Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coherent MFSK detection on MIMO frequency selective channels

MFSK (M-ary Frequency Shift Keying) signal has a constant envelope and is suited to power efficient nonlinear amplification. However, the application of MFSK signals to spectrally efficient and reliable MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) communication schemes has not been so popular up to now. Maybe this comes from the fact that the signal processing for spatially multiplexed MIMO signal is usually done using linear matrix algebra and the application of linear signal processing techniques to nonlinear FM signals such as MFSK is difficult. In this paper, we study the coherent detection of MFSK signals based on MLD (Maximum Likelihood Detection) approach on MIMO frequency selective channels. In the proposed receiver, the receive replica signal which is frequency and phase synchronized is generated and the signal distance between the receive signal and the receive replica signal is minimized. By extending the observation length of receive signal, we improved the BER characteristics. We also reduced the complexity of MLD by using the SE (Schnorr Euchner) algorithm of Sphere Decoding to obtain ML (Maximum Likelihood) solution.
Development of FES-rowing machine with quadriceps stimulation and energy storing device

A novel technique for developing functional electrical stimulation (FES)-rowing exercise by using only quadriceps stimulation and energy storage devices is developed exclusively for paraplegic individuals. The purpose of this study is to apply a new method in the recovery phase by inserting an elastic cable to link between the arm force and the seat. In the modified model the number of stimulation channels is reduced by diverting the recovery force to the seat instead of counteracting hamstrings muscles. For this purpose a finitestate machine controller for FES-rowing is also developed. The strategy thus can prevent the seat from lagging behind, so the user can do exercise without a seat-belt. A two-channel FES using surface electrodes activates the quadriceps muscles in the drive phase of rowing cycle based on command signals from a finite-state machine controller, which processes inputs of a two-dimensional goniometer and an optical encoder under the seat. In this approach, small burst stimulating of quadriceps prevents early muscle fatigue and prolongs the exercise period.
Mitochondrial Genes of Dinoflagellates Are Transcribed by a Nuclear-Encoded Single-Subunit RNA Polymerase

Dinoflagellates are a large group of algae that contribute significantly to marine productivity and are essential photosynthetic symbionts of corals. Although these algae have fully-functioning mitochondria and chloroplasts, both their organelle genomes have been highly reduced and the genes fragmented and rearranged, with many aberrant transcripts. However, nothing is known about their RNA polymerases. We cloned and sequenced the gene for the nuclear-encoded mitochondrial polymerase (RpoTm) of the dinoflagellate Heterocapsa triquetra and showed that the protein presequence targeted a GFP construct into yeast mitochondria. The gene belongs to a small gene family, which includes a variety of 3′-truncated copies that may have originated by retroposition. The catalytic C-terminal domain of the protein shares nine conserved sequence blocks with other single-subunit polymerases and is predicted to have the same fold as the human enzyme. However, the N-terminal (promoter binding/transcription initiation) domain is not well-conserved. In conjunction with the degenerate nature of the mitochondrial genome, this suggests a requirement for novel accessory factors to ensure the accurate production of functional mRNAs.
RPA activates the XPF‐ERCC1 endonuclease to initiate processing of DNA interstrand crosslinks

During replication‐coupled DNA interstrand crosslink (ICL) repair, the XPF‐ERCC1 endonuclease is required for the incisions that release, or “unhook”, ICLs, but the mechanism of ICL unhooking remains largely unknown. Incisions are triggered when the nascent leading strand of a replication fork strikes the ICL. Here, we report that while purified XPF‐ERCC1 incises simple ICL‐containing model replication fork structures, the presence of a nascent leading strand, modelling the effects of replication arrest, inhibits this activity. Strikingly, the addition of the single‐stranded DNA (ssDNA)‐binding replication protein A (RPA) selectively restores XPF‐ERCC1 endonuclease activity on this structure. The 5′–3′ exonuclease SNM1A can load from the XPF‐ERCC1‐RPA‐induced incisions and digest past the crosslink to quantitatively complete the unhooking reaction. We postulate that these collaborative activities of XPF‐ERCC1, RPA and SNM1A might explain how ICL unhooking is achieved in vivo.
Total sleep time obtained from actigraphy versus sleep logs in an academic sleep center and impact on further sleep testing

