Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient Computation of Viterbi Decoder Reliability With an Application to Variable-Length Coding

This paper compares the accuracy and complexity of Raghavan and Baum’s Reliability Output Viterbi Algorithm (ROVA), Polyanskiy’s accumulated information density (AID), and Fricke and Hoeher’s lower complexity approximation of ROVA. It turns out that AID is far less accurate than ROVA in practice. This paper proposes codeword information density (CID), which modifies AID to improve its accuracy and leads to a lower-complexity implementation of ROVA. The paper includes an analytical expression for the random variable describing the correct decoding probability computed by ROVA and uses this expression to characterize how the probabilities of correct decoding, undetected error, and negative acknowledgement behave as a function of the selected threshold for reliable decoding. This paper examines both the complexity and the simulation time of ROVA, CID, AID, and the Fricke and Hoeher approximation to ROVA. This paper also derives an expression for the union bound on the frame error rate for zero-terminated trellis codes with punctured symbols and uses it to optimize the order of symbol transmission in an incremental retransmission scheme. This paper concludes by comparing the performance of an incremental retransmission scheme using ROVA as a stopping condition to one that uses a CRC as a stopping condition.
Effect of phases of the menstrual cycle on biophysical and biochemical parameters of African black women with breast cancer

INTRODUCTION: Many studies on female breast cancer patients do not consider the differences between the follicular and luteal phases when collecting blood samples for laboratory investigations. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the effects of the phases of the menstrual cycle on reproductive and thyroid hormones, endocrine disruptors, blood pressure, and body adiposity. METHODS: Participants (n=107) aged 28-50 years, comprising 54 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients (cases were menstrual phase and age-matched to 53 seemingly healthy women without breast cancer that served as controls. Anthropometric indices and blood pressure (BP) were obtained. Serum hormones-estradiol, progesterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), free triiodothyronine (FT3), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), stimulating follicle hormone (FSH), and free thyroxine (FT4) were quantified by enzyme immunoassay. Endocrine disruptors (EDs)- arsenic, lead and cadmium were quantified by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Data were analyzed using Student’s t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient with p<0.05 considered significant. RESULTS: Bodyweight, hip circumference, waist-height ratio, and FT3 varied between the luteal and follicular phases, higher in cases than controls. EDs were significantly higher in cases than controls in both phases. Progesterone, estradiol and LH levels were significantly higher in luteal cases and controls when compared with follicular cases and controls.FT3 was significantly lower in luteal controls compared with follicular controls. There were significant direct and inverse correlations among adiposity measures, BP, EDs, and hormones in each phase in both cases and controls. CONCLUSION: The menstrual cycle appears to influence blood pressure, measures of adiposity, endocrine disruptors, and reproductive hormones in women with normal and cancerous breasts. This requires consideration in the collection of blood samples for investigations of these parameters.
Long-term changes in the prevalence of the crayfish plague pathogen and its genotyping in invasive crayfish species in Czechia

The widespread presence of North American alien crayfish in Europe is a major driver of native crayfish population declines, mainly because they are chronic carriers of the oomycete Aphanomyces astaci responsible for crayfish plague. Screening for the crayfish plague pathogen in host populations has become a common practice across Europe, but sampling usually covers spatial but not temporal variation. Our study focuses on the current situation in Czechia, where screening for A. astaci was first conducted in the mid-2000s. We provide data about the distribution and prevalence of this pathogen at almost 50 sites with three host crayfish: the spiny-cheek crayfish Faxonius limosus, signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus, and marbled crayfish Procambarus virginalis. Among these sites were 20 localities that were resampled several years (usually more than a decade) after the original screening for A. astaci. We did not detect any A. astaci infection in two studied P. virginalis populations but documented several new hotspots of highly infected P. leniusculus in Czechia, and the first site with the coexistence of the latter with F. limosus. Our data suggest that despite some fluctuations, A. astaci prevalence in North American host populations generally does not tend to change significantly over time; we only observed two cases of a significant increase and one of a significant decrease. We no longer detected A. astaci in several originally weakly infected populations, but our data suggest it likely still persists in these areas and threatens native crayfish populations. At the single known site in the country where P. leniusculus and F. limosus coexist, we documented the presence of the same A. astaci genotype group in both crayfish species, likely due to interspecific transmission of the pathogen from the former host to the latter. However, genotyping of A. astaci in infected host individuals still supported the link between specific pathogen genotypes and crayfish hosts, suggesting that assessment of sources of mass mortalities from the pathogen genotyping is feasible in European regions where the mutual contact of different American crayfish species is uncommon.
Numerical investigation on light non–aqueous phase liquid flow in the vadose zone considering porosity effects on soil hydraulic properties

