Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A joint traffic scheduling and slot allocation algorithm for mobile WiMAX networks

The IEEE 802.16e standard provides a high degree of flexibility for setting up and operating mobile WiMAX networks in metropolitan environments. While the standard supports differentiated Quality of Service (QoS), crucial functions such as traffic scheduling and slot allocation are left as open issues to the research community. This paper focuses on these two features, that consist an NP-Hard problem, and provides an integrated solution. The key component of the proposal is the “Colored OFDMA Frame Registry Tree Scheduler” (CO-FRTS) that achieves QoS-aware resource allocation by using an advanced tree structure to prepare the creation of time frames, and reduce processing requirements. An extended simulation model reveals the improved performance of the proposed solution, compared to other competent proposals.
A standardized autopsy procurement allows for the comprehensive study of DIPG biology

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is one of the least understood and most deadly childhood cancers. Historically, there has been a paucity of DIPG specimens for molecular analysis. However, due to the generous participation of DIPG families in programs for postmortem specimen donation, there has been a recent surge in molecular analysis of newly available tumor specimens. Collaborative efforts to share data and tumor specimens have resulted in rapid discoveries in other pediatric brain tumors, such as medulloblastoma, and therefore have the potential to shed light on the biology of DIPG. Given the generous gift of postmortem tissue donation from DIPG patients, there is a need for standardized postmortem specimen accrual to facilitate rapid and effective multi-institutional molecular studies. We developed and implemented an autopsy protocol for rapid procurement, documenting and storing these specimens. Sixteen autopsies were performed throughout the United States and Canada and processed using a standard protocol and inventory method, including specimen imaging, fixation, snap freezing, orthotopic injection, or preservation. This allowed for comparative clinical and biological studies of rare postmortem DIPG tissue specimens, generation of in vivo and in vitro models of DIPG, and detailed records to facilitate collaborative analysis.
Comparing the influence of net and gross anthropogenic land-use and land-cover changes on the carbon cycle in the MPI-ESM

Global vegetation models traditionally treat an- thropogenic land-use and land-cover changes (LULCCs) only as the changes in vegetation cover seen from one year to the next (net transitions). This approach ignores subgrid- scale processes such as shifting cultivation which do not af- fect the net vegetation distribution but which have an im- pact on the carbon budget. The differences in the carbon stocks feed back on processes like wildfires and desert for- mation. The simulations for the Coupled Model Intercom- parison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) all describe LULCCs using the "Land-Use Harmonization Dataset". Though this dataset describes such subgrid-scale processes (gross transitions), some of the CMIP5 models still use the traditional approach. Using JSBACH/CBALANCE - the land carbon component of the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (MPI- ESM), this study demonstrates how this potentially leads to a severe underestimation of the carbon emissions from LULCCs. Using net transitions lowers the average land-use emissions from 1.44 to 0.90 Pg C yr 1 (38 %) during the his- torical period (1850-2005) - a total lowering by 85 Pg C. The difference between the methods is smaller in the RCP scenar- ios (2006-2100) but in RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 still cumulates to 30-40 Pg C (on average 0.3-0.4 Pg C yr 1 or 13-25 %). In RCP4.5 essentially no difference between the methods is found. Results from models using net transitions are further- more found to be sensitive to model resolution.
Does Exporting Increase Productivity? Firm Level Evidence from Slovenia ∗

This paper adds a new dimension to the recent literature on relationship beween firm’s heterogeneity, exporting and productivity gains form exporting, namely the importance of the heterogeneity of foreign markets. Exploiting a rich and complete dataset for Slovenian exporting firms in the period 1994 - 2002, we demonstrate that, on average, exporting firms are not always more productive than firms supplying only domestic market. When controlling for the heterogeneity of export markets, we are able to confirm a conjecture that higher productivity level is required for firms starting to export to advanced countries as opposed to starting to export to developing countries. Furthermore, we show that for firms in a small open country exporting per se does not warranty productivity gains. Significant productivity gains occur only when serving advanced, high-wage foreign markets. This demonstrates that learning from exporting may well depend on the extent of competitive pressures firms are faced with in heterogenous export markets.
Observing TCP dynamics in real networks

The behavior of the TCP protocol in simple situations is well-understood, but when multiple connections share a set of network resources the protocol can exhibit surprising phenomena. Earlier studies have identified several such phenomena, and have analyzed them using simulation or observation of contrived situations. This paper shows how, by analyzing traces of a busy segment of the Internet, it is possible to observe these pheonomena in “real life” and measure both their frequency and their effects on performance. A TCP implementation might use similar techniques to support rate-based congestion control.
Characterization of CetA and CetB, a bipartite energy taxis system in Campylobacter jejuni

