Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance analysis of distributed method for full-duplex relaying cooperative systems

This paper focuses on the spectral efficiency (SE) problem in amplify-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF) relaying cooperative systems with full-duplex (FD) operation. Previous works on FD relaying systems have focused on outage performance or relay selection schemes wherein for the max-min relay selection scheme residual loop-interference has been neglected. Therefore, the motivation of this paper is to figure out which one of the relaying methods, AF or DF, is spectrally efficient in terms of the single relay selection scheme. For this, we apply time-based distributed method for max-min relay selection scheme by considering the residual loop interferences. Moreover, to see the impact of overhead, we consider a non-ideal FD relaying cooperative system. Numerical and simulation results are provided to illustrate the effect of collisions on the SE and a comparison of SE between two relaying methods for the distributed method.
Improved MIMO antenna by mutual coupling suppression between Elements

This paper describes a novel method for suppressing mutual coupling between antenna elements for application in MIMO antenna design. To suppress mutual coupling, several parasitic elements were employed in the proposed MIMO array antennas. Due to the effect of these parasitic elements, mutual coupling is markedly reduced. The proposed method shows that the improvement of mutual coupling is at least 10dB compared with conventional MIMO antenna arrays
Wave Propagation Models for the Planning of Mobile Communication Networks

The paper gives a survey on a variety of methods for modelling wave propagation in different mobile communication scenarios. The requirements for predicting fieldstrength level and other relevant parameters are discussed for various mobile communication networks including outdoor and indoor scenarios. Apart from well known and widely used propagation models new approaches with minimised computation time are presented.
Practical Applications of the Bioinformatics Toolbox for Narrowing Quantitative Trait Loci

Dissecting the genes involved in complex traits can be confounded by multiple factors, including extensive epistatic interactions among genes, the involvement of epigenetic regulators, and the variable expressivity of traits. Although quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis has been a powerful tool for localizing the chromosomal regions underlying complex traits, systematically identifying the causal genes remains challenging. Here, through its application to plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) in mice, we demonstrate a strategy for narrowing QTL that utilizes comparative genomics and bioinformatics techniques. We show how QTL detected in multiple crosses are subjected to both combined cross analysis and haplotype block analysis; how QTL from one species are mapped to the concordant regions in another species; and how genomewide scans associating haplotype groups with their phenotypes can be used to prioritize the narrowed regions. Then we illustrate how these individual methods for narrowing QTL can be systematically integrated for mouse chromosomes 12 and 15, resulting in a significantly reduced number of candidate genes, often from hundreds to <10. Finally, we give an example of how additional bioinformatics resources can be combined with experiments to determine the most likely quantitative trait genes.
A Framework Analysis of the Open Source Software Development Paradigm , in

Open Source Software (OSS) has become the subject of much commercial interest of late. Certainly, OSS seems to hold much promise in addressing the core issues of the software crisis, namely that of software taking too long to develop, exceeding its budget, and not working very well. Indeed, there have been several examples of significant OSS success stories—the Linux operating system, the Apache web server, the BIND domain name resolution utility, to name but a few. However, little by way of rigorous academic research on OSS has been conducted to date. In this study, a framework was derived from two previous frameworks which have been very influential in the IS field, namely that of Zachman’s IS architecture (ISA) and Checkland’s CATWOE framework from Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). The resulting framework is used to analyze the OSS approach in detail. The potential future of OSS research is also discussed.
Automatic extraction of built-up area based on deep convolution neural network

Built-up area has been one of the most important objects to be extracted in remote sensing images. Several factors such as complex structure, diverse texture and varied background, bring the challenges for the task of built-up area extraction. In this paper, a multiple input structure of deep convolution neural network (CNN) is proposed to extract built-up area automatically, which can fuse the information of panchromatic and multispectral remote sensing image. The image patch based classification results are further refined by postprocessing of segmentation techniques. The experiments demonstrate that the proposed method has better generalization ability compared to the state-of-the-art method, and the overall classification accuracy is above 98%.
Theoretical Analysis of a Surface Plasmonic Waveguide With a Double-Petal-Shaped Air Core

A kind of surface plasmonic waveguide (SPW) with a double-petal-shaped air core is designed. The propagation properties of the fundamental mode supported by this waveguide on geometrical parameters and working wavelengths are analyzed by using the finite-difference frequency-domain method. Results show that the longitudinal energy flux density is mainly distributed in the two wedged corners formed by the air core. The propagation length, effective index and mode area of the fundamental mode can be adjusted by the shape of petal-type air cores. With certain geometric parameters, relative to the case of 632.8 nm, the propagation length becomes large under the condition of larger working wavelength. A comparison of SPW proposed here and SPW with double elliptical air cores has been carried out, and results show that the SPW with a double-petal-shaped air core not only has no sharp tips, but also has better propagation properties than that of double-elliptical air cores under certain conditions. When the core is filled with gain medium, it is found that the propagation length can be extended obviously with the help of the gain dielectric medium. This kind of SPW can be applied to the field of nanoscale circuits and sensors.
Bacillus subtilis Bactofilins Are Essential for Flagellar Hook- and Filament Assembly and Dynamically Localize into Structures of Less than 100 nm Diameter underneath the Cell Membrane

