Noise and PSRR improvement technique for TPC readout front-end in CMOS. technology.

ALICE is one of four major experiments of particle accelerator LHC installed in the European laboratory CERN. The management committee of the LHC accelerator has just approved a program update for this experiment. Among the upgrades planned for the coming years of the ALICE experiment is to improve the resolution and tracking efficiency maintaining the excellent particles identification ability, and to increase the read-out event rate to 100 KHz. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to update the Time Projection Chamber detector (TPC) and Muon tracking (MCH) detector modifying the read-out electronics, which is not suitable for this migration. To overcome this limitation the design, fabrication and experimental test of new ASIC named SAMPA has been proposed . This ASIC will support both positive and negative polarities, with 32 channels per chip and continuous data readout with smaller power consumption than the previous versions. This work aims to design, fabrication and experimental test of a readout front-end in 130nm CMOS technology with configurable polarity (positive/negative), peaking time and sensitivity. The new SAMPA ASIC can be used in both chambers (TPC and MCH). The proposed front-end is composed of a Charge Sensitive Amplifier (CSA) and a Semi-Gaussian shaper. In order to obtain an ASIC integrating 32 channels per chip, the design of the proposed front-end requires small area and low power consumption, but at the same time requires low noise. In this sense, a new Noise and PSRR (Power Supply Rejection Ratio) improvement technique for the CSA design without power and area impact is proposed in this work. The analysis and equations of the proposed circuit are presented which were verified by electrical simulations and experimental test of a produced chip with 5 channels of the designed front-end. The measured equivalent noise charge was <550e for 30mV/fC of sensitivity at a input capacitance of 18.5pF. The total core area of the front-end was 2300?m × 150?m, and the measured total power consumption was 9.1mW per channel.

The Relationship Between Social Support and Self-Advocacy in College Students With Disabilities

This study explored the connection between social support and self-advocacy in college students with disabilities. The College Students with Disabilities Campus Climate Survey (Lombardi, Gerdes, & Murray, 2011) was used to gather data from undergraduate students at a midsize western private university. Social support was found to be a significant predictor of self-advocacy in college students with disabilities. Peer support, family support, and faculty teaching practices made up the construct of social support. Peer support and faculty teaching practices were found to be significant predictors of student self-advocacy. Family support was not found to be significant. The data was examined for group differences between genders, disability types, and disability status (high incidence disabilities versus low incidence disabilities). No significant group differences were found. These findings suggest helping students build social support will increase their level of self-advocacy, which in turn may increase academic success.

Teachers’ beliefs about diversity: an analysis from a personal and professional perspective

The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs that teachers have about diversity and their level of sensitivity towards some topics related to it. Moreover, beliefs were compared according to teachers’ personal and professional views and teaching experience. The Personal and Professional Beliefs about Diversity Scales (Pohan and Aguilar, 1999) were administered to a sample of 233 teachers. Results showed highly positive beliefs towards diversity in all its dimensions (cultural, linguistic and social diversity, ability, gender, sexual orientation and religion), especially regarding its personal implications compared to the professional ones. Likewise, it was observed a significant relationship between years of teaching experience and professional beliefs about diversity, so teachers with no school experience showed a higher tolerance than those with teaching experience, mainly in aspects related to cultural, linguistic and social differences, ability and gender. The implications that these results have for educational practice and the need for the development of multicultural education courses that favour an effective teaching are discussed.

Empoderamiento y discapacidad, factores moduladores del desarrollo de esta potencialidad

Introducción. El desarrollo del empoderamiento implica la posesión de múltiples habilidades que ayudan a las personas a afrontar la adversidad, por lo que el desarrollo de esta capacidad puede ser prioritario entre estas personas para mejorar su calidad de vida. Objetivos. Los objetivos del estudio analizan la capacidad de empoderamiento de un grupo de jóvenes con discapacidad en función de la tipología y etapa en la que se adquiere la discapacidad. Metodología. Participaron 98 jóvenes con diferentes tipos de discapacidad (física, intelectual, visual y auditiva). Contestaron la versión española adaptada de la Escala de Rogers, Chamberlin, Ellison y Crean (1997) diseñada para medir esta capacidad. Resultados. Los análisis indicaron altos niveles de esta capacidad entre los jóvenes observándose en mayor medida en las personas con discapacidad sobrevenida, así como en la discapacidad motora y visual. Conclusiones. Esto nos sugiere que esta capacidad puede variar y evolucionar, de ahí la importancia de fomentarla en programas de intervención-acción.

