Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collaborative Link-Aware Protocols for Energy-Efficient and QoS Wireless Body Area Networks Using Integrated Sensors

Integrated sensor systems are the promising solutions to the multiprobe design of biomedical sensors for energy efficient wireless body area networks (WBANs). To improve energy efficiency and communication quality-of-service (QoS) of integrated sensor hubs, a cross-layered energy-aware resource allocation (CLEAR) is proposed to exploit the characteristics of medium access control (MAC) and physical (PHY) layers of WBANs. The proposed MAC protocol applies a twin-token bucket model and real-time scheduling to the active superframe interleaving and beacon shifting techniques defined in the IEEE 802.15. 6 standard. In addition, the proposed period transformation controlling task end-to-end delay improves the QoS while reducing packet collisions. The proposed PHY protocol is a hybrid of the transmit power control (TPC) and link adaption (LA) strategies, which coordinates the receiver and transmitter with link parameters including data rate, bit error ratio, receiver sensitivity, transmission power, modulation, etc. It adapts the link quality due to human postures or movements to meet the required QoS while minimizing the energy consumption of the transceiver front-end. Experimental results show that CLEAR outperforms existing methods in terms of packet delivery ratio, delay, bandwidth utilization, and energy consumption. In particular, CLEAR reduces average end-to-end delay by 21% as compared to existing methods, and saves an average of 18% of energy consumption over the TPC and LA-based methods at a power of −25 dBm while achieving a maximum 0.05 packet error ratio.
Advancing System Performance with Redundancy: From Biological to Artificial Designs

Redundancy is a fundamental characteristic of many biological processes such as those in the genetic, visual, muscular, and nervous systems, yet its driven mechanism has not been fully comprehended. Until recently, the only understanding of redundancy is as a mean to attain fault tolerance, which is reflected in the design of many man-made systems. On the contrary, our previous work on redundant sensing (RS) has demonstrated an example where redundancy can be engineered solely for enhancing accuracy and precision. The design was inspired by the binocular structure of human vision, which we believe may share a similar operation. In this letter, we present a unified theory describing how such utilization of redundancy is feasible through two complementary mechanisms: representational redundancy (RPR) and entangled redundancy (ETR). We also point out two additional examples where our new understanding of redundancy can be applied to justify a system's superior performance. One is the human musculoskeletal system (HMS), a biological instance, and the other is the deep residual neural network (ResNet), an artificial counterpart. We envision that our theory would provide a framework for the future development of bio-inspired redundant artificial systems, as well as assist studies of the fundamental mechanisms governing various biological processes.
Association of Peritraumatic Dissociation With Symptoms of Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Aim: In this study, we evaluated whether peritraumatic dissociation (PD) was associated with symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and whether this association was modified by trauma prior to police work. Method: Symptoms of depression, PTSD, peritraumatic dissociative experience (PDE), and trauma prior to police work were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, PTSD Checklist–Civilian, PDE questionnaire, and the Brief Trauma questionnaire, respectively, in 328 police officers. Separate regression models were used to assess if either symptoms of depression or PTSD were associated with PD stratified by prior trauma. Means were adjusted for race, number of drinks per week, and smoking. Results: PD was associated with symptoms of PTSD and depression (&bgr; = 0.65, p < .001 and &bgr; = 0.27, p < .001, respectively). PD was positively associated with symptoms of PTSD regardless of prior trauma (&bgr; = 0.61, p < .001(without prior trauma), 0.75, p < . 001 (with prior trauma). In contrast to PTSD, depression symptoms were significantly associated with PD scores in individuals with prior trauma (&bgr; = 0.47, p < .001), but not in individuals without prior trauma (&bgr; = 0.13, p = .165). Limitations: This is a cross-sectional study. Outcomes were obtained via self-report and were not clinically diagnosed. Aspects of both the trauma event as well as the symptoms and severity of PD may have introduced recall bias. Conclusion: These results add to the literature indicating that PD plays a role in symptoms of PTSD and depression and how prior trauma may modify this relationship.
Age and Small Airway Imaging Abnormalities in Subjects with and without Airflow Obstruction in SPIROMICS

