Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Embedded Algorithmic Noise-Tolerance for Signal Processing and Machine Learning Systems via Data Path Decomposition

Low overhead error-resiliency techniques such as algorithmic noise-tolerance (ANT) have been shown to be particularly effective for signal processing and machine learning kernels. However, the overhead of conventional ANT can be as large as 30% due to the use of explicit estimator block. To overcome this overhead, embedded ANT (E-ANT) is proposed [S. Zhang and N. Shanbhag, “Embedded error compensation for energy efficient DSP systems,” in Proc. GlobalSIP, Dec. 2014, pp. 30-34], where the estimator is embedded in the main computation block via data path decomposition (DPD). E-ANT reduces the logic overhead to be below 8% as compared with the 20%-30% associated with conventional reduced precision replica (RPR) ANT system while maintaining the same error compensation functionality. DPD was first proposed in our original paper [Zhang and Shanbhag, 2014] where its benefits were studied in the case of a simple multiply-accumulator (MAC) kernel. This paper builds upon [Zhang and Shanbhag, 2014] by 1) providing conditions for the existence of DPD, 2) demonstrating DPD for a variety of commonly employed kernels in signal processing and machine learning applications, and 3) evaluating the robustness improvement and energy savings of DPD at the system level for an SVM-based EEG seizure classification application. Simulation results in a commercial 45 nm CMOS process show that E-ANT can compensate for error rates up to 0.38 for errors in FE only, and 0.17 for errors in FE and CE, while maintain a true positive rate ${p}_{\rm tp} > 0.9$ and a false positive rate ${p}_{\rm fp}\leq 0.01$. This represents a greater than 3-orders-of-magnitude improvement in error tolerance over the conventional system. This error tolerance is employed to reduce energy via the use of voltage overscaling (VOS). E-ANT is able to achieve 51% energy savings when errors are in FE only, and up to 43% savings when errors are in both FE and CE.
Combined effect of genetic polymorphisms of AURKA and environmental factors on oral cancer development in Taiwan

Background Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the sixth and fourth most common cause of cancer death in men worldwide and in Taiwan, respectively. AURKA, which encodes a centrosome-related serine/threonine kinase, is frequently amplified and overexpressed in many human cancers, particularly advanced OSCC. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study to estimate AURKA single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and environmental risk factors to determine OSCC susceptibility and clinicopathological characteristics. Methodology/Principal findings We enrolled a total of 876 OSCC patients and 1200 controls. Four SNPs of AURKA, namely rs1047972, rs2273535, rs2064863, and rs6024836, were analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Among the 1420 smokers, the AURKA polymorphism carriers with the betel nut chewing habit had a higher risk of oral cancer than AURKA wild-type (WT) carriers without the betel nut chewing habit. Patients with the AURKA rs2064863 gene had a 1.365-fold higher risk of stage III or IV OSCC (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.029–1.811) than those with the rs2064863 WT gene. Furthermore, carriers of the AURKA rs1047972/rs2273535/rs2064863 C-A-T haplotype had a 1.736-fold (95% CI 1.110–2.715) higher risk of OSCC than controls (C-T-T, the most common haplotype). Among patients with the betel quid chewing habit, carriers of other haplotypes (C-T-T, C-A-G, T-A-T, T-A-G, T-T-T, and C-T-G) had a 12.857-fold (95% CI 10.731–15.404) increased risk, and carriers of the C-A-T haplotype had the highest risk (AOR: 31.120; 95% CI 13.864–69.850) of OSCC, compared with those without the betel quid chewing who harbored other haplotypes. Conclusions In conclusion, betel nut chewing combined with the AURKA C-A-T haplotypes lead to a high risk of OSCC. These findings reveal a novel genetic-environmental predisposition for oral tumorigenesis.
SIRE-DP-2015-39 Perceiving Prospects

