Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance analysis and validation of the picoJava processor

In the process of designing high performance microprocessors, architects and designers build processor models at varying levels of abstraction for a range of purposes. Examples of such uses are simulating and verifying the processor, predicting processor performance, and developing operating systems and applications for the processor before silicon is available. Such models can range in complexity from simple analytical performance models in spreadsheet format to the detailed design expressed in a hardware description language (HDL). Other models that fall in between on the range of complexity include instruction-accurate simulators, trace-driven performance simulators, and cycle-accurate simulators. There is usually a trade-off between runtime performance and accuracy while using these models. Developing a large number of models for a processor is an expensive proposition. Beyond the engineering resources to build the initial models, developers must verify each of the models for correctness against the design specification; they must also maintain and update the models as the design evolves. Clearly, a strategy that limits the number of models yet meets the requirements of early software developers, verification engineers, and performance analysts is desirable. During the course of the picoJava processor design, we developed a simple and effective methodology that meets the goals of both accurate performance analysis and design validation. Although we applied this technique to the picoJava processor, the technique can be applied to other processor designs.
Distribution of fast myosin heavy chain isoforms in thick filaments of developing chicken pectoral muscle

Colloidal gold-conjugated monoclonal antibodies were prepared to stage- specific fast myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms of developing chicken pectoralis major (PM). Native thick filaments from different stages of development were reacted with these antibodies and examined in the electron microscope to determine their myosin isoform composition. Filaments prepared from 12-d embryo, 10-d chick, and 1-yr chicken muscle specifically reacted with the embryonic (EB165), neonatal (2E9), and adult (AB8) antimyosin gold-conjugated monoclonal antibodies, respectively. The myosin isoform composition was more complex in thick filaments from stages of pectoral muscle where more than one isoform was simultaneously expressed. In 19-d embryo muscle where both embryonic and neonatal isoforms were present, three classes of filaments were found. One class of filaments reacted only with the embryonic antibody, a second class reacted only with the neonatal- specific antibody, and a third class of filaments were decorated by both antibodies. Similar results were obtained with filaments prepared from 44-d chicken PM where the neonatal and adult fast MHCs were expressed. These observations demonstrate that two myosin isoforms can exist in an individual thick filament in vivo. Immunoelectron microscopy was also used to determine the specific distribution of different fast MHC isoforms within individual filaments from different stages of development. The anti-embryonic and anti-adult antibodies uniformly decorated both homogeneous and heterogeneous thick filaments. The neonatal specific antibody uniformly decorated homogeneous filaments; however, it preferentially decorated the center of heterogeneous filaments. These observations suggest that neonatal MHC may play a specific role in fibrillogenesis.
A 281 Tflops calculation for X-ray protein structure analysis with special-purpose computers MDGRAPE-3

We have achieved a sustained calculation speed of 281 Tflops for the optimization of the 3-D structures of proteins from the X-ray experimental data by the Genetic Algorithm - Direct Space (GA-DS) method. In this calculation we used MDGRAPE-3, special-purpose computer for molecular simulations, with the peak performance of 752 Tflops. In the GA-DS method, a set of selected parameters which define the crystal structures of proteins is optimized by the Genetic Algorithm. As a criterion to estimate the model parameters, we used the reliability factor R1 which indicates the statistical difference between the calculated and the measured diffraction data. To evaluate this factor it is necessary to reconstruct the diffraction patterns of the model structures every time the model is updated. Therefore, in this method the nonequispaced Discrete Fourier Transformation (DFT) used to calculate the diffraction patterns dominates most of the computation time. To accelerate DFT calculations, we used the special-purpose computer, MDGRAPE-3. A molecule, Carbamoyl-Phosphate Synthetase was investigated. The final reliability factors were much smaller than the typical values obtained in other methods such as the Molecular Replacement (MR) method. Our results successfully demonstrate that high-performance computing with GA-DS method on special-purpose computers is effective for the structure determination of biological molecules and the method has a potential to be widely used in near future.
UofL at TAC 2008 Update Summarization and Question Answering

