Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intestinal Gas and Bloating: Effect of Prokinetic Stimulation

BACKGROUND:It is unknown if abdominal bloating is attributable to excess abdominal gas or improved by a prokinetic agent.AIMS:To assess abdominal gas content in functional abdominal bloating and to ascertain the effect of a prokinetic agent on intestinal gas symptoms in these patients.METHODS:In 20 patients, intra-abdominal gas content and symptoms were quantified before and during treatment with pyridostigmine (30 mg/8 hp. o) in this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Daily symptoms were quantified for 5 days before and 10 days during treatment, and abdominal gas volume was quantified by CT imaging before and at the fourth day of treatment. A CT scan was also obtained in 10 healthy subjects.RESULTS:Before treatment, the total volume of intestinal gas was similar in patients (112 ± 18 mL) and in healthy controls (116 ± 20 mL). The treatment-induced change in total and regional intestinal gas volume was not significantly different between pyridostigmine (−4 ± 18 mL; mean ± SEM) and placebo (0 ± 15 mL). However, pyridostigmine reduced the severity of bloating from 3.3 ± 0.3 to 2.6 ± 0.4 (P < 0.05), whereas placebo did not (3.2 ± 0.3 vs 3.0 ± 0.4), although the change did not reach statistical difference across groups.CONCLUSION:In patients complaining of functional bloating, the volume and distribution of intestinal gas, measured on nonselected days, is comparable to asymptomatic subjects. Prokinetic stimulation improves bloating sensation without detectable changes in gas content.
On Detection of Multiple Object Instances Using Hough Transforms

Hough transform-based methods for detecting multiple objects use nonmaxima suppression or mode seeking to locate and distinguish peaks in Hough images. Such postprocessing requires the tuning of many parameters and is often fragile, especially when objects are located spatially close to each other. In this paper, we develop a new probabilistic framework for object detection which is related to the Hough transform. It shares the simplicity and wide applicability of the Hough transform but, at the same time, bypasses the problem of multiple peak identification in Hough images and permits detection of multiple objects without invoking nonmaximum suppression heuristics. Our experiments demonstrate that this method results in a significant improvement in detection accuracy both for the classical task of straight line detection and for a more modern category-level (pedestrian) detection problem.
Power allocation in a secure-aware device-to-device communication underlaying cellular network

Device-to-device (D2D) communication as an underlay to cellular networks is a promising technology to meet the demand for high communication rate, low end-to-end delay, high spectral efficiency and energy efficiency, low traffic and low congestion for the cellular core network. However, it is essential to provide secure communication in LTE-A D2D mode for the success of D2D services. In this paper, we consider that there exists one case that the cellular user may eavesdrop the accessed D2D users for some important information illegitimately. As a result, we consider the higher secrecy rate of D2D users as our main target to pursue. At the same time, the lose on the achievable data rate of the cellular users should be taken into consideration. Then, a problem of combinatorial optimization must be solved. In this paper, a power research algorithm based on revised Lagrange multiplier method is designed to obtain a suboptimal solution of the problem of combinatorial optimization. Some simulations have been done to test the performance of our proposed power research algorithm.
Book Review: Manuel Castells: The Theory of the Network Society Felix Stalder Oxford: Polity 2006 xi, 264 pp. $39.95

Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter One: Transformations of Base Lines Neo-Marxism and Renewal of Urban Sociology Technology and Social Change Informationalism Epistemology The Politics of Research Chapter Two: Production Post-Industrialism The Economic Crisis of the 1970s Internationalization of the Economy Global Financial Markets The Network Enterprise Individualisation of Labor Informational Capitalism: Critical Issues Chapter Three: Experience Social Movements as Subjects of History Social Movements Beyond the Local Social Movements and the Creation of Identity Two Case Studies Chapter Four: The Network State and Informational Politics The Theory of the State The Crisis of the Nation State Informational Politics The Reaffirmation of the State The Rise of the Network State? Power and Networks Chapter Five: Flows and Places Castells' Theory of Space The Space of Flows The Time of Flows Cities in the Space of Flows Chapter Six: The Logic of Networks What is a Network? Informational Networks The Network Logic Preeminence of Morphology over Action Conclusion Bibliography of Manuel Castells Books: Author or Main Author Books: Co-authored Books: Edited or Co-Edited Articles, Essays and Book Chapters Main Research Monographs, 1984 - 2004 Books on Manuel Castells References
Distributed spectrum assignment for home WLANs

