Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
POSTBC-OFDM with Sectorized Antenna Reception over Rapidly Time-Varying Channels

Pseudo-orthogonal space-time block coded OFDM system (POSTBC-OFDM) has recently been proposed as a novel scheme for the frequency-selective channel scenario. However, a general assumption underlying the use of space-time codes is that the channel should be quasi-static, which is violated from the nature of high mobility environment. Additionally, large Doppler spread causing rapidly time-varying channels could destroy the orthogonality among neighboring subcarriers and lead to intercarrier-interference (ICI). This paper studies the extension of the POSTBC-OFDM scheme to the rapidly time-varying channel case by adopting sectorized antenna reception technique which could reduce Doppler spread and the channels time-variance by restricting the incident angle of imping waves to a finite range. Simulation results show that this proposed system is not only suitable for high mobility condition, but also can get a better tradeoff among performance, code rate and complexity of receiver.
A Contrastive Study of Hedging in English and Farsi Academic Discourse

This study examines the distribution of forms and functions of hedging in academic research articles (RAs) in two languages (English and Farsi), three disciplines (medicine, chemistry, and psychology), and between two rhetorical sections of RAs (Introduction and Discussion). Data consist of 24 research articles, 12 in English and 12 in Farsi. The RAs were in three disciplines: medicine, chemistry, and psychology (four RAs in English and four in Farsi from each discipline). The total number of words in the two sections in English and Farsi RAs were 25,983 and 19, 872, respectively. Data were analyzed in terms of both forms and functions of hedges. Findings showed that the English RAs were 61.3 % more hedged than Farsi RAs. Moreover, the distribution of hedging devices was shown to be different across disciplines. The English psychology and Farsi medicine RAs were found to be the most heavily hedged disciplines. The results also showed that the Discussion sections of RAs, in general, favor more hedges than the Introduction sections. The Discussion sections were also found to contain more writer-oriented hedges and fewer accuracy-oriented hedges compared to Introduction sections. The findings suggest that hedges are used differently across languages and disciplines.
Teaching Statistics and Econometrics to Undergraduates

Traditionally econometrics and economics statistics have been taught in the theory and proof, chalk and talk mode commonly found in the teaching of mathematics. We advance the use of computer technology in the teaching of quantitative methods to get students actively engaged in the learning process. We also assert that the essential tasks for those who teach these courses are to identify important issues that lend themselves to quantitative analyses and then to help students develop an understanding of the appropriate key concepts for those analyses.
ATP Binding to Hemoglobin Response Gene 1 Protein Is Necessary for Regulation of the Mating Type Locus in Candida albicans*

HBR1 (hemoglobin response gene 1) is an essential gene in Candida albicans that positively regulates mating type locus MTLα gene expression and thereby regulates cell type-specific developmental genes. Hbr1p contains a phosphate-binding loop (P-loop), a highly conserved motif characteristic of ATP- and GTP-binding proteins. Recombinant Hbr1p was isolated in an oligomeric state that specifically bound ATP with Kd ∼2 μm. ATP but not ADP, AMP, GTP, or dATP specifically protected Hbr1p from proteolysis by trypsin. Site-directed mutagenesis of the highly conserved P-loop lysine (K22Q) and the less conserved glycine (G19S) decreased the binding affinity for soluble ATP and ATP immobilized through its γ-phosphate. ATP bound somewhat more avidly than ATPγS to wild type and mutant Hbr1p. Although Hbr1p exhibits sequence motifs characteristic of adenylate kinases, and adenylate kinase and ATPase activities have been reported for the apparent human ortholog of Hbr1p, assays for adenylate kinase activity, autophosphorylation, and ATPase activity proved negative. Overexpression of wild type but not the mutant forms of Hbr1p restored MTlα2 expression in an HBR1/hbr1 mutant, indicating that ATP binding to the P-loop is necessary for this function of Hbr1p.
Social Movements, the Media and the Emergence of a Global Public Sphere

This article focuses on the anti-apartheid movement, perhaps the most highly transnationally integrated social movement during the post-war era, and compares it with the contemporary movement for global justice. The article specifically analyses strategies of public communication; the formation of `alternative media' and a movement `counterpublic' with global reach. The major questions addressed in the article are: What were the main strategies of public communication of the anti-apartheid movement — and what was their impact? How did the counter-public(s) of anti-apartheid relate to the established media dominating the global public sphere? What are the implications of the case of anti-apartheid for contemporary research and theorising on transnational/global public spheres and counterpublics? What are the similarities and differences between the anti-apartheid movement and the global justice movement regarding strategies of public communication? Theoretically, it raises the question about the concept of `society' and its empirical referent in the context of increasing globalization. It is argued that in the context of social movement studies, there is a need to develop a conceptual framework around the concept of `global civil society'.
Prevalence, Comorbidity, and Correlates of DSM-IV Axis I Mental Disorders Among Female University Students

