Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CFO Parallel Implementation on GPU for Adaptive Beam-forming Applications

The scientific community is still interested in heuristic techniques and optimization algorithms that could be applied in complex problems such as the antenna adaptive beam forming problem. This paper presents an empirical study of solving the problem of antenna adaptive beam forming using Central Force Optimization (CFO) algorithm. The algorithm implemented using Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) then applied on a graphics processing unit (GPU). CFO is well known alternatives for global optimization based on a nature-inspired Heuristic. Extensive experimentations were applied to compare their performance through a number of case studies. CFO has a higher computational complexity but it gives good results. The experimentations showed that the resulting beam-pattern optimized by the CFO required a large processing time which is not acceptable for an on line applications. Hence, the demand for a parallel solution that accelerates these computations is considered. Therefore, a parallel version of CFO is proposed and implemented using (CUDA) then applied on a (GPU). The comparison is presented to show how the parallel version of the CFO outperforms the sequential one, thus an online procedure is available for time-critical applications of the adaptive beamforming.
Knowledge integration in determining user requirements

Reducing requirement uncertainty is an important aspect in the successful development of information systems. Errors that are not detected earlier in the preparation of user requirements can affect system development process and cost. Despite the establishment of many good practices guidelines for preparing high quality user requirements, problems and challenges still exist. This paper aims to determine how knowledge integration can be implemented in user requirements determination process to reduce requirement uncertainty using appropriate tools or objects. In the knowledge integration process, the relevant knowledge required from developers includes technical and business domain knowledge. Meanwhile, users must possess information system development (ISD) knowledge. To reduce requirement uncertainty, the transfer, translation and transformation of knowledge across knowledge boundaries are implemented in three stages within the user requirements determination process, namely requirement elicitation, modelling and validation process. Further, the requirement uncertainty is evaluated in terms of their level of stability, diversity and analysability.
Quantum Dilogarithm

A quantum generalization of Rogers’ ﬁve term, or “pentagon” dilogarithm identity is suggested. It is shown that the classical limit gives usual Rogers’ identity. The case where the quantum identity is realized in ﬁnite dimensional space is also considered and the quantum dilogarithm is constructed as a function on Fermat curve, while the identity itself is equivalent to the restricted star-triangle relation introduced by Bazhanov and Baxter.
Counterfactual decomposition of changes in wage distributions using quantile regression

We propose a method to decompose the changes in the wage distribution over a period of time in several factors contributing to those changes. The method is based on the estimation of marginal wage distributions consistent with a conditional distribution estimated by quantile regression as well as with any hypothesized distribution for the covariates. Comparing the marginal distributions implied by different distributions for the covariates, one is then able to perform counterfactual exercises. The proposed methodology enables the identification of the sources of the increased wage inequality observed in most countries. Specifically, it decomposes the changes in the wage distribution over a period of time into several factors contributing to those changes, namely by discriminating between changes in the characteristics of the working population and changes in the returns to these characteristics. We apply this methodology to Portuguese data for the period 1986-1995, and find that the observed increase in educational levels contributed decisively towards greater wage inequality. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Knowledge management in the ubiquitous software development

The continuous technical advances have lead to the proliferation of very small and very cheap microprocessors, equipped with sensors and capacity of wireless communication. The information processing is becoming ubiquitous and it is being impregnated in all type of objects. In this article the general delineations set out towards a methodology of securing of the quality of software ubiquitous based their main characteristics: centered in the user and highly interactive. Moreover, it considered to the usability as the quality characteristic of more relevant in the development of this type of highly interactive software systems.
Diagnosing Delayed Cerebral Ischemia With Different CT Modalities in Patients With Subarachnoid Hemorrhage With Clinical Deterioration

Background and Purpose— Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage worsens the prognosis and is difficult to diagnose. We investigated the diagnostic value of noncontrast CT (NCT), CT perfusion (CTP), and CT angiography (CTA) for DCI after clinical deterioration in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage. Methods— We prospectively enrolled 42 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage with clinical deterioration suspect for DCI (new focal deficit or Glasgow Coma Scale decrease ≥2 points) within 21 days after hemorrhage. All patients underwent NCT, CTP, and CTA scans on admission and directly after clinical deterioration. The gold standard was the clinical diagnosis DCI made retrospectively by 2 neurologists who interpreted all clinical data, except CTP and CTA, to rule out other causes for the deterioration. Radiologists interpreted NCT and CTP images for signs of ischemia (NCT) or hypoperfusion (CTP) not localized in the neurosurgical trajectory or around intracerebral hematomas, and CTA images for presence of vasospasm. Diagnostic values for DCI of NCT, CTP, and CTA were assessed by calculating sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values, and negative predictive values with 95% CIs. Results— In 3 patients with clinical deterioration, imaging failed due to motion artifacts. Of the remaining 39 patients, 25 had DCI and 14 did not. NCT had a sensitivity of 0.56 (95% CI, 0.37 to 0.73), specificity=0.71 (0.57 to 0.77), positive predictive value=0.78 (0.55 to 0.91), negative predictive value=0.48 (0.28 to 0.68); CTP: sensitivity=0.84 (0.65 to 0.94), specificity=0.79 (0.52 to 0.92), positive predictive value=0.88 (0.69 to 0.96), negative predictive value=0.73 (0.48 to 0.89); CTA: sensitivity=0.64 (0.45 to 0.80), specificity=0.50 (0.27 to 0.73), positive predictive value=0.70 (0.49 to 0.84), negative predictive value=0.44 (0.23 to 0.67). Conclusion— As a diagnostic tool for DCI, qualitative assessment of CTP is overall superior to NCT and CTA and could be useful for fast decision-making and guiding treatment.
Cerebrovascular Responses in the Fetal Sheep Brain to Low-Dose Endotoxin