Bactofilins are a widely conserved protein family implicated in cell shape maintenance and in bacterial motility. We show that the bactofilins BacE and BacF from Bacillus subtilis are essential for motility. The proteins are required for the establishment of flagellar hook- and filament structures, but apparently not for the formation of basal bodies. Functional YFP fusions to BacE and to BacF localize as discrete assemblies at the B. subtilis cell membrane, and have a diameter of 60 to 70 nm. BacF assemblies are relatively static, and partially colocalize with flagellar basal bodies, while BacE assemblies are fewer per cell than those of BacF and are highly mobile. Tracking of BacE foci showed that the assemblies arrest at a single point for a few hundred milliseconds, showing that a putative interaction with flagellar structures would be transient and fast. When overexpressed or expressed in a heterologous cell system, bactofilins can form filamentous structures, and also form multimers as purified proteins. Our data reveal a propensity for bactofilins to form filaments, however, in B. subtilis cells, bactofilins assemble into defined size assemblies that show a dynamic localization pattern and play a role in flagellar assembly.
Deconstructing Human Literature Reviews – A Framework for Multi-Document Summarization

This study is conducted in the area of multidocument summarization, and develops a literature review framework based on a deconstruction of human-written literature review sections in information science research papers. The first part of the study presents the results of a multi-level discourse analysis to investigate their discourse and content characteristics. These findings were incorporated into a framework for literature reviews, focusing on their macro-level document structure and the sentence-level templates, as well as the information summarization strategies. The second part of this study discusses insights from this analysis, and how the framework can be adapted to automatic summaries resembling human written literature reviews. Summaries generated from a partial implementation are evaluated against human written summaries and assessors’ comments are discussed to formulate recommendations for future work.
Frequency formats, probability formats, or problem structure? A test of the nested-sets hypothesis in an extensional reasoning task

Five experiments addressed a controversy in the probability judgment literature that centers on the efficacy of framing probabilities as frequencies. The natural frequency view predicts that frequency formats attenuate errors, while the nested-sets view predicts that highlighting the set-subset structure of the problem reduces error, regardless of problem format. This study tested these predictions using a conjunction task. Previous studies reporting that frequency formats reduced conjunction errors confounded reference class with problem format. After controlling this confound, the present study’s findings show that conjunction errors can be reduced using either a probability or a frequency format, that frequency effects depend upon the presence of a reference class, and that frequency formats do not promote better statistical reasoning than probability formats.
Negative Emotional Valence Is Associated With Non-Right-Handedness and Increased Imbalance of Hemispheric Activation as Measured by Tympanic Membrane Temperature

We investigated the possibility that individual differences in hand preference influence hemispheric emotional valence asymmetries using the Profile of Mood States Short-Form (Shacham, J Pers Assess. 1983;47:305–306) as a measure of emotional valence and tympanic membrane temperature (TMT) as a measure of hemispheric activity. We replicate others' findings of increased negative valence in the non–right-handed. We further demonstrate handedness effects on the absolute difference between left and right TMT, and a positive relationship between this measure and the anger/hostility subscale of the Profile of Mood States Short Form. Findings suggest (i) negative emotional valence is associated with extreme asymmetries of cortical activation and (ii) TMT may be a simple means by which emotional state may be indicated, with increased difference between left and right TMT, suggesting increased anger/hostility. These findings offer the possibility of an exceptionally simple measure that may, in conjunction with more established techniques, offer valuable diagnostic information, particularly for disorders involving anger/hostility.
An Evaluation of IntelliMetric™ Essay Scoring System

This report provides a two-part evaluation of the IntelliMetric™ automated essay scoring system based on its performance scoring essays from the Analytic Writing Assessment of the Graduate Management Admission Test™ (GMAT™). The IntelliMetric system performance is first compared to that of individual human raters, a Bayesian system employing simple word counts, and a weighted probability model using more than 750 responses to each of six prompts. The second, larger evaluation compares the IntelliMetric system ratings to those of human raters using approximately 500 responses to each of 101 prompts. Results from both evaluations suggest the IntelliMetric system is a consistent, reliable system for scoring AWA essays with a perfect + adjacent agreement on 96% to 98% and 92% to 100% of instances in evaluations 1 and 2, respectively. The Pearson r correlations of agreement between human raters and the IntelliMetric system averaged . 83 in both evaluations.
The Effects of Early Adversity on Neurobehavioral Development

