Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Timing driven gate duplication in technology independent phase

We propose a timing driven gate duplication algorithm for the technology independent phase. Our algorithm is a generalization of a gate duplication strategy suggested previously (C. Chen and C. Tsui, 1999). Our technique gets a more global view by duplicating multiple gates at a time. We compare the minimum circuit delay obtained by SIS with the delay obtained by using our gate duplication. Results show that up to 11% improvement in delay can be obtained. Our algorithm does not have an adverse effect on the overall synthesis time, indicating that gate duplication is an efficient strategy for timing optimization.
Association of the rs2242446 polymorphism in the norepinephrine transporter gene SLC6A2 and anxious arousal symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Recently, we found that greater norepinephrine transporter (NET) availability in the locus coeruleus of trauma survivors with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was associated with increased severity of anxious arousal (i.e., hypervigilance and exaggerated startle) symptoms, but not any of the other empirically-derived symptom clusters that characterize this disorder.1 This finding suggests that greater NET availability in the locus coeruleus may serve a compensatory function of clearing elevated synaptic norepinephrine and maintaining anxious arousal symptoms in persons with PTSD. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) found in the promoter region of the NET gene SLC6A2 (rs2242446) has been associated with panic disorder.2,3 Given similarities in the clinical presentation of panic disorder and anxious arousal symptoms of PTSD,4 and data linking NET availability in the locus coeruleus to anxious arousal,1 it is reasonable to hypothesize that this SNP might be linked to anxious arousal in trauma survivors. We evaluated this possibility using data from the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS), an epidemiologic study of trauma-related psychopathology in a representative sample of predominantly African-American adults from urban Detroit.5
Quantification of node misbehavior in wireless sensor networks: A social choice-based approach

This work focuses on the quantification of node misbehavior in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Misbehaving nodes are common within WSNs which are once detected, are penalized and in some cases eliminated from the network. However, node misbehavior might be relative i.e., a node may exhibit maliciousness or selfishness only to a specific set of nodes and may function normally for the rest. In these cases, a complete elimination of the node from the network is unfair. This work mitigates the aforesaid problem and mathematically evaluates the extent of misbehavior of a node through the proposed Metric of Misbehavior (MoM). Based on the Theory of Social Choice, the proposed algorithm considers the misbehaving nodes as the voting alternatives and the normally behaving nodes as the voters. Based on majority ranking of social choice, eventually MoM is obtained for every alternative in a fair manner.
Mitochondrial factor and cell cytokines associate with TCM syndrome scale in vascular dementia patients

Mitochondrial factor and cell cytokines play important roles in the incidence of vascular dementia (VD), but their correlations with inflammatory and mitochondrial factors and the role of both in the kidney essence deficiency pattern and phlegm turbidity blocking orifice pattern are not clear. This study was aimed at studying the correlations between the serum mitochondrial factor and cell cytokines with TCM Syndrome Scale in vascular dementia. According to the inclusion criteria we collected 108 vascular dementia patients which were divided into the kidney essence deficiency pattern and phlegm turbidity blocking orifice pattern based on the TCM Syndrome Scale. We measured serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-18 (IL-18) concentration using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and serum malondialdelyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) was quantified according to instructions of kits from the 108 patients (45 in kidney essence deficiency pattern, 63 in phlegm turbidity blocking orifice pattern). The scale scores were assessed using TCM Syndrome Scale, MMSE, Hachinski, Barthel, BBS, CDR. There was a significant difference on the scores of CDR and the factors of the memory, judgment, social affairs, personal care, family and hobbies among the two groups, The means of kidney essence deficiency group was higher than that of phlegm turbidity blocking orifice pattern group. IL-18 and SOD in the phlegm turbidity blocking orifice group was higher than those in the kidney essence deficiency pattern; IL-6 in phlegm turbidity blocking orifice pattern group was lower than that in the kidney essence deficiency pattern. By logistic regression analysis, we demonstrated that high concentration of IL-6, TNF-α, and MDA were associated with increased TCM syndrome scores in two groups, while IL-6, IL-18, TNF-α, SOD were associated with decreased MMSE, Barthel. Our study support the notion that IL-6 plays a more important role in the integral of kidney essence deficiency pattern, IL-18 is a more important factor in phlegm turbidity blocking orifice pattern. The results can be used as the theoretical basis of traditional Chinese Medicine prescription and pharmacological research in future, through decrease in IL-6 lever and increase in SOD in integral kidney essence deficiency pattern, and IL-18 as the main anti inflammation index in phlegm turbidity blocking orifice pattern.
The Effect of Thermal Processing Schedules and Unit Operations on the Quality of Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus) Meat

