Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Routability-driven analytical placement for mixed-size circuit designs

Due to the significant mismatch between existing wirelength models and the congestion objective in placement, considering routability during placement is particularly significant for modern circuit designs. In this paper, a novel routability-driven analytical placement algorithm for large-scale mixed-size circuit designs is proposed. Unlike most existing works which usually optimize routability by reallocating whitespace or net-based congestion removal, the proposed algorithm optimizes routability from three major aspects: (1) Pin density: Most existing works optimize routability based on net distribution, while our work considers both the density of pins and their routing directions; (2) Routing overflow optimization: Unlike most previous works that use whitespace allocation or net-based congestion removal to improve routability, our work optimizes routing overflow by a novel sigmoid function during global placement; (3) Macro porosity consideration: A virtual macro expansion technique is applied to consider the constrained routing resource incurred by big macros. Routability-driven legalization and detailed placement are also proposed to further optimize routing congestion. Experimental results show the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed algorithm. Compared with the participating teams for the 2011 ACM ISPD Routability-Driven Placement Contest, our algorithm achieves the best average overflow and routed wirelength.
Novel surgical techniques, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and innovative immunosuppression in kidney transplantation

On the 60th anniversary of the first successfully performed renal transplantation, we summarize the historical, current and potential future status of kidney transplantation. We discuss three different aspects with a potential significant influence on kidney transplantation progress: the development of surgical techniques, the influence of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, and changes in immunosuppression. We evaluate the standard open surgical procedures with modern techniques and compare them to less invasive videoscopic as well as robotic techniques. The role of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine as a potential method for future kidney regeneration or replacement and the interesting search for novel solutions in the field of immunosuppression will be discussed. After 60 years since the first successfully performed kidney transplantation, we can conclude that the greatest achievements are associated with the development of surgical techniques and with planned systemic immunosuppression.
Learning Trajectory Based Instruction

In this article, we propose a theoretical connection between research on learning and research on teaching through recent research on students’ learning trajectories (LTs). We define learning trajectory based instruction (LTBI) as teaching that uses students’ LTs as the basis for instructional decisions. We use mathematics as the context for our argument, first examining current research on LTs and then examining emerging research on how mathematics teachers use LTs to support their teaching. We consider how LTs provide specificity to four highly used frameworks for examining mathematics teaching, namely mathematical knowledge for teaching, task analysis, discourse facilitation practices, and formative assessment. We contend that by unifying various teaching frameworks around the science of LTs, LTBI begins to define a theory of teaching organized around and grounded in research on student learning. Thus, moving from the accumulation of various frameworks into a reorganization of the frameworks, LTBI provides an integrated explanatory framework for teaching.
An Ensemble of Convolutional Neural Networks for Image Classification Based on LSTM

Convolutional neural networks (CNN) have made significant breakthroughs in image feature extraction. A variety of CNN architectures have been proposed and then continued to be im-proved. However, the representation of image features by a single CNN structure is not comprehensive enough. For example, shal-low CNN extraction is more general and less sensitive, vice versa. In this paper, we propose an ensemble method using LSTM to obtain image features that represent the image more comprehen-sive. We use the output of a single CNN model as an input for LSTM for a moment to ensemble. We evaluated our approach using VGG and other models on the Cifar10 and Cifar100 da-tasets. The accuracy of classification using ensemble features is significantly higher than that of a single model.
Influence of the real UWB antennas on the AoA estimation based on the TDoA localization technique

Main contribution of this paper is to present the influence of the real ultra-wideband directional antennas on the Angle of Arrival estimation. Furthermore, is to mitigate this undesired impact of the ultra-wideband antennas to improve the overall system performance and enhance the Angle of Arrival estimation accuracy. In the first step we analyze the estimation error due to the antenna induced delay if Vivaldi antennas are used as receiving antennas within two different scenarios. In the second step we present the corrected AoA estimation after mitigation of the error resulting from the antenna induced delay. The Angle of Arrival estimations with error mitigation and without error mitigation are compared. Real measurements are used in the experiments.
Management Options for Advanced Low or Intermediate Grade Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: Review of Recent Literature

Our understanding of the biology, genetics, and natural history of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas has improved considerably in the last several decades and the spectrum of available therapeutic options is rapidly expanding. The management of patients with metastatic low or intermediate grade NETs has been revolutionized by the development of new treatment strategies such as molecular targeting therapies with everolimus and sunitinib, somatostatin analogs, tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitors, and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy that can be used alone or as a multimodal approach with or without surgery. To further define and clarify the utility, appropriateness, and the sequence of the growing list of available therapies for this patient population will require more high level evidence; however, data from well-designed randomized phase III clinical trials is rapidly accumulating that will further stimulate development of new management strategies. It is therefore important to thoroughly review emerging evidence and report major findings in frequent updates, which will expand our knowledge and contribute to a better understanding, characterization, and management of advanced NETs.
First Person Political: Legislative Life and the Meaning of Public Service

