Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A capacity upper bound for large wireless networks with generally distributed nodes

Since the seminal work of Gupta and Kumar, extensive research has been done on studying the capacity of large wireless networks under various scenarios. Most of the existing work focuses on studying the capacity of networks with uniformly or Poissonly distributed nodes. While uniform and Poisson distribution form an important class of spatial distributions, their capability in capturing the spatial distribution of users in various scenarios and application settings is limited. Therefore it is critical to investigate to what extent, the aforementioned results on capacity of networks with uniformly or Poissonly distributed nodes depend on the underlying node distribution being uniform or Poisson. In this paper, we study the capacity of networks under a general node distribution. A capacity upper bound on networks with generally distributed nodes is obtained, which is valid for both finite networks and asymptotically infinite networks. By imposing some mild conditions on the transmission range, we further simplify the result and show that the asymptotic capacity upper bound can be expressed as a product of four factors, which represents respectively the impact of node distribution, link capacity, number of source destination pairs and the transmission range. The upper bound is shown to be tight in the sense that for the special case of networks with uniformly distributed nodes, the bound is in the same order as known results in the literature.
Sliding-Mode Control of Retarded Nonlinear Systems Via Finite Spectrum Assignment Approach

In the present study, a sliding-mode control design method based on the finite spectrum assignment procedure is proposed. The finite spectrum assignment for retarded nonlinear systems can transform retarded nonlinear systems into delay-free linear systems via a variable transformation and a feedback, which contain the past values of the state. This method can be considered to be an extension of both the finite spectrum assignment for retarded linear systems with controllability over polynomial rings of the delay operator and the exact linearization for finite dimensional nonlinear systems. The proposed method is to design a sliding surface via the variable transformation used in the finite spectrum assignment and to derive a switching feedback law. The obtained surface contains not only the current values of the state variables but also the past values of the state variables in the original coordinates. The effectiveness of the proposed method is tested by an illustrative example
Experimental evaluation of the variation in effectiveness for DC, FPC and MC/DC test criteria

Given a test criterion, the number of test-sets satisfying the criterion may be very large, with varying fault detection effectiveness. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of the variation in fault detection effectiveness of all the test-sets for a given control-flow test criterion and a Boolean specification. The exhaustive experimental approach complements the earlier empirical studies that adopted analysis of some test-sets using random selection techniques. Three industrially used control-flow testing criteria, decision coverage (DC), full predicate coverage (FPC) and modified condition/decision coverage (MC/DC) have been analysed against four types of faults. The Boolean specifications used were taken from a past research paper and also generated randomly. To ensure that it is the test-set size, a variation of DC, decision coverage/random (DC/R), has also been considered against FPC and MC/DC criteria. In addition, a further analysis of variation in average effectiveness with respect to number of conditions in the decision has been done. The empirical results show that the MC/DC criterion is more reliable and stable in comparison to DC, DC/R and FPC.
A Mobile Robot Platform with Double Angle-Changeable Tracks

This paper presents a different structured mobile robot platform (MRP) with double tracks, which consists of two segments connected with a swing joint. As the angle between the two segments of the robot platform can be changed, the robot can travel over steep obstacles and climb up stairs. Two track-adjusting devices with passive track-adapting function are designed especially, which ensure that the tracks are always tight to keep the robot platform running reliably. In addition, a design idea for the track wheels is presented. The wheel could be favorable for the robot running smoothly in many kinds of terrains without the tracks coming apart from their wheels. Furthermore, the robot platform has other characteristics such as compact architecture and large useful inner space for arranging the control system and vibration absorption system. Experiments proved that the MRP can run flexibly and reliably in indoor and outdoor environments, and be suitable as a mobile carrier for executing search, rescue, detection and scout missions.
Cross-Layer Approaches for Planning and Operating Impairment-Aware Optical Networks

Advances in optical transmission technology are driving the evolution from legacy opaque toward transparent backbone networks. Aiming at reducing the costs and energy consumption, transparent networks allow the data to be kept optical end to end and thus removing the majority of the expensive optical-electrical-optical (OEO) devices. Nonetheless, physical impairments accumulate on the signal along optical transparent paths, therefore limiting the system reach and the overall network performance. Furthermore, failures propagate in a transparent network environment and they cannot be easily localized and isolated. So then, transparent networks need to deal with a number of challenges impacting both planning and operation phases. Such challenges require the use of cross-layer approaches, which involve dynamic interactions between the physical layer and the network layer to enable the compensation for mismatching of requirements and resources. In this paper, we aim to provide an overview of such challenges, reporting comparative analysis with a selection of existing solutions and to cast a glance at the open issues for future research.
On the Courtade-Kumar conjecture for certain classes of Boolean functions

