Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the optimality of successive decoding in compress-and-forward relay schemes

In the classical compress-and-forward relay scheme developed by (Cover and El Gamal, 1979), the decoding process operates in a successive way: the destination first decodes the compressed observation of the relay, and then decodes the original message of the source. Recently, two modified compressand- forward relay schemes were proposed, and in both of them, the destination jointly decodes the compressed observation of the relay and the original message, instead of successively. Such a modification on the decoding process was motivated by realizing that it is generally easier to decode the compressed observation jointly with the original message, and more importantly, the original message can be decoded even without completely decoding the compressed observation. Thus, joint decoding provides more freedom in choosing the compression rate at the relay, i.e., the relay's observation can be compressed at a rate higher than supportable by successive decoding. However, the question remains whether this freedom of choosing a higher compression rate at the relay improves the achievable rate of the original message. It has been shown in (El Gamal and Kim, 2010) that the answer is negative in the single relay case, and the achievable rate obtained in (Cover and El Gamal, 1979) with successive decoding is still the best. In this paper, we further demonstrate that in the case of multiple relays, there is no improvement on the achievable rate by joint decoding either. More interestingly, it is discovered that any compression rates higher than supportable by successive decoding will actually result in a strictly lower achievable rate for the original message. Therefore, to maximize the achievable rate for the original message, the compression rates should always be chosen to be supportable by successive decoding. The freedom of choosing higher compression rates introduced by joint decoding is actually obtained at the sacrifice of the achievable rate for the original message. This phenomenon is also shown to exist under the repetitive encoding framework recently proposed by (Lim, Kim, El Gamal, and Chung, 2010).
Two-Stage Clustering (TSC): A Pipeline for Selecting Operational Taxonomic Units for the High-Throughput Sequencing of PCR Amplicons

Clustering 16S/18S rRNA amplicon sequences into operational taxonomic units (OTUs) is a critical step for the bioinformatic analysis of microbial diversity. Here, we report a pipeline for selecting OTUs with a relatively low computational demand and a high degree of accuracy. This pipeline is referred to as two-stage clustering (TSC) because it divides tags into two groups according to their abundance and clusters them sequentially. The more abundant group is clustered using a hierarchical algorithm similar to that in ESPRIT, which has a high degree of accuracy but is computationally costly for large datasets. The rarer group, which includes the majority of tags, is then heuristically clustered to improve efficiency. To further improve the computational efficiency and accuracy, two preclustering steps are implemented. To maintain clustering accuracy, all tags are grouped into an OTU depending on their pairwise Needleman-Wunsch distance. This method not only improved the computational efficiency but also mitigated the spurious OTU estimation from ‘noise’ sequences. In addition, OTUs clustered using TSC showed comparable or improved performance in beta-diversity comparisons compared to existing OTU selection methods. This study suggests that the distribution of sequencing datasets is a useful property for improving the computational efficiency and increasing the clustering accuracy of the high-throughput sequencing of PCR amplicons. The software and user guide are freely available at http://hwzhoulab.smu. edu.cn/paperdata/.
Personalized Mortality Prediction Driven by Electronic Medical Data and a Patient Similarity Metric

Background Clinical outcome prediction normally employs static, one-size-fits-all models that perform well for the average patient but are sub-optimal for individual patients with unique characteristics. In the era of digital healthcare, it is feasible to dynamically personalize decision support by identifying and analyzing similar past patients, in a way that is analogous to personalized product recommendation in e-commerce. Our objectives were: 1) to prove that analyzing only similar patients leads to better outcome prediction performance than analyzing all available patients, and 2) to characterize the trade-off between training data size and the degree of similarity between the training data and the index patient for whom prediction is to be made. Methods and Findings We deployed a cosine-similarity-based patient similarity metric (PSM) to an intensive care unit (ICU) database to identify patients that are most similar to each patient and subsequently to custom-build 30-day mortality prediction models. Rich clinical and administrative data from the first day in the ICU from 17,152 adult ICU admissions were analyzed. The results confirmed that using data from only a small subset of most similar patients for training improves predictive performance in comparison with using data from all available patients. The results also showed that when too few similar patients are used for training, predictive performance degrades due to the effects of small sample sizes. Our PSM-based approach outperformed well-known ICU severity of illness scores. Although the improved prediction performance is achieved at the cost of increased computational burden, Big Data technologies can help realize personalized data-driven decision support at the point of care. Conclusions The present study provides crucial empirical evidence for the promising potential of personalized data-driven decision support systems. With the increasing adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems, our novel medical data analytics contributes to meaningful use of EMR data.
Intergenerational Mobility in Educational and Occupational Attainment

