Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Filter-and-Forward Transparent Relay Design for OFDM Systems

In this paper, the filter-and-forward (FF) relay design for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission systems is considered for improving system performance over simple amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying. Unlike conventional OFDM relays performing OFDM demodulation and remodulation, to reduce processing complexity, the proposed FF relay directly filters the incoming signal in the time domain with a finite impulse response (FIR) and forwards the filtered signal to the destination. Three design criteria are considered for optimizing the relay filter. The first criterion is the minimization of the relay transmit power subject to per-subcarrier signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) constraints, the second criterion is the maximization of the worst subcarrier channel SNR subject to source and relay transmit power constraints, and the third criterion is the maximization of the data rate subject to source and relay transmit power constraints. It is shown that the first problem reduces to a semi-definite programming (SDP) problem by semi-definite relaxation (SDR), and the solution to the relaxed SDP problem has rank one under a mild condition. For the latter two problems, the problem of joint source power allocation and relay filter design is considered, and an efficient algorithm is proposed for each problem based on alternating optimization and the projected gradient method (PGM). Numerical results show that the proposed FF relay significantly outperforms simple AF relays with an insignificant increase in complexity. Thus, the proposed FF relay provides a practical alternative to the AF relaying scheme for OFDM transmission.
Speaker-dependent Isolated-Word Speech Recognition System Based on Vector Quantization

Abstract Speaker-dependent speech recognition system requires the system should not only recognize speech, but also recognize the speaker of the segment. In this paper, two indicators are selected—short-time average zero-crossing rate and dual-threshold endpoint to test the signal endpoint through the study of speaker-dependent isolated-word speech characteristics, and MFCC parameters are taken as the characteristic parameters; based on vector quantization, template matching algorithms are designed, and one is adopted to improve LBG algorithm to increase the computing speed; speaker-dependent isolated-word speech recognition system is designed based on vector quantization technique and simulation experiments are conducted in the MATLAB platform under various backgrounds, which proves the system has better recognition effect.
Evolution of the cohort study.

The occurrence of events over time unifies epidemiologic research. Regardless of the study hypothesis and design, the disease-causing actions of exposures and modifying factors are formulated as antecedent to the occurrence of the outcome. All study designs inherently acknowledge time and represent alternative approaches for sampling populations as exposed and nonexposed persons develop disease over time. The cohort design explicitly incorporates the passage of time. In cohort studies, participants are followed over an interval defined by the study's beginning and end, and observations are made on outcome measures of interest: death, incidence of disease, change in a biologic measure, or health status. The study's purpose may be focused—to test a specific (or general) hypothesis—to gather data for descriptive purposes or to facilitate the testing of multiple hypotheses concerning disease. During the follow-up experience of participants in a cohort study, the factors determining the health of the participants may be continually changing as the participants age and exposures to environmental agents start, stop, increase, or decrease (figure 1). The dynamic nature of many risk factors and their relations in time to disease occurrence can only be captured in the cohort design; this temporal interplay is inherently absent from crosssectional data and often investigated only with difficulty using the case-control design (1). Epidemiologists may be challenged in investigating the relation between multiple risk factors, some changing in time, and disease occurrence, as displayed schematically in figure 1. During the follow-up of a cohort, participants age, temporal trends may affect the participants, and exposures to risk factors of primary
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma: two faces of the same disease

ABSTRACT Introduction: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) are considered indolent lymphocytic malignancies, more often requiring active surveillance rather than intervention. Despite the indolent nature of CLL/SLL, treatment is likely indicated in a patients’ lifetime. Recent changes in the therapeutic landscape have created more options to the clinician. Areas covered: The authors provide a broad assessment of the current state of disease, including the work-up, prognostic features, and mutational aspects of the disease that should be acknowledged when developing a rational treatment plan. Key studies, guideline recommendations, and expert analysis are used to create this update on CLL/SLL. Expert commentary: The recent pace of treatment additions in CLL/SLL is a welcome addition. Moving forward, it is anticipated that treatment modalities will continue to evolve, leading to additional management options that truly would define CLL/SLL as a chronic disease.
RELATION OF THE EXTERNAL LARYNGEAL NERVE TO SUPERIOR THYROID ARTERY IN AN AFRICAN POPULATION

