Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated feature localization for dynamically generated SystemC designs

Due to the large complexity of today's circuits and systems, all components e.g. in a System on Chip (SoC) cannot be designed from scratch anymore. As a consequence, designers frequently work on components which they did not create themselves and, hence, design understanding becomes a crucial issue. Approaches for feature localization help by pinpointing to distinguished characteristics of a design. However, existing approaches for feature localization mainly focused on the Register Transfer Level; existing solutions for the Electronic System Level (using languages such as SystemC) have severe limits. In this work, we propose an approach for advanced feature localization in SystemC designs. By this, we overcome major limitations of previously proposed solutions, in particular the missing support for dynamically generated designs, while keeping the proposed solution as non-intrusive as possible. The benefits of our approach are confirmed by means of a case study.
Performance analysis of LAS-based scheduling disciplines in a packet switched network

The Least Attained Service (LAS) scheduling policy, when used for scheduling packets over the bottleneck link of an Internet path, can greatly reduce the average flow time for short flows while not significantly increasing the average flow time for the long flows that share the same bottleneck. No modification of the packet headers is required to implement the simple LAS policy. However, previous work has also shown that a drawback of the LAS scheduler is that, when link utilization is greater than 70%, long flows experience large jitter in their packet transfer times as compared to the conventional First-Come-First-Serve (FCFS) link scheduling. This paper proposes and evaluates new differentiated LAS scheduling policies that reduce the jitter for long flows that are identified as "priority" flows.To evaluate the new policies, we develop analytic models to estimate average flow transfer time as a function of flow size, and average packet transmission time as a function of position in the flow, for the single-bottleneck "dumbbell topology" used in many ns simulation studies. Models are developed for FCFS scheduling, LAS scheduling, and each of the new differentiated LAS scheduling policies at the bottleneck link. Over a wide range of configu-rations, the analytic estimates agree very closely with the ns estimates. Thus, the analytic models can be used instead of simulation for comparing the policies with respect to mean flow transfer time (as a function of flow size) and mean packet transfer time. Furthermore, an initial discrepancy between the analytic and simulation estimates revealed errors in the parameter values that are often specified in the widely used ns Web workload generator. We develop an improved Web workload specification, which is used to estimate the packet jitter for long flows (more accurately than with previous simulation workloads). Results for the scheduling policies show that a particular policy, LAS-log, greatly improves the mean flow transfer time for priority long flows while providing performance similar to LAS for the ordinary flows. Simulations show that the LAS-log policy also greatly reduces the jitter in packet delivery times for the priority flows.
Distribution of microtubule organizing centers in migrating sheets of endothelial cells

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between the position of the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) and the direction of migration of a sheet of endothelial cells (EC). Using immunofluorescence and phase microscopy the MTOC's of migrating EC were visualized as the cells moved into an in vitro experimental wound produced by mechanical denudation of part of a confluent monolayer culture. Although the MTOC's in nonmigrating EC were randomly positioned in relation to the nucleus, in migrating cells the position of the MTOC's changed so that 80% of the cells had the MTOC positioned in front of the nucleus toward the direction of movement of the endothelial sheet. This repositioning of the MTOC occurred within the first 4 h after wounding and was associated with the beginning of migration of EC's into the wounded area as seen by time-lapse cinemicrophotography. These studies focus attention on the MTOC as a cytoskeletal structure that may play a role in determining the direction of cell movement.
A crítica da gestão da diversidade nas organizações

This paper critically analyses diversity management in organizations as an inherent part of technocratic ideology, which aims to displace the treatment of social inequality from the political instance to the human resources management of companies. From the analysis of the international and national literature on the subject it is discovered that diversity management has emerged as a response of North American managers to the affirmative action policies of the 1960´s and 1970´s. This literature advocates that diversity management is more effective to deal with social inequalities because it is based on meritocracy and makes achievable to reach economic benefits both to individuals and companies. The transplantation of these practices into the Brazilian context, on the other hand, bumps into a complication in terms of their adoption face to the myth of the Brazilian racial democracy, which masks prejudice and gets in tension with the ideology of diversity management.
Animal models of bone metastasis

