Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An ECC-Based Repair Approach with an Offset-Repair CAM for Mitigating the MBUs Affecting Repair CAM

Memory system reliability is a serious concern in many systems today and is becoming more worrisome as technology scales, system size grows and the demand of aggressive voltage reduction becomes more stringent. Thus, disposing of memory repair architectures with strong fault tolerance capability at low cost is desirable. In this context, Error Correcting Codes (ECC)-based repair techniques were proposed and offer aggressive reduction of the repair cost for high defect densities. However, an important issue in advanced process nodes is the fact that, single particles induce Single-Event Upsets (SEUs) in neighbor memory cells, thus leading to Multi-Cell Upsets (MCUs) and Multi-Bit Upsets (MBUs), when they occur in the same memory word. In the case of memories, there exist efficient approaches mitigating this kind of MBUs, in particular the use of interleaving. But when a memory is repaired, the impact of MBUs on the circuitry repairing the faulty memory words should also be mitigated. This can be done by using a repair Content Addressable Memory (CAM) having interleaving at its data-words, or else an Offset CAM. In this paper we present and evaluate a novel repair approach that uses the Offset CAM in ECC-based Memory Repair and hence permits the mitigation of the MBUs affecting it.
Content Preference-aware User Association and Caching in Cellular Networks

The ever-growing trend of mobile users to consume high quality videos in their devices has pushed the backhaul network to its limits. Caching at Small-cell Base Stations (SBSs) has been established as an effective mechanism for alleviating this burden. Next generation mobile networks promise high Access Network density, hence multiple SBS association options per mobile user may exist. In this paper, we study the joint problem of mobile user association to SBSs and content placement to SBS-collocated caches, aiming to further optimize the utilization of backhaul network. The problem is solved periodically, considering time intervals where the users’ location to the system is assumed to be fixed. First, we decompose the joint problem into two sub-problems that are solve sequentially, namely the content preference similarity-driven user association and the demand aware content placement sub-problems. We then propose a heuristic that consists of multiple phases. In particular, at a preparation phase, it performs clustering of users based on the similarity of their content preferences, accounting also for geographical constraints. The resulting clusters are then utilized for the demand-aware association of users to the SBS, while the placement of content is driven by the resulting local demand in each SBS, and takes place at the end. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our heuristic by evaluating its performance against multiple schemes that either lack a preparation phase or do not account for geographical constraints. As it is evident through the numerical results, the user clustering that takes place during the preparation phase can increase the overall cache hit ratio up to 20%.
Star-Delta Connection Three-Stage Millimeter Wave Band LC Ring Oscillator

In this paper, a new topology is proposed for a three-stage LC ring oscillator. First, it is shown that the conventional ring oscillator can be represented as a configuration of a star connection of inductors. Next, in the proposed topology, the star connection is replaced with a star-delta connection to increase the inductance value for a given oscillation frequency. This is desirable in millimeter-wave band frequencies, where the inductance value is very small and severely affected by parasitic and may entail limitations in foundry design kits. By using the delta connection of the inductors, a higher oscillation frequency is achieved for a given inductance. Analytic equations are presented to calculate the oscillation condition and frequency of oscillation in the proposed topology. Moreover, the proposed structure has a better phase noise performance at higher frequencies in comparison to conventional topology. The advantages of the proposed topology are examined by simulations using TSMC 0.18 um RF-CMOS technology. Simulations and analysis results show a 38.36% increase of oscillation frequency in the proposed topology compared to the conventional one with the same components and similar conditions.
Brain-Heart Interactions in Long-Term Recordings of Epileptic Patients: Proof-of-Principle Application of Segmented Convergent Cross Mapping

Investigations of brain-heart interactions taking into account time-frequency patterns as well as topological aspects are gaining importance in epilepsy research. Convergent Cross Mapping (CCM) has been employed to quantify such linear or nonlinear interactions from short-term recordings of children with temporal lobe epilepsy in the past. For evaluation of the interactions in longer recordings an adapted CCM approach is required. This study presents a proof-of-principle application of the adapted CCM to sequential segments of concurrently recorded EEG and HRV from adult epilepsy patients to properly quantify brain-heart interactions over time.
Modular ROS Based Autonomous Mobile Industrial Robot System for Automated Intelligent Manufacturing Applications

