Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On capacity of deterministic relay networks

In this paper, we study network coding for a single multicast session in wireless networks based on ldquodeterministic channel modelrdquo introduced recently in [2], [3]. We propose a network coding scheme for acyclic deterministic wireless network which can achieve the well-known cutset upper bound for such networks. While the original approach in [3] first proves the achievability of cutset upper bound for the layered networks and then extends the result to acyclic networks, we provide a short and direct proof for acyclic networks which trivially includes the layered networks.
Using Ontologies and Formal Concept Analysis to Integrate Heterogeneous Tourism Information

This paper presents an ontology-based approach and a formal concept analysis (FCA) approach to integrating heterogeneous tourism information for online tour planning. Two ontologies, an ontology for tourists and an ontology for tourism information providers, are developed with respect to their own perspective. The ontology for tourists is developed from the tourism literature. The ontology for tourism information providers is developed by integrating heterogeneous online tourism information using a FCA approach. The two ontologies are then mapped using the FCA and Bayesian analysis to evaluate tourists' preferences against information published by tourism information providers. An example of planning a tour to New York City is used to illustrate the proposed ontology approach. An analytic hierarchy process is used to rank the tourism attractions suggested by the ontology and FCA-based approaches.
PULMONARY DELIVERY OF PNEUMOCCOCAL VACCINE USING NANOCOMPOSITE MICROPARTICLE CARRIERS VIA DRY POWDER INHALATION

S. pneumoniae is one of the most significant human pathogens, causing high morbidity and mortality rates globally. Although there are vaccine available such as PPV 23, PCV7, PCV10, and PCV13, they are ineffective in some situations due to the differing epidemiology of various serotypes depending on the site of infection and the geographical location. Furthermore, they are expensive to produce and distribute. Universal research is presently concentrated on establishing other pneumococcalvaccine approaches such as using pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) which relate to pathogenesis and are common to all serotypes. In this study polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) encapsulating PspA4Pro were incorporated into microcarriers using L-leucine and spray dried to produce nanocomposite micro#particles (NCMPs) dry powder for inhalation. Parameters for the preparation of protein-loaded polyester poly (Glycerol Adipate-co-I‰-Pentadecalactone), (PGA-co-PDL) NCMPs were optimised using Taguchi design and BSA as a model protein, by the double emulsion solvent evaporation method followed by spray drying. Particle size was mainly affected by the polymer mass and small particle size â‰¤ 500nm was achieved. The most important factor for obtaining a high BSA loading was BSA concentration. The spray drying process was optimised to produce NCMPs with a porous corrugated surface, 50% yield, MMAD of 1. 71Â±0.10 I¼m and FPF% of 78. 57Â±0.1%. Adsorption of chitosan hydrochloride (CHL) onto PGA-co-PDL NPs can be used assuccessful strategies to produce cationic NPs. Cationic NPs were prepared with similarparticle size to anionic NPs â‰¤ 500nm. The In vitro aerosolisation performance ofcationic NPs/NCMPs showed FPF% of 46. 79Â±11.21% and MMAD of 1.49Â±0.29 I¼m. Further cell viability studies on A549 cell line showed a good profile with a cell viability of 79Â±4.7% for anionic NPs/NCMPs and 78. 85Â±9.96% for cationic xviii NPs/NCMPs at 2.5 mg/ml concentration after 24 h exposure. The previous results introduced a successful method for preparing anionic and cationic NPs/NCMPs for delivering PspA4Pro as dry powder via inhalation. The particle size of PspAPro4 loaded anionic NPs and cationic NPs were 310Â±25.3 nm and 409. 7Â±49.5 nm, respectively, to be effectively taken up by dendritic cells (DCs). The PspA4Pro loading in anionic NPs was 65. 73Â±5.6 I¼g/mg and in cationic NPs was 9. 84Â±1.4 I¼g/mg. The PspA4Pro released from anionic and cationic NPs/NCMPs preserved its primary and secondary structure as evaluated by SDS-PAGE and circular dichroism. In vitro release studies showed that the anionic NPs/NCMPs formulations achieved a cumulative release of 21. 01Â±1.5% while the cationic NPs/NCMPs formulation released 83.13 Â±0.84% after 48 h. DCs uptake studies provide evidence of particles uptake by DCs upon incubation for 1 h as visualized by confocal microscopy. These results indicate the use of optimised methods for developing polymeric based NCMPs for vaccine delivery via inhalation against pneumococcal diseases.
Inner Approximations of the Region of Attraction for Polynomial Dynamical Systems

