Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Revisiting linkability for vehicular communications: Continuous linkability

Vehicular communications have important applications for improving the safety of our increasingly populated roads, however they have privacy implications: the broadcast of safety messages can create opportunities for tracking of vehicles and drivers. For several proposed safety applications, it is desirable that nearby vehicles communicate continuously with one another, with the ability to link the sender of any one message to their previous messages - linkability. We observe that in academic literature and in industry, this linkability provision in not optimal. In protocols designed to give time-based linkability for nearby drivers, and unlinkability to prevent tracking, the continuity of communications is disrupted by unlinkable transitions; however for certain safety applications a continuous communication without this disruption in linkability is more fitting. In this light, we review the security requirements for safety messaging in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). We propose a new distance-based approach to providing continuous linkability, and outline solutions for its provision
A Common Polymorphism in SCN2A Predicts General Cognitive Ability through Effects on PFC Physiology

Here we provide novel convergent evidence across three independent cohorts of healthy adults (n = 531), demonstrating that a common polymorphism in the gene encoding the α2 subunit of neuronal voltage-gated type II sodium channels (SCN2A) predicts human general cognitive ability or “g. ” Using meta-analysis, we demonstrate that the minor T allele of a common polymorphism (rs10174400) in SCN2A is associated with significantly higher “g” independent of gender and age. We further demonstrate using resting-state fMRI data from our discovery cohort (n = 236) that this genetic advantage may be mediated by increased capacity for information processing between the dorsolateral PFC and dorsal ACC, which support higher cognitive functions. Collectively, these findings fill a gap in our understanding of the genetics of general cognitive ability and highlight a specific neural mechanism through which a common polymorphism shapes interindividual variation in “g. ”
Translational Bioinformatics Approaches to Drug Development.

SIGNIFICANCE A majority of therapeutic interventions occur late in the pathological process, when treatment outcome can be less predictable and effective, highlighting the need for new precise and preventive therapeutic development strategies that consider genomic and environmental context. Translational bioinformatics is well positioned to contribute to the many challenges inherent in bridging this gap between our current reactive methods of healthcare delivery and the intent of precision medicine, particularly in the areas of drug development, which forms the focus of this review. RECENT ADVANCES A variety of powerful informatics methods for organizing and leveraging the vast wealth of available molecular measurements available for a broad range of disease contexts have recently emerged. These include methods for data driven disease classification, drug repositioning, identification of disease biomarkers, and the creation of disease network models, each with significant impacts on drug development approaches. CRITICAL ISSUES An important bottleneck in the application of bioinformatics methods in translational research is the lack of investigators who are versed in both biomedical domains and informatics. Efforts to nurture both sets of competencies within individuals and to increase interfield visibility will help to accelerate the adoption and increased application of bioinformatics in translational research. FUTURE DIRECTIONS It is possible to construct predictive, multiscale network models of disease by integrating genotype, gene expression, clinical traits, and other multiscale measures using causal network inference methods. This can enable the identification of the "key drivers" of pathology, which may represent novel therapeutic targets or biomarker candidates that play a more direct role in the etiology of disease.
Global SNR Estimation of Speech Signals for Unknown Noise Conditions Using Noise Adapted Non-Linear Regression

The performance of speech technologies deteriorates in the presence of noise. Additionally, we need these technologies to be able to operate across a variety of noise levels and conditions. SNR estimation can guide the design and operation of such technologies or can be used as a pre-processing tool in database creation (e.g. identify/discard noisy signals). We propose a new method to estimate the global SNR of a speech signal when prior information about the noise that corrupts the signal, and speech boundaries within the signal, are not available. To achieve this goal, we train a neural network that performs non-linear regression to estimate the SNR. We use energy ratios as features, as well as ivectors to provide information about the noise that corrupts the signal. We compare our method against others in the literature, using the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) metric, and show that our method outperforms them consistently.
Conceptual Perspectives on Organizational Performance and Competitiveness of SMEs in Mexico

The globalization process has intensified in the different economic environments, affecting the activities of enterprises, regardless of size. Due to this process, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Mexico face manifold difficulties in reference to the operational efficiency required to stay on the market. While globalization poses challenges and opportunities for the development of enterprises, SMEs have not found a way to exploit this conjuncture, and they could not be sufficiently competitive with new market requirements. This article lays groundwork for development and implementation of organizational paradigms that could provide specific solutions for SMEs to boost productivity and competitiveness, and to optimize their competitive advantages in order to streamline operations to adapt to the competitive environment that is involved. Considering the RBT model (resource-based theory), the article proposes a model to maximize organizational performance, based on five dimensions (procurement, use or transformation, coordination, functional efficiency, and managerial-mix) that maximize competitive advantage of SMEs in the global marketplace.
Decentralization Measures Revisited