Disparities between social groups transcend the boundary of current generation and perpetuate across future generations as well. This is manifested as low intergenerational mobility in terms of both education and occupation in developing countries in general, and among specific ethnic groups within those countries in particular. This paper examines the extent of intergenerational mobility in both educational and occupational attainments for diverse social groups in India to understand the inertia of disparities prevalent. Results indicate strong intergenerational stickiness in both educational achievement and occupational distribution among the scheduled castes and tribes who have been discriminated against historically. Occupational mobility is lower than educational mobility indicating that educational progress is not being transformed to occupational improvement and bringing up the possibility of discrimination in the labour market. This also brings to the fore the fact that historical social exclusion has had a long-run effect and the inertia is quite strong.
Expression of receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase ζ is a risk factor for triple negative breast cancer relapse

Patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) have a higher rate of distant recurrence and a poorer prognosis than those with other breast cancer subtypes. Therefore, it is important to study the mechanism of TNBC relapse. A retrospective immunohistochemical analysis of the expression of receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase ζ (PTPRZ1) and pleiotrophin (PTN) was performed for 325 cases of breast cancer. These samples included 66 cases of luminal A breast cancer, 67 cases of luminal B breast cancer, 78 cases of Her-2-enriched breast cancer, 78 cases of TNBC and 36 cases of relapsed TNBC (RTNBC). In addition, 30 control specimens and 30 cases of metastasized lymph nodes were examined. PTPRZ1 and PTN were highly expressed in the RTNBC group. Compared with the RTNBC group, significant differences in the expression of PTPRZ1 were observed between the TNBC, BC and control groups. A significant difference was observed in the expression of PTN in the BC group (P<0.05) compared to RTNBC, and there were no significant differences in the expression of PTPRZ1 and PTN among the molecular subtypes. No significant correlation was observed between the expression of PTPRZ1, PTN, ER, PR, Her-2 and ALN and the tumor size or menopause status. No significant correlation was identified between the expression of PTPRZ1 and PTN and the expression of CD24 and CD44. In summary, high expression of PTPRZ1 may be an independent risk indicator for TNBC recurrence and metastasis.
Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy allows for the analysis of cancer metastasis-specific miRNA distribution on the nanoscale

We describe a novel approach for the detection of small non-coding RNAs in single cells by Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy (SMLM). We used a modified SMLM–setup and applied this instrument in a first proof-of-principle concept to human cancer cell lines. Our method is able to visualize single microRNA (miR)-molecules in fixed cells with a localization accuracy of 10–15 nm, and is able to quantify and analyse clustering and localization in particular subcellular sites, including exosomes. We compared the metastasis-site derived (SW620) and primary site derived (SW480) human colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines, and (as a proof of principle) evaluated the metastasis relevant miR-31 as a first example. We observed that the subcellular distribution of miR-31 molecules in both cell lines was very heterogeneous with the largest subpopulation of optically acquired weakly metastatic cells characterized by a low number of miR-31 molecules, as opposed to a significantly higher number in the majority of the highly metastatic cells. Furthermore, the highly metastatic cells had significantly more miR-31-molecules in the extracellular space, which were visualized to co-localize with exosomes in significantly higher numbers. From this study, we conclude that miRs are not only aberrantly expressed and regulated, but also differentially compartmentalized in cells with different metastatic potential. Taken together, this novel approach, by providing single molecule images of miRNAs in cellulo can be used as a powerful supplementary tool in the analysis of miRNA function and behaviour and has far reaching potential in defining metastasis-critical subpopulations within a given heterogeneous cancer cell population.
The Students' Attitude Towards Peer Reviews in a Translation Class

This paper reports the students' attitude towards peer review employed as one method of instruction in a translation class taken by 24 Indonesian university students majoring in English. This study explores whether peer reviews helped the students in editing the drafts of their translation assignments from English into Indonesian and vice versa. A survey was conducted to obtain their responses after they submitted their final work. An interview was also carried out to verify their responses in the survey. The result shows that most of the students agreed that peer reviews are to some extent useful because the reviewers helped them see the errors in their first draft and they could discuss the errors with their reviewers for improvement. However, the students also contended that in order to have an effective peer review, the reviewers must be cooperative and willing to do the review for their peers. In terms of choosing reviewers, most students preferred competent reviewers because they could point the errors more accurately and give their peers more constructive inputs compared to the less competent ones.
3 D Bipedal Robotic Walking : Models , Feedback Control , and Open Problems