Rationale: Aging is associated with reduced FEV1 to FVC ratio (FEV1/FVC), hyperinflation, and alveolar enlargement, but little is known about how age affects small airways. Objectives: To determine if chest computed tomography (CT)‐assessed functional small airway would increase with age, even among asymptomatic individuals. Methods: We used parametric response mapping analysis of paired inspiratory/expiratory CTs to identify functional small airway abnormality (PRMFSA) and emphysema (PRMEMPH) in the SPIROMICS (Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD Study) cohort. Using adjusted linear regression models, we analyzed associations between PRMFSA and age in subjects with or without airflow obstruction. We subdivided participants with normal spirometry based on respiratory‐related impairment (6‐minute‐walk distance <350 m, modified Medical Research Council ≥2, chronic bronchitis, St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire >25, respiratory events requiring treatment [antibiotics and/or steroids or hospitalization] in the year before enrollment). Measurements and Main Results: Among 580 never‐ and ever‐smokers without obstruction or respiratory impairment, PRMFSA increased 2.7% per decade, ranging from 3.6% (ages 40–50 yr) to 12.7% (ages 70–80 yr). PRMEMPH increased nonsignificantly (0.1% [ages 40–50 yr] to 0.4% [ages 70–80 yr]; P = 0.34). Associations were similar among nonobstructed individuals with respiratory‐related impairment. Increasing PRMFSA in subjects without airflow obstruction was associated with increased FVC (P = 0.004) but unchanged FEV1 (P = 0.94), yielding lower FEV1/FVC ratios (P < 0.001). Although emphysema was also significantly associated with lower FEV1/FVC (P = 0.04), its contribution relative to PRMFSA in those without airflow obstruction was limited by its low burden. Conclusions: In never‐ and ever‐smokers without airflow obstruction, aging is associated with increased FVC and CT‐defined functional small airway abnormality regardless of respiratory symptoms.
Long-term control of hyperparathyroidism in advanced renal failure by low-phosphorus low-protein diet supplemented with calcium (without changes in plasma calcitriol).

Phosphorus (Pi) retention linked to chronic renal failure (CRF) favors secondary hyperparathyroidism (HPT). Reduction of Pi and protein intake has been shown to prevent the development of HPT in CRF. The aim of the present study was to assess in patients with advanced CRF the long-term effects on phosphate and calcium metabolism of a low-Pi (5-7 mg/kg/day), low-protein (0.4 g/kg/day) diet providing 300 mg/day calcium (Ca) and supplemented with amino acids and ketoacids, Ca carbonate (400-800 mg/day) and vitamin D2 (1,000 IU/day). Twenty-nine patients with advanced CRF (glomerular filtration rate (GFR) 13.7 +/- 4.5 ml/min) were selected for the study, on the basis of a follow-up of a least 2 years and a satisfactory compliance to the prescribed diet. At the start of the study, biological evidence of HPT was present with increased plasma PTH concentration (144 +/- 95 pg/ml), increased plasma Pi (1.57 +/- 0.33 mmol/l), an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity and plasma osteocalcin concentration. Plasma PTH concentration was positively correlated with plasma Pi and inversely with plasma Ca concentrations and GFR. Pi and protein restriction induced a significant correction of HPT within 3 months after starting the diet. After 2 years of diet, despite the diminution of GFR (11.1 +/- 3.7 ml/min, p < 0.0001), plasma PTH was still lower than at the start of the diet (88 +/- 57 pg/ml, p < 0.01), as was plasma Pi (1.32 +/- 0.24 mmol/l, p < 0.001), total plasma Ca being higher (p < 0.01). Plasma PTH levels were correlated only to plasma Ca concentrations. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Query-Focused Personalized Citation Recommendation With Mutually Reinforced Ranking

