Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accurate lithography hotspot detection based on PCA-SVM classifier with hierarchical data clustering

As technology nodes continues shrinking, layout patterns become more sensitive to lithography processes, resulting in lithography hotspots that need to be identified and eliminated during physical verification. In this paper, we propose an accurate hotspot detection approach based on PCA (principle component analysis)-SVM (sup- port vector machine) classifier. Several techniques, including hierarchical data clustering, data balancing, and multi-level training, are provided to enhance performance of the proposed approach. Our approach is accurate and more efficient than conventional time-consuming lithography simulation; in the meanwhile, provides high flexibility to adapt to new lithography processes and rules.
Consciously Evolving an Agile Team

By now it is common knowledge that it's just as easy for a team to fail using agile practices as it is with waterfall or any other method for building software. So what is the secret to making agile work? How does a team become "self-directed" and "cross-functional? " The key to our team's success was to have the core development team change its attitude toward software development. The team could then work to remove the barriers between individual developers and then between the developers and the larger project team. At first the team struggled putting into practices the ideas from books and papers on agile development. We eventually made headway by focusing on making changes in a very purposeful and incremental fashion, which I call "Conscious Evolution. "
Investigations in Exact Inference for Hierarchical Translation

We present a method for inference in hierarchical phrase-based translation, where both optimisation and sampling are performed in a common exact inference framework related to adaptive rejection sampling. We also present a first implementation of that method along with experimental results shedding light on some fundamental issues. In hierarchical translation, inference needs to be performed over a high-complexity distribution defined by the intersection of a translation hypergraph and a target language model. We replace this intractable distribution by a sequence of tractable upper-bounds for which exact optimisers and samplers are easy to obtain. Our experiments show that exact inference is then feasible using only a fraction of the time and space that would be required by the full intersection, without recourse to pruning techniques that only provide approximate solutions. While the current implementation is limited in the size of inputs it can handle in reasonable time, our experiments provide insights towards obtaining future speedups, while staying in the same general framework.
Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought, Douglas Hofstadter. 1994. Basic Books, New York, NY. 512 pages. ISBN: 0-465-05154-5. $30.00

From the Publisher: Since 1977, Douglas R. Hofstadter and his graduate students at Indiana University and the University of Michigan have been developing computer models of discovery, creation, and analogical thought. What has emerged is a sophisticated and unorthodox vision of the mind in which perception, at an abstract level, is the key: perception of situations, of patterns, of patterns among patterns, even perception of one's perceptions. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies conveys this bold vision to a broad public as well as to cognitive scientists. Two ideas pervade the research. One is that the key question to answer is "What is a concept? " This means understanding how concepts overlap and trigger one another, how their fluid boundaries come about, how they give rise to generalizations and analogies, and so on. The second idea is that mental activity is fundamentally parallel, with many tiny agents independently carrying out small "subcognitive" acts and collectively building up coherent mental structures. Such agents lie far above the neural level, yet far below the conscious level; the hypothetical level of the brain at which they reside thus constitutes a largely uncharted substrate for thought. With these intuitions as guides, Hofstadter and the members of the Fluid Analogies Research Group have developed computer models that operate in small but extraordinarily challenging domains: playful anagram and number puzzles, analogy puzzles involving letter strings or tabletop objects, and fanciful alphabetic styles. These subtle ideas are spelled out with verve, charm, and clarity by Hofstadter and his co-workers in a series of chapters alternating with prefaces; the latter tie the projects together and give insight into their evolution. Readers of earlier works by Hofstadter will find this book a natural extension of his style and his ideas about creativity and analogy; in addition, psychologists, philosophers, and artificial-intelligence researchers will find in this el
A statistical measure for map consistency in SLAM

Map consistency is an important requirement for applications in which mobile robots need to effectively perform autonomous navigation tasks. While recent SLAM techniques provide an increased robustness even in the context of bad initializations or data association outliers, the question of how to determine whether or not the resulting map is consistent is still an open problem. In this paper, we introduce a novel measure for map consistency. We compute this measure by taking into account the discrepancies in the sensor data and leverage it to address two important problems in SLAM. First, we derive a statistical test for assessing whether a map is consistent or not. Second, we employ it to automatically set the free parameter of dynamic covariance scaling, a robust SLAM back-end. We present an evaluation of our approach on over 50 maps sourced from 16 publicly available datasets and illustrate its capability for the inconsistency detection and the tuning of the parameter of the back-end.
Genome-Wide Association Analysis of Avian Resistance to Campylobacter jejuni Colonization Identifies Risk Locus Spanning the CDH13 Gene