In a previous work we developed a convex infinite dimensional linear programming (LP) approach to approximating the region of attraction (ROA) of polynomial dynamical systems subject to compact basic semialgebraic state constraints. Finite dimensional relaxations to the infinite-dimensional LP lead to a truncated moment problem in the primal and a polynomial sum-of-squares problem in the dual. This primal-dual linear matrix inequality (LMI) problem can be solved numerically with standard semidefinite programming solvers, producing a hierarchy of outer (i.e. exterior) approximations of the ROA by polynomial sublevel sets, with a guarantee of almost uniform and set-wise convergence. In this companion paper, we show that our approach is flexible enough to be modified so as to generate a hierarchy of polynomial inner (i.e.\,interior) approximations of the ROA with similar convergence guarantees.
Hybrid approach to fabrication of hollow internally weighted mandibular denture: A case report

Preservation of ridge dimensions is critical for denture success. For long the concept of an internally weighted denture, which suggested that gravity and the additional weight to the mandibular complete denture aids in prosthetic retention is widely accepted. However, excessive weight and pressure can accelerate bone resorption. Here, we describe a unique modification of internally weighted metal denture base for the resorbed mandibular ridge with an incorporated additional hollow section over the anterior knife-edge ridge. The weight provided retention and stability while the hollow portion prevented further resorption of the bone.
A 2 MHz 12–100 V 90% Efficiency Self-Balancing ZVS Reconfigurable Three-Level DC-DC Regulator With Constant-Frequency Adaptive-On-Time $V^{2}$ Control and Nanosecond-Scale ZVS Turn-On Delay

This paper presents a miniaturized wide-input-range integrated reconfigurable three-level dc-dc voltage regulator. A three-level buck converter topology with zerovoltage switching (ZVS) is adopted to remove the dominant switching power loss under high-input-voltage condition, thereby enabling the converter to achieve high power efficiency in the megahertz range and reduce the required values of power passives. A constant-frequency adaptive-on-time V2 control is proposed to not only regulate the output voltage, but also offer the flying capacitor self-balancing in the megahertz range and over a wide input range for improving the converter reliability. A body diode-based floating ZVS detector is also developed to enable full-ZVS operation of power transistors in high-frequency low duty-ratio conditions with ≤5 ns ZVS turnon delay. Implemented in a 120 V 0.5 μm CMOS process, the proposed voltage regulator uses four 50 V on-chip power nMOS to support an input voltage from 12 to 100 V and regulates the output voltage at 10 V with a maximum output power of 5 W. The proposed regulator achieves a maximum power efficiency of 90% under the nominal 48 V input and 2 MHz switching frequency. Compared with the state-of-the-art counterparts, the proposed regulator provides 66 times and 2.6 times reductions in the inductance and the total capacitance, respectively.
Ieee Transactions on Signal Processing 1 Cognitive Radios with Multiple Antennas Exploiting Spatial Opportunities

In this paper, the achievable rates of the so called " multiple-input multiple-output interference channel " , exploited by a couple of single antenna primary terminals and two antenna cognitive radios under specific interference constraints, are analyzed. In particular, by assuming perfect channel state information at the cognitive terminals, a closed form expression for a linear precoding and linear reception scheme, which guarantees to meet the achievable rates and no mutual interference between primary and cognitive terminals, is obtained. Numerical results regarding the effects of different fading channels and of an imperfect knowledge of the channel are provided to evaluate the performances of the proposed scheme in real environments. Index Terms Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), cognitive radio (CR), spatial opportunity, MIMO interference channel (MIMO IC).
The ER membrane is permeable to small molecules

The lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) differs from the cytosol in its content of ions and other small molecules, but it is unclear whether the ER membrane is as impermeable as other membranes in the cell. Here, we have tested the permeability of the ER membrane to small, non-physiological molecules. We report that isolated ER vesicles allow different chemical modification reagents to pass from the outside into the lumen with little hindrance. In permeabilized cells, the ER membrane allows the passage of a small, charged modification reagent that is unable to cross the plasma membrane or the lysosomal and trans-Golgi membranes. A larger polar reagent of about 5 kDa is unable to pass through the ER membrane. Permeation of the small molecules is passive as it occurs at low temperature in the absence of energy. These data indicate that the ER membrane is significantly more leaky than other cellular membranes, a property that may be required for protein folding and other functions of the ER.
Endocytosis and clathrin-uncoating defects at synapses of auxilin knockout mice

Neuronally expressed auxilin and ubiquitously expressed cyclin-G-dependent kinase (GAK) are homologous proteins that act as cochaperones to support the Hsc70-dependent clathrin uncoating of clathrin-coated vesicles. GAK was previously shown to be essential in mouse during embryonic development and in the adult. We have now engineered an auxilin knockout mouse. Mutant mice had a high rate of early postnatal mortality and surviving pups generally had a lower body weight than wild-type pups, although they had a normal life span. GAK was up-regulated as much as 3-fold in the brains of both surviving neonates and adult mutant mice. An increased number of clathrin-coated vesicles and empty cages were present at knockout synapses both in situ and in primary neuronal cultures. Additionally, clathrin-mediated endocytosis of synaptic vesicles in knockout hippocampal neurons was impaired, most likely due to sequestration of coat components in assembled coats and cages. Collectively, our results demonstrate the specialized role of auxilin in the recycling of synaptic vesicles at synapses, but also show that its function can be partially compensated for by up-regulation of GAK.
Therapeutic targeting of the survivin pathway in cancer: initiation of mitochondrial apoptosis and suppression of tumor-associated angiogenesis.

PURPOSE Molecular antagonists of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin have shown promise as novel anticancer strategies for triggering tumor cell apoptosis, dysregulating mitotic progression, and inhibiting tumor growth in preclinical models. However, how survivin couples to the cell death machinery has remained elusive, and the relevant cellular targets of survivin antagonists have not been completely elucidated. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Human umbilical vein and dermal microvascular endothelial cells were infected with replication-deficient adenoviruses encoding survivin (pAd-Survivin), green fluorescent protein (pAd-GFP), or a phosphorylation-defective survivin Thr(34)-->Ala (pAd-T34A) dominant negative mutant. The effect of wild-type or mutant survivin was investigated on capillary network stability, endothelial cell viability, and caspase activation in vitro and on kinetics of tumor growth and development of angiogenesis in a breast cancer xenograft model in vivo. The cell death pathway initiated by survivin targeting was mapped with respect to cytochrome c release, changes in mitochondrial transmembrane potential, and apoptosome requirements using mouse embryonic fibroblasts deficient in Apaf-1 or caspase-9. RESULTS Adenoviral transduction of endothelial cells with pAd-Survivin inhibited growth factor deprivation- or ceramide-induced apoptosis, reduced caspase-3 and -7 generation, and stabilized three-dimensional capillary networks in vitro. Conversely, expression of pAd-T34A caused apoptosis in umbilical vein and dermal microvascular endothelial cells and resulted in caspase-3 activity. Cell death induced by survivin targeting exhibited the hallmarks of mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis with release of cytochrome c and loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential and was suppressed in Apaf-1 or caspase-9 knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts. When injected in human breast cancer xenografts, pAd-T34A inhibited growth of established tumors and triggered tumor cell apoptosis in vivo. This was associated with a approximately 60% reduction in tumor-derived blood vessels by quantitative morphometry of CD31-stained tumor areas, and appearance of endothelial cell apoptosis by internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in vivo. CONCLUSIONS Survivin functions as a novel upstream regulator of mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis, and molecular targeting of this pathway results in anticancer activity via a dual mechanism of induction of tumor cell apoptosis and suppression of angiogenesis.
Threonine-insensitive Homoserine Dehydrogenase from Soybean