In the management of light non–aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL)‐contaminated ground, numerical simulation is widely used to analyze LNAPL flow in the unsaturated soil (vadose) zone. Porosity effects on the hydraulic properties of unsaturated soils are highly simplified in existing mathematical models. Some important features, such as the nonlinear relation between porosity and permeability/displacement pressure, cannot be well captured. To address this problem, a new mathematical model was developed in this study, considering porosity effects on hydraulic properties of soils, including the retention behavior and permeability function of LNAPL and water. The newly developed model was implemented in MATLAB using the finite difference method and then verified by the results of a centrifuge test. Then, parametric studies were conducted to investigate the flow of LNAPL upon an active leakage at the ground surface. Based on the computed results, the influence of several factors, such as porosity magnitude, porosity distribution, and soil layering, was revealed. In particular, an increase in the porosity leads to a significant increase in the volume of LNAPL leaked into the ground, the vertical front depth, and the area of contaminated ground. This is mainly because the porosity affects not only the intrinsic permeability but also the relative permeability because (a) the intrinsic permeability of soils is larger at a higher porosity (b) when the porosity is higher, the equilibrium water saturation at a given capillary pressure is smaller. Consequently, LNAPL can achieve a larger degree of saturation and higher relative permeability.
Six-phase interleaved boost dc/dc converter with high-voltage gain and reduced voltage stress

In this study, a new non-isolated six-phase interleaved boost dc–dc converter is presented for photovoltaic (PV) applications. The suggested structure consists of two symmetric three-phase interleaved boost dc–dc converters along with two switched-capacitor cells, in order to obtain high conversion ratio. For different values of duty-cycles, the voltage conversion ratio of the proposed topology is high. Also, the voltage stress of switches for various duty cycles is low and the efficiency of proposed topology is high. Moreover, the value of input current ripple is low with the utilisation of interleaving techniques. These advantages cause the proposed topology to be a good candidate for PV systems. The operation modes and mathematical analysis of the presented converter is introduced. In order to show the merits of presented converter, comparison results with other boost dc/dc converters are provided. Both experimental and simulation works based 453 W are presented to verify the operation of recommended converter. PSCAD/EMTDC software is used for simulation work.
Pupil diameter variation related to visual comfort of hue‐asymmetric stereoscopic images

Color asymmetry of the left and right views is a common phenomenon in the stereoscopic three‐dimensional (S3D) display, which can lead to visual discomfort. Due to visual discomfort is a subjective sensation, we hypothesize that variations of pupil diameter while viewing S3D images are related to experienced visual comfort. To test this hypothesis, we conducted eye‐tracking experiments on humans viewing hue‐asymmetric stereoscopic images while simultaneously collecting their judgment scores of experienced visual discomfort. From the collected eye‐tracking data, pupil diameter variations were extracted by a normalization formula. Results show that change in hue asymmetry levels causes a significant change in pupil diameter variations. There was a strong negative correlation between the pupil diameter variation and the visual comfort assessment (VCA) score, and the Pearson's r = −0.8936. We conclude that as the hue asymmetric level of stereoscopic image increases, the pupil diameter of the participant becomes smaller and the visual comfort decreases. A visual comfort predication model was fitted well using pupil diameter variation. It predicts that when the pupil diameter variation exceeds 20.57%, the brain feels visual discomfort.
Identification of a Prognostic Microenvironment-Related Gene Signature in Glioblastoma Patients Treated with Carmustine Wafers

Simple Summary Carmustine wafer (CW) implantation into the resection cavity of patients operated for glioblastoma (GBM) was approved as an adjuvant treatment before the Stupp Protocol. Although contrasting clinical results limited its use, our retrospective study on 116 GBM treated with CW showed a significant benefit in terms of OS in a subgroup of patients. Since GBM growth, progression, and drug resistance are supported by the surrounding environment, and since the tumor microenvironment (TME) is the source of druggable targets, we hypothesized that the TME of patients who benefited from CW could have different characteristics compared to patients who did not show any advantage. Exploiting a human in vitro model of glioma microenvironment and a transcriptomic approach, we found a different gene signature suggesting the importance of developing in vitro models that mimic the properties of human cancers and that can help to study individual patient characteristics at the cellular and molecular level. Abstract Despite the state-of-the-art treatment, patients diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM) have a median overall survival (OS) of 14 months. The insertion of carmustine wafers (CWs) into the resection cavity as adjuvant treatment represents a promising option, although its use has been limited due to contrasting clinical results. Our retrospective evaluation of CW efficacy showed a significant improvement in terms of OS in a subgroup of patients. Given the crucial role of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in GBM progression and response to therapy, we hypothesized that the TME of patients who benefited from CW could have different properties compared to that of patients who did not show any advantage. Using an in vitro model of the glioma microenvironment, represented by glioma-associated-stem cells (GASC), we performed a transcriptomic analysis of GASC isolated from tumors of patients responsive and not responsive to CW to identify differentially expressed genes. We found different transcriptomic profiles, and we identified four genes, specifically down-regulated in GASC isolated from long-term survivors, correlated with clinical data deposited in the TCGA–GBM dataset. Our results highlight that studying the in vitro properties of patient-specific glioma microenvironments can help to identify molecular determinants potentially prognostic for patients treated with CW.
mmWave Radar Sensors Fusion for Indoor Object Detection and Tracking

