Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tracking mm-Wave channel dynamics: Fast beam training strategies under mobility

In order to cope with the severe path loss, millimeter-wave (mm-wave) systems exploit highly directional communication. As a consequence, even a slight beam mis-alignment between two communicating devices (for example, due to mobility) can generate a significant signal drop. This leads to frequent invocations of time-consuming mechanisms for beam re-alignment, which deteriorate system performance. In this paper, we propose smart beam training and tracking strategies for fast mm-wave link establishment and maintenance under node mobility. We leverage the ability of hybrid analog-digital transceivers to collect channel information from multiple spatial directions simultaneously and formulate a probabilistic optimization problem to model the temporal evolution of the mm-wave channel under mobility. In addition, we present for the first time a beam tracking algorithm that extracts information needed to update the steering directions directly from data packets, without the need for spatial scanning during the ongoing data transmission. Simulation results, obtained by a custom simulator based on ray tracing, demonstrate the ability of our beam training/tracking strategies to keep the communication rate only 10% below the optimal bound. Compared to the state of the art, our approach provides a 40% to 150% rate increase, yet requires lower complexity hardware.
Preconception and prenatal testing of biologic fathers for carrier status

Disclaimer: This guideline is designed primarily as an educational resource for medical geneticists and other health care providers to help them provide quality medical genetic services. Adherence to this guideline does not necessarily assure a successful medical outcome. This guideline should not be considered inclusive of all proper procedures and tests or exclusive of other procedures and tests that are reasonably directed to obtaining the same results. In determining the propriety of any specific procedure or test, the geneticist should apply his or her own professional judgment to the specific clinical circumstances presented by the individual patient or specimen. It may be prudent, however, to document in the patient's record the rationale for any significant deviation from this guideline.
Efficient Feature Group Sequencing for Anytime Linear Prediction

We consider \textit{anytime} linear prediction in the common machine learning setting, where features are in groups that have costs. We achieve anytime (or interruptible) predictions by sequencing the computation of feature groups and reporting results using the computed features at interruption. We extend Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) and Forward Regression (FR) to learn the sequencing greedily under this group setting with costs. We theoretically guarantee that our algorithms achieve near-optimal linear predictions at each budget when a feature group is chosen. With a novel analysis of OMP, we improve its theoretical bound to the same strength as that of FR. In addition, we develop a novel algorithm that consumes cost $4B$ to approximate the optimal performance of \textit{any} cost $B$, and prove that with cost less than $4B$, such an approximation is impossible. To our knowledge, these are the first anytime bounds at \textit{all} budgets. We test our algorithms on two real-world data-sets and evaluate them in terms of anytime linear prediction performance against cost-weighted Group Lasso and alternative greedy algorithms.
Modeling The Effects of Mother’s Age at First Birth on Child Health at Birth

This study models the impact of mother’s age at first birth on child health at birth in Cameroon. The objectives are: (1) investigate the implication of mother’s age at first birth on child health at birth; (2) examine the impact of mother’s age groups on birth weight, and (3) suggest economic policies to ameliorate the mother’s age – child health relationship. We make used of the control function approach to determine the relationship between mother’s age at first birth and birth weight. The 2011 Cameroon demographic and health survey data is use to estimate our result in STATA 10.1. The result reveals that mother’s age at first birth is negatively correlating with birth weight. Evidences by age group suggest that rates of adverse perinatal outcome such as low birth weight and stillbirth are linked to maternal age 35–39 years old. Based on our results, we recommend that aspiring mothers should endeavour to give birth to their first child before 35 years while mother’s already advanced in age should follow closely their prenatal and medical services. This is a major step towards poverty alleviation due to low birth weight complications.
Contribution of Selection for Protein Folding Stability in Shaping the Patterns of Polymorphisms in Coding Regions

The patterns of polymorphisms in genomes are imprints of the evolutionary forces at play in nature. In particular, polymorphisms have been extensively used to infer the fitness effects of mutations and their dynamics of fixation. However, the role and contribution of molecular biophysics to these observations remain unclear. Here, we couple robust findings from protein biophysics, enzymatic flux theory, the selection against the cytotoxic effects of protein misfolding, and explicit population dynamics simulations in the polyclonal regime. First, we recapitulate results on the dynamics of clonal interference and on the shape of the DFE, thus providing them with a molecular and mechanistic foundation. Second, we predict that if evolution is indeed under the dynamic equilibrium of mutation–selection balance, the fraction of stabilizing and destabilizing mutations is almost equal among single-nucleotide polymorphisms segregating at high allele frequencies. This prediction is proven true for polymorphisms in the human coding region. Overall, our results show how selection for protein folding stability predominantly shapes the patterns of polymorphisms in coding regions.
Domain General Mechanisms of Perceptual Decision Making in Human Cortex