We prove the Courtade-Kumar conjecture, for certain classes of $n$-dimensional Boolean functions, $\forall n\geq 2$ and for all values of the error probability of the binary symmetric channel, $\forall 0 \leq p \leq \frac{1}{2}$. Let $\mathbf{X}=[X_1. X_n]$ be a vector of independent and identically distributed Bernoulli$(\frac{1}{2})$ random variables, which are the input to a memoryless binary symmetric channel, with the error probability in the interval $0 \leq p \leq \frac{1}{2}$, and $\mathbf{Y}=[Y_1. Y_n]$ the corresponding output. Let $f:\{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}$ be an $n$-dimensional Boolean function. Then, the Courtade-Kumar conjecture states that the mutual information $\operatorname{MI}(f(\mathbf{X}),\mathbf{Y}) \leq 1-\operatorname{H}(p)$, where $\operatorname{H}(p)$ is the binary entropy function.
Comment on: Comparison of serum sodium and potassium levels in patients with senile cataract and age-matched individuals without cataract

Sir, We read with great interest the study by Mathur and Pai[1] entitled, “Comparison of serum sodium and potassium levels in patients with senile cataract and age‐matched individuals without cataract,” in which the authors showed that higher serum sodium level is associated with increased risk of senile cataract. We believe that the authors should be congratulated for the great work as the results suggested that high sodium intake could be a risk factor of senile cataract, and underlined the importance of low salt diet, which is in accordance with a recent study on a large population in Korea. [2]
A computational role for bistability and traveling waves in motor cortex

Adaptive changes in behavior require rapid changes in brain states yet the brain must also remain stable. We investigated two neural mechanisms for evoking rapid transitions between spatiotemporal synchronization patterns of beta oscillations (13–30 Hz) in motor cortex. Cortex was modeled as a sheet of neural oscillators that were spatially coupled using a center-surround connection topology. Manipulating the inhibitory surround was found to evoke reliable transitions between synchronous oscillation patterns and traveling waves. These transitions modulated the simulated local field potential in agreement with physiological observations in humans. Intermediate levels of surround inhibition were also found to produce bistable coupling topologies that supported both waves and synchrony. State-dependent perturbation between bistable states produced very rapid transitions but were less reliable. We surmise that motor cortex may thus employ state-dependent computation to achieve very rapid changes between bistable motor states when the demand for speed exceeds the demand for accuracy.
Beneficial Effects of Silymarin on Lipid Profile in Hyperlipidemic Patients: Placebo Controlled Clinical Trail

The study was designed to evaluate the effect of silymarin alone on hyperlipidaemia within short interval (2 weeks) period on the lipid profile. 20 patients with hyperlipidaemia of various etiologies are involved in this study (13 males, 7 females) randomized into two groups, 10 patients received placebo and 10 patients received silymarin 600mg oral capsule once daily. The lipid profile was measured before the treatment and after two weeks of treatment with silymarin and placebo for comparison. Results of this study showed that silymarin produce significant reduction in triglyceride, cholesterol, LDL, VLDL but significant elevation in HDL level. Therefore, silymarin can be used alone for effective treatment of different etiologies hyperlipidaemia.
Analysis of Circulating Cholesterol Levels as a Mediator of an Association Between ABO Blood Group and Coronary Heart Disease

Background—Non-O type of ABO blood group has been associated with a predisposition to coronary heart disease. It is thought that this association is partly mediated by increased cholesterol levels in non–O-type individuals. In this study, we sought to estimate the mediation effect size. Methods and Results—In a group of individuals (n=6476) undergoing coronary angiography, we detected associations of non-O type with significant coronary artery disease with >50% stenosis in ≥1 coronary arteries (odds ratio, 1.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.10–1.39; P=2.6×10−4) and with prevalent or incident myocardial infarction (odds ratio, 1.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.09–1.37; P=1.2×10−3). Subjects of non-O type had higher levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and non–high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mean [SEM] in mmol/L: 4.931[0.021], 3.041 [0.018], and 3.805 [0.020] in non-O type compared with 4.778 [0.026], 2.906 [0.021], and 3.669 [0.024] in O type; P=3.8×10−7, P=1.5×10−7, and P=3.1×10−7, respectively). Mediation analyses indicated that 10% of the effect of non-O type on coronary artery disease susceptibility was mediated by increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (P=7.8×10−4) and that 11% of the effect of non-O type on myocardial infarction risk was mediated by raised low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (P=2.0×10−3). Conclusions—In a model in which it is presumed that cholesterol is a mediator of the associations of ABO group with coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction, around 10% of the effect of non-O type on coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction susceptibility was mediated by its influence on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level.
Wikipedia-based Compact Hierarchical Semantics with Application to Semantic Relatedness