The fields of control and robotics are contributing to the development of bipedal robots that can realize walking motions with the stability and agility of a human being. Dynamic models for bipeds are hybrid in nature. They contain both continuous and discrete elements, with switching events that are spatially driven by unilateral constraints at ground contact and impulse-like forces that occur at foot touchdown. Control laws for these machines must be hybrid as well. The goals of this paper are threefold: highlight certain properties of the models which greatly influence the control law design; present two control design approaches; and indicate some of the many open problems.
Partner Relationships and Health: Marital Quality and Health Among Peri-Urban Ethiopian Couples

The linkages between marital relationship quality (MRQ) and health are well established in the West, although mutual spousal influence on each other is underexplored. In the sub-Saharan African context, despite continued health challenges and changing marital structures, this research has been neglected. This study examined the influence of spousal MRQ domains — such as trust, commitment and conflict resolution — on each other's self-reported health over time, using two waves of data from 725 couples in peri-urban Ethiopia using the Actor Partner Interdependence Model. Although MRQ and self-rated health measures of wives and husbands were associated, these relationships were complex and gendered. While the wife's health rating had a positive influence on the husband's relationship quality, the husband's health ratings were negatively associated with the wife's relationship quality. Expanding knowledge on the role of spousal influence can broaden understanding of couple mechanisms that potentially promote positive health behaviours and protect the health of spouses in different settings.
Highly Efficient True Random Number Generator in FPGA Devices Using Phase-Locked Loops

This paper presents a new type of True Random Number Generator (TRNG) based on jitter and metastability implemented in the latest family of Xilinx FPGA devices. The source of randomness is the Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) that is present on such devices, which exhibits jitter due to one of the analog component in it. For extracting the random bits the design uses the same clock as the PLL's input clock. The quality of the TRNG is given by the entropy source used, the single-chip implementation, and the high throughput (of the order of several megabits per second) obtained. It is confirmed by the fact that all the classical test batteries (NIST, DIEHARD, Test U01 and ENT) yielded very good results when ran on the generated random bits stream.
Neuroplastic changes within the brains of manganese-exposed welders: recruiting additional neural resources for successful motor performance

Background In a previous study, regional delivery of manganese (Mn)ions within the brain revealed that the metal accumulates in the basal ganglia, where it induces degeneration of the globus pallidus. Degeneration of the basal ganglia impairs motor ability by compromising an important neural circuit involved in the regulation of motor control. Therefore, much research has been devoted to identifying a sensitive and non-invasive imaging marker to evaluate the functional correlates of Mn-related brain dysfunction. Methods We performed the first-ever sequential finger-tapping functional MRI (fMRI) experiment to investigate the behavioural significance of additionally recruited brain regions in welders with chronic Mn exposure. Results During the finger tapping task, activation of the bilateral primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1), bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), bilateral dorsolateral premotor cortex, bilateral superior parietal cortex and ipsilateral dentate nucleus was higher in the welding group (42 welders) than in the control group (26 controls). The pallidal index correlated with the activation observed in the contralateral SM1 for the finger tapping task of the left hand. The fMRI variables correlated with motor behaviour. Grooved Pegboard performances (right hand) correlated with activation, as seen in the ipsilateral and contralateral SMAs obtained during the finger tapping task of the right hand. Conclusion Our findings suggest that increased brain activation results from the compensational activation of ancillary cortical pathways, which ensures adequate motor function.
Discovery of IL-18 As a Novel Secreted Protein Contributing to Doxorubicin Resistance by Comparative Secretome Analysis of MCF-7 and MCF-7/Dox