Clinical and experimental evidence indicate that infection in pregnancy is associated with fetal brain damage. However, the inflammatory processes that compromise the fetal brain are not fully understood. In this study, we used a single, low dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 0.1 μg/kg i.v.) to provoke an acute-phase response in unanesthetized fetal sheep in utero. COX-2 mRNA was increased in the cortex and cerebellum at 24 and 48 h after LPS, and immunoreactive COX-2 protein was increased in perivascular cells throughout gray and white matter at 24 h after LPS administration. Plasma albumin was observed in the parenchyma of the brain in cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, corpus callosum, fornix, hippocampus, midbrain, subcallosal bundle, and cerebellar Purkinje cells. Large, rounded, lectin-positive cells with the appearance of macrophages were observed around blood vessels in subventricular white matter. These results indicate that blood-brain barrier permeability is increased in the fetal brain after exposure to endotoxin and suggests that cytotoxic and pro-inflammatory substances could pass from the circulation into the brain after peripheral inflammatory stimulation.
Functional Characterization of Human T Cell Hyporesponsiveness Induced by CTLA4-Ig

During activation, T cells integrate multiple signals from APCs and cytokine milieu. The blockade of these signals can have clinical benefits as exemplified by CTLA4-Ig, which blocks interaction of B7 co-stimulatory molecules on APCs with CD28 on T cells. Variants of CTLA4-Ig, abatacept and belatacept are FDA approved as immunosuppressive agents in arthritis and transplantation, yet murine studies suggested that CTLA4-Ig could be beneficial in a number of other diseases. However, detailed analysis of human CD4 cell hyporesponsivness induced by CTLA4-Ig has not been performed. Herein, we established a model to study the effect of CTLA4-Ig on the activation of human naïve T cells in a human mixed lymphocytes system. Comparison of human CD4 cells activated in the presence or absence of CTLA4-Ig showed that co-stimulation blockade during TCR activation does not affect NFAT signaling but results in decreased activation of NF-κB and AP-1 transcription factors followed by a profound decrease in proliferation and cytokine production. The resulting T cells become hyporesponsive to secondary activation and, although capable of receiving TCR signals, fail to proliferate or produce cytokines, demonstrating properties of anergic cells. However, unlike some models of T cell anergy, these cells did not possess increased levels of the TCR signaling inhibitor CBLB. Rather, the CTLA4-Ig–induced hyporesponsiveness was associated with an elevated level of p27kip1 cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor.
VISUALIZATION OF DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID MOLECULES BY PROTEIN FILM ADSORPTION AND TANTALUM-TUNGSTEN SHADOWING

Preparatory procedures and high resolution shadowing of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules for electron microscopy are described. They involve a two-stage mounting of the DNA on cytochrome c monolayers and shadowing with tantalum-tungsten. Conditions are determined that produce a smooth substrate and reproducible binding of the DNA strands in a randomly coiled manner without obvious stretching artifacts. When limiting factors such as excess buffer salts are eliminated, the DNA strands have the over-all dimensions expected from the naked molecule.
Using personal questionnaires in a facilitated learning group

This project contributes a final trial to the appraisal of personal questionnaires conducted at UWE Bristol between October and April 2007. 13 psychology undergraduates in a Facilitated Learning Group completed personal questionnaires at the start of their first term at university, assigning monthly ratings of personal and academic concerns up to the start of the third term. At the end of the project period, participants were invited to write a reflective account linked to the questionnaire record and to complete an evaluation of the questionnaire. Analytical and presentational reporting of the data illustrated participants’ engagement with personal questionnaires and provided a basis for their appraisal. Quantitative and qualitative outcomes showed that students can use personal questionnaires to record a range of concerns and to assign valid ratings to their variation over time. Discernable patterns of change across participants may indicate areas for further research into the student experience. Reflective accounts linked to questionnaire records supported the validity of questionnaire content while suggesting that they indicate rather than capture the depth and complexity of personal processes in student development. Participants reported that the questionnaires were relevant and easy to use, and that for some participants they were helpful in monitoring concerns and highlighting areas for action. The outcomes were discussed in relation to the parent study, issues around engaging students in self-report procedures, and support for these by university staff. It was recommended that the strengths of personal questionnaires may be most usefully applied in researching the student experience, as an aid to student self-reflection and monitoring in academic support settings, and as a tool for systematic evaluation in psychological counselling.
Spatial division multiplexing: a novel approach for guaranteed throughput on NoCs

