Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inspection of integrated circuit databases through reticle and wafer simulation: an integrated approach to design for manufacturing (DFM)

The present approach to Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) verification has evolved from a number of separate inspection strategies. OPC decoration is verified by a design rule or optical rule checker, the reticle is verified by a reticle inspection system, and the final wafers are verified by wafer inspection and metrology tools. Each verification step looks at a different representation of the desired device pattern with little or no data flowing between them. In this paper, we will report on a new inspection system called DesignScan that connects the data between the various abstraction layers. DesignScan inspects the OPC decorated design by simulating how the design will be transferred to the reticle layer and how that reticle will be imaged into resist across the full focus-exposure process window. The simulated images are compared to the desired pattern and defect detection algorithms are applied to determine if any unacceptable variations in the pattern occurs within the nominal process window. The end result is a new paradigm in design verification, moving beyond OPC verification at the design plane to process window verification at the wafer plane where it really matters. We will demonstrate the application of DesignScan to inspect full chip designs that utilized different Resolution Enhancement Technique (RET) and OPC methods. In doing so, we’ll demonstrate that DesignScan can identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of each methodology by highlighting areas of weak process window for each approach. We will present experimental wafer level results to verify the accuracy of the defect predictions.
High-temperature charge transport and thermoelectric properties of a degenerately Al-doped ZnO nanocomposite

2 mol% Al-doped ZnO nanoparticles were consolidated into a ZnO nanocomposite with ZnAl2O4 nanoprecipitates by spark plasma sintering and its high-temperature charge transport and thermoelectric properties were investigated up to 1073 K. The carrier concentration in the nanocomposite was not dependent on the temperature, while the Hall mobility showed positive temperature-dependence due to grain boundary scattering. The negative Seebeck coefficient of the nanocomposite was linearly proportional to the temperature, and the density of the state effective mass (md*) was evaluated to be 0.33me by using the Pisarenko relation. Drastic reduction of thermal conductivity (k < 2 W m−1 K−1) was achieved in the nanocomposite, and the maximum ZT of 0.34 was obtained at 1073 K.
A Study on the Impact of Weather on Sales and Optimal Budget Allocation of Weather Marketing

Weather is an influential factor to sales of companies. There have been growing attempts with which companies apply weather to developing their strategic marketing plans. By executing weather marketing activities, companies minimize risks (or negative impacts) of weather to their business and increase sales revenues. In spite of managerial importance of weather management, there are scarce empirical studies that comprehensively investigate its impact and present an efficient method that optimally allocates marketing budget. Our research was conducted in two parts. In the first part, we investigated influences of weather on sales based on real-world daily sales data. We specifically focused on the contextual factors that were less focused in the weather related research. In the second part, we propose an optimization model that can be utilized to efficiently allocate weather marketing budget across various regions (or branches) and show how it can be applied to real industry cases. The results of our study are as follow. Study 1 investigated the impact of weather on sales using store sales data of a family restaurant company and an outdoor fashion company. Results represented that the impacts of weather are context-dependent. The impact of weather on store sales varies across their regional and location characteristics when it rains. Based on the results derived from Study 1, Study 2 proposes a method on how optimally companies allocate their weather marketing budgets across each region.
A debating ontology for argumentative dialogue systems

This thesis designs and implements an ontology which encodes the argumentative structure of natural language debates. This Debating Ontology will constitute the database for a prospective Argumentative Dialogue System, whose artificial agent conducts spoken language debates against human opponents on a specific subject, drawing from the argument structure encoded in the ontology. We use methods of argumentation mining to break down a written sample debate into its argument components and relations employing annotation techniques. To this end, we devise an argument annotation scheme as well as detailed annotation guidelines. In addition, we extract a set of keywords from the debate’s argument components which will be utilized for the Natural Language Understanding of arguments via similarity matching. We also provide guidelines for said keyword extraction. We design and implement the Debating Ontology, test it and evaluate the quality of the argument annotation and extracted keywords. Both evaluations yield promising results.
Immunological recovery failure in cART‐treated HIV‐positive patients is associated with reduced thymic output and RTE CD4+ T cell death by pyroptosis

