LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
ROAR: An architecture for Real-Time Opportunistic Spectrum Access in Cloud-assisted Cognitive Radio Networks

Need for Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum is increasing along with increasing wireless subscriptions and devices that is causing scarcity in total available RF spectrum. Opportunistic spectrum access in cognitive radio networks is emerging for maximizing the RF spectrum efficiency where unlicensed Secondary Users (SUs) access idle spectrum bands without causing any harmful interference to licensed Primary Users (PUs). All SUs are required to scan/sense RF spectrum to find idle bands or search for idle bands in a spectrum database not to interfere with PUs while using those idle bands. In this paper, we propose a Real-time Opportunistic Spectrum Access in Cloud-assisted Cognitive Radio Networks (ROAR) architecture where SUs (i.e., USRP wireless devices) are equipped with wide-band (50 MHz - 6 GHz) antenna and GPS units. ROAR uses cloud computing platform for real-time processing of wide-band data since SUs' performance is considerably constrained by their limited power, memory and computational capacity. In ROAR architecture, there are two parts: spectrum sensing to create a database of idle channels and dynamic spectrum access for opportunistic SU communications using idle channels. For the spectrum database, RF sensors scan/sense RF bands to find idle bands and report the geo-location of idle band, channel frequency and time stamp to the database installed in the distributed cloud platform. For opportunistic spectrum access, each SU interested for opportunistic communication queries a spectrum database to find idle channels. Distributed cloud computing is used to find idle channels for the SU where geolocation and other demands (e.g., data rate) are checked to find whether the SU is admissible or not for a given geo-location and time. If the SU is admissible based on the admissibility criteria, spectrum server sends the list of channels available for a given location and time to the SU. Then SU chooses the best suited channel to communicate opportunistically. We evaluate the ROAR architecture using numerical results obtained from extensive experiments.
Desmoglein 1 deficiency results in severe dermatitis, multiple allergies and metabolic wasting

The relative contribution of immunological dysregulation and impaired epithelial barrier function to allergic diseases is still a matter of debate. Here we describe a new syndrome featuring severe dermatitis, multiple allergies and metabolic wasting (SAM syndrome) caused by homozygous mutations in DSG1. DSG1 encodes desmoglein 1, a major constituent of desmosomes, which connect the cell surface to the keratin cytoskeleton and have a crucial role in maintaining epidermal integrity and barrier function. Mutations causing SAM syndrome resulted in lack of membrane expression of DSG1, leading to loss of cell-cell adhesion. In addition, DSG1 deficiency was associated with increased expression of a number of genes encoding allergy-related cytokines. Our deciphering of the pathogenesis of SAM syndrome substantiates the notion that allergy may result from a primary structural epidermal defect.
Combining active and semi-supervised learning for spoken language understanding

In this paper, we describe active and semi-supervised learning methods for reducing the labeling effort for spoken language understanding. In a goal-oriented call routing system, understanding the intent of the user can be framed as a classification problem. State of the art statistical classification systems are trained using a large number of human-labeled utterances, preparation of which is labor intensive and time consuming. Active learning aims to minimize the number of labeled utterances by automatically selecting the utterances that are likely to be most informative for labeling. The method for active learning we propose, inspired by certainty-based active learning, selects the examples that the classifier is the least confident about. The examples that are classified with higher confidence scores (hence not selected by active learning) are exploited using two semi-supervised learning methods. The first method augments the training data by using the machine-labeled classes for the unlabeled utterances. The second method instead augments the classification model trained using the human-labeled utterances with the machine-labeled ones in a weighted manner. We then combine active and semi-supervised learning using selectively sampled and automatically labeled data. This enables us to exploit all collected data and alleviates the data imbalance problem caused by employing only active or semi-supervised learning. We have evaluated these active and semi-supervised learning methods with a call classification system used for AT&T customer care. Our results indicate that it is possible to reduce human labeling effort significantly. 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Influence of benthic and pelagic environmental factors on the distribution of dinoflagellate cysts in surface sediments along the Swedish west coast

