Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Separating ISI and CCI in a two-step FIR Bezout equalizer for MIMO systems of frequency-selective channels

The use of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and the receiver in wireless communications implies a great channel capacity, but the signal detection is a crucial problem in achieving channel capacity, particularly in the general case of frequency selective channels, where both intersymbol interference (ISI) and cochannel interference (CCI) are significant. We show that ISI and CCI can be separated and then be cancelled in two different steps. We develop a two-step FIR Bezout equalizer and deduce the theoretically smallest length of its equalization filter.
Cortical Vascular Canals in Human Mandible and Other Bones

The human mandible is highly mineralized. We hypothesized that this is related to the local vascularity of the bone. This could not be examined directly, but, as a surrogate, intracortical vascular canal spaces of the human mandible were studied so that we could determine possible relationships with age, gender, location, dental status, and tissue mineralization. Canal numbers, area, and volume fraction were calculated from quantitative backscattered electron images of human mandibles aged 16–96 years. Data were compared with calvaria, maxilla, lumbar vertebra, femoral neck, and iliac crest. In the mandible, the buccal aspect of the midline was the most porous, the canals being larger and more numerous. The cortical porosity in the posterior of partially dentate mandibles was significantly greater than that of either dentate or edentate mandibles, and there was a significant increase in the size of canals in the mandible with increasing age. Female mandibles had more porous cortices. No relationship was found between cortical porosity and the degree of bone mineralization.
The site-selection and decision-making model for city fire stations

To the problems that exist in the fire station, such as the insufficient number of fire station, the insufficient land using, the remote location and the inconvenient dispatch, etc, the site-selection model is proposed to achieve the supplying point's coverage over all the demanding points and make the location optimized. Based on suitable site in the model used to generate policy options, they made the decision of fire station location, which was combined of qualitative and quantitative AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), and ultimately determine the most appropriate solution. The applicability of this model is proved through case study on the fire station in Shinan District of Qingdao. The purpose of this paper is to meet the optimal fire prevention need with lowest cost, thus making the development of the fire prevention and urbanization compatible.
High-Rate Full-Diversity Space-Time-Frequency Codes with Partial Interference Cancellation Decoding

In this paper, a simple design of a linear dispersive space-time-frequency (STF) code is proposed with a design criterion to achieve high rate for frequency-selective channels in terms of multipath when the partial interference cancellation (PIC) group decoding is applied at receiver. With an appropriate grouping scheme as well as the PIC group decoding, the proposed STF code is shown to obtain the similar diversity gain as the maximum likelihood (ML) decoding, namely full-dimensional sphere decoding, but have a low decoding complexity. It seems as an intermediate decoding between the ML receiver and zero-forcing (ZF) receiver. The proposed grouping design criterion for the PIC group decoding to achieve full diversity deploying the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) technique is also an intermediate condition between the loosest ML full rank criterion of code words and the strongest ZF linear independence condition of the column vectors for the equivalent frequency-selective channel matrix. It can achieves full diversity with the PIC group decoding for any number of sub carriers and the data rate can be made high. Simulation results show that the proposed STF code can well address the rate-performance-complexity tradeoff of the multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) communication system.
High Resolution Acquisition, Learning and Transfer of Dynamic 3‐D Facial Expressions

Synthesis and re‐targeting of facial expressions is central to facial animation and often involves significant manual work in order to achieve realistic expressions, due to the difficulty of capturing high quality dynamic expression data. In this paper we address fundamental issues regarding the use of high quality dense 3‐D data samples undergoing motions at video speeds, e.g. human facial expressions. In order to utilize such data for motion analysis and re‐targeting, correspondences must be established between data in different frames of the same faces as well as between different faces. We present a data driven approach that consists of four parts: 1) High speed, high accuracy capture of moving faces without the use of markers, 2) Very precise tracking of facial motion using a multi‐resolution deformable mesh, 3) A unified low dimensional mapping of dynamic facial motion that can separate expression style, and 4) Synthesis of novel expressions as a combination of expression styles. The accuracy and resolution of our method allows us to capture and track subtle expression details. The low dimensional representation of motion data in a unified embedding for all the subjects in the database allows for learning the most discriminating characteristics of each individual's expressions as that person's “expression style”. Thus new expressions can be synthesized, either as dynamic morphing between individuals, or as expression transfer from a source face to a target face, as demonstrated in a series of experiments.
Extending WLAN coverage using infrastructureless access points