Many state-of-the-art citation recommendation methods have been proposed for finding a list of reference papers for a given manuscript, among which the graph-based method has gained particular attention, due to its flexibility for incorporating various information that embodies user’s preferences. To achieve a more synthetic, accurate, and personalized recommendation result than the previous graph-based methods, this paper proposes a new graph-based recommendation framework that exploiting diversified link information in a bibliographic network and the concise query information that embodies the specific requirement of user comprehensively. The proposed framework not only performs mutual reinforcement rules on all available multiple types of relations in a multi-layered graph but also incorporates the query information into the multi-layered mutual reinforcement schema to construct a multi-layered mutually reinforced query-focused (MMRQ) citation recommendation approach. Extensive experiments have been conducted on a subset of anthology network data set. Experimental results of Recall measures, normalized discounted cumulative gain measures, and case study all demonstrate that our MMRQ method obtains a superior citation recommendation.
The Stress-Induced Transcription Factor NR4A1 Adjusts Mitochondrial Function and Synapse Number in Prefrontal Cortex

The energetic costs of behavioral chronic stress are unlikely to be sustainable without neuronal plasticity. Mitochondria have the capacity to handle synaptic activity up to a limit before energetic depletion occurs. Protective mechanisms driven by the induction of neuronal genes likely evolved to buffer the consequences of chronic stress on excitatory neurons in prefrontal cortex (PFC), as this circuitry is vulnerable to excitotoxic insults. Little is known about the genes involved in mitochondrial adaptation to the buildup of chronic stress. Using combinations of genetic manipulations and stress for analyzing structural, transcriptional, mitochondrial, and behavioral outcomes, we characterized NR4A1 as a stress-inducible modifier of mitochondrial energetic competence and dendritic spine number in PFC. NR4A1 acted as a transcription factor for changing the expression of target genes previously involved in mitochondrial uncoupling, AMP-activated protein kinase activation, and synaptic growth. Maintenance of NR4A1 activity by chronic stress played a critical role in the regressive synaptic organization in PFC of mouse models of stress (male only). Knockdown, dominant-negative approach, and knockout of Nr4a1 in mice and rats (male only) protected pyramidal neurons against the adverse effects of chronic stress. In human PFC tissues of men and women, high levels of the transcriptionally active NR4A1 correlated with measures of synaptic loss and cognitive impairment. In the context of chronic stress, prolonged expression and activity of NR4A1 may lead to responses of mitochondria and synaptic connectivity that do not match environmental demand, resulting in circuit malfunction between PFC and other brain regions, constituting a pathological feature across disorders. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The bioenergetic cost of chronic stress is too high to be sustainable by pyramidal prefrontal neurons. Cellular checkpoints have evolved to adjust the responses of mitochondria and synapses to the buildup of chronic stress. NR4A1 plays such a role by controlling the energetic competence of mitochondria with respect to synapse number. As an immediate-early gene, Nr4a1 promotes neuronal plasticity, but sustained expression or activity can be detrimental. NR4A1 expression and activity is sustained by chronic stress in animal models and in human studies of neuropathologies sensitive to the buildup of chronic stress. Therefore, antagonism of NR4A1 is a promising avenue for preventing the regressive synaptic reorganization in cortical systems in the context of chronic stress.
The Validity of Health Claims on the World Wide Web: A Systematic Survey of the Herbal Remedy Opuntia

Purpose. The World Wide Web has become a significant source of health information for the public, but there is concern that much of the information is inaccurate, misleading, and unsupported by scientific evidence. To explore this issue, the validity of health claims for the herb Opuntia on the World Wide Web was analyzed. Data Sources. From December 1998 to May 1999, health claims were identified from Web sites utilizing nine search engines. A corresponding search was conducted of the scientific literature. Search terms included common and botanical names for Opuntia. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria. Nutritional support guidelines for herbs were used to identify claims from relevant sites. Scientific studies included established methodological designs with no restrictions on source, language, type of subjects, or dosage forms for Opuntia. Data Extraction Methods. A checklist of significant information was prepared for Web sites and scientific studies. The quality of scientific studies was assessed with two instruments, the Jadad and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) scales. Data Synthesis. Validity of health claims on Web sites was compared with scientific reports. Searches retrieved 184 Web sites, 98 with health claims and 51 with research studies. Only 34% of the claims were addressed in the scientific literature, and evidence was conflicting or contradictory. For human studies, none met the criteria for high quality as determined by the Jadad and JAMA scales. Major Conclusions. The majority of health claims were based on folklore or indirect scientific evidence and could not be validated by scientific research. This suggests a need to check the validity of herbal information on the World Wide Web.
Efficient computational simulation of actin stress fiber remodeling

