Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cognitive beamforming made practical: Effective interference channel and learning-throughput tradeoff

This paper studies the transmission strategy for a cognitive radio (CR) that operates under spectrum sharing with a primary radio (PR). It is assumed that the CR transmitter is equipped with multi-antennas and thereby transmit beamforming and power control are jointly deployed to balance between the interference avoidance at the PR terminals and the throughput maximization of the CR link. We name such an operation as cognitive beamforming (CB). Unlike the prior study on CB that assumes perfect knowledge on the interference channels over which the CR transmitter interferes with the PR terminals, in this paper we remove this assumption and propose a practical CB scheme by utilizing a new idea of effective interference channel, which can be efficiently learned/estimated at the CR transmitter from the received PR signals. Interestingly, it is shown that the proposed CB scheme based on the effective interference channel achieves a capacity gain for the CR over the conventional scheme based on the exact channel knowledge, when the PR terminals are also equipped with multi-antennas but do not operate in a full spatialmultiplexing mode. Furthermore, due to the finite learning time for the effective interference channel, we show that there exists a general learning-throughput tradeoff associated with the practical CB, for which we determine the optimal learning time to maximize the CR link throughput.
Using an embedded processor for efficient deterministic testing of systems-on-a-chip

If a system-on-a-chip (SOC) contains an embedded processor, the paper presents a novel approach for using the processor to aid in testing the other components of the SOC. The basic idea is that the tester loads a program along with compressed test data into the processor's on-chip memory. The processor executes the program which decompresses the test data and applies it to scan chains in the other components of the SOC to test them. This approach both reduces the amount of data that must be stored on the tester and reduces the test time. Moreover, it enables at-speed scan shifting even with a slow tester (i.e. a tester whose maximum clock rate is slower than the SOC's normal operating clock rate). A procedure is described for converting a set of test cubes (i.e., test vectors where unspecified inputs are left as X's) into a compressed form. A program that can be run on an embedded processor is given for decompressing the test cubes and applying them to scan chains on the chip. Experimental results indicate that a significant amount of compression can be achieved.
Quantitative prediction of NF-κB DNA– protein interactions

We describe a general method based on principal coordinates analysis to predict the effects of single-nucleotide polymorphisms within regulatory sequences on DNA–protein interactions. We use binding data for the transcription factor NF-κB as a test system. The method incorporates the effects of interactions between base pair positions in the binding site, and we demonstrate that such interactions are present for NF-κB. Prediction accuracy is higher than with profile models, confirmed by crossvalidation and by the experimental verification of our predictions for additional sequences. The binding affinities of all potential NF-κB sites on human chromosome 22, together with the effects of known single-nucleotide polymorphisms, are calculated to determine likely functional variants. We propose that this approach may be valuable, either on its own or in combination with other methods, when standard profile models are disadvantaged by complex internucleotide interactions.
Metabolic syndrome: Risk factors among adults in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of established cardiovascular risk factors that collectively increase predisposition to major chronic diseases, including heart diseases and diabetes mellitus. Citizens of developing countries such as Saudi Arabia are at risk for MetS as a result of industrialization and accessibility to fast foods. In this epidemiologic study, the kingdom-wide prevalence of MetS is determined. Materials and Methods: A total of 4578 Saudis aged 15-64 was randomly selected from 20 regions in Saudi Arabia. Anthropometrics were collected, and fasting blood samples collected to ascertain fasting blood glucose and lipid profile. Components of full MetS as defined by the International Diabetes Federation were used for screening. Results: The overall prevalence of MetS is 28.3%. Prevalence was significantly higher in males than in females (31.4 vs. 25.2%; P = 0.001). Prevalence of MetS was the highest in the northern and central region, and showed a parallel increase with age, and inversely with educational status. Region was also a significant contributor to MetS. Conclusion: Despite accumulating evidence of an epidemic, MetS remains largely unresolved in the kingdom. Aggressive public campaign should be launched, and policies implemented to control any future damage of MetS in the kingdom.
Export Promotion Agencies: What Works and What Doesn't

