Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beamforming algorithms for multiuser MIMO uplink systems: Parallel and serial approaches

Joint transmitter and receiver beamforming algorithms for uplink multiuser multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communication systems are proposed in this paper based on maximizing an utility function, which is defined based on the difference between desired signal power and interference plus noise power. Two iterative beamforming algorithms are developed by maximizing the utility function of each user via parallel and serial methods. In parallel method, the transmitter and receiver beamforming vectors of each user are iteratively updated by maximizing its utility function. However in serial method, at first step, the transmitter beamforming vectors of all users are iteratively updated by maximizing the utility function of each user and then receiver beamforming vectors of users are calculated. By computer simulations, the performances of the proposed beamforming algorithms are evaluated and also compared with the performance of the duality method (DM) based beamforming algorithm. With respect to bit error rate (BER) and convergence rate, the results show that the new proposed beamforming algorithms have superior performances in comparison with the DM based beamforming algorithm. Also, for some cases, the serial method achieves better performances in comparison with the parallel method.
Therapeutic management of hypophosphatemic rickets from infancy to adulthood

In children, hypophosphatemic rickets (HR) is revealed by delayed walking, waddling gait, leg bowing, enlarged cartilages, bone pain, craniostenosis, spontaneous dental abscesses, and growth failure. If undiagnosed during childhood, patients with hypophosphatemia present with bone and/or joint pain, fractures, mineralization defects such as osteomalacia, entesopathy, severe dental anomalies, hearing loss, and fatigue. Healing rickets is the initial endpoint of treatment in children. Therapy aims at counteracting consequences of FGF23 excess, i.e. oral phosphorus supplementation with multiple daily intakes to compensate for renal phosphate wasting and active vitamin D analogs (alfacalcidol or calcitriol) to counter the 1,25-diOH-vitamin D deficiency. Corrective surgeries for residual leg bowing at the end of growth are occasionally performed. In absence of consensus regarding indications of the treatment in adults, it is generally accepted that medical treatment should be reinitiated (or maintained) in symptomatic patients to reduce pain, which may be due to bone microfractures and/or osteomalacia. In addition to the conventional treatment, optimal care of symptomatic patients requires pharmacological and non-pharmacological management of pain and joint stiffness, through appropriated rehabilitation. Much attention should be given to the dental and periodontal manifestations of HR. Besides vitamin D analogs and phosphate supplements that improve tooth mineralization, rigorous oral hygiene, active endodontic treatment of root abscesses and preventive protection of teeth surfaces are recommended. Current outcomes of this therapy are still not optimal, and therapies targeting the pathophysiology of the disease, i.e. FGF23 excess, are desirable. In this review, medical, dental, surgical, and contributions of various expertises to the treatment of HR are described, with an effort to highlight the importance of coordinated care.
The Spectral Energy Distributions of Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei

As a step toward elucidating the physical conditions in nearby active galaxies, this paper presents spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of a sample of seven low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs). SEDs for four objects are presented for the first time (NGC 4261, NGC 4579, NGC 6251, and M84); the data for the remaining three (M81, M87, and NGC 4594) have been substantially updated compared to previous studies. The nuclear fluxes were carefully selected so as to avoid contamination by emission from the host galaxy, which can be substantial for very weak nuclei. The present sample of low-luminosity nuclei exhibits SEDs that look markedly different from the canonical broadband continuum spectrum of luminous AGNs. The most striking difference is that the low-luminosity objects lack an ultraviolet excess (the "big blue bump"), a feature normally associated with emission from a standard optically thick, geometrically thin accretion disk. The weakness of the ultraviolet band leads to an unusually steep optical-ultraviolet continuum shape and a more pronounced contribution from the X-rays to the ionizing spectrum. It is argued that the absence of the big blue bump is a property intrinsic to the SEDs and not an artifact of strong dust extinction. Another notable property of the SEDs is the prominence of the compact, flat-spectrum radio component relative to the emission in other energy bands. All seven nuclei in the sample, including three hosted by spiral galaxies, technically qualify as "radio-loud" objects according to conventional criteria. Finally, the integrated spectra confirm the exceptional weakness of the nuclei: the bolometric luminosities range from 2 × 1041 to 8 × 1042 ergs s-1, or ~10-6-10-3 times the Eddington rate for the black hole masses previously reported for these galaxies.
Illness Awareness in Hospice: Application of a Semi-Structured Interview