For the last half of a century, economists in an ever growing literature have been trying to measure decentralization with the purpose of using that measure as either the dependent or an independent variable in their empirical models. The suggested measures essentially boil down to a few concepts: locally raised own revenues, autonomy on expenditure decisions, locally spent national grants, or the number and size of local units. These basic components have entered decentralization measures in various functional forms: additive, multiplicative, in powers, and various mixes of those. This paper revisits these measures and our main finding is that aggregating those distinct dimensions of decentralization into a single indicator inevitably leads to a loss of information. We conclude that in a multivariate framework the distinct aspects of decentralization should enter regression analyses separately, in the most flexible functional form possible. At the same time, while no single indicator can capture all aspects of decentralization, some indicators are more inclusive and informative than others. Therefore, if for some reason we have to use a single indicator, our study suggests which indicator would be more appropriate for the hypothesis at hand. We illustrate these points examining differences in the empirical behavior of different decentralization indicators in relationship to each other and in their statistical association with some relevant economic outcomes in the fiscal decentralization literature.
Development of a simple noninvasive index to predict significant fibrosis in patients with HIV/HCV coinfection

Liver biopsy remains the gold standard in the assessment of severity of liver disease. Noninvasive tests have gained popularity to predict histology in view of the associated risks of biopsy. However, many models include tests not readily available, and there are limited data from patients with HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection. We aimed to develop a model using routine tests to predict liver fibrosis in patients with HIV/HCV coinfection. A retrospective analysis of liver histology was performed in 832 patients. Liver fibrosis was assessed via Ishak score; patients were categorized as 0–1, 2–3, or 4–6 and were randomly assigned to training (n = 555) or validation (n = 277) sets. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that platelet count (PLT), age, AST, and INR were significantly associated with fibrosis. Additional analysis revealed PLT, age, AST, and ALT as an alternative model. Based on this, a simple index (FIB‐4) was developed: age ([yr] × AST [U/L]) / ((PLT [109/L]) × (ALT [U/L])1/2). The AUROC of the index was 0.765 for differentiation between Ishak stage 0–3 and 4–6. At a cutoff of <1.45 in the validation set, the negative predictive value to exclude advanced fibrosis (stage 4–6) was 90% with a sensitivity of 70%. A cutoff of >3.25 had a positive predictive value of 65% and a specificity of 97%. Using these cutoffs, 87% of the 198 patients with FIB‐4 values outside 1.45–3.25 would be correctly classified, and liver biopsy could be avoided in 71% of the validation group. In conclusion, noninvasive tests can accurately predict hepatic fibrosis and may reduce the need for liver biopsy in the majority of HIV/HCV‐coinfected patients. (HEPATOLOGY 2006;43:1317–1325.)
A classification and review of models of the intra-firm innovation process

The recognised complexity of the innovation process not only makes it difficult to manage, explain and study, but also presents problems for the development of a generalised model. Cooper's recent article in ‘R&D Management’ suggests that the construction of a generalised model is inappropriate because there appear to be a number of different types of innovation processes. However, many of the studies of innovation postulate or assume a general model which represents the stages involved in the firm. This paper reviews the models of the innovation process which have been proposed and the author classifies them according to his taxonomy of different types: (a) Departmental-stage models (b) Activity-stage models (c) Decision-stage models (d) Conversion process models (e) Response models The advantages and disadvantages of each approach are discussed and the conclusion reached is that still more research needs to be concentrated on the nature of the innovation process within the firm itself. The absence of a definitive model compounds the problems of semantics and definitions when discussing innovation.
Beliefs About Women's Labour in the Reunified Germany, 1991–2004

This research investigates the mechanisms of change in gender beliefs in East and West Germany since reunification. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS), we examine how processes of cohort replacement and of intra-cohort change contributed to the changes in beliefs about gender ideology and about the consequences of women working for pay that occurred from 1982 to 2004 in the former West Germany and from 1991 to 2004 in the former East Germany. We find that while changes in gender beliefs occurred through both cohort replacement and within-cohort change in West Germany, changes in East Germany primarily occurred through processes of intra-cohort change. Heterogeneity in levels of schooling and employment status are important in accounting for variation in gender beliefs. We find support for the conclusion that there are continued changes in gender beliefs in the reunified Germany across time. However, we do not find that beliefs converged in the East and West following reunification. In fact, focusing on the period following reunification, we find that the gap in beliefs between the East and West actually increased between 1991 and 2004.
Spectral Efficiency Analysis of Incremental Amplify-and-Forward Opportunistic Relaying with Outdated CSI