Designing Regularizers and Architectures for Recurrent Neural Networks

Cette thèse contribue a la recherche vers l'intelligence artificielle en utilisant des méthodes connexionnistes. Les réseaux de neurones récurrents sont un ensemble de modèles séquentiels de plus en plus populaires capable en principe d'apprendre des algorithmes arbitraires. Ces modèles effectuent un apprentissage en profondeur, un type d'apprentissage machine. Sa généralité et son succès empirique en font un sujet intéressant pour la recherche et un outil prometteur pour la création de l'intelligence artificielle plus générale. Le premier chapitre de cette thèse donne un bref aperçu des sujets de fonds: l'intelligence artificielle, l'apprentissage machine, l'apprentissage en profondeur et les réseaux de neurones récurrents. Les trois chapitres suivants couvrent ces sujets de manière de plus en plus spécifiques. Enfin, nous présentons quelques contributions apportées aux réseaux de neurones récurrents. Le chapitre \ref{arxiv1} présente nos travaux de régularisation des réseaux de neurones récurrents. La régularisation vise à améliorer la capacité de généralisation du modèle, et joue un role clé dans la performance de plusieurs applications des réseaux de neurones récurrents, en particulier en reconnaissance vocale. Notre approche donne l'état de l'art sur TIMIT, un benchmark standard pour cette tâche. Le chapitre \ref{cpgp} présente une seconde ligne de travail, toujours en cours, qui explore une nouvelle architecture pour les réseaux de neurones récurrents. Les réseaux de neurones récurrents maintiennent un état caché qui représente leurs observations antérieures. L'idée de ce travail est de coder certaines dynamiques abstraites dans l'état caché, donnant au réseau une manière naturelle d'encoder des tendances cohérentes de l'état de son environnement. Notre travail est fondé sur un modèle existant; nous décrivons ce travail et nos contributions avec notamment une expérience préliminaire.

The Legal Status and Influence of Decisions of International Organizations and other Bodies in the European Union. College of Europe Research Paper in Law 01/2014

Introduction. The European Union’s external action is not only defined by its influence on international developments, but also by its ability and the need to respond to those developments. While traditionally many have stressed the EU’s ‘autonomy’, over the years its ‘dependence’ on global developments has become more clear.2 International law has continued to play a key role in, not only in the EU’s external relations, but also in the Union’s own legal order.3 The purpose of this paper is not to assess the role or performance of the EU in international institutions.4 Rather it purports to reverse the picture and focus on a somewhat under-researched topic: the legal status of decisions of international organizations in the EU’s legal order.5 While parts of the status of these decisions relate to the status of international agreements and international customary law, it can be argued that decisions of international organizations and other international bodies form a distinct category. In fact, it has been observed that “this phenomenon has added a new layer of complexity to the already complex law of external relations of the European Union”.6 Emerging questions relate to the possible difference between decisions of international organizations of which the EU is a member (such as the FAO) and decisions of organizations where it is not (irrespective of existing competences in that area – such as in the ILO). Questions also relate to the hierarchical status of these decisions in the EU’s legal order and to the possibility of them being invoked in direct or indirect actions before the Court of Justice. This contribution takes a broad perspective on decisions of international organizations by including decisions taken in other international institutions which do not necessarily comply with the standard definition of international organizations,7 be it bodies set-up by multilateral conventions or informal (transnational / regulatory) bodies. Some of these bodies are relatively close to the EU (such as the Councils established by Association Agreements – see further Section 5 below); others operate at a certain distance. Limiting the analysis to formal international organizations will not do justice to the manifold relationships between the European Union and various international bodies and to the effects of the norms produced by these bodies. The term ‘international decisions’ is therefore used to refer to any normative output of international institutional arrangements.