The external laryngeal nerve runs parallel to superior thyroid artery and later crossing the artery either above or below the upper pole of the thyroid gland. This relatively high anatomic variability demonstrates inter-population differences. However, datum among the Kenyan population is lacking. Knowledge of normal and variant anatomy of these structures is important in surgical procedures within the neck. This study therefore aimed at describing the variant anatomical relations of the superior thyroid artery and external laryngeal nerve for the Kenyan population. Twenty formalin fixed cadavers obtained from the Department of Human Anatomy, University of Nairobi were dissected to expose the thyroid gland, superior thyroid artery and external laryngeal nerve. The relation of the superior thyroid artery to the external laryngeal nerve was noted. The external laryngeal nerve crossed the superior thyroid artery within 1cm above the upper pole of the thyroid gland in 25% of cases and more than 1 cm in 75% of cases. The level at which the external laryngeal nerve crosses the superior thyroid artery displays variations among Kenyans warranting care during surgical procedures of the thyroid gland. Key words : Superior thyroid artery, Nerve
The effect of ambient air pollution on exhaled nitric oxide in the Children's Health Study

We assessed the effect of daily variations in ambient air pollutants on exhaled nitric oxide fraction (FeNO) using data from a cohort of school children with large differences in air pollutant exposures from the Children's Health Study. Based on a cohort of 2,240 school children from 13 Southern Californian communities, cumulative lagged average regression models were fitted to determine the association between FeNO and ambient air pollution levels from central site monitors with lags of up to 30 days prior to FeNO testing. Daily 24-h cumulative lagged averages of particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm (PM2.5; over 1–8 days) and particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm (PM10; over 1–7 days), as well as 10:00–18:00 h cumulative lagged average of O3 (over 1–23 days) were significantly associated with 17.42% (p<0.01), 9.25% (p<0.05) and 14.25% (p<0.01) higher FeNO levels over the interquartile range of 7.5 μg·m−3, 12.97 μg·m−3 and 15.42 ppb, respectively. The effects of PM2.5, PM10 and O3 were higher in the warm season. The particulate matter effects were robust to adjustments for effects of O3 and temperature and did not vary by asthma or allergy status. In summary, short-term increases in PM2.5, PM10 and O3 were associated with airway inflammation independent of asthma and allergy status, with PM10 effects significantly higher in the warm season.
Turbo Multiuser Detection Based on Local Search Algorithms

The full-complexity soft-input/soft-output (SISO) multiuser detector based on the a posteriori probability (APP) algorithm has a computational complexity growing exponentially with the number of users. In this paper, we consider the multiuser detection problem from a combinatorial optimization viewpoint and develop a novel class of SISO multiuser detectors based on local search (LS) heuristics. By restricting the search to a small subset of the solution space and producing the APP based on a candidate list of potential solutions, the proposed detector can achieve bit-error-rate (BER) performance close to that of the APP algorithm with a significantly lower computational complexity.
Just How Bad Negative Affect Is for Your Health Depends on Culture

Pressman, Lopez and Gallagher (2013) conclude that across the globe negative emotions are bad for one’s health. Yet, just how bad negative emotions are for health depends on culture. In U.S. American contexts, negative feelings are construed as the individual’s responsibility and as harmful. In Japanese contexts, negative feelings are construed as rooted in relationships and as natural. Using six clinically-relevant measures and two representative samples, we tested the hypothesis that negative affect is more strongly associated with poor health in the U.S. (n = 1,741) than in Japan (n = 988). Negative affect more strongly predicted poor health in the U.S. than in Japan for multi-item assessments of physical health (chronic conditions, physical functioning) and mental health (psychological well-being, self-esteem). There were no differences for single-item health assessments (life satisfaction, global health). These findings underscore the need for further theoretically-driven investigations of how cultural construals shape the emotion-health link.
Application of least squares support vector machine in soft sensor of traditional Chinese Medicine extraction

Aiming at the difficult measurement problem of the extraction rate for plants and herbs with the ultrasonic wave technology, the influence of the various factors on the extraction rate in the ultrasonic extraction process is analyzed and the dynamic process variables which is easily measured and can affect the extraction rate is ensured in this paper. A soft sensor model between the easily measured variables and the ones to be measured is established with the Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM) method. Using the optimized model, the impact of process parameters on the extraction rate in the extraction process of Chinese medicine is predicted and analyzed. The learning performance and generalization capability of the model are verified. The conclusion that the extraction temperature has an impact on the extraction rate of the traditional Chinese medicine can be drawn. Finally, the experimental results show that the LS-SVM method is suitable for data modeling of small sample data and characterizes by the quicker calculation speed and stronger generalization ability. The soft sensor model which is established with the LS-SVM method has achieved more accurate prediction on extraction rate of the traditional Chinese medicine.
Genetic Diversity and Conservation of the Prespa Trout in the Balkans