First Person Political: Legislative Life and the Meaning of Public Service. By Grant Reeher. New York: New York University Press, 2006. 216p. $65.00 cloth, $21.00 paper. At a time when public disillusionment with elected leaders and political institutions is increasing rapidly, it is refreshing to read a book that highlights the selfless nature of public service.
Effects of chocolate supplementation on metabolic and cardiovascular parameters in ApoE3L mice fed a high-cholesterol atherogenic diet.

SCOPE Dietary intake of cocoa and/or chocolate has been suggested to exhibit protective cardiovascular effects although this is still controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of chocolate supplementation on metabolic and cardiovascular parameters. METHODS AND RESULTS Four groups of ApoE*3Leiden mice were exposed to the following diet regimens. Group 1: cholesterol-free control diet (CO). Group 2: high-dose (1.0% w/w) control cholesterol (CC). Group 3: CC supplemented chocolate A (CCA) and Group 4: CC supplemented chocolate B (CCB). Both chocolates differed in polyphenol and fiber content, CCA had a relatively high-polyphenol and low-fiber content compared to CCB. Mice fed a high-cholesterol diet showed increased plasma-cholesterol and developed atherosclerosis. Both chocolate treatments, particularly CCA, further increased plasma-cholesterol and increased atherosclerotic plaque formation. Moreover, compared to mice fed a high-cholesterol diet, both chocolate-treated groups displayed increased liver injury. Mice on high-cholesterol diet had elevated plasma levels of sVCAM-1, sE-selectin and SAA, which was further increased in the CCB group. Similar effects were observed for renal inflammation markers. CONCLUSION The two chocolate preparations showed unfavorable, but different effects on cardiometabolic health in E3L mice, which dissimilarities may be related to differences in chocolate composition. We conclude that discrepancies reported on the effects of chocolate on cardiometabolic health may at least partly be due to differences in chocolate composition.
Involving Latino Parents With Mathematics Through Family Math Nights: A Review of the Literature

Grounded in J. L. Epstein's (2001) types of involvement, this literature review investigates family–school partnerships that (a) empower Latino families in the area of mathematics education, (b) promote student achievement in mathematics, (c) impact parent–child involvement in mathematics at home, and (d) support Family Math Nights. Family Math Nights are school-sponsored events in which parents, teachers, and students interact around a mathematics curriculum. Effective partnerships between schools and Latino families consider language, individual differences, and parental concerns and view parents as partners in the education process. Implications of the review extend to math educators and school administrators.
(Re-)Engaging Gramsci: a response to Germain and Kenny

In a recent issue of the Review, Randall Germain and Michael Kenny issued a serious challenge to neo-Gramscian scholarship in international studies,Randall D. Germain and Michael Kenny, 'Engaging Gramsci: International Relations Theory and the New Gramscians', Review of International Studies, 24:1 (1998), pp. 3-21. claiming that 'the Italian school's appropriation of Gramsci is far more conceptually problematic than they [neo-Gramscians] acknowledge, and that their use of his framework is difficult to sustain with respect to the scholarship devoted to his ideas'. Ibid., p. 3. In their critical probing of the neo-Gramscian IR literature, Germain and Kenny focus most closely upon two issues: Gramsci's ambiguous and contested legacy and the difficulty of establishing any 'definitive interpretation' of his work; and the appropriateness of attempting to understand transnational social relations in terms of a broadly Gramscian concept of 'civil society'. I will discuss each in turn.
Show me your friends and I will tell you what type of person you are: How one's profile, number of friends, and type of friends influence impression formation on social network sites

This experiment examines how far extraversion of the target (self-generated information), extraversion of the target's friends (friends-generated information), and number of friends (system-generated information) influence the perceived popularity, communal orientation, and social attractiveness of the target. The warranting principle states that judgments rely more heavily on other-generated than self-generated information because the former is more immune to manipulation. It is argued that the warranting principle becomes more important when more interpersonal traits have to be judged. In line with the expectations, other-generated information had only weak impact on the popularity judgments. With regard to communal orientation, other-generated information had stronger effects and qualified the effects of self-generated information. Only other-generated information had an impact on perceived social attraction.
Is Paranoia a Defence against or an Expression of Low Self–Esteem?