Indoor object detection and tracking using millimeter-wave (mmWave) radar sensors have received much attention recently due to the emergence of applications of energy assignment, privacy, health, and safety. Increasing the valid field of view of the system and accuracy through multi-sensors is critical to achieving an efficient tracking system. This paper uses two mmWave radar sensors for accurate object detection and tracking: two noise reduction stages to reduce noise and distinguish cluster groups. The presented data fusion method effectively estimates the transformation of the data alignment and synchronizes the result that can allow us to visualize the objects’ information acquired by one radar on another one. An efficient density-based clustering algorithm to provide high clustering accuracy is presented. The Unscented Kalman Filter tracking algorithm with data association tracks multiple objects simultaneously in terms of accuracy and timing. Furthermore, an indoor object tracking system is developed based on our proposed method. Finally, the proposed method is validated by comparing it with our previous system and a commercial system. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method’s advantage is of positive significance for handling the effect of occlusions at higher numbers of weak data and for detecting and tracking each object more accurately.
Information Needs and Counseling Preferences among Potential Users of the Future Teratology Information Service in Belgium: A Cross-Sectional Study Involving the Public and Healthcare Professionals

A Teratology Information Service (TIS) does not exist in Belgium yet but will hopefully be established soon. To prepare for this, we aimed to provide insight into the information needs and counseling preferences of the Belgian public and healthcare professionals (HCPs) regarding medication use in pregnancy and breastfeeding. A cross-sectional study using two anonymous, online surveys disseminated via social media, websites, and newsletters addressing Dutch and French-speaking individuals (≥18 years) and licensed HCPs was performed between June and September 2020. Ethics approval and informed consent were obtained. In total, 1508 public survey respondents (98% women) and 702 HCPs participated. Information needs on perinatal medication use were ubiquitous among both groups, and for which they often relied on patient information leaflets or the product information and online fora. Conflicting information on this topic regularly occurs and complicates HCPs’ duties. Women and HCPs assigned an important role to a TIS, both in terms of providing evidence-based information (via a website or app) and being accessible to be contacted in case of questions (by phone or via e-mail or chat). In conclusion, a TIS would be warmly welcomed by women and HCPs in Belgium and should ideally be established soon to address current information needs regarding perinatal medication use and to contribute to research in this field.
Implementation Benchmarks for Assessing an Alternative Certification Program.

The Accelerate Online/OPTIONS alternative certification program provides those possessing a degree an option leading to certification that can be completed in 18 months. The program consists of an online curriculum, an early field experience and a year-long paid internship. To determine program effectiveness across five years, five benchmark ratios were established and calculated each year as formative assessment markers. These ratios are: Applications/Inquiries; Candidates/Applications; Field Placements/Candidates; Teachers Certified/Candidates; and Teachers Retained/Teachers Certified]. These benchmarks have provided informative quantitative markers for annually assessing protocols that were developed and applied in implementing this program. Page 3 Accelerate Online
Combination Effect of Novel Bimetallic Ag-Ni Nanoparticles with Fluconazole against Candida albicans

