Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Empirical Study of the Achievable Rates of Several Indoor Network-MIMO Techniques

This paper presents an empirical study of the achievable data rates of network multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques including zero-forcing (ZF), zero-forcing dirty paper coding (ZF-DPC) and dirty paper coding (DPC) using actual 4-by-4 indoor wireless channel measurements at 3.5 GHz. Their performances are contrasted with those of conventional techniques, in which either the base stations are not coordinated (NC), or their interference is avoided using frequency division (FD) multiplexing. The measurements were taken in aisle-to-office and large unobstructed hall scenarios. The study of these results reveals that, at high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), DPC and ZF-DPC can yield more than a three-fold increase in attainable data rates when compared to NC and FD. The gains obtained using ZF are smaller, but still significant. At low SNRs the system is noise-(rather than interference-) limited, and only DPC exhibits gains. The evaluations in this paper also show that collaborative systems such as DPC can benefit from interference-prone environments to yield increased transmission capacity. With regard to the propagation channel, the classical log-normal plus Rayleigh/Ricean fading model, with parameters fitted to the scenario type, was found to be good at predicting the statistics of the achievable data rates of all the strategies considered.
Motor impairments in children associated with impairments of speech or language: a meta-analytic review of research literature.

OBJECTIVE We investigated the co-occurrence of motor impairments in children with speech and language impairments. METHOD Three search strategies produced 16 studies that met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. These 16 studies yielded 110 effect sizes (d). Heterogeneity was evaluated by obtaining Q and I-squared values. RESULTS Children with speech and language impairments made more motor errors than children without impairments, with a statistically significant large effect size (d = 1.23, p < .001). Statistically significant medium effects between groups were found in terms of motor score (d = -0.61, p < .001) and motor time (d = 0.47, p < .001). Heterogeneity was statistically significant for all three measurements of motor abilities. DISCUSSION Deficits in specific speech and language disorders were associated with motor impairments. This finding might be important for the development of daily living and academic skills in children with speech and language impairments.
Towards a theory of context spaces

We propose initial work on a conceptual framework for context-aware systems, towards a general context model to aid thinking, describing, manipulating and utilizing context. Much work on context-aware computing have utilized context in specialized applications, with application-specific software (and perhaps hardware) and specialized context representation and manipulation. Context-aware systems are becoming increasingly important, and emerging research has begun to look at context-aware systems more generally, independently of specific applications, including context middleware and toolkits and ontologies for describing context.
Raised cerebrospinal fluid nitrite and nitrate levels in patients with multiple sclerosis: no correlation with disease activity

A growing body of evidence implicates excessive generation of nitric oxide (NO) within the central nervous system (CNS) in multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of our study is to analyse nitrite and nitrate as end products of NO in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from MS patients and correlate the concentrations with clinical characteristics of the disease. CSF nitrite and nitrate concentrations were measured after reduction of nitrate, by Griess reaction, in 105 MS patients, 27 patients with non-inflammatory neurological disorders (NIND) and 13 individuals without neurological disorder (Co). Mean CSF nitrite and nitrate concentrations were significantly higher in patients with MS and NIND compared with the Co patients (9.44 and 8.68, respectively, versus 6.85 μM; P=0.0001 and P=0.031, respectively). There was no significant correlation between CSF nitrite and nitrate concentrations and activity, phase, severity and duration of MS. Our data are in agreement with the results of previous studies which have demonstrated raised concentrations of CSF NO metabolites in MS patients, providing further evidence for NO involvement in MS. The lack of correlation between NO metabolites and disease activity speaks in favour of the possible dual role of NO, as both immunoregulatory and proinflammatory molecule, in the pathogenesis of MS.
Primary primitive neuroectodermal tumour of the parotid gland