In wireless LAN (WLAN), the access point (AP) is connected to the Internet to provide network service to mobile users. Such system has limited coverage. To overcome it, a number of APs may form a wireless mesh and packets are forwarded from one AP to another by means of ad hoc connections. In this way, WLAN coverage can be cost-effectively extended to infrastructureless areas of low population and accessibility so long as one AP (namely, I-AP) is attached to the wired infrastructure. Since each AP can use multiple channels, we investigate in this paper the issue of routing and channel assignment in such an AP mesh network. We propose a routing scheme which takes the traffic load into consideration and routes the traffic through a load balanced shortest path tree (LB-SPT) rooted at the I-AP. We also propose a load-based channel assignment (LCA) scheme to judiciously assign the channels among the links. Our schemes are shown to significantly improve the system throughput and flow fairness, as compared with generic shortest path routing and uncoordinated random channel assignment.
Choline intake in a large cohort of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

BACKGROUND There is significant histologic and biochemical overlap between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and steatohepatitis associated with choline deficiency. OBJECTIVE We sought to determine whether subjects with biopsy-proven NAFLD and evidence of an inadequate intake of choline had more severe histologic features. DESIGN We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 664 subjects enrolled in the multicenter, prospective Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network (NASH CRN) with baseline data on diet composition (from a recall-based food-frequency questionnaire) within 6 mo of a liver biopsy. Food questionnaires were analyzed with proprietary software to estimate daily intakes of choline. Liver biopsies were centrally read, and consensus was scored with the NASH CRN-developed scoring system. Because choline needs vary by age, sex, and menopausal status, participants were segregated into corresponding categories (children 9-13 y old, males ≥14 y old, premenopausal women ≥19 y old, and postmenopausal women) on the basis of the Institute of Medicine's definition of adequate intake (AI) for choline. Deficient intake was defined as <50% AI. RESULTS Postmenopausal women with deficient choline intake had worse fibrosis (P = 0.002) once factors associated with NAFLD (age, race-ethnicity, obesity, elevated triglycerides, diabetes, alcohol use, and steroid use) were considered in multiple ordinal logistic regression models. Choline intake was not identified as a contributor to disease severity in children, men, or premenopausal women. CONCLUSION Decreased choline intake is significantly associated with increased fibrosis in postmenopausal women with NAFLD. The Pioglitazone vs Vitamin E vs Placebo for Treatment of Non-Diabetic Patients With Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00063622, and the Treatment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Children trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00063635.
Shifting Evaluation Windows: Predictable Forward Primes with Long SOAs Eliminate the Impact of Backward Primes

Recent work suggests that people evaluate target stimuli within short and flexible time periods called evaluation windows. Stimuli that briefly precede a target (forward primes) or briefly succeed a target (backward primes) are often included in the target's evaluation. In this article, the authors propose that predictable forward primes act as “go” signals that prepare target processing, such that earlier forward primes pull the evaluation windows forward in time. Earlier forward primes may thus reduce the impact of backward primes. This shifting evaluation windows hypothesis was tested in two experiments using an evaluative decision task with predictable (vs. unpredictable) forward and backward primes. As expected, a longer time interval between a predictable forward prime and a target eliminated backward priming. In contrast, the time interval between an unpredictable forward primes and a target had no effects on backward priming. These findings suggest that predictable features of dynamic stimuli can shape target extraction by determining which information is included (or excluded) in rapid evaluation processes.
Left-right mental timeline is robust to visuospatial and verbal interference

We test the robustness of American college students’ mental timeline to dual tasks that have interfered with spatial and verbal reasoning in prior work. We focus on the left-right axis for representing sequences of events. We test American college students, who read from left to right. We test for automatic space-time mappings using two established spacetime association tasks. We find that their tendency to associate earlier events with the left side of space and later events with the right remains under conditions of visuospatial and verbal interference. We find this both when participants made time judgments about linguistic and non-linguistic stimuli. We discuss the relationship between these results and those obtained for mental timelines that result from learning new metaphors in language (Hendricks & Boroditsky, 2015), and the effects of the same interference tasks on number tasks (mental number-line and counting; van Dijck et al., 2009; Frank et al., 2012).
REVIEW: PART OF A HIGHLIGHT ON BREEDING STRATEGIES FOR FORAGE AND GRASS IMPROVEMENT Will genomic selection be a practical method for plant breeding?

†Background Genomic selection or genome-wide selection (GS) has been highlighted as a new approach for marker-assisted selection (MAS) in recent years. GS is a form of MAS that selects favourable individuals based on genomic estimated breeding values. Previous studies have suggested the utility of GS, especially for capturing small-effect quantitative trait loci, but GS has not become a popular methodology in the field of plant breeding, possibly because there is insufficient information available on GS for practical use. †Scope In this review, GS is discussed from a practical breeding viewpoint. Statistical approaches employed in GS are briefly described, before the recent progress in GS studies is surveyed. GS practices in plant breeding are then reviewed before future prospects are discussed. †Conclusions Statistical concepts used in GS are discussed with genetic models and variance decomposition, heritability, breeding value and linear model. Recent progress in GS studies is reviewed with a focus on empirical studies. For the practice of GS in plant breeding, several specific points are discussed including linkage disequilibrium, feature of populations and genotyped markers and breeding scheme. Currently, GS is not perfect, but it is a potent, attractive and valuable approach for plant breeding. This method will be integrated into many practical breeding programmes in the near future with further advances and the maturing of its theory.
Data Sampling Using Bayesian Analysis and its Applications in Simulated Annealing