DEDICATION. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS . v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES. viii Section 1: REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 1 A. General characteristics of the Listeria genus. 1 1. Description. 1 2. Taxonomy . 2 3. Pathogenesis and virulence of Listeria monocytogenes. 3 4. Heat resistance . 5 Resistance to disinfectants . 7 B. Listeriosis. 11 C. Risk assesment and policy on L. monocytogenes. 13 1. Risk assesment . 13 2. Policy . 14 2.1 The French position and policy. 14 2.2 The United Kingdom position and policy. 15 2.3 The Danish position and policy. 16 2.4 The Canadian position and policy . 16 2.5 The United States position and policy. 17 D. Isolation and culture protocols . 19 1. Enrichment . 19 2. Isolation procedures . 20 2.1 Cultural methods. 20 2.1. 1 FDA method. 20 2.1. 2 USDA method. 21 2.1. 3 Comparison of cultural methods . 21 2.2 Rapid methods . 22 2.2.1 Comparison of rapid methods . 26
Replicated Texture Editing

Image editing software is often characterized by a seemingly endless array of toolbars, filters, transformations and layers. But recently, a counter trend has emerged in the field of image editing which aims to reduce the user’s workload through semiautomation. This alternate style of interaction has been made possible through advances in directed texture synthesis and computer vision. It is in this context that we have developed our texture editing system that allows complex operations to be performed on images with minimal user interaction. This is achieved by utilizing the inherent self-similarity of image textures to replicate intended manipulations globally. In this report, we summarize the capabilities of our image editing approach including operations for replicated painting, cloning and warping. In particular, we detail recent enhancements including usercontrolled sharpness, Boolean similarity expressions and the adaptive synthesis of cloning textures.
First glycopeptide-resistant Enterococcus faecium isolate from blood culture in Ankara, Turkey.

infections and disseminated disease involving multiple organs in immunocompromised patients. In such cases the disease can mimic septicemic melioidosis (4,5). In this previously healthy patient, infection probably originated from the facial abscess. The patient was negative for HIV antibody (Serodia), had no history of diabetes mellitus or other compromising illnesses, and had no evidence of immunodeficiency. In a previous case of disseminated C. violaceum infection in a young patient, postmortem findings revealed numerous cortical infarcts and hemorrhages (6). Our isolate from a brain abscess is yet another case of a relatively avirulent saprophytic microorganism resulting in a deep-seated infection in a well-nourished, previously healthy person.
Discovering structural regularity in 3D geometry

We introduce a computational framework for discovering regular or repeated geometric structures in 3D shapes. We describe and classify possible regular structures and present an effective algorithm for detecting such repeated geometric patterns in point- or meshbased models. Our method assumes no prior knowledge of the geometry or spatial location of the individual elements that define the pattern. Structure discovery is made possible by a careful analysis of pairwise similarity transformations that reveals prominent lattice structures in a suitable model of transformation space. We introduce an optimization method for detecting such uniform grids specifically designed to deal with outliers and missing elements. This yields a robust algorithm that successfully discovers complex regular structures amidst clutter, noise, and missing geometry. The accuracy of the extracted generating transformations is further improved using a novel simultaneous registration method in the spatial domain. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm on a variety of examples and show applications to compression, model repair, and geometry synthesis.
[KRAS and BRAF gene mutations in correlation with clinicopathologic features of colorectal carcinoma in Chinese].