Designing Regularizers and Architectures for Recurrent Neural Networks

Cette thèse contribue a la recherche vers l'intelligence artificielle en utilisant des méthodes connexionnistes. Les réseaux de neurones récurrents sont un ensemble de modèles séquentiels de plus en plus populaires capable en principe d'apprendre des algorithmes arbitraires. Ces modèles effectuent un apprentissage en profondeur, un type d'apprentissage machine. Sa généralité et son succès empirique en font un sujet intéressant pour la recherche et un outil prometteur pour la création de l'intelligence artificielle plus générale. Le premier chapitre de cette thèse donne un bref aperçu des sujets de fonds: l'intelligence artificielle, l'apprentissage machine, l'apprentissage en profondeur et les réseaux de neurones récurrents. Les trois chapitres suivants couvrent ces sujets de manière de plus en plus spécifiques. Enfin, nous présentons quelques contributions apportées aux réseaux de neurones récurrents. Le chapitre \ref{arxiv1} présente nos travaux de régularisation des réseaux de neurones récurrents. La régularisation vise à améliorer la capacité de généralisation du modèle, et joue un role clé dans la performance de plusieurs applications des réseaux de neurones récurrents, en particulier en reconnaissance vocale. Notre approche donne l'état de l'art sur TIMIT, un benchmark standard pour cette tâche. Le chapitre \ref{cpgp} présente une seconde ligne de travail, toujours en cours, qui explore une nouvelle architecture pour les réseaux de neurones récurrents. Les réseaux de neurones récurrents maintiennent un état caché qui représente leurs observations antérieures. L'idée de ce travail est de coder certaines dynamiques abstraites dans l'état caché, donnant au réseau une manière naturelle d'encoder des tendances cohérentes de l'état de son environnement. Notre travail est fondé sur un modèle existant; nous décrivons ce travail et nos contributions avec notamment une expérience préliminaire.

Illinois public schools financial statistics and local property tax data /

Mode of access: Internet.

Listening to the 'voices' of students with severe learning difficulties through a task-based approach to research and learning in physical education

In this article, Hayley Fitzgerald, Anne Jobling and David Kirk consider the physical education and sporting experiences of a group of students with severe learning difficulties. Their study is thought provoking, not only because of the important and somewhat neglected subject matter, but equally for the research approach adopted. The way in which the study engaged with the students and the insights gained from that engagement will be of particular interest to practitioner researchers.

Prolotherapy injections, saline injections, and exercises for chronic low-back pain: A randomized trial

Objectives. To assess the efficacy of a prolotherapy injection and exercise protocol in the treatment of chronic nonspecific low back pain. Design. Randomized controlled trial with two- by- two factorial design, triple- blinded for injection status, and single- blinded for exercise status. Setting. General practice. Participants. One hundred ten participants with nonspecific low- back pain of average 14 years duration were randomized to have repeated prolotherapy ( 20% glucose/ 0.2% lignocaine) or normal saline injections into tender lumbo- pelvic ligaments and randomized to perform either flexion/ extension exercises or normal activity over 6 months. Main outcome measures: Pain intensity ( VAS) and disability scores ( Roland- Morris) at 2.5, 4, 6, 12, and 24 months. Results. Follow- up was achieved in 96% at 12 months and 80% at 2 years. Ligament injections, with exercises and with normal activity, resulted in significant and sustained reductions in pain and disability throughout the trial, but no attributable effect was found for prolotherapy injections over saline injections or for exercises over normal activity. At 12 months, the proportions achieving more than 50% reduction in pain from baseline by injection group were glucose- lignocaine: 0.46 versus saline: 0.36. By activity group these proportions were exercise: 0.41 versus normal activity: 0.39. Corresponding proportions for > 50% reduction in disability were glucose- lignocaine: 0.42 versus saline 0.36 and exercise: 0.36 versus normal activity: 0.38. There were no between group differences in any of the above measures. Conclusions. In chronic nonspecific low- back pain, significant and sustained reductions in pain and disability occur with ligament injections, irrespective of the solution injected or the concurrent use of exercises.

