Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spectrum sensing and interference mitigation in cognitive radio networks

One concept to increase spectral efficiency is dynamic spectrum access (DSA). The secondary users coexist with the primary users in the same radio-frequency spectrum. Such shared usage demands for an interference avoidance or interference mitigation at the secondary users. This is especially challenging due to the limited cooperation between the primary users (PUs) and the secondary users (SUs). Motivated by this fact, the focus of this thesis is a comprehensive study on interference management strategies and the characterization of the achievable performance of secondary systems. Spectrum sensing aims at detecting the presence or absence of the PUs. The main challenge encountered is the high requirement on sensitivity, reliability, and agility, especially in case of incomplete knowledge of the transmission channels. Therefore, the SUs need to efficiently utilize the limited a priori knowledge related to the primary transmission to improve the sensing performance. In this thesis, the generalized likelihood ratio test framework is applied to cooperative sensing problems with an unknown structure of the primary signal space and unknown noise variances at the SUs. The efficiency of the resulting spectrum sensing algorithms is demonstrated as well as the effectiveness in countering the “hidden primary user” problem. Based on limited knowledge related to the primary transmission, the SUs’ transceiver strategies are optimized in order to achieve the tradeoff between improved secondary network throughput and, most critically, constrain the performance loss of the primary transmission. For a single-antenna spectrum sharing system, the power allocation strategies are investigated for the SUs subject to different quality of service constraints on the primary link. Not only optimal and low-complexity near-optimal power allocation strategies are developed, but also the achievable performance of the system is approximately evaluated in closed form. Additionally, for multi-antenna spectrum sharing networks, efficient transceiver optimization strategies are developed under the consideration of imperfect channel state information. The robustness, optimality, and convergence behavior of the different proposed algorithms are quantitatively verified and compared. The essential “cognitive” property of DSA in cognitive radio networks consists of two aspects: the acquirement of the useful information from the environment and the
New CO detections of lensed submillimetre galaxies in A2218: probing molecular gas in the LIRG regime at high redshift

Context. Submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) are distant, dusty galaxies undergoing star formation at prodigious rates. Recently there has been major progress in understanding the nature of the bright SMGs (i.e. $S_{\rm 850~\mu m} > 5$ mJy). The samples for the fainter SMGs are small and are currently in a phase of being built up through identification studies. Aims. We study the molecular gas content in the two SMGs, SMMJ163555 and SMMJ163541, at redshifts $z=1.034$ and $z=3.187$ with unlensed submillimetre fluxes of 0.4 mJy and 6.0 mJy. Both SMGs are gravitationally lensed by the foreground cluster Abell 2218. Methods. We used the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer to obtain observations at 3 mm of the lines CO(2–1) for SMMJ163555 and CO(3–2) for SMMJ163541. Additionally, we obtained CO(4–3) observations for the candidate $z=4.048$ SMMJ163556 with an unlensed submillimetre flux of 2.7 mJy. Results. The CO(2–1) line was detected for SMMJ163555 at redshift 1.0313 with an integrated line intensity of $1.2\pm0.2$ Jy km s -1 and a line width of $410\pm120$ km s -1 . From this a gas mass of $1.6\times10^{9}$ $M_\odot$ is derived and a star formation efficiency of 440 $L_\odot$/$M_\odot$ estimated. The CO(3–2) line was detected for SMMJ163541 at redshift 3.1824, possibly with a second component at redshift 3.1883, with an integrated line intensity of $1.0\pm0.1$ Jy km s -1 and a line width of $280\pm50$ km s -1 . From this a gas mass of $2.2\times10^{10}$ $M_\odot$ is derived and a star formation efficiency of 1000 $L_\odot$/$M_\odot$ is estimated. For SMMJ163556, the CO(4–3) is undetected within the redshift range $4.035{-}4.082$ down to a sensitivity of 0.15 Jy km s -1 . Conclusions. Our CO-line observations confirm the optical redshifts for SMMJ163555 and SMMJ163541. The CO-line luminosity $L'_{\rm CO}$ for both galaxies is consistent with the $L_{\rm FIR}-L'_{\rm CO}$ relation. SMMJ163555 has the lowest far-infrared luminosity of all SMGs with a known redshift and is one of the few high-redshift LIRGs whose properties can be estimated prior to ALMA.
Clinical Aspects of Infections Caused by Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important cause of nosocomial infections. Clinical presentation of infections is determined by the way of the acquisition of the pathogen then by virulence factors itself. In the intensive care units MRSA causes blood stream infections (BSI) associated with the use of venous lines as well as ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). MRSA is prone to form biofilm on implanted foreign materials like orthopaedic and other prostheses, catheters, artificial heart valves and cause persistent infections of surrounding tissues which are difficult to treat. It is difficult to eradicate infection without extraction of these materials. MRSA is weaker inductor of general inflammatory reaction then MSSA. Increase in patient’s mortality and morbidity is associated more with a delay of appropriate antibiotic treatment then severity of infection. New antibiotics like linezolid, daptomycin, tygecycline, ceftarolin, ceftobiprol are available nowadays for the treatment of these infections. Although glycopeptides are still the first line treatment of MRSA infections, increase of minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC creep) is associated with poorer outcome.
A Unified Transform for LTI Systems—Presented as a (Generalized) Frame