Primitive neuroectodermal tumour (PNET) is a malignant small round cell tumour that exhibits neuroepithelial differentiation. Isolated cases of PNET have been reported in visceral sites such as the kidney, uterus, ovary, testis, urinary bladder and pancreas. We present two cases of PNET of the parotid gland.
Investigating the association between motor proficiency and body satisfaction in grade 5 children

The inverse relationships between motor proficiency and overweight, and between overweight and body satisfaction have been well documented. However, the association between motor proficiency and body satisfaction has been largely neglected in the literature. Knowledge of the influence that low motor proficiency may have on body satisfaction is essential if the full burden that those children with poor motor abilities face is to be fully recognized, as low body satisfaction has been linked to an increased risk for low self-esteem, depression, and disordered eating. The cohort investigated in this report included 1907 (971 males, 936 female) Grade 5 students from the Physical Health Activity Study Team (PHAST) project in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. Children were grouped as overweight or healthy weight (using BMI cut offs for age and gender), and as low motor proficiency or normal motor proficiency (cut-off set at lowest 10% Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-short form (BOTMPsf). It was apparent from analyses of variance (ANOVAs) by gender that boys demonstrated significantly higher motor proficiency scores. As a result separate multiple logistic regressions by gender were used to determine the relationship between body satisfaction, BMI, and motor proficiency. There was a significant relationship between BMI and body satisfaction for both genders (p<0.01) and for males a significant relationship between motor proficiency and body satisfaction (p<0.03). Overweight females were less likely to be satisfied with their bodies with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.33 (CI: 0.23-0.47). The same trend was found in overweight males (OR: 0.42, CI: 0.29-0.59). Males with low motor proficiency were significantly less satisfied with their bodies (OR: 0.53, CI: 0.29-0.97). Males with poor motor proficiency were at greater risk for low body satisfaction regardless of their overweight status. Overweight is known to be prevalent among children with low motor proficiency and, these results indicate that low body satisfaction is also a significant concern. These findings confirm that attention needs to be paid to perceptions of body satisfaction among children with low motor proficiency. This is particularly true for boys, as their bodies may fail them in two common societal expectations, shape and skill and for whom their risk of low body satisfaction is , heightened by their poor motor proficiency.
Cross Talk between P2Y2 Nucleotide Receptors and CXC Chemokine Receptor 2 Resulting in Enhanced Ca2+ Signaling Involves Enhancement of Phospholipase C Activity and Is Enabled by Incremental Ca2+ Release in Human Embryonic Kidney Cells

We have shown previously that activation of endogenously expressed, Gαq/11-coupled P2Y2 nucleotide receptors with UTP reveals an intracellular Ca2+ response to activation of recombinant, Gαi-coupled CXC chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2) in human embryonic kidney cells. Here, we characterize further this cross talk and demonstrate that phospholipase C (PLC) and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3]-dependent Ca2+ release underlies this potentiation. The putative Ins(1,4,5)P3 receptor antagonist 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borane reduced the response to CXCR2 activation by interleukin-8, as did sustained inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase with wortmannin, suggesting the involvement of phosphoinositides in the potentiation. Against a Li+ block of inositol monophosphatase activity, costimulation of P2Y2 nucleotide receptors and CXCR2 caused phosphoinositide accumulation that was significantly greater than that after activation of P2Y2 nucleotide receptors or CXCR2 alone, and was more than additive. Thus, PLC activity, as well as Ca2+ release, was enhanced. In these cells, agonist-mediated Ca2+ release was incremental in nature, suggesting that a potentiation of Ins(1,4,5)P3 generation in the presence of coactivation of P2Y2 nucleotide receptors and CXCR2 would be sufficient for additional Ca2+ release. Potentiated Ca2+ signaling by CXCR2 was markedly attenuated by expression of either regulator of G protein signaling 2 or the Gβγ-scavenger Gαt1 (transducin α subunit), indicating the involvement of Gαq and Gβγ subunits, respectively.
Maintaining Physical Activity over Time: The Importance of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in Developing the Physically Active Self