A proposed new classification system for whiplash associated disorders - implications for assessment and management

The development of chronic symptoms following whiplash injury is common and contributes substantially to costs associated with this condition. The currently used Quebec Task Force classification system of whiplash associated disorders is primarily based on the severity of signs and symptoms following injury and its usefulness has been questioned. Recent evidence is emerging that demonstrates differences in physical and psychological impairments between individuals who recover from the injury and those who develop persistent pain and disability. Motor dysfunction, local cervical mechanical hyperalgesia and psychological distress are present soon after injury in all whiplash injured persons irrespective of recovery. In contrast those individuals who develop persistent moderate/severe pain and disability show a more complex picture, characterized by additional impairments of widespread sensory hypersensitivity indicative of underlying disturbances in central pain processing as well as acute posttraumatic stress reaction, with these changes present from soon after injury. Based on this heterogeneity a new classification system is proposed that takes into account measurable disturbances in motor, sensory and psychological dysfunction. The implications for the management of this condition are discussed. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Movement and motor development in ELBW infants at 1 year is related to cognitive and motor abilities at 4 years

A relationship between motor ability and cognitive performance has been previously reported. This study aimed to investigate the association between movement and cognitive performance at 1 and 4 years corrected age of children born less than 1000 g, and whether developmental testing of movement at 1 year is predictive of cognitive performance at 4 years. Motor development was assessed at both ages using the neurosensory motor developmental assessment (NSMDA) and motor development was classified as normal, or minimal, mild, moderate-severe dysfunction. Cognitive performance was assessed on the Griffith Mental Developmental Scale at 1 year and McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities at 4 years. Subjects included 198 children of birthweight less than 1000 g. Of these 132 children returned for follow-up at the corrected ages of both 1 and 4 years. The 66 children not included had a slight increase in gestational age, while the mothers were younger and had a lower level of education. A significant association was found between NSMDA group classification at 1 year and cognitive performance at both 1 and 4 years (p

Literacy skills of adults with intellectual disability in community-based day programs

A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. There is limited information available related to the literacy skills of adults with intellectual disabilities. In this project, information was collected about the contexts, current practices, and clients' abilities in literacy in two community-based disability service programs. Individual assessments were undertaken to collect details of the current literacy levels of adults with intellectual disabilities in day program settings. These assessments focused on receptive language, reading at the letter, word and sentence level, writing vocabulary and connected text, and literacy preferences. Audits were also conducted related to the provision of opportunities for clients accessing these services to engage with literacy including environmental print. Structured day program activities were observed to gather information about current literacy teaching and learning. Implications of the research findings and suggestions for provision of literacy education in these settings are discusse

Principals' and teachers' perceptions of learning disabilities: A study from Nara Prefecture, Japan

In this study, perceptions of learning disabilities were obtained from 128 principals and 123 teachers in the Nara Prefecture, Japan. A factor analysis indicated that five factors underlie perceptions of learning disabilities: changes in the family and social situation, insufficient knowledge of and support for learning disabilities, teachers' abilities and professional development, teachers' situation and governmental issues. Teachers' situation was perceived to be the main factor, whereas the least important factor was governmental issues. Teachers mainly indicated agreement on the factor of insufficient knowledge of and support for students with learning disabilities. Principals were more aware of governmental issues than teachers.

Formation and mechanical properties of Mg65Cu25Er10 and Mg65Cu15Ag10Er10 bulk amorphous alloys

Mg65Cu25Er10 and Mg65Cu15Ag10Er10 bulk amorphous alloys were produced by a copper mould casting method. The alloys have high glass-forming ability and good thermal stability. The maximum diameter of glass formation (D-c), glass transition temperature (T-g), crystallization onset temperature (T-x), temperature interval of the supercooled region (Delta T-x), melting temperature (T-m), liquidus temperature (T-1) as well as heats of crystallization (Delta H-x) and melting (Delta H-m) are reported for these alloys. Both alloys exhibit high hardness and high strength at room temperature. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.