The number of national export promotion agencies (EPAs) has tripled over the past two decades. While more countries have made them part of their national export strategy, studies have criticized their efficiency in developing countries (Hogan, Keesing, and Singer 1991). Partly in reaction to these critiques, EPAs have been retooled (see International Trade Centre, ITC, 1998 or 2000, for example). This paper studies the impact of existing EPAs and their strategies based on a new data set covering 104 industrial and developing countries. Results suggest that on average they have a strong and statistically significant impact on exports. For each $1 of export promotion, the paper estimates a $40 increase in exports for the median EPA. However, there is heterogeneity across regions, levels of development, and types of instruments. Furthermore, there are strong diminishing returns, suggesting that as far as EPAs are concerned, small is beautiful.
B-type natriuretic peptide and C-reactive protein in the prediction of atrial fibrillation risk: the CHARGE-AF Consortium of community-based cohort studies.

AIMS B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and C-reactive protein (CRP) predict atrial fibrillation (AF) risk. However, their risk stratification abilities in the broad community remain uncertain. We sought to improve risk stratification for AF using biomarker information. METHODS AND RESULTS We ascertained AF incidence in 18 556 Whites and African Americans from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC, n=10 675), Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS, n = 5043), and Framingham Heart Study (FHS, n = 2838), followed for 5 years (prediction horizon). We added BNP (ARIC/CHS: N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide; FHS: BNP), CRP, or both to a previously reported AF risk score, and assessed model calibration and predictive ability [C-statistic, integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), and net reclassification improvement (NRI)]. We replicated models in two independent European cohorts: Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility Reykjavik Study (AGES), n = 4467; Rotterdam Study (RS), n = 3203. B-type natriuretic peptide and CRP were significantly associated with AF incidence (n = 1186): hazard ratio per 1-SD ln-transformed biomarker 1.66 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.56-1.76], P < 0.0001 and 1.18 (95% CI, 1.11-1.25), P < 0.0001, respectively. Model calibration was sufficient (BNP, χ(2) = 17.0; CRP, χ(2) = 10.5; BNP and CRP, χ(2) = 13.1). B-type natriuretic peptide improved the C-statistic from 0.765 to 0.790, yielded an IDI of 0.027 (95% CI, 0.022-0.032), a relative IDI of 41.5%, and a continuous NRI of 0.389 (95% CI, 0.322-0.455). The predictive ability of CRP was limited (C-statistic increment 0.003). B-type natriuretic peptide consistently improved prediction in AGES and RS. CONCLUSION B-type natriuretic peptide, not CRP, substantially improved AF risk prediction beyond clinical factors in an independently replicated, heterogeneous population. B-type natriuretic peptide may serve as a benchmark to evaluate novel putative AF risk biomarkers.
Indirect stabilization of weakly coupled systems with hybrid boundary conditions

We investigate stability properties of indirectly damped systems of evolution equations in Hilbert spaces, under new compatibility assumptions. We prove polynomial decay for the energy of solutions and optimize our results by interpolation techniques, obtaining a full range of power-like decay rates. In particular, we give explicit estimates with respect to the initial data. We discuss several applications to hyperbolic systems with {\em hybrid} boundary conditions, including the coupling of two wave equations subject to Dirichlet and Robin type boundary conditions, respectively.
SSH (Sketch, Shingle, & Hash) for Indexing Massive-Scale Time Series