To successfully interact with objects in the environment, sensory evidence must be continuously acquired, interpreted, and used to guide appropriate motor responses. For example, when driving, a red light should motivate a motor command to depress the brake pedal. Single-unit recording studies have established that simple sensorimotor transformations are mediated by the same neurons that ultimately guide the behavioral response. However, it is also possible that these sensorimotor regions are the recipients of a modality-independent decision signal that is computed elsewhere. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and human observers to show that the time course of activation in a subregion of the right insula is consistent with a role in accumulating sensory evidence independently from the required motor response modality (saccade vs manual). Furthermore, a combination of computational modeling and simulations of the blood oxygenation level-dependent response suggests that this region is not simply recruited by general arousal or by the tonic maintenance of attention during the decision process. Our data thus raise the possibility that a modality-independent representation of sensory evidence may guide activity in effector-specific cortical areas before the initiation of a behavioral response.
Two-Dimensional Sensor System for Automotive Crash Prediction

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) have turned out to be India’s biggest emerging challenge. Road safety is an issue of global concern on human life and property. In India more than1,37,000 people were killed in road accidents in 2013 alone, which is greater than the number of people killed in all our wars put together. The main of work is focused on the development of a novel and unique automotive sensor system for the measurement of relative position and orientation of another vehicle in close proximity. The Sensor system based on the use of Ultrasonic sensors and Infrared Sensors, which measures obstacle from some distance. The use of both ultrasonic sensor and infrared sensors in order to measure small inter vehicular distance of the automotives. While the ultrasonic sensors do not work at very small inter vehicle distance and have low refresh rates, their use during short initial time duration leads to a reliable estimator. Voice guidance is used to warn the vehicle after measuring the distances from the sensors. The results show that planar position and orientation can be accurately estimated for a range of relative motions at different oblique angles.
Phase transition in gauge theories, monopoles and the multiple point principle

This review is devoted to the Multiple Point Principle (MPP), according to which several vacuum states with the same energy density exist in Nature. The MPP is implemented to the Standard Model (SM), Family replicated gauge group model (FRGGM) and phase transitions in gauge theories with/without monopoles. Using renormalization group equations for the SM, the effective potential in the two-loop approximation is investigated, and the existence of its postulated second minimum at the fundamental scale is confirmed. Phase transitions in the lattice gauge theories are reviewed. The lattice results for critical coupling constants are compared with those of the Higgs monopole model, in which the lattice artifact monopoles are replaced by the point-like Higgs scalar particles with magnetic charge. Considering our (3+1)-dimensional space–time as, in some way, discrete or imagining it as a lattice with a parameter a = λP, where λP is the Planck length, we have investigated the additional contributions of monopoles to the β-functions of renormalization group equations for running fine structure constants αi(μ) (i = 1, 2, 3 correspond to the U(1), SU(2) and SU(3) gauge groups of the SM) in the FRGGM extended beyond the SM at high energies. It is shown that monopoles have Nfam times smaller magnetic charge in the FRGGM than in the SM (Nfam is a number of families in the FRGGM). We have estimated also the enlargement of a number of fermions in the FRGGM leading to the suppression of the asymptotic freedom in the non-Abelian theory. We have reviewed that, in contrast to the case of the Anti-grand-unified-theory (AGUT), there exists a possibility of unification of all gauge interactions (including gravity) near the Planck scale due to monopoles. The possibility of the [SU(5)]3 or [SO(10)]3 unification at the GUT-scale ~1018GeV is briefly considered.
Accumulation of slightly deleterious mutations in mitochondrial protein-coding genes of large versus small mammals

After the effective size of a population, Ne, declines, some slightly deleterious amino acid replacements which were initially suppressed by purifying selection become effectively neutral and can reach fixation. Here we investigate this phenomenon for a set of all 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes from 110 mammalian species. By using body mass as a proxy for Ne, we show that large mammals (i.e., those with low Ne) as compared with small ones (in our sample these are, on average, 369.5 kg and 275 g, respectively) have a 43% higher rate of accumulation of nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions relative to synonymous substitutions, and an 8–40% higher rate of accumulation of radical amino acid substitutions relative to conservative substitutions, depending on the type of amino acid classification. These higher rates result in a 6% greater amino acid dissimilarity between modern species and their most recent reconstructed ancestors in large versus small mammals. Because nonsynonymous substitutions are likely to be more harmful than synonymous substitutions, and radical amino acid substitutions are likely to be more harmful than conservative ones, our results suggest that large mammals experience less efficient purifying selection than small mammals. Furthermore, because in the course of mammalian evolution body size tends to increase and, consequently, Ne tends to decline, evolution of mammals toward large body size may involve accumulation of slightly deleterious mutations in mitochondrial protein-coding genes, which may contribute to decline or extinction of large mammals.
Methane and nitrous oxide exchange over a managed hay meadow

The methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) exchange of a temperate mountain grassland near Neustift, Austria, was measured during 2010–2012 over a time period of 22 months using the eddy covariance method. Exchange rates of both compounds at the site were low, with 97% of all half-hourly CH4 and N2O fluxes ranging between ±200 and ±50 ng m−2 s−1, respectively. The meadow acted as a sink for both compounds during certain time periods, but was a clear source of CH4 and N2O on an annual timescale. Therefore, both gases contributed to an increase of the global warming potential (GWP), effectively reducing the sink strength in terms of CO2 equivalents of the investigated grassland site. In 2011, our best guess estimate showed a net greenhouse gas (GHG) sink of −32 g CO2 equ. m−2 yr−1 for the meadow, whereby 55% of the CO2 sink strength of −71 g CO2m−2 yr−1 was offset by CH4 (N2O) emissions of 7 (32) g CO2 equ. m−2 yr−1. When all data were pooled, the ancillary parameters explained 27 (42)% of observed CH4 (N2O) flux variability, and up to 62 (76)% on shorter timescales in-between management dates. In the case of N2O fluxes, we found the highest emissions at intermediate soil water contents and at soil temperatures close to 0 or above 14 °C. In comparison to CO2, H2O and energy fluxes, the interpretation of CH4 and N2O exchange was challenging due to footprint heterogeneity regarding their sources and sinks, uncertainties regarding post-processing and quality control. Our results emphasize that CH4 and N2O fluxes over supposedly well-aerated and moderately fertilized soils cannot be neglected when evaluating the GHG impact of temperate managed grasslands.
From laparoscopic assisted radical vaginal hysterectomy to vaginal assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy

Please cite this paper as: Koehler C, Gottschalk E, Chiantera V, Marnitz S, Hasenbein K, Schneider A. From laparoscopic assisted radical vaginal hysterectomy to vaginal assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy. BJOG 2012;119:254–262.
Development of successive cambia, cambial activity, and their relationship to physiological traits in Ipomoea arborescens (Convolvulaceae) seedlings.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY The seedling stage is one of the most critical phases in the life history of plants; during this stage, plants must develop efficient conductive and storage systems before the end of the favorable season. Little is known about the origin of successive cambia in seedlings of tree species of Ipomoea or about how many cambia are produced in one growth season. We studied the anatomy of Ipomoea arborescens seedlings to defi ne when cambium is differentiated, to determine how many cambia differentiate in one year of growth, and to relate the development of successive cambia to physiological aspects of growth. METHODS Seedlings from 5 to 425 d of age were harvested, and their morphology as well as CO(2) and water exchange, were evaluated at 5 and 60 d after germination. Six stages of development were established to study origin of cambia. KEY RESULTS Cambium was differentiated 5 d after germination, at a time when seedlings had photosynthetic cotyledons with high specific area, assimilation rate, and stomatal conductance. Differentiation of the fi rst successive cambium occurred inparenchyma cells below the endodermis or starch sheath. Development of reverse cambium and intraxylary phloem cambiumdemonstrated that ontogenetic shifts may occur in different stem regions. In the 10-mo-old plants, all cambia reactivated, and earlywood wide vessels were differentiated. CONCLUSIONS The origin of successive cambia, the occurrence of more than one type of cambium, and parenchyma proliferation are features shared by I. arborescens with its climbing ancestors as a strategy for survival in the harsh environment of tropical deciduous forests.
With a little help from my friends: social support and mental health in SCI caregivers from Neiva, Colombia.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of appraisal, belonging, and tangible social support on the mental health (depression, satisfaction with life, anxiety, and burden) of Colombian spinal cord injury (SCI) caregivers. METHODS Forty SCI caregivers from Neiva, Colombia completed questionnaires assessing their perceived social support and mental health. RESULTS Four multiple regressions found that the three social support variables explained 42.8% of the variance in caregiver depression, 22.3% of the variance in satisfaction with life, 24.1% of the variance in anxiety, and 16.5% of the variance in burden, although the effect on burden was marginally significant. Within these regressions, higher belonging social support was uniquely associated with lower depression, and higher tangible social support was uniquely associated with higher caregiver satisfaction with life. CONCLUSIONS Social support may have a particularly important influence on SCI caregiver mental health in Colombia, due in part to the high levels of collectivism and strong family values shown to exist in Latin America, and may therefore be an important target for SCI caregiver interventions in this region.
Immediate rehabilitation of the edentulous maxilla: preliminary results of a single-cohort prospective study.