OBJECTIVE To retrospectively analyze KRAS and BRAF gene mutation features in Chinese colorectal cancer (CRC) and their clinicopathologic relationship. METHODS 557 colorectal cancer cases were collected, including 325 colon cancer and 232 rectal cancer. PCR amplification and DNA sequencing were used to detect mutations in exon 2 of KRAS gene and exon 15 of BRAF gene mutation. RESULTS (1) KRAS mutation was found in 40.4% (225/557) colorectal cancer. The most common mutation locations were in codon 12(79.1%, 178/225) and codon 13 (20.4%, 46/225). The most common mutation types were GGT > GAT (G12D) (37.8%, 85/225), GGT > GTT(G12V) (20.0%, 45/225) in codon 12 and GGC > GAC (G13D) in codon 13 (19.6%, 44/225). These three point mutations accounted 77.3% (174/225) in total KRAS gene mutation cases. All cases showed only one of point mutation types. (2) Among 557 CRC cases, KRAS mutation was significantly higher in female (46.2%, 92/199) than in man (37.2%, 133/358; P < 0.05). KRAS gene codon 13 mutation was higher in right colon cancer (11.3%, 12/106) than that in left colon cancer (4.8%, 6/124), but it didn't show any statistical significance (P > 0.05). (3) BRAF gene mutation was 5.1% (10/197) in colorectal cancer and 8/10 were the point mutation of GTG > GAG (V600E). Eight colorectal cancer cases with GTG > GAG (V600E) were not showing KRAS gene mutation. Both two cases with mutation on codon 600 (GTG > ATG, V600M) and codon 606 (GGG > AGT, G606S) showed codon 12 mutation of KRAS gene. (4) BRAF (V600E) gene mutation was higher in female (8.5%, 6/71) than that in male (1.6%, 2/126; P = 0.05); BRAF mutation in colon cancer (8.3%, 6/72) was higher than that in rectum cancer (2.1%, 2/94), but hadn't statistical significance (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS (1) Codon 12, 13 in KRAS gene and codon 600 in BRAF gene are the most common mutation points in Chinese colorectal cancer. KRAS and BRAF mutations are mutually exclusive. (2) KRAS and BRAF gene mutation is higher in female than that in male, suggesting that RAS-RAF-MAPK signal pathway is probably related to hormones directly or indirectly. (3) There is a trend that codon 13 mutation in KRAS and codon 600 mutation in BRAF in right colon cancer are higher than that in left colon cancer, respectively, however, which needs more cases to be further verified.
Suitable approach using agricultural residues for pulp and paper manufacturing

The chemical compositions, fibre dimensions, elemental analysis and paper characteristics of sesame, karkadeh and okra stalks were studied in this work. It was found that the α-cellulose content of karkadeh, sesame and okra stalks were 45.8, 42.3 and 37.9%, respectively. Klason lignin was found to be the highest in okra 21.4% while it was 20.8 and 19.3% in sesame and karkadeh, respectively. Soda and soda-anthraquinone (AQ) pulping as sulfur-free processes were applied on these raw materials for producing pulp fibers. The results showed that a lower kappa number, higher screened pulp yield, and better paper handsheet properties were obtained for the pulp produced via soda-AQ pulping than the soda process. The soda-AQ and soda pulping of karkadeh generated pulp with the highest yields of 46.6% and 43.5% and kappa numbers of 18.0 and 19.4, respectively. Papers produced from karkadeh pulp showed the highest brightness of 77.64 and 75.50%, tensile index of 52.3 and 51.7 N.m/g, tear index of 4.6 and 5.5 mNm2/g and burst index of 3.9 and 3.5 KPa m2/g for soda-AQ and soda pulp, respectively. Furthermore, the morphological analysis and chemical compositions of karkadeh, sesame and okra stalks showed their suitability for pulp and paper production. ADDRESSES OF THE AUTHORS: Haroon A. M. Saeed (haroonsaeed75@gmail.com) b Center of Fibers, Papers and Recycling, Faculty of Textiles, University of Gezira, Box 20, Wad Medani, Sudan; Yu Liu (leoliuyu@163.com) Key Lab of Pulp and Paper Science and Technology of Ministry of Education (Shandong Province) Qilu University of Technology, Jinan, 250353, Shandong, P.R. China. ; Honglei Chen (shaming007@163.com) Key Lab of Pulp and Paper Science and Technology of Ministry of Education (Shandong Province) Qilu University of Technology, Jinan, 250353, Shandong, P.R. China; Lucian A. Lucia (lalucia@ncsu.edu) c Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Box 8005, Raleigh, NC27695-8005, USA. Corresponding authors: Haroon A. M. Saeed and Yu
Describing Pattern Languages for Checking Design Models