Background While actigraphy has been deemed ideal for the longitudinal assessment of total sleep time (TST) by select groups, endorsement has not been universal and reimbursement is lacking, preventing its widespread use in clinical practice. This study compares longitudinal TST data obtained by actigraphy and logs preceding a clinical evaluation, and secondarily ascertains whether longitudinal TST impacts clinicians’ decisions to proceed with further sleep testing. Methods This was a retrospective, consecutive chart review spanning about 4 months in an academic sleep center. Eighty-four patients wore actigraphs in anticipation of clinical evaluations. Concomitant completion of sleep logs is routinely requested in this setting. Longitudinal TST data available in complete form was reviewed in a blinded fashion among a subset of these patients. A review of text from clinical notes of an expanded cohort with complete actigraphy data (regardless of the degree of completion of logs) enabled determination of the frequency and rationale for cancellation of prescheduled sleep testing. Results Of 84 actigraphy recordings, 90% produced complete data, and 30% produced fully completed logs. Among the subset with both available in complete form, significant mean TST differences were observed on weekends (7.06 ± 2.18 hours versus 8.30 ± 1.93 hours, P = 0.009), but not on weekdays (7.38 ± 1.97 hours versus 7.72 ± 1.62 hours, P = 0.450) for actigraphy and logs, respectively. Further analyses revealed poor agreement between the two measures, with predominantly increased TST estimation with logs. Among those with complete actigraphy data (±logs), testing was cancelled in 11 (15%), eight of whom (73%) presented with hypersomnia and three of whom (27%) presented with insomnia. Determination of insufficient sleep time was cited as the primary reason for cancellation (64%). Conclusion Actigraphy and sleep logs provided discrepant mean TST data on weekends only, and the latter predominantly estimated increased TST. Actigraphy was completed more reliably than logs. Longitudinal TST information influenced clinicians’ decisions to proceed with further testing, particularly among patients presenting with hypersomnia.
Inhibition of platelet function is common following even minor injury

BACKGROUND Hemorrhage remains the leading cause of preventable death following injury. Whereas significant attention has been paid to the coagulation cascade, there are fewer studies evaluating platelet dysfunction following injury. Thrombelastogram platelet mapping (TEG-PM) allows for the measurement of maximal potential clot strength and clot strength selectively caused by arachidonic acid and adenosine disphosphate receptors on the platelet. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence and magnitude of receptor-specific platelet dysfunction following injury in patients who are not otherwise pharmacologically anticoagulated. METHODS A retrospective study of adult trauma patients evaluated at a Level I trauma center from August 2013 to September 2014 was conducted. Platelet function was assessed using TEG-PM. Patients on any anticoagulant or antiplatelet medication were excluded. Patients were divided into those with and without radiographically evident traumatic brain injury (TBI). Demographic variables, Injury Severity Score (ISS), injury pattern, laboratory test results, and mortality were abstracted. Statistical comparisons were made using the Student's t test or Mann-Whitney U-test. RESULTS The study includes 459 patients, 92% following blunt injury. Median ISS was 5. Patients with TBI (n = 102) were significantly older (median age, 54 years vs. 35 years), were more severely injured (median ISS, 10 vs. 4), had a longer stay and higher mortality (9% vs. 0.3%). Maximal potential clot strength was normal in all cohorts, but the arachidonic acid and adenosine diphosphate pathways were significantly inhibited (30% ± 26% and 58% ± 27%, respectively). There was no correlation between TEG-PM values and ISS, length of stay, or mortality. There was no difference in the TBI cohort. There were no significant differences in TEG-PM parameters in those with an ISS greater than 14. There was no significant change in TEG-PM following platelet transfusion. CONCLUSION Marked platelet inhibition is common following minor injury. Whereas the clinical significance of this finding remains unknown, the results of this study should be factored in the overall resuscitative strategy. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prognostic/epidemiogic study, level III.
A Unified Graphical Approach to Random Coding for Single-Hop Networks

A unified graphical approach to random coding for any memoryless, single-hop, K -user channel with or without common information is defined through two steps. The first step is user virtualization. Each user is divided into multiple virtual sub-users according to a chosen rate-splitting strategy. This results in an enhanced channel with a possibly larger number of users for which more coding possibilities are available and for which common messages to any subset of users can be encoded. Following user virtualization, the message of each user in the enhanced model is coded using a chosen combination of coded time-sharing, superposition coding, and joint binning. A graph is used to represent the chosen coding strategies. Nodes in the graph represent codewords, while edges represent coding operations. This graph is used to construct a graphical Markov model, which illustrates the statistical dependence among codewords that can be introduced by the superposition coding or joint binning. Using this statistical representation of the overall codebook distribution, the error probability of the code is shown to vanish through a unified analysis. The rate bounds that define the achievable rate region are obtained by linking the error analysis to the properties of the graphical Markov model. This proposed framework makes it possible to numerically obtain an achievable rate region by specifying a user virtualization strategy and describing a set of coding operations. The union of these rate regions defines the maximum achievable rate region of our unified coding strategy. The achievable rates obtained based on this unified graphical approach to random coding encompass the best random coding achievable rates for all memoryless single-hop networks known to date, including broadcast, multiple access, interference, and cognitive radio channels, as well as new results for topologies not previously studied, as we illustrate with several examples.
Psychometric Properties and Diagnostic Accuracy of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in a Sample of Iranian Women