Similarity search on time series is a frequent operation in large-scale data-driven applications. Sophisticated similarity measures are standard for time series matching, as they are usually misaligned. Dynamic Time Warping or DTW is the most widely used similarity measure for time series because it combines alignment and matching at the same time. However, the alignment makes DTW slow. To speed up the expensive similarity search with DTW, branch and bound based pruning strategies are adopted. However, branch and bound based pruning are only useful for very short queries (low dimensional time series), and the bounds are quite weak for longer queries. Due to the loose bounds branch and bound pruning strategy boils down to a brute-force search. To circumvent this issue, we design SSH (Sketch, Shingle, & Hashing), an efficient and approximate hashing scheme which is much faster than the state-of-the-art branch and bound searching technique: the UCR suite. SSH uses a novel combination of sketching, shingling and hashing techniques to produce (probabilistic) indexes which align (near perfectly) with DTW similarity measure. The generated indexes are then used to create hash buckets for sub-linear search. Our results show that SSH is very effective for longer time sequence and prunes around 95% candidates, leading to the massive speedup in search with DTW. Empirical results on two large-scale benchmark time series data show that our proposed method can be around 20 times faster than the state-of-the-art package (UCR suite) without any significant loss in accuracy.
Functional recapitulation of transitions in sexual systems by homeosis during the evolution of dioecy in Thalictrum

Sexual systems are highly variable in flowering plants and an important contributor to floral diversity. The ranunculid genus Thalictrum is especially well-suited to study evolutionary transitions in sexual systems. Homeotic transformation of sexual organs (stamens and carpels) is a plausible mechanism for the transition from hermaphroditic to unisexual flowers in this lineage because flowers of dioecious species develop unisexually from inception. The single-copy gene PISTILLATA (PI) constitutes a likely candidate for rapid switches between stamen and carpel identity. Here, we first characterized the expression pattern of all B class genes in the dioecious species T. dioicum. As expected, all B class orthologs are expressed in stamens from the earliest stages. Certain AP3 lineages were also expressed late in sepal development. We then tested whether orthologs of PI could potentially control sexual system transitions in Thalictrum, by knocking-down their expression in T. dioicum and the hermaphroditic species T. thalictroides. In T. dioicum, we found that ThdPI-1/2 silencing caused stamen primordia to develop into carpels, resulting in male to female flower conversions. In T. thalictroides, we found that ThtPI silencing caused stamen primordia to develop into supernumerary carpels, resulting in hermaphroditic to female flower conversions. These phenotypes illustrate the ability for homeotic mutations to bring about sudden and potentially adaptive changes by altering the function of a single gene. We propose a two-step evolutionary model where transitions from hermaphroditic to unisexual plants in Thalictrum result from two independent mutations at a B class gene locus. Our PI knockdown experiments in T. thalictroides recapitulate the second step in this model: the evolution of female plants as a result of a loss-of-function mutation in a B class gene.
Dietary Corn Bran Fermented by Bacillus subtilis MA139 Decreased Gut Cellulolytic Bacteria and Microbiota Diversity in Finishing Pigs

Solid-state fermentation of feedstuffs by Bacillus subtilis MA139 can reduce insoluble dietary fiber content in vitro and improve growth performance in pigs. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary corn bran (CB) fermented by B. subtilis on growth performance and gut microbiota composition in finishing pigs. A total of 60 finishing pigs were allocated to 3 dietary treatments consisting of a control (CON) diet, a 10% CB diet, and a 10% fermented CB (FCB) diet in a 21 d feeding trial. Growth performance and nutrient digestibility were evaluated. Fecal samples were determined for bacterial community diversity by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The dietary CB and FCB did not affect growth performance of finishing pigs. The digestibility of organic matter was decreased in both CB and FCB treatments compared with CON group (P < 0.05). The α-diversity for bacterial community analysis of Chao 1 in FCB treatment was lower than CON treatment (P < 0.05). The Fibrobacteres phylum belongs to cellulolytic bacteria was isolated, and their relative abundance in CB group showed no difference between CON and FCB treatments. The abundance of Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group in CB treatment was higher than CON and FCB groups (P < 0.05), whereas the population of norank_f_Prevotellaceae was higher in FCB group compared to CON and CB groups (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary FCB decreased the abundance of bacterial communities, particularly the population of bacteria related to cellulolytic degradation.
Role of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase in the development of diabetic retinopathy.