A proper semantic representation of words and texts underlies many text processing tasks. In this paper, we present a novel representation of semantics which is based on an hierarchical ontology of natural concepts derived from Wikipedia articles and category system. Our method, called Compact Hierarchical Explicit Semantic Analysis (CHESA) generates compact hierarchical representations of unrestricted natural language texts. With comparison to previous methods for semantic representations, CHESA generates very intuitive and comprehensible representations allowing deep semantic reasoning and understanding. CHESA representations are flexible with regards to their level of abstraction and compactness. We present a methodology to compute semantic relatedness using CHESA representations and evaluate CHESA on the task of semantic relatedness assessment of words and texts. Empirical results show that for compact representations, CHESA is superior to the previous state of the art.
Determination of Lowest Possible Creatinine in Living-Donor Kidney Renal Transplant Recipients Based on Donor Kidney Function

Background. The objective of this study was to use information from a donor to establish the lowest possible serum creatinine (SCr) of the recipient as a means of identifying early graft dysfunction. Methods. We analyzed retrospectively 58 pairs of living donors and recipients. The lowest possible SCr was calculated from four different formulae derived from Cockcroft-Gault formula: A×(140−recipient age)×recipient weight/donor GFR (A, women: 1.04, men: 1.23). Donor GFR was represented by the following values (a) mSCrD0: measured pretransplant GFR for both kidneys, (b) mSCrSKD0: single transplanted kidney GFR on day 0, (c) eSCrD0: estimated GFR based on SCr at day 0, or (d) eSCrD30: on day 30. These resulting estimated SCr were tested for correlation coefficient, bias, precision, and accuracy in predicting the lowest observed recipient SCr during the first year posttransplant. Results. The lowest possible SCr was 80±22 μmol/L for mSCrD0, 79.1±23 μmol/L for mSCrSKD0, 83±27 μmol/L for eSCrD0, and 115±22 μmol/L for eSCrD30. Mean values for lowest possible SCr correlated significantly with the lowest observed SCr for all four formulae. The eSCrD0 formula showed the best correlation (r=0.47), the smallest positive bias (20.5 μmol/L), the highest precision (21.9 μmol/L), and the second highest percentage of predicted values that fell within 30% of the observed SCr (69%). Conclusion. The use of the Cockcroft-Gault derived formula with eSCrD0 may be a useful tool to detect early discrepancy between observed and lowest possible SCr value. This could help to identify patients who may require invasive investigations.
Influence of Sodium Valproate on Sodium and Chloride Urinary Excretion in Rats, Gender Differences

Evidence exists indicating that sodium valproate (VPA) increases diuresis in rats. The chloriuretic and natriuretic effect of VPA has not previously been investigated, so the aim of the present study was to define the peculiarities of 24-hour urinary sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl) excretion in young adult Wistar rats of both genders, and to evaluate the effects of VPA. 24-Hour urinary Na, Cl, creatinine and pH levels were measured in 28 control intact Wistar rats and 26 Wistar rats after a single intragastric administration of 300 mg/kg VPA. After VPA administration, 24-hour diuresis and 24-hour diuresis per 100 g of body weight were significantly higher in VPA rats of both genders. 24-Hour urine Na and Cl excretion were significantly higher in VPA male and VPA female rats than in gender-matched controls. The 24-hour urinary Cl excretion was found to be significantly higher in VPA male than in VPA female rats. The study data show that VPA, alongside the diuretic effect, enhances Na and Cl excretion with urine. The 24-hour chloriuretic response to VPA in male rats was significantly higher than in female rats. The mechanism of such a gender-related effect is not yet clear.
Exendin-4 Decelerates Food Intake, Weight Gain, and Fat Deposition in Zucker Rats.

Exendin-4 is a 39 amino acid peptide produced in the salivary gland of the Gila monster lizard. It has a 53% amino acid homology to the incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). Exendin-4 induces insulin release through activation of the GLP-1 receptor but is a much more potent insulinotropic agent than GLP-1. Of critical importance for its potential use as a treatment for diabetes is its much longer biological effect in vivo. Previous studies involving once daily administration of exendin-4 over 13 weeks to db/db mice demonstrated that it lowers hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), a marker of mean blood glucose levels. Food consumption in the treated animals dropped over the first 4 days and then increased to a level comparable with that of the untreated animals. In this study, we initially examined the effect of once daily injections (over 14 days) on the food consumption of Zucker fatty rats. We observed an immediate reduction in food intake which then leveled off (after 5 days) to match that of the untrea.
Reim & ReImInfer: checking and inference of reference immutability and method purity