In this paper, we describe our update summarization and question answering (QA) systems participated in the TAC 2008 competition. We submitted three runs for the update summarization task using unsupervised and supervised techniques. On the other hand, the question answering system is built on our previous system participated in TREC 2007 QA track with different approach followed for the squishy list type questions. We submitted a single run for the QA task. This paper also presents the preliminary evaluation results of our systems.
The effect of monocular defocus on binocular contrast sensitivity

The monocular contrast sensitivity loss with defocus is well known. We measured binocular contrast sensitivity of sinewave gratings of 6 c/deg in the presence of different levels of monocular defocus. In the absence of defocus, the binocular sensitivity was about 42% higher than monocular. With increasing monocular defocus, the binocular sensitivity decreased steadily until it reached a level below the monocular, showing binocular inhibition. The clinical implications of binocular inhibition with monocular defocus are discussed.
High Prevalence of Shared International Type 53 among Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Strains in Retreated Patients from Côte d’Ivoire

Background Genotyping methods are useful tools to provide information on tuberculosis epidemic. They can allow a better response from health authorities and the implementation of measures for tuberculosis control. This study aimed to identify the main lineages and clades of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains circulating in Côte d’Ivoire. Methods/Main Findings Strains isolated from sputum samples of patients ongoing retreatment from all the country were characterized by spoligotyping and by MIRU-VNTR. Profiles obtained by spoligotyping were first compared to the SITVIT/SpolDB4 database for family assignment. Of 194 strains analysed, 146 (75.3%) belonged to the T lineage. The most predominant spoligotype was the shared international type 53 with 135 strains (69.6%). In contrast with neighbouring countries, LAM (11 strains, 5.7%) and H (9 strains 4.6%) lineages were slightly represented. Only 3 Beijing strains (1.5%) and 4 strains of Mycobacterium africanum (2%) were found. Analysis of the results obtained with MIRU-VNTR revealed also a high level of clustering. Conclusion/Significance The population of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains among retreatment cases in Côte d’Ivoire exhibits a low diversity, allowing to assume recent transmission and locally based infection.
X-rays image analysis for defects detection and characterization in metallic samples

A way to assess metallic samples quality is to locate possible defects and to characterize them by parameters like depth, surface and volume. X-rays are well adapted to achieve this quantitative analysis for apparent as well as for internal defects. The important absorption and the granularity of some metals lead to very noisy radiographies. The authors propose a robust three-step inspection method: defects detection and localization, precise defects shape determination and defects parameters measurement. The approach, based on the combination of two specific radiographies, and on a relevant regularization, reduces noise effects and leads to a robust method. The regularization is based on the introduction of relevant geometric information by adapted Markovian modelizations. The method has been tested on a wide range of samples and compared to a destructive inspection. The paper is illustrated by the results obtained, at the different inspection steps, for a particular sample. <<ETX>>
Motor blocks in Parkinson's disease

Freezing episodes and related phenomena (as a general term, motor blocks [MBs]) are poorly understood, particularly disabling, and a therapeutically frustrating problem in Parkinson's disease (PD). Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of MBs, as well as risk factors to develop MBs, have never been fully addressed. Herein, we report our database survey on 990 PD patients, of whom 318 (32%) had MBs. The majority of MBs were linked to gait. Start hesitation occurred in 86%, blocking on turning in 45%, and blocking in narrow spaces in 25% of patients. Initial parkinsonian symptoms in the upper body and tremor as the initial motor symptom were less likely to be associated with the presence of MBs (odds ratios |OR| 0.6 and 0.7, respectively), while initial symptoms affecting gait or trunk had higher association with MBs (OR = 1.58). Longer disease duration, higher Hoehn and Yahr stage, and longer duration of levodopa treatment are all significantly associated with the presence of MBs. We observed significant association between the existence of MBs and levodopa-induced dyskinesias to suggest similar pathophysiology. We propose that MBs in PD are abnormal retrieval or execution of complex motor tasks that can occur as a result of disease progression or as short- or long-term side effects of levodopa treatment.
Towards Querying of Traceability Information in the Context of Software Evolution

