Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The optimization of Free Air Ball for Ag alloy wire bonding (IMPACT 2014)

For cost reduction, assembly factory has intention to use cheaper wire material in wire bonding process. As a result, currently Cu wire with many efforts has become one popular wire material instead of Au wire. However, some customers may hesitate to use Cu wire due to it is much harder than Au wire. For this impact, silver (Ag) alloy wire becomes another selection in marketing. Ag alloy wire product's performance can be comparable to Au or Cu wire and it has compatible price as Pd coated Cu wire. For the incentive, here the evaluation is conducted to develop these techniques on how to make Ag alloy wire bonding well. In one wire bonding cycle, first step is sparking to make round FAB (Free Air Ball), then wire bonding tool (capillary) holds FAB to do ball bonding to joint Al bondpad on die, then make looping formation per wiring layout and later to perform stitch/ tail bonding to connect wire to finger of leadframe or pad of substrate and finally to break the wire for next FAB sparking. Round and no oxidized FAB are crucial important for ball bonding quality for Ag alloy wire as the same as for Cu wire. The same Cu wire kit with inserted protective forming gas (N2+H2 mixed) is adopted with wire bonder for Ag alloy wire bonding evaluation. This paper focuses on sparking (or called EFO, Electric Flame-Off) step/process because there are 2 issues observed in the beginning of our trials which are based on recommend sparking settings from the supplier. First issue is off-centered FAB and another is rather large variation in as-bonded ball thickness. Till now there is no reference paper available to address FAB optimization for Ag wire via EFO sparking settings as well as protecting gas flow rate in detail. Here, we arrange/ perform the study in order to overcome above 2 issues as well as considered this optimization of wire sparking setting as first wire bond development step for Ag alloy wire. In this paper, key sparking settings (EFO current, gap and tail extension, etc.) including forming gas (N2H2) flow rate are examined through DOE (Design of Experiment) to verify if they can help overcome off-centered FAB and get better precision of as-bonded ball thickness. Positive result is gained and shown in this report for no serious off-center FAB, irregular ball size observed and better as-bonded thickness variation came out. In the end, the sparking parameter range/window is defined per sparking settings which can be implemented for further mass production. In general, this study documented the related working experiences and key sparking parameters about how to make a good FAB (or bonded ball shape) for Ag alloy wire.
On non-uniform smeared black branes

We investigate charged dilatonic black p-branes smeared on a transverse circle. The system can be reduced to neutral vacuum black branes, and we perform static perturbations for the reduced system to construct non-uniform solutions. At each order a single master equation is derived, and the Gregory–Laflamme critical wavelength is determined. Based on the non-uniform solutions, we discuss thermodynamic properties of this system and argue that in a microcanonical ensemble the non-uniform smeared branes are entropically disfavoured even near the extremality, if the spacetime dimension is D ⩽ 13 + p, which is the critical dimension for the vacuum case. However, the critical dimension is not universal. In a canonical ensemble, the vacuum non-uniform black branes are thermodynamically favourable at D > 12 + p, whereas the non-uniform smeared branes are favourable at D > 14 + p near the extremality.
Effects of adenovirus-mediated human cyclooxygenase-2 antisense RNA on the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIM To investigate the relation between the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and liver cancer, to construct the recombinant adenovirus encoding human COX-2 antisense RNA, and to explore its effects on liver cancer cell proliferation. METHODS We studied the expression of COX-2 in 34 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and SMMC7402 and SMMC7721 by immunohistochemical technique. Recombinant adenovirus Ad-AShcox-2 was constructed and transfected into human HCC cell lines SMMC7402 and SMMC7721, and its effects on COX-2 expression, cell apoptosis and cell cycle were analyzed by flow cytometry. Cell proliferation was determined by colony-forming efficiency. RESULTS We observed COX-2 expression in 82.4% of the HCC and SMMC7402 cells, but no COX-2 expression in SMMC7721 cells. In addition, recombinant adenovirus encoding antisense COX-2 fragment Ad-AShcox-2 was obtained with the titer of 1.06 x 10(12) PFU/mL. Ad-AShcox-2 could reduce the expression of COX-2 and enhance the percentage of cells in G(1)/G(0) phase in SMMC7402 cell line. The difference of apoptotic index between the Ad-AShcox-2 group and control group was statistically significant (t( control group ) = 32.62 and t( Ad-LacZ ) = 10.93, P<0.001) in SMMC7402 but not in SMMC7721. Similarly, colony-forming rates of SMMC7402 and SMMC7721 cell lines, after the transfer of Ad-AShcox-2, were (2.7+/-0.94)% and (33.6+/-4.24)%, respectively. CONCLUSION Reduction in the expression of COX-2 can inhibit COX-2 expressing HCC cells.
Solubility of Freon 22 in human blood and lung tissue.