Background Resistance to chemotherapy is the major cause of failure in breast cancer treatment. Recent studies suggest that secreted proteins may play important roles in chemoresistance. We sought to systematically characterize secreted proteins associated with drug resistance, which may represent potential serum biomarkers or novel drug targets. Methodology/Principal Findings In the present work, we adopted the proteomic strategy of one-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to compare the secretome of MCF-7 and doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7/Dox. A total of 2,084 proteins were identified with at least two unique peptides in the conditioned media of two cell lines. By quantification with label-free spectral counting, 89 differentially expressed secreted proteins (DESPs) between the two cell lines were found. Among them, 57 DESPs were first found to be related to doxorubicin resistance in this work, including 24 extracellular matrix related proteins, 2 cytokines and 31 unclassified proteins. We focused on 13 novel DESPs with confirmed roles in tumor metastasis. Among them, the elevated expression of IL-18 in doxorubicin-resistant cell lines and breast tumor tissues was validated and its role in doxorubicin resistance was further confirmed by cell viability experiments in the presence or absence of this protein. Conclusions/Significance Comparative analysis of the secretome of MCF-7 and MCF-7/Dox identified novel secreted proteins related to chemotherapy resistance. IL-18 was further validated to contribute to doxorubicin resistance, in addition to its confirmed role in breast cancer metastasis. Due to its dual roles in both drug resistance and tumor metastasis, IL-18 may represent a useful drug target for breast cancer therapy.
The QA2 subregion controls the expression of two antigens recognized by H-2- unrestricted cytotoxic T cells

B6.KI mice were immunized with spleen cells from B6.K2, a Qa2-subregion congenic strain. Cytotoxic T cells were generated that recognize two target antigens controlled by this region. One of the target antigens is Qa-2. This was demonstrated by the findings that pretreatment of target cells with monoclonal anti-Qa-2 antibody blocked lysis of target cells, and Qa-2 target antigens and serological determinants had a concordant distribution on a panel of B10.W (wild) mice. The gene controlling the Qa-2 target antigen is not polymorphic because B6.K2 and three strains of Qa-2(+) B10.W mice express the same antigens, as determined by a CTL cold target competition assay. Anti-Qa-2 CTL were H-2 unrestricted because effector cells lysed Qa-2(+) targets irrespective of their H-2 haplotype, including five B 10.W strains, and lysis was not inhibited by pretreating target cells with anti-H-2 sera. The Qa2 subregion does not act as a restricting locus for anti-minor-H antigen CTL. A second target antigen was detected that was associated with the expression of the Qa-5 determinant. However, CTL activity could not be blocked by pretreating target cells with monoclonal anti-Qa-5. Therefore, the CTL target antigen may be expressed on a Qa-5(-) molecule. Although the Qa-5 associated CTL specificity is only detected on H-2D(b) strains, it is unlikely that CTL recognition is H-2 restricted because anti-H-2(b) sera has no effect in blocking this reactivity. Qa-2 and H-2 class I antigens share a similar structure and serve as target antigens for unrestricted CTL. However, unlike class I H-2 genes, Qa-2 neither restricts antigen-specific CTL nor is polymorphie. Therefore, it is likely that Qa-2 and H-2 are derived from a common ancestral gene and have evolved to serve different functions.
The effects of place attachment on social well-being in older adults

ABSTRACT Social well-being and place attachment are two important concepts in health and quality of life of older adults. There are few studies on the relationship between these concepts at the individual level. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of place attachment dimensions on social well-being dimensions in older adults. This study was a descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted on 550 community-dwelling older adults in a metropolitan area of Tehran. Participants were selected using a multistage cluster sampling approach. A Persian version of the Social Well-being Scale and the Place Attachment Scale were used to collect data. Data analysis was performed using an independent t test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis by IBM SPSS statistics V.22 software. Findings showed that place identity, place dependence, and social relations in neighborhood explained, respectively: (β = .34), (β = .26), (β = .09) of the variance in social integration; (β = .36), (β = .23), (β = .18) of the variance in social acceptance; (β = .24), (β = .23), (β = .16) of the variance in social contribution; (β = .27), (β = .22), (β = .17) of the variance in the social actualization. In social coherence, place identity (β = .33) and social relations in the neighborhood (β = .13) were significant predictors (p < .05). The results of this study revealed that the place attachment is a strong predictor for the social well-being of older adults. Any change in the place of attachment leads to changes in the social well-being of the elderly.
A Case Study on the Effects of Mnemonics on English Vocabulary

This case study examines the effectiveness of using mnemonic techniques in learning English vocabularies. This study looks into students’ perspectives and point of view of the mnemonic technique in teaching and learning English vocabularies. The selected respondents are students who are currently learning English subject in a primary school. Their English teachers will teach the students about English vocabulary with and without using the mnemonic technique. A set of questionnaire will be given to the students. The result received from the questionnaire will be used to help in obtaining the data for the research. The aim of this study is to know the effectiveness of using mnemonic techniques in learning English vocabularies as well as the students’ response towards the technique. This research will help to recommend future English teachers with guidance and thoughts that should be taken into consideration when teaching English vocabularies to their students.