Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decision Feedback Equalizer Architectures With Multiple Continuous-Time Infinite Impulse Response Filters

Decision feedback equalizer (DFE) architectures with varying numbers of discrete-time taps and continuous-time infinite impulse response (IIR) filters are compared for use in typical wireline channels. In each case, the DFE coefficients are optimized to minimize a cost function that equally weights both jitter and vertical eye opening. Even when some reflections are present (e.g., backplane channels) continuous-time IIR taps can be effective if their filter coefficients are properly optimized. Using a DFE architecture with only two IIR filters provides adequate results for both a 26-dB loss coax cable and a 16" FR-4 backplane channel at 10 Gb/s while keeping the DFE complexity low. Furthermore, the implementation and experimental results of a DFE with multiple (three) IIR filters is reported. Fabricated in a 0.13 μm CMOS process, the DFE consumes 17.3 mW from a 1.2 V supply. A bit error rate (BER) of 10-12 was achieved at a data rate of 3.7 Gb/s.
Evaluating the impact of performance goals on dispatching decisions in emergency medical service

Most emergency medical service systems measure performance based on the coverage level for a given response time threshold, i.e., the proportion of 911 calls responded to within a fixed timeframe. The ultimate goal of emergency medical service systems is to save lives, which suggests that it might be worthwhile to consider using performance measures more closely tied to patient outcomes. This paper examines how the goal of maximizing coverage for different response time thresholds impacts patient survival rates in the context of emergency medical dispatch. Results illustrated using real-world data from Hanover County, Virginia indicate that dispatching ambulances to maximize an eight minute response time threshold simultaneously maximizes patient survival. A sensitivity analysis over different ambulance location configurations and call arrival rates confirms that seven and eight minute response time thresholds are robust. These results corroborate previous results that consider the decision context of locating ambulances. The results presented in this paper suggest that by choosing the right response time threshold performance measures for emergency medical dispatch, decision makers can achieve the best (aggregate) patient survival rates.
Jupiter’s interior and deep atmosphere: The initial pole-to-pole passes with the Juno spacecraft

Juno swoops around giant Jupiter Jupiter is the largest and most massive planet in our solar system. NASA's Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter on 4 July 2016 and made its first close pass on 27 August 2016. Bolton et al. present results from Juno's flight just above the cloud tops, including images of weather in the polar regions and measurements of the magnetic and gravitational fields. Juno also used microwaves to peer below the visible surface, spotting gas welling up from the deep interior. Connerney et al. measured Jupiter's aurorae and plasma environment, both as Juno approached the planet and during its first close orbit. Science, this issue p. 821, p. 826 Juno’s first close pass over Jupiter provides answers and fresh questions about the giant planet. On 27 August 2016, the Juno spacecraft acquired science observations of Jupiter, passing less than 5000 kilometers above the equatorial cloud tops. Images of Jupiter’s poles show a chaotic scene, unlike Saturn’s poles. Microwave sounding reveals weather features at pressures deeper than 100 bars, dominated by an ammonia-rich, narrow low-latitude plume resembling a deeper, wider version of Earth’s Hadley cell. Near-infrared mapping reveals the relative humidity within prominent downwelling regions. Juno’s measured gravity field differs substantially from the last available estimate and is one order of magnitude more precise. This has implications for the distribution of heavy elements in the interior, including the existence and mass of Jupiter’s core. The observed magnetic field exhibits smaller spatial variations than expected, indicative of a rich harmonic content.
A matter of tree longevity

Tree longevity rather than growth rate controls the carbon capital of forests There is much scientific and political interest in using the transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to the biosphere, or carbon sequestration, to help mitigate the greenhouse effect (1). Because plants fix carbon dioxide (CO2) by photosynthesis and store carbon in their body (close to half of plant dry matter is carbon), faster carbon uptake by plants through faster growth is widely held to increase carbon sequestration. Yet, this assumption is supported by neither theory nor evidence. Any gain in carbon storage from faster tree growth will be transitory.
Use of 3D Prints to Compare the Efficacy of Three Different Calcaneal Osteotomies for the Correction of Heel Varus