This cross-sectional study evaluated the prevalence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV), axis I mental disorders among Spanish female students and investigated their psychiatric comorbidity and correlates. 1054 female students with a mean age of 22.2 years were randomly selected, with stratification by academic seniority and the type of academic discipline. The cases of mental disorder were identified by clinically trained interviewers with the aid of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders-Clinician Version. The lifetime prevalence of the targeted psychiatric disorders was 50.8%, and its point prevalence was 37.3%. The commonest disorders were nicotine dependence, depression, and generalized anxiety disorder. Nearly 37% of subjects with a psychiatric disorder had two or more diagnoses. Mental illness was associated with family income, financial independence, type of academic discipline, violence from men, social support, and self-esteem. Psychiatric disorders are common among female university students. Serious attention should be paid to preventive and therapeutic programs in this group.
Dynamic sketching: simulating the process of observational drawing

The creation process of a drawing provides a vivid visual progression, allowing the audience to better comprehend the drawing. It also enables numerous stroke-based rendering techniques. In this work we tackle the problem of simulating the process of observational drawing, that is, how people draw lines when sketching a given 3D model. We present a multi-phase drawing framework and the concept of sketching entropy, which provides a unified way to model stroke selection and ordering, both within and across phases. We demonstrate the proposed ideas for the sketching of organic objects and show a visually plausible simulation of their dynamic sketching process.
Odds Ratio , Hazard Ratio and Relative Risk Janez Stare

Odds ratio (OR) is a statistic commonly encountered in professional or scientific medical literature. Most readers perceive it as relative risk (RR), although most of them do not know why that would be true. But since such perception is mostly correct, there is nothing (or almost nothing) wrong with that. It is nevertheless useful to be reminded now and then what is the relation between the relative risk and the odds ratio, and when by equating the two statistics we are sometimes forcing OR to be something it is not. Another statistic, which is often also perceived as a relative risk, is the hazard ratio (HR). We encounter it, for example, when we fit the Cox model to survival data. Under proportional hazards it is probably “natural” to think in the following way: if the probability of death in one group is at every time point k-times as high as the probability of death in another group, then the relative risk must be k, regardless of where in time we are. This could be hardly further from the truth and in this paper we try to dispense with this blunder.
microfluidic affinity sensor for the detection of cocaine

We present a microfluidic aptamer-based biosensor for specific cocaine detection. The device consists primarily of a microchamber packed with aptamer-functionalized microbeads that act as a sensing surface, integrated with an on-chip heater and temperature sensor. The sensor employs a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) system in which a fluorophore-quencher pair of carboxyfluorescein and Dabcyl generates a signal-on response to cocaine. We demonstrate device operation by successfully detecting cocaine with a four orders of magnitude linear response in micromolar to nanomolar concentrations. The
p-DLA: A Predictive System Model for Onshore Oil and Gas Pipeline Dataset Classification and Monitoring - Part 1

With the rise in militant activity and rogue behaviour in oil and gas regions around the world, oil pipeline disturbances is on the increase leading to huge losses to multinational operators and the countries where such facilities exist. However, this situation can be averted if adequate predictive monitoring schemes are put in place. We propose in the first part of this paper, an artificial intelligence predictive monitoring system capable of predictive classification and pattern recognition of pipeline datasets. The predictive system is based on a highly sparse predictive Deviant Learning Algorithm (p-DLA) designed to synthesize a sequence of memory predictive clusters for eventual monitoring, control and decision making. The DLA (p-DLA) is compared with a popular machine learning algorithm, the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) which is based on a temporal version of the standard feed-forward back-propagation trained artificial neural networks (ANNs). The results of simulations study show impressive results and validates the sparse memory predictive approach which favours the sub-synthesis of a highly compressed and low dimensional knowledge discovery and information prediction scheme. It also shows that the proposed new approach is competitive with a well-known and proven AI approach such as the LSTM.
A 9-bit 1.8 GS/s 44 mW Pipelined ADC Using Linearized Open-Loop Amplifiers

This paper presents a 9-bit 1.8 GS/s pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) using open-loop amplifiers. In this ADC, open-loop amplifiers are used as residue amplifiers to increase the sampling rate of the ADC with relatively low power consumption. A linearization technique is proposed to suppress the SNDR decrease caused by the nonlinearity of open-loop amplifiers. The attenuation in the capacitor digital-to-analog converter (CDAC) is utilized to calibrate the gain error of the pipelined stages. In addition, top-plate sampling is proposed to further enhance the power efficiency of the residue amplifiers. With these techniques, the ADC achieves a high sampling rate and high power efficiency. A prototype of the ADC is fabricated in 65 nm CMOS technology. An SNDR of 47 dB and a FoM of 134 fJ/conversion-step is achieved at a sampling rate of 1.8 GS/s with 900 MHz input, while consuming 44 mW from a 1.2 V supply.
A Self Adaptive MAC layer and Routing Layer framework for delay-tolerent underwater wireless sensor networks

