Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of QPP Interleavers for the Parallel Turbo Decoding Architecture

Parallel interleaver is an indispensable component for the parallel turbo decoder. The ever increasing data rates motivated by throughput-intensive applications result in higher parallelism of turbo decoder design, rendering the efficient realization of the interleaver a highly challenging work. This paper addresses the design of quadratic permutation polynomial (QPP) interleaver for the symbol-based serial MAP (SMAP) and the cross MAP (XMAP) parallel decoding. To circumvent the access conflicts incurred by the randomness of the interleaving function, the stratssonably position soft outputs of maximum a-posteriori (MAP) decoders in memory instances is firstly investigated. On this basis, a hardware-friendly parallel interleaver architecture is proposed by utilizing the algebraic properties of QPP function. Theoretical evaluation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed design gains boosted hardware efficiency compared to existing schemes, and is applicable to both SMAP and XMAP decoding with arbitrary parallelism.
Extending OmpSs for OpenCL Kernel Co-Execution in Heterogeneous Systems

Heterogeneous systems have a very high potential performance but present difficulties in their programming. OmpSs is a well known framework for task based parallel applications, which is an interesting tool to simplify the programming of these systems. However, it does not support the co-execution of a single OpenCL kernel instance on several compute devices. To overcome this limitation, this paper presents an extension of the OmpSs framework that solves two main objectives: the automatic division of datasets among several devices and the management of their memory address spaces. To adapt to different kinds of applications, the data division can be performed by the novel HGuided load balancing algorithm or by the well known Static and Dynamic. All this is accomplished with negligible impact on the programming. Experimental results reveal that there is always one load balancing algorithm that improves the performance and energy consumption of the system.
EXTENDED FAMILY HOUSEHOLDS AMONG BLACK AMERICANS

Families are a major resource in assisting individuals in coping with life problems and during times of need. This is particularly evident among black families who have historically been instrumental in helping members cope with adverse life conditions such as racial discrimination, poverty, and chronic unemployment. Black extended families provide various forms of support to adolescent mothers (Burton & Dilworth-Anderson, 1991; Burton, Dilworth-Anderson & Merriwether-de Vries, 1995), help elderly adults with health problems (Dilworth-Anderson, Williams & Cooper, 1999), provide aid to those confronting a serious personal problem (Chatters, Taylor & Neighbors, 1989; Neighbors & Jackson, 1984; Taylor, Hardison & Chatters, 1996) and assist family members who are seeking employment (Taylor & Sellers, 1997).
COMMERCIAL VIDEO RETRIEVAL WITH VIDEO-BASED BAG OF WORDS

The rapid increasing of commercial videos in different formats, sizes and frame rate brings much difficulty for commercial video retrieval. In this paper, we present a commercial video with video-based bag of words mode and FMPI concepts, and propose a coarse-to-fine framework for robust commercial retrieval in video streams. Experimental results and comparison show the promise of the proposed algorithm.
The Proteasome Inhibitor Carfilzomib Suppresses Parathyroid Hormone-induced Osteoclastogenesis through a RANKL-mediated Signaling Pathway*

Background: PTH induces RANKL expression in osteoblasts, and proteosome inhibitors suppress bone resorption. Results: Carfilzomib inhibited PTH-induced RANKL expression in osteoblasts to inhibit osteoclast activity. Conclusion: Carfilzomib inhibits PTH-induced osteoclastogenesis. Significance: Carfilzomib can improve the therapeutic efficacy of PTH by mitigating the catabolic effects of PTH. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) induces osteoclast formation and activity by increasing the ratio of RANKL/OPG in osteoblasts. The proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib (CFZ) has been used as an effective therapy for multiple myeloma via the inhibition of pathologic bone destruction. However, the effect of combination of PTH and CFZ on osteoclastogenesis is unknown. We now report that CFZ inhibits PTH-induced RANKL expression and secretion without affecting PTH inhibition of OPG expression, and it does so by blocking HDAC4 proteasomal degradation in osteoblasts. Furthermore, we used different types of culture systems, including co-culture, indirect co-culture, and transactivation, to assess the effect of CFZ on PTH action to induce osteoclastogenesis. Our results demonstrated that CFZ blocks PTH-induced osteoclast formation and bone resorption by its additional effect to inhibit RANKL-mediated IκB degradation and NF-κB activation in osteoclasts. This study showed for the first time that CFZ targets both osteoblasts and osteoclasts to suppress PTH-induced osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption. These findings warrant further investigation of this novel combination in animal models of osteoporosis and in patients.
Energy harvesting small cell networks with full-duplex self-backhaul and massive MIMO