The increasing frequency of antifungal drug resistance among pathogenic yeast “Candida” has posed an immense global threat to the public healthcare sector. The most notable species of Candida causing most fungal infections is Candida albicans. Furthermore, recent research has revealed that transition and noble metal combinations can have synergistic antimicrobial effects. Therefore, a one-pot seedless biogenic synthesis of Ag-Ni bimetallic nanoparticles (Ag-Ni NPs) using Salvia officinalis aqueous leaf extract is described. Various techniques, such as UV–vis, FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDX, and TGA, were used to validate the production of Ag-Ni NPs. The antifungal susceptibility of Ag-Ni NPs alone and in combination with fluconazole (FLZ) was tested against FLZ-resistant C. albicans isolate. Furthermore, the impacts of these NPs on membrane integrity, drug efflux pumps, and biofilms formation were evaluated. The MIC (1.56 μg/mL) and MFC (3.12 μg/mL) results indicated potent antifungal activity of Ag-Ni NPs against FLZ-resistant C. albicans. Upon combination, synergistic interaction was observed between Ag-Ni NPs and FLZ against C. albicans 5112 with a fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) value of 0.31. In-depth studies revealed that Ag-Ni NPs at higher concentrations (3.12 μg/mL) have anti-biofilm properties and disrupt membrane integrity, as demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy results. In comparison, morphological transition was halted at lower concentrations (0.78 μg/mL). From the results of efflux pump assay using rhodamine 6G (R6G), it was evident that Ag-Ni NPs blocks the efflux pumps in the FLZ-resistant C. albicans 5112. Targeting biofilms and efflux pumps using novel drugs will be an alternate approach for combatting the threat of multi-drug resistant (MDR) stains of C. albicans. Therefore, this study supports the usage of Ag-Ni NPs to avert infections caused by drug resistant strains of C. albicans.
Water Level Prediction Model Applying a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM)–Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) Method for Flood Prediction

The damage caused by floods is increasing worldwide, and if floods can be predicted, the economic and human losses from floods can be reduced. A key parameter of flooding is water level data, and this paper proposes a water level prediction model using long short-term memory (LSTM) and a gated recurrent unit (GRU). As variables used as input data, meteorological data, including upstream and downstream water level, temperature, humidity, and precipitation, were used. The best results were obtained when the LSTM–GRU-based model and the Automated Synoptic Observing System (ASOS) meteorological data were included in the input data when experiments were performed with various model structures and different input data formats. As a result of the experiment, the mean squared error (MSE) value was 3.92, the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency (NSE) value was 0.942, and the mean absolute error (MAE) value was 2.22, the highest result in all cases. In addition, the test data included the historical maximum water level of 3552.38 cm in the study area, and the maximum water level error was also recorded as 55.49, the lowest result. Through this paper, it was possible to confirm the performance difference according to the composition of the input data and the time series prediction model. In a future study, we plan to implement a flood risk management system that can use the predicted water level to determine the risk of flooding, and evacuate in advance.
Effect of Confining Pressure on Mechanical and Energy Conversion Properties of Gas-Containing Coal under Loads

Confining pressure is closely related to the deformation and failure characteristics of gas-containing coal and is one of the key factors for gas outburst-rockburst coupled dynamic disaster. Firstly, this paper briefly summarized the triaxial compression test results of gas-containing coal under different confining pressures, including deformation and stiffness and failure and strength. Then, based on the second developed MatDEM gas-solid coupling program, the macro- and microdeformation and failure process of coal samples under different confining pressures and constant gas pressure were simulated, and the distribution of particle stress, pore stress, and crack, as well as energy conversion characteristics, was obtained. Finally, the influence mechanism of confining pressure on deformation and failure of gas-containing coal was discussed, and the occurrence conditions of coal and gas outburst, rockburst, and their coupled dynamic disasters were distinguished. The results show that the peak strength and residual strength after failure of gas-containing coal both increase approximately linearly with the increase of confining pressure, while the elastic modulus does not change much or increases continuously, which is closely related to the number of microdefects in the coal sample. The strengthening effect of confining pressure on rock stiffness and strength mainly comes from external support and compaction. The total number of cracks decreases with the increase of confining pressure, while the number of shear cracks increases, and the inclination angle between the formed macroscopic main crack and the horizontal plane gradually decreases. The maximum cumulative elastic energy and residual elastic energy both increase with the increase of confining pressure, which leads to the increase of the impact tendency index of coal samples.
Influence Variables in Occupational Injuries among Men Teachers

Background: Occupational accidents suffered by male teachers can be a source of injury to different parts of the body and can lead to absence from work. However, there are only a limited number of studies focused on this topic; the current research evaluates the influence of the main variables associated with occupational injuries among male teachers. Methods: Logistic regression based on the calculation of the odds ratio (OR) was used on a sample of 42,878 occupational accidents suffered by male teachers in the period 2003–2018. Results: Male teachers under 45 years of age with less than one year of experience obtained better results for most types of injury. In contrast, those older than 45 years and with more experience obtained worse results. Conclusions: No single variable was detected with the same protective or risk effect through the different parts of the body injured. Teachers’ safety training adapted to risk profiles and injuries could improve accident rates in the education sector.