PURPOSE Apoptosis of retinal capillary cells is an early event in the pathogenesis of retinopathy in diabetes, and oxidative stress has been linked to accelerated apoptosis of retinal capillary cells. Mitochondria are the major endogenous source of superoxide, and superoxide is considered to be a causal link between elevated glucose and the major biochemical pathways postulated to be involved in the development of vascular complications in diabetes. The purpose of the present study is to determine the role of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) in the development of diabetic retinopathy. METHODS The effect of overexpression of MnSOD on glucose-induced endothelial cell oxidative stress, nitrosative stress, and apoptosis was determined by using bovine retinal endothelial cells. Furthermore, the effect of diabetes in rats (11 months' duration) on the activity and the mRNA expression of retinal MnSOD were also determined. RESULTS MnSOD activity in the nontransfected control retinal endothelial cells was 20% compared with the total SOD activity and was increased to 60% in the MnSOD-transfected cells. MnSOD overexpression prevented a glucose-induced increase in oxidative stress (8-hydroxy guanosine levels), nitrosative stress (nitrotyrosine formation), and apoptosis of retinal endothelial cells. MnSOD enzyme activity and its mRNA were decreased significantly in the retina obtained from the diabetic rats, and these abnormalities were prevented by long-term lipoic acid therapy. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest a protective role for MnSOD in retinal capillary cell death and, ultimately, in the pathogenesis of retinopathy in diabetes. Understanding the role of MnSOD to modify the course of retinopathy could elucidate important molecular targets for future pharmacological interventions.
Modulation of norepinephrine release by ATP-dependent K(+)-channel activators and inhibitors in guinea-pig and human isolated right atrium.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to show, whether ATP sensitive K+ channels (KATP channels), are involved in the modulation of norepinephrine (NE) release from the sympathetic nerves innervating the guinea-pig and human right atrium. METHODS The resting and stimulation-evoked release of [3H]norepinephrine ([3H]NE) was measured from the isolated guinea-pig and human right atrium and the effect of activators and inhibitors of ATP sensitive K+ channels was studied. RESULTS Cromakalim (30-300 microM), a KATP channel-agonist decreased concentration-dependently the stimulation-evoked release of NE from the guinea-pig atrium, an effect, antagonized by glibenclamide, a KATP channel-antagonist (30 microM). Diazoxide (30-300 microM), another activator of the KATP channels reduced the resting release of NE, and also attenuated the evoked release at a single concentration (100 microM), and this latter action was also counteracted by glibenclamide (30 microM). Pinacidil, increased dose-dependently the resting and stimulation-evoked release of NE in a glibenclamide-sensitive manner and reversed the inhibitory effect of cromakalim (100 microM), suggesting that it acts as an antagonist. Glibenclamide (30-300 microM), by itself enhanced the stimulation-evoked release of [3H]NE, and also increased the resting release of NE. On the other hand, 5-hydroxydecanoate, an ischemia-selective inhibitor of cardiac KATP channels did not change NE release. Adenosine, (30-300 microM), an A1-receptor agonist, clonidine (3 microM), an alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist and oxotremorine, a muscarinic receptor agonist (30 microM) all reduced the evoked release of [3H]NE, but these effects were not modified by glibenclamide (300 microM), indicating that neuronal adenosine (A1), adrenergic (alpha 2) and muscarinic (M3) receptors do not act on KATP channels. In the human right atrium, cromakalim, and diazoxide did not affect significantly the release of [3H]NE. However, glibenclamide (30-300 microM) and pinacidil (30-300 microM) enhanced dose-dependently the evoked-release of NE, and pinacidil also augmented the resting release. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that sympathetic nerve endings of the human and guinea-pig atrium are endowed with ATP-sensitive K+ channels. These channels responded to agonists and antagonists under the experimental conditions applied and they could modulate the release of NE thereby affecting the autonomic control of cardiac function under various physiological and pathophysiological conditions.
The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs A novel filter for block-based motion estimation Conference Item