Understanding collagen and stress fiber remodeling is essential for the development of engineered tissues with good functionality. These processes are complex, highly interrelated, and occur over different time scales. As a result, excessive computational costs are required to computationally predict the final organization of these fibers in response to dynamic mechanical conditions. In this study, an analytical approximation of a stress fiber remodeling evolution law was derived. A comparison of the developed technique with the direct numerical integration of the evolution law showed relatively small differences in results, and the proposed method is one to two orders of magnitude faster.
Performance analysis of peer-to-peer V2V wireless communications in the presence of interference

Vehicular Ad-Hoc networks (VANETs) have become an interesting research area especially with growing need to improve the quality of service and the performance of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) wireless communication systems. This paper analyses a peer-to-peer V2V wireless communication system in the presence of interference. In this vein, the performance metrics of the proposed system are investigated over Nakagami-m fading channels where no interference cancellation is assumed at the receiver side. In particular, the mathematical expression of the probability density function (PDF) of the resultant signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the system is derived. The closed-form expression of the PDF derived here lays the foundation for deriving analytical expressions for the moment generating function and the probability of the average bit error rate of the system under consideration. Finally, the closeness of our analytical expressions are corroborated through Monte Carlo simulation results.
Hardness and Wear Resistance of Ti-B-C-N Nanocomposite Coatings Synthesized by Multi-Target Magnetron Co-Sputtering

Ti-B-C-N nanocomposite coatings were synthesized on Si(100) and stainless steel substrate by Multi-target Magnetron Co-sputtering. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to measure the structure and chemical states of the coatings. The measurements of nanoindenter and multi-functional tester indicated that the maximum hardness and elastic modulus were 42.8 GPa and 424 GPa when the work pressure was 0.5 Pa, the powers of Ti target and B4C were 60 and 150 W, the flows of N2 and Ar were 4 and 36 sccm, and the substrate bias was -100 V.
Biomimetic Anisotropic Reinforcement Architectures by Electrically Assisted Nanocomposite 3D Printing

Biomimetic architectures with Bouligand-type carbon nanotubes are fabricated by an electrically assisted 3D-printing method. The enhanced impact resistance is attributed to the energy dissipation by the rotating anisotropic layers. This approach is used to mimic the collagen-fiber alignment in the human meniscus to create a reinforced artificial meniscus with circumferentially and radially aligned carbon nanotubes.
User positioning by exploring MIMO measurements with particle swarm optimization

In this paper, new positioning schemes with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) measurements are proposed. The MIMO measurements for positioning consist of time of arrivals (TOAs) from multiple antennas at transmitter to multiple antennas at receiver. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is applied to search the best position in terms of the fitness function on MIMO-TOA. Two fitness functions for PSO are presented: an optimal scheme and a suboptimal scheme. Simulation results show that the diversity gain of the MIMO measurements can be fully exploited by the two schemes. The estimation error is reduced linearly with the square root of the multiplication of transmit antenna number and receive antenna number. When the antenna spacing at receiver is much smaller than measurement errors, the suboptimal scheme can achieve comparable performance as the optimal scheme, whereas the optimal scheme can deliver better performance than the suboptimal one when the antenna spacing is comparable to the measurement errors.
Miniaturized UV/VIS spectrometer made by MOEMS technology