Aspartate kinase (AK) and homoserine dehydrogenase (HSD) function as key regulatory enzymes at branch points in the aspartate amino acid pathway and are feedback-inhibited by threonine. In plants the biochemical features of AK and bifunctional AK-HSD enzymes have been characterized, but the molecular properties of the monofunctional HSD remain unexamined. To investigate the role of HSD, we have cloned the cDNA and gene encoding the monofunctional HSD (GmHSD) from soybean. Using heterologously expressed and purified GmHSD, initial velocity and product inhibition studies support an ordered bi bi kinetic mechanism in which nicotinamide cofactor binds first and leaves last in the reaction sequence. Threonine inhibition of GmHSD occurs at concentrations (Ki = 160–240 mm) more than 1000-fold above physiological levels. This is in contrast to the two AK-HSD isoforms in soybean that are sensitive to threonine inhibition (Ki∼150 μm). In addition, GmHSD is not inhibited by other aspartate-derived amino acids. The ratio of threonine-resistant to threonine-sensitive HSD activity in soybean tissues varies and likely reflects different demands for amino acid biosynthesis. This is the first cloning and detailed biochemical characterization of a monofunctional feedback-insensitive HSD from any plant. Threonine-resistant HSD offers a useful biotechnology tool for manipulating the aspartate amino acid pathway to increase threonine and methionine production in plants for improved nutritional content.
Automatic Sound Classification Inspired by Auditory Scene Analysis

A sound classification system for the automatic recognition of the acoustic environment in a hearing instrument is discussed. The system distinguishes the four sound classes ‘clean speech’, ‘speech in noise’, ‘noise’, and ‘music’ and is based on auditory features and hidden Markov models. The employed features describe level fluctuations, the spectral form and harmonicity. Sounds from a large database are employed for both training and testing of the system. The achieved recognition rates are very high except for the class ‘noise’. Problems arise in the classification of pop music, reverberated speech, tonal noises and singing.
Studies on the effect of mode of delivery on the renin‐angiotensin system in mother and fetus at term

Summary. Plasma renin substrate (PRS) and renin (PRC) concentrations were measured in the paired umbilical artery and vein blood of 54 babies and in the venous blood of 23 of their mothers at vaginal delivery. Similar samples were collected from 31 babies and their mothers at elective caesarean section. Fetal renin concentrations in both umbilical artery and vein blood were markedly increased at vaginal delivery compared with values at operative delivery. Renin substrate concentration was correlated with the length of second stage of labour. Umbilical vein PRC and PRS were greater than corresponding umbilical artery values at vaginal, but not at operative delivery, suggesting that some factor associated with delivery might stimulate the placenta to produce renin and renin substrate during vaginal delivery. Maternal and umbilical concentrations of both renin and renin substrate were unrelated, supporting the view that the maternal and fetal compartments are independent. It is suggested that hyperactivity of the renin‐angiotensin system may be an integral part of the marked changes in cardiovascular homeostasis which occur at birth.
Combining algorithmic debugging and program slicing

Currently, program slicing and algorithmic debugging are two of the most relevant debugging techniques for declarative languages. They help programmers to find bugs in a semiautomatic manner. On the one hand, program slicing is a technique to extract those program fragments that (potentially) affect the values computed at some point of interest. On the other hand, algorithmic debugging is able to locate a bug by automatically generating a series of questions and processing the programmer's answers. In this work, we show for functional languages how the combination of both techniques produces a more powerful debugging schema that reduces the number of questions that programmers must answer to locate a bug
An Options Approach to Software Prototyping