The solubility of Freon 22 in human blood and lung tissue was determined using the chromatographic method of Wagner et al. (J. Appl. Physiol. 36: 600-605, 1974). In normal human blood, the mean Bunsen coefficient of solubility (alpha B) was 0.804 cm3 STPD.cm-3.ATA-1 at 37 degrees C. It increased with hematocrit (Hct) according to the equation alpha B = 0.274 Hct + 0.691. Tissue homogenates were prepared from macroscopically normal lung pieces obtained at thoracotomy from eight patients undergoing resection for lung carcinoma. The Bunsen solubility coefficients were 0.537 +/- 0.068 and 0.635 +/- 0.091 in washed and unwashed lung, respectively. These values can be used in the determination of both cardiac output and pulmonary tissue volume in humans by use of the rebreathing technique.
Species Having C4 Single-Cell-Type Photosynthesis in the Chenopodiaceae Family Evolved a Photosynthetic Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase Like That of Kranz-Type C4 Species1

Spatial and temporal regulation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) is critical to the function of C4 photosynthesis. The photosynthetic isoform of PEPC in the cytosol of mesophyll cells in Kranz-type C4 photosynthesis has distinctive kinetic and regulatory properties. Some species in the Chenopodiaceae family perform C4 photosynthesis without Kranz anatomy by spatial separation of initial fixation of atmospheric CO2 via PEPC from C4 acid decarboxylation and CO2 donation to Rubisco within individual chlorenchyma cells. We studied molecular and functional features of PEPC in two single-cell functioning C4 species (Bienertia sinuspersici, Suaeda aralocaspica) as compared to Kranz type (Haloxylon persicum, Salsola richteri, Suaeda eltonica) and C3 (Suaeda linifolia) chenopods. It was found that PEPC from both types of C4 chenopods displays higher specific activity than that of the C3 species and shows kinetic and regulatory characteristics similar to those of C4 species in other families in that they are subject to light/dark regulation by phosphorylation and display differential malate sensitivity. Also, the deduced amino acid sequence from leaf cDNA indicates that the single-cell functioning C4 species possesses a Kranz-type C4 isoform with a Ser in the amino terminal. A phylogeny of PEPC shows that isoforms in the two single-cell functioning C4 species are in a clade with the C3 and Kranz C4 Suaeda spp. with high sequence homology. Overall, this study indicates that B. sinuspersici and S. aralocaspica have a C4-type PEPC similar to that in Kranz C4 plants, which likely is required for effective function of C4 photosynthesis.
Understanding Collective Activitiesof People from Videos

This paper presents a principled framework for analyzing collective activities at different levels of semantic granularity from videos. Our framework is capable of jointly tracking multiple individuals, recognizing activities performed by individuals in isolation (i.e., atomic activities such as walking or standing), recognizing the interactions between pairs of individuals (i.e., interaction activities) as well as understanding the activities of group of individuals (i.e., collective activities). A key property of our work is that it can coherently combine bottom-up information stemming from detections or fragments of tracks (or tracklets) with top-down evidence. Top-down evidence is provided by a newly proposed descriptor that captures the coherent behavior of groups of individuals in a spatial-temporal neighborhood of the sequence. Top-down evidence provides contextual information for establishing accurate associations between detections or tracklets across frames and, thus, for obtaining more robust tracking results. Bottom-up evidence percolates upwards so as to automatically infer collective activity labels. Experimental results on two challenging data sets demonstrate our theoretical claims and indicate that our model achieves enhances tracking results and the best collective classification results to date.
The Effect of Teacher Self-Efficacy on Referral Chance