Despite more than three decades of studies and advances in combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the mechanisms that precisely determine immune reconstitution failure have not been completely elucidated yet. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the thymic function, immune activation, and cell death by pyroptosis and apoptosis in virologically suppressed HIV‐positive patients receiving cART. Immunophenotyping analyses were performed in 57 cART‐treated HIV‐infected patients with undetectable plasma viral load, who were classified as immunological nonresponders (INR = 29) and immunologic responders (IR = 28). Sociodemographic and clinical data were also assessed from medical records. Twelve healthy volunteers were also included in this study. The INR showed lower pretreatment CD4+ T cell count that remained low even after 1 yr of treatment, lower CD4/CD8 ratio, lower percentage of recent thymic emigrant (RTE) CD4+ T cell (CD45RA+CD31+) and naïve CD4+ T cell (CD45RA+CD62L+), higher levels of effector memory CD4+ T cells (CD45RA‐CD62L‐), and higher pyroptosis levels of RTE CD4+ T cells (CD31+FLICA‐Caspase1+) when compared with IR. Our findings indicate that reduced thymic function and RTE CD4+ T cell death by pyroptosis are the major mechanisms of immunological recovery failure in HIV‐infected patients receiving cART.
Levonadifloxacin (WCK 771) exerts potent intracellular activity against Staphylococcus aureus in THP-1 monocytes at clinically relevant concentrations.

Objective . Levonadifloxacin is a broad-spectrum anti-staphylococcal drug that is under development. We investigated the in vitro activity of levonadifloxacin against methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains phagocytized in THP-1 monocytes to evaluate its scope for treatment of intracellular staphylococcal infections.Methods. The microdilution minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of levonadifloxacin, moxifloxacin, levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin against MSSA ATCC 25923 and MRSA ATCC 43300 strains at pH 7.4±0.1 (original medium pH) and 5.5±0.1 (phagosome pH environment) were determined by following Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. The activity of antibiotics was investigated by extracellular and intracellular time-kill studies at 1-16× MIC concentrations. A suspension of ~5× log10 c.f. u. ml-1 test organism in supplemented RPMI 1640 medium was employed to determine the extracellular activity, while test organism phagocytized at a 4 : 1 ratio of bacteria to THP-1 monocytes was employed to investigate the intracellular activity. At intervals of 0, 2, 6 and 24 h, colony-forming unit (c.f.u.) counts were performed in triplicate on inoculated brain heart infusion (BHI) agar plates for both methods.Results. At pH 7.4, the MIC of levonadifloxacin against both tested S. aureus strains was 2, 8 and 16 times lower than those of moxifloxacin, levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin, respectively. At pH 5.5, the MIC of levonadifloxacin was reduced by ≥8× against both tested S. aureus strains compared to its MIC at pH 7.4. In contrast, comparator quinolones showed a fourfold elevation in MIC at pH 5.5. In the study assessing the extracellular bactericidal effect, levonadifloxacin at 1× MIC manifested ≥4.5 log10 c.f. u. ml-1 killing for both S. aureus strains. Moxifloxacin and levofloxacin also showed bactericidal activity, while ciprofloxacin showed no killing. In intracellular conditions, levonadifloxacin manifested 1.0 log10 and 2.0 log10 killing for intracellular S. aureus ATCC 25923 and ATCC 43300, respectively. These killing effects were better overall than those of comparator quinolones.Conclusions. Within a clinically achievable concentration range, levonadifloxacin achieved a 90-99 % intracellular reduction of MSSA and MRSA strains phagocytized in THP-1 monocytes. Therefore, levonadifloxacin has the potential to be a therapeutic option for the management of intracellular methicillin- and quinolone-resistant staphylococcal infections.
The Power of Economic Interests and the Congressional Economic Policy Agenda∗

