Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Precision Low-TC Wide-Range CMOS Current Reference

This paper describes a programmable temperature-compensated CMOS current reference. The proposed circuit achieves a first-order temperature compensation by canceling the negative temperature coefficient (TC) of an on-chip poly resistor with the positive TC of a MOS transistor operating in the ohmic region. Programmability of the current reference is enabled with the use of floating-gate transistors, thus allowing arbitrary current values to be set accurately. The temperature compensation is independent of the reference value; a low TC reference is possible for a wide range of currents. Prototypes from a 0.5 mum CMOS process exhibited a maximum temperature coefficient of 132 ppm/degC for a temperature range of 0degC to 80degC. Experimental results showed a current precision of 0.02% along with a line regulation of 1%/V for a supply voltage of 2.3 V to 3.3 V. These results were obtained for current references of 16 muA to 53 muA for five different prototypes.
Collaborative Multi-Objective Global Routing

This work presents a collaborative procedure for multi-objective global routing. Our procedure takes as input multiple global routing solutions, which are generated independently (e.g., by one router that runs in different modes concurrently, or by different routers running in parallel). It then performs multi-objective optimization based on Pareto algebra and quickly generates multiple global routing solutions with a tradeoff between the considered objectives. The user can control the number of generated solutions and the degree of exploring the tradeoff between them by constraining the maximum allowable degradation in each objective. This work then considers the following three multi-objective case studies: minimization of interconnect power and wirelength, minimization of routing congestion and wirelength, and minimization of wirelength with respect to the (finite-capacity) routing resources. The maximum allowable degradation in wirelength is specified in all cases. Our multi-objective procedure runs in only a few minutes for each of the ISPD 2008 benchmarks, even for the unroutable ones, which imposes a tolerable overhead in the design flow. In our simulations, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our procedure using five modern academic global routers.
A Method for Reasoning with Structured and Continuous Attributes in the INLEN-2 Multistrategy Knowledge Discovery System

Structured attributes have domains (value sets) that are partially ordered sets, typically hierarchies. Such attributes allow knowledge discovery about hierarchical relationships among attribute values. Inductive generalization rules for structured attributes have been developed that take into consideration the type of nodes in the domain hierarchy (anchor or non-anchor) and the type of decision rules to be generated (characteristic, discriminant or minimum complexity). These generalization rules enhance the ability of knowledge discovery system INLEN-2 to exploit the semantic content of the domain knowledge in the process of generating hypotheses. If the dependent attribute (e.g., a decision attribute) is structured, the system generates a system of hierarchically organized rules representing relationships between the values of this attribute and independent attributes. Such a situation often occurs in practice when the decision to be assigned to a situation can be at different levels of abstraction (e.g., this is a liver disease, or this is a liver cancer). Continuous attributes (e.g., physical measurements) are quantized into a hierarchy of values (ranges of values arranged into different levels). These methods are illustrated by an example concerning the discovery of patterns in world economics and demographics.
Benefit of Continuous Regional Arterial Infusion of Protease Inhibitor and Antibiotic in the Management of Acute Necrotizing Pancreatitis

Although we have reported the beneficial effect of continuous regional arterial infusion (CRAI) of protease inhibitor and antibiotic on acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP), the optimal timing of the initiation of CRAI therapy has not been clarified. The present study was conducted to evaluate whether the difference of the timing of CRAI therapy may affect the clinical course and outcome in ANP. 73 patients with ANP were stratified into three groups according to the interval between the onset and initiation of CRAI therapy as follows: group I (32 patients in whom CRAI therapy was initiated within 48 h after the onset); group II (22 patients in whom CRAI therapy was initiated between 48 and 72 h after the onset), and group III (19 patients in whom CRAI was initiated more than 72 h after the onset). The mortality rate was 3.2% in group I, 9.1% in group II, and 26.3% in group III. The mortality rate was significantly low in group I compared with that in group III. The frequency of respiratory failure in group I was also significantly low compared with that in group III. CRP and APACHE II score were reduced rapidly in both groups I and II after the initiation of CRAI therapy. These results suggested that the optimal timing of CRAI therapy in ANP should be considered to be within 72 h after the onset.
A new method to improve network topological similarity search: applied to fold recognition