We present a set of functions in and show it to be a (tight) generalized frame (as presented by G. Kaiser (1994)). The analysis side of the frame operation is called the continuous unified transform. We show that some of the well-known transforms (such as Laplace, Laguerre, Kautz, and Hambo) result by creating different sampling patterns in the transform domain (or, equivalently, choosing a number of subsets of the original frame). Some of these resulting sets turn out to be generalized (tight) frames as well. The work reported here enhances the understanding of the interrelationships between the above-mentioned transforms. Furthermore, the impulse response of every stable finite-dimensional LTI system has a finite representation using the frame we introduce here, with obvious benefits in identification problems.
Ju n 19 99 Twisted sectors in three-dimensional gravity

Twisted sectors –solutions to the equations of motion with non-trivial monodromies– of three dimensional Euclidean gravity are studied. We argue that upon quantization this new sector of the theory provides the necessary (and no more) degrees of freedom to account for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of three-dimensional black holes. PACS: 04.70. Dy; 04.60. Kz
Protein Inhibitor of Activated STAT, PIASy Regulates α-Smooth Muscle Actin Expression by Interacting with E12 in Mesangial Cells

Phenotypic transformation of mesangial cells (MCs) is implicated in the development of glomerular disease; however, the mechanisms underlying their altered genetic program is still unclear. α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) is known to be a crucial marker for phenotypic transformation of MCs. Recently, E-boxes and the class I basic helix-loop-helix proteins, such as E12 have been shown to regulateα-SMA expression. Therefore, we tried to identify a novel E12 binding protein in MCs and to examine its role in glomerulonephritis. We found that PIASy, one of the protein inhibitors of activated STAT family protein, interacted with E12 by yeast two-hybrid screens and coimmunopreciptation assays. Overexpression of E12 significantly enhanced theα-SMA promoter activity, and the increase was blocked by co-transfection of PIASy, but not by a PIASy RING mutant. In vivo sumoylation assays revealed that PIASy was a SUMO E3 ligase for E12. Furthermore, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) treatment induced expression of both PIASy and E12, consistent with α-SMA expression. Moreover, reduced expression of PIASy protein by siRNA specific for PIASy resulted in increased TGF-β-mediated α-SMA expression. In vivo, PIASy and E12 were dramatically upregulated along with α-SMA and TGF-β in the proliferative phase of Thy1 glomerulonephritis. Furthermore, an association between PIASy and E12 proteins was observed at day 6 by IP-western blotting, but not at day 0. These results suggest that TGF-β up-regulates PIASy expression in MCs to down-regulateα-SMA gene transcription by the interaction with E12.
Establishment and Characterization of 7 Novel Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Lines from Patient-Derived Tumor Xenografts

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer with poor prognosis worldwide and the molecular mechanism is not well understood. This study aimed to establish a collection of human HCC cell lines from patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. From the 20 surgical HCC sample collections, 7 tumors were successfully developed in immunodeficient mice and further established 7 novel HCC cell lines (LIXC002, LIXC003, LIXC004, LIXC006, LIXC011, LIXC012 and CPL0903) by primary culture. The characterization of cell lines was defined by morphology, growth kinetics, cell cycle, chromosome analysis, short tandem repeat (STR) analysis, molecular profile, and tumorigenicity. Additionally, response to clinical chemotherapeutics was validated both in vitro and in vivo. STR analysis indicated that all cell lines were unique cells different from known cell lines and free of contamination by bacteria or mycoplasma. The other findings were quite heterogeneous between individual lines. Chromosome aberration could be found in all cell lines. Alpha-fetoprotein was overexpressed only in 3 out of 7 cell lines. 4 cell lines expressed high level of vimentin. Ki67 was strongly stained in all cell lines. mRNA level of retinoic acid induced protein 3 (RAI3) was decreased in all cell lines. The 7 novel cell lines showed variable sensitivity to 8 tested compounds. LIXC011 and CPL0903 possessed multiple drug resistance property. Sorafenib inhibited xenograft tumor growth of LIXC006, but not of LIXC012. Our results indicated that the 7 novel cell lines with low passage maintaining their clinical and pathological characters could be good tools for further exploring the molecular mechanism of HCC and anti-cancer drug screening.
A cooperative Q-learning approach for distributed resource allocation in multi-user femtocell networks