The objective of this paper is to develop a modular Robot Operating System (ROS) based autonomous mobile industrial robot system for automated intelligent manufacturing applications. We propose a finite state machine based method to integrate and manage various modular functions on the mobile manipulator which makes it have a great talent on mobility and manipulation. For mobility, we perform simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) on our robot to build a map and locate itself. We also develop navigation and collision avoidance strategies, so that it can navigate to anywhere it plans in the indoor environment. For manipulation, we use an RGB-D camera on the end effector to perform eye-in-hand system which given an image and point cloud, leveraging the learning-based object detection and shape-based grasping pose estimation to achieve flexible manipulation capabilities. In the experiments, we have developed an Autonomous Mobile Industrial Robot (AMIR) with a carefully designed mechanism and a fully modular ROS environment in our robotics lab at NTU. In the experiments, we construct an intelligent industrial scenario: collecting materials and delivering products from one place to another. Using our ROS based architecture to control the data/command flow between functions, we have successfully completed the demonstration of the system and proved the stability of the system.
Exploiting attack–defense trees to find an optimal set of countermeasures

Selecting the most pertinent countermeasures to secure a system is one of the ultimate goals of risk assessment. In this context, it is important to rely on modeling methods that the security experts are already familiar with, so that the solution can be smoothly adopted within industry.We propose a full-fledged framework, relying on attack–defense trees and integer linear programming, to find an optimal set of countermeasures. We use attack–defense trees formalized with directed acyclic graphs. This enables us to conveniently reason about attacker’s actions that can contribute to several distinct attacks, and countermeasures that can block different ways of attacking. We provide a constructive way of extracting all reasonable behaviors of the two actors from such models. We then exploit this extracted information to formulate a generic solution, based on integer linear programing, to address a wide class of optimization problems. We show how to instantiate it for specific security-relevant optimization criteria. We cover deterministic and probabilistic cases. The framework has been implemented in a prototype tool, and validated in a real-life case study.
Performances Evaluation and Optimization of Uplink Massive MIMO System

Massive multiple inputs multiple outputs (MIMO) will be the main physical layer technology of 5G systems. Its idea is to use, for each cell, a large number of antennas to increase the network's performances. In order to improve the throughput, 5G system will be aims to use massive MIMO technique in a dense network. In this article, we focus on the study of the uplink massive MIMO system with small cells. The system performances are modeled and optimized. Simulation results show that using massive MIMO with small cells greatly improves the throughput and number of active users in the cellular networks.
Anti-inflammatory Effects and its Mechanisms of Hesperidin in an Asthmatic Mouse Model Induced by Ovalbumin

Hesperidin, a member of the flavanone group of flavonoids, can be isolated in large amounts from the rinds of some citrus species [e.g., Citrus aurantium L. (bitter orange), Citrus sinensis L. (sweet orange) and Citrus unshiu Marcov. (satsuma mandarin)], and has been reported to have anticarcinogenic, antihypotensive and antimicrobial properties. Despite the efficacy of these polyphenolic compounds as immune modulators, the effects of the flavonoids are poorly understood about allergic effect. In this study, we investigated whether hesperidin could influence on Th1 and Th2 balance. Allergic reactions included an increase in the number of eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, an increase in inflammatory cell infiltration into the lung tissue around blood vessels and airways, airway luminal narrowing, the development of airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR). The administration of hesperidin before the last airway OVA challenge resulted in a significant inhibition of all asthmatic reactions. Accordingly, this study may provide evidence that hesperidin plays a critical role in the amelioration of the pathogenetic process of asthma in mice. These findings provide new insight into the immunopharmacological role of hesperidin in terms of its effects in a murine model of asthma, and also broaden current perspectives in our understanding of the immunopharmacological functions of hesperidin.
Hydrophobic chain modified low molecular weight polyethylenimine for efficient antigen delivery

