Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Survey of Cellular Mobile Radio Localization Methods: From 1G to 5G

Cellular systems evolved from a dedicated mobile communication system to an almost omnipresent system with unlimited coverage anywhere and anytime for any device. The growing ubiquity of the network stirred expectations to determine the location of the mobile devices themselves. Since the beginning of standardization, each cellular mobile radio generation has been designed for communication services, and satellite navigation systems, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), have provided precise localization as an add-on service to the mobile terminal. Self-contained localization services relying on the mobile network elements have offered only rough position estimates. Moreover, satellite-based technologies suffer a severe degradation of their localization performance in indoors and urban areas. Therefore, only in subsequent cellular standard releases, more accurate cellular-based location methods have been considered to accommodate more challenging localization services. This survey provides an overview of the evolution of the various localization methods that were standardized from the first to the fourth generation of cellular mobile radio, and looks over what can be expected with the new radio and network aspects for the upcoming generation of fifth generation.
Mongolian students’ digital literacy practices: the interface between English and the internet

Over the last few decades, Mongolia has experienced social, economic, technological and political changes. Those changes have contributed to the growing cultural status of English mediated in particular through the digital literacy practices of young Mongolians. However, much of the digital and new media research takes place in predominantly AngloAmerican contexts (Prinsloo & Rowsell, 2012) and not much is known about what shapes Mongolian university students’ use of digital technologies. The research reported on here aims to fill this gap. Drawing on perspectives offered by the field of Literacy Studies, which analyses literacy practices within the social and cultural contexts in which they occur, and employing a mixed methods approach, the research examines how Mongolian university students majoring in English used digital technologies, especially the internet, in their everyday lives. Data were generated through a survey of 98 students and through observations of and interviews with six case study participants who came from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The findings indicate that most students’ digital literacy practices were directed towards improving their English. They used digital technologies strategically by negotiating the issues of cost and time, and exercised agency in personalising the technologies to support their English learning and eventually to improve their social positions. However, the findings also suggest that the participants’ engagement with digital technologies was shaped by contextual and structural factors which included family background, personal resources such as English proficiency, digital literacies and aspirations. The research considers how the findings may inform improvements to educational practices around the teaching and learning of English and digital literacies in Mongolian universities.
Look at Boundary: A Boundary-Aware Face Alignment Algorithm

We present a novel boundary-aware face alignment algorithm by utilising boundary lines as the geometric structure of a human face to help facial landmark localisation. Unlike the conventional heatmap based method and regression based method, our approach derives face landmarks from boundary lines which remove the ambiguities in the landmark definition. Three questions are explored and answered by this work: 1. Why using boundary? 2. How to use boundary? 3. What is the relationship between boundary estimation and landmarks localisation? Our boundary-aware face alignment algorithm achieves 3.49% mean error on 300-W Fullset, which outperforms state-of-the-art methods by a large margin. Our method can also easily integrate information from other datasets. By utilising boundary information of 300-W dataset, our method achieves 3.92% mean error with 0.39% failure rate on COFW dataset, and 1.25% mean error on AFLW-Full dataset. Moreover, we propose a new dataset WFLW to unify training and testing across different factors, including poses, expressions, illuminations, makeups, occlusions, and blurriness. Dataset and model are publicly available at https://wywu.github. io/projects/LAB/LAB.html
A Synbiotic with Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Inhibitory Activity Ameliorates Experimental Jejunoileal Mucosal Injury

Despite the recent development of biological modifiers for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), there continues to be considerable interest in fermented medicines because of its negligible adverse effects. We previously showed that the synbiotic Gut Working Tablet (GWT) alleviates experimental colitis. Here we show that GWT is capable of ameliorating jejunoileal mucosal injury, which is frequently seen with IBD. We created experimental jejunoileal mucositis in rats by injection of methotrexate (MTX) which increases intestinal permeability, a hallmark finding of IBD. Administering GWT to MTX-injected rats restored intestinal integrity by reversing villi shortening, crypt loss, and goblet cell depletion in the mucosa. Also GWT reduced activities of myeloperoxidase and lipid peroxidase and increased superoxide dismutase activity, which is critical for maintaining intestinal function. We further found that GWT suppressed mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-12 (IL-12) in macrophage and reduced TNF-α mRNA expression in specimens with experimental colitis, which is in contrast to VSL#3 that enhanced TNF-α production. Together, the current and previous animal studies clearly demonstrate the protective role of GWT in chemically induced enterocolitis. Crohn's disease, a well-known IBD, can affect any portion of the intestine, and these results suggest that GWT may be useful as a novel therapeutic or maintenance therapy for IBD.
Stream Processing Dual-Track CGRA for Object Inference