This paper analyzes the spectral efficiency of the incremental amplify-and-forward (AF) opportunistic relaying (OR) with outdated channel state information (CSI) over Rayleigh fading channels. According to the definition of distribution function, we obtain the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the actual combined signal-to- noise ratio (SNR) received at the destination. Based on this CDF, the closed-form expression of the average spectral efficiency is derived for the incremental AF OR with outdated CSI. Numerical results show that as the average SNR of the direct link is much less than the threshold SNR, the spectral efficiency is zero, and as the average SNR is near the threshold SNR, outdated CSI deteriorates the spectral efficiency, whereas, as the average SNR is much greater than the threshold SNR, the spectral efficiency is hardly affected by outdated CSI.
HMSIW-Based Miniaturized Sensing Antennas for S- and C-Band Applications

In this letter, half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW)-based low profile, rectangular slit(s) loaded compact semicircular antennas are presented as sensors to operate in the S- and C-band. The parent sensor is a HMSIW antenna initially designed at the center frequency of 5.22GHz with a gain of 6.4 dBi for the IEEE 802.11a WLAN U-NII low-band application. The semicircular antenna has metallic vias all along the semicircular edge, thereby making it perfect electrical conductor wall while the other side devoid of vias is a perfect magnetic conductor (PMC) wall. It is miniaturized upon placing rectangular slit(s) along the PMC edge, which reduces the fundamental resonant frequency to 4.68GHz and further to 3.85GHz with single and double slits, respectively. Both antennas radiate linearly polarized wave corresponding to TM010 mode with respective gain of 5.2 and 4.6 dBi. The antenna prototypes are fabricated using Arlon AD270 substrate and good agreement between simulated and measured results are obtained.
Sharpe Timing Ratio

Many researchers have advocated measuring market timing performance by measuring the extent to which fund realized investment weight-shift is consistent with the realized asset return. However, the weight-shift approach ignores the market timing risk, which comes from the variation in market return. This article proposes a new measure, the Sharpe timing ratio, which incorporates the market timing risk into the measurement of market timing performance. Using an example, the authors demonstrate that compared with the weight-shift approach, the Sharpe timing ratio yields results that are more consistent with market realities in timing-risk scenarios
Income Distribution Dynamics Across Swiss Cantons

The purpose of this paper is to investigate convergence of per capita incomes across Swiss cantons. Contrary to the "classical approach", convergence is explored here by means of homogenous discrete state Markov processes and by nonparametrically estimating conditional income distributions. We find that over the last almost three decades two trends were at work. The period between 1965 and 1980 was characterized by a significant narrowing of the spread of the relative income distribution. After 1980, however, the spread increased again, almost completely offsetting the previous reduction. The shape of the distribution of relative incomes reveals a high concentration of density around the median income, a pattern that is unlikely to change in the future.
University of Southern Denmark Differential DNA methylation patterns of polycystic ovarian syndrome in whole blood of Chinese women

As a universally common endocrinopathy in women of reproductive age, the polycystic ovarian syndrome is characterized by composite clinical phenotypes reflecting the contributions of reproductive impact of ovarian dysfunction and metabolic abnormalities with widely varying symptoms resulting from interference of the genome with the environment through integrative biological mechanisms including epigenetics. We have performed a genome-wide DNA methylation analysis on polycystic ovarian syndrome and identified a substantial number of genomic sites differentially methylated in the whole blood of PCOS patients and healthy controls (52 sites, false discovery rate < 0.05 and corresponding p value < 5.68e–06 ), highly consistently replicating biological pathways extensively implicated in immunity and immunity-related inflammatory disorders (false discovery rate < 0.05) that were reportedly regulated in the DNA methylome from ovarian tissue under PCOS condition. Most importantly, our genome-wide profiling focusing on PCOS patients revealed a large number of DNA methylation sites and their enriched functional pathways significantly associated with diverse clinical features (levels of prolactin, estradiol, progesterone and menstrual cycle) that could serve as novel molecular basis of the clinical heterogeneity observed in PCOS women.
A framework for the selection of best practices

Posits that disappointing results from the implementation of best practices are due to a failure to link practices to specific measurable objectives, failure to prioritise best practices, and a lack of analysis of necessary infrastructure practices. Describes the development of a framework for selecting practices which will improve operational performance in the area of manufacturing planning and control. Suggests that selection should be based on strength of relationships between practices and performance objectives and take into account dependency relationships between practices. Integrates theory and empirical data to investigate links between practices and performance, thereby providing a framework for selecting practices based on objectives and dependency relationship between practices. Case studies, structured interviews and postal questionnaires were used to develop and validate the framework presented.
Regional Financial Crises and Equity Market Reactions: The Case of East Asia