There is an oft-noted “bias” toward upper income groups in the U.S. organized interest system, but based on existing research it is debatable whether this bias matters very much for policy outcomes. How bias may shape which economic problems are addressed or neglected in the first place has seldom been studied, however. We argue that in order to receive resources from organized interests members of Congress must “signal” their support for these interests by discussing the economic problems that they prioritize, resulting in greater congressional attention to the economic problems of concern to upper income interests and a relative neglect of economic problems that concern other groups. To examine this argument we develop measures of attention to various economic problems using congressional speech in the Congressional Record from 1995-2012. We find that during this period of relatively high upper class bias in the interest system there was a great deal of attention to the concerns of the wealthy, and far less attention to some of the concerns of lower income groups. At the micro-level, using a differencein-differences analysis we observe that when individual MCs become more reliant on the resources of upper income interests they subsequently discuss the problems prioritized by these interests more. ∗Prepared for the “Purchasing Power” Workshop, New York City, June 16-17, 2016. This is a condensed version of a longer paper. The authors thank the Russell Sage Foundation for their generous support of this project.
Egg storage and breeder age impact on egg quality and embryo development.

Prolonged hatching egg storage (>7 days) influences internal egg quality and embryo survival during both storage and subsequent incubation. Moreover, effects of storage of hatching eggs interact with the breeder age. The aim of this review was to investigate how this interaction between storage duration and breeder age affects egg, embryo, hatchling and chicken characteristics. Prolonged storage resulted in a reduction in egg quality in both young and old breeders. This reduction was more pronounced in young flocks than in older flocks. For example, albumen pH increased more after 8 days of storage in younger flocks than in older flocks. Additionally, the embryonic morphological stage appears to increase as well with storage duration, but this increase is again more pronounced in younger flocks than in older flocks. Short storage (<7 days) seems to increase hatchability of eggs from young breeders, probably as a result of albumen liquefaction with consequently better oxygen availability for the embryo. However, long storage (>7 days) resulted in a decline in hatchability, which was stronger in older breeders than in younger breeders. Prolonged storage duration resulted in lower chicken quality in both young and old breeders, but interaction between storage duration and breeder age on multiple chicken quality parameters is not clear. Based on this review, it can be concluded that (a) Short storage can improve hatchability of eggs from young breeders, but not from older breeders. (b) Negative impact of long storage appears to be lower with young breeders than with old breeders. (c) Adapted storage conditions related to the age of breeders might be an option to reduce negative effects of prolonged storage on hatching egg quality and chicken quality.
THE ROLE OF BANK CREDIT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY IN KERMAN

Financial resource is one of the basic institutions for the provision of other inputs and finally for production of industrial products that manufacturers typically have some direct and indirect restrictions in supplying it. The research population is made up of industries in Kerman province among them 180 employees have been selected randomly and using RST model the credit components of the development of the industrial sector has been studied. Components of credits include reducing interest rates, easier access to loans, and accordance of the loan to the conditions. The results indicate that the reduction in interest rates, easier access to loans, and accordance of the loan to the conditions have positive role in the development of the industry. So by considering results managers can make better decisions about how to upgrade the industrial sector and increase industrial sector production.
DNA-based long-lived reaction-diffusion patterning in a host hydrogel