Noises, in the form of false motion vectors, cannot be avoided while capturing block motion vectors using blockbased motion estimation techniques. Similar noises are further introduced when the technique of global motion compensation is applied to obtain “true” object motion from video sequences, where both the camera and object motions are present. We observe that the performance of the mean and the median filters in removing false motion vectors, for estimating “true” object motion, is not satisfactory, especially when the size of the object is significantly smaller than the scene. In this paper we introduce a novel filter, named as the Mean-AccumulatedThresholded (MAT) filter, in order to capture “true” object motion vectors from video sequences with or without the camera motion (zoom and/or pan). Experimental results on representative standard video sequences are included to establish the superiority of our filter compared with the traditional median and mean filters.
Directed migration of neural stem cells to sites of CNS injury by the stromal cell-derived factor 1α/CXC chemokine receptor 4 pathway

Migration toward pathology is the first critical step in stem cell engagement during regeneration. Neural stem cells (NSCs) migrate through the parenchyma along nonstereotypical routes in a precise directed manner across great distances to injury sites in the CNS, where they might engage niches harboring local transiently expressed reparative signals. The molecular mechanisms for NSC mobilization have not been identified. Because NSCs seem to home similarly to pathologic sites derived from disparate etiologies, we hypothesized that the inflammatory response itself, a characteristic common to all, guides the behavior of potentially reparative cells. As proof of concept, we show that human NSCs migrate in vivo (including from the contralateral hemisphere) toward an infarcted area (a representative CNS injury), where local astrocytes and endothelium up-regulate the inflammatory chemoattractant stromal cell-derived factor 1α (SDF-1α). NSCs express CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4), the cognate receptor for SDF-1α. Exposure of SDF-1α to quiescent NSCs enhances proliferation, promotes chain migration and transmigration, and activates intracellular molecular pathways mediating engagement. CXCR4 blockade abrogates their pathology-directed chain migration, a developmentally relevant mode of tangential migration that, if recapitulated, could explain homing along nonstereotypical paths. Our data implicate SDF-1α/CXCR4, representative of the inflammatory milieu characterizing many pathologies, as a pathway that activates NSC molecular programs during injury and suggest that inflammation may be viewed not simply as playing an adverse role but also as providing stimuli that recruit cells with a regenerative homeostasis-promoting capacity. CXCR4 expression within germinal zones suggests that NSC homing after injury and migration during development may invoke similar mechanisms.
STRL33, A Novel Chemokine Receptor–like Protein, Functions as a Fusion Cofactor for Both Macrophage-tropic and T Cell Line–tropic HIV-1

The chemokine receptors CXCR4, CCR2B, CCR3, and CCR5 have recently been shown to serve along with CD4 as coreceptors for HIV-1. The tropisms of HIV-1 strains for subgroups of CD4+ cells can be explained, at least partly, by the selective use of G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs). We have identified a novel human gene, STRL33, located on chromosome 3 that encodes a GPCR with sequence similarity to chemokine receptors and to chemokine receptor–like orphan receptors. STRL33 is expressed in lymphoid tissues and activated T cells, and is induced in activated peripheral blood lymphocytes. When transfected into nonhuman NIH 3T3 cells expressing human CD4, the STRL33 cDNA rendered these cells competent to fuse with cells expressing HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Envs). Of greatest interest, STRL33, in contrast with CXCR4 or CCR5, was able to function as a cofactor for fusion mediated by Envs from both T cell line–tropic and macrophage-tropic HIV-1 strains. STRL33-transfected Jurkat cell lines also supported enhanced productive infection with HIV-1 compared with control Jurkat cells. Despite the sequence similarities between STRL33 and chemokine receptors, STRL33-transfected cell lines did not respond to any in a panel of chemokines. Based on the pattern of tissue expression of the STRL33 mRNA, and given the ability of STRL33 to function with Envs of differing tropisms, STRL33 may play a role in the establishment and/or progression of HIV-1 infection.