Background: Cavovarus deformity of the hindfoot is typically caused by neurologic disorders. Multiple osteotomies have been described for the correction of varus deformity but without clinical comparison. In this study, we used 18 identical 3-dimensional (3D) prints of a patient with heel varus to compare the operative correction obtained with Dwyer, oblique, and Z osteotomies. Methods: A computed tomography (CT) scan of a patient with heel varus was used to create 18 identical 3D prints of the talus, calcaneus, and cuboid. Coordinate frames were added to the talus and calcaneus to evaluate rotation. The prints were then divided into 3 groups of 6 models each. A custom jig precisely and accurately replicated each osteotomy. Following the simulated operations, cut models were CT scanned and compared with 6 uncut models. Measurements were calculated using multiplanar reconstruction image processing. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on the initial data to determine significant differences among the measured variables. A Tukey Studentized range test was run to compare variables that showed statistically significant differences using the ANOVA. Results: The coronal angle of the Dwyer and oblique osteotomies was significantly less than that of the Z osteotomy (P < .05). The axial angle, lateral displacement, and calcaneal shortening of the uncut model and Z osteotomy were significantly less than the Dwyer and oblique osteotomies. Conclusions: Dwyer, oblique, and Z osteotomies did not create either lateral translation or coronal rotation without the addition of a lateralizing slide or rotation of the posterior tuberosity. Clinical Relevance: Dwyer and oblique osteotomies would be best suited for mild deformity, yet the amount of calcaneal shortening must be acknowledged. A Z osteotomy is a complex procedure that has the capability of correcting moderate-severe coronal plane rotation but fails to provide lateralization of the pull of the Achilles insertion.
Combined Three-State/PWM Signal Coding for Wideband High-Efficiency Class-S Amplifiers

A three-state signal coding scheme was recently proposed by the author for driving Class-S amplifiers with higher efficiency than conventional techniques. The magnitude is controlled by a timing code that specifies positive and negative rectangular pulses as well as a third zero state. High efficiency is attained when the active pulse widths are a half-cycle of the carrier frequency, and the zero state is formed by skipping pulses. Good spectral characteristics and low error-vector magnitude are achieved for fixed carrier frequency, where output filtering can be effectively employed. However, for applications requiring operation with signals spectrally located anywhere within a much wider service bandwidth, intermodulation effects limit the adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR). In this brief, we explain this fundamental limitation and propose combining three-state coding with pulsewidth modulation (PWM) as a remedy. The combined three-state/PWM scheme enables a tradeoff to reduce ACLR while not seriously compromising efficiency.
An Area-Efficient 96.5%-Peak-Efficiency Cross-Coupled Voltage Doubler With Minimum Supply of 0.8 V

An area-efficient cross-coupled voltage doubler (CCVD) with no reversion loss using first-level gate-control mechanism is presented. The proposed design does not require area-consuming resistors or extra power MOSFETs to prevent reversion currents. Through the first-level gate controls, the proposed CCVD is able to use internal nodes to drive the gates of the power MOSFETs without extra buffers, thus further reducing the silicon area and power consumption. The proposed design has been fabricated in a commercial 0.35-μm CMOS technology (VTHN ≈ 0.59 V, VTHP ≈ -0.72 V), with an active area of only 0.49 mm2. Experimental results show that it can achieve a maximum of 96.5% power efficiency value under a supply voltage range of 0.8-1.6 V with a maximum loading current of 30 mA.
A Novel Sourceline Voltage Compensation Circuit and a Wordline Voltage-Generating System for Embedded nor Flash Memory