Purpose. Drawing from self-determination theory, this study investigated adults' perceptions of the process of long-term maintenance of physical activity and how it may relate to their self-identity. Design. Qualitative study included 22 in-depth interviews and participants' recorded personal reflective journals. Setting. Health/fitness facility in a Midwestern city. Participants. Purposeful sample of 12 adult (age range 29–73 years) members who had engaged in regular physical activity for at least 3 years. Methods. Data were collected on participants' perceptions of processes associated with physical activity maintenance. Grounded theory data analysis techniques were used to develop an understanding of participants' long-term physical activity adherence. Results. Analysis revealed three themes organized around basic psychological need satisfaction: (1) Relatedness included receiving and giving support. (2) Competence included challenge and competition, managing weight, and strategies for health management. (3) Autonomy included confidence in the established routine, valuing fitness status, and feeling self-directed. The final theme of physically active self included the personal fit of an active lifestyle, identity as an active person, and attachment to physical activity as life enhancing. Conclusion. Our results suggest that long-term physical activity adherence may be strengthened by promotion of the individual's basic psychological need satisfaction. Adherence is most likely to occur when the value of participation becomes internalized over time as a component of the physically active self.
Experimental evaluation of simple estimators for humanoid robots

This paper introduces and evaluates a family of new simple estimators to reconstruct the pose and velocity of the floating base. The estimation of the floating-base state is a critical challenge to whole-body control methods that rely on full-state information in high-rate feedback. Although the kinematics of grounded limbs may be used to estimate the pose and velocity of the body, modelling errors from ground irregularity, foot slip, and structural flexibilities limit the utility of estimation from kinematics alone. These difficulties have motivated the development of sensor fusion methods to augment body-mounted IMUs with kinematic measurements. Existing methods often rely on extended Kalman filtering, which lack convergence guarantees and may present difficulties in tuning. This paper proposes two new simplifications to the floating-base state estimation problem that make use of robust off-the-shelf orientation estimators to bootstrap development. Experiments for in-place balance and walking with the HRP-2 show that the simplifications yield results on par with the accuracy reported in the literature for other methods. As further benefits, the structure of the proposed estimators prevents divergence of the estimates, simplifies tuning, and admits efficient computation. These benefits are envisioned to help accelerate the development of baseline estimators in future humanoids.
Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life

Introduction. 1. Becoming a Fair-Minded Thinker. 2. The First Four Stages of Development. 3. Self-Understanding. 4. The Parts of Thinking. 5. The Standards for Thinking. 6. Asking Questions That Lead to Good Thinking. 7. Master the Thinking, Master the Content. 8. Designing Your Own Learning. 9. Evaluating Your Own Learning. 10. Making Decisions. 11. Solving Problems. 12. Taking Charge of Your Irrational Tendencies. 13. Monitoring Your Sociocentric Tendencies. 14. Developing as an Ethical Reasoner. 15. Learning & Using Information Critically & Ethically: Part One. 16. Learning & Using Information Critically & Ethically: Part Two. 17. Strategic Thinking, Part One. 18. Strategic Thinking, Part Two. 19. Becoming an Advanced Thinker. Appendices: A. Critical Questions about Critical Thinking. B. Sample Analyses of "The Logic Of. " C. Article: "Iraq Is a Pediatrician's Hell: No Way to Stop the Dying. " Glossary. References. Index.
Improved EEG source analysis using low‐resolution conductivity estimation in a four‐compartment finite element head model