With the development of machine learning technology, the exploration of energy-efficient and flexible architectures for object inference algorithms is of growing interest in recent years. However, not many publications concentrate on a coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture (CGRA) for object inference algorithms. This paper provides a stream processing, dual-track programming CGRA-based approach to address the inherent computing characteristics of algorithms in object inference. Based on the proposed approach, an architecture called stream dual-track CGRA (SDT-CGRA) is presented as an implementation prototype. To evaluate the performance, the SDT-CGRA is realized in Verilog HDL and implemented in Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation 55-nm process, with the footprint of 5.19 mm2 at 450 MHz. Seven object inference algorithms, including convolutional neural network (CNN), ${k}$ -means, principal component analysis (PCA), spatial pyramid matching (SPM), linear support vector machine (SVM), Softmax, and Joint Bayesian, are selected as benchmarks. The experimental results show that the SDT-CGRA can gain on average 343.8 times and 17.7 times higher energy efficiency for Softmax, PCA, and CNN, 621.0 times and 1261.8 times higher energy efficiency for ${k}$ -means, SPM, linear-SVM, and Joint-Bayesian algorithms when compared with the Intel Xeon E5-2637 CPU and the Nvidia TitanX graphics processing unit. When compared with the state-of-the-art solutions of AlexNet on field-programmable gate array and CGRA, the proposed SDT-CGRA can achieve a 1.78 times increase in energy efficiency and a 13 times speedup, respectively.
Khorana Score: Νew Predictor of Early Mortality in Patients With Lung Adenocarcinoma

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a typical complication in patients with lung cancer. Khorana score is an established tool for thromboembolic risk stratification of ambulatory patients with cancer undergoing outpatient chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of the Khorana score for VTE and death in patients with lung adenocarcinoma during first-line or adjuvant chemotherapy. Medical records of 130 patients with lung adenocarcinoma receiving first-line or adjuvant chemotherapy were retrospectively studied during the time period June 2013 to May 2015. Venous thromboembolism occurred in 13 (10.0%) patients. Thromboembolic events were significantly correlated with reduced survival during treatment period (hazard ratio [HR]: 3.24; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.11-9.49; P = .032). The VTE rates did not present statistically significant difference between different Khorana score groups (P = .96). In univariate analysis, the risk of death during treatment period (median: 16 weeks) was 3.75 times higher in high-risk versus intermediate-risk patients (HR: 3.75, 95% CI: 1.36-10.36; P = .001) and had 2.25 times higher per point increase in the Khorana score (HR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.36-3.73; P = .002); the above results were also reproduced in multivariate analysis. Khorana score represents a valuable tool for identifying patients with cancer in low thromboembolic risk but does not preserve its predictive value for higher risk individuals. Khorana score is an independent risk factor for death in patients with lung adenocarcinoma receiving first-line or adjuvant chemotherapy.
Entre monstros e vítimas: a coerção e a socialização no Sistema Socioeducativo de Minas Gerais

Este trabalho analisou as formas de implementacao do Estatuto da Crianca e do Adolescente (ECA) e do Sistema Nacional de Atendimento Socioeducativo (SINASE) em dois centros socioeducativos de Minas Gerais e a maneira como esses centros lidam com a presenca de duas logicas coexistentes na politica voltada ao adolescente em privacao de liberdade: a coercao e a socializacao. A pesquisa demonstrou que a implementacao e a articulacao das logicas variam nas unidades, principalmente em funcao da estrutura fisica, do perfil dos internos e da visao dos implementadores sobre as normativas.
Utilization of pedicled buccal fat pads for coverage of the lateral relaxing wound: A review of literature and a case series of 15 patients

Background The buccal fat pad (BFP) is an encapsulated mass originated from a specific fat tissue in various volume throughout the life of each person and BFP has been used in various surgeries as a source of useful graft material due to its easy accessibility and rich vascularization. Case Report This report describes fifteen patients who were treated with buccal fat pads (BFP) as a pedicled graft for lateral relaxing wound closure in primary cleft palate surgery. A review of relevant literature is also presented. Results All patients had a mean follow-up of 3.7 weeks with a minimum follow-up time of three weeks and a maximum follow-up of four weeks. All patients who had an uneventful immediate postoperative period showed signs of BFP epithelialization characterized by a yellowish tissue beginning in the first week and ending within 3–4 weeks after surgery. Conclusions The use of BFP for the small to medium-sized defects reconstruction in palatoplasty is a safe and reliable method with fast healing. Even older patients who would not be able to tolerate time-consuming flap reconstruction procedures had good results. Key words:Cleft palate, buccal fat pads, lateral relaxing wound.
Criterial Learning is Not Enough: Retrieval Practice is Necessary for Improving Post-Stress Memory Accessibility