The development of living organisms is a source of inspiration for the creation of synthetic life-like materials. Embryo development is divided into three stages that are inextricably linked: patterning, differentiation and growth. During patterning, sustained out-of-equilibrium molecular programs interpret underlying molecular cues to create well-defined concentration profiles. Implementing this patterning stage in an autonomous synthetic material is a challenge that at least requires a programmable and long-lasting out-of-equilibrium chemistry compatible with a host material. Here we show that DNA/enzyme reactions can create reaction-diffusion patterns that are extraordinary long-lasting both in solution and inside an autonomous hydrogel. The life-time and stability of these patterns - here traveling fronts and two-band patterns - are significantly increased by blocking parasitic side reactions and by dramatically reducing the diffusion coefficient of specific DNA sequences. Immersed in oil, hydrogels pattern autonomously with limited evaporation, but can also exchange chemical information from other gels when brought in contact. Our primitive metabolic material thus recapitulates two important properties of living matter: a certain degree of autonomy that makes each piece of material an ‘individual’ with its own metabolism and, at the same time, the capacity to interact with other ‘individuals’.
Impact of gamma irradiation pretreatment on the growth of common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) seedlings grown under salt and drought stress

Abstract It has been generally accepted that the morphology, physiology and biochemistry of plants are differentially affected by low-dose gamma ionizing radiation that is associated with the tolerance of plant species under biotic/abiotic stress. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the protective role of low gamma irradiation pretreatment against salt and drought stress. For this aim, irradiated (100 Gy) and non-irradiated seeds of common vetch were cultured on an MS medium with separate addition of concentrations of NaCl (100 mM) and PEG-6000 (100 g/l) under in vitro conditions. Morpho-physio-biochemical analyses were carried out on 14-day-old seedlings. The findings of this study clearly show that exposure to gamma irradiation pretreatment (100 Gy), alone or in combination with salt stress and drought stress, led to significant increases (p < .01) in dry matter accumulation, CAT, SOD and APX activities, proline contents and decreases in relative water content. However, alone, gamma irradiation pretreatment caused increased chlorophyll contents while decreasing MDA contents. Overall, these results suggested that low-dose gamma irradiation pretreatment can enhance the tolerance of common vetch seedlings against stress due to salt and drought.
BMI growth trajectory from ages 2 to 6 years and its association with maternal obesity, diabetes during pregnancy, gestational weight gain, and breastfeeding

To identify latent BMI growth trajectories from ages 2 to 6 years and examine their independent associations with maternal prepregnancy obesity or overweight, pre‐existing type 1 (T1D) or type 2 diabetes (T2D) or gestational diabetes (GDM) with or without requiring antidiabetic medications during pregnancy, excessive gestational weight gain (EGWG), and breastfeeding ≤ 6 months.
Behrooz File System ( BFS ) by Behrooz

In this thesis, the Behrooz File System (BFS) is presented, which provides an inmemory distributed file system. BFS is a simple design which combines the best of inmemory and remote file systems. BFS stores data in the main memory of commodity servers and provides a shared unified file system view over them. BFS utilizes backend storage to provide persistency and availability. Unlike most existing distributed in-memory storage systems, BFS supports a general purpose POSIX-like file interface. BFS is built by grouping multiple servers’ memory together; therefore, if applications and BFS servers are co-located, BFS is a highly efficient design because this architecture minimizes inter-node communication. This pattern is common in distributed computing environments and data analytics applications. A set of microbenchmarks and SPEC SFS 2014 benchmark are used to evaluate different aspects of BFS, such as throughput, reliability, and scalability. The evaluation results indicate the simple design of BFS is successful in delivering the expected performance, while certain workloads reveal limitations of BFS in handling a large number of files. Addressing these limitations, as well as other potential improvements, are considered as future work.
A dendritic cell receptor-targeted chimeric immunotherapeutic protein (C-HBV) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B

