nevertheless, XLA B cells are enriched in autoreactive clones. Our results demonstrate that Btk is essential in regulating thresholds for human B cell tolerance.
Semantic Segmentation with Object Clique Potential

We propose an object clique potential for semantic segmentation. Our object clique potential addresses the misclassified object-part issues arising in solutions based on fully-convolutional networks. Our object clique set, compared to that yielded from segment-proposal-based approaches, is with a significantly smaller size, making our method consume notably less computation. Regarding system design and model formation, our object clique potential can be regarded as a functional complement to local-appearance-based CRF models and works in synergy with these effective approaches for further performance improvement. Extensive experiments verify our method.
Self-calibration of a power pre-amplifier in a digital polar transmitter

A built-in self-calibration and self-compensation scheme for a digital power pre-amplifier (DPA) of a mobile handset transceiver is proposed. It allows accurate internal measurements of the amplitude and phase distortions experienced in the DPA using the on-chip receiver and processor. A dynamic range of over 60 dB is achieved using multiple gain settings in the receiver. The proposed scheme, in conjunction with the transceiver's digital architecture, is demonstrated in a 65-nm CMOS GSM/EDGE radio, where it allows for accurate and cost-effective self-calibration to be performed in less than 0.1 s.
A critical assessment of hidden markov model sub‐optimal sampling strategies applied to the generation of peptide 3D models

Hidden Markov Model derived structural alphabets are a probabilistic framework in which the complete conformational space of a peptidic chain is described in terms of probability distributions that can be sampled to identify conformations of largest probabilities. Here, we assess how three strategies to sample sub‐optimal conformations—Viterbi k‐best, forward backtrack and a taboo sampling approach—can lead to the efficient generation of peptide conformations. We show that the diversity of sampling is essential to compensate biases introduced in the estimates of the probabilities, and we find that only the forward backtrack and a taboo sampling strategies can efficiently generate native or near‐native models. Finally, we also find such approaches are as efficient as former protocols, while being one order of magnitude faster, opening the door to the large scale de novo modeling of peptides and mini‐proteins. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Smooth to Rough Dissociation in Brucella: The Missing Link to Virulence

Dissociation encompasses changes in a series of phenotypes: colony and cell morphology, inmunological and biochemical reactions and virulence. The concept is generally associated to the in vitro transition between smooth (S) and rough (R) colonies, a phenotypic observation in Gram-negative bacteria commonly made since the beginning of microbiology as a science. It is also well known that the loss of the O-polysaccharide, the most external lipopolysaccharide (LPS) moiety, triggers the change in the colony phenotype. Although dissociation is related to one of the most basic features used to distinguish between species, i.e., colony morphology, and, in the case of pathogens, predict their virulence behavior, it has been considered a laboratory artifact and thus did not gain further attention. However, recent insights into genetics and pathogenesis of members of Brucella, causative agents of brucellosis, have brought a new outlook on this experimental fact, suggesting that it plays a role beyond the laboratory observations. In this perspective article, the current knowledge on Brucella LPS genetics and its connection with dissociation in the frame of evolution is discussed. Latest reports support the notion that, by means of a better understanding of genetic pathways linked to R phenotype and the biological impact of this intriguing “old” phenomenon, unexpected applications can be achieved.
History of motivational research in education

The history of motivational research in education is traced through chapters on motivation in the Encyclopedia of Educational Research from 1941 to 1990. Discussion of the drive concept, the motivation-learning distinction, the role of individual differences, and the emergence of cognitive concerns and the self are examined. Great shifts are documented, and current as well as future trends are discussed
QTc interval and survival in 75-year-old men and women from the general population.

AIMS The study concerns the relationship of the corrected QT (QTc) interval to 6.4 years of survival and to measures of cardiac function, such as echocardiographic variables and plasma levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), in 75-year-old people. METHODS AND RESULTS QTc was measured in a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) in 210 men and 223 women, comprising a randomly selected sample from the general population (70% participation rate). The Sicard 440/740 computer-analysis program, with Hodges' formula for heart rate-based QT correction, was used. The optimal cut-off point for predicting survival according to the receiver operating characteristic curve was found between 429 and 430 ms. Individuals with a QTc interval of > or =430 ms (n = 115) had decreased survival when compared with those with shorter QTc interval (n = 318); the relative risk was 2.4 (95% confidence interval 1.5-3.7). The predictive ability of QTc reflects an association between QTc and the following variables: BNP, left ventricular mass, and left ventricular ejection fraction (but not diastolic filling patterns). Both Hodges' and Bazett's formulae for heart rate correction of the QT interval were useful for predicting survival. The median QTc was 415 ms using Hodges' formula and 430 ms with Bazett's formula. The QRS component of QTc predicted survival better than the rest of the QTc interval and was approximately as useful as the QTc interval itself. CONCLUSION The computer-derived QTc obtained from the ordinary 12-lead ECG identifies high-risk individuals among elderly people from the general population.
Plaque Distribution of Stenotic Middle Cerebral Artery and Its Clinical Relevance

Background and Purpose— Microanatomy studies reveal that most penetrating branches of middle cerebral artery (MCA) arise from the dorsal–superior surface of the trunk. Using high-resolution MRI, we sought to explore the plaque distribution of MCA atherosclerosis and its clinical relevance in relation to the orifices of penetrating arteries. Methods— We retrospectively analyzed the imaging and clinical data of 86 patients with atherosclerotic MCA stenosis. On high-resolution MRI, plaques were categorized based on the involvement of the superior, inferior, ventral, or dorsal MCA wall. The relationship of plaque distribution and clinical presentation was analyzed. Results— A total of 92 stenotic MCAs (40 symptomatic and 52 asymptomatic) on 828 image slices were studied. Overall, of the 251 slices with identified plaques, plaques were more frequently located at the ventral (44.8%) and inferior (31.7%) wall as compared with the superior (14.3%) and dorsal wall (9.0%; P<0.001). Symptomatic MCA stenosis had more superior (P=0.016) and less inferior (P=0.023) wall plaques than asymptomatic stenosis. Within the group of symptomatic MCA stenosis, vessels with penetrating artery infarctions had more superior (P=0.001) but less ventral (P=0.038) and inferior (P=0.024) plaques than without penetrating artery infarctions. Conclusions— MCA plaques tend to locate opposite to the orifices of penetrating arterial branches. Further studies are required to investigate whether MCA plaque distribution is an independent determinant of stroke occurrence and its subtypes.