PURPOSE This article reports preliminary results of a single-cohort prospective study that sought to evaluate a new surgical protocol for the immediate rehabilitation of edentulous maxilla without using bone grafting. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty consecutive patients in need of a full-arch maxillary rehabilitation were included in the study. Each patient received four tilted implants that engaged the posterior and the anterior sinus wall and two axial implants in the anterior maxilla. A total of 120 implants (30 Branemark System MK IV and 90 NobelSpeedy Groovy) was inserted. Acrylic resin provisional prostheses were delivered within 4 hours of implant placement, and definitive restorations were placed 4 to 6 months later. Follow-up visits were scheduled every 6 months for the first 2 years and yearly thereafter. At each follow-up appointment, plaque and bleeding indexes were scored, periapical radiographs were obtained to assess marginal bone level changes, and patient satisfaction was recorded by means of a questionnaire. RESULTS The follow-up ranged between 18 and 42 months (average, 27.2 months). No implants failed. All prostheses were stable and functional. No adverse events occurred. At 1 year, mean marginal bone loss around axial and tilted implants was similar: 0.8 mm for axial implants (SD 0.4, n = 30) and 0.9 mm for tilted implants (SD 0.5 mm, n = 60) (P > .05). Plaque and bleeding scores decreased over time, and patient satisfaction with both esthetics and function increased. CONCLUSIONS This technique can be considered a viable treatment modality for the immediate rehabilitation of the edentulous maxilla, as it provides optimal support in the posterior region, minimizes distal cantilevers, and avoids bone grafting or sinus augmentation.
Minfi: a flexible and comprehensive Bioconductor package for the analysis of Infinium DNA methylation microarrays

MOTIVATION The recently released Infinium HumanMethylation450 array (the '450k' array) provides a high-throughput assay to quantify DNA methylation (DNAm) at ∼450 000 loci across a range of genomic features. Although less comprehensive than high-throughput sequencing-based techniques, this product is more cost-effective and promises to be the most widely used DNAm high-throughput measurement technology over the next several years. RESULTS Here we describe a suite of computational tools that incorporate state-of-the-art statistical techniques for the analysis of DNAm data. The software is structured to easily adapt to future versions of the technology. We include methods for preprocessing, quality assessment and detection of differentially methylated regions from the kilobase to the megabase scale. We show how our software provides a powerful and flexible development platform for future methods. We also illustrate how our methods empower the technology to make discoveries previously thought to be possible only with sequencing-based methods. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION http://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/minfi.html. CONTACT khansen@jhsph.edu; rafa@jimmy.harvard. edu SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Calibrated Bayes, for Statistics in General, and Missing Data in Particular

It is argued that the Calibrated Bayesian (CB) approach to statistical inference capitalizes on the strength of Bayesian and frequen- tist approaches to statistical inference. In the CB approach, inferences under a particular model are Bayesian, but frequentist methods are useful for model development and model checking. In this article the CB approach is outlined. Bayesian methods for missing data are then reviewed from a CB perspective. The basic theory of the Bayesian ap- proach, and the closely related technique of multiple imputation, is described. Then applications of the Bayesian approach to normal mod- els are described, both for monotone and nonmonotone missing data patterns. Sequential Regression Multivariate Imputation and Penalized Spline of Propensity Models are presented as two useful approaches for relaxing distributional assumptions.
Off-Axis Properties of Short Gamma-Ray Bursts

Based on recent models of relativistic jet formation by thermal energy deposition around black hole-torus systems, the relation between the on- and off-axis appearance of short, hard gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is discussed in terms of energetics, duration, average Lorentz factor, and probability of observation, assuming that the central engines are remnants of binary neutron star (NS+NS) or neutron star-black hole (NS+BH) mergers. As a consequence of the interaction with the torus matter at the jet base and the subsequent expansion of the jets into an extremely low density environment, the collimated ultrarelativistic outflows possess flat core profiles with only little variation of radially averaged properties and are bounded by very steep lateral edges. Owing to the rapid decrease of the isotropic equivalent energy near the jet edges, the probability of observing the lateral, lower Lorentz factor wings is significantly reduced, and most short GRBs should be seen with on-axis-like properties. Taking into account cosmological and viewing angle effects, theoretical predictions are made for the short-GRB distributions with redshift z, fluence, and isotropic equivalent energy. The observational data for short bursts with determined redshifts are found to be compatible with the predictions only if either the intrinsic GRB rate density drops rapidly at z ≳ 1 or a large number of events at z > 1 are missed, implying that the subenergetic GRB 050509b was an extremely rare low-fluence event with detectable photon flux only because of its proximity and shortness. It appears unlikely that GRB 050509b can be explained as an off-axis event. The detection of short GRBs with small Lorentz factors is statistically disfavored, suggesting a possible reason for the absence of soft short bursts in the duration-hardness diagram.