The development of new therapeutic vaccines for the efficient induction of cellular immunity by antigen cross-presentation in antigen-presenting cells, especially dendritic cells, is regarded as a promising approach to prime antigen-specific T cell responses and to destroy tumor cells. We synthesized low molecular weight polyethylenimine (C12-PEI) with a modified hydrophobic lipid chain by the direct coupling of 1-bromododecane with low molecular weight polyethylenimine (MW 423 Da) in a 2 : 1 molar ratio. This was bound with model antigen ovalbumin (OVA) to form sphere-like polyplex nanoparticles (size 158–302 nm; zeta potential −18.4 to −13.1 mV) by electrostatic interaction at an C12-PEI/OVA weight ratio of 0.03–0.08. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the C12-PEI/OVA nanoparticles was strongly dependent on the weight ratio of the C12-PEI and OVA. The antigen cross-presentation effect (IL-2 secretion) of the C12-PEI/OVA polyplexes was also dependent on the weight ratio. Optimized cross-presentation was achieved on the C12-PEI/OVA-0.07/1 polyplexes, which was 5.3-fold higher than that of the free OVA solution and 1.9-fold higher than that of the PEI/OVA polyplexes. The intracellular distribution of the C12-PEI/rhodamine-labeled OVA polyplexes demonstrated the lysosome localization effect. These results indicated that the synthesized C12-PEI cationic polymer with a modified hydrophobic lipid chain could potentially be used as a therapeutic vaccine carrier for delivery of the OVA antigen.
Adversarial Nonnegative Matrix Factorization

Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) has become an increasingly important research topic in machine learning. Despite all the practical success, most of existing NMF models are still vulnerable to adversarial attacks. To overcome this limitation, we propose a novel Adversarial NMF (ANMF) approach in which an adversary can exercise some control over the perturbed data generation process. Different from the traditional NMF models which focus on either the regular input or certain types of noise, our model considers potential test adversaries that are beyond the pre-deﬁned constraints, which can cope with various noises (or perturbations). We formulate the proposed model as a bilevel optimization problem and use Alternating Direction Method of Mul-tipliers (ADMM) to solve it with convergence analysis. Theoretically, the robustness analysis of ANMF is established under mild conditions dedicating asymptotically unbiased prediction. Extensive experiments verify that ANMF is robust to a broad categories of perturbations, and achieves state-of-the-art performances on distinct real-world benchmark datasets.
Measurement and Convergence Analysis of Total Factor Energy Efficiency in Yangtze River Economic Belt

Received: 28 January 2020 Accepted: 6 April 2020 This paper sets up an evaluation index system for total factor energy efficiency (TFEE), and measures the 2000-2017 TFEEs of the 11 provinces (municipalities) in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). After analysing the regional differences in YREB TFEE, the beta convergence model (BCM) was introduced to empirically explore the convergence of the YREB TFEE. The results show that: The YREB provinces (municipalities) differed greatly in TFEE. Among them, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Yunnan achieved the optimal TFEEs in the sample period; Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, and Sichuan realized relatively good TFEEs; Jiangxi and Guizhou did not output desirable TFEEs, leaving ample room for improvement. There were significant TFEE differences between the upstream, midstream, and downstream of the YREB. The three regions can be ranked as downstream, midstream, and upstream in descending order of the TFEE. The YREB TFEE exhibited significant absolute beta convergence. The midstream TFEE had the fastest absolute convergence speed, followed in turn by the upstream TFEE and the downstream TFEE. The addition of control variables improved the conditional convergence speeds of YREB TFEEs. Except energy structure (ECS), the control variables, including economic level (PGDP), foreign trade (TRD), environmental regulation (ERS), and urbanization rate (URB), exerted major impacts on the YREB TFEE. The impacts varied from region to region. The research results provide a good reference for energy saving and emission reduction in the YREB.
Impact of tobacco control auxiliary resources on the 5As behavior in nursing interns: Self-reports from students