Prototyping is often used to predict, or reduce the uncertainty over, the future profitability of a software design choice. Boehm [3] pioneered the use of techniques from Bayesian decision theory to provide a basis for making prototyping decisions. However, this approach does not apply to situations where the software engineer has the flexibility of waiting for more information before making a prototyping decision. Also, this framework only assumes uncertainty over one time period, and assumes a design-choice must be made immediately after prototyping. We propose a more general multi-period approach that takes into account the flexibility of being able to postpone the prototyping and design decisions. In particular, we argue that this flexibility is analogous to the flexibility of exercise of certain financial instruments called options, and that the value of the flexibility is the value of the corresponding financial option. The field of real option theory in finance provides a rigorous framework to analyze the optimal exercise of such options, and this can be applied to the prototyping decision problem. Our approach integrates the timing of prototype decisions and design decisions within a single framework.
Fracture toughness of posterior resin composites.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the resistance to crack propagation, as measured by the fracture toughness, of some packable posterior resin composites with other posterior resin composite materials. METHOD AND MATERIALS Fracture toughness determinations were made for the 5 packable and the other posterior resin composites using 3-point flexure of beams with a standardized central single-edge notch. Ten beams of each material were tested on an Instron test machine. The maximum loads were determined, from which the fracture toughness values (KIC) were calculated. The data were analyzed statistically using ANOVA and t tests. RESULTS The resin composites tested demonstrated a range of KIC values. The materials were separated according to the mean KIC values into 5 groups that were statistically different. While 2 packable resin composites had KIC values that were among the highest, the other packables were substantially lower than nonpackables. The intermediate value group consisted of 3 of the conventional posterior resin composites. CONCLUSION There was a very weak correlation between fracture toughness and reported volume concentration of particulate reinforcing elements. The posterior resin composites tested exhibited a spectrum of KIC values. The packable resin composites were distributed along this spectrum, with 2 products exhibiting high potential for resistance to crack propagation.
DANCE: dynamic application oriented network services

The explicit usage of protocols in applications is common practice, but restricts the provided communication service. The dynamic utilization of more suitable protocols or taking into account specific user requirements is either hard to realize or even impossible. This work introduces a model which provides a service oriented view to a communication sub system. Its goal is to find the most suitable service provider. Therefore, service providers are selected dynamically at run time. This enables to take into account the requirements of both the application and the user as well as information about the current platform and network environment. Thus applications are able to benefit from uncommon protocols wherever such protocols make sense and are available. Otherwise standard protocols would be used.
Visualization of Statistics from MEDLINE®

We propose a system to visualize statistics collected from NLM's MEDLINE® database that contains citations related to biomedical journal articles. The system extracts information from author affiliations in the articles such as organization, city, state, country, etc., categorizes the articles into several groups using the information, collects statistics such as the number of articles published per country each year, etc., and displays the statistics through a Web site using tables and choropleth maps. Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and statistics are used to extract the information from the affiliations, and Google Map API, JSON, JavaScript and other APIs are used for the development of the site.
Extension of the TLM method to the electromagnetic wide band analysis of anisotropic ferrite-based structures

The TLM (Transmission Line Matrix) method, in time domain, is extended to account for the presence of dispersive and anisotropic media in electromagnetic structures or devices. The model is thoroughly constructed by using Maxwell's equations that make it a unified general TLM formulation. The theoretical derivation was revisited, starting with Maxwell's equations, without invoking circuit analogy. The procedure is general and can be applied to derive the algorithm for new extended TLM nodes. The case of anisotropic ferrite-based structures is studied.
Automatic word segmentation for spoken Cantonese

Though Cantonese is the most influential variety of Chinese other than Mandarin, there are only a limited number of Cantonese corpora available for linguistic studies. Among the essential steps of building a corpus, word segmentation is a necessary but highly challenging task due to the lack of clear word boundary in Cantonese. This paper reports the construction and evaluation of an open-source automatic Cantonese word segmenter developed for Cantonese. The tool is a component of the multilingual SPPAS program designed to be used directly by linguists. It is a free software distributed under a GPL license. The effectiveness of the tool was evaluated by comparing the result of segmenting some samples of a spoken Cantonese corpus manually and automatically using the tool developed. High precision and recall were found in our study. Upon completion, the tool would definitely promote the development of more Cantonese corpora for language related studies.