Bioelectric source analysis in the human brain from scalp electroencephalography (EEG) signals is sensitive to geometry and conductivity properties of the different head tissues. We propose a low‐resolution conductivity estimation (LRCE) method using simulated annealing optimization on high‐resolution finite element models that individually optimizes a realistically shaped four‐layer volume conductor with regard to the brain and skull compartment conductivities. As input data, the method needs T1‐ and PD‐weighted magnetic resonance images for an improved modeling of the skull and the cerebrospinal fluid compartment and evoked potential data with high signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR). Our simulation studies showed that for EEG data with realistic SNR, the LRCE method was able to simultaneously reconstruct both the brain and the skull conductivity together with the underlying dipole source and provided an improved source analysis result. We have also demonstrated the feasibility and applicability of the new method to simultaneously estimate brain and skull conductivity and a somatosensory source from measured tactile somatosensory‐evoked potentials of a human subject. Our results show the viability of an approach that computes its own conductivity values and thus reduces the dependence on assigning values from the literature and likely produces a more robust estimate of current sources. Using the LRCE method, the individually optimized four‐compartment volume conductor model can, in a second step, be used for the analysis of clinical or cognitive data acquired from the same subject. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
In Search of Homo Sociologicus

The subject of my thesis is to build an epistemic logic system that is able to show the spreading of knowledge and beliefs in a social network that contains multiple subgroups. Epistemic logic is the study of logical systems that express mathematical properties of knowledge and belief. In recent years, there have been increasing number of new epistemic logic systems that are focused on community properties such as knowledge and belief adoption among friends. In addition to previous work, this study will allow multiple languages. It enables a sub-culture within a network of agents. It also shows how knowledge and belief changes within a subject. For example, when a group of people is using a particular sub-language to adjust their beliefs about politics, their beliefs about weather may very well be intact. My dissertation includes three major sections, expert influence, distributed common knowledge, and simulations. Some preliminary work from the first two sections has been presented to two conferences.
Color-Shape Associations Revealed with Implicit Association Tests

Kandinsky proposed a correspondence theory that suggests associations between specific colors and shapes (i.e., circle-blue, square-red, triangle-yellow). Makin and Wuerger tested the theory using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and did not find clear evidence for Kandinsky’s color-shape associations among British participants. In the present study, we first replicated the previous study among Japanese participants and found similar results to those of Makin and Wuerger, showing little support for Kandinsky’s theory. In the subsequent experiment, we tested another set of color-shape associations that had been revealed by using an explicit matching method (circle-red, square-blue, triangle-yellow) in Japanese participants. The IAT tests showed that response times were significantly faster when circle-red, square-blue, and triangle-yellow combinations were mapped onto the same response key, rather than different key combinations, indicating that these color-shape combinations were encoded. These results provide the first empirical evidence that color-shape associations can be measured by indirect behavioral methods, and in particular, Japanese people’s color-shape associations (circle-red, square-blue, triangle-yellow) can be observed by both direct and indirect experimental methods.
A segmental pattern of alkaline phosphatase activity within the notochord coincides with the initial formation of the vertebral bodies

This study shows that segmental expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity by the notochord of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) coincides with the initial mineralization of the vertebral body (chordacentrum), and precedes ALP expression by presumed somite‐derived cells external to the notochordal sheath. The early expression of ALP indicates that the notochord plays an instructive role in the segmental patterning of the vertebral column. The chordacentra form segmentally as mineralized rings within the notochordal sheath, and ALP activity spreads within the chordoblast layer from ventral to dorsal, displaying the same progression and spatial distribution as the mineralization process. No ALP activity was observed in sclerotomal mesenchyme surrounding the notochordal sheath during initial formation of the chordacentra. Our results support previous findings indicating that the chordoblasts initiate a segmental differentiation of the notochordal sheath into chordacentra and intervertebral regions.
Social Value Orientation and Cooperation in Social Dilemmas: A Meta-Analysis

This article reports a meta-analysis of 82 studies assessing the relationship between social value orientation (SVO) and cooperation in social dilemmas. A significant and small to medium effect size was found (r = .30). Results supported a hypothesis that the effect size was larger when participants were not paid (r = .39) than when they were paid (r = .23). The effect size was also larger in give-some (r = .29) as opposed to take-some (r = .22) games. However, contrary to expectations, the effect was not larger in one-shot, as opposed to iterated games. Findings are discussed in the context of theory on SVO and directions for future research are outlined.
Exit Zero: Family and Class in Postindustrial Chicago