This paper studies distributed interference management for femtocells that share the same frequency band with macrocells. We propose a multi-agent learning technique based on distributed Q-learning, called subcarrier-based distributed resource allocation using Q-learning (SBDRA-Q). SBDRA-Q operates under three different learning paradigms: Independent (IL), Cooperative (CL) and Weighted Cooperative (WCL). In the IL paradigm, all femtocells learn independently from each other. In both, CL and WCL, femtocells share partial information during the learning process in order to enhance their performance. The results show that WCL outperforms both CL and IL in terms of aggregate femtocell capacity, while slightly affecting fairness. Also, the results show that CL and WCL are more robust, when compared to IL, to new femtocells being deployed during the learning process. Finally, we show SBDRA-Q achieves higher aggregate femtocell capacity under the three learning paradigms when compared to a power allocation scheme (SBDPC-Q) that was proposed in the literature.
The Relationships between Mental Health Problems and Family Coping Strategies among Palestinian in the Gaza Strip

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate mental health problems and family coping strategies among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Methods: The sample consisted of 449 subjects. The age ranged from 21 to 60 years with mean age 41.5 years. Participants completed Hopkins Symptoms Checklist Scale and Family-Oriented Coping Scale support scale. Results: The study showed than 52.6% had anxiety, and 50.6% had depression. Females scored more anxiety and depression than males. Mental health symptoms were more in family with family monthly income $300 and less, and in families with 8 and more children. The results showed that mean total family coping strategy was 107.28. Males were significantly reported more coping strategies, including acquiring social support, reframing, seeking spiritual support, and mobilizing family to acquire and accept help. Total HSCL score was negatively correlated with total family coping strategies, acquiring social support, reframing, seeking spiritual support, and positive appraisal. Conclusion: The study reported high rates of anxiety and depression which had negative impact on Palestinian families coping strategies. Psychologists, educators, social workers and community workers should support families to identify shortcomings in their coping and to help develop their latent resources.
Visual Modeling for Value ( Co-) Creation Work in progress

Modeling value (co-)creation requires visual constructs to communicate among stakeholders. We introduce a set of visual constructs to design and describe the value (co-)creation process. The set has been built based on requirements and guidelines provided mostly by service dominant logic and software engineering communities. We present a basic example that illustrates the potential usability of our constructs. Finally, we discuss open questions and challenges to be addressed.
Understanding tattooing from an occupational science perspective

ABSTRACT An occupational science perspective was applied to explore engagement in and potential implications of tattooing for individuals, using a qualitative phenomenological approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with six participants defined as mainstream tattooees, which includes individuals motivated by aesthetics or self-expression and whose tattoos are placed to enable concealment, thus avoiding stigma. Eight themes were identified including how tattooing was adapted to meet individual needs, its benefits in relation to creating positive emotions, improved body image and connection with others. However, stigma associated with tattooing may restrict engagement. The themes were considered within Wilcock’s (2006) doing-being-becoming-belonging framework. Doing was adapted to meet individual needs and restricted by external factors. Being involved how personal tattoos were and the emotions experienced. Becoming incorporated a transformation of the body and self through tattoos. Belonging was experienced through connections created by tattoos. The findings support an occupational understanding of tattooing by drawing links between participant experiences and theoretical concepts.
Mediterranean Journal of Hematology and Infectious Diseases Bcr Signaling Inhibitors: an Overview of Toxicities Associated with Ibrutinib and Idelalisib in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Abstract. The B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling inhibitors ibrutinib and idelalisib are revolutionizing the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and other B-cell malignancies. These oral agents, both alone and in combination with other drugs, have shown remarkable clinical activity in relapsed or refractory CLL across all risk groups, and have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this indication. Preliminary data suggest that an even greater benefit can be expected in treatment-naïve CLL patients. Both ibrutinib and idelalisib are well tolerated by most patients, including older, frailer individuals. Toxicities are usually mild and self-resolving. Clinicians must, however, be aware of a number of peculiar adverse events, the effects of which can be severe enough to limit the clinical use of these agents. In this review, we survey the salient aspects of the pharmacology and clinical experience with the use of BCR signaling inhibitors for the treatment of patients with CLL. We next focus on both the most common and the most clinically significant toxicities associated with these drugs. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Introduction. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia occurring among adults in the Western world. 1 It is typically diagnosed in advanced age, and is frequently discovered accidentally in otherwise asymptomatic individuals. Its clinical course tends to be indolent; 5-year survival exceeds 80% according to the latest Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Report. 2 While early-stage asymptomatic CLL can be managed expectantly, most patients require therapy during the course of their disease and can achieve long periods of complete clinical remission (CR) with current treatment options.
Dynamic Effect of Capillary Pressure in Tight Gas Reservoir