ABSTRACT In chronic Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infections HBV-specific T cells are functionally impaired. Immunotherapy may restore HBV-specific T cell responses essential for sustained disease remission off-treatment and induction of a functional cure. Chimigen® Molecules are fusion proteins of antigen(s) with the Fc fragment of a xenotypic antibody designed to target specific receptors on dendritic cells (DCs). Here we describe the production and pre-clinical evaluation of Chimigen® HBV (C-HBV), containing HBV PreS1 and PreS2 peptide fragments, HBV core and murine Fc, produced in insect cells. C-HBV binding to immature DCs and internalization by endocytosis was FcγRII (CD32) and mannose receptor (CD206) dependent and led to increased MHC I and MHC II surface expression. Upon exposure of human T cells isolated from HBV un-infected healthy and chronically HBV-infected donors to C-HBV-pulsed mature DCs ex vivo, C-HBV induced vigorous T cell proliferation and enhanced expression of IFN-γ, TNF-α, perforin and granzyme B in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets. Re-stimulation of C-HBV-activated T cells from chronically infected donors with HBV PreS1/PreS2 and core overlapping peptides induced IFN-γ production in both CD4+ and CD8+ populations. C-HBV-activation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from chronically HBV-infected patients stimulated granzyme B production by CD4+CD25− T responder (Tresp) cells, accompanied by an increase in Annexin V staining on CD4+CD25+ T regulatory (Treg) cell phenotype, consistent with apoptosis. The observed HBV-specific cellular responses induced by C-HBV ex vivo suggest that C-HBV is a promising immunotherapeutic candidate for the treatment of chronic HBV infections.
cfr(B), cfr(C), and a New cfr-Like Gene, cfr(E), in Clostridium difficile Strains Recovered across Latin America

Cfr is a radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) enzyme that confers cross-resistance to antibiotics targeting the 23S rRNA through hypermethylation of nucleotide A2503. Three cfr-like genes implicated in antibiotic resistance have been described, two of which, cfr(B) and cfr(C), have been sporadically detected in Clostridium difficile. However, the methylase activity of Cfr(C) has not been confirmed. ABSTRACT Cfr is a radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) enzyme that confers cross-resistance to antibiotics targeting the 23S rRNA through hypermethylation of nucleotide A2503. Three cfr-like genes implicated in antibiotic resistance have been described, two of which, cfr(B) and cfr(C), have been sporadically detected in Clostridium difficile. However, the methylase activity of Cfr(C) has not been confirmed. We found cfr(B), cfr(C), and a cfr-like gene that shows only 51 to 58% protein sequence identity to Cfr and Cfr-like enzymes in clinical C. difficile isolates recovered across nearly a decade in Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Chile. This new resistance gene was termed cfr(E). In agreement with the anticipated function of the cfr-like genes detected, all isolates exhibited high MIC values for several ribosome-targeting antibiotics. In addition, in vitro assays confirmed that Cfr(C) and Cfr(E) methylate Escherichia coli and, to a lesser extent, C. difficile 23S rRNA fragments at the expected positions. The analyzed isolates do not have mutations in 23S rRNA genes or genes encoding the ribosomal proteins L3 and L4 and lack poxtA, optrA, and pleuromutilin resistance genes. Moreover, these cfr-like genes were found in Tn6218-like transposons or integrative and conjugative elements (ICE) that could facilitate their transfer. These results indicate selection of potentially mobile cfr-like genes in C. difficile from Latin America and provide the first assessment of the methylation activity of Cfr(C) and Cfr(E), which belong to a cluster of Cfr-like proteins that does not include the functionally characterized enzymes Cfr, Cfr(B), and Cfr(D).
OP-POLA150017 471..487

The various methodological techniques that fall under the umbrella description of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) are increasingly popular for modeling causal complexity and necessary or sufficient conditions in medium-N settings. Because QCA methods are not designed as statistical techniques, however, there is no way to assess the probability that the patterns they uncover are the result of chance. Moreover, the implications of the multiple hypothesis tests inherent in these techniques for the false positive rate of the results are not widely understood. This article fills both gaps by tailoring a simple permutation test to the needs of QCA users and adjusting the Type I error rate of the test to take into account the multiple hypothesis tests inherent in QCA. An empirical application—a reexamination of a study of protestmovement success in the Arab Spring—highlights the need for such a test by showing that even very strong QCA results may plausibly be the result of chance.