To ensure low power consumption while maintaining flexibility and performance, future Systems-on-Chip (SoC) will combine several types of processor cores and data memory units of widely different sizes. To interconnect the IPs of these heterogeneous platforms, Networks-on-Chip (NoC) have been proposed as an efficient and scalable alternative to shared buses. NoCs can provide throughput and latency guarantees by establishing virtual circuits between source and destination. State-of-the-art NoCs currently exploit Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) to share network resources among virtual circuits, but this typically results in high network area and energy overhead with long circuit set-up time.We propose an alternative solution based on Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM). This paper describes our first design of an SDM-based network, discusses design alternatives for network implementation and shows why SDM should be better adapted to NoCs than TDM for a limited number of circuits.Our case study clearly illustrates the advantages of our technique over TDM in terms of energy consumption, area overhead, and flexibility. SDM thus deserves to be explored in more depth, and in particular in combination with TDM in a hybrid scheme.
The role of an Aboriginal women's group in meeting the high needs of clients attending outpatient alcohol and other drug treatment.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS Support groups are typically offered as part of specialist alcohol or other drug treatment. However, their usefulness with Indigenous Australians has not been examined. This paper provides a profile of Aboriginal women attending an inner city outpatient alcohol and other drug treatment service, insight into how effective women and staff perceive the support group to be at meeting their needs and suggestions for improvements. DESIGN AND METHODS Structured interviews were conducted with 24 Aboriginal female clients of an outpatient treatment service and with 21 staff from across that service and the local Aboriginal Medical Service. Client interviews also assessed alcohol consumption and mental health risk (Indigenous Risk Impact Screen). RESULTS Clients reported social and health indicators illustrating disadvantage and complex needs. Most clients and staff perceived the group to be useful and easily accessible. The participants discussed positive elements including opportunities for shared experience in a non-judgemental environment, practical support and health education. Staff reported how the safe, relaxed environment of the group helped with early identification of issues and user-friendly pathways for treatment access. Suggested improvements included greater involvement from Aboriginal staff and community members and enhanced communication with other staff. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Clients and staff recognised the usefulness of the group, including the opportunities it provided for socialisation and early intervention. Comprehensive research is needed to determine the types and sources of support that best assist Aboriginal women with substance use disorders.
THE SYMPTOM INVENTORIES : AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Objective: Twenty children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and low IQs, who participated in a drug study, were followed-up 4.5 years later, when their ages averaged 12.4 years (range: 8-20 years; SD=2.78). Method: Participants were assessed by their parents and teachers on the Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Community (ABC; Aman & Singh, 1994), on the Child Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4; Gadow & Sprafkin, 1994), and on a structured interview. Results: A majority of children continued to screen positive for ADHD at follow-up, as well as display high rates of comorbid anxiety disorders, tics, and elimination disorders. Educational placement became slightly more restrictive over the follow-up interval. Multiple medication trials (30 in all, among 14 participants) were attempted between initial contact and follow-up. Ratings on the ABC by parents and teachers showed significantly lower scores at follow-up on the Hyperactivity subscale. Relatively few associations were found between initial ratings and follow-wp ratings on standardized scales.
Interaction between cardiac and ventilatory timing during sleep