Standard theories for two-fluid flow in porous media assume capillary pressure to be in equilibrium. Numerical simulators often assume that equilibrium capillary pressure-saturation conditions are maintained as changes in fluid satu- ration are taking place. But recent theories indicate that capillary pressure is perhaps not only a function of saturation but also rate change, which is known as the dynamic effect. In order to investigate effects of the dynamic capillary pressure on fluid flow in tight gas reservoirs, standard theory and present novel pore-scale and Darcy-scale theoretical approaches that account for a dynamic capillary pressure were reviewed in this paper. A dynamic capillary pressure relationship was included in the mathematical and numerical schemes were proposed to simulate tight gas reservoir production, which al- lows one to identify previously unreported flow scenarios. The numerical schemes were also to modify the Gray and Has- sanizadeh equation for infiltration to account for a capillary pressure that depends on the flow velocity. This study is of great benefit to finding out the flow law of tight gas reservoir and the subsequent work of exploitation.
Prefrontal Neural Correlates of Memory for Sequences

The sequence of actions appropriate to solve a problem often needs to be discovered by trial and error and recalled in the future when faced with the same problem. Here, we show that when monkeys had to discover and then remember a sequence of decisions across trials, ensembles of prefrontal cortex neurons reflected the sequence of decisions the animal would make throughout the interval between trials. This signal could reflect either an explicit memory process or a sequence-planning process that begins far in advance of the actual sequence execution. This finding extended to error trials such that, when the neural activity during the intertrial interval specified the wrong sequence, the animal also attempted to execute an incorrect sequence. More specifically, we used a decoding analysis to predict the sequence the monkey was planning to execute at the end of the fore-period, just before sequence execution. When this analysis was applied to error trials, we were able to predict where in the sequence the error would occur, up to three movements into the future. This suggests that prefrontal neural activity can retain information about sequences between trials, and that regardless of whether information is remembered correctly or incorrectly, the prefrontal activity veridically reflects the animal's action plan.
Learning to Recognize Novel Objects in One Shot through Human-Robot Interactions in Natural Language Dialogues

Being able to quickly and naturally teach robots new knowledge is critical for many future open-world human-robot interaction scenarios. In this paper we present a novel approach to using natural language context for one-shot learning of visual objects, where the robot is immediately able to recognize the described object. We describe the architectural components and demonstrate the proposed approach on a robotic platform in a proof-of-concept evaluation.
A Standard-Model Security Analysis of TLS-DHE

TLS is the most important cryptographic protocol in use today. However, up to now there is no complete cryptographic security proof in the standard model, nor in any other model. We give the first such proof for the TLS ciphersuites based on ephemeral Diffie-Hellman key exchange (TLS-DHE), which include the cipher suite TLS DHE DSS WITH 3DES EDE CBC SHA mandatory in TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1. Due to subtle problems with the encryption of the final Finished messages of the TLS handshake, this proof cannot be formulated in the Bellare-Rogaway (BR) or any other indistinguishability-based model. Therefore we only prove the security of a truncated version of the TLS handshake (which has been the subject of nearly all previous papers on TLS) completely in the standard BR model. We then define the notion of authenticated and confidential channel establishment (ACCE) as a model in which the combination of TLS handshake and TLS Record Layer can be proven secure.
Pay Satisfaction and Work Meaningfulness as Factors of IT Professionals’ Turnover Intentions: an Investigation in the Romanian Context

IT employees constitute an important category of workforce, hence their retaining is of great importance. Consequently, there is a great need of understanding the factors that predispose these professionals to turnover, in order to provide companies with solutions that would diminish the turnover rates among their IT staff. The purpose of the paper is to discuss the role of certain specific factors of turnover among these professionals, and to present a research on this topic in the Romanian context. The empirical study focused on two types of factors that might influence turnover intentions in a sample of Romanian IT professionals: financial (pay satisfaction and organizational justice) and self-concept related (work meaningfulness and work role fit). The results confirm our hypothesis and reveal two parallel lines of influence on Romanian IT employees’ turnover intentions. First, they show that pay satisfaction exerts a significant influence on employees’ intentions to leave the organization. Pay satisfaction is, in its turn, affected by two facets of perceived organizational justice, namely distributive and procedural justice, and partially mediates the effect of these variables on turnover intentions. The other line of results shows that turnover intentions are also influenced by employees’ work meaningfulness, and that the latter depends on their perceived work role fit, or the match between their self-concept and the work tasks that they have to perform in their current job. Finally, meaningfulness was found to fully mediate the influence of work role fit on turnover intentions.