When an agent chooses between prospects, noise in information processing generates an effect akin to the winner’s curse. Statistically unbiased perception systematically overvalues the chosen action because it fails to account for the possibility that noise is responsible for making the preferred action appear to be optimal. The optimal perception patterns share key features with prospect theory, namely, overweighting of small probability events (and corresponding underweighting of high probability events), status quo bias, and reference-dependent S-shaped valuations. These biases arise to correct for the winner’s curse effect.
A mathematical approach to derive optimum detector configurations for UWB radio applications

A systematic approach for the derivation of UWB detectors cannot be found in the literature. The detectors published up to now have been developed by inspection, using a heuristic approach. However, that solution prevents the optimization of UWB detector performance. A new approach is proposed here for the derivation of optimum waveform detectors that is valid for each type of carriers. To illustrate the application of the new method, the derivation of two detectors are shown.
Possible Role of Parathyroid Hormone–Related Protein as a Proinflammatory Cytokine in Atherosclerosis

Background and Purpose— Parathyroid hormone–related protein (PTHrP) is a vasodilator peptide. In addition, PTHrP appears to affect vascular growth and to be a mediator of inflammation in rheumatic and brain disorders. We examined the possible role of PTHrP in the inflammatory process in atherosclerosis Methods— We immunohistochemically analyzed the cellular localization of PTHrP, the type 1 PTH/PTHrP receptor (PTH1R), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in 26 human carotid atherosclerotic plaques. Results— The inflammatory region of plaques was characterized by high PTHrP, PTH1R, and MCP-1 immunostaining in relation to the cap (0.75±0.1 versus 0.29±0.04, 0.5±0.1 versus 0.25±0.05, 0.72±0.2 versus 0.29±0.05, respectively; P <0.05). PTHrP and MCP-1 were colocalized in both resident and inflammatory cells in the plaque. Moreover, in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC), PTHrP(1–36) increased MCP-1 mRNA (3-fold at 6 hours) and MCP-1 protein (2.5-fold at 24 hours). This effect was inhibited by either PTHrP(7–34) or various protein kinase A inhibitors and by the nuclear factor-&kgr;B (NF-&kgr;B) inhibitor parthenolide. Furthermore, PTHrP(1–36) elicited an increase in NF-&kgr;B activation in VSMC. The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor simvastatin inhibited the PTHrP(1–36) induction of both NF-&kgr;B activity and MCP-1 overexpression, and this was reversed by mevalonate. Conclusions— PTHrP appears to be a novel proinflammatory mediator in the atheroma lesion and may contribute to the instability of carotid atherosclerotic plaques. Our data provide a new rationale to understand the mechanisms involved in the beneficial effects of statins in atherosclerosis.
BLENDING DECISION AND DESIGN SCIENCE WITH INFORMATION SYSTEMS DESIGN AS A MEANS TO OPTIMIZING BUSINESS DECISIONS

While information systems are bridges that connect functional areas of an organization, the underlying purpose and value in that connectivity is to improve decision making on all levels of the organization. It stands to reason that if organizational decision makers were afforded the use of more intelligent information systems, that decision making would improve, and thrust the organization into a position of competitive advantage. Based on analyses conducted in 2004, in which investigators blended similar disciplines in order to build a conceptual framework and guidelines to ensure research quality and rigor, this proposition for further research purports an integration of these same disciplines to be used in the design of organizational information systems. The premise is that a more intelligent design could offer a higher level of pragmatic effectiveness in the system that is implemented [18]. Intelligence in design, here is twofold; one being a more naturalistic(the way decisions are actually made as opposed to how they should be made) presentation of information offered; and second, that the presentation is in a higher level of context (less information but more closely related to the actual decision at hand) [19, 14].
Learning to recommend game contents for real-time strategy gamers