Relationships were explored between teacher characteristics and their ratings of problem behavior and likelihood to refer students to special education. Participants were 230 Dutch primary teachers. Teacher self-efficacy proved to be a significant predictor of both problem ratings and referral chances in a MANCOVA design. Pupil problem type (learning, behavioral, or both) also had a significant effect on both dependent variables. Implications for further research are discussed.
White Matter Hyperintensity in Ischemic Stroke Patients: It May Regress Over Time

Background and Purpose White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are frequently observed on MRI in ischemic stroke patients as well as in normal elderly individuals. Besides the progression of WMH, the regression of WMH has been rarely reported. Thus, we aimed to investigate how WMH change over time in patients with ischemic stroke, particularly focusing on regression. Methods We enrolled ischemic stroke patients who underwent brain MRI more than twice with at least a 6 month time-interval. Based on T2-weighted or FLAIR MRI, WMH were visually assessed, followed by semiautomatic volume measurement. Progression or regression of WMH change was defined when 0.25 cc increase or decrease was observed and it was also combined with visible change. A statistical analysis was performed on the pattern of WMH change over time and factors associated with change. Results A total of 100 patients were enrolled. Their age (mean±SD) was 67.5±11.8 years and 63 were male. The imaging time-interval (mean) was 28.0 months. WMH progressed in 27, regressed in 9 and progressed in distinctive regions and regressed in others in 5 patients. A multiple logistic regression model showed that age (odds ratio[OR] 2.51, 90% confidence interval[CI] 1.056-5.958), male gender (OR 2.957, 95% CI 1.051-9.037), large vessel disease (OR 1.955, 95% CI 1.171-3.366), and renal dysfunction (OR 2.900, 90% CI 1.045-8.046) were associated with progression. Regarding regression, no significant factor was found in the multivariate analysis. Conclusions In 21.5% of ischemic stroke patients, regression of WMH was observed. WMH progression was observed in a third of ischemic stroke patients.
Clinical practice. Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

A healthy 58-year-old woman answers the telephone and realizes that her hearing is diminished on the left side. She notices aural fullness and loud tinnitus in the affected ear. Self-administered ear cleaning with the use of an over-the-counter kit does not relieve the symptoms. How should she be evaluated and treated?
Somatosensory hypervigilance and pain: an experimental approach

The present study investigated the effects of focusing attention towards auditory or somatosensory stimuli on perceptual sensitivity and response bias using a signal detection task. Participants (N = 44) performed an unspeeded detection task in which weak (individually calibrated) somatosensory or auditory stimuli were delivered. The focus of attention was manipulated by the presentation of a visual cue at the start of each trial. The visual cue consisted of the word “warmth” or the word “tone”. This word cue was predictive of the corresponding target on 2/3 of the trials. As hypothesized, the results showed that cueing attention to a specific sensory modality resulted in a higher perceptual sensitivity for validly cued targets than for invalidly cued targets, as well as in a more liberal response criterion for reporting stimuli in the valid modality than in the invalid modality. The value of this experimental paradigm for investigating excessive attentional focus or hypervigilance in various non-clinical and clinical populations is discussed. 1 Van Hulle, L. , Van Damme, S. , & Crombez, G. (2013). Valid cues for auditory or somatosensory targets affect their perception: A signal detection approach. Perception, 42, 223-232. 2
Time dependency of molecular rates in ancient DNA data sets, a sampling artifact?