INTRODUCTION The help of healthcare professionals for smokers to quit is critically important to increase quit rates. In the future, internship nursing students will potentially become the largest population of medical professionals. This study explored the impact of the use and awareness of universal tobacco control auxiliary resources on nursing students’ 5As behavior in helping patients to quit smoking during a 40-week clinical internship in the last year of nursing school in Chongqing, China. METHODS A survey was conducted in 13 teaching hospitals selected from 29 in Chongqing, China, in 2019, by a random cluster sampling method. It investigated, by self-reported questionnaires, student 5As behavior in helping patients to quit smoking and use and knowledge of tobacco cessation auxiliary resources (tobacco cessation self-education manual, tobacco cessation guidelines, tobacco cessation drugs, tobacco cessation websites, and hotline). The relationship between tobacco cessation auxiliary resources and 5As behavior in helping patients to quit smoking was analyzed with a multivariate linear mixed-effect model. RESULTS In all, 534 (39.3%) students, of a total of 1358, reported that the majority of internship units provided a tobacco control self-education manual; 674 (49.6%) ever skimmed through tobacco cessation guidelines; 641 (47.2%) browsed tobacco cessation websites; 738 (54.3%) knew some cessation-assistance drugs; and 93 (6.8%) knew of and could recall the tobacco cessation hotline. Except for tobacco cessation websites, tobacco cessation auxiliary resources affected nursing interns’ 5As behavior in helping patients to quit (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Tobacco cessation auxiliary resources influenced students’ 5As behavior in helping patients to quit smoking. Students knew a little of tobacco cessation auxiliary resources. To improve students’ 5As behavior for helping patients to quit, more tobacco cessation resources need to be developed and more students need to become acquainted with them.
Allele frequency of A385T in Fucosyltransferase 2 gene (FUT2) among Southern Thai population

Fucosyltransferase 2 gene (FUT2) gene plays an important role in control of enzymes that secrete blood type antigen substances. The mutation of FUT2 at nucleotide position 385 from A to T (A385T) combined with secretor phenotype is associated with proneness to infections by some pathogens, on comparing with the non secretor phenotype. The objective set was to study the prevalence of A385T mutation with secretor phenotype. Among 132 Southern Thai individuals, 18(13.6%) had Le(a+b-) phenotype and 5(3.8%) had Le(a-b-) non secretor phenotype with genotypes AA 6(26.0%), AT 13(56.5%) and TT 4(17.3%); whereas 109(82.6%) having Le(a-b+) phenotype and 7(5.3%) having a Le(a-b-) secretor phenotype had genotypes AA 42(31.8%), AT 50(37.9) and TT 10(7.5%). The frequencies of genotypes AA, AT and TT among 264 alleles examined in a sample of 132 Southern Thai individuals were 48, 70, and 14%, respectively, indicating a rather wide distribution of A385T in FUT2 gene in the Southern Thai population. The results show that the FUT2 gene really encodes the secretor enzyme α(1,2)fucosyltransferase and indicate an ethnic group-specific nonsense or missense point mutation in the FUT2 gene. This study provides substantial new information on the prevalence of the examined polymorphism.
Mathematical Modelling of Impact of Vaccination in Controlling Japanese Encephalitis

Japanese Encephalitis is a deadly infectious epidemic disease. Its treatment is mainly based on prevention. Vaccination can protect human against Japanese Encephalitis in a very effective way. Vaccination against this epidemic had been approved by W.H. O. only from 2009. Here, a mathematical model is developed to trace the transmission pattern of the outbreak after the vaccination. Susceptible human are vaccinated before the warm cum rainy season as the disease turns around during this days. It is vector borne epidemic. So a vector borne infectious model along with vaccination as a control variable is planned in both deterministic and stochastic ambiences. Eigen values, Lyapunov functions are utilized to verify the stability of the model and found asymptotically stable. Reproduction number has been determined and found greater than one which supports the stability of the endemic equilibrium of the models. Impacts of different parameters associated to the reproduction number are studied in detail incorporating sensitivity analysis. Increase of the death rate of carrier mosquitoes, natural recovery rate of the infective, the natural death rate and the disease-induced death rate affect the reproduction number inversely, whereas the contact rate of carrier mosquitoes and human and the rate of vaccinated-infected rate are directly proportional to the reproduction number.
Thinking Tomorrow Today: Planning for Uncertainty and Building Organisational Culture that Can Walk the Talk