The Balkans are known to have a high level of biodiversity and endemism. No less than 15 taxa have been recorded in salmonids of the Salmo genus. Among them, the Prespa trout is found in only four river systems flowing into Lake Macro Prespa, three in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and one in Greece. This is the first comprehensive survey of all streams located within the Macro Prespa Basin, encompassing the whole taxon range. A large genetic sample of 536 Prespa trout was collected mainly between 2005 and 2007. The sampling included 59 individuals from the Golema river system, 93 from the Kranska, 260 from the Brajcinska, 119 from the Agios Germanos, and five individuals from the lake itself. These specimens were analyzed with six microsatellite markers and by sequencing the mitochondrial control region. Nuclear data were examined through multidimensional analysis and assignment tests. Five clusters were detected by assignment: Golema, Kranska, Brajcinska upstream, Rzanska Brajcinska tributary and Brajcinska downstream. Most of these river systems thus hosted differentiated Prespa trout populations (with past gene flows likely dating before the construction of dams), except Agios Germanos, which was found to be composed of 5% to 32% of each cluster. Among the five trout individuals from the lake, four originated from Kranska River and one was admixed. Supported parsimonious hypotheses are proposed to explain these specificities. Conservation of this endemic taxon should take these results into account. No translocation should be performed between different tributaries of the lake and preservation of the Brajcinska populations should address the upstream-downstream differentiation described.
Data Usage Control for the Cloud

Despite the increasing adoption of cloud-based services, concerns regarding the proper future usage and storage of data given to such services remain: Once sensitive data has been released to a cloud service, users often do not know which other organizations or services get access and may store, use or redistribute their data. The research field of usage control tackles such problems by enforcing requirements on the usage of data after it has been given away and is thus particularly important in the cloud ecosystem. So far, research has mainly focused on enforcing such requirements within single systems. This PhD thesis investigates the distributed aspects of usage control, with the goal to enforce usage control requirements on data that flows between systems, services and applications that may be distributed logically, physically and organizationally. To this end, this thesis contributes by tackling four related sub problems: (1) tracking data flows across systems and propagating corresponding data usage policies, (2) taking distributed policy decisions, (3) investigating adaptivity of today's systems and services, and (4) providing appropriate guarantees. The conceptual results of this PhD thesis will be implemented and instantiated to cloud services, thus contributing to their trustworthiness and acceptance by providing security guarantees for the future usage of sensitive data. The results will be evaluated w.r. t. provided security guarantees, practicability, usability, and performance.
Corner detection in textured color images

Corner models in the literature have lagged behind edge models with respect to color and shading. We use both a region model, based on distributions of pixel colors, and an edge model, which removes false positives, to perform corner detection on color images whose regions contain texture. We show results on a variety of natural images at different scales that highlight the problems that occur when boundaries between regions have curvature.
Antifungal activity of crude extracts of selected medicinal plants used in combinations in Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya

Use of herbs as combinations is a common practice with many herbal practitioners. The main idea behind this usually is the synergistic action expected to take place by the traditional healer hence being able to give better results as compared to one herb and also treat more than one ailment, even those not mentioned by the patient. However, other interactions such as additive and antagonism too take place when herbs are used in combinations. In this study, anti-aspergillus and anti-candida efficacy of crude extracts of five plants used in combination to treat malaria were investigated. Toddalia asiatica (root), Rhamnus staddo (root) , Momordica foetida (shoot), Podocarpus falcatus (bark), Aloe sp (secculent leaves) used by traditional health practitioners in the Kalenjin community were extracted using water and dichloromethane/methanol (1:1) and the crude extracts tested for in vitro antifungal activity singly and in combinations against Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. Dichloromethane/methanol extracts of P. falcatus showed the highest activity (77.77% inhibition) against A.niger while M. foetida showed the highest activity (77.78% inhibition) against C. albicans. Aloe sp. Showed no activity against A. niger when tested singly. A.niger was more sensitive to the plants extracts than C.albicans. Aqueous extracts did not show any activity. Antagonism, additive and synergism were observed when combinations of the herbal plants were assayed. Findings in this study are a preliminary verification of the usefulness of using herbal plants in combinations as a prevalent practice among the traditional healers.
Intercultural Communication on Web sites: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Web sites from High-Context Cultures and Low-Context Cultures