Magwene P.M. 2001. New tools for studying integration and modul arity. Evolution 55:1734-1745. Magwene P.M. 2009. Statistical methods for studying modularity: a re ply to Mitteroecker and Bookstein. Syst. Biol. 58:146-149. Mitteroecker P., Bookstein F.L. 2007. The conceptual and statistical relationship between modularity and morphological integration. Syst. Biol. 56:818-836 Mitteroecker P., Bookstein F.L. 2008. The evolutionary role of modular ity and integration in the hominoid cranium. Evolution 62:943-958 Pearl J. 2000. Causality. New York: Cambridge University Press. Terentjev P.V. 1931. Biometrische Untersuchungen uber die morphol ogischen Merkmale von Rana ridibunda Pall. (Amphibia, Salientia). Biometrika 23:23-51.
Analysis on Proper Clustering Structure Fuzzy Controllers

Fuzzy controller designing approaches are represented by TSK fuzzy models. Traditional structure learning algorithms are to adjust the parameters in the fuzzy rules based on modeling error. Such an approach will result an improper clustering structure, especially, when the training data are corrupted with outliers. Such a controller is called improper clustering structure fuzzy controllers (IPFC). The paper proposes a way of designing controllers with proper clustering structure (PFC) for affine TSK fuzzy models directly from training data, which may contain noise and outliers. Based on the Lyapunov theorem, an instability sufficient condition for modeling-error bound is derived. Furthermore, the adaptive law to tune the parameters of consequent parts is also obtained. Various simulations are conducted and the results verify that the PFC indeed showed superior performance over other IPFCs.
Ten-year experience of mediastinal robotic surgery in a single referral centre.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to report a single referral centre experience in the exeresis of mediastinal lesions with robotic surgical system. The outcomes of all patients were retrospectively investigated with special regard to myasthenic and thymomatous patients. METHODS From February 2001 to December 2010, 69 patients (30 males, 39 females), with a mean age of 55.4 years (range 20-81), underwent robotic surgery for treatment of mediastinal lesions. There were 39 thymectomies, 13 paravertebral neurogenic tumour removals, 9 pleuropericardial cyst removals, 3 teratoma excisions, 4 lymphonodal removals and 1 enterogenous cyst excision. Operative time, conversion rate, morbidity and mortality were analysed. RESULTS There were no intra-operative complications, and no mortality. The mean operative time was 124.3 min (range 45-240). Conversion to open surgery occurred in three cases (4.3%). All post-operative complications (7.2%) were conservatively treated. The mean post-operative stay was 4.3 days (range 3-10). For the myasthenic patients (mean follow-up of 18 months), the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America change in status resulted improved in 18 (90%) patients and unchanged in 2 (10%) patients. In cases of thymoma, the pathological analysis revealed Masaoka stage I (seven cases), IIA (three cases), IIB (two cases) and III (one case). No disease recurrence occurred at a mean follow-up of 16 months. CONCLUSIONS Our experience suggests that the surgical system was safe in performing mediastinal mass resection, with low morbidity and conversion rate. The robotic system proved useful, especially in a tiny space such as the mediastinum, and appeared to be an effective treatment for myasthenia gravis and for early-stage thymoma.
Discontinuation of infliximab therapy in patients with Crohn's disease in sustained complete remission (the STOP IT study): protocol for a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial

Introduction Infliximab (IFX), a monoclonal chimeric antibody against tumour necrosis factor (TNF) α, is effective for induction and maintenance of remission in moderate to severe Crohn's disease. Discontinuation of IFX maintenance therapy in patients in remission should be considered in order to reduce the potential long-term side effects and lower costs. Methods and analysis This is a prospective, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, multicentre study of patients with luminal Crohn’s disease who have been treated with IFX for at least 1 year and are in sustained complete clinical, biochemical and endoscopic remission (ie, Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) score <150, complete mucosal healing and biochemical markers of inflammation within the normal range). These patients are randomised to receive placebo infusions or continue IFX maintenance therapy. The primary end point is the proportion of patients in maintained remission after 48 weeks (def. CDAI <150). Ethics and dissemination It is estimated that the knowledge gained about how to optimally handle patients with Crohn’s disease in complete long-term sustained remission on IFX is proportionate to the risks and inconveniences related to participation in this study. Prolonged exposure to IFX may cause severe side effects and increased risk of malignancies. Conversely, IFX discontinuation should not unnecessarily create a high risk of relapse. Thus, empirical evidence is needed concerning the safety of discontinuing IFX once a patient exhibits sustained remission. Study results will be published in an English language scientific medical journal. The study is approved by the Danish Medicines Agency (EudraCT-number: 2012-002702-51) and the Regional Ethics Committee of Region Hovedstaden Denmark (Approval-number: H-4-2012-099). The project is reported to the Danish Data Protection Agency (ID-number: 2007-58-0015/HEH.750.89-27), registered at Clinicaltrials.gov, and monitored by independent GCP units for the University of Copenhagen, Odense and Aarhus. The current approved protocol is V.3. 2, dated 1 June 2014. Trial registration number http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01817426.
Shaky Methods, Shaky Motives

The National Council on Teacher Quality’s (NCTQ) recent review of university-based teacher preparation programs concluded the vast majority of such programs were inadequately preparing the nation’s teachers. The study, however, has a number of serious flaws that include narrow focus on inputs, lack of a strong research base, missing standards, omitted research, incorrect application of research findings, poor methodology, exclusion of alternative certification programs, failure to conduct member checks, and failure to use existing evidence to validate the report’s rankings. All of these issues render the NCTQ report less than useful in efforts to understand and improve teacher preparation programs in the United States. The article also suggests alternative pathways NCTQ could have undertaken to work with programs to actually improve teacher preparation. The article concludes by noting that the shaky methods used by NCTQ suggest shaky motives such that the true motives of NCTQ for producing the report must be questioned.
Development and characterization of a strawberry MAGIC population derived from crosses with six strawberry cultivars

A strawberry Multi-parent Advanced Generation Intercrosses (MAGIC) population, derived from crosses using six strawberry cultivars was successfully developed. The population was composed of 338 individuals; genome conformation was evaluated by expressed sequence tag-derived simple short repeat (EST-SSR) markers. Cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) based on EST-SSR marker polymorphisms revealed that the MAGIC population was a mosaic of the six founder cultivars and covered the genomic regions of the six founders evenly. Fruit quality related traits, including days to flowering (DTF), fruit weight (FW), fruit firmness (FF), fruit color (FC), soluble solid content (SC), and titratable acidity (TA), of the MAGIC population were evaluated over two years. All traits showed normal transgressive segregation beyond the founder cultivars and most traits, except for DTF, distributed normally. FC exhibited the highest correlation coefficient overall and was distributed normally regardless of differences in DTF, FW, FF, SC, and TA. These facts were supported by PCA using fruit quality related values as explanatory variables, suggesting that major genetic factors, which are not influenced by fluctuations in other fruit traits, could control the distribution of FC. This MAGIC population is a promising resource for genome-wide association studies and genomic selection for efficient strawberry breeding.
Automatic analysis of the prosodic variations in Parkinsonian read and semi-spontaneous speech

This work presents an automatic analysis of Parkinsonian speech prosody in read and spontaneous tasks. We first evaluate the reliability of existing algorithms for the automatic analysis of speech prosody and show that these tools are efficient for the analysis of Parkinsonian speech if a large amount of data is processed. We then investigate the prosodic characteristics of 25 control and 30 Parkinsonian subjects (in off (non-medicated) state) in both tasks and show that Parkinsonian read and spontaneous speech are characterized by longer pauses as well as smaller variations in pitch range, voice intensity level and articulation rate; these characteristics being all the more marked in semi-spontaneous speech. These results suggest that some linguistic functions, normally expressed via prosodic variations, may not be conveyed in Parkinsonian speech, particularly in a semi-spontaneous task.