Reference immutability ensures that a reference is not used to modify the referenced object, and enables the safe sharing of object structures. A pure method does not cause side-effects on the objects that existed in the pre-state of the method execution. Checking and inference of reference immutability and method purity enables a variety of program analyses and optimizations. We present ReIm, a type system for reference immutability, and ReImInfer, a corresponding type inference analysis. The type system is concise and context-sensitive. The type inference analysis is precise and scalable, and requires no manual annotations. In addition, we present a novel application of the reference immutability type system: method purity inference. To support our theoretical results, we implemented the type system and the type inference analysis for Java. We include a type checker to verify the correctness of the inference result. Empirical results on Java applications and libraries of up to 348kLOC show that our approach achieves both scalability and precision.
Moderate Preterm Children Born at 32-36 Weeks Gestational Age Around 8 Years of Age: Differences Between Children with and Without Identified Developmental and School Problems

Preterm birth rates have been reported as 12% in the United States and 5–8% in Europe, e.g. in The Netherlands [1, 2]. Mortality rates in preterm children decreased considerably in the last decades, especially for the extreme preterm born children < 28 weeks’ gestation [3]. However, 80-90% of the preterm children are born between 32 and 37 weeks’ gestation: increasing birth rates in this subgroup have been reported for the last decades [4]. Therefore, the number of surviving children increases, and morbidity and developmental outcome of these children become more important: for the children and their families, but also for societies. All preterm children are at increased risk for developmental problems, in all domains of development, with a gradient effect that children born earlier are at greater risk [5].
Asynchronous Distributed ADMM for Large-Scale Optimization—Part II: Linear Convergence Analysis and Numerical Performance

The alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) has been recognized as a versatile approach for solving modern large-scale machine learning and signal processing problems efficiently. When the data size and/or the problem dimension is large, a distributed version of ADMM can be used, which is capable of distributing the computation load and the data set to a network of computing nodes. Unfortunately, a direct synchronous implementation of such algorithm does not scale well with the problem size, as the algorithm speed is limited by the slowest computing nodes. To address this issue, in a companion paper, we have proposed an asynchronous distributed ADMM (AD-ADMM) and studied its worst-case convergence conditions. In this paper, we further the study by characterizing the conditions under which the AD-ADMM achieves linear convergence. Our conditions as well as the resulting linear rates reveal the impact that various algorithm parameters, network delay, and network size have on the algorithm performance. To demonstrate the superior time efficiency of the proposed AD-ADMM, we test the AD-ADMM on a high-performance computer cluster by solving a large-scale logistic regression problem.
Association Between Vitamin K and the Metabolic Syndrome: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study in Adults.

CONTEXT The Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of metabolic abnormalities and is associated with increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Phylloquinone, menaquinones, and vitamin K status are associated with several components of MetS, but the association with MetS has hardly been studied to date. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to examine whether the intake and/or status of vitamin K is associated with MetS and its components. DESIGN This study comprised two cohorts, one of 402 women and one of 400 men (age 40-80 y). At followup 625 participants were still alive and willing to participate. Data were analyzed both cross sectionally and longitudinally with Poisson and linear regression adjusted for multiple confounders. Baseline phylloquinone/menaquinone intakes were measured with a validated food frequency questionnaire and vitamin K status with serum desphospho-uncarborxylated matrix-Gla protein level. RESULTS At baseline 270 (34.5%) participants had MetS and 171 (35.7%) at followup. Cross sectionally, high menaquinones intakes were associated (P(trend) = . 08) with a lower prevalence of MetS with a prevalence ratio (PR) of 0.74 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54-1.03) for the highest vs the lowest tertile. At followup, the highest tertiles of menaquinones intake (PR = 0.62; 95% CI, 0.40-0.95) and vitamin K status (PR = 0.57; 95% CI, 0.38-0.87) were associated (P(trend) = . 01) with a lower occurrence of MetS. These associations were mainly driven by relations with lower triacylglycerol concentrations for menaquinones and lower waist circumference for vitamin K status. Phylloquinone intake was not associated with MetS prevalence. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that a high intake of menaquinones and high vitamin K status are associated with a lower occurrence of MetS.
Classification of pathological voice including severely noisy cases

In this paper we addressed the issue of classifying pathological voices from normal ones based on two different parameters, spectral slope and ratio of energies in harmonic and noise components (HNR), and artificial neural network (ANN). Voice data from normal peoples and patients were collected, then diagnosed and classified into three different categories (normal, relatively less noisy and severely noisy pathological data). The spectral slope and the HNR were computed and used to classify the severely noisy pathological voice from others first because of its much noise. Then artificial neural network was used as a classifier to discriminate the rest of data into normal and relatively less noisy pathological categories when common numerical parameters were used as inputs. And the classification results were evaluated by comparing the distribution characteristics of the spectral slope and HNR for all of data and analyzing the classification rates for the normal and relative less noisy pathological voices.