In a recent study, having participants make three retrieval attempts (i.e., retrieval practice) when learning information strengthened memory against the detrimental effects of psychological stress. We aimed to determine whether learning to criterion, in which only one successful retrieval attempt is made, would similarly buffer memory against stress, or whether multiple retrieval attempts are necessary to achieve that effect. In Experiment 1, participants learned to criterion and then engaged in additional restudying (CLS) or retrieval practice (CLR). Twenty-four hours later, stress was induced and stress-related increases in cortisol were observed. However, no differences in recall performance were observed between any of the groups. Experiment 2 was similar but introduced a 1-week delay between encoding and retrieval. Recall performance was impaired for both groups under stress, but recall for those in the CLR group was still better than either pre- or post-stress performance for those in the CLS group. Thus, criterial learning may protect memory against stress in the short-term, but additional retrieval practice is more beneficial for achieving this effect in the long-term.
Cues to Opening Mechanisms From in Silico Electric Field Excitation of Cx26 Hemichannel and in Vitro Mutagenesis Studies in HeLa Transfectans

Connexin channels play numerous essential roles in virtually every organ by mediating solute exchange between adjacent cells, or between cytoplasm and extracellular milieu. Our understanding of the structure-function relationship of connexin channels relies on X-ray crystallographic data for human connexin 26 (hCx26) intercellular gap junction channels. Comparison of experimental data and molecular dynamics simulations suggests that the published structures represent neither fully-open nor closed configurations. To facilitate the search for alternative stable configurations, we developed a coarse grained (CG) molecular model of the hCx26 hemichannel and studied its responses to external electric fields. When challenged by a field of 0.06 V/nm, the hemichannel relaxed toward a novel configuration characterized by a widened pore and an increased bending of the second transmembrane helix (TM2) at the level of the conserved Pro87. A point mutation that inhibited such transition in our simulations impeded hemichannel opening in electrophysiology and dye uptake experiments conducted on HeLa tranfectants. These results suggest that the hCx26 hemichannel uses a global degree of freedom to transit between different configuration states, which may be shared among the whole connexin family.
The Impact of Ecological Restoration Projects in Dry Lands: Data-based Assessment and Human Perceptions in the Lower Reaches of Heihe River Basin, China

Desertification is a critical environmental problem in China’s northwestern region. In this context, since the early 2000s, projects targeting ecological restoration have been implemented in the lower reaches of the Heihe River basin. Using multi-scale remote sensing data and field observations, this paper examines the outcomes of the ecological restoration projects. Specifically, this paper examines the vegetation change through remote sensing and local perceptions of the projects through semi-structured questionnaires. The results from remote sensing reveal that during the restoration projects, vegetation coverage in riparian areas of the lower reaches of the Heihe River basin increased. However, this increase cannot be simply equated with ecological recovery. Expansion of farmland and afforested areas have also contributed to the increase in vegetation coverage. Questionnaire results reveal that although locals perceived improvements in the ecological conditions of the lower reaches, most of them were more about future environmental changes. Additionally, results indicate that ecological restoration projects redistributed water resources in the local river reaches and, as a result, local residents living in riparian areas perceive greater benefit. Therefore, the implementation of the project may have actually negatively impacted the water accessibility of those living in the drier Gobi Desert areas.
DNA base sequence effects on bulky lesion-induced conformational heterogeneity during DNA replication

Abstract 4-Aminobiphenyl (ABP) and its structure analog 2-aminofluorene (AF) are well-known carcinogens. In the present work, an unusual sequence effect in the 5′-CTTCTG1G2TCCTCATTC-3′ DNA duplex is reported for ABP- and AF-modified G. Specifically, the ABP modification at G1 resulted in a mixture of 67% major groove B-type (B) and 33% stacked (S) conformers, while at the ABP modification at G2 exclusively resulted in the B-conformer. The AF modification at G1 and G2 lead to 25%:75% and 83%:17% B:S population ratios, respectively. These differences in preferred conformation are due to an interplay between stabilizing (hydrogen bonding and stacking that is enhanced by lesion planarity) and destabilizing (solvent exposure) forces at the lesion site. Furthermore, while the B-conformer is a thermodynamic stabilizer and the S-conformer is a destabilizer in duplex settings, the situation is reversed at the single strands/double strands (ss/ds) junction. Specifically, the twisted biphenyl is a better stacker at the ss/ds junction than the coplanar AF. Therefore, the ABP modification leads to a stronger strand binding affinity of the ss/ds junction than the AF modification. Overall, the current work provides conformational insights into the role of sequence and lesion effects in modulating DNA replication.
Deep feature representation for the computational analytics of 3D neuronal morphology