Cardioventilatory coupling is the temporal alignment between inspiratory onset and preceding heart beat, and is a determinant of ventilatory timing. Although investigated in anaesthetised and resting individuals, as well as animals, few studies have examined cardioventilatory coupling during sleep. This thesis aimed to further work in this area by investigating the cardioventilatory coupling during sleep. In the first study, 30 healthy individuals (14 male; 16 female) aged 18-35 years and nine healthy individuals (4 male; 5 female) aged 60-75 years underwent a level II polysomnographic study in their own home. Cardioventilatory coupling was observed to some degree in all healthy individuals. In young adults, strength of coupling (χ(3) = 12.71, p = 0.005) and the proportion of the night spent coupling (χ In the second study, 14 (6 male; 8 female) of these individuals aged 18-35 years underwent an additional home-based polysomnographic study, 14 days after the first study. In these individuals, both strength of cardioventilatory coupling (ICC = 0.671, p = 0.003), and proportion of the night spent coupling (ICC = 0.770, p < 0.001), were moderately repeatable from Night 1 to Night 2. (3) = 9.80, p = 0.02) differed significantly between wakefulness, light sleep, slow wave sleep (SWS) and REM sleep. Post hoc analyses indicated that coupling strength and the proportion of the night spent coupling during light sleep and slow wave sleep, was significantly different to that during wakefulness. Decreased strength of cardioventilatory coupling was observed with increasing time post sleep onset (Spearman, r = 0.20, p = 0.003). Cardioventilatory coupling did not differ between the young and older age groups, or with gender. In the third study, cardioventilatory coupling was examined in 151 individuals with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). Cardioventilatory coupling was observed to some degree in all but one individual with SDB. Decreased strength of coupling (Spearman, r = -0.33, p < 0.001) and decreased proportion of the night spent coupling (Spearman, r = -0.39, p < 0.001) was observed with increasing apnoea hypopnoea index. As with healthy individuals, both the strength of coupling (χ(3) = 12.95, p = 0.005) and the proportion of the night spent coupling (χ(3) = 19.37, p < 0.001) differed significantly between wakefulness, light sleep, SWS and REM sleep, in individuals with SDB. Coupling strength was increased during light sleep, compared to wakefulness and REM sleep.
A Comparison of Dynamic Panel Data Estimators: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to the Investment Function

In our analysis we discuss several dynamic panel data estimators proposed in the literature and assess their performance in Monte Carlo simulations. It is a well known fact that the natural choice, the least squares dummy variable estimator is biased in the context of dynamic estimation. The estimators taking into account the resulting bias can be grouped broadly into the class of instrumental estimators and the class of direct bias corrected estimators. The simulation results clearly favour the direct bias corrected estimators, especially the estimator proposed by Hansen (2001). The superiority of these estimators decreases with growing numbers of individuals in the simulation. This is the well known fact of large sample properties of the GMM-methods. In the case of endogenous predetermined regressors, the system-estimator proposed by Blundell and Bond is unbiased and most efficient, while direct bias corrected estimators perform similar to the GMM-estimator proposed by Arellano and Bond (1991). Turning to the empirical comparison, we find that the different estimators lead to the same conclusions concerning the investment behaviour of German manufacturing firms based on the Deutsche Bundesbank's Corporate Balance Sheet Statistics. Investment is strongly positive dependent on lagged investment and Q. Nevertheless, in detail the differences of the estimated parameters are not negligible.
Ieee Transactions on Image Processing: to Appear Hybrid Poisson/polynomial Objective Functions for Tomographic Image Reconstruction from Transmission Scans

| This paper describes rapidly converging algorithms for computing attenuation maps from Poisson transmission measurements using penalized-likelihood objective functions. We demonstrate that an under-relaxed cyclic coordinate-ascent algorithm converges faster than the convex algorithm of Lange 1], which in turn converges faster than the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for transmission tomography 1]. To further reduce computation , one could replace the log-likelihood objective with a quadratic approximation. However, we show with simulations and analysis that the quadratic objective function leads to biased estimates for low-count measurements. Therefore we introduce hybrid Poisson/polynomial objective functions that use the exact Poisson log-likelihood for detector measurements with low counts, but use computationally eecient quadratic or cubic approximations for the high-count detector measurements. We demonstrate that the hybrid objective functions reduce computation time without increasing estimation bias.
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Extreme waves at Filyos , southern Black Sea

A wave measurement project was carried out for a new port planned in Filyos, in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey. The measurement at a depth of 12.5 m lasted for a period of two years and 7949 records were obtained. During the analysis, it was noticed that there were 209 records in whichH /Hs ratio was higher than 2.0. These higher waves in a record are called extreme waves in this study. Although the purpose of wave measurement is not to investigate extreme waves, it is believed that studying these unexpected waves could be interesting. Therefore, detailed statistical and spectral analyses on the extreme waves were done for the records. The analyses results show that the distribution of surface profiles of the records containing extreme waves deviates from Gaussian distribution with the negative skewness changing between −0.01 and−0.4 and with the high kurtosis in the range of 3.1–4.2. Although the probability of occurrence of the extreme waves is overpredicted by the Rayleigh distribution, a higher ratio of Hs/ηrms indicates that the wave height distribution can be represented by Rayleigh. The average value of the slope of the frequency spectrum at the high frequency range is proportional tof −9 which is much steeper than the typical wind-wave frequency power law, f −4,−5. The directional spreading is measured with the parameter Smax and it is in the range of 5–70 for the extreme wave records. The wave and current interaction was also investigated and it was found that in most cases, extreme waves occur when the wave and the current are almost aligned. Furthermore, it is observed that extreme waves appear within a group of high waves. Correspondence to: B. O. Ozbahceci (berguzaro@yahoo.com)