Contents: Preface. R. Rao, M.K. Georgieff, Early Nutrition and Brain Development. S.A. Rose, J.F. Feldman, The Relation of Very Low Birthweight to Basic Cognitive Skills in Infancy and Childhood. S.W. Jacobson, J.L. Jacobson, Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol: Is There a Distinctive Neurobehavioral Profile? D.E. Johnson, Medical and Developmental Sequelae of Early Childhood Institutionalization in International Adoptees From Romania and the Russian Federation. M.R. Gunnar, Early Adversity and the Development of Stress Reactivity and Regulation. M.L. Schneider, C.F. Moore, Effects of Prenatal Stress on Development: A Nonhuman Primate Model. G. Dawson, S. Ashman, On the Origins of a Vulnerability to Depression: The Influence of the Early Social Environment on the Development of Psychobiological Systems Related to Risk for Affective Disorder. K.R. Merikangas, Familial and Genetic Factors and Psychopathology.
Research of Multi-Agent Cognition and Decision

Reinforcement Learning(RL) is the main cognition and decision method of Agent since its adaptation and exploration ability to the unknown environment, but it cannot ensure the convergence for the multi-Agent situation since the transition of the state space is not only influenced by the Agent itself but also influenced by the other Agent's action, so the other Agent's action has to be taken into account. In consideration of the deep theory foundation and advantages to deal with the other player's policy, this paper think that combination of the games theory and multi-Agent is a breakthrough for the cognition and decision in the status of the multi-Agent Learning. Based on the introduction of the traditional decision technology, the learning technology and the typical algorithm framework of the multi-Agent reinforcement learning with the games theory, some related algorithms such as MinMax-Q, nash-Q, FF-Q, CE-Q and Nego-Q were presented and analyzed.
Finite-time average consensus based protocol for distributed estimation over AWGN channels

This paper studies the problem of distributed estimation of a static parameter with sensors communicating through an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. In the noiseless case, we first introduce the concept of finite-time average consensus, in which nodes can compute exactly the average in a finite number of steps for an arbitrary graph, provided the topology is time-invariant. In fact, finite-time consensus is achieved owing to joint diagonalizable matrices. By considering a linear iterations scheme, we derive closed form expressions for such matrices. Then, based on an ensemble averaging method we show how average consensus can be asymptotically reached over AWGN channels. Performance analysis of the suggested protocol is given along with comparisons with other methods in the literature.
The psychotherapeutic process: A research handbook.

This comprehensive volume represents the first state-of-the-art handbook to appear in the field of process research in over a decade. Updating and expanding upon Kiesler's groundbreaking work (1973), Greenberg and Pinsof present here the most systems for understanding the mechanisms of change in individual, group, and family treatment. Special attention is given to the role of the alliance between therapist and client. Emphasizing the impact that empirical investigations can make on practice, the Handbook presents a wide variety of up-to-date process research systems and consolidates methodological information in the field.
Patient Safety in Primary Care

Introduction Patient safety and the development of quality safety processes have been gaining prominence in business management in the public and political sector, particularly in Europe, after the Quality and Safety in European Hospitals project was driven by the support of the Lisbon strategy agenda. Scientific research has also followed this trend. However, the study of patient safety management and methods is still scarce. Objectives Resorting to Cartaxo Health Centre, the research contributes to the analysis of the proposition that there is not only a lack of knowledge of the professionals who directly contact the patient about the patients safety in primary health care, but also that the methods used in practice are very intuitive and individualised by the absence of formal and institutional coordinated orientation. Methodology Using a qualitative methodology and the case study method, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 40 health professionals—among doctors, nurses, and technicians—who contacted patients, in order to identify what they know and consequently incorporate about patient safety. The interviews were conducted between February and June 2015 Results We confirmed several discrepancies between functional units. It was clarified that in the domicile the knowledge is scarcer. Conclusion We have delimited factors that do not ensure a reliable environment and culture, to improve with a training plan and institutional coordination that supports notification. The complexity of the context impacts on the nature and dimension of adverse events due to stress, workload and organization. A Taxonomy of Adverse Events was constructed and its path from the source to the solution was mapped. It's our intention to share this Taxonomy with the professionals, with a strong expectation that will improve Quality and Safety in Portuguese Primary Care.
Mining advisor-advisee relationships in scholarly big data: A deep learning approach

Mining advisor-advisee relationships can benefit many interesting applications such as advisor recommendation and protege performance analysis. Based on the hypothesis that, advisor-advisee relationships among researchers are hidden in scholarly big data, we propose in this work a deep learning based advisor-advisee relationship identification method which considers the personal properties and network characteristics with a stacked autoencoder model. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a deep learning model is utilized to represent coauthor network features for relationships identification. Moreover, experiments demonstrate that the proposed method has better performance compared with other state-of-the-art methods.
Abnormal mineral metabolism and mortality in hemodialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism: evidence from marginal structural models used to adjust for time-dependent confounding.