With the ever-increasing number of digitally reconstructed neurons, computational analytics of 3D neuronal morphology has become a new avenue to understand neuroanatomical structures and functional properties. However, traditional methods cannot well identify and represent neuronal morphology, especially when tackling large-scale and diverse neuron datasets. In this paper, we propose a deep learning based framework for the representation of 3D neuron morphology. At first, considering the neuronal tree-structures are usually very sparse in 3D space, we project each 3D neuron into 2D images with three angles of view. The projective strategy can preserve the spatial morphologies from the original data. Subsequently, as there are no sufficient annotations for each neuron, we introduce an unsupervised deep neural network to automatically learn neuron features from the projected 2D images. The deep features are then combined with traditional features for accurate neuron representation. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of our method by searching similar samples on a public database including 58,000 neurons. Moreover, we demonstrate that the traditional hand-crafted features are complementary with deep features in the representation of 3D neuron morphology.
Associations of Grip Strength and Change in Grip Strength With All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in a European Older Population

Objective: (1) To examine the associations between 3 measures of grip strength: static grip strength, change in grip strength, and the combination of grip strength and its change, with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, and (2) to determine which measure is the most powerful predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality among the European older population. Method: Data come from the first 4 waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). A Cox proportional hazard model and a competing risk regression model were used to assess the associations. To determine the best predictor, Akaike information criterion was applied. Results: Grip strength and the combination of grip strength and its change were associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Change in grip strength was correlated with only all-cause mortality. Among the 3 measures, the static measure of grip strength was the best predictor of cardiovascular mortality whereas the combined measure is that of all-cause mortality. Discussion: Grip strength is a significant indicator of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. The combination of grip strength and its change can be used to increase the accuracy for prediction of all-cause mortality among older persons.
A surface proton antenna in carbonic anhydrase II supports lactate transport in cancer cells

Many tumor cells produce vast amounts of lactate and acid, which have to be removed from the cell to prevent intracellular lactacidosis and suffocation of metabolism. In the present study, we show that proton-driven lactate flux is enhanced by the intracellular carbonic anhydrase CAII, which is colocalized with the monocarboxylate transporter MCT1 in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Co-expression of MCTs with various CAII mutants in Xenopus oocytes demonstrated that CAII facilitates MCT transport activity in a process involving CAII-Glu69 and CAII-Asp72, which could function as surface proton antennae for the enzyme. CAII-Glu69 and CAII-Asp72 seem to mediate proton transfer between enzyme and transporter, but CAII-His64, the central residue of the enzyme’s intramolecular proton shuttle, is not involved in proton shuttling between the two proteins. Instead, this residue mediates binding between MCT and CAII. Taken together, the results suggest that CAII features a moiety that exclusively mediates proton exchange with the MCT to facilitate transport activity.
Molecular characterization of ridge gourd ('Luffa acutangula' L.) and sponge gourd ('Luffa cylindrica' l.) genotypes through PCR based molecular markers

The present study was carried out for the comparison of RAPD and ISSR markers for polymorphism pa ern and molecular diversity analysis among 17 ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula L.) and sponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica L.) genotypes using 20 RAPD and 12 ISSR markers. Twenty RAPD primers generated total of 94 bands of which 81 bands were polymorphic showing 86.17% polymorphism. The average bands per primer were found 4.05. The polymorphic information content (PIC) was recorded from 0.4828 to 0.8842 for RAPD. Jaccard's similarity coefficient ranged from 30.8% to 78.6% for RAPD. However, out of 30 ISSR primers screened, twelve ISSR primers produced 79 bands of which 66 bands were polymorphic and 83.54% polymorphism with an average of 7.16 bands per primer. The PIC ranged between 0.6548 and 0.8939 for ISSR. Jaccard's similarity coefficient ranged from 22.7% to 81.2% for ISSR. This study showed that RAPD and ISSR markers produced specific DNA fragments for identification of ridge gourd and sponge gourd genotypes.
Fight the Good Fight: A Response to Thompson, Knapp, and Levin

After reading the three papers (Knapp, 1998b;Levin, 1998; & Thompson, 1998b) that reviewed thearticles by Daniel (1998), McLean and Ernest (1998),and Nix and Barnette (1998), it occurred to us that we“got off” rather lightly. In preparing our response to thecontents of the other papers in this special issue of