Abundance and frequency of dinoflagellate cysts in 19 surface sediment samples from the northern part of the Swedish west coast has been related to physical and chemical characters of the sediment, hydrography of the overlying water column, and plankton species data from the area. Density of cysts varied between 5000 and 101000 cysts g–1 dw, and the most commonly encountered species were Lingulodinium polyedrum and Protoceratium reticulatum. In all, 46 environmental variables were tested for their relation to dinoflagellate cyst densities, proportion of autotrophic and heterotrophic taxa, and individual species distribution and frequency. The outcomes of multivariate analyses, projection to latent structures (PLS) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) were consistent with each other and the actual cyst count. The density of the total cyst assemblage (>90% autotrophic taxa) was primarily related to surface temperature, macronutrients, and inversely to phytoplankton competitors, such as diatoms. The abundance of heterotrophic taxa was governed by the preferences of their prey, i.e. diatom-favourable conditions, and, in most cases, higher proportions of heterotrophic taxa were found at well-mixed sites. Some possible effects of anthropogenic contaminants were also noted. Several taxa showed distinct distribution patterns with respect to the environmental variables. A discrepancy between the species constituting the planktonic and the benthic community was revealed when data from 6 yr of plankton monitoring was compared to the data on distribution of dinoflagellate cysts. In particular, cyst-forming species were only a minor part of the plankton, suggesting that these dinoflagellates spend much of their life in the sediments.
Biological Water or Rather Water in Biology?

There has been a lot of discussion about biological water recently. Books 1-2 and reviews 3-5 were written in the past years and a special issue of the Journal of Chemical Physics was dedicated to the topic in 2014. 6 Interestingly, papers on biological water are mostly confined to chemistry and physics journals, being remarkably rare in biological or biochemical literature. So, what is actually the biological water, we physical chemists are so concerned about? Definitions vary from " soft " to " hard " ones. A soft definition describes biological water as any water around a biomolecule (i.e., protein, DNA or RNA, or a piece of a cellular membrane) that has properties distinct from those of the aqueous bulk. More hard definitions operate with mutual tailoring of thermodynamic and dynamic properties of the biomolecule and surrounding waters, 11-15 and even with covering the protein by a shell of functional water molecules which can " slave " its motions 5 and propagate to considerable distance. 16 Finally, the recent hardest interpretations invoke in their extreme form, which can hardly be considered as strictly scientific any more, the notion of cellular water as a distinct species which itself is able to carry the biological functionalities. 17-20 2 There is little doubt that a layer of non-bulk water exists around a biomolecule. 7 The relevant question is how thick such a layer is and to what extent its properties differ from those of the aqueous bulk. Let us first get a semi-quantitative estimate of the thickness, focusing on electrostatic interactions which dominate in water. The range of these interactions is governed by the Debye screening length, 21 which amounts to less than 1 nm for the physiological ionic strength of about 150 mM. The physiological solution thus has a remarkable ability to screen out electrostatic interactions, which could hardly propagate beyond some 1-3 water molecules from the surface of the biomolecule. Still, several solvent layers can represent a non-negligible fraction of available water in the crowded cellular environment. 4 Moreover, individual biomolecular functional groups can come close enough to each other such that topological characteristics of the protein or DNA surface can in principle combine with properties of interfacial water molecules in-between these groups. 22-23 For the above reasons, the relevant question is not only how many water molecules are influenced by the biomolecule, but also how much. Leaving aside the small …
Has estimation of numbers of cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 in England in 2009 provided a useful measure of the occurrence of disease?

BACKGROUND
Surveillance indicators of influenza activity have generally provided robust comparative trend data for England. These indicators became less reliable, however, for monitoring trends in activity, or comparisons with previous years, during the influenza pandemic in 2009 because of changes in the perception of risk and changes in the systems of healthcare delivery. An approach was developed to estimate the number of cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) occurring because of infection with pandemic influenza virus.


METHODS AND FINDINGS
The number of cases was estimated each week in England on the basis of total number of patients consulting healthcare services with ILI; estimates of the proportion of individuals in the community experiencing an ILI-seeking health care; and the proportion of these positive on laboratory testing. Almost 800,000 cases (range 375,000-1·6 million) of symptomatic ILI cases were estimated to have occurred over the course of the two waves of pandemic activity in England. More cases were estimated to have occurred in the second wave than in the first.