In this paper, we propose a new probabilistic sampling procedure and its application in simulated annealing (SA). The new procedure uses Bayesian analysis to evaluate samples made already and draws the next sample based on a density function constructed through Bayesian analysis. After integrating our procedure in SA, we apply it to solve a set of optimization benchmarks. Our results show that our proposed procedure, when used in SA, is very effective in generating highquality samples that are more reliable and robust in leading to global solutions.
Reinforcement of dynamically vulcanized EPDM/PP elastomers using organoclay fillers

Abstract Dynamically vulcanized EPDM/PP (ethylene-propylene-diene/polypropylene) elastomers reinforced with various amounts of organoclay were prepared using octylphenol-formaldehyde resin and stannous chloride dehydrate as vulcanizing agents. The effects of organoclay on vulcanization characteristics, rheological behavior, morphology, thermal stability and thermomechanical properties were studied. Experimental results showed that organoclay affected neither the vulcanization process nor the degree of vulcanization chemically. X-ray analysis revealed that these organoclay-filled thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) were intercalated. With respect to the mechanical properties, organoclay increased both the strength and degree of elongation of TPVs. The morphological observation of fractured surfaces suggested that organoclay acted as a nucleating agent in TPVs, improving their mechanical properties. However, adding organoclay reduced the thermal stability of TPVs by decomposing the swelling agents in the organoclay.
Structure Models for Image-Assisted Geometry Measurement in Plenoptic Sampling

We present a signal-processing framework for image-assisted geometry measurement in the image-based rendering (IBR). We study the utilized geometry information and estimating minimum sampling rate of the IBR. Our method combines decomposing a complex scene geometry into a collection of simpler structures on a block-by-block basis. The automatic simpler structure selection can be interactively refined by detected single salient points. In this manner, we reduce the spectral analysis problem of an irregular object to that of a simpler structure. Predictions on the frequency content can then be used to control the sampling rate. This extends previous work in which the IBR sampling is analyzed and estimated for nonuniform sampling. Extensive experimental evaluation demonstrates that our geometry simplification method significantly outperforms competing algorithms. Additionally, the minimum sampling rate of the IBR necessary for alias-free rendering will be reduced as the number of simpler structures increases.
The Nimrod transmembrane receptor Eater is required for hemocyte attachment to the sessile compartment in Drosophila melanogaster

ABSTRACT Eater is an EGF-like repeat transmembrane receptor of the Nimrod family and is expressed in Drosophila hemocytes. Eater was initially identified for its role in phagocytosis of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We have deleted eater and show that it appears to be required for efficient phagocytosis of Gram-positive but not Gram-negative bacteria. However, the most striking phenotype of eater deficient larvae is the near absence of sessile hemocytes, both plasmatocyte and crystal cell types. The eater deletion is the first loss of function mutation identified that causes absence of the sessile hemocyte state. Our study shows that Eater is required cell-autonomously in plasmatocytes for sessility. However, the presence of crystal cells in the sessile compartment requires Eater in plasmatocytes. We also show that eater deficient hemocytes exhibit a cell adhesion defect. Collectively, our data uncovers a new requirement of Eater in enabling hemocyte attachment at the sessile compartment and points to a possible role of Nimrod family members in hemocyte adhesion.
QCRI advanced transcription system (QATS) for the Arabic Multi-Dialect Broadcast media recognition: MGB-2 challenge

In this paper, we describe Qatar Computing Research Institute's (QCRI) speech transcription system for the 2016 Dialectal Arabic Multi-Genre Broadcast (MGB-2) challenge. MGB-2 is a controlled evaluation using 1,200 hours audio with lightly supervised transcription Our system which was a combination of three purely sequence trained recognition systems, achieved the lowest WER of 14.2% among the nine participating teams. Key features of our transcription system are: purely sequence trained acoustic models using the recently introduced Lattice free Maximum Mutual Information (LF-MMI) modeling framework; Language model rescoring using a four-gram and Recurrent Neural Network with Max- Ent connections (RNNME) language models; and system combination using Minimum Bayes Risk (MBR) decoding criterion. The whole system is built using kaldi speech recognition toolkit.
RNase L is a negative regulator of cell migration