Many designers use the patterns of a pattern language in creating the design model. In designing with patterns, there are three aspects of the pattern language that must be taken into consideration: Structural, Syntactic, and Semantic. That means, the patterns must be applied correctly, the relationship between patterns must be correct, and the design model must be semantically correct. The syntactic aspect is important for pattern languages due to the fact that the patterns in a pattern language are interconnected via several relationships. To achieve automatic design model checking, the three aspects of a pattern language must be precisely defined. We propose formalisms for representing the Structural, Syntactic, and Semantic aspects of a pattern language. As our case study, we select a pattern language in the domain of enterprise application architecture, and show how the pattern language is described using the proposed formalism.
Energy and food security in the context of biomass, crop production and soil quality in Uganda

xi CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION . 1 Motivation . 1 Conceptual Framework . 2 Research Objectives . 4 References . 5 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW . 7 Energy Security . 7 Justification for Green Technologies . 7 Energy Security Definition . 7 Energy Security Indicators . 8 Energy Security in Africa . 9 Sustainable Energy Use Challenges in Africa . 9 Agricultural Residues for Sustainable Energy Production . 13 Food Security . 16 Food Security Definition and Shifts in Thinking . 16 Food Security in Uganda . 17 Food Security Determinants and Indicators . 18 Crop Production . 19 Soil Quality . 22 References . 26 CHAPTER 3. BIOENERGY PRODUCTION FROM AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES IN UGANDA . 36 Abstract . 36 Introduction . 37 Methodology . 41 Tiribogo Power Plant . 41 Agricultural Residues . 42 Results. 47 Discussion . 49 Conclusion . 54 Acknowledgements . 55 References . 55 CHAPTER 4. ADDRESSING FOOD SECURITY IN UGANDA VIA SOIL QUALITY AND CROP PRODUCTION . 59 Abstract . 59 Introduction . 59
Asymmetric Beams in Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Experiments

We propose a new formalism to handle asymmetric beams in the data analysis of cosmic microwave background anisotropy experiments. For any beam shape, the formalism finds the optimal circularly symmetric equivalent and is thus easily adaptable to existing data analysis methods. We demonstrate certain key points by using a simulated highly elliptic beam and the beams and data of the MAXIMA-1 experiment, where the asymmetry is mild. We show that in both cases the formalism does not bias the angular power spectrum estimates. We analyze the limitations of the formalism and find that it is well suited for most practical situations.
Performance analysis of variable rate multicarrier transmission schemes over LMS channel

With the increasing demand for increased coverage area, higher QoS, ubiquitous availability, flexibility and expandability, Land Mobile Satellite (LMS) multimedia communication is gaining popularity over existing Land Mobile Terrestrial (LMT) communication. This paper presents a comparative study of GO-OFDMA and VSL MC-CDMA variable rate transmission scheme over L and Ka-band LMS channel. For both the schemes, four variable rate classes employing 15 users are considered. It is shown that, for both the frequency bands, the BER performance of GO-OFDMA scheme is better than that of VSL MC-CDMA for all the different data rate class of users. Though, for Ka-band, the performance of both the schemes is relatively poor than L-band. Also, the performance of both the schemes for different elevation angles are illustrated and analyzed. Later, the composite signal PAPR performance of both the transmission schemes is shown and compared. It is observed that, the PAPR performance of GO-OFDMA scheme is better than VSL MC-CDMA. Hence GO-OFDMA scheme is a suitable candidate for variable rate communication over LMS channel.
Effect of electrode contact location on clinical efficacy of pallidal deep brain stimulation in primary generalised dystonia