CONCLUSIONS
These results underestimate the total number of infections as they do not include asymptomatic infections nor those with mild illness not meeting the definition of a case of ILI. Nevertheless, the case number estimates provide a useful indicator of the trend in influenza activity and weekly data were extensively used in media reports. Although surveillance methods differ between countries, the approach of synthesising available data sources to produce an overall estimate of case numbers could be applied more widely to provide comparative data.
A noise optimization formulation for CMOS low-noise amplifiers with on-chip low-Q inductors

A noise optimization formulation for a CMOS low-noise amplifier (LNA) with on-chip low-Q inductors is presented, which incorporates the series resistances of the on-chip low-Q inductors into the noise optimization procedure explicitly. A 10-GHz LNA is designed and implemented in a standard mixed-signal/RF bulk 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS technology based on this formulation. The measurement results, with a power gain of 11.25 dB and a noise figure (NF) of 2.9 dB, show the lowest NF among the LNAs using bulk 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS at this frequency.
The role of taurine in improving neural stem cells proliferation and differentiation.

OBJECTIVES
Taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids in the central nervous system and has important functions in the promotion of brain development. This study aimed to determine the mechanistic role of taurine in improving neuronal proliferation, stem cell proliferation, and neural differentiation.


METHODS
The data for this review were primarily retrieved from the PubMed database from 1985 to 2015 in English. The search string included the keywords taurine, brain development, neuronal, stem cell, proliferation, differentiation, and others. Relevant publications were identified, retrieved, and reviewed.


RESULTS
This review introduces the source, function, and mechanisms of taurine in brain development and provides additional detail regarding the mechanistic role of taurine in improving neuronal proliferation, stem cell proliferation, and neural differentiation. Many studies concerning these aspects are discussed.


CONCLUSIONS
Taurine plays an important role in brain development, including neuronal proliferation, stem cell proliferation, and differentiation, via several mechanisms. Taurine can be directly used in clinical applications to improve brain development because it has no toxic effects on humans.
Deep Learning for Automated Quality Assessment of Color Fundus Images in Diabetic Retinopathy Screening

192 words] Purpose: To develop a computer based method for the automated assessment of image quality in the context of diabetic retinopathy (DR) to guide the photographer. Methods: A deep learning framework was trained to grade the images automatically. A large representative set of 7000 color fundus images were used for the experiment which were obtained from the EyePACS (http://www.eyepacs.com/) that were made available by the California Healthcare Foundation. Three retinal image analysis experts were employed to categorize these images into ‘accept’ and ‘reject’ classes based on the precise definition of image quality in the context of DR. A deep learning framework was trained using 3428 images. Results: A total of 3572 images were used for the evaluation of the proposed method. The method shows an accuracy of 100% to successfully categorise ‘accept’ and ‘reject’ images. Conclusion: Image quality is an essential prerequisite for the grading of DR. In this paper we have proposed a deep learning based automated image quality assessment method in the context of DR. The
Arguments about Arguments

We survey the contents of Finocchiaro's papers collected in Arguments about Arguments, pointing out, where appropriate, their expected interest for readers of Philosophy of the Social Sciences. The papers include essays about argument theory and reasoning, the nature of fallacies and fallaciousness, critiques of noteworthy contributions to argumentation theory, and historical essays on scientific thinking.
Ulcerated midline nodule of the hard palate.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION A 14-year-old boy was referred to the Oral Medicine Clinic, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, for evaluation of a red nodular lesion of the palate. The lesion, which measured 10 10 5 mm, was located in the midline of the hard palate and was firm to palpation. A focal area of ulceration was noted in the center of the lesion (Fig. 1). The patient reported that the lesion had been present for 2 months and was somewhat painful, presumably secondary to the ulceration. No lymph nodes were palpable. The patient’s medical history was otherwise noncontributory. No osseous alterations were noted on occlusal radiograph (Fig. 2) or computerized tomography scanning.
RAVLT and nonverbal analog: French forms and clinical findings.

BACKGROUND
Objective clinical evaluation of memory frequently requires serial testing but the issue of whether multi-formed tests are equivalent and can be used interchangeably is seldom examined. An added problem in bilingual Canadian settings is the extent to which it is appropriate to measure French speakers' performance on translations of English tests. The present work used the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and a nonverbal analog, the Aggie Figures Learning Test (AFLT), to examine whether a) different forms of the same test are equivalent, b) performance on the two tests is comparable, c) two language groups perform similarly, and d) the RAVLT can detect dysfunction in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).


METHODS
We compared three French versions of the RAVLT and three forms of the AFLT in 114 healthy francophone adults. We subsequently compared the performance of the same francophone subjects to a previously obtained sample of anglophones on both tests, and then administered the RAVLT to anglophone or francophone patients with TLE.