It is not surprising that there are currently many game videos, increasingly prevalent on the web, to watch professional player's matches. Therefore, we need a kind of recommendation system to select the most preferable contents. Although there have been many personalization techniques proposed, there are few works on the recommendation of personal game contents. In this paper, we attempt to propose to use machine learning based on game contents with user's explicit preference (like or dislike). Especially, we incorporate game domain knowledge on the design of features for learning. As a test bed, we select a famous real-time strategy game, StarCraft, because there are many game replays played by professional players. To generate training samples, each participant is invited to review replays and express his/her preference. Using the data, machine learning algorithms build a set of models to predict preference on new replays. For five participants, we labeled two hundred StarCraft replays. The exploratory study on the selection of the features and classification algorithms show the importance of the careful selection of them. The experimental results show that the proposed recommendation system can predict the users' preference with an accuracy of 79% when we select appropriate models and features.
Multiple conductance states of the light-activated channel of Limulus ventral photoreceptors. Alteration of conductance state during light

The properties of light-dependent channels in Limulus ventral photoreceptors have been studied in cell-attached patches. Two sizes of single-channel events are seen during illumination. Previous work has characterized the large (40 pS) events; the goal of the current work was to characterize the small (15 pS) events and determine their relationship to the large events. The small events are activated by light rather than as a secondary result of the change in membrane voltage during light. The mean open time of the small events is 1.34 +/- 0.49 ms (mean +/- SD, n = 15), approximately 50% of that of the large events. The large and small events have the same reversal potential and a similar dependence of open-state probability on voltage. Evidence that these events are due to different conductance states of the same channel comes from analysis of relatively infrequent events showing a direct transition between the 15 and 40-pS levels. Furthermore, large and small events do not superpose, even at positive voltages when the probability of being open is very high, as would be predicted if the two-sized events were due to independent channels. Expression of the different conductance states is not random; during steady illumination there are alternating periods of several hundred milliseconds in which there are consecutive, sequential large events followed by periods in which there are consecutive, sequential small events. At early times during the response to a step of light, the large conductance state is preferentially expressed. At later times, there is an increase in the relative contribution of the low conductance state. These findings indicate that there is a process that changes the preferred conductance state of the channel. This alteration has functional importance in the process of light adaptation.
Cohen-Macaulay modules over Cohen-Macaulay rings

1. Preliminaries 2. AR sequences and irreducible morphisms 3. Isolated singularities 4. Auslander categories 5. AR quivers 6. The Brauer-Thrall theorem 7. Matrix factorizations 8. Simple singularities 9. One-dimensional Cm rings of finite representation type 10. McKay graphs 11. Two-dimensional CM rings of finite representation type 12. Knorrer's periodicity 13. Grothendieck groups 14. CM modules on quadrics 15. Graded CM modules on graded CM rings 16. CM modules on toric singularities 17. Homogeneous CM rings of finite representation type Addenda References.
Annual Research Review: Sleep problems in childhood psychiatric disorders--a review of the latest science.

BACKGROUND Hippocrates flagged the value of sleep for good health. Nonetheless, historically, researchers with an interest in developmental psychopathology have largely ignored a possible role for atypical sleep. Recently, however, there has been a surge of interest in this area, perhaps reflecting increased evidence that disturbed or insufficient sleep can result in poor functioning in numerous domains. This review outlines what is known about sleep in the psychiatric diagnoses most relevant to children and for which associations with sleep are beginning to be understood. While based on a comprehensive survey of the literature, the focus of the current review is on the latest science (largely from 2010). There is a description of both concurrent and longitudinal links as well as possible mechanisms underlying associations. Preliminary treatment research is also considered which suggests that treating sleep difficulties may result in improvements in behavioural areas beyond sleep quality. FINDINGS To maximise progress in this field, there now needs to be: (a) greater attention to the assessment of sleep in children; (b) sleep research on a wider range of psychiatric disorders; (c) a greater focus on and examination of mechanisms underlying associations; (d) a clearer consideration of developmental questions and (e) large-scale well-designed treatment studies. CONCLUSIONS While sleep problems may sometimes be missed by parents and healthcare providers; hence constituting a hidden risk for other psychopathologies - knowing about these difficulties creates unique opportunities. The current excitement in this field from experts in diverse areas including developmental psychology, clinical psychology, genetics and neuropsychology should make these opportunities a reality.
Differential Equations of Order Two with One Singular Point

The goal of this paper is to describe the set of polynomials r? Cx such that the linear differential equationy? =ry has Liouvillian solutions, whereC is an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. It is known that the differential equation has Liouvillian solutions only if the degree of r is even. Using differential Galois theory we show that the set of such polynomials of degree 2 n can be represented by a countable set of algebraic varieties of dimension n+ 1. Some properties of those algebraic varieties are proved.
Using capacitive cross-coupling technique in RF low noise amplifiers and down-conversion mixer design

We report an approach to improve the noise performance of RF low noise amplifiers (LNAs) and down-conversion mixers. The technique we described here is based on capacitive cross-coupling across the two sides of a differential input stage. A LNA and mixer have been implemented in 0. 5µ CMOS process to demonstrate the viability of this technique. The measurements show that the LNA achieves 3.0dB noise figure and 12.2 dB voltage gain (optimized for the maximum power transfer), and the mixer has 5.2dB DSB noise figure and 13.2 dB voltage conversion gain. Both LNA and mixer operate at 2.7V voltage supply and consume 27mW and 8.1mW power, respectively.
Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes in two population groups of Kerala in south India.

Via electronic mail from communicating author. Analysis of Data: Haplotype diversities and frequencies were calculated by using the program ARLEQUIN l. l (4). The nomenclature of the allele sizes was as described by Kayser et al. (2) except for DYS389I and DYS38911, which was according to Cooper et al. (5).
Music tracking in audio streams from movies

This paper presents a robust and computationally efficient method for tracking music in audio streams from movies. The audio stream is first mid-term processed with a fixed length moving window and four features are extracted per window. Each feature is fed as input to a simple classifier which produces a soft output for the binary problem of music vs. all other types of audio. The soft outputs are then combined to yield a measure of confidence quantifying whether the segment corresponds to music or not. At a final step, thresholding is applied to filter out segments where the confidence measure is low. The proposed approach has been tested with audio streams from various movies and its performance was measured both on a mid-term segment basis as well as on an event detection basis. Reported results demonstrate that the method exhibits high performance even when music is mixed with other types of audio in the stream.
Polyisocyanuratoesters: Renewable Linear Polyesters with High Flame Retardancy

Biobased urea nowadays attracts increasing attention as a biomass resource with giant potential, which benefits from the development of biobased ammonia and ecological sanitation system. Urea is an ideal feedstock for chemical industry and developing new urea-based polymer materials can take advantage of the urea resource. In this work, a class of renewable linear polyesters, namely polyisocyanuratoesters (PICEs) were synthesized from a urea-based monomer bis(2-carbomethoxyethyl) isocyanurate and biobased aliphatic diols. Compared with conventional aliphatic polyesters, PICEs containing isocyanurate rings in the polymer chain backbone exhibit outstanding flame retardancy that both PICE-4 (the number ‘4’ refers to the number of methylene in diols, e.g. 4 for butylene and 6 for hexylene) and PICE-6 have high limiting oxygen index values over 30%. In the UL 94 tests, PICE-6 reaches V-1 rating; while V-2 is found for PICE-10. All PICEs exhibit similar pyrolysis behavior that the temperatures of 5% weight loss are around 320°C. PICEs are found to have glass transition among 20°C-45°C. No crystallization behavior is observed without annealing except for PICE-10, which can crystallize even at room temperature.
A novel ultrapressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of androstenedione, testosterone, and dihydrotestosterone in pediatric blood samples: age- and sex-specific reference data.

CONTEXT Current immunoassays for analysis of plasma androgens in children have several limitations due to antibody-specific variations of data and normal ranges. Mass spectrometry-based methods are available for individual steroids but need complex sample preparation and report only fragmentary reference data for the pediatric population. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to develop a state of the art sensitive and specific tandem mass spectrometry method for high-throughput simultaneous determination of plasma concentrations of androstenedione (A), testosterone (T), and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and to report age-, sex-, and pubertal stage-specific reference levels for these steroids in children aged 0-18 yr. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Plasma (100 microl) was mixed with internal standard and extracted by solid-phase extraction. Androgens were measured by ultrapressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Samples of 138 boys and 131 girls with neither signs of endocrine nor systemic disease were considered for the generation of reference data. The following age groups were used: less than 1 wk, 2 wk to 2 months, 3-5 months, 6-11 months, 1-3 yr, 4-6 yr, 7-9 yr, 10-12 yr, 13-15 yr, and over 16 yr. RESULTS Lower quantification limit was 2.9 ng/dl (0.1 nmol/liter) for A, T, and DHT. No relevant interference with other steroids was detected. Reference data for A, T, and DHT are reported as functions of age, sex, pubertal maturation, and testicular volume. CONCLUSION Simplicity, velocity, sensitivity, specificity, and the availability of pediatric reference data allow application of our new method in clinical routine as well as in research settings.
Simultaneous Tracking and Registration in SiC/SiC Serial Section Images

Serial section data is acquired by (1) sectioning, (2) surface preparation, and (3) imaging. Often, the imaging apparatus or the sample must be moved periodically, creating registration errors in the asacquired images. For fiber composites, cross-correlation[1] is problematic because many local maxima are produced, often requiring human interaction to manually perform problematic sections. Fiducial marks are often used to mitigate this problem, but require extra work during acquisition. In this work, we develop an unsupervised technique that combines the tracking and registration processes into a single algorithm that eliminates the need for cross-correlation or fiducial marks. The algorithm is iterative, alternating between tracking and registering, optimizing both steps simultaneously, and giving fully tracked fiber architectures.
Optimal Mapping of Stations to Access Points in Enterprise Wireless Local Area Networks

Efficient resource allocation in enterprise wireless local area networks(WLAN) has become more paramount with the shift of traffic toward WLANs and increasing share of the video traffic. Unfortunately, current practise of client-driven association to APs has several shortcomings, e.g., sticky client problem. As a remedy, we propose to move the AP association decision to a periodically-running central controller which aims to maximize the proportionally-fair network throughput. After formulating the optimal mapping problem, we devise several heuristics requiring various degrees of knowledge, e.g., pairwise user-AP link rates, throughput demand of each user. Our analysis via simulations on realistic scenarios (conference, office, and shopping mall) shows the superior performance of our proposals in terms of aggregate logarithmic throughput. While the utility gain over the conventional client-driven approach is modest, up to 18%, the resulting increase in the weakest user's throughput is significant (71-120%) as well as that of AP load balance and fairness of user throughputs. Moreover, our evaluations reveal a very small optimality gap (between 0.1-5%). The highest gain is observed in the conference setting where the users are unevenly distributed in the network and hence there is a huge load imbalance among the APs. While schemes requiring more knowledge, i.e., on handover-cost and traffic demands, perform the best, a naive approach which runs periodically and assigns each user to the AP providing the highest signal level to that user maintains up to 41% gain in the weakest user's throughput over the client-driven handover approach.
Transfer in Motor Sequence Learning: Effects of Practice Schedule and Sequence Context

Transfer (i.e., the application of a learned skill in a novel context) is an important and desirable outcome of motor skill learning. While much research has been devoted to understanding transfer of explicit skills the mechanisms of skill transfer after incidental learning remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to (1) examine the effect of practice schedule on transfer and (2) investigate whether sequence-specific knowledge can transfer to an unfamiliar sequence context. We trained two groups of participants on an implicit serial response time task under a Constant (one sequence for 10 blocks) or Variable (alternating between two sequences for a total of 10 blocks) practice schedule. We evaluated response times for three types of transfer: task-general transfer to a structurally non-overlapping sequence, inter-manual transfer to a perceptually identical sequence, and sequence-specific transfer to a partially overlapping (three shared triplets) sequence. Results showed partial skill transfer to all three sequences and an advantage of Variable practice only for task-general transfer. Further, we found expression of sequence-specific knowledge for familiar sub-sequences in the overlapping sequence. These findings suggest that (1) constant practice may create interference for task-general transfer and (2) sequence-specific knowledge can transfer to a new sequential context.