The energy taxis receptor Aer, in Escherichia coli, senses changes in the redox state of the electron transport system via an flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor bound to a PAS domain. The PAS domain (a sensory domain named after three proteins Per, ARNT and Sim, where it was first identified) is thought to interact directly with the Aer HAMP domain to transmit this signal to the highly conserved domain (HCD) found in chemotaxis receptors. An apparent energy taxis system in Campylobacter jejuni is composed of two proteins, CetA and CetB, that have the domains of Aer divided between them. CetB has a PAS domain, while CetA has a predicted transmembrane region, HAMP domain and the HCD. In this study, we examined the expression of cetA and cetB and the biochemical properties of the proteins they encode. cetA and cetB are co‐transcribed independently of the flagellar regulon. CetA has two transmembrane helices in a helical hairpin while CetB is a peripheral membrane protein tightly associated with the membrane. CetB levels are CetA dependent. Additionally, we demonstrated that both CetA and CetB participate in complexes, including a likely CetB dimer and a complex that may include both CetA and CetB. This study provides a foundation for further characterization of signal transduction mechanisms within CetA/CetB.
Equal Gain Transmission with Antenna Selection in MIMO Communications

The beamforming vectors of an equal gain transmission (EGT) contains phase information only and thereby enjoys several implementational advantages when compared to the optimal scheme, i.e. maximum ratio transmission (MRT). The implementational advantages make EGT a promising solution for simple transceiver design while offering a performance comparable to that of MRT. This solution motivates us to explore how close the performance can be between EGT and MRT. The maximum SNR loss between EGT and MRT is known to be 1.05 dB in MISO channels. However, little is known about the SNR loss in MIMO channels, since no closed-form solution is available for the best EGT in MIMO channels. In this work, a suboptimal closed-form EGT design for MIMO channels is proposed and its performance is analyzed. Interestingly, the maximum SNR loss between the proposed EGT and the MRT (both employing MRC in receiver) in MIMO channels is shown to be approximately 1.05 dB as well. Moreover, instead of applying conventional all transmit antennas, this study proposes to adopt antenna selection, to further improve the performance of EGT. Two antenna selection algorithms are proposed and the corresponding performance is analyzed. When the proposed antenna selection algorithms are applied to EGT, the SNR loss between EGT and MRT can be reduced to as low as 0.45-0.65 dB, with the numbers of transmit antennas ranging from 4 to 8. One of the proposals with fixed number of transmit antennas not only outperforms conventional EGT but also requires fewer number of RF (radio frequency) components; also, it employs constant power in each transmit antenna like EGT does. As a result, hardware complexity can be reduced by this proposal. Furthermore, design strategies to apply the proposed EGT and antenna selection algorithms in systems with limited feedback are also suggested.
Crowdsourcing Surveys: Alternative Approaches to Survey Collection

A challenge often facing survey researchers is finding an appropriate sample that is representative of the target population. Researchers are often constrained by resources (e.g., cost) and time which often limits them to using convenience sampling (e.g., student population). With the increase availability and use of crowdsourcing services, many researchers are finding a resource that provides a larger, random population to target. This paper discusses two approaches to crowdsourcing, social networking site and Amazon Mechanical Turk, to help researchers understand the options available for crowdsourcing surveys. Techniques are presented as well as benefits and potential issues to these approaches for
Boundary layer seeing measurements in the Canadian High Arctic

As part of a program to measure and evaluate atmospheric turbulence on mountains at the most northerly tip of North America, we have deployed two SODARs and a lunar scintillometer at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Lab (PEARL) located on a 600m-high ridge near Eureka on Ellesmere Island, at 80° latitude. This paper discusses the program and presents a summary of ground-layer turbulence and seeing measurements from the 2009-10 observing season.
Natural Language Parsing as Statistical Pattern Recognition

Traditional natural language parsers are based on rewrite rule systems developed in an arduous, time-consuming manner by grammarians. A majority of the grammarian's efforts are devoted to the disambiguation process, first hypothesizing rules which dictate constituent categories and relationships among words in ambiguous sentences, and then seeking exceptions and corrections to these rules. In this work, I propose an automatic method for acquiring a statistical parser from a set of parsed sentences which takes advantage of some initial linguistic input, but avoids the pitfalls of the iterative and seemingly endless grammar development process. Based on distributionally-derived and linguistically-based features of language, this parser acquires a set of statistical decision trees which assign a probability distribution on the space of parse trees given the input sentence. These decision trees take advantage of significant amount of contextual information, potentially including all of the lexical information in the sentence, to produce highly accurate statistical models of the disambiguation process. By basing the disambiguation criteria selection on entropy reduction rather than human intuition, this parser development method is able to consider more sentences than a human grammarian can when making individual disambiguation rules. In experiments between a parser, acquired using this statistical framework, and a grammarian's rule-based parser, developed over a ten-year period, both using the same training material and test sentences, the decision tree parser significantly outperformed the grammar-based parser on the accuracy measure which the grammarian was trying to maximize, achieving an accuracy of 78% compared to the grammar-based parser's 69%.
Is coronene better described by Clar's aromatic π‐sextet model or by the AdNDP representation?