RESULTS
For both tasks the three forms were equivalent and performance on the RAVLT was comparable to that on the AFLT. Francophone subjects performed slightly worse on the RAVLT compared to anglophones but performance of the two language groups did not differ on the AFLT. Finally, left TLE patients were impaired compared to right on the RAVLT, but no performance differences were observed across the two language groups in the patient sample.


CONCLUSIONS
The RAVLT and AFLT are useful tools for examination of learning and memory in French and English speaking populations. On the RAVLT, the lesion effect in patients is not affected by differences in performance between language groups.
Thin SiGe buffer layer growth by in situ low energy hydrogen plasma preparation

Abstract A new method to relax thin constant composition molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown SiGe buffer layers on silicon (100) substrates has been studied. A low energy plasma cleaning process (LEPC) using hydrogen prior to deposition can reduce the Si 1− x Ge x layer thickness to approximately 10% of a standard graded buffer. The layers were characterised by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The threading dislocation density is 10 5 cm –2 (TEM measurement) and is comparable to or even lower than in standard buffers. Ge concentration and Si 1− x Ge x layer thickness are limited by spontaneous relaxation during growth. The critical thickness on hydrogen prepared wafers is reduced to nearly 50% of that prepared in the standard manner. A complete post-epitaxial relaxation has been obtained for a 160-nm-thick Si 0.83 Ge 0.17 layer at temperatures as low as 600°C. AFM investigations of such samples show significantly reduced area-RMS values of 0.3–0.9 nm. By means of multistep growth the Ge content can be increased. In a two-step mode thin buffers up to 34% Ge were grown with a high crystal quality.
Discourse analysis.

Discourse Analysis Introduction. Discourse analysis is the study of language in use. It rests on the basic premise that language cannot be understood without reference to the context, both linguistic and extra-linguistic, in which it is used. It draws from the findings and methodologies of a wide range of fields, such as anthropology, philosophy, sociology, social and cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence. It is itself a broad field comprised of a large number of linguistic subfields and approaches, including speech act theory, conversation analysis, pragmatics, and the ethnography of speaking. At the same time, the lines between certain linguistic subfields, in particular psycholinguistics, anthropological linguistics, and cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis overlap, and approaches to the study of discourse are informed by these subfields, and in many cases findings are independently corroborated. As a very interdisciplinary approach, the boundaries of this field are fuzzy. 1 The fundamental assumption underlying all approaches to discourse analysis is that language must be studied as it is used, in its context of production, and so the object of analysis is very rarely in the form of a sentence. Instead, written or spoken texts, usually larger than one sentence or one utterance, provide the data. In other words, the discourse analyst works with naturally occurring corpora, and with such corpora come a wide variety of features such as hesitations, non-standard forms, self-corrections, repetitions, incomplete clauses, words, and so—all linguistic material which would be relegated to performance by Chomsky (1965) and so stand outside the scope of analysis for many formal linguists. But for the discourse analyst, such " performance " data are 1 It is interesting, in this light, to compare the contents of several standard handbooks of discourse analysis. Brown and Yule (1986) focus heavily on pragmatics and information structure, while Schiffrin (1994) includes several chapters directly related to sociolinguistic methodologies (i.e. chapters on interactional sociolinguistics, ethnomethodology and variation analysis). Mey (1993) has three chapters on conversation analysis (a topic which Schiffrin also covers) and a chapter on " societal pragmatics. " Lenore Grenoble, Discourse Analysis 2 indeed relevant and may in fact be the focus of research. The focus on actual instances of language use also means that the analysis does not look at language only as an abstract system; this is a fundamental difference between formal work on syntax versus discourse analysis. This paper first provides an overview of discourse analysis and …
A meta-analysis of the technology acceptance model

A statistical meta-analysis of the technology acceptance model (TAM) as applied in various fields was conducted using 88 published studies that provided sufficient data to be credible. The results show TAM to be a valid and robust model that has been widely used, but which potentially has wider applicability. A moderator analysis involving user types and usage types was performed to investigate conditions under which TAM may have different effects. The study confirmed the value of using students as surrogates for professionals in some TAM studies, and perhaps more generally. It also revealed the power of meta-analysis as a rigorous alternative to qualitative and narrative literature review methods. # 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.