Key blocks used for embedded NOR Flash memory are introduced in this brief, including a novel sourceline (SL) voltage compensation circuit and a wordline (WL) voltage-generating system. The SL voltage compensation circuit controls the output voltage of the charge pump according to the number of cells to be programmed with data “0” to compensate the IR drop on the SL decoding path. Thus, a stable SL voltage is obtained and high program efficiency with low program disturb is realized. In order to get low power consumption in standby mode and high speed in active mode, a high-performance WL voltage-generating system has been proposed. A 1.8-V 64 × 32 kb embedded NOR Flash memory employing the two techniques has been developed based on a GSMC 0.18-μm 4-poly 4-metal CMOS process. Average standby current of the embedded Flash memory IP circuit less than 0.3 μA is achieved at 1.8 V and 25 °C.
Recovery of Value-Added Products from Hydrothermal Carbonization of Sewage Sludge

This paper is about the conversion of wet waste stream into valuable products via thermal processing. Hydrothermal carbonization of sewage sludge was carried out at 200°C and 2.1 MPa in a closed reactor for 1–6 h. Main products were in solid and liquid phases. The resulting hydrochar was shown to have H/C and O/C ratios moving towards natural lignite, improved energetic content, and adsorption property in terms of iodine number. The aqueous solution was found to contain high concentration of plant food nutrients, especially nitrogen and potassium. They may be desirable for subsequent fuel and chemical production as well as applications in agriculture. The study shows that valuable products can be generated successfully from sewage sludge using hydrothermal carbonization.
What Have the Difference Scores Not Been Telling Us? A Critique of the Use of Self—Ideal Discrepancy in the Assessment of Body Image and Evaluation of an Alternative Data-Analytic Framework

Difference scores are often used as a means of assessing body image satisfaction using silhouette scales. Unfortunately, difference scores suffer from numerous potential methodological problems, including reduced reliability, ambiguity, confounded effects, untested constraints, and dimensional reduction. In this article, the methodological problems are outlined and an alternative framework is discussed. The alternative consists of a minimum of testing the constraints implied by the difference score model, and at most evaluating more exact body image hypotheses by incorporating nonlinear terms in a regression and testing features of the response surface. Two empirical examples are used to illustrate the utility of these methods. The first example uses both polynomial regression and response surface methods to examine eating disorder outcomes, whereas the second example uses polynomial regression to examine the outcomes related to muscle dysmorphia. Directions for future research related to assessment of body image are discussed.
Measurement error and the replication crisis

The assumption that measurement error always reduces effect sizes is false Measurement error adds noise to predictions, increases uncertainty in parameter estimates, and makes it more difficult to discover new phenomena or to distinguish among competing theories. A common view is that any study finding an effect under noisy conditions provides evidence that the underlying effect is particularly strong and robust. Yet, statistical significance conveys very little information when measurements are noisy. In noisy research settings, poor measurement can contribute to exaggerated estimates of effect size. This problem and related misunderstandings are key components in a feedback loop that perpetuates the replication crisis in science.
Assessing Violence Risk and Psychopathy in Juvenile and Adult Offenders: A Survey of Clinical Practices

This study surveyed 199 forensic clinicians about the practices that they use in assessing violence risk in juvenile and adult offenders. Results indicated that the use of risk assessment and psychopathy tools was common. Although clinicians reported more routine use of psychopathy measures in adult risk assessments compared with juvenile risks assessments, 79% of clinicians reported using psychopathy measures at least once in a while in juvenile risk assessments. Extremely few clinicians, however, believe that juveniles should be labeled or referred to as psychopaths. Juvenile risk reports were more likely than adult reports to routinely discuss treatment and protective factors, and provide recommendations to reevaluate risk. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Extremely efficient internal exciton dissociation through edge states in layered 2D perovskites