Thinking tomorrow, today is about generating and manipulating ideas proactively and progressively. The critical issue is about expanding the scope of understanding all the facets of the organisational activities, and maintaining same approach and strategy through the future in a sustained manner. Manager’s ability should be screened on the basis of their pro-activeness and innovativeness in the management of thoughts that would foster the organisational advancement and effectiveness. This study is based on a case study design using secondary sources of data from a tertiary educational institution through an in-depth study and analysis of its organisational culture. Many of the early studies of this occurrence identified strong support for the idea that organisational culture and performance were indistinguishably linked. Recommendations given include the use of competitive and time effective management process to review, update, integrate, implement visions, decisions, and plans for tomorrow, whether in expansionary or recessionary times
Identifying Bots that Spread Fake News

Fake news is not new. However, the phenomenal growth of online social media coupled with ease in publishing unverified content and click based advertisement revenue, have made fake news a strong influencer in driving discussions. Though often considered innocuous, such influences may have high social cost. For example, Parkinson [2] reported that the sheer inactivity of social media companies might have contributed to the results of the 2016 US presidential election. Most existing research on fake news have considered the origin, the motivations and the impact of fake news, but not the use of bots. Either for spreading an ideology or for making money, the goal of fake news creators is to spread their message rapidly, so the likely use of bots (or human assisted bots) in the process is hard to dismiss. In our investigation, we find social bots that are actively being used on Twitter to fool the content promotion algorithms and promote specific agenda.
Very high VOC and FF of CdTe thin‐film solar cells with the applications of organo‐metallic halide perovskite thin film as a hole transport layer

We fabricate and characterize methylammonium lead halide perovskite film as a novel back contact to CdTe thin‐film solar cells. We apply ~0.75 μm perovskite film at the interface of CdCl2‐activated and Cu‐doped CdTe surface and complete the device with Au back contact. We use Cu/Au back contact as a reference to compare results with novel back contact. Our investigation shows that incorporation of thin layer of perovskite film before the back contact metal reduces back contact barrier effect and improves fill factor (FF) and open‐circuit voltage (VOC) of the solar cells. Our low temperature JV results prove that thin‐film perovskite is a very necessary component in CdTe solar cells to reduce back contact barrier, to minimize interface or surface recombination, to improve collection efficiencies, and to increase the efficiency of solar cells. Our best device shows 7% increase in VOC to 0.875 V and ~7% increase in FF with the highest FF of 81%, and solar cell's efficiency finally increases by 10% with the use of MAPb(I1‐xBrx)3 as an interface layer.
Role of Olfaction in the Orientation of Petromyzon marinus. I. Response to a Single Amine in Prey's Body Odor

ESEARCH ESEARCH was started in 1955 in the laboratory in the Department of Biology at McMaster University on orientation mechanisms in Petromyzon marinus in connection with the ability of this species to localize its prey during the parasitic stage of its life history. Earlier, it had been established that this species produces a pulsating electrical field around the head region (Kleerekoper and Sibakin, 1956a, 1956b, 1957). It was found that this electrical field is used to localize prey at distances of about 15-20 cm. away from the predator, but that the field is of no use to the animal in orientation at distances greater than those mentioned. This species has a very well-formed olfactory apparatus that develops in the course of metamorphosis from the bottom-feeding larval to the parasitic adult stage. It was assumed, therefore, that olfaction may play an important role in the "long-distance" orientation toward prey. Preliminary ex-