In recent years, many compact spectrometers for purposes such as environmental monitoring and process quality control in industrial production have been realized. However, most of them still employ spectrometer mounts with focal lengths in the range of several cm. Therefore, their size is about that of a palm which is too large for OEM-use in handily sized optical sensor equipment. Accordingly, we have developed a thumb-sized, truly miniaturized spectrometer for the spectral range 340nm to 750nm, which is particularly suited for use inside hand-held or portable color management sensor equipment. The spectrometer is using a self-imaging, aberration-corrected concave grating with very short focal length and a blazed grating profile for high diffraction efficiency. The grating is replicated onto the top of a convex glass lens using nano-imprint technology. Opposite to the concave grating, a dedicated C-MOS image sensor with an in-built on-chip slit is placed. The slit with a width of 75μm is formed into the silicon chip using MEMS technology. Due to this advanced technology, the distance between the sensor area and the slit is as small as 1mm. Based on this high level of integration, the number of optical components could be kept to a minimum and the distance between the concave grating and C-MOS image sensor is about 8.5mm only. In summary, we have realized a well-performing miniaturized spectrometer with an extremely small package size of 28mm - 17mm - 13mm and a weight of only about 9g, which is highly suited for integration into optical sensing equipment.
3D Modeling Based on Multiscale FE Analysis of Irregular Porous Materials

This paper presented a new multiscale finite element method for mechanical analysis of irregular porous materials. Realization of the proposed approach requires synergy between a hierarchical geometric model and a mechanical model for local material properties. The geometric model can represent intermediate scales and facilitates continuous bi-directional transition between macro-and micro-scales, while the mechanical model preserves the effective material properties for each scale.
full-FORCE: A target-based method for training recurrent networks

Trained recurrent networks are powerful tools for modeling dynamic neural computations. We present a target-based method for modifying the full connectivity matrix of a recurrent network to train it to perform tasks involving temporally complex input/output transformations. The method introduces a second network during training to provide suitable “target” dynamics useful for performing the task. Because it exploits the full recurrent connectivity, the method produces networks that perform tasks with fewer neurons and greater noise robustness than traditional least-squares (FORCE) approaches. In addition, we show how introducing additional input signals into the target-generating network, which act as task hints, greatly extends the range of tasks that can be learned and provides control over the complexity and nature of the dynamics of the trained, task-performing network.
Glycated albumin, a precursor of advanced glycation end‐products, up‐regulates NADPH oxidase and enhances oxidative stress in human endothelial cells: molecular correlate of diabetic vasculopathy

Hyperglycaemia induces non‐enzymatic glycation reactions in proteins which generate Amadori products and advanced glycation end‐products; the latter are thought to participate in the vascular complications of diabetic patients. However, the exact mechanisms concerning the effects of glycated proteins on vascular tissue remain to be determined. Therefore, the effects of glycated human serum albumin on human umbilical vein endothelial cells were studied.
Mechanical and degradation properties of successive alkali treated completely biodegradable sisal fiber reinforced poly lactic acid composites

The natural fiber reinforced biodegradable polymer composites were prepared with short sisal fiber as reinforcement in poly lactic acid (PLA) matrix. The sisal fiber is treated with 10% NaOH followed by H2O2. The composites were prepared with untreated and treated short sisal fibers at different weight proportions up to 25% in PLA matrix and investigated for mechanical and degradation properties. The results showed that the composite with treated fiber at 20% fiber loading has shown 30% and 8% higher tensile strength than neat PLA and untreated sisal/PLA composite, respectively. The flexural strength of treated sisal fiber composite at same weight fraction was 17% higher than that of plain PLA. The impact strength of composite with untreated fibers at 25% fiber loading was 107% high compared to that of neat PLA whereas the impact strength of treated sisal composite was reduced with increased fiber loading. The water absorption was high for untreated sisal/PLA composite compared to all other composites in the present study. Untreated sisal/PLA composite has high thermal degradation temperature compared to composite with treated fibers but lower than that of pure PLA. The enzymatic environment has increased the rate of degradation of composites. Surface morphology of tensile fractured and soil degraded surfaces of the composites were observed using scanning electron microscopy.