How perovskites have the edge Two-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites form quantum wells by sandwiching inorganic-organic perovskite layers used in photovoltaic devices between organic layers. Blancon et al. show that if the perovskite layer is more than two unit cells thick, photogenerated excitons undergo an unusual but highly efficient process for creating free carriers that can be harvested in photovoltaic devices (see the Perspective by Bakr and Mohammed). Lower-energy local states at the edges of the perovskite layer facilitate dissociation into electrons and holes that are well protected from recombination. Science, this issue p.1288; see also p. 1260 Excitons convert spontaneously to free carriers via lower-energy layer-edge states in layered perovskites. Understanding and controlling charge and energy flow in state-of-the-art semiconductor quantum wells has enabled high-efficiency optoelectronic devices. Two-dimensional (2D) Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites are solution-processed quantum wells wherein the band gap can be tuned by varying the perovskite-layer thickness, which modulates the effective electron-hole confinement. We report that, counterintuitive to classical quantum-confined systems where photogenerated electrons and holes are strongly bound by Coulomb interactions or excitons, the photophysics of thin films made of Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites with a thickness exceeding two perovskite-crystal units (>1.3 nanometers) is dominated by lower-energy states associated with the local intrinsic electronic structure of the edges of the perovskite layers. These states provide a direct pathway for dissociating excitons into longer-lived free carriers that substantially improve the performance of optoelectronic devices.
Highly elastic binders integrating polyrotaxanes for silicon microparticle anodes in lithium ion batteries

A stretchy binder protects the silicon A challenge in using silicon particles for lithium batteries is that the large volume changes during charge-discharge cycling cause the particles to fracture, which builds up an insulating interface layer. Choi et al. show that traditional binder materials used to cushion the silicon particles can be improved by adding small amounts of polyrotaxanes (see the Perspective by Ryu and Park). The molecules consist of multiple rings that are strung along a linear segment and stoppered at each end. Some of the rings are anchored to the polymer binder, whereas others float freely, yielding a highly mobile but connected network that anchors the binder, and thus the silicon particles, together. Science, this issue p. 279; see also p. 250 The stability of silicon microparticle anodes is enhanced by highly elastic binders incorporating polyrotaxanes. Lithium-ion batteries with ever-increasing energy densities are needed for batteries for advanced devices and all-electric vehicles. Silicon has been highlighted as a promising anode material because of its superior specific capacity. During repeated charge-discharge cycles, silicon undergoes huge volume changes. This limits cycle life via particle pulverization and an unstable electrode-electrolyte interface, especially when the particle sizes are in the micrometer range. We show that the incorporation of 5 weight % polyrotaxane to conventional polyacrylic acid binder imparts extraordinary elasticity to the polymer network originating from the ring sliding motion of polyrotaxane. This binder combination keeps even pulverized silicon particles coalesced without disintegration, enabling stable cycle life for silicon microparticle anodes at commercial-level areal capacities.
Integrating Normal and Pathological Personality

The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) assesses traits relevant for diagnosing personality disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5). We examined the PID-5 in relation to the Big-Three and Big-Five personality traits in outpatient and community adult samples. Domain-level analyses revealed that PID-5 Negative Affectivity correlated strongly with Neuroticism, and PID-5 Antagonism and Disinhibition correlated strongly negatively with Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, respectively; Antagonism and Disinhibition also were both linked strongly to Big-Three trait Disinhibition. PID-5 Detachment related strongly to personality, including Extraversion/Positive Temperament, but did not show its expected specificity to this factor. Finally, PID-5 Psychoticism correlated only modestly with Openness. Facet-level analyses indicated that some PID-5 scales demonstrated replicable deviations from their DSM-5 model placements. We discuss implications of these data for the DSM-5 model of personality disorder, and for integrating it with well-established structures of normal personality.
An Amplifier-Free Pipeline-SAR ADC Architecture With Enhanced Speed and Energy Efficiency