The enteropathogen Campylobacter jejuni is a major worldwide health and economic burden, being one of the leading causes of bacterial gastroenteritis and commonly linked to postinfectious onset of autoimmune disease. Chickens are a major vector for human infection and even though variation in avian colonization level is heritable, no previous studies have identified regions of the genome associated with colonization resistance. We performed a genome-wide association study of resistance to C. jejuni colonization in the avian intestine by controlling for population structure, which revealed a risk locus with genome-wide significance spanning the T-cadherin (CDH13) gene. A second possible risk locus was also identified close to calmodulin (CALM1), a calcium-activated modulator of cadherin function. In addition, gene expression analysis of mRNA sequencing profiles revealed that the relative expression of the two genes is significantly associated with colonization resistance. Functional studies have previously demonstrated involvement of cadherins and calmodulin in C. jejuni intracellular invasion and colonization of human intestinal epithelial cells in vitro. Consistent with this finding, our analysis reveals that variation surrounding these genes is associated with avian colonization resistance in vivo and highlights their potential as possible targets for control of the bacterium in avian and human populations.
A Meta-Analysis of IL-13 Polymorphisms and Pediatric Asthma Risk

Background IL13–1112C/T and +2044A/G polymorphisms have been reported to be correlated with pediatric asthma susceptibility, but study results were still debatable. Thus, a meta-analysis was conducted. Material/Methods PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to calculate the strength of association in the random-effects model or fixed-effects model. Results Fourteen case-control studies with 4710 asthma cases and 6086 controls were included in this meta-analysis. IL13–1112C/T and +2044A/G polymorphisms were significantly associated with an increased risk of pediatric asthma (OR=1.14, 95% CI 1.01–1.28, P=0.04, I2=0%; OR=1.20, 95% CI 1.09–1.32, P<0.01, I2=0%), respectively. In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, IL13–1112C/T polymorphism was significantly associated with pediatric asthma risk in whites (OR=1.29, 95% CI 1.02–1.63, P=0.03, I2=16%). IL13 +2044A/G polymorphism was significantly associated with pediatric asthma risk in Asians (OR=1.21, 95% CI 1.10–1.34, P<0.01, I2=24%). Conclusions The results of this meta-analysis suggest that IL13–1112C/T and +2044A/G polymorphisms contribute to the development of pediatric asthma.
Gestures in Instructional Animations: A Helping Hand to Understanding Non-human Movements?

Summary Recent research on dynamic visualizations suggests that these visualizations are effective for learning human movements such as knot tying or paper folding. Using embodied theories of cognition, this study investigated whether learning non-human movements from a dynamic visualization can also be enhanced by grounding these movements in the learner's motor system. University students viewed an animation on lightning formation, and followed the animation's movements with gestures, saw an on-screen human hand follow the movements or saw an arrow follow the movements. Results showed that observing an on-screen human hand following the movements in the animation, but not actually performing these movements, enhanced retention and transfer performance compared with watching the animation without gestures. This suggests that observation of human hand movement in animation-based instruction, which plays an important role in learning of procedural-motor tasks, can also improve people's learning from other dynamic systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Colorimetric Detection of Lead Ion Based on Gold Nanoparticles and Lead-Stabilized G-Quartet Formation

In this report, we present a method for the detection of Pb2+ based on the different adsorption capacity on the surface of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) between ssDNA (single-stranded DNA) and G-quartet. In the absence of Pb2+, the DNA oligonucleotides probe, which is guanine-rich ssDNA, can be adsorbed on the surface of AuNPs protecting them from aggregation. After adding Pb2+, the DNA oligonucleotides probe can specifically form compact G-quartet, which can induce the aggregation of unmodified AuNPs, especially after adding NaCl aqueous solution. Consequently, the color turns from red to blue. Pb2+ can be detected by colorimetric response of AuNPs; its detection limit can reach 5 μM only observed by naked eyes. Most metal ions have no interferences, and the interference of Cu2+ can be effectively eliminated by adding cysteine. It provides a simple and effective colorimetric sensor for on-site and real time detection of Pb2+.
Predictable and Scalable Medium Access Control for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