Animal models are important tools to investigate the pathogenesis and develop treatment strategies for bone metastases in humans. However, there are few spontaneous models of bone metastasis despite the fact that rodents (rats and mice) and other animals (dogs and cats) often spontaneously develop cancer. Therefore, most experimental models of bone metastasis in rodents require injection or implantation of neoplastic cells into orthotopic locations, bones, or the left ventricle of the heart.
How should we incentivize private landowners to ‘produce’ more biodiversity?

Globally, much biodiversity is found on private land. Acting to conserve such biodiversity thus requires the design of policies which influence the decision-making of farmers and foresters. In this paper, we outline the economic characteristics of this problem, before reviewing a number of policy options, such as conservation auctions and conservation easements. We then discuss a number of policy design problems, such as the need for spatial coordination and the choice between paying for outcomes rather than actions, before summarizing what the evidence and theory developed to date tell us about those aspects of biodiversity policy design which need careful attention from policy-makers and environmental regulators. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.
A clinical evaluation of a giomer restorative system containing surface prereacted glass ionomer filler: results from a 13-year recall examination.

BACKGROUND The authors' objective was to evaluate the long-term performance of a resin-based composite restorative material (Beautifil, Shofu, Kyoto, Japan) in combination with a self-etching primer (FL-Bond, Shofu) for posterior restorations. METHODS Two clinicians placed 61 restorations, 26 Class I and 35 Class II, in 31 patients. They placed restorations while using rubber dam isolation. Two other clinicians examined the restorations according to the modified U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) criteria, observing color match, marginal adaptation, anatomy, surface roughness, marginal staining, interfacial staining, proximal and occlusal contacts, secondary caries, postoperative sensitivity and luster. Clinicians examined restorations at baseline as well as at one-, two-, four-, eight- and 13-year recall visits. RESULTS All restorations were examined at one year, 58 (95 percent) at two years, 39 (64 percent) at four years and 41 (67 percent) at eight years; at the 13-year recall examination, 41 (67 percent) either were examined or had a known outcome. Of the 41 restorations seen at the 13-year examination, 25 restorations (14 Class I and 11 Class II) were intact and acceptable, two had secondary caries and 14 either were not present or had failed (two were missing, 10 had received crowns and two had been replaced). No changes were observed in the modified USPHS criteria for 12 of the 25 restorations that were intact (48 percent). Areas of change observed in 13 of the 25 intact restorations included color match (12 percent), marginal adaptation at the occlusal (20 percent) and proximal surfaces (4 percent), marginal staining on occlusal (24 percent) and proximal surfaces (8 percent), and interfacial staining on occlusal (4 percent) and proximal surfaces (12 percent). CONCLUSION The study results showed that most of the restorations observed at the 13-year recall examination maintained acceptable clinical qualities. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Beautifil restorative material demonstrated long-term successful results for restoration of posterior teeth.
ANALYSIS OF SPATIO-TEMPORAL CHANGES IN THE LANDSCAPE PATTERN OF THE TAISHAN MOUNTAIN

Analyzing spatial and temporal changes in landscape patterns is an important aspect of landscape ecology. We used satellite imagery and ERDAS Image software, calculated landscape indices, and quantified landscape tran- sformation processes to determine the nature and magnitude of landscape structural changes within an upland area of the Taishan Mountains in Shandong province, eastern China. We used digital image processing techniques to produ- ce landscape classification maps from 1986 and 2001 Landsat images. Based on a geographic information system (GIS) and patch analyst program software (FRAGSTATS), landscape pattern indices were calculated, and the rela- tionships between changes in landscape patterns and anthropogenic disturbances were further investigated. The results showed a significant decrease in Pinus forests, due mainly to the conversion to Quercus and mixed forests. Forest vegetation patches have become more fragmented, isolated, and much smaller since 1986. Changes in land- scape structure were significantly associated with anthropogenic disturbances, although the strength of the associa- tion differed throughout the study zone. A larger proportion of bare substrate on steep slopes will damage the health of the mountain ecosystem, in all likelihood, and upland clearing will lead to longer term potential for land degradation.
Walk Tall in the World: African American Literature for Today's Children.