This study describes the results of a semi-structured interview to assess the illness awareness of cancer patients in Hospice. The results of this study are based on the interviews made in Rimini and Savignano sul Rubicone Hospices (n = 51). Psychologists evaluated illness awareness of the participants interviewed independently from the code system that is provided for the interview. According to the psychologists, 18 patients (35%) were aware, 11 patients (22%) were unaware, and 22 patients (43%) were aware with defense mechanisms. According to the code system of the interview, the results were the following: 18 patients (35%) were aware, 2 patients (4%) were unaware, and 29 patients (57%) were aware with defense mechanisms. Two participants had to be reassessed because of inconsistency in some factors. In conclusion, the data analysis underlined that the congruence of the 2 assessment methods was found in 33 of the 51 patients examined (65%) and that the degree of concordance was rather low (κ = .46; 95% CI = 0.24-0.68).
Angular craniofacial photometric analysis of the facial profile of Igalas in Nigeria

The morphology of the human face varies with individuals and even more with populations and ethnic groups. Objectives: This study aims to determine the mean values of some craniofacial angles of Igala males and females from standardized facial profile photographs and to compare them with each other and with norms of different ethnic groups proposed by other researchers. Materials and Methods: Standardized photographs of 1116 Igala subjects, comprising 558 males and 558 females were used in this study. The following angles were measured: nasofrontal, nasomental, nasofacial, nasolabial and angle of facial convexity. Results: Four of the facial angles have been studied which showed sexual dimorphism except the nasolabial angle. Four craniofacial angles have significant sexual differences among which the males had a higher value only in the nasofacial angle. Nasofacial angle (NFa) had the highest index of sexual dimorphism. The mean value of nasolabial angle (Cm-Sn-Ls) as well as facial convexity angle (G-Sn-Pg) found in the Igala is less than that reported in other populations. Conclusion: The result of this study will be useful in orthodontics, anatomical modeling, forensic identification purposes, and in plastic surgery to compare the preand post-operative results.
Study of Reliable Design Using T-S Fuzzy Modeling and Integral Sliding Mode Control Schemes

This paper investigates robust active reliable control issues using a combination of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy system modeling and Integral Sliding Mode Control (ISMC) schemes. The presented reliable scheme is shown to retain the benefits of both T-S modeling and ISMC design. It not only alleviates the online computational burden due to the use of the T-S model but also preserves the many advantages of the ISMC scheme. Using the presented reliable scheme, the control mission can be successfully achieved without prompt external support even when some of the actuators fail to operate. Moreover, because the ISMC design allows the engineer to predict the performance of the uncertain system from that of the nominal control system, the presented reliable scheme also possesses a degree of freedom in the design of the nominal controller for better system performance of normally operated and different faulty, uncertain situations. An illustrative example is also given to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed scheme.
Behavioral and Brain Functions

Objective: To study the neurocognitive profile and its relationship to prefrontal dysfunction in non-demented Parkinson's disease (PD) with deficient haptic perception. Methods: Twelve right-handed patients with PD and 12 healthy control subjects underwent thorough neuropsychological testing including Rey complex figure, Rey auditory verbal and figural learning test, figural and verbal fluency, and Stroop test. Test scores reflecting significant differences between patients and healthy subjects were correlated with the individual expression coefficients of one principal component, obtained in a principal component analysis of an oxygen-15-labeled water PET study exploring somatosensory discrimination that differentiated between the two groups and involved prefrontal cortices. Results: We found significantly decreased total scores for the verbal learning trials and verbal delayed free recall in PD patients compared with normal volunteers. Further analysis of these parameters using Spearman's ranking correlation showed a significantly negative correlation of deficient verbal recall with expression coefficients of the principal component whose image showed a subcortical-cortical network, including right dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex, in PD patients. Conclusion: PD patients with disrupted right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex function and associated diminished somatosensory discrimination are impaired also in verbal memory functions. A negative correlation between delayed verbal free recall and PET activation in a network including the prefrontal cortices suggests that verbal cues and accordingly declarative memory processes may be operative in PD during activities that demand sustained attention such as somatosensory discrimination. Verbal cues may be compensatory in nature and help to non-specifically enhance focused attention in the presence of a functionally disrupted prefrontal cortex. Published: 15 December 2009 Behavioral and Brain Functions 2009, 5:49 doi:10.1186/1744-9081-5-49 Received: 2 June 2009 Accepted: 15 December 2009 This article is available from: http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions. com/content/5/1/49 © 2009 Bohlhalter et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 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.
Behavioral and Brain Functions