Traceability of various artifacts created during the development of software systems plays an important role in software evolution. Subsequent changes to artifacts must be traced to other artifacts potentially affected by the change, thus ensuring the system’s consistency or enabling to estimate the impact of changes. Using a querying approach, this paper shows how to extract traceability information on the basis of an integrated metamodel. The metamodel allows for the representation of artifacts such as requirements, design models, or code. It may also be customized in order to accommodate for specific needs.
IVR Junction: Building Scalable and Distributed Voice Forums in the Developing World

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems play an important role in collecting and disseminating information in developing regions. Recently, researchers have used IVR technology to build voice forums, in which callers leave messages that can be heard over the Internet and over the phone. However, despite their appeal, voice forums remain difficult to set up, and difficult to scale due to the overhead of moderating content and the cost of phone calls. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities in creating scalable voice forums. We also present a new open-source system, IVR Junction, that leverages existing free services and commercial tools to simplify the process of creating a voice forum. IVR Junction utilizes familiar cloud-based services to provide free content hosting and moderation, as well as a novel mechanism for automatically synchronizing content across geographically-dispersed offices, thereby enabling local access points with decreased calling costs.
Exposure‐related effects on Cd bioaccumulation explain toxicity of Cd‐phenanthrene mixtures in Hyalella azteca

Little is known regarding mixture effects of metals and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) under environmentally relevant exposure regimes. Standard U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) procedures were applied and extended to test effects of phenanthrene (Phen) on sediment‐Cd uptake, aqueous‐Cd uptake, and Cd‐elimination kinetics in the amphipod Hyalella azteca. In sediment exposures, Phen increased the projected equilibrium‐tissue concentration of Cd from 47.2 (36.2–58.3) to 221.1 μg/g ([117.8–324.3], 95% confidence intervals [CI] in parentheses). Although Cd bioaccumulation increased markedly in sediment exposures, dissolved Cd concentrations and physical‐chemical parameters indicative of Cd bioavailability were unaffected by Phen. Further, in water‐only exposures, Phen had no effect on Cd bioaccumulation or Cd‐elimination kinetics. These results indicate that increased Cd bioaccumulation in Cd‐Phen mixtures occurred via a sediment‐mediated process and was likely a function of increased uptake associated with feeding (i.e., Pheninduced alterations in ingestion and/or digestive processes). Observed increases in H. azteca lethality when exposed to Cd‐Phen mixtures in sediment, but not in water‐only exposures, likely resulted from increased Cd bioaccumulation rate rather than a true toxicological synergism. Thus, apparent synergisms and antagonisms may result from exposure‐mediated effects in sediment that are unrelated to toxicological interactions. Implications of these findings regarding sediment‐quality assessment and suggestions for future studies are discussed.
A stochastic learning automata-based solution for intrusion detection in vehicular ad hoc networks

A number of security concerns are associated with vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) – some primarily related with the transmission issues between the vehicles and the base stations, while others related with the privacy of the end-users. Security in VANET is of significant importance, considering the scale of the possible deployment of VANET and their role as a traffic manager. In this paper, we propose an intrusion detection system (IDS) for a typical VANET scenario. Our solution approach is underlain on the concepts of learning automata (LA). To the best of our knowledge, no attempts have been made so far to develop any LA-based solution for VANETs. We have designed this system considering the privacy issues involved with the identification of each vehicle. We have evaluated the performance of our proposed solution by conducting a variety of experiments and have found our solution approach to be effective in detecting malicious packets in the system. Specifically, the proposed solution is capable of detecting up to around 90–95% of the malicious packets in the system. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
La inserción laboral de ex reclusos : una aproximación cualitativa

Uno de los debates recurrentes en criminologia pivota en la efectividad de las diversas medidas adoptadas desde el sistema penitenciario para la reinsercion de la poblacion reclusa. En este articulo abordamos especifi camente el analisis de hasta que punto la formacion ocupacional y los programas de trabajo en los centros penitenciarios contribuyen a la reinsercion social y laboral de los internos y ex internos. El punto de partida es una investigacion llevada a cabo en Cataluna mediante entrevistas semiestructuradas a expertos y a reclusos y ex reclusos. Los principales resultados que se resaltan son: a) la formacion ocupacional y el trabajo en los talleres contribuyen moderadamente a la reinsercion de los reclusos, segun su motivacion personal y recursos sociales; b) no obstante, su funcion mas determinante recae en sus aspectos terapeuticos y educativos en la propia prision, que ayuda a mantener el orden e, indirectamente, a la resocializacion de los reclusos.
Authors’ reply