MOTIVATION Similarity search is the foundation of bioinformatics. It plays a key role in establishing structural, functional and evolutionary relationships between biological sequences. Although the power of the similarity search has increased steadily in recent years, a high percentage of sequences remain uncharacterized in the protein universe. Thus, new similarity search strategies are needed to efficiently and reliably infer the structure and function of new sequences. The existing paradigm for studying protein sequence, structure, function and evolution has been established based on the assumption that the protein universe is discrete and hierarchical. Cumulative evidence suggests that the protein universe is continuous. As a result, conventional sequence homology search methods may be not able to detect novel structural, functional and evolutionary relationships between proteins from weak and noisy sequence signals. To overcome the limitations in existing similarity search methods, we propose a new algorithmic framework-Enrichment of Network Topological Similarity (ENTS)-to improve the performance of large scale similarity searches in bioinformatics. RESULTS We apply ENTS to a challenging unsolved problem: protein fold recognition. Our rigorous benchmark studies demonstrate that ENTS considerably outperforms state-of-the-art methods. As the concept of ENTS can be applied to any similarity metric, it may provide a general framework for similarity search on any set of biological entities, given their representation as a network. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION Source code freely available upon request CONTACT : lxie@iscb.org.
Prediction of protein structural class using novel evolutionary collocation‐based sequence representation

Knowledge of structural classes is useful in understanding of folding patterns in proteins. Although existing structural class prediction methods applied virtually all state‐of‐the‐art classifiers, many of them use a relatively simple protein sequence representation that often includes amino acid (AA) composition. To this end, we propose a novel sequence representation that incorporates evolutionary information encoded using PSI‐BLAST profile‐based collocation of AA pairs. We used six benchmark datasets and five representative classifiers to quantify and compare the quality of the structural class prediction with the proposed representation. The best, classifier support vector machine achieved 61–96% accuracy on the six datasets. These predictions were comprehensively compared with a wide range of recently proposed methods for prediction of structural classes. Our comprehensive comparison shows superiority of the proposed representation, which results in error rate reductions that range between 14% and 26% when compared with predictions of the best‐performing, previously published classifiers on the considered datasets. The study also shows that, for the benchmark dataset that includes sequences characterized by low identity (i.e., 25%, 30%, and 40%), the prediction accuracies are 20–35% lower than for the other three datasets that include sequences with a higher degree of similarity. In conclusion, the proposed representation is shown to substantially improve the accuracy of the structural class prediction. A web server that implements the presented prediction method is freely available at http://biomine.ece. ualberta.ca/Structural_Class/SCEC.html. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 2008
Going Beyond Human Communication Capabilities with Immersive Virtual Reality

Proceedings of the CHI 2017 Workshop on Amplification and Augmentation of Human Perception, May 07, 2017, Denver, CO, USA. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Abstract Traditionally immersive virtual reality (VR) aims at providing communication tools that are as efficient as human interactions in the real world. We, however, believe that VR has the potential to be a space where communication not only matches the real world but provides amplified communication tools for remote collaboration [with avatars] that are otherwise not possible for humans. In this paper we present the results of a focus group (n=4) and a pre-study (n=30), which reveal that abstract representations of amplified communication tools, are recognized and effectively used in VR.
Fastplay-A Parallelization Model and Implementation of SMC on CUDA based GPU Cluster Architecture

We propose a four-tiered parallelization model for acceleration of the secure multiparty computation (SMC) on the CUDA based Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) cluster architecture. Specification layer is the top layer, which adopts the SFDL of Fairplay for specification of secure computations. The SHDL file generated by the SFDL compiler of Fairplay is used as inputs to the function layer, for which we developed both multi-core and GPU based control functions for garbling of various types of Boolean gates, and ECC-based 1-out-of-2 Oblivious Transfer (OT). These high level control functions invoke computation of 3-DGG (3-DES gate garbling), EGG (ECC based gate garbling), and ECC based OT that run at the secure protocol layer. An ECC Arithmetic GPU Library (EAGL), which co-run on the GPU cluster and its host, manages utilization of GPUs in parallel computing of ECC arithmetic. Experimental results show highly linear acceleration of ECC related computations when the system is not overloaded; When running on a GPU cluster consisted of 6 Tesla C870 devices, with GPU devices fully loaded with over 3000 execution threads, Fastplay achieved 35~40 times of acceleration over a serial implementation running on a 2.53GHz duo core CPU and 4GB memory. When the execution thread count exceeds this number, the speed up factor remains fairly constant, yet slightly increased. Keywordssecure multiparty computation (SMC), Oblivious Transfer (OT), ECC, Graphic Processing Unit (GPU)
Carbon-nanotube shape and individualization critical for renal excretion.