This licentiate thesis work investigates two medium access control (MAC) methods, when used in traffic safety applications over vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). The MAC methods are carrier sense multiple access (CSMA), as specified by the leading standard for VANETs IEEE 802.11p, and self-organizing time-division multiple access (STDMA) as used by the leading standard for transponders on ships. All vehicles in traffic safety applications periodically broadcast cooperative awareness messages (CAMs). The CAM based data traffic implies requirements on a predictable, fair and scalable medium access mechanism. The investigated performance measures are channel access delay, number of consecutive packet drops and the distance between concurrently transmitting nodes. Performance is evaluated by computer simulations of a highway scenario in which all vehicles broadcast CAMs with different update rates and packet lengths. The obtained results show that nodes in a CSMA system can experience unbounded channel access delays and further that there is a significant difference between the best case and worst case channel access delay that a node could experience. In addition, with CSMA there is a very high probability that several concurrently transmitting nodes are located close to each other. This occurs when nodes start their listening periods at the same time or when nodes choose the same backoff value, which results in nodes starting to transmit at the same time instant. The CSMA algorithm is therefore both unpredictable and unfair besides the fact that it scales badly for broadcasted CAMs. STDMA, on the other hand, will always grant channel access for all packets before a predetermined time, regardless of the number of competing nodes. Therefore, the STDMA algorithm is predictable and fair. STDMA, using parameter settings that have been adapted to the vehicular environment, is shown to outperform CSMA when considering the performance measure distance between concurrently transmitting nodes. In CSMA the distance between concurrent transmissions is random, whereas STDMA uses the side information from the CAMs to properly schedule concurrent transmissions in space. The price paid for the superior performance of STDMA is the required network synchronization through a global navigation satellite system, e.g., GPS. That aside since STDMA was shown to be scalable, predictable and fair; it is an excellent candidate for use in VANETs when complex communication requirements from traffic safety applications should be met.
Influence of Post-Survey Action on Current Survey Responses

Organizations commonly gather information from their employees via organizational surveys for a variety of purposes (Kraut, 1996; 2006). However, the pervasive administration of surveys with little feedback or resultant action can lead to negative employee attitudes (e.g., Church & Oliver, 2006) and may decrease the likelihood of individuals participating in future surveys due to perceived diminished value of surveys (e.g., Baruch, 1999; Rogelberg, Fisher, Maynard, Hakel, & Horvath, 2001). While previous research has shown the importance of providing employees with survey feedback (e.g., Bowers, 1973; Conlon & Short, 1984), less attention has been given to the effect of taking visible (i.e., perceived) action based on survey responses. Recently, Church and Oliver (2006) found that employees of organizations that provided both survey feedback and took visible action based on the survey results, reported higher satisfaction than employees who did not receive feedback and did not observe visible action being taken. While it seems that taking action based on organizational survey data may improve attitudes such as overall satisfaction (Church & Oliver, 2006), it is not known whether these differences in attitudinal outcomes related to survey feedback are indicative of meaningful changes in employee attitudes. Instead, observed differences could be due to a shift in the employee’s understanding of the survey items, perhaps as a result of a perceived intervention. The purpose of the present study is to further explore Church and Oliver’s (2006) findings by assessing the psychometric properties of an organizational climate survey. First, we examined the measurement invariance of climate perceptions for persons perceiving action and those perceiving a lack of action in response to a previous organizational survey. Next, we examined whether individuals who perceived action based on survey responses had more favorable climate perceptions than those that did not perceive action (cf. Church & Oliver, 2006). By first testing the measurement invariance of the survey, we can determine if differences in climate perceptions between the two groups are based on actual differences in the constructs measured, or if differences are an artifact of a lack of invariance of the survey.
This Is How You Lose Her

Junot Diaz's new collection, This Is How You Lose Her, is a collection of linked narratives about love - passionate love, illicit love, dying love, maternal love - told through the lives of New Jersey Dominicans, as they struggle to find a point where their two worlds meet. In prose that is endlessly energetic and inventive, tender and funny, it lays bare the infinite longing and inevitable weaknesses of the human heart. Most of all, these stories remind us that the habit of passion always triumphs over experience and that 'love, when it hits us for real, has a half-life of forever'.
Neuropsychological Assessment of Response Inhibition in Adults With ADHD

Several theoretical models suggest that the core deficit of ADHD is a deficiency in response inhibition. While neuropsychological deficits in response inhibition are well documented in ADHD children, research on these deficits in adult ADHD populations is minimal. Twenty-five adult ADHD patients, 15 anxiety-disordered adult patients, and 30 normal adults completed three neuropsychological tests of response inhibition: the Continuous Performance Test, Posner Visual Orienting Test, and the Stop Signal Task. ADHD adults demonstrated response inhibition performance deficits when compared to both normal adults and anxiety disordered adults only on the Continuous Performance Test. A similar pattern of differences was not observed on the other two neuropsychological tests. Differing results between tasks may be due to differences in test reliability, task parameters, or the targeted area of brain functioning assessed by each test.
Sex‐Specific Trade‐Offs and Responses to Foliar Shade in the Gynodioecious Species Silene vulgaris (Caryophyllaceae)