Objectives: To determine the effect of electrode contact location on efficacy of bilateral globus pallidus internus (GPi) deep brain stimulation (DBS) for primary generalised dystonia (PGD). Subjects and methods: A consecutive series of 15 patients with PGD (10 females, mean age 42 years, seven DYT1) who underwent bilateral GPi DBS, were assessed using the Burke–Fahn–Marsden (BFM) dystonia scale before and 6 months after surgery. The position of the stimulated electrode contact(s) was determined from the postoperative stereotactic MRI. Contralateral limb and total axial BFM subscores were compared with the location of the stimulated contact(s) within the GPi. Results: The mean total BFM score decreased from 38.9 preoperatively to 11.9 at 6 months, an improvement of 69.5% (p<0.00001). Cluster analysis of the stimulated contact coordinates identified two groups, distributed along an anterodorsal to posteroventral axis. Clinical improvement was greater for posteroventral than anterodorsal stimulation for the arm (86% vs 52%; p<0.05) and trunk (96% vs 65%; p<0.05) and inversely correlated with the y coordinate. For the leg, posteroventral and anterodorsal stimulation were of equivalent efficacy. Overall clinical improvement was maximal with posteroventral stimulation (89% vs 67%; p<0.05) and inversely correlated with the y (A-P) coordinate (r = −0.62, p<0.05). Conclusion: GPi DBS is effective for PGD but outcome is dependent on contact location. Posteroventral GPi stimulation provides the best overall effect and is superior for the arm and trunk. These results may be explained by the functional anatomy of GPi and its outflow tracts.
Explorer Calcineurin inhibition with systemic FK 506 treatment increases dendritic branching and dendritic spine density in healthy adult mouse brain

Calcineurin has been implicated as part of a critical signaling pathway for learning and memory, and recent data suggest that calcineurin activation mediates some of the neurotoxicity of the Alzheimer related neurotoxin Aβ. Immunosuppression via calcineurin inhibition with the compound FK506 is an important treatment for organ transplant patients. Here we use Golgi impregnation techniques, along with a new survival analysis-based statistical approach for analysis of dendritic complexity, to show that in healthy adult mice one week of treatment with FK506 affects both the branching patterns and dendritic spine density of cortical neurons. These results indicate that calcineurin inhibition leads to readily detectable changes in brain morphology, further implicating calcineurin related pathways in both the function and structure of the adult brain.
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLE OF MINIMUM WORK

P. S. Bauer t has recently questioned the vMidity of the Physiological Principle of Minimum Work as formulated and applied by me 2 to certain problems concerning the efficiency of operation of the oxygen transport system in man. In contrast to his opinions or the implications which he makes in respect to my work, I reply that this principle should not, and does not rest upon any principle of physics which applies, like the Principle of Least Action (no mention of which was made in my papers), exclusively to ideal conservative systems. Poiseuille's law of flow was used as the simplest approximation to conditions obtaining in capillaries, and the gravitational factor (especially for a man in the basal state and lying down) was neglected as one of secondary magnitude compared to those dealt with in the general problem. Some elementary procedures in calculus, mechanics, and graphical analysis were used in solving the purely mathematical portions of certain problems, but these were simply the ordinary working tools of applied mathematics. Although supported by many analogies and general experience, the validity or "justification" of the Physiological Principle of Minimum Work rests primarily upon the approximate consistency established between theory and certain facts of observation. The principle merely states that in many cases and especially in the circulation of the blood the cost of actual operation of living systems tends to be a minimum and that cost is to be measured in units, like the calorie and the erg, which have dimensions equivalent to those of work.
Lagrangian Vector Quantization With Combined Entropy and Codebook Size Constraints

In this paper, the Lagrangian formulation of variable-rate vector quantization is extended to quantization with simultaneous constraints on entropy and codebook size, including variable- and fixed-rate quantization as special cases. The formulation leads to a Lloyd quantizer design algorithm and generalizations of Gersho's approximations characterizing optimal performance for asymptotically large rate. A variation of Gersho's approach is shown to yield rigorous results partially characterizing the asymptotically optimal performance.