In 1980, Christine J. Walley's world was turned upside down when the steel mill in Southeast Chicago where her father worked abruptly closed. In the ensuing years, ninety thousand other area residents would also lose their jobs in the mills - just one example of the vast scale of de-industrialization occurring across the United States. The disruption of this event propelled Walley into a career as a cultural anthropologist, and now, in "Exit Zero", she brings her anthropological perspective home, examining the fate of her family and that of blue-collar America at large. Interweaving personal narratives and family photos with a nuanced assessment of the social impacts of de-industrialization, "Exit Zero" is one part memoir and one part ethnography - providing a much-needed female and familial perspective on cultures of labor and their decline. Through vivid accounts of her family's struggles and her own upward mobility, Walley reveals the social landscapes of America's industrial fallout, navigating complex tensions among class, labor, economy, and environment. Unsatisfied with the notion that her family's turmoil was inevitable in the ever-forward progress of the United States, she provides a fresh and important counter narrative that gives a new voice to the many Americans whose distress resulting from de-industrialization has too often counter narrative ignored.
Retrospective Analysis of a Novel Method of Transscleral Suture Fixation for Posterior‐Chamber Intraocular Lens Implantation in the Absence of Capsular Support

Purpose To determine the safety and efficacy of an alternative method for transscleral fixation of a secondary posterior-chamber intraocular lens (pcIOL) during penetrating keratoplasty. Methods Eighty-nine eyes that underwent secondary pcIOL implantation by using a modified transscleral suture-fixation technique during penetrating keratoplasty were retrospectively evaluated. The surgical technique used suture fixation to the surface of the sclera 5 mm posterior to the limbus, with the knot buried beneath Tenon's capsule and conjunctiva. Patient records were reviewed for postoperative complications, including suture erosion, pcIOL subluxation, vitreous hemorrhage, and retinal detachment. Mean follow-up was 24.4 months, with a range of 4–68 months. Results All eyes had successful fixation of their pcIOL immediately after surgery. Three (3.3%) eyes had graft failure. Six (6.7%) of 89 eyes showed evidence of suture erosion or partial exposure. Postoperative suture breakage occurred in two (2.2%) eyes. Posterior-segment complications included retinal detachment in one (1.1%) eye, vitreous hemorrhage in one (1.1%) eye, and limited choroidal hemorrhage in two (2.2%) eyes. Median visual acuity at 1-year follow-up was 20/70 (range, 20/25 to light perception). Conclusion This transscleral fixation technique provides a straightforward alternative to previously described techniques. Suture erosion, IOL dislocation, and posterior-segment complications occurred at relatively low rates compared with other pcIOL implantation techniques.
Vasomotor reactivity is exhausted in transient ischaemic attacks with limb shaking

OBJECTIVES To investigate cerebral vasomotor reactivity in five patients with limb shaking transient ischaemic attacks by using transcranial Doppler sonography. METHOD Attacks with transient limb shaking were unilateral in four patients and bilateral in one. Internal carotid arteries on the side opposite the abnormal limb movements showed three 90–95% stenoses and three occlusions as assessed by cerebral angiography in three and magnetic resonance angiography and ultrasound in one case each. Reactivity of cerebral resistance vessels was studied by measuring peak mean velocities in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) before and after the application of CO2 enriched air. Reference values were obtained from 25 normal subjects. RESULTS During hypercapnia peak mean velocities slightly decreased in five MCAs (steal phenomenon) and remained unchanged in one MCA opposite the abnormal movements, whereas the other MCAs showed normal reactivities. CONCLUSION The delineation of an exhausted cerebral vasoreactivity in all hemispheres opposite the involuntary limb movements suggests that haemodynamic failure is the cause of transient ischaemic attacks with limb shaking.