The bonding patterns in coronene are complicated and controversial as denoted by the lack of consensus of how its electronic structure should be described. Among the different proposed descriptions, the two most representative are those generated by Clar's aromatic π‐sextet and adaptative natural density partitioning (AdNDP) models. Quantum‐chemical calculations at the density functional theory level are performed to evaluate the model that gives a better representation of coronene. To this end, we analyse the molecular structure of coronene, we estimate the aromaticity of its inner and outer rings using various local aromaticity descriptors, and we assess its chemical reactivity from the study of the Diels–Alder reaction with cyclopentadiene. Results obtained are compared with those computed for naphthalene and phenanthrene. Our conclusion is that Clar's π‐sextet model provides the representation of coronene that better describes the physicochemical behavior of this molecule. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Zero-order controlled release of BMP2-derived peptide P24 from the chitosan scaffold by chemical grafting modification technique for promotion of osteogenesis in vitro and enhancement of bone repair in vivo

Combination of tissue-engineered bone scaffolds with cell-adhesive, osteoconductive, or osteoinductive biomolecules is a critical strategy to improve their properties that significantly influence cellular behaviors, such as adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation, which is beneficial for critical-sized bone defects repairing. However, the traditional surface modification techniques, such as physical adsorption, coating, and plasma treatment, et al, have great limitations for immobilization of bioactive molecules due to undesirable controlled delivery performance or overly complex multistep procedures. In this study, we functionalized the chitosan/hydroxyapatite (CS/HA) biomimetic composite scaffold for controlled delivery of BMP2-derived peptide (P24) by the chemical grafting modification technique: firstly, P24 was conjugated with a thiolated chitosan, chitosan-4-thiobutylamidine (CS-TBA); secondly, the resultant CS-P24 was then combined with HA to prepare CS-P24/HA scaffolds. The effect of CS-P24/HA scaffolds on bone regeneration was evaluated, along with the underlying biological mechanisms responsible in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, the controlled and sustained release of bioactive P24 could last up to 90 days, furthermore, the release profiles of CS-5%P24/HA and CS-10%P24/HA were linear and could be fitted according to zero-order kinetic model (R2=0.9929; R2=0.9757); P24 on the scaffold significantly promoted cell adhesion, proliferation, osteodifferentiation, and mineralization with synergistic effects. Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) revealed spindle-shaped surface morphology, indicating the CS-P24/HA scaffolds supported cell adhesion and possessed a high proliferation rate that varied according to the P24 concentration levels. Furthermore, mRNA levels for OCN, Runx2, and collagen I were significantly up-regulated on CS-P24/HA scaffolds compared with cells grown on CS/HA scaffolds in vitro (p < 0.05). Similarly, the BMSCs exhibited a higher ALP expression and calcium deposition level on CS-P24/HA scaffolds compared with CS/HA scaffolds (p < 0.05). In vivo, osteoinductive studies revealed a significantly higher ectopic osteogenesis level of CS-10%P24/HA scaffolds in rat dorsal muscle pockets compared with that of CS/HA scaffolds. Finally, CS-P24/HA scaffolds showed superior performance in the reconstruction of rat calvarial bone defects. This novel CS-P24/HA scaffold is deemed a strong potential candidate for the repair of bone defects in human bone tissue engineering.
Pairwise Algorithm for Distributed Transmit Beamforming

In this paper, we present a novel algorithm for distributed transmit beamforming enabling multiple single-antenna nodes to simultaneously transmit a common message such that they constructively interfere at the receiver. In order to constructively interfere, the nodes iteratively estimate and adjust their carrier phases with the help of receiver feedback. The receiver's feedback is based on composite channel estimates calculated from two simultaneous transmissions initiated by the nodes at each iteration. We prove that starting from arbitrary carrier phases, the algorithm converges to the maximum gain almost surely. The algorithm is compared to the 1-Bit Feedback algorithm presented in [3] through simulation, and is shown to outperform it by margins of 4:1 and 3:1 on metrics reflecting power consumption and convergence rate, respectively. We simulate the impact of phase estimation errors on the algorithm's steady-state gain and show it to be robust to moderately large errors of plusmn 20deg. We analyze the causes of asynchrony in simultaneous message transmissions and simulate its contribution to phase estimation errors in the context of IEEE 802.15. 4 packets. We show that the contribution falls within the acceptable plusmn 20deg range.
Eyelids, Eyelashes Detection Algorithm and Hough Transform Method for Noise Removal in Iris Recognition

biometric system is based on human's behavioral and physical characteristics. Among all of these, iris has unique structure, higher accuracy and it can remain stable over a person's life. Iris recognition is the method by which system recognize a person by their unique identical feature found in the eye. Iris recognition technology includes four subsections as, capturing of the iris image, segmentation, extraction of the needed features and matching. This paper is a detail description of eyelids, eyelashes detection technique and Hough transform method applied on iris image. Generally, eyelids and eyelashes are noise factors in the iris image. To increase the accuracy of the system we must have to remove these factors from the iris image. Eyelashes detection algorithm can be used for detecting eyelids and eyelashes. To improve the overall performance of the iris recognition system, we can use canny edge detection algorithm (12). Then, Hough Transform can be applied on these images to identify the circles of specific radii and lines on iris image (14).
Structure and Function Analysis of Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies against Dengue Virus Type 2