Everett Anderson, an irrepressible six-year-old Black child "full of tricks" and "full of joy" (Clifton, 1970), appeared at the beginning of a modern burgeoning of African American children's literature. His periodic reappearances in a series of seven picture books continued until 1983, paralleling a period of growth and then decline in the quantity of children's books by and about Blacks. The late eighties have seen an upturn in the numbers of such books, and this article focuses primarily on those published recently enough to still be available in an era when children's books go out of print in an astonishingly brief time. It is intended to provide an overview of current African American authors and artists writing for elementary school children (kindergarten through sixth grade), and of the themes, issues, and trends apparent from an examination of their work. The article concludes with a discussion of the importance of literature in the development of literacy and some suggestions for incorporating African American children's books into activities at home and in elementary classrooms.
Cardiovascular events and their reduction with pravastatin in diabetic and glucose-intolerant myocardial infarction survivors with average cholesterol levels: subgroup analyses in the cholesterol and recurrent events (CARE) trial. The Care Investigators.

BACKGROUND Although diabetes is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), little information is available on the effects of lipid lowering in diabetic patients. We determined whether lipid-lowering treatment with pravastatin prevents recurrent cardiovascular events in diabetic patients with CHD and average cholesterol levels. METHODS AND RESULTS The Cholesterol And Recurrent Events (CARE) trial, a 5-year trial that compared the effect of pravastatin and placebo, included 586 patients (14.1%) with clinical diagnoses of diabetes. The participants with diabetes were older, more obese, and more hypertensive. The mean baseline lipid concentrations in the group with diabetes--136 mg/dL LDL cholesterol, 38 mg/dL HDL cholesterol, and 164 mg/dL triglycerides--were similar to those in the nondiabetic group. LDL cholesterol reduction by pravastatin was similar (27% and 28%) in the diabetic and nondiabetic groups, respectively. In the placebo group, the diabetic patients suffered more recurrent coronary events (CHD death, nonfatal myocardial infarction [MI], CABG, and PTCA) than did the nondiabetic patients (37% versus 25%). Pravastatin treatment reduced the absolute risk of coronary events for the diabetic and nondiabetic patients by 8.1% and 5.2% and the relative risk by 25% (P=0.05) and 23% (P<0.001), respectively. Pravastatin reduced the relative risk for revascularization procedures by 32% (P=0.04) in the diabetic patients. In the 3553 patients who were not diagnosed as diabetic, 342 had impaired fasting glucose at entry defined by the American Diabetes Association as 110 to 125 mg/dL. These nondiabetic patients with impaired fasting glucose had a higher rate of recurrent coronary events than those with normal fasting glucose (eg, 13% versus 10% for nonfatal MI). Recurrence rates tended to be lower in the pravastatin compared with placebo group (eg, -50%, P=0.05 for nonfatal MI). CONCLUSIONS Diabetic patients and nondiabetic patients with impaired fasting glucose are at high risk of recurrent coronary events that can be substantially reduced by pravastatin treatment.
The trans-Sialidase from Trypanosoma cruzi Induces Thrombocytopenia during Acute Chagas' Disease by Reducing the Platelet Sialic Acid Contents