BACKGROUND Hemodialysis patients with mineral and bone disorders (MBDs) have an abnormally high relative risk of death, but their absolute risk of death is unknown. Further, previous studies have not accounted for possible time-dependent confounding of the association between MBD markers and death due to the effect of markers of MBD on treatments, which subsequently may affect MBD markers. STUDY DESIGN Multicenter, 3-year, prospective, case-cohort study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS 8,229 hemodialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (parathyroid hormone level ≥180 pg/mL and/or receiving vitamin D receptor activators) at 86 facilities in Japan. PREDICTORS Serum phosphorus, calcium, and parathyroid hormone levels. OUTCOME All-cause mortality. MEASUREMENTS Marginal structural models were used to compute absolute differences in all-cause mortality associated with different levels of predictors while accounting for time-dependent confounding. RESULTS The association between phosphorus level and mortality appeared U-shaped, although only higher phosphorus level categories reached statistical significance: compared to those with phosphorus levels of 5.0-5.9 mg/dL (1.61-1.93 mmol/L), patients with the highest (≥9.0 mg/dL [≥2.90 mmol/L]) phosphorus levels had 9.4 excess deaths/100 person-years (rate ratio, 2.79 [95% CI, 1.26-6.15]), whereas no association was found for the lowest phosphorus category (<3.0 mg/dL [<0.97 mmol/L]; rate ratio, 1.54 [95% CI, 0.87-2.71]). Similarly, hypercalcemia (≥10.0 mg/dL [≥2.50 mmol/L]) was associated with excess deaths, and the highest level of hypercalcemia (≥11.0 mg/dL [≥2.75 mmol/L]) was associated with 5.8 excess deaths/100 person-years (rate ratio, 2.38 [95% CI, 1.77-3.21]) compared to those with levels of 9.0-9.4 mg/dL (2.25-2.37 mmol/L). Abnormally high parathyroid hormone levels were not associated with excess deaths. LIMITATIONS Possible residual confounding. CONCLUSIONS These results reinforce the idea that serum calcium (in addition to phosphorus) level is an important predictor of the absolute risk of death in hemodialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism.
Investigating properties of surfaces and thin films using microsphere whispering-gallery modes

We use a tunable diode laser operating near 1570 nm to investigate various effects of the heat transfer from fused-silica microspheres, with and without thin-film coatings, to the surrounding gas in a vacuum chamber. The resonance frequencies of microsphere whispering-gallery modes (WGMs), excited by a tapered-fiber coupler, shift with changing temperature (about -1.6 GHz/K at 1570 nm). This shift, primarily due to the temperature dependence of the refractive index of fused silica, enables the measurements whose results are reported here: determination of the thermal accommodation coefficient of air on different surfaces, and measurement of the optical absorption coefficients of surface water layers and of a thin film coating. Our method for determining thermal accommodation coefficients involves deducing the thermal conductivity of the air as a function of pressure by measuring the relaxation rate of an externally heated microsphere to room temperature. Then, in a separate experiment, by observing thermal optical bistability of the WGM resonances caused by absorption of the probe laser, the contribution of water or film absorption to the total loss is found.
The RNA-binding protein SUP-12 controls muscle-specific splicing of the ADF/cofilin pre-mRNA in C. elegans

Tissue-specific alternative pre-mRNA splicing is essential for increasing diversity of functionally different gene products. In Caenorhabditis elegans, UNC-60A and UNC-60B, nonmuscle and muscle isoforms of actin depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin, are expressed by alternative splicing of unc-60 and regulate distinct actin-dependent developmental processes. We report that SUP-12, a member of a new family of RNA recognition motif (RRM) proteins, including SEB-4, regulates muscle-specific splicing of unc-60. In sup-12 mutants, expression of UNC-60B is decreased, whereas UNC-60A is up-regulated in muscle. sup-12 mutations strongly suppress muscle defects in unc-60B mutants by allowing expression of UNC-60A in muscle that can substitute for UNC-60B, thus unmasking their functional redundancy. SUP-12 is expressed in muscle and localized to the nuclei in a speckled pattern. The RRM domain of SUP-12 binds to several sites of the unc-60 pre-mRNA including the UG repeats near the 3′-splice site in the first intron. Our results suggest that SUP-12 is a novel tissue-specific splicing factor and regulates functional redundancy among ADF/cofilin isoforms.