Nearly 70% of the earth is surrounded by water; hence it is appropriate to use underwater sensor networks to enable oceanographic research. In case of UWSN radio waves are not suitable for communication as propagation capability of radio waves is very poor in under water. Hence UWSN uses acoustic signals for communication. The transmission speed of acoustic wave is less than the transmission speed of radio wave due to various physical parameters of underwater acoustic channel. Hence the throughput of the channel is affected by this large delay. The long and uncertain delay makes many classical protocols unsatisfactory because they depend on multiple handshakes and appropriate calculations of the roundtrip time (RTT) between two nodes. We are designing and implementing a novel approach to eliminate inconsistent delays by reducing the control message exchanges in the network.
Sequence Evidence for the Presence of Two Tetrapyrrole Pathways in Euglena gracilis

Abstract Genes encoding enzymes of the tetrapyrrole biosynthetic pathway were searched within Euglena gracilis EST databases and 454 genome reads and their 5' end regions were sequenced when not available. Phylogenetic analyses and protein localization predictions support the hypothesis concerning the presence of two separated tetrapyrrole pathways in E. gracilis. One of these pathways resembles the heme synthesis in primarily heterotrophic eukaryotes and was presumably present in the host cell prior to secondary endosymbiosis with a green alga. The second pathway is similar to the plastid-localized tetrapyrrole syntheses in plants and photosynthetic algae. It appears to be localized to the secondary plastid, presumably derived from an algal endosymbiont and probably serves only for the production of plastidial heme and chlorophyll. Thus, E. gracilis represents an evolutionary intermediate in a metabolic transformation of a primary heterotroph to a photoautotroph through secondary endosymbiosis. We propose here that the tetrapyrrole pathway serves as a highly informative marker for the evolution of plastids and plays a crucial role in the loss of plastids.
Semi-supervised spectral clustering with application to detect population stratification

In genetic association studies, unaccounted population stratification can cause spurious associations in a discovery process of identifying disease-associated genetic markers. In such a situation, prior information is often available for some subjects' population identities. To leverage the additional information, we propose a semi-supervised clustering approach for detecting population stratification. This approach maintains the advantages of spectral clustering, while is integrated with the additional identity information, leading to sharper clustering performance. To demonstrate utility of our approach, we analyze a whole-genome sequencing dataset from the 1000 Genomes Project, consisting of the genotypes of 607 individuals sampled from three continental groups involving 10 subpopulations. This is compared against a semi-supervised spectral clustering method, in addition to a spectral clustering method, with the known subpopulation information by the Rand index and an adjusted Rand (ARand) index. The numerical results suggest that the proposed method outperforms its competitors in detecting population stratification.
Human Emotion Recognition From Speech

Speech Emotion Recognition is a recent research topic in the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) field. The need has risen for a more natural communication interface between humans and computer, as computers have become an integral part of our lives. A lot of work currently going on to improve the interaction between humans and computers. To achieve this goal, a computer would have to be able to distinguish its present situation and respond differently depending on that observation. Part of this process involves understanding a user‟s emotional state. To make the human computer interaction more natural, the objective is that computer should be able to recognize emotional states in the same as human does. The efficiency of emotion recognition system depends on type of features extracted and classifier used for detection of emotions. The proposed system aims at identification of basic emotional states such as anger, joy, neutral and sadness from human speech. While classifying different emotions, features like MFCC (Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient) and Energy is used. In this paper, Standard Emotional Database i.e. English Database is used which gives the satisfactory detection of emotions than recorded samples of emotions. This methodology describes and compares the performances of Learning Vector Quantization Neural Network (LVQ NN), Multiclass Support Vector Machine (SVM) and their combination for emotion recognition.
VoIP Networks Performance Analysis with Encryption Systems

The VoIP networks as alternative method to traditional PSTN system has been implemented in a wide variety of structures with multiple protocols, codecs, software and hardware–based distributions. The use of cryptographic techniques let the users to have a secure communication, but the calculate throughput as well as the QoS parameters are affected according to the used algorithm. This paper analyzes the VoIP throughput and the QoS parameters with different commercial encryption methods. The measurement–based approach uses lab scenarios to simulate LAN and WAN environments. Security mechanisms such as TLS, SIAX2, SRTP, IPSEC and ZRTP are analyzed with μ-LAW and GSM codecs. Keywords—VoIP, Secure VoIP, Throughput Analysis, VoIP QoS evaluation
Stepfamily Communication Strengths