Paranoia has been hypothesized to be negatively correlated with self–esteem. However, hypotheses differ about how low self–esteem might produce paranoia. The paranoia as defense model views paranoia as a defensive reaction against low self–esteem. In contrast, the paranoia as expression model views paranoia in part as a reflection of low self–esteem. In the current study, paranoia was negatively associated with global explicit self–esteem, self–competence, self–liking and self–serving attributional style, but unassociated with implicit self–esteem as measured with the Implicit Association Test. In contrast, facets of narcissism, which also have been hypothesized to be associated with defensive self–processing, were associated with defensiveness. Overall, these results suggest that paranoia is better represented by the expression model. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of a Multi‐institutional Cohort to Facilitate Cardiovascular Disease Biomarker Validation Using Existing Biorepository Samples Linked to Electronic Health Records

Emerging biomarkers for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) may enhance conventional risk‐prediction algorithms if they are informative and associated with risk independently of established predictors. In this study, we constructed a cohort for testing emerging biomarkers for AMI in managed‐care populations using existing biospecimen repositories linked to electronic health records (EHR).
Dissecting and Understanding Supply Chains Through Simulation: An Agent-Based Approach

The increasing interest about sustainability in supply chains highlights the influence of economic, social and environmental factors. The interaction of these factors generates an emerging complexity that is far beyond the 'sum of the parts'. This is why new tools are required to deeper understand and manage this complexity. In this ongoing work, we focus on supply chain; in particular, as our ultimate goal, we focus on food mass purchasing consortium (MPC) market because of the availability of literature and data on this specific topic. The main need of chain actors is to maintain competitive advantage. In this scenario, the typical questions arising in this environment are the following. What are the market opportunities for each actor position? Could we improve the chain performance by a more clever exploitation of the available information? How much information should be shared among actors? We propose an agent based modeling (ABM) approach to study and identify the supply chain weaknesses by modeling its structural evolution over time. Our approach can provide answers to the previous questions. We believe this approach is promising since it could represent a valuable tool in (i) understanding supply chain processes and (ii) in testing social, economical and political strategies in order to achieve better sustainability models.
Three-dimensional-construct bioreactor conditioning in human tendon tissue engineering.

Human tendon tissue engineering attempts to address the shortage of autologous tendon material arising from mutilating injuries and diseases of the hand and forearm. It is important to maximize the tissue-engineered construct's (TEC's) biomechanical properties to ensure that the construct is in its strongest possible state before reimplantation. In this study, we sought to determine the bioreactor treatment parameters that affect these properties. Using small- and large-chamber three-dimensional-construct bioreactors (SCB and LCB, respectively), we applied cyclic axial load to TECs comprising reseeded human flexor and extensor tendons of the hand. First, small-sample pilot studies using the LCB were performed on matched-paired full-length flexor tendons to establish proof of concept. Next, large-sample studies using the SCB were performed on matched-paired extensor tendon segments to determine how reseeding, load duty cycle, load magnitude, conditioning duration, and testing delay affected ultimate tensile stress (UTS) and elastic modulus (EM). We found that compared with reseeded matched-paired controls under dynamic-loading at 1.25 N per TEC for 5 days, (1) acellular TECs had lower UTS (p=0.04) and EM (p<0.01), (2) unloaded TECs had lower UTS (p=0.01) and EM (p=0.02), (3) static-loaded TECs had lower UTS (p=0.01) and EM (p<0.01), (4) TECs conditioned for 3 days had lower UTS (p=0.03) and EM (p=0.04), and (5) TECs conditioned for 8 days had higher UTS (p=0.04) and EM (p=0.01). However, TECs conditioned at higher loads (2.5 N per TEC) and lower loads (0.625 N per TEC) possessed similar UTS (p=0.83 and p=0.89, respectively) and EM (p=0.48 and p=0.89, respectively) as controls stimulated with 1.25 N per TEC. After cycle completion, there is attrition of UTS (p=0.03) and EM (p=0.04) over a 2-day period. Our study showed that the material properties of human allograft TECs can be enhanced by reseeding and dynamic-conditioning. While conditioning duration has a significant effect on material properties, the load magnitude does not. The issue of attrition in biomechanical properties with time following cycle completion must be addressed before bioreactor preconditioning can be successfully introduced as a step in the processing of these constructs for clinical application.
The research-treatment distinction: a problematic approach for determining which activities should have ethical oversight.