ABSTRACT Dengue virus (DENV) is the most prevalent insect-transmitted viral disease in humans globally, and currently no specific therapy or vaccine is available. Protection against DENV and other related flaviviruses is associated with the development of antibodies against the viral envelope (E) protein. Although prior studies have characterized the neutralizing activity of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against DENV type 2 (DENV-2), none have compared simultaneously the inhibitory activity against a genetically diverse range of strains in vitro, the protective capacity in animals, and the localization of epitopes. Here, with the goal of identifying MAbs that can serve as postexposure therapy, we investigated in detail the functional activity of a large panel of new anti-DENV-2 mouse MAbs. Binding sites were mapped by yeast surface display and neutralization escape, cell culture inhibition assays were performed with homologous and heterologous strains, and prophylactic and therapeutic activity was evaluated with two mouse models. Protective MAbs localized to epitopes on the lateral ridge of domain I (DI), the dimer interface, lateral ridge, and fusion loop of DII, and the lateral ridge, C-C′ loop, and A strand of DIII. Several MAbs inefficiently inhibited at least one DENV-2 strain of a distinct genotype, suggesting that recognition of neutralizing epitopes varies with strain diversity. Moreover, antibody potency generally correlated with a narrowed genotype and serotype specificity. Five MAbs functioned efficiently as postexposure therapy when administered as a single dose, even 3 days after intracranial infection of BALB/c mice. Overall, these studies define the structural and functional complexity of antibodies against DENV-2 with protective potential.
Perturbative study of the transfer matrix on the string worldsheet in AdS(5)xS(5)

Quantum non-local charges are central to the quantum integrability of a sigma-model. In this paper we study the quantum consistency and UV finiteness of non-local charges of string theory in AdS(5)xS(5). We use the pure spinor formalism. We develop the near-flat space expansion of the transfer matrix and calculate the one-loop divergences. We find that the logarithmic divergences cancel at the level of one loop. This gives strong support to the quantum integrability of the full string theory. We develop a calculational setup for the renormalization group analysis of Wilson line type of operators on the string worldsheet.
Optimization of the derivative expansion in the nonperturbative renormalization group

We study the optimization of nonperturbative renormalization group equations truncated both in fields and derivatives. On the example of the Ising model in three dimensions, we show that the principle of minimal sensitivity can be unambiguously implemented at order ${\ensuremath{\partial}}^{2}$ of the derivative expansion. This approach allows us to select optimized cutoff functions and to improve the accuracy of the critical exponents $\ensuremath{\nu}$ and $\ensuremath{\eta}. $ The convergence of the field expansion is also analyzed. We show in particular that its optimization does not coincide with optimization of the accuracy of the critical exponents.
A Simple and Sensitive Method for Measuring Tumor-Specific T Cell Cytotoxicity

A simple and sensitive method to quantitatively measure the cytolytic effect of tumor-specific T killer cells is highly desirable for basic and clinical studies. Chromium (51Cr) release assay has been the “gold standard” for quantifying cytolytic activities of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) against target cells and this method is still being used in many laboratories. However, a major drawback of this method is the use of radioactive materials, which is inconvenient to handle because of environmental safety concerns and expensive due to the short half-life of the isotope. Consequently, several nonradioactive methods have been reported recently. Here we report a new method that we recently developed for quantifying antigen-specific cytolytic activity of CTLs. This method fully exploits the high sensitivity and the relative simplicity of luciferase quantitative assay. We initially expected the released luciferase in the supernatant to be the adequate source for monitoring cell death. However, to our total surprise, incubation of these killer T cells with the tumor cell targets did not result in significant release of luciferase in the culture medium. Instead, we found that the remaining luciferase inside the cells could accurately reflect the overall cell viability.
A Principled Approach to Context-Aware Machine Translation

This paper presents a new principled approach to context-aware machine translation. The proposed approach reformulates the posterior probability of a translation hypothesis given the source input by incorporating the source-context information as an additional conditioning variable. As a result, a new model component, which is referred to as the context-awareness model, is added into the original noisy channel framework. A specific computational implementation for the new model component is also described along with its main properties and limitations.