This study used systems theory to examine the communication strategies that differentiate “strong” stepfamilies from stepfamilies having more difficulty, inductively deriving a composite of stepfamily “communication strengths. ” A total of 90 in-depth interviews were conducted with stepparents, parents, and stepchildren from 30 stepfamilies. The stepfamilies, regardless of their strength, faced 7 primary challenges in their development: “feeling caught,” regulating boundaries with a noncustodial family, ambiguity of parental roles, “traumatic bonding,” vying for resources, discrepancies in conflict management styles, and building solidarity as a family unit. However, the communicative tactics used to manage them differed according to the strength of the stepfamily. In general, strong stepfamilies reported using everyday talk, more openness, spending time together as a family, communicating clear rules and boundaries, engaging in family problem solving, promoting a positive image of the noncustodial parent, and more consistency in perceptions about the severity of their problems. Implications for appropriate boundary integration in stepfamilies are discussed.
Detection of Huntington’s disease decades before diagnosis: the Predict-HD study

Objective: The objective of the Predict-HD study is to use genetic, neurobiological and refined clinical markers to understand the early progression of Huntington’s disease (HD), prior to the point of traditional diagnosis, in persons with a known gene mutation. Here we estimate the approximate onset and initial course of various measurable aspects of HD relative to the time of eventual diagnosis. Methods: We studied 438 participants who were positive for the HD gene mutation, but did not yet meet the diagnostic criteria for HD and had no functional decline. Predictability of baseline cognitive, motor, psychiatric and imaging measures was modelled non-linearly using estimated time until diagnosis (based on CAG repeat length and current age) as the predictor. Results: Estimated time to diagnosis was related to most clinical and neuroimaging markers. The patterns of association suggested the commencement of detectable changes one to two decades prior to the predicted time of clinical diagnosis. The patterns were highly robust and consistent, despite the varied types of markers and diverse measurement methodologies. Conclusions: These findings from the Predict-HD study suggest the approximate time scale of measurable disease development, and suggest candidate disease markers for use in preventive HD trials.
The influence of homophobia in HIV/AIDS education.

Abstract HIV/AIDS education programs have been integrated into many school and university curricula. The primary focus of these programs is to increase knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Increases in HIV/AIDS knowledge scores have been reported in various studies but do not reliably lead to behavior change. Attitudes about homosexuality are frequently not discussed in HIV/AIDS programming. Two studies were conducted to investigate the role of homophobia on HIV/AIDS knowledge and empathy for HIV+ persons. In the first study, subjects completed two scales which were subsequently revised to increase internal psychometric properties. In the second study, subjects were assigned to one of eight experimental conditions. Subjects read either a vignette describing the method of transmission by which a character became HIV+ or an intensely negative commentary on homosexuality, and completed various measures. Results indicated that self-reported homophobia was related to decreased knowledge about HIV/AIDS and less empathy fo.
Performance based monitoring using statistical control charts on multi-robot teams

On typical multi-robot teams, there is an implicit assumption that robots can be trusted to effectively perform assigned tasks. However, reliable performance of team members may not always be a valid assumption. For instance, a robot's performance may deteriorate over time or a robot may not estimate tasks correctly. Traditional health monitoring techniques call attention to an operator or assume a binary classification of either success or failure. Robots that can identify poorly performing team members, as performance deteriorates, can adjust the task assignment process dynamically. This paper investigates the use of statistical process control charts from operations research as a tool for monitoring team member performance as part of a multi-robot task assignment framework.
EGO: A Personalised Multimedia Management Tool

The problems of Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems can be attributed to the semantic gap between the low-level data representation and the high-level concepts the user associates with images, on the one hand, and the time-varying and often vague nature of the underlying information need, on the other. These problems can be addressed by improving the interaction between the user and the system. In this paper, we sketch the development of CBIR interfaces, and introduce our view on how to solve some of the problems of the studied interfaces. To address the semantic gap and long-term multifaceted information needs, we propose a “retrieval in context” system. EGO is a tool for the management of image collections, supporting the user through personalisation and adaptation. We will describe how it learns from the user’s personal organisation, allowing it to recommend relevant images to the user. The recommendation algorithm is detailed, which is based on relevance feedback techniques.
Volunteering for Development within the New Ecosystem of International Development

This article explores the ways in which volunteering for development is changing in the context of the shifting wider ecology of international development. It draws on a two‐year, action research project into the value of volunteering undertaken by volunteer researchers in Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal and the Philippines. The article frames this research and the articles in this IDS Bulletin in the key debates – past, current and emerging – around the role, identity and value of volunteers in development processes. It identifies critical characteristics of effective volunteering for development as: the insider–outsider relationship; participatory processes, long‐term programming; and a sustained focus on the poorest and most marginalised. The authors draw attention to the relevance of volunteering to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and call for better understanding of indigenous informal volunteering and how ‘outsider’ volunteers can support it.