The rise of quality improvement research and comparative effectiveness research in health care settings constitutes progress toward the goal of what the Institute of Medicine has called a “learning healthcare system,” in which we are “drawing research closer to clinical practice by building knowledge development and application into each stage of the healthcare delivery process. ” As clinical research and clinical practice move closer to a deliberately integrated system, the distinction between the two is increasingly blurred, although the sharp distinction in U.S. regulations and research ethics literature remains in place. In the 1970s and for two decades thereafter, this distinction was helpful: for some forms of research, it sheds light on which activities require ethical oversight. Research that is closely integrated with health care—notably, health delivery research—was then uncommon, however. That is no longer the case, and regulations and research ethics need to change to accommodate the new landscape. In this paper, we argue that conceptual, moral, and empirical problems surround the received view that we can and should draw sharp distinctions between clinical research and clinical practice. We start with the history of the research-practice distinction in the reports of a U.S. national commission and in U.S. federal regulations, and then offer a critical assessment of five characterizations of research that have been used in policy documents and the scholarly literature to try to make a sharp distinction between research and practice. We challenge the clarity and the tenability of these characterizations as a way of distinguishing research from practice. We argue that the received view of the research-practice distinction leads to overprotection of the rights and interests of patients in some cases and to underprotection in others. We contend that a new ethical foundation needs to be developed that facilitates both care and research likely to benefit patients, and that provides oversight that, rather than being based on a distinction between research and practice, is commensurate with risk and burden in both realms.
Politics, Property and Production in the West African Sahel: Understanding Natural Resources Management (review)

B O O K R E V EW S 92 raw commodities are directly altering land availability and gender and intergenerational relations in rural Ghana. One example is expatriate fi rms’ renewed emphasis on gold mining and timber logging. This causes what the author calls the criminalization of rural youths’ logging and mining activities. Youths are forced to take these jobs as a means for survival, while farmland shrinks rapidly and the costs of farming rise steeply, in a situation where state subsidies are withdrawn and farm produce prices fall. With respect to gender, the author’s intimate knowledge and attention to details allow him to present a highly sophisticated and nuanced analysis of traditional matrilineal systems and how they actually work and adapt to changes caused at the national level in response to globalization. He effectively links micro, national, and even global trends and their effects on the lives of rural people. Aware of the need to be objective, he shows that rural people are not mere passive recipients of these changes, but strive hard to respond creatively. Their responses include entering new trades, such as basketweaving and woodcarving, and forming new self-help groups, such as informal sector units of modern trade unions, including the Timber Workers Union of the Ghana Trades Union Congress. In an era of globalization, when attention to details of life, especially in rural and other small communities are deemed insignifi cant, Amanor has demonstrated the relevance of research that seeks to link the three levels of policymaking: global, national, and local. In Ghana, as in the rest of the world, most people struggle to survive by responding to global changes when national governments have failed to respond adequately and properly. This book establishes the connection between globalization, the SAP, and the lives of agrarian rural populations in Ghana, and therefore furnishes a strong basis for national policy responses that can work to mitigate the adverse effects of these changes. Kwamina Panford Northeastern University
Control system and fault detection algorithm for a restored teeth fatigue assay machine

In this work, the control system and fault detection algorithm applied on a real fatigue assay machine is addressed. The objective of the machine is to apply periodical forces to restored teeth and to detect the teeth collapse calculating the number of cycles until the fault occurs. There is a Scottish yoke mechanism that converts the torque of a brushless motor on linear forces. This motor is driven by a power drive that receives the torque reference from a computer operating on real-time, and where the fault detection algorithm is applied. There is also a user computer where the parameters of the assay are introduced and where the results are shown. In this work the control system that has been implemented is shown in detail and the developed fault algorithm with adaptive threshold for the system with several sampling times is addressed.
Migratory Grief and Depression Among Elderly Chinese American Immigrants

Abstract This article examines factors that affect psychological distress (depression) among elderly Chinese immigrants. The factors included in the study were their grief experience associated with immigration along with acculturation, length of residence in the U.S. and other demographic factors, such as age, gender, marital status, living arrangement, contact with relatives, relatives in home country, home country visits, and home country identity. A total of 150 Chinese immigrants from a major city in the U.S. aged between 55 and 86 participated in the study. The results of the regression analysis indicated that those respondents who had a higher degree of migratory grief experience and a lower English proficiency score, who visited their home country, and were younger, were more likely to feel depressed. Among these four variables, migratory grief alone contributed to 41.5% of the variance while the remaining three variables contributed to 12.4% of the variation. Implications for social work practice were discussed.