In the past few years there has been an accumulating amount of evidence to suggest that the structural features of nanoparticles are responsible for dramatically different pharmacokinetic and body-excretion profiles. For example, a recent study convincingly illustrated that the mean hydrodynamic diameter of quantum dots (spherically shaped nanocrystals) is a determinant factor in achieving effective urinary excretion through the renal filtration barrier. In that study, however, the effect of nanoparticle shape on renal filtration was not examined at all. Our group has investigated the pharmacokinetic and excretion profiles of nonspherical, fibrilous carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and, in the present study, we have attempted to elucidate the mechanism by which such cylindrical nanoparticles can be excreted through the renal route. We have previously reported that surface-functionalized, water-dispersible, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs; average diameter 1 nm; average length 300–1000 nm) were capable of rapid and effective renal clearance and urinary excretion with a blood-circulation half-life of a few hours. These observations were in agreement with other studies
Structure and function of human α‐lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells (HAMLET)‐type complexes

Human α‐lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells (HAMLET) and equine lysozyme with oleic acid (ELOA) are complexes consisting of protein and fatty acid that exhibit cytotoxic activities, drastically differing from the activity of their respective proteinaceous compounds. Since the discovery of HAMLET in the 1990s, a wealth of information has been accumulated, illuminating the structural, functional and therapeutic properties of protein complexes with oleic acid, which is summarized in this review. In vitro, both HAMLET and ELOA are produced by using ion‐exchange columns preconditioned with oleic acid. However, the complex of human α‐lactalbumin with oleic acid with the antitumor activity of HAMLET was found to be naturally present in the acidic fraction of human milk, where it was discovered by serendipity. Structural studies have shown that α‐lactalbumin in HAMLET and lysozyme in ELOA are partially unfolded, ‘molten‐globule’‐like, thereby rendering the complexes dynamic and in conformational exchange. HAMLET exists in the monomeric form, whereas ELOA mostly exists as oligomers and the fatty acid stoichiometry varies, with HAMLET holding an average of approximately five oleic acid molecules, whereas ELOA contains a considerably larger number (11– 48). Potent tumoricidal activity is found in both HAMLET and ELOA, and HAMLET has also shown strong potential as an antitumor drug in different in vivo animal models and clinical studies. The gain of new, beneficial function upon partial protein unfolding and fatty acid binding is a remarkable phenomenon, and may reflect a significant generic route of functional diversification of proteins via varying their conformational states and associated ligands.
Towards Engineering a Location-Aware Wireless Multi-agent System

Physical location of users in a multi-agent system is crucial in order to provide them with context-awareness services. A context -aware system can answer to the requests of its users in a more effective way, being able of consider the conditioners that affect them. In this paper we focus in how to provide a FIPA multiagent system with a generic location service for users. We discuss several alternatives to obtain location-awareness and propose a concrete solution to this issue
Temporal Patterns of Road Traffic Injuries in Iran

Background Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are the main causes of death and disability in Iran. However, very few studies about the temporal variations of RTIs have been published to date. Objectives This study was conducted to investigate the temporal pattern of RTIs in Iran in 2012. Materials and Methods All road traffic accidents (RTAs) reported to traffic police during a one-year period (March 21, 2012 through March 21, 2013) were investigated after obtaining permission from the law enforcement force of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Distributions of RTAs were obtained for season, month, week, and hour scales, and for long holidays (more than one day) and the day prior to long holidays (DPLH). The final analysis was carried out using the Poisson regression model to calculate incidence rate ratios for RTIs. All analyses were conducted using STATA 13.1 and Excel software; statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results A total of 452,192 RTAs were examined. The estimated rate of all accidents was 219 per 10,000 registered vehicles, or 595 per 100,000 people. About 28% of all RTAs, and more than one third of fatal RTAs, occurred during the summer months. The incidence rate for all traffic accidents on DPLH was 1.20, compared to workdays as a reference category, and it was 1.40 for fatal crashes. The rate of fatal road traffic accidents in outer cities was 3.2 times higher than in inner ones. Conclusions Our findings reveal that there are temporal variations in traffic accidents, and long holidays significantly influence accident rates. Traffic injuries have different patterns on outer/inner city roads, based on weekday and holiday status. Thus, these findings could be used to create effective initiatives aimed at traffic management.
Disrupted sleep patterns and daily functioning in patients with chronic pain.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of disturbed sleep in the daily functioning of persons with chronic pain. subjects and METHODS Participants comprised 287 patients seeking treatment for chronic pain at a university pain clinic. All patients completed the measures employed in the present study as part of a comprehensive initial evaluation. RESULTS Descriptive analyses showed that 88.9% of patients reported as least one problem with disturbed sleep. Correlation analyses showed that greater sleep disturbance was associated with greater pain, disability, depression and physical symptoms, and less daily uptime. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that sleep disturbance predicted disability, daily uptime and physical symptoms independent of pain or depression. CONCLUSIONS Sleep disruption is usually considered to be a consequence of the pain experience. However, the results of the present study reinforce the view that sleep disturbance may have a bidirectional relation with other features of chronic pain. Future studies should confirm that repairing disrupted sleep leads to an improvement in patients' daily activity and a reduction in their suffering.
A Channel Coding Perspective of Collaborative Filtering