Background: Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) has been used as a reliable screening tool for postpartum depression in many countries. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy of the EPDS in a sample of Iranian women. Methods: Using stratified sampling 262 postpartum women (2 weeks-3 months after delivery) were selected from urban and rural health center in the city of Isfahan. They were interviewed using EPDS and Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS). Data were assessed using factor analysis, diagnosis analysis of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Cronbach's alpha and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: The age of then participants ranged 18-45 years (26.6±5.1). Based on a cut-off point of >13 for HDRS, 18.3% of the participants. The overall reliability (Cronbach's alpha) of EPDS was 0.79. There was a significant correlation (r2=0.60, P value<0.01) between EPDS and HDRS. Two factor analysis showed that anhedonia and depression were two explanatory factors. At a cut-off point12 the sensitivity of the questionnaire was 78% (95% CI: 73%-83%) and its specificity was 75% (95% CI: 72%-78%). Conclusion: The Persian version of the EPDS showed appropriate psychometric properties diagnostic accuracy index. It can be used by health system professionals for detection, assessment and treatment for mothers with post partum depression.
Analysis of trend and variability of atmospheric temperature in Ijebu-Ode, Southwest Nigeria

Heat waves have become more frequent as global warming continues to raise the average temperature of the earth. This study investigated the annual average trend and variability of atmospheric temperature in Ijebu-Ode, Southwest Nigeria. Secondary data of atmospheric air temperature was obtained from the Nigeria Meteorological agency (NIMET) Ijebu-Ode, Ogun state station, which covers thirty-one (31) years. Both parametric (Least Square Regression) and non parametric (Mann Kendall) test was performed on the data to investigate the trends, while variability was investigated using the ttest statistics and standardized index. The analysis of result revealed that temporal air temperature trend has remained generally on the increase since 1983. The increase was gradual between 1991 and 2013. A slight drop in temperature was experienced between the late 1984 and 1985. Thereafter, the gradual increase continued until date. Both least square regression and Mann Kendall test showed that the increasing trend was significant. Stakeholders ranging from government, individuals and cooperate bodies have been encouraged to take the issue of climate variability serious in the study area and Southwest Nigeria in general.
Robust Natural Language Generation from Large-Scale Knowledge Bases 1

We have begun to see the emergence oflarge-scale knowledge bases that house tens of thousands of facts encoded inexpressive representational la guages. Therichness ofthese representations offer the promise ofsignificantly improving the quality ofnatural language neration, buttheir epresentational complexity, scale, and task-independence pose great challenges to generators. We have designed, implemented, and empirically evaluated FARE, a functional realization system that exploits message specifications drawn from large-scale knowledge bases to create functional descriptions, which are expressions that encode both functional information (case assignment) and structural information (phrasal constituent embeddings). Given a message specification, FARE exploits lexical and grammatical annotations on knowledge base objects to construct functional descriptions, which are then converted to text by a surface generator. Two empirical studies--one with an explanation generator and one with a qualitative model builder--suggest that FARE is robust, efficient, expressive, and appropriate for a broad range of applications.
User-driven software design for an elderly care service robot

This paper describes a service- and scenario-driven software architecture for the ambient assisted living infrastructure currently under development in the Robot-Era project. Involving the end-users from the start, the project integrates an ambient sensor network with an advanced knowledge-representation and planning system and three different robots for outdoor, condominium, and indoor service roles. We explain the design decisions for the user-friendly and medium-cost service robot, with a focus on the integration of the ROS-based sensing and manipulation capabilities with precise indoor navigation and the PEIS middleware for ubiquitous robotics.
An ab initio study of magneto-electric coupling of YMnO3

This paper proposes the direct calculation of the microscopic contributions to the magneto-electric coupling, using ab initio methods. The electrostrictive and the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya contributions were evaluated individually. For this purpose a specific method was designed, combining density functional theory calculations and embedded fragment, explicitly correlated, quantum chemical calculations. This method allowed us to calculate the evolution of the magnetic couplings as a function of an applied electric field. We found that in YMnO3 the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya contribution to the magneto-electric effect is three orders of magnitude weaker than the electrostrictive contribution. Strictive effects are thus dominant in the magnetic exchange evolution under an applied electric field, and by extension in the magneto-electric effect. These effects however, remain quite small, and the modifications of the magnetic excitations under an applied electric field will be difficult to observe experimentally. Another important conclusion is that it can be shown that the linear magneto-electric tensor is null due to the inter-layer symmetry operations.
The Prognostic Biomarkers HOXB13, IL17BR, and CHDH Are Regulated by Estrogen in Breast Cancer