In this paper, we aim at green small cell networks by jointly achieving self-backhaul and energy harvesting. We study full duplex (FD) technology and massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) technology to enhance the performance. In order to improve the energy efficiency (EE) further, we design a precoding scheme to eliminate the inter-tier interference. Moreover, we formulate the cell association and power allocation problem as an optimization problem to optimize the EE of the considered network with considering the energy arrival rate and remainder battery energy in SBSs. The formulated optimization problem implies a sleep mechanism to control the on/off of SBSs, which will reduce the energy consumption of small cell networks. Considering the high computation complexity for solving the non-convex optimization problem, we transform the original problem into a difference of convex program, which can be efficiently solved by using a constrained concave convex procedure based algorithm. Extensive simulations are conducted with different system configurations to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Gating of a G protein-sensitive Mammalian Kir3.1 Prokaryotic Kir Channel Chimera in Planar Lipid Bilayers*

Kir3 channels control heart rate and neuronal excitability through GTP-binding (G) protein and phosphoinositide signaling pathways. These channels were the first characterized effectors of the βγ subunits of G proteins. Because we currently lack structures of complexes between G proteins and Kir3 channels, their interactions leading to modulation of channel function are not well understood. The recent crystal structure of a chimera between the cytosolic domain of a mammalian Kir3.1 and the transmembrane region of a prokaryotic KirBac1.3 (Kir3.1 chimera) has provided invaluable structural insight. However, it was not known whether this chimera could form functional K+ channels. Here, we achieved the functional reconstitution of purified Kir3.1 chimera in planar lipid bilayers. The chimera behaved like a bona fide Kir channel displaying an absolute requirement for PIP2 and Mg2+-dependent inward rectification. The channel could also be blocked by external tertiapin Q. The three-dimensional reconstruction of the chimera by single particle electron microscopy revealed a structure consistent with the crystal structure. Channel activity could be stimulated by ethanol and activated G proteins. Remarkably, the presence of both activated Gα and Gβγ subunits was required for gating of the channel. These results confirm the Kir3.1 chimera as a valid structural and functional model of Kir3 channels.
Compression of the deep venous system of the lower leg during inactive recumbency.

Blood flow velocity was measured in the femoral veins of ten inactive recumbent subjects in order to determine the effect of elastic stocking compression on venous flow. A noninvasive Doppler ultrasound technique was used to measure blood flow velocity. Results of these studies indicate that elastic stockings increase femoral venous flow velocity during periods of compression up to three hours. This increase in blood flow velocity persists for up to 30 minutes after removal of stockings. Compression reduces the fluctuation effect of respirations on venous flow, resulting in a more constant flow. These findings indicate that elastic compression of the lower extremities produces effects (increased venous flow velocity and decreased venous pooling) that may reduce the occurrence of venous thrombosis.
Space-time receivers realized in the frequency domain for dispersive wireless channels

We present a class of low complexity space-time receivers for frequency-selective channels in, multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) systems. In particular we extend to MIMO systems two approaches originally derived in the framework of joint detection techniques for code division multiple access by performing, in the frequency domain, feedback processing (Benvenuto, N. and Sostrato, G., IEEE J. Select. Areas Commun., vol.19, p.245-53, 2001) and block linear equalization (Vollmer, M. et al., IEEE J. Select. Areas Commun., vol.19, p.1461-75, 2001), while interference cancellation is performed in the time domain (Benvenuto et al., Proc. IEEE WPMC. 2004). Moreover, we extend to the frequency domain the fully connected ordered successive interference cancellation DFE (Lozano, A. and Papadias, C., IEEE Trans. Commun., vol.50, p.65-73, 2002). We show that these hybrid time-frequency domain space-time receivers yield almost the same performance with a much lower computational complexity than the original space-time receivers implemented in the time domain.
Proto-Industrialization? Cottage Industry, Social Change, and Industrial Revolution

Small-scale, traditional local handicrafts had always existed in rural areas, but in the period from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century a new economic development occurred in many regions to which considerable attention is now being paid. There was an expansion of rural industry without major changes in the techniques or scale of production. This developmental phase has recently been termed 'protoindustrial' a form of ' Industrialization before industrialization' which it is claimed holds the^key to the question of why the industrial revolution took place. Drawing on the work of Braun and others, the theory of proto-industrialization was originated by Mendels in his work on Flanders* and has been further developed particularly by Medick, Kriedte and Schlumbohm of the Max-Planck Institut fur Geschichte in Gottingen as a way of explaining the transition both from feudalism to capitalism, and from a traditional society of peasant agriculture to the modern industrial world. As a description of the nature of expanding rural industry during this period, and as an explanation of industrialization, the theory put forward in Industrialization before industrialization is very wide-ranging over time and space, and has invited much discussion. We intend here to consider and appraise this concept and the arguments made for its importance.
Application of Multi Objective HFAPSO Algorithm for Simultaneous Placement of DG, Capacitor and Protective Device in Radial Distribution Network