We consider the problem of collaborative filtering from a channel coding perspective. We model the underlying rating matrix as a finite alphabet matrix with block constant structure. The observations are obtained from this underlying matrix through a discrete memoryless channel with a noisy part representing noisy user behavior and an erasure part representing missing data. Moreover, the clusters over which the underlying matrix is constant are unknown. We establish a threshold result for this model: if the largest cluster size is smaller than C1 log(mn) (where the rating matrix is of size m × n), then the underlying matrix cannot be recovered with any estimator, but if the smallest cluster size is larger than C2 log(mn), then we show a polynomial time estimator with asymptotically vanishing probability of error. In the case of uniform cluster size, not only the order of the threshold, but also the constant is identified.
SWANS

NAND flash memory–based solid state disks (SSDs) have been widely used in enterprise servers. However, flash memory has limited write endurance, as a block becomes unreliable after a finite number of program/erase cycles. Existing wear-leveling techniques are essentially intradisk data distribution schemes, as they can only even wear out across the flash medium within a single SSD. When multiple SSDs are organized in an array manner in server applications, an interdisk wear-leveling technique, which can ensure a uniform wear-out distribution across SSDs, is much needed. In this article, we propose a novel SSD-array level wear-leveling strategy called SWANS (Smoothing Wear Across N SSDs) for an SSD array structured in a RAID-0 format, which is frequently used in server applications. SWANS dynamically monitors and balances write distributions across SSDs in an intelligent way. Further, to evaluate its effectiveness, we build an SSD array simulator on top of a validated single SSD simulator. Next, SWANS is implemented in its array controller. Comprehensive experiments with real-world traces show that SWANS decreases the standard deviation of writes across SSDs on average by 16.7x. The gap in the total bytes written between the most written SSD and the least written SSD in an 8-SSD array shrinks at least 1.3x.
Radio Continuum Observations towards Optical and Molecular Outflows

We present multi-frequency VLA continuum observations towards 8 star forming regions with molecular and optical outo ws: L1489, HH 68{69, HH 94{95, NGC 2264D, L1681B, L778, MWC 1080 and V645 Cyg. We detect three thermal radio jets, L1489, YLW 16A in L1681B and NGC 2264D VLA 7, associated with molecular and/or HH outo ws. The L1489 and NGC 2264D VLA 7 thermal radio jets appear elongated in the direction of the larger scale outo w. We report the rst tentative detection of a non-thermal radio jet, L778 VLA 5, associated with a low mass Class I protostar and powering a molecular outo w. For HH 68{69, HH 94{95 and the molecular outo w in NGC 2264D we could not identify a candidate for the exciting source of these outo ws. The radio emission associated with V645 Cyg is quite extended, 0:1 pc, and time variable. We detect three radio sources in the MWC 1080 region that could be associated with YSOs.
Adolescent Latino Reproductive Health: A Review of the Literature

Latino adolescent reproductive health has become an increasingly important topic because of the growth in the numbers of Latino youth and because Latino youth are at high risk for negative reproductive health outcomes. Latinas now have the highest teen birth rates, and Latinos have disproportionately high rates of HIV/AIDS. These trends highlight the need for greater understanding of the sexual and reproductive health and behavior of Latino youth. This overview provides an introduction to key aspects of the Latino population. It then examines and synthesizes the existing literature by domains useful to the study of Latinos. Areas that receive in-depth coverage are socioeconomic status, family, national origin, peers and partners, and acculturation. Based on the current state of knowledge and the issues facing young Latinos, suggestions for future research and uses for existing data and past research are included.