Purpose: We previously identified three genes, HOXB13, IL17BR, and CHDH, that strongly predict clinical outcome in estrogen receptor (ER)–positive breast cancer patients receiving tamoxifen monotherapy. The biological mechanisms linking these genes to estrogen signaling and tamoxifen response in breast cancer remain to be determined. Experimental Design: In a consecutive series of 148 ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancers, HOXB13, IL17BR, and CHDH gene expression was measured by quantitative real-time PCR and correlated with ER, PR, and HER2 expression. The role of estrogen and ER in the regulation of these three genes was assessed in several ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer cell lines. Results: In primary breast tumors, HOXB13 expression correlated negatively, and IL17BR and CHDH expression correlated positively, with ER status, and all three genes exhibited an ER-dependent correlation pattern with HER2 status that differs from PR and PS2, two canonical estrogen-regulated genes. Results using breast cancer cell lines show that these genes are regulated by estradiol in an ER-dependent manner, and that this regulation is abrogated by tamoxifen. Conclusions:HOXB13, IL17BR, and CHDH are estrogen-regulated genes, but their pattern of correlation with known positive (ER, PR) and negative (HER2) predictors of tamoxifen response differs from canonical ER signature genes. These results provide a biological rationale for the prognostic utility of these three genes in early-stage ER-positive breast cancer and for their potential to predict anti-estrogen resistance.
The generation and properties of human macrophage populations from hemopoietic stem cells

Information about the development and function of human macrophage lineage populations, such as osteoclasts, is limited because of the lack of defined in vitro systems for their large‐scale generation. Two M‐CSF‐containing cytokine cocktails were found under serum‐free conditions to expand dramatically and to differentiate over time human CD34+ hemopoietic stem cells into nonadherent and adherent macrophage populations. These populations exhibited increasing degrees of maturity over a 3‐week period characterized by morphology, surface marker expression (CD11b, CD86, CD64, CD14, and c‐Fms), phagocytic function, and gene‐expression profiling using quantitative PCR and microarray analysis (principal component analysis, k‐means clustering, and gene ontology classification). As assessed by the last criterion, the adherent population obtained at 3 weeks from the one protocol tested had high similarity to the well‐studied peripheral blood monocyte‐derived macrophages. The one population tested could be induced to differentiate into osteoclasts in the presence of M‐CSF and receptor activator of NF‐κB ligand, as judged by morphology, gene expression, and bone‐resorbing ability. In addition to the large numbers of macrophage lineage cells able to be produced, this replicating system may be suitable for the molecular analysis of macrophage lineage commitment and progression and for gene targeting and delivery.
‘You expose yourself in so many ways’: young women's experiences of pelvic examination

The aim of this study was to identify and describe young women's experiences of pelvic examination (PE). Qualitative interviews were conducted with nine women aged 18–23 years, who had undergone at least one PE. Data were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological approach. Three general themes were identified: (1) relinquishing and regaining control, (2) facilitation of the situation by the examiner and (3) PE is an unpleasant necessity. These general themes had a common structure that represented the essence: an intimate situation. The women experienced PE as an intimate situation, which they associated with their sexuality. They felt exposed both bodily and mentally and were placed in a vulnerable situation. PE was considered as unpleasant but necessary to confirm their health. During the PE, the women felt that they lost control of the situation by exposing their intimate parts. To regain control, the women felt a need for continuous information from the examiner. The vulnerable situation could be made less vulnerable if the examiner built a trusting relationship and made the women feel secure and seen as individuals. A deeper understanding of the situation from the women's perspective could facilitate the examiner's performance of PE, leading to more positive experiences among young women.
Extracting Equivalent SQL from Imperative Code in Database Applications

Optimizing the performance of database applications is an area of practical importance, and has received significant attention in recent years. In this paper we present an approach to this problem which is based on extracting a concise algebraic representation of (parts of) an application, which may include imperative code as well as SQL queries. The algebraic representation can then be translated into SQL to improve application performance, by reducing the volume of data transferred, as well as reducing latency by minimizing the number of network round trips. Our techniques can be used for performing optimizations of database applications that techniques proposed earlier cannot perform. The algebraic representations can also be used for other purposes such as extracting equivalent queries for keyword search on form results. Our experiments indicate that the techniques we present are widely applicable to real world database applications, in terms of successfully extracting algebraic representations of application behavior, as well as in terms of providing performance benefits when used for optimization.
Theoretical Considerations of Headgear Therapy: A Literature Review 2. Clinical response and usage

In Part 1 the literature on the direction and moment force systems of headgear therapy was discussed. The magnitude and duration of forces were briefly dealt with. In Part 2 the clinical response to the main directions of headgear force as reported in the literature will be described. Recommendations on the most appropriate direction and moment force systems for particular clinical situations will be made.