In this paper we investigate the relationship between regional financial turmoil and equity markets of three emerging Asian economies: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The study focuses on the contagion of the regional banking and financial difficulties to security markets in these three countries. The VAR and bivariate GARCH model results show that, once the regional financial crisis spreads, equity markets decline and exacerbate the crisis. The speed with which equity markets respond to the regional liquidity and financial turmoil is quite similar despite disparate market capitalization and GDP of the regional economies. The volatility becomes persistent and the equity market and financial sector volatility appear to fuel further volatility in one another. However, we show that Malaysia, the most developed of the sample markets, weathered the crisis quicker and more successfully than the other two. These results have important ramifications for financial market participants, local regulators, and international governing bodies such as the IMF.
Prevalence and risk factors of asymptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis in a community‐based population of Chinese adults

Intracranial arterial stenosis (ICAS) is one of the most common causes of ischaemic stroke in Asia. Knowledge of the prevalence and risk factors of asymptomatic ICAS is limited. The prevalence of ICASwas therefore investigated and its risk factors in a Chinese community‐based population were explored.
Face recognition based on independent Gabor features and support vector machine

On the one hand, the support vector machine (SVM) has the high performance in tackling small sample size and high-dimensional data, and has the good generalization ability too. On the other hand, Gabor wavelet exhibits strong characteristics of spatial locality, scale, and orientation selectivity, and the Gabor representations of face images can produce salient local features that are most suitable for face recognition. This paper proposes a new face recognition method based on independent Gabor features (IGF) and SVM. The proposed method has four steps as follows: 1) an augmented Gabor feature vector (AGFV) is derived from a set of downsampled Gabor wavelet representations of face images; 2) an IGF is obtained by applying the independent component analysis (ICA) to the AGFV; 3) To decrease the computational complexity and improve the recognition rate, Genetic Algorithms (GA) is used to select the optimal IGF set for classification; 4) the SVM is used to classify the optimal IGF. The experiments tested on the Yale database show that this method is very effective.
Dexamethasone Causes Sustained Expression of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) Phosphatase 1 and Phosphatase-Mediated Inhibition of MAPK p38

ABSTRACT The stress-activated protein kinase p38 stabilizes a number of mRNAs encoding inflammatory mediators, such as cyclooxygenase 2 (Cox-2). In HeLa cells the anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid dexamethasone destabilizes Cox-2 mRNA by inhibiting p38 function. Here we demonstrate that this effect is phosphatase dependent. Furthermore, in HeLa cells dexamethasone induced the sustained expression of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1 (MKP-1), a potent inhibitor of p38 function. The inhibition of p38 and the induction of MKP-1 by dexamethasone occurred with similar dose dependence and kinetics. No other known p38 phosphatases were induced by dexamethasone, and other cell types which failed to express MKP-1 also failed to inhibit p38 in response to dexamethasone. The proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 1 (IL-1) induced MKP-1 expression in a p38-dependent manner and acted synergistically with dexamethasone to induce MKP-1 expression. In HeLa cells treated with IL-1 or IL-1 and dexamethasone, the dynamics of p38 activation mirrored the expression of MKP-1. These observations suggest that MKP-1 participates in a negative-feedback loop which regulates p38 function and that dexamethasone may inhibit proinflammatory gene expression in part by inducing MKP-1 expression.
The pharmacological properties of three new antihistaminic drugs.

1. WIN 2848 is a highly active antagonist of histamine and is more potent in its antihistaminic actions than are the chioro- and bromo- substituted analogs, WIN 2875 and WIN 2876. 2. The antihistaminic drugs investigated here stimulate the isolated guinea pig uterus. 3. WIN 2848, in a dose of 0.013 mgm. /kgm. , protects guinea pigs against 2.8 intravenous lethal doses of histamine. 4. WIN 2848 diminishes the effects of histamine given percutaneously to man. 5. WIN 2848 does not appear to be significantly more toxic than structurally similar antihistaminic drugs.
Columnar mesophases of hexabenzocoronene derivatives

Using atomistic molecular dynamic simulations we study the transitions between solid herringbone and liquid crystalline hexagonal mesophases of discotic liquid crystals formed by hexabenzocoronene derivatives. Combining a united atom representation for the side chains with the fully atomistic description of the core, we study the effect of side chain substitution on the transition temperatures as well as molecular ordering in the mesophases. Our study rationalizes the differences in charge carrier mobilities in the herringbone and hexagonal mesophases, which is predominantly due to the better rotational register of the neighboring molecules. © 2008 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2969763