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THE ENHANCEMENT OF LOW-LEVEL CLASSIFICATIONS IN SEQUENTIAL SYNTACTIC HIGH-LEVEL CLASSIFIERS

This paper surveys a new research field of object behavior classification using sequential syntactic pattern recognition, which recognizes high-level object behaviors while in parallel recovering from low-level object recognition classification errors. A new approach of syntactical object behavior classification with a robust implementation is introduced. It is an innovative approach that requires no training, only a priori statistics of the low-level classifier. This new approach also utilizes weighted costs on the error production rules with a novel method of automating these costs. Other high-level object behavior classifier models, such as variants of hidden Markov models, which attempt to detect high-level object behaviors while recovering from low-level object classification errors are also reviewed. Approaches are explained using one application in mind: hand gesture behavior recognition of temporal sequences composed of hand posture labels; these hand posture labels are outputted from a low-level hand posture recognition classifier with high hand posture misclassification rates. Finally, results are shown from applying the introduced novel approach to hand gesture behavior recognition.
Current recycling in linear regulators for biomedical implants

A novel current recycling dual linear regulating power supply is proposed in this paper. In systems, such as biomedical implants, requiring a high actuation supply voltage and a number of lower supply voltages generated by linear regulators, our technique allows the linear regulators to be stacked, effectively reducing the overall current consumption to that of a single regulator. We design a dual linear power supply in a 0. 35µm high-voltage CMOS process and simulated results demonstrate a power saving in load of up to 49.4% compared with a conventional implementation.
Compositional verification of integrity for digital stream signature protocols

We investigate the application of concurrency theory notions as simulation relations and compositional proof rules for verifying digital stream signature protocols. In particular, we formally prove the integrity of the Gennaro-Rohatgi protocols in (R. Gennaro et al., 2001). As a peculiarity, our technique is able to check a protocol with an unbounded number of parallel processes. We argue also that our approach may be applied to a wider class of stream signature protocols.
Gait speed as a predictor of outcomes in post‐acute transitional care for older people

Gait speed has been advocated as a marker of vulnerability, but its discriminatory utility and predictive ability in frail older people in a post‐acute community‐based rehabilitation program has not been extensively investigated. The aims of this research were to examine whether there was a meaningful improvement in gait speed in post‐acute care patients, and to determine whether gait speed predicted outcomes at 6‐month follow up.
ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PRACTICE

OF DISSERTATION ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PRACTICE Rehabilitation hospitals serve to foster a client’s independence in preparation to return home after an injury or insult. Having space in rehabilitation environments that is home-like and supportive for each client can facilitate participation in occupations and assist in learning and practicing the skills needed to transition to home. Yet, typically occupational therapists provide interventions to clients in therapy gyms with exercise and impairment based equipment. Currently the stroke population is changing and identifying the optimal rehabilitation environment is imperative to guide occupational therapy practice. This dissertation contains three studies relating to the rehabilitation environment and occupational therapy interventions. The first study focused on the perceptions of occupational therapists regarding their optimal rehabilitation environment, identifying that they would prefer to offer their clients a variety of rehabilitation environments and that there is a relationship between the environment and the type of intervention provided. A second study examined the effects of occupation-based interventions provided in a home-like environment to an individual recovering from chronic stroke with the results indicating enhanced occupational performance, resumed competence in desired roles, improvement in affected upper extremity function, and notable neuroplastic change. The final study investigated how the rehabilitation environment influenced the interventions used by the occupational therapists. The findings supported the relationship between the therapy environment and a specific intervention; working in the therapy gym with preparatory methods and being in a home-like space using occupation-based interventions. The environment influenced occupational therapy interventions and it is recommended that the occupational therapist match the client’s goals to the ideal environment for optimal intervention.