Background: There are three childhood disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD). The most common comorbid disorder in ADHD is ODD. DSM-IV describes three ADHD subtypes: predominantly inattentive type (ADHD-IA), predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type (ADHD-HI), and combined type (ADHD-C). Prior work suggests that specific candidate genes are associated with specific subtypes of ADHD in China. Our previous association studies between ADHD and functional polymorphisms of COMT and MAOA, consistently showed the low transcriptional activity alleles were preferentially transmitted to ADHD-IA boys. Thus, the goal of the present study is to test the hypothesis that COMT Val158Met and MAOA-uVNTR jointly contribute to the ODD phenotype among Chinese ADHD boys. Methods: 171 Chinese boys between 6 and 17.5 years old (mean = 10.3, SD = 2.6) with complete COMT val158met and MAOA-uVNTR genotyping information were studied. We used logistic regression with genotypes as independent variables and the binary phenotype as the dependent variable. We used p < 0.05 as the level of nominal statistical significance. Bonferroni correction procedures were used to adjust for multiple comparisons. Results: Our results highlight the potential etiologic role of COMT in the ADHD with comorbid ODD and its predominately inattentive type in male Chinese subjects. ADHD with comorbid ODD was associated with homozygosity of the high-activity Val allele, while the predominantly inattentive ADHD subtype was associated with the low-activity Met allele. We found no evidence of association between the MAOA-uVNTR variant and ADHD with comorbid ODD or the ADHD-IA subtype. Conclusion: Our study of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder comorbid oppositional defiant disorder and its predominately inattentive type highlights the potential etiologic role of COMT for ADHD children in China. But we failed to observe an interaction between COMT and MAOA, which suggests that epistasis between COMT and MAOA genes does not influence the phenotype of ADHD-IA with comorbid ODD in a clinical sample of Chinese male subjects. To confirm our findings further studies with a larger number of subjects and healthy controls are needed. Published: 19 February 2009 Behavioral and Brain Functions 2009, 5:8 doi:10.1186/1744-9081-5-8 Received: 4 September 2008 Accepted: 19 February 2009 This article is available from: http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions. com/content/5/1/8 © 2009 Qian et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 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.
Review on Mycotoxin Issues in Ruminants: Occurrence in Forages, Effects of Mycotoxin Ingestion on Health Status and Animal Performance and Practical Strategies to Counteract Their Negative Effects

Ruminant diets include cereals, protein feeds, their by-products as well as hay and grass, grass/legume, whole-crop maize, small grain or sorghum silages. Furthermore, ruminants are annually or seasonally fed with grazed forage in many parts of the World. All these forages could be contaminated by several exometabolites of mycotoxigenic fungi that increase and diversify the risk of mycotoxin exposure in ruminants compared to swine and poultry that have less varied diets. Evidence suggests the greatest exposure for ruminants to some regulated mycotoxins (aflatoxins, trichothecenes, ochratoxin A, fumonisins and zearalenone) and to many other secondary metabolites produced by different species of Alternaria spp. (e.g., AAL toxins, alternariols, tenuazonic acid or 4Z-infectopyrone), Aspergillus flavus (e.g., kojic acid, cyclopiazonic acid or β-nitropropionic acid), Aspergillus fuminatus (e.g., gliotoxin, agroclavine, festuclavines or fumagillin), Penicillium roqueforti and P. paneum (e.g., mycophenolic acid, roquefortines, PR toxin or marcfortines) or Monascus ruber (citrinin and monacolins) could be mainly related to forage contamination. This review includes the knowledge of mycotoxin occurrence reported in the last 15 years, with special emphasis on mycotoxins detected in forages, and animal toxicological issues due to their ingestion. Strategies for preventing the problem of mycotoxin feed contamination under farm conditions are discussed.
(MDMA): current perspectives

Ecstasy is a widely used recreational drug that usually consists primarily of 3,4-meth- ylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Most ecstasy users consume other substances as well, which complicates the interpretation of research in this field. The positively rated effects of MDMA consumption include euphoria, arousal, enhanced mood, increased sociability, and heightened perceptions; some common adverse reactions are nausea, headache, tachycardia, bruxism, and trismus. Lowering of mood is an aftereffect that is sometimes reported from 2 to 5 days after a session of ecstasy use. The acute effects of MDMA in ecstasy users have been attributed primarily to increased release and inhibited reuptake of serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine, along with possible release of the neuropeptide oxytocin. Repeated or high- dose MDMA/ecstasy use has been associated with tolerance, depressive symptomatology, and persisting cognitive deficits, particularly in memory tests. Animal studies have demonstrated that high doses of MDMA can lead to long-term decreases in forebrain 5-HT concentrations, tryptophan hydroxylase activity, serotonin transporter (SERT) expression, and visualization of axons immunoreactive for 5-HT or SERT. These neurotoxic effects may reflect either a drug-induced degeneration of serotonergic fibers or a long-lasting downregulation in 5-HT and SERT biosynthesis. Possible neurotoxicity in heavy ecstasy users has been revealed by neuroimaging studies showing reduced SERT binding and increased 5-HT 2A receptor binding in several cortical and/or subcortical areas. MDMA overdose or use with certain other drugs can also cause severe morbidity and even death. Repeated use of MDMA may lead to dose escalation and the development of dependence, although such dependence is usually not as profound as is seen with many other drugs of abuse. MDMA/ecstasy-dependent patients are treated with standard addiction programs, since there are no specific programs for this substance and no proven medications. Finally, even though MDMA is listed as a Schedule I compound by the Drug Enforcement Agency, MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for patients with chronic, treatment-resistant posttraumatic stress disorder is currently under investigation. Initial results show efficacy for this treatment approach, although considerably more research must be per - formed to confirm such efficacy and to ensure that the benefits of MDMA-assisted therapy outweigh the risks to the patients.
Returns to Foreign Language Skills in a Developing Country: The Case of Turkey