In this paper, simultaneous placement of distributed generation, capacitor bank and protective devices are utilized to improve the efficiency of the distribution network. The objectives of the problem are reduction of active and reactive power losses, improvement of voltage profile and reliability indices and increasing distribution companies’ profit. The combination of firefly algorithm, particle swarm optimization and analytical hierarchy process is proposed to solve the multi-objective allocation problem. The proposed method is implemented on IEEE 69-bus and also an actual 22-bus distribution systems in Tehran-Iran. Test results approve the effectiveness of the proposed method for improved reliability and network performance of the distribution network.
Emotional Inertia and Psychological Maladjustment

In this article, we examine the concept of emotional inertia as a fundamental property of the emotion dynamics that characterize psychological maladjustment. Emotional inertia refers to the degree to which emotional states are resistant to change. Because psychological maladjustment has been associated with both emotional underreactivity and ineffective emotion-regulation skills, we hypothesized that its overall emotion dynamics would be characterized by high levels of inertia. We provide evidence from two naturalistic studies that, using different methods, showed that the emotional fluctuations of individuals who exhibited low self-esteem (Study 1) and depression (Study 2) were characterized by higher levels of inertia in both positive and negative emotions than the emotional fluctuations of people who did not exhibit low self-esteem and depression. We also discuss the usefulness of the concept of emotional inertia as a hallmark of maladaptive emotion dynamics.
EFFECT OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS ON MICROPROPAGATION OF Catharanthus roseus

Research in plant biotechnology is playing a crucia l role in the production and conservation of plant- based resources globally. The aim of the work is to estab lish favourable culture medium condition for regene ration and better growth of Catharanthus roseus explant. Plant Micropropagation has also been used as a tool for the propagation of genetically manipulated superior clo nes. Our attempt was made to develop micropropagation as suitable condition for cloning of Catharanthus roseus . After optimizing the culture media of explant cul ture, the repeated subculturing was performed at regular inte rvals for 5 weeks. The roots were developed within 10 days. IBA concentration and the period of pulse treatment had significant effects on the average number of r oots produced per shoot. Rooted plants were successfully acclimatized at room temperature in soil contained in pots. All plants flowered and set seeds in the greenhouse after 3 months. It is an attempt to highlight some of the important landmarks of tissue culture of medicinal plants and it is also as important recent developme nt in vitro technology.
Perceptually motivated blind source separation of convolutive mixtures

A perceptually motivated method is proposed for solving the permutation ambiguity of frequency-domain independent component analysis when the mixing environment is noisy and reverberant. In this method, perceptually irrelevant frequencies are removed from the speech spectrum using block based perceptual masking (simultaneous frequency masking) and then independent component analysis is applied. After source separation in frequency domain, a physical property of the mixing matrix, i.e., the coherency in adjacent frequencies, is utilized to solve the permutation ambiguity. From the simulation results it appears that the perceptual masking avoids the permutation problem.
Host range and symptomatology of Subterranean clover mottle virus in alternative pasture, forage and crop legumes

Fifty one plant species from 25 different genera in seven families were challenged with Subterranean clover mottle virus (SCMoV) by inoculation with infective sap. These included 39 legume species and 12 species belonging to the families Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cruciferae, Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae. Twenty one new host species belonging to eight different legume genera were found for SCMoV, nine of which were alternative annual pasture or forage species and 12 were crop legumes. Of these, seven pasture or forage species and six crop species were infected systemically. Two Chenopodium spp. were also hosts. The host status of eight previously tested legume species was also re-examined. The implications of these results for paddocks sown with alternative pasture or forage crop legumes, and for plant improvement programs evaluating such species for commercial use, are discussed.
Solutions for Lipophilic Drugs: A Biodegradable Polymer Acting as Solvent, Matrix, and Carrier to Solve Drug Delivery Issues