A new pipeline-successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) structure without residue amplifier and timing-interleaving is presented in this brief. Two redistribution digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and comparators are adopted in two stages, with DAC1 for most significant bit (MSB) comparisons and DAC2 for least significant bit (LSB) comparisons. The previous sampled signal is transferred from DAC1 to DAC2 through charge sharing so that previous LSB conversions can operate simultaneously with the next sample and MSB conversions, which increases the conversion speed. With a 0.5 scale factor between two stages and multicomparator offsets, offset calibration has to be obtained to eliminate offset nonlinearity. The number of conversion cycles required by the proposed design is only 6 and sampling requires no extra time, which is 3 cycles fewer than traditional SAR ADC. The behavioral model of the 8b proposed design proves the performance stability with parasitic capacitance variation, capacitor mismatch, offset, and noise errors. An 8b prototype is designed in a 65-nm CMOS technology. The supply voltage is 1.2 V, with a 500-MS/s sampling rate. The circuit simulation results achieve 7.49b ENOB with 1.53-mW power consumption. The simulated FoM is 17 fJ/conv.
Analysis of Fusobacterium persistence and antibiotic response in colorectal cancer

Bacteria go the distance in cancer The bacterial species Fusobacterium nucleatum is associated with a subset of human colorectal cancers, but its role in tumorigenesis is unclear. Studying patient samples, Bullman et al. found that F. nucleatum and certain co-occurring bacteria were present not only in primary tumors but also in distant metastases. Preliminary evidence suggests that the bacterium is localized primarily within the metastatic cancer cells rather than in the stroma. Antibiotic treatment of mice carrying xenografts of F. nucleatum–positive human colorectal cancer slowed tumor growth, consistent with a causal role for the bacterium in tumorigenesis. Science, this issue p. 1443 The same bacteria present in primary tumors of patients with colorectal cancer are also present in liver metastases. Colorectal cancers comprise a complex mixture of malignant cells, nontransformed cells, and microorganisms. Fusobacterium nucleatum is among the most prevalent bacterial species in colorectal cancer tissues. Here we show that colonization of human colorectal cancers with Fusobacterium and its associated microbiome—including Bacteroides, Selenomonas, and Prevotella species—is maintained in distal metastases, demonstrating microbiome stability between paired primary and metastatic tumors. In situ hybridization analysis revealed that Fusobacterium is predominantly associated with cancer cells in the metastatic lesions. Mouse xenografts of human primary colorectal adenocarcinomas were found to retain viable Fusobacterium and its associated microbiome through successive passages. Treatment of mice bearing a colon cancer xenograft with the antibiotic metronidazole reduced Fusobacterium load, cancer cell proliferation, and overall tumor growth. These observations argue for further investigation of antimicrobial interventions as a potential treatment for patients with Fusobacterium-associated colorectal cancer.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Scores Generated From the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF Test Booklets

We investigated the internal structure comparability of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) scores derived from the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF booklets in a sample of 320 criminal defendants (229 males and 54 females). After exclusion of invalid protocols, the final sample consisted of 96 defendants who were administered the MMPI-2-RF booklet and 83 who completed the MMPI-2. No statistically significant differences in MMPI-2-RF invalidity rates were observed between the two forms. Individuals in the final sample who completed the MMPI-2-RF did not statistically differ on demographics or referral question from those who were administered the MMPI-2 booklet. Independent t tests showed no statistically significant differences between MMPI-2-RF scores generated with the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF booklets on the test’s substantive scales. Statistically significant small differences were observed on the revised Variable Response Inconsistency (VRIN-r) and True Response Inconsistency (TRIN-r) scales. Cronbach’s alpha and standard errors of measurement were approximately equal between the booklets for all MMPI-2-RF scales. Finally, MMPI-2-RF intercorrelations produced from the two forms yielded mostly small and a few medium differences, indicating that discriminant validity and test structure are maintained. Overall, our findings reflect the internal structure comparability of MMPI-2-RF scale scores generated from MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF booklets. Implications of these results and limitations of these findings are discussed.