RNase L is a regulated endoribonuclease that functions in the interferon antiviral response. Activation of RNase L by 2′, 5′-oligoadenylates has been linked to apoptosis, autophagy and inflammation. Genetic studies have also suggested the possible involvement of the RNase L gene (RNASEL) on chromosome 1q25.3 in several types of cancer. Here we report that ablation of RNase L in human prostate cancer PC3 cells by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology enhanced cell migration as determined both by transwell assays and scratch wound healing assays. In addition, RNase L knockdown by means of RNAi increased migration of PC3 and DU145 cells in response to either fibronectin or serum stimulation, as did homozygous disruption of the RNase L gene in mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Serum or fibronectin stimulation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) autophosphorylation on tyrosine-397 was increased by either knockdown or ablation of RNase L. In contrast, a missense mutant RNase L (R667A) lacking catalytic activity failed to suppress cell migration in PC3 cells. However, a nuclease-inactive mutant mouse RNase L (W630A) was able to partially inhibit migration of mouse fibroblasts. Consistent with a role for the catalytic activity of RNase L, transfection of PC3 cells with the RNase L activator, 2′, 5′-oligoadenylate, suppressed cell migration. RNase L knockdown in PC3 cells enhanced tumor growth and metastasis following implantation in the mouse prostate. Our results suggest that naturally occurring mutations in the RNase L gene might promote enhanced cell migration and metastasis.
Immunological status of White Leghorn chicks hatched from eggs inoculated with ochratoxin A (OTA)

This study was designed to evaluate the immunological status of chicks hatched from the ochratoxin A (OTA)-contaminated eggs. For this purpose, 900 fertile White Leghorn (WL) layer breeder eggs were divided into eight groups (A–H). Group A was maintained as untreated control, whereas Group B was kept as sham control (10 µL of 0.1 M NaHCO3). Groups C, D, E, F, G, and H were injected with 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.10, 0.50, and 1.00 µg OTA/egg, respectively. Eggs were incubated at 37.5°C and 65% relative humidity. Hatched chicks from each group were then maintained separately under standard environmental conditions. At Day 18-of-age, chicks (n = 10) from each group were used for lymphoblastogenic response against an intradermal administration of phytohemagglutinin P (PHA-P). At Day 30-of-age, abdominal macrophages, collected from 15 chicks in each group, were utilized for determination of phagocytic potential using sheep red blood cells (SRBC) as particulate antigen and for nitrite production in response to lipopolysaccharide. Antibody (Ab) titers (i.e. total antibodies, IgG, and IgM) against SRBC were determined at 7 and 14 days after primary (at Day 13-of-age) and booster (given 14 days after primary) intravenously administered SRBC doses. The lymphoblastogenic responses of the chicks hatched from OTA-contaminated eggs in response to PHA-P administration were significantly lower at 24, 48, and 72 h after PHA-P injection when compared with responses by control chicks. The percentage of abdominal macrophages displaying phagocytosis of SRBC, the number of SRBC/macrophage, and nitrite production were each significantly lower in cells from chicks in the OTA-administered groups. Total Ab, IgG, and IgM titers against SRBC showed significant reductions in the groups that had been hatched from eggs injected with the higher doses of OTA (as compared with titers associated with chicks in control eggs). These findings suggested that there are substantive immunosuppressive risks in chicks that could be exposed to OTA in ovo.
Information Technology and the Number of Suppliers in a Supply Chain: Is There a Relationship?

This work addresses how the number of suppliers employed by a manufacturer relates to its use of electronic procurement (e-procurement). Using data from the U.S. manufacturing industry, we find a surprising result that there is non-correlation between e-procurement and number of suppliers at the aggregate level. However, when we distinguish the type of goods purchased, we find that e-procurement is associated with using more suppliers for custom goods while fewer suppliers for standard goods. The finding for custom goods may sound contradictive to the prior literature proposing a "move to the middle, " but is consistent with a TCE-based notion that custom goods procurement involves more asset-specific relationships than standard goods. Further, the positive association between e-procurement and number of suppliers of custom goods is negatively moderated by the degree of buyer-supplier systems integration, which is consistent with the argument that deeper integration of buyer and supplier information systems can help buyers obtain better "fit" for their customized requirements. This is an alternative to achieving better fit by employing more suppliers as proposed in the extant literature.
Estimation of inter-channel phase differences using non-negative matrix factorization

Estimation of non-linearities in phase differences between two or more channels of an audio recording leads to a more precise spatial information in audio signal enhancement applications. In this work, we propose the estimation of these non-linearities in multi-channel, multi-source audio mixtures in reverberant environments. For this task, we compute short term cross-correlation functions between the channels and extract the non-linear inter-channel phase differences as well as a measure of activation for each source. This is conducted by decomposition of the cross-correlation matrix using a non-negative matrix factorization method. Our evaluation shows that the estimated inter-channel phase differences depict the non-linearities. Furthermore, the estimated activations reflect the time instances where the sources are active. In audio source separation experiments the proposed method outperforms a state-of-the-art approach based on linear phase differences by 30% in terms of relative improvement.