The purpose of this study was to investigate the polyester hexylsubstituted poly(lactide) (hexPLA) as a possible solvent for lipophilic substances and excipient for pharmaceutical formulations. HexPLA is a biodegradable and semi-solid polymer, which allows the incorporation of active substances by simple mixing and local or systemic application to the patient through injection. The solvent behavior of hexPLA was investigated by adding the lipophilic dye Sudan III to the polymer matrix and optical monitoring of the dissolution process over time by microscopy. As a drug, the antipsychotic compound Haloperidol was analyzed for its solubility in hexPLA of different molecular weights by preparing saturated solutions, and measuring the amount of incorporated drug with UV spectroscopy. The influence of the rate of solubilized to suspended drug on the burst release behavior of Haloperidol from hexPLA-formulations was investigated in release tests. It is demonstrated that hexPLA dissolves both lipophilic substances, Sudan III and Haloperidol. In the molecular weight range between 2,000 g/mol and 10,000 g/mol, a lower molecular weight hexPLA resulted in a higher incorporation capacity for Haloperidol. By changing from a suspension formulation of Haloperidol to a solution formulation, the initial burst release established for classical PLA and PLGA systems could be minimized. HexPLA is shown to be a potent solvent and excipient for lipophilic drugs, allowing the initial burst of drug release to be modified and controlled.
Vegetation attenuation measurements at 2 GHz using a remote-controlled airship — Initial results

The aim of this paper is to describe tree attenuation measurements at 2 GHz in four different locations inside vegetation, and at three different positions for a single tree shadowing. The purpose of this measurement campaign was to use a 9-meter long remote-controlled airship as a pseudosatellite. The transmitting station was located on the airship as a payload and receiving station inside or nearby the vegetation. Subsequently, the received signal strength was measured at each position as a function of elevation angles ranging from 25 to 90 degrees. Measurements taken in an open field were used as a reference. The measured data are still being processed, however, the initial results are shown. The results for locations inside the vegetation and the single tree are compared as well.
Biomechanical measurements in microscopically thin stratum corneum using acoustics

Background/aims: This study investigated whether a scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) could be developed to measure changes in the mechanical properties of the microscopically thin external layer of skin, the stratum corneum. The adapted microscope was used to determine the effects of various aqueous reagents, as compared with water, on the thickness, density, compression wave velocity and elastic constant, using 10 μm thin sections of human skin.
Modeling Noise Influence to Speech Intelligibility Non-Intrusively by Reduced Speech Dynamic Range

The noise influence to speech signal waveform can be characterized by reduced speech dynamic range (rDR). This motivated the present work to propose an rDR-based intelligibility measure (denoted as rDRm) that could be used to non-intrusively (i.e., do not require clean reference speech signal) predict speech intelligibility in noise and is computed only using the dynamic range extracted from the noisecorrupted speech. The rDRm indices were evaluated with intelligibility scores obtained from normal-hearing listeners presented with sentences corrupted by four types of maskers in a total of 22 conditions. High correlation (r=0.93) was obtained between rDRm values and listeners’ sentence recognition scores, and this correlation was comparable to those computed with existing intrusive and non-intrusive intelligibility measures. This suggests that the dynamic range of speech signal may work as a simple but efficient predictor of speech intelligibility in noise, whose computation does not need access to the clean reference speech signal.
Functional Programming Enabling Flexible Hardware Design at Low Levels of Abstraction

Continuous down-scaling of sizes in VLSI circuits causes low-level electrical phenomena to become more and more prominent performance stoppers in modern chip technologies. This forces designers to work at a lower level of abstraction than desired in order to gain control over these effects. The most dominating contributors to low-level performance problems are the routing wires, which are used to connect the gates (computational units) on the chip. Hardware description languages (HDLs) – which naturally strive for generality and reusablility – tend to focus on higher levels of abstraction. This means that the low-level effects are not visible and thus very hard to control. To date, we are not aware of any HDL that allows control over the effects of routing wires in a really useful way, so when high-performance is crucial, designers are left to interfacing directly with CAD tools for physical chip design. This thesis presents a flexible wire-aware design system called Wired and shows how it has developed from a preliminary idea to a relatively mature system that can now be tried on real-world challenges. The present Wired builds upon the existing HDL Lava, and extends it with: (a) finer control over geometry, (b) support for geometrical refinement, (c) more accurate performance models, (d) basic wire-awareness, and (e) support for descriptions with abstract signal flow. Wired is implemented in the functional programming language Haskell. It has a simple modular implementation consisting of three separate main components: (1) The Lava library, for representing the structural circuit view, (2) a new monadic library for expressing layout, and (3) a new library for light-weight logical variables. The system is used to improve the accuracy of an algorithm for searching for fast, low-power parallel prefix networks. More experiments are needed in order to reach industrially applicable results, but the main contribution here is the fact that physically aware design exploration is actually achievable at this level of flexibility. Although not yet tested on industrial problems, Wired seems like a very promising system that has a good potential of reducing the effort of generating high-quality layouts of complex circuits.