We consider the problem of jointly allocating channel center frequencies and bandwidths for IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs (WLANs). The bandwidth used on a link affects significantly both the capacity experienced on this link and the interference produced on neighboring links. Therefore, when jointly assigning both center frequencies and channel widths, there is a trade-off between interference mitigation and the potential capacity offered on each link. We study this tradeoff and we present SAW (spectrum assignment for WLANs), a decentralized algorithm that finds efficient configurations. SAW is tailored for 802.11 home networks. It is distributed, online and transparent. It does not require a central coordinator and it constantly adapts the spectrum usage without disrupting network traffic. A key feature of SAW is that the access points (APs) need only a few out-of-band measurements in order to make spectrum allocation decisions. Despite being completely decentralized, the algorithm is self-organizing and provably converges towards efficient spectrum allocations. We evaluate SAW using both simulation and a deployment on an indoor testbed composed of off-the-shelf 802.11 hardware. We observe that it dramatically increases the overall network efficiency and fairness.
A Survey of Fault-Tolerance Algorithms for Reconfigurable Nano-Crossbar Arrays

Nano-crossbar arrays have emerged as a promising and viable technology to improve computing performance of electronic circuits beyond the limits of current CMOS. Arrays offer both structural efficiency with reconfiguration and prospective capability of integration with different technologies. However, certain problems need to be addressed, and the most important one is the prevailing occurrence of faults. Considering fault rate projections as high as 20% that is much higher than those of CMOS, it is fair to expect sophisticated fault-tolerance methods. The focus of this survey article is the assessment and evaluation of these methods and related algorithms applied in logic mapping and configuration processes. As a start, we concisely explain reconfigurable nano-crossbar arrays with their fault characteristics and models. Following that, we demonstrate configuration techniques of the arrays in the presence of permanent faults and elaborate on two main fault-tolerance methodologies, namely defect-unaware and defect-aware approaches, with a short review on advantages and disadvantages. For both methodologies, we present detailed experimental results of related algorithms regarding their strengths and weaknesses with a comprehensive yield, success rate and runtime analysis. Next, we overview fault-tolerance approaches for transient faults. As a conclusion, we overview the proposed algorithms with future directions and upcoming challenges.
Computational analysis of human-robot interactions through first-person vision: Personality and interaction experience

In this paper, we analyse interactions with Nao, a small humanoid robot, from the viewpoint of human participants through an ego-centric camera placed on their forehead. We focus on human participants' and robot's personalities and their impact on the human-robot interactions. We automatically extract nonverbal cues (e.g., head movement) from first-person perspective and explore the relationship of nonverbal cues with participants' self-reported personality and their interaction experience. We generate two types of behaviours for the robot (i.e., extroverted vs. introverted) and examine how robot's personality and behaviour affect the findings. Significant correlations are obtained between the extroversion and agreeable-ness traits of the participants and the perceived enjoyment with the extroverted robot. Plausible relationships are also found between the measures of interaction experience and personality and the first-person vision features. We then use computational models to automatically predict the participants' personality traits from these features. Promising results are achieved for the traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness and extroversion.
Determination of Dehydrogenase Activities Involved in D-Glucose Oxidation in Gluconobacter and Acetobacter Strains

Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are known for rapid and incomplete oxidation of an extensively variety of alcohols and carbohydrates, resulting in the accumulation of organic acids as the final products. These oxidative fermentations in AAB are catalyzed by PQQ- or FAD- dependent membrane-bound dehydrogenases. In the present study, the enzyme activity of the membrane-bound dehydrogenases [membrane-bound PQQ-glucose dehydrogenase (mGDH), D-gluconate dehydrogenase (GADH) and membrane-bound glycerol dehydrogenase (GLDH)] involved in the oxidation of D-glucose and D-gluconic acid (GA) was determined in six strains of three different species of AAB (three natural and three type strains). Moreover, the effect of these activities on the production of related metabolites [GA, 2-keto-D-gluconic acid (2KGA) and 5-keto-D-gluconic acid (5KGA)] was analyzed. The natural strains belonging to Gluconobacter showed a high mGDH activity and low activity in GADH and GLDH, whereas the Acetobacter malorum strain presented low activity in the three enzymes. Nevertheless, no correlation was observed between the activity of these enzymes and the concentration of the corresponding metabolites. In fact, all the tested strains were able to oxidize D-glucose to GA, being maximal at the late exponential phase of the AAB growth (24 h), which coincided with D-glucose exhaustion and the maximum mGDH activity. Instead, only some of the tested strains were capable of producing 2KGA and/or 5KGA. In the case of Gluconobacter oxydans strains, no 2KGA production was detected which is related to the absence of GADH activity after 24 h, while in the remaining strains, detection of GADH activity after 24 h resulted in a high accumulation of 2KGA. Therefore, it is possible to choose the best strain depending on the desired product composition. Moreover, the sequences of these genes were used to construct phylogenetic trees. According to the sequence of gcd, gene coding for mGDH, Acetobacter and Komagataeibacter were phylogenetically more closely related each other than with Gluconobacter.
The Social Fabric of the Networked City

1. Introduction: New perspectives on urban forms, power and experiences Geraldine Pflieger, Luca Pattaroni, Christophe Jemelin, Vincent Kaufmann Part I. Urban technologies, power and experiences: a theoretical framework 2. The Networked City Manuel Castells 3. Architecture and Reflexivity Jean-Louis Genard Part II. Mobility and accessibility: new planning practices and challenges 4. Mobility pioneers in Germany: New patterns of (im)mobility in an age of second modernity Sven Kesselring 5. Spatial patterns and social inequality in Switzerland - modern or post-modern? Max Bergman and Katharina Manderscheid Part III: The modern urban planning ideal 6. Atypical Haussman boulevards in the 19th century: the non-standardized development of the Rue des Pyrenees project Agnes Sander 7. "Villes nouvelles" and political infrastructures in France: a 1960s sociological viewpoint Vincent Guigueno Part IV. New articulations between flows and places 8. Expertise for the neighbourhood - neighbourhood against expertise: case study of the Berne West Tramway Fritz Sager 9. An airport in its environment: non-territorialization or re-territorialization? Guillaume Faburel 10. Conclusion: Reshaping Cities Geraldine Pflieger, Luca Pattaroni, Jerome Chenal, Vincent Kaufmann
Design of Rhythm-Based Vibrotactile Stimuli Around the Waist: Evaluation of Two Encoding Parameters

In this paper, we propose two encoding parameters to facilitate the design of a rhythm-based tactile scheme for humans. The sense of touch has been used for many years to aid communication for people with sensory impairments. Now, vibrations are used in mobile phones and handheld computers but are generally very basic and do not fully exploit the potential of vibration as a means of communication. Several studies explored the use of tactile icons combining different parameters such as amplitude modulation, location, and duration. However, the parameter ldquorhythmrdquo has not attracted a lot of attention. Using two parameters (muE, sigmaE) to control the design of tactile-pattern sets, we created four stimulus schemes of 20 patterns each. Using a tactile belt located around the waist, 64 subjects tested them. The amount of static information transferred and response times (RTs) varied among the different designs. The scheme with the best set of encoding parameters (muE=3.sigmaE >0) conveyed 4 b of information or 16 tokens with an RT of 4.3 s.
Towards More Realistic Probabilistic Models for Data Structures: The External Path Length in Tries under the Markov Model

Tries are among the most versatile and widely used data structures on words. They are pertinent to the (internal) structure of (stored) words and several splitting procedures used in diverse contexts ranging from document taxonomy to IP addresses lookup, from data compression (i.e., Lempel-Ziv'77 scheme) to dynamic hashing, from partial-match queries to speech recognition, from leader election algorithms to distributed hashing tables and graph compression. While the performance of tries under a realistic probabilistic model is of significant importance, its analysis, even for simplest memoryless sources, has proved difficult. Rigorous findings about inherently complex parameters were rarely analyzed (with a few notable exceptions) under more realistic models of string generations. In this paper we meet these challenges: By a novel use of the contraction method combined with analytic techniques we prove a central limit theorem for the external path length of a trie under a general Markov source. In particular, our results apply to the Lempel-Ziv'77 code. We envision that the methods described here will have further applications to other trie parameters and data structures.
Recoverin depletion accelerates cone photoresponse recovery

The neuronal Ca2+-binding protein Recoