Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated conformance evaluation of SystemC designs using timed automata

SystemC is widely used for modeling and simulation in hardware/software co-design. However, the co-verification techniques used for SystemC designs are mostly ad-hoc and non-systematic. A particularly severe drawback is that simulation results have to be evaluated manually. In previous work, we proposed to overcome this problem by conformance testing. We presented an algorithm that uses an abstract SystemC design to compute expected output traces, which are then compared with those of a refined design to evaluate its correctness. The main disadvantage of the algorithm is that it is very expensive because it computes the output traces offline and has to cope with non-deterministic systems. Furthermore, the designer has to compare the results manually with the outputs of a design under test. In this paper, we present an approach for efficient and fully-automatic conformance evaluation of SystemC designs. To achieve this, we first present optimizations of our previously proposed algorithm for the generation of conformance tests that drastically reduce computation time and memory consumption. The main idea is to exploit the specifics of the SystemC semantics to reduce the number of semantic states that have to be kept in memory during state-space exploration. Second, we present an approach to generate SystemC test benches from a set of expected output traces. These test benches allow fully-automatic test execution and conformance evaluation. Together with our previously presented model checking framework for abstract Sys-temC designs, we yield a fully-automatic HW/SW co-verification framework for SystemC that supports the whole design process. We demonstrate the performance and error detecting capability of our approach with experimental results.
DSP Quant: design, validation, and applications of DSP hard real-time benchmark

Although the undeniable importance of high quality, efficient and effective DSP synthesis benchmark has been firmly and widely established, until now the emphasis of benchmarking has been restricted on assembling individual examples. In this paper we introduce the "ideal candidate benchmark methodology" which poses the development of the benchmark as well as defines a statistical and optimization problem. We first outline the goals and requirements relevant for the benchmark development. After discussing the computational complexity of the benchmark selection problem, we present a simulated annealing-based algorithm for solving this computationally intractable optimization task. Using this approach from 150 examples we select 12 examples for the new DSP Quant benchmark for DSP hard Real-Time applications. The DSP benchmark is statistically validated, and its application to the analysis and development of system-level synthesis algorithms is demonstrated,.
Analisis Pengaruh Sikap, Norma, Kontrol dan Preferensi Risiko Terhadap Minat Wanita Berinvestasi di Reksadana

April 2011, Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) mengajak wanita untuk berinvestasi.Hal ini merupakan hal yang baru karena kebanyakan investor adalah laki-laki. Ada berbagai cara investasi yang dapat dilakukan oleh banyak orang termasuk perempuan seperti deposito, forex, membeli emas, membeli property, menanam saham atau membeli reksa dana. Perempuan dipilih BEI sebagai pasar yang sangat potensial karena kebanyakan perempuan sangat identik dengan pengelolaan keuangan dalam rumah tangga.Selain itu, banyaknya perempuan yang menganggur dirumah dan tidak memiliki perkerjaan untuk tambahan penghasilan dapat melakukan investasi untuk meningkatkan penghasilan keluarga. Reksadana merupakan sarana investasi yang cukup menguntungkan karena tingkat kerugiaannya dapat diperkecil dengan adanya manajer investasi yang mengelolah dana untuk diinvestasikan.
Dynamics of Opinions and Social Structures

Social groups with widely different music tastes, political convictions, and religious beliefs emerge and disappear on scales from extreme subcultures to mainstream mass-cultures. Both the underlying social structure and the formation of opinions are dynamic and changes in one affect the other. Several positive feedback mechanisms have been proposed to drive the diversity in social and economic systems, but little effort has been devoted to pinpoint the interplay between a dynamically changing social network and the spread and gathering of information on the network. Here we analyze this phenomenon in terms of a social network-model that explicitly simulates the feedback between information assembly and emergence of social structures: changing beliefs are coupled to changing relationships because agents self-organize a dynamic network to facilitate their hunter-gatherer behavior in information space. Our analysis demonstrates that tribal organizations and modular social networks can emerge as a result of contact-seeking agents that reinforce their beliefs among like-minded. We also find that prestigious persons can streamline the social network into hierarchical structures around themselves.
Once she makes it, she is there: gender differences in computer science study

When you sit in a Computer Science lecture at any university in the western world, what are the chances that the person sitting next to you will be a woman? Furthermore, what are the chances that the lecturer will be a woman? And if we were to enter a Computer Science classroom in a high school, what percentage of the students would be female? Computer Science is possibly one of the few remaining disciplines that is almost entirely controlled by men in the university staff, and in which the percentage of female students is usually below 30%. This phenomenon is prevalent throughout the western world.In this paper we present data about women studying Computer Science in universities and high schools in Israel. It deals with the specific problems that lead to a low rate of female enrollment in Computer Science courses and a high female-dropout rate. It describes some suggested solutions to encourage female enrollment and retention rate in Computer Science programs. The research was done at the Open University of Israel. An attempt has been made to identify whether there is a specific stage in the undergraduate program that is the most difficult for women to pass. Finally, we discuss ways to assist female students and enable them to overcome this obstacle and remain in the program.
The Global Inventory of Methane Hydrate in Marine Sediments: A Theoretical Approach

The accumulation of methane hydrate in marine sediments is controlled by a number of physical and biogeochemical parameters including the thickness of the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ), the solubility of methane in pore fluids, the accumulation of particulate organic carbon at the seafloor, the kinetics of microbial organic matter degradation and methane generation in marine sediments, sediment compaction and the ascent of deep-seated pore fluids and methane gas into the GHSZ. Our present knowledge on these controlling factors is discussed and new estimates of global sediment and methane fluxes are provided applying a transport-reaction model at global scale. The modeling and the data evaluation yield improved and better constrained estimates of the global pore volume within the modern GHSZ ( ≥ 44 × 1015 m3), the Holocene POC accumulation rate at the seabed (~1.4 × 1014 g yr−1), the global rate of microbial methane production in the deep biosphere (4−25 × 1012 g C yr−1) and the inventory of methane hydrates in marine sediments ( ≥ 455 Gt of methane-bound carbon).
Segmentation of the Left Ventricle From Cardiac MR Images Using a Subject-Specific Dynamical Model

Statistical models have shown considerable promise as a basis for segmenting and interpreting cardiac images. While a variety of statistical models have been proposed to improve the segmentation results, most of them are either static models (SMs), which neglect the temporal dynamics of a cardiac sequence, or generic dynamical models (GDMs), which are homogeneous in time and neglect the intersubject variability in cardiac shape and deformation. In this paper, we develop a subject-specific dynamical model (SSDM) that simultaneously handles temporal dynamics (intrasubject variability) and intersubject variability. We also propose a dynamic prediction algorithm that can progressively identify the specific motion patterns of a new cardiac sequence based on the shapes observed in past frames. The incorporation of this SSDM into the segmentation framework is formulated in a recursive Bayesian framework. It starts with a manual segmentation of the first frame, and then segments each frame according to intensity information from the current frame as well as the prediction from past frames. In addition, to reduce error propagation in sequential segmentation, we take into account the periodic nature of cardiac motion and perform segmentation in both forward and backward directions. We perform ¿leave-one-out¿ test on 32 canine sequences and 22 human sequences, and compare the experimental results with those from SM, GDM, and active appearance motion model (AAMM). Quantitative analysis of the experimental results shows that SSDM outperforms SM, GDM, and AAMM by having better global and local consistencies with manual segmentation. Moreover, we compare the segmentation results from forward and forward-backward segmentation. Quantitative evaluation shows that forward-backward segmentation suppresses the propagation of segmentation errors.
General-Purpose Computing on Graphics Processing Units: GPU Processing of Protein Structure Comparisons

In the manufacture of an inflation film for forming a thermoplastic resin having a melt tension of not more than 4 g into a tubular bubble, a tubular bubble extruded from an extruding nozzle is cooled from the inner circumferential surface thereof by air supplied from a first air supply opening. The outer circumferential surface of the bubble is cooled with air from a first external air-cooling ring arranged at the outside of the bubble. The first air-cooling ring has a guide plate for guiding the bubble, a second air supply opening for supplying air between the guide plate and the bubble from an inlet port arranged at the lower end of the guide plate, and a third air supply opening for supplying air to the bubble from an outlet port arranged at the upper end of the guide plate. The bubble which is cooled by the first external air-cooling ring is further cooled by the air supplied from a second external air-cooling ring. The bubble is solidified.
Constipation-related direct medical costs in 16 887 patients newly diagnosed with chronic constipation

Background Chronic constipation is a common condition, but the exact impact on healthcare budgets in Western Europe is poorly documented. Objectives The aim of this study was to (a) investigate chronic constipation-related direct medical costs in patients with newly diagnosed chronic constipation and (b) study differences in costs according to natural history. Patients and methods We identified 16 887 patients newly diagnosed with chronic constipation in a Dutch health insurance database (∼1.3 million patients) in 2006–2009. Individuals with chronic constipation were selected on the basis of chronic laxative use (≥90 days/year) and diagnostic related groups for chronic constipation. On the basis of the episodes of laxative use and diagnostic related groups, individuals were categorized as having persistent, episodic, and nonrecurrent disease. Unadjusted costs for laxatives and hospital care for chronic constipation and constipation-related comorbidities were assessed and compared between patients with nonrecurrent, episodic, and persistent disease. Factors associated with costs were identified using Cox regression analyses. Results The mean total chronic constipation-related direct medical costs in the first year after diagnosis were &OV0556;310±845 and consisted of laxatives (45%) and hospital care for chronic constipation (26%) as well as constipation-related comorbidities (29%). Costs were highest in patients with persistent disease (&OV0556;367±882) compared with patients with episodic (&OV0556;292±808) and nonrecurrent (&OV0556;263±613) disease (P<0.01). Male sex was associated with higher costs, whereas increasing age, diabetes, and use of opioids were associated with lower costs. Conclusion Pharmacy costs and hospital care costs for chronic constipation-related comorbidities were the largest cost drivers for total constipation-related direct medical costs in patients with newly diagnosed chronic constipation. Direct medical costs differed according to patient characteristics.
AO challenge - implementing the ACID properties for transactional objects

This paper presents a challenge case study to the aspect-oriented community: ensuring the ACID properties (atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability) for transactional objects. We define a set of ten base aspects, each one providing a well-defined reusable functionality. The base aspects are simple, yet have complex dependencies among each other. We then show how these base aspects can be configured and composed in different ways to implement different concurrency control and recovery strategies. This composition is delicate: some aspects conflict with each other, others have to be reconfigured dynamically at run-time. We believe that this case study can serve as a benchmark for aspect-oriented software development, in particular for evaluating the expressivity of aspect-oriented programming languages, the performance of aspect-oriented programming environments, and the suitability of aspect-oriented modeling notations.
Under-explored dimensions in spatial sound

An introduction to spatial sound in the context of hypermedia, interactive multimedia, and virtual reality is presented. Basic principals of relevant physics and psychophysics are reviewed (ITDs: interaural time differences, IIDs: interaural intensity differences, and frequency-dependent attenuation capturable by transfer functions). Modeling of sources and sinks (listeners) elaborates such models to include such as intensity, radiation, distance attenuation & filtering, and reflections & reverberation. Display systems---headphones and headsets, loudspeakers, nearphones, stereo, home theater and other surround systems, discrete speaker systems, speaker arrays, WFS (wave field synthesis), and spatially immersive displays---are described. Distributed applications are surveyed, including stereotelephony, chat-spaces, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), with references to immersive virtual environments.
An Efficient Application Processor Architecture for Multicore Software Video Decoding

In this paper, we propose a new multicore application processor architecture that facilitates the adoption of the fine-granularity software-pipeline parallelism without causing an extra burden on the system bus. The proposed system-on-a-chip architecture can simultaneously support the traditional symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) and the proposed software-pipeline applications efficiently. The programming model of the proposed architecture is compatible with the existing SMP operating systems. For the implementation of the pipeline-based parallelism, new programmer-friendly system calls are suggested to take advantage of the new software-pipeline datapath. The proposed architecture with four reduced instruction set computing cores is implemented on an field-programmable gate array development board for verification. An Advanced Video Coding/H.264 baseline profile video decoder that explores the pipeline parallelism with dynamic pipeline-stage partitioning is implemented on the target platform to justify the benefits of the proposed architecture. Experimental results show that the adoption of the proposed pipeline datapath architecture into existing application processors enables new potentials in exploring software parallelism.
Cache Conscious Column Organization in In-Memory Column Stores

Cost models are an essential part of database systems, as they are the basis of query performance optimization. Based on predictions made by cost models, the fastest query execution plan can be chosen and executed or algorithms can be tuned and optimized. In-memory databases shift the focus from disk to main memory accesses and CPU costs, compared to disk based systems where input and output costs dominate the overall costs and other processing costs are often neglected. However, modeling memory accesses is fundamentally different and common models do not apply anymore. This work presents a detailed parameter evaluation for the plan operators scan with equality selection, scan with range selection, positional lookup and insert in in-memory column stores. Based on this evaluation, we develop a cost model based on cache misses for estimating the runtime of the considered plan operators using different data structures. We consider uncompressed columns, bit compressed and dictionary encoded columns with sorted and unsorted dictionaries. Furthermore, we discuss tree indices on the columns and dictionaries. Finally, we consider partitioned columns consisting of one partition with a sorted and one with an unsorted dictionary. New values are inserted in the unsorted dictionary partition and moved periodically by a merge process to the sorted partition. We propose an efficient merge algorithm, supporting the update performance required to run enterprise applications on read-optimized databases and provide a memory traffic based cost model for the merge process.
ReconOS: An RTOS Supporting Hard-and Software Threads

Modern platform FPGAs integrate fine-grained reconfigurable logic with processor cores and allow the creation of complete configurable systems-on-chip. However, design methodologies have not kept up with the rise in complexity of the target hardware. In particular, there is little overlap between the programming model for embedded software running on a real-time operating system and the programming model for digital logic. In this paper, we present the operating system ReconOS which supports both software and hardware threads with a single unified programming model. ReconOS is based on eCos, a widely-used real-time operating system (RTOS). We investigate the incurred time and area overheads, especially for inter-thread communication across the hardware/-software boundary, and present a case study demonstrating the feasibility of the RTOS-centric design approach.
A new glucocerebrosidase-deficient neuronal cell model provides a tool to probe pathophysiology and therapeutics for Gaucher disease

ABSTRACT Glucocerebrosidase is a lysosomal hydrolase involved in the breakdown of glucosylceramide. Gaucher disease, a recessive lysosomal storage disorder, is caused by mutations in the gene GBA1. Dysfunctional glucocerebrosidase leads to accumulation of glucosylceramide and glycosylsphingosine in various cell types and organs. Mutations in GBA1 are also a common genetic risk factor for Parkinson disease and related synucleinopathies. In recent years, research on the pathophysiology of Gaucher disease, the molecular link between Gaucher and Parkinson disease, and novel therapeutics, have accelerated the need for relevant cell models with GBA1 mutations. Although induced pluripotent stem cells, primary rodent neurons, and transfected neuroblastoma cell lines have been used to study the effect of glucocerebrosidase deficiency on neuronal function, these models have limitations because of challenges in culturing and propagating the cells, low yield, and the introduction of exogenous mutant GBA1. To address some of these difficulties, we established a high yield, easy-to-culture mouse neuronal cell model with nearly complete glucocerebrosidase deficiency representative of Gaucher disease. We successfully immortalized cortical neurons from embryonic null allele gba−/− mice and the control littermate (gba+/+) by infecting differentiated primary cortical neurons in culture with an EF1α-SV40T lentivirus. Immortalized gba−/− neurons lack glucocerebrosidase protein and enzyme activity, and exhibit a dramatic increase in glucosylceramide and glucosylsphingosine accumulation, enlarged lysosomes, and an impaired ATP-dependent calcium-influx response; these phenotypical characteristics were absent in gba+/+ neurons. This null allele gba−/− mouse neuronal model provides a much-needed tool to study the pathophysiology of Gaucher disease and to evaluate new therapies. Summary: This work describes the generation of a novel immortalized glucocerebrosidase-deficient neuronal cell model with utility for pathophysiology research and therapeutic development in Gaucher disease.
Binocular vision positioning for robot grasping

By position estimation of the binocular vision, a robot can accurately obtain the three-dimensional information of an object. The algorithms about camera calibration and stereo match are described in this paper in detail. Not only that, two kinds of camera calibration methods are compared and analyzed in this paper. The method for robot grasping is proved to be effective from experiments. Research directions for future improvements are also presented.
The Effect of Single-Dose Administration of Dexamethasone on Postoperative Pain in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Background: Postoperative pain is considered as a reason of patient’s delay in discharge and disability aggravation. Therefore, multimodal approaches have been suggested in order to mitigate pain and decrease postoperative side effects. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate analgesic effect of a single dose injection of dexamethasone on reducing postoperative pain in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Patients and Methods: In this double-blind, prospective study, 122 patients aged 18-60 years old, whom were selected for laparoscopic cholecystectomy, were classified into two case and control groups, and 61 patients were included in each group. The case (D) group underwent general anesthesia and a single- dose intravenous injection of dexamethasone. The Control (C) group received general anesthesia and intravenous injection of normal saline. Total dose of consumed meperidine and pain intensity during first 24 hours were evaluated in both groups. Results: No significant difference existed between two groups regarding age, sex, weight and operation time. Pain intensity in group D was significantly less than group C (P < 0.01) after two, six and 12 hoursof surgery. No significant difference existed in pain intensity between two groups at the beginning of and 24 hours after the surgery (P > 0.05). Meperidine consumption in group D was significantly less than group C (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Findings of present study showed that single dose of intravenous dexamethasone, led to less pain intensity and amounts of meperidine consumption, in comparison with placebo.