Allocation trade‐offs are predicted to affect evolutionary dynamics, including the evolution of sexual dimorphism. In gynodioecious species, where populations have both females and hermaphrodites, selection may result in sexual dimorphism in individual traits or trait correlations because, in contrast to females, hermaphrodites acquire fitness through both male and female function. Using the gynodioecious species Silene vulgaris, we measured reproductive traits (ovule number, ovule size, anther size, and floral traits related to display) and a vegetative trait (internode length) among plants growing under full sun and foliar shade treatments. We tested for sex‐specific correlation structures as well as trait plasticity and the sensitivity of correlation structures to the light environment. Hermaphrodites exhibited a fixed trade‐off between anther size and ovule size, whereas females exhibited an ovule size–number trade‐off. For a few traits, we detected plasticity to light treatment and plasticity that differed significantly between sexes across light treatments. Exposure to foliar shade resulted in a sex‐specific trade‐off between vegetative and reproductive allocation; hermaphrodites exhibited a negative correlation (trade‐off) between internode elongation and ovule number, whereas females showed a marginally significant, positive correlation between these two traits. The trade‐offs observed in hermaphrodites are of particular evolutionary relevance, suggesting that hermaphrodites will evolve to become increasingly male and populations increasingly sexually dimorphic.
The changing nature of chronic care and coproduction of care between primary care professionals and patients with COPD and their informal caregivers

The aim of this study was to investigate whether care delivery in accordance with a care model is associated with co-productive relationships between professionals and COPD patients and their informal caregivers. A co-productive relationship refers to productive patient–professional interaction or shared decision making. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 among 411 patients (out of 981) enrolled in the Dutch COPD care program Kennemer Lucht and 62 professionals treating them (out of 97). Kennemer Lucht COPD involved multicomponent interventions within all six dimensions of the chronic care model (organizational support, community, self-management, decision support, delivery system design, and information and communications technology) to improve the quality of care for patients with COPD. This approach was expected to improve relational coproduction of care between professionals and patients with COPD and their informal caregivers. Results show clearly that the perceived quality of chronic care delivery is related significantly to productive interaction/relational coproduction of care. The strength of the relationship between perceptions of quality of chronic care and relational coproduction among patients is strong (r=0.5; P≤0.001) and among professionals moderate (r=0.4; P≤0.001 relational coproduction with patients and informal caregivers). Furthermore, patients’ perceptions of the quality of chronic care were associated with the existence of productive interaction with health care professionals (β=0.7; P≤0.001). The changing nature of chronic care is associated with coproduction of care, leading to the development of more productive relationships between primary care professionals and COPD patients and their informal caregivers. Further research is necessary to determine how best to sustain these developments.
Mixing Time—Experimental Determination and Applications to the Modelling of Crystallisation Phenomena

Performing optimisation and scale-up studies of crystallisation systems requires accurate and computationally efficient mathematical models. The assumption of the ideal mixing conditions in batch reactors typically produce inaccurate results while the computational expense of CFD models is still prohibitively high. Therefore, in this work, a new intermediary approach is proposed that takes into account the non-ideal mixing conditions in the reactor and requires less computational resources than full CFD simulations. Starting with the Danckwerts concept of the intensity of segregation, an analogy between its application to chemical reactions and the kinetics of the crystallisation phenomena (such as nucleation and growth) has been made. As a result, the modified kinetics expressions have been derived which incorporate the effect of non-idealities present in stirred reactors. This way, based on the experimental measurements of the mixing time using the Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) technique, computationally more efficient mathematical models can be developed in two ways: (1) the accurate semi-empirical correlations are available for standard mixing configurations with the most often used types of impellers, (2) CFD simulations can be utilised for estimation of the mixing time; in this case it is necessary to simulate only the mixing process. The benefits offered by the LIF experimental technique have been demonstrated and some frequent problems in its application analysed. The mixing time results for configurations with and without baffles for three types of impellers and four different rotational speeds have been presented. The false shorter mixing times in the nonbaffled configurations have been observed and this phenomena explained by the existence of two segregated zones in the reactor and confirmed by additional experiments. The precise measurements in these cases have been shown as difficult using the LIF technique, particularly for higher rpms. The experimental data has been compared to the preliminary simulation results obtained from the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method and the standard k-ε turbulence model with the modest success. The shortcomings of the SPH model have been recognized and the directions for the future work discussed. Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 3 November 2016 doi:10.20944/preprints201611.0022. v1
Saddle Nose Deformity: Autogenous Graft Repair

Two suitable approaches are presently used for augmentation of saddle noses: the traditional endonasal approach (utilizing minimal incisions with precise pocket preparation and limited tissue undermining), and the more involved external or open approach (requiring more extensive incisions and undermining, but providing binocular vision, bimanual surgical capabilities, and a direct approach to septal deformities)