Abstract This paper analyses the economic value of foreign languages in Turkey using data on some 6000 adult male wage-earners in 2007. We find positive earnings returns to proficiency in English and Russian, which increase with the level of competence. French and German skills are also positively rewarded, although their return seems mostly linked to the likelihood to hold specific occupations. In contrast, knowing Arabic does not generate an earnings premium. Focusing on English, we check for heterogeneous returns along the conditional earnings distribution. The results are qualitatively invariant when we account for misclassification errors in self-reported English skills.
The Development of a Brief Version of the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI-9)

Negative posttraumatic cognitions lead to the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. There is a need for a brief measure to assess these cognitions. Participants were administered the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI) and measures of mental health symptomatology. These data were used to develop a brief version of the PTCI (PTCI-9) in 223 male and female veterans, which was then examined in a sample of 117 female civilians. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated an acceptable fit in both samples. The PTCI-9 total and subscale scores showed strong internal consistencies (Cronbach’s αs = .80-.87) and strong correlations with the PTCI in veterans (rs = .90-.96) and civilians (rs = .91-.96). Measurement invariance testing demonstrated partial invariance between the two samples. The PTCI-9 significantly correlated with measures of PTSD, depression, and quality of life. These findings demonstrate that the PTCI-9 is a reliable and valid measure of posttraumatic cognitions that can reduce patient and provider burden.
A Bactericidal Principle in Excretions of Surgical Maggots which Destroys Important Etiological Agents of Pyogenic Infections

The elimination of bacteria from pyogenic infections must precede permanent healing. That such a phenomenon occurs under the influence of maggot therapy is well known. Baer, in his original report (1929), called the maggots "a viable antiseptic. " Later (1931) he had the following to say: "Whatever the bacteria of the original wound, be they aerobes or anaerobes . the amount begins to diminish from the first application of maggots. " Weil and coworkers (1933) made prelimi ary bacteriological studies of wounds before implantation of maggots, followed by subsequent cultures at each dressing, and found a marked decrease in infection as the treatment progressed. Other workers (Buchman and Blair, 1932; Livingston and Prince, 1932; Myers and Czaja, 1931; Slocum et al., 1933) have obtained the same results. How this remarkable phenomenon is accomplished however, has been only partially shown. Among the factors that contribute to wound disinfection are: 1. The mechanical washing out of bacteria through stimulation of drainage by the maggots; by a, mechanical stimulation of the viable tissue; b, enzymic liquefaction of the necrotic tissue; and c, increase of discharge through dilution by maggot excretions, or a combination of these factors. 2. The destruction of organisms in the alimentary tract of the maggots, as has been shown by Robinson and Norwood (1933). 3. The utilization of necrotic tissue as maggot food, thus rendering conditions less favor-
The development of the family within the context of the assisted reproductive technology process: a socio-ecological model of understanding the IVF process in Poland

Dla par, ktore mają trudnośc z poczeciem dziecka, stosowanie technologii wspomaganej reprodukcji stanowi czesto jedyną mozliwośc powiekszenia rodziny. Jedną z najbardziej rozpowszechnionych metod wspomaganego rozrodu jest in vitro ze wzgledy na wysoką skutecznośc tej metody. Na calym świecie świadomośc, postawy wobec in vitro i rozpowszechnienie metody roznią sie. Wykorzystanie modelu ekologicznego pozwala poddac analizie sytuacje pary malzenskiej i przyjrzec sie relacjom wewnątrzrodzinnym oraz otoczeniu rodziny w kontekście spolecznym, w ktorym funkcjonuje. W związku z tym niniejszy artykul proponuje wykorzystanie modelu Bronfenbrennera znanego jako teoria systemow ekologicznych jako teoretycznego modelu rozwazania nad rozwojem rodziny poddającej sie leczeniu nieplodności metodą in vitro.
Determining the Optimal Software Rejuvenation Schedule via Semi-Markov Decision Process

Software rejuvenation is a preventive and proactive maintenance policy that is particularly useful for counteracting the phenomenon of software aging. In this study we consider an operational software system with multiple degradations and derive the optimal software rejuvenation policy minimizing the expected operation cost per unit time in the steady state, via the dynamic programming approach. Especially, we show analytically that the control-limit type of software rejuvenation policy is optimal. A numerical example is presented to make a decision table and to perform the sensitivity analysis of cost parameters.