The aim of this study is to explore and identify the strategies used by high-context cultures in utilizing the Internet—a largely low-context medium—for communication and marketing purposes. It is hypothesized that individuals in high-context cultures are more likely to adopt the visual effects offered by the Internet to convey their messages efficiently than their low-context counterparts. How might high-context cultures make the most of the potentials offered by the Internet generation of today? Assuming that visual communication is a high priority in the design of high-context Web sites, how do the visual methods used on Web sites vary according to the communication styles in different cultures? Using Hall’s high- and low-context dimensions as the main parameters, an exploratory analysis of McDonald’s Web sites identified five different strategies by which visual communication is used to support high-context communication traits.
Identifying interests of web users for effective recommendations

Search log data is multi dimensional data consisting of number of searches of multiple users with many searched parameters. This data can be used to identify a user’s interest in an item or object being searched. Identifying highest interests of a Web user from his search log data is a complex process. Based on a user’s previous searches, most recommendation methods employ two-dimensional models to find relevant items. Such items are then recommended to a user. Two-dimensional data models, when used to mine knowledge from such multi dimensional data may not be able to give good mappings of user and his searches. The major problem with such models is that they are unable to find the latent relationships that exist between different searched dimensions. In this research work, we utilize tensors to model the various searches made by a user. Such high dimensional data model is then used to extract the relationship between various dimensions, and find the prominent searched components. To achieve this, we have used popular tensor decomposition methods like PARAFAC, Tucker and HOSVD. All experiments and evaluation is done on real datasets, which clearly show the effectiveness of tensor models in finding prominent searched components in comparison to other widely used two-dimensional data models. Such top rated searched components are then given as recommendation to users.
The Focus Group Guidebook

Providing a general introduction to focus group research, Morgan includes the appropriate reasons for using focus groups and what you can expect to accomplish with them. He provides a brief history of focus groups, a discussion of when to use focus groups and why, and several brief case studies illustrating different uses of focus groups. The author covers the timeline and costs associated with focus groups, including a discussion of the ethical issues involved in focus group research. Thoroughly covering all the information to help you start your focus group project, this guidebook is appropriate for anybody beginning a focus group, as well as managers or clients who will be using focus groups.
In Vivo 7T MRI of the Non-Human Primate Brainstem

Structural brain imaging provides a critical framework for performing stereotactic and intraoperative MRI-guided surgical procedures, with procedural efficacy often dependent upon visualization of the target with which to operate. Here, we describe tools for in vivo, subject-specific visualization and demarcation of regions within the brainstem. High-field 7T susceptibility-weighted imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging of the brain were collected using a customized head coil from eight rhesus macaques. Fiber tracts including the superior cerebellar peduncle, medial lemniscus, and lateral lemniscus were identified using high-resolution probabilistic diffusion tractography, which resulted in three-dimensional fiber tract reconstructions that were comparable to those extracted from sequential application of a two-dimensional nonlinear brain atlas warping algorithm. In the susceptibility-weighted imaging, white matter tracts within the brainstem were also identified as hypointense regions, and the degree of hypointensity was age-dependent. This combination of imaging modalities also enabled identifying the location and extent of several brainstem nuclei, including the periaqueductal gray, pedunculopontine nucleus, and inferior colliculus. These clinically-relevant high-field imaging approaches have potential to enable more accurate and comprehensive subject-specific visualization of the brainstem and to ultimately improve patient-specific neurosurgical targeting procedures, including deep brain stimulation lead implantation.
Regeneration of rat sciatic nerve across a LactoSorb bioresorbable conduit with interposed short-segment nerve grafts.

OBJECT This study was conducted to evaluate peripheral nerve regeneration through a conduit composed of a bioresorbable material (LactoSorb). METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats weighing approximately 250 g were randomized into five groups. A 20-mm-long sciatic nerve gap was created, then it was bridged by a reverse nerve autograft (Group I), an empty silicone tube (Group II), a silicone tube containing a short (2-mm) interposed nerve segment (Group III), an empty LactoSorb conduit (Group IV), or a LactoSorb conduit containing a 2-mm interposed nerve segment (Group V). The intact sciatic nerve served as the control in each animal. At 16 weeks postoperatively, no nerve regeneration was observed through either the empty silicone tube or the empty LactoSorb conduit. There was regeneration in all animals receiving the reverse autograft as well as in all animals receiving the silicone or LactoSorb conduit containing the 2-mm interposed nerve segment. Effective regeneration was assessed based on histological, electrophysiological, and morphometric criteria. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that a conduit made of resorbable material will support sciatic nerve regeneration over a critical gap defect.