ABSTRACT Strong thrombocytopenia is observed during acute infection with Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasitic protozoan agent of American trypanosomiasis or Chagas' disease. The parasite sheds trans-sialidase, an enzyme able to mobilize the sialyl residues on cell surfaces, which is distributed in blood and is a virulence factor. Since the sialic acid content on the platelet surface is crucial for determining the half-life of platelets in blood, we examined the possible involvement of the parasite-derived enzyme in thrombocytopenia induction. We found that a single intravenous injection of trans-sialidase into naïve mice reduced the platelet count by 50%, a transient effect that lasted as long as the enzyme remained in the blood. CD43−/− mice were affected to a similar extent. When green fluorescent protein-expressing platelets were treated in vitro with trans-sialidase, their sialic acid content was reduced together with their life span, as determined after transfusion into naïve animals. No apparent deleterious effect on the bone marrow was observed. A central role for Kupffer cells in the clearance of trans-sialidase-altered platelets was revealed after phagocyte depletion by administration of clodronate-containing liposomes and splenectomy. Consistent with this, parasite strains known to exhibit more trans-sialidase activity induced heavier thrombocytopenia. Finally, the passive transfer of a trans-sialidase-neutralizing monoclonal antibody to infected animals prevented the clearance of transfused platelets. Results reported here strongly support the hypothesis that the trans-sialidase is the virulence factor that, after depleting the sialic acid content of platelets, induces the accelerated clearance of the platelets that leads to the thrombocytopenia observed during acute Chagas' disease.
Towards a Spectral Proof of the Mass Gap in QCD?

Yang–Mills theory in four dimensions is studied by using the Coulomb gauge. The Coulomb gauge Hamiltonian involves integration of matrix elements of an operator P built from the Laplacian and from a ﬁrst-order diﬀerential operator. The operator P is studied from the point of view of spectral theory of pseudo-diﬀerential operators on compact Riemannian manifolds, both when self-adjointness holds and when it is not fulﬁlled. In both cases, well-deﬁned matrix elements of P are evaluated as a ﬁrst step towards the more diﬃcult problems of quantized Yang–Mills theory.
Heavy Metal and Hip-Hop Style Preferences and Externalizing Problem Behavior

This study examines (a) the stability of Dutch adolescents' preferences for heavy metal and hip-hop youth culture styles, (b) longitudinal associations between their preferences and externalizing problem behavior, and (c) the moderating role of gender in these associations. Questionnaire data were gathered from 931 adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18 years in two waves with a 2-year interval. Results suggest that preferences for heavy metal and hip-hop youth culture styles are moderately stable over a 2-year period. Preference for the hip-hop style was found to predict later externalizing problems in both boys and girls. Preference for the heavy metal style predicted later externalizing problems exclusively in boys. Adolescents' externalizing problems did not predict later preferences for hip-hop or heavy metal.
The wind speeds, dust content, and mass-loss rates of evolved AGB and RSG stars at varying metallicity

We present the results of our survey of 1612 MHz circumstellar OH maser emission from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and red supergiants (RSGs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We have discovered four new circumstellar maser sources in the LMC, and increased the number of reliable wind speeds from IR stars in the LMC from 5 to 13. Using our new wind speeds, as well as those from Galactic sources, we have derived an updated relation for dust driven winds: vexp / ZL0:4. We compare the sub-solar metallicity LMC OH/IR stars with carefully selected samples of more metal-rich OH/IR stars, also at known distances, in the Galactic Centre and Galactic Bulge. For 8 of the Bulge stars we derive pulsation periods for the first time, using near-IR photometry from the VVV survey. We have modeled our LMC OH/IR stars and developed an empirical method of deriving gas-to-dust ratios and mass loss rates by scaling the models to the results from maser profiles. We have done this also for samples in the Galactic Centre and Bulge and derived a new mass loss prescription that includes luminosity, pulsation period, and gas-to-dust ratio _M = 1:06+3:5
Mutant SOD1 Instability: Implications for Toxicity in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

The biological basis of preferential motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains incompletely understood, and effective therapies to prevent the lethal consequences of this disorder are not yet available. Since 1993, more than 100 mutant variants of the antioxidant enzyme Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) have been identified in familial ALS. Many studies have sought to distinguish abnormal properties shared by these proteins that may contribute to their toxic effects and cause age-dependent motor neuron loss. Complex networks of cellular interactions and changes associated with aging may link mutant SOD1s and other stresses to motor neuron death in ALS. Our laboratory and collaborators have compared physicochemical properties of biologically metallated wild-type and mutant SOD1 proteins to discern specific vulnerabilities that may be relevant to the mutant toxicity in vivo. X-ray crystal structures obtained from metallated ‘wild-type-like’ (WTL) SOD1 mutants, which retain the ability to bind copper and zinc and exhibit normal specific activity, indicate a native-like structure with only subtle changes to the backbone fold. In contrast, a group of ‘metal-binding region’ (MBR) SOD1 mutants that are deficient in copper and zinc exhibit severe thermal destabilization and structural disorder of conserved loops near the metal-binding sites. A growing body of evidence highlights specific stresses in vivo that may perturb well-folded, metallated SOD1 variants and thereby favor an increased burden of partially unfolded, metal-deficient species. For example, WTL SOD1 mutants are more susceptible than wild-type SOD1 to reduction of the intrasubunit disulfide bond between Cys-57 and Cys-146 at physiological pH and temperature. This bond anchors the disulfide loop to the SOD1 β-barrel and helps to maintain the dimeric configuration of the protein. Cleavage of the disulfide linkage renders the well-folded WTL mutants vulnerable to metal loss and monomerization such that they may resemble the destabilized and locally misfolded MBR mutant species. SOD1 proteins with disordered loops or monomeric structure are expected to be more susceptible to aberrant self-association or detrimental interactions with other cellular constituents. The challenge for future investigations is to relate these abnormal properties of partially unfolded SOD1 to specific mechanisms of toxicity in motor neurons, supporting cells, or target tissues.
Decision-making framework of customer perception of value in Taiwanese spa hotels

In this study we examined the framework linking antecedents of perceived value and willingness to buy in the Taiwanese spa hotel industry. We developed 6 hypotheses to identify the factors that are evaluated by customers. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis of data collected from hotels in 4 major spa regions in Taiwan revealed that the source of multicollinearity among the antecedents resulted in perceived value, which was positively associated with willingness to buy, being assigned varying levels of importance. The results also confirmed the 2 distinct and different effects of perceived price to perceived value and perceived quality in the service domain. Our findings could be used for comparative studies of value perception in other service industries and cultural settings.
On the Biological Importance of the 3-hydroxyanthranilic Acid: Anthranilic Acid Ratio

Of the major components of the kynurenine pathway for the oxidative metabolism of tryptophan, most attention has focussed on the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor agonist quinolinic acid, and the glutamate receptor blocker kynurenic acid. However, there is increasing evidence that the redox-active compound 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid may also have potent actions on cell function in the nervous and immune systems, and recent clinical data show marked changes in the levels of this compound, associated with changes in anthranilic acid levels, in patients with a range of neurological and other disorders including osteoporosis, chronic brain injury, Huntington's disease, coronary heart disease, thoracic disease, stroke and depression. In most cases, there is a decrease in 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid levels and an increase in anthranilic acid levels. In this paper, we summarise the range of data obtained to date, and hypothesise that the levels of 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid or the ratio of 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid to anthranilic acid levels, may contribute to disorders with an inflammatory component, and may represent a novel marker for the assessment of inflammation and its progression. Data are presented which suggest that the ratio between these two compounds is not a simple determinant of neuronal viability. Finally, a hypothesis is presented to account for the development of the observed changes in 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid and anthranilate levels in inflammation and it is suggested that the change of the 3HAA:AA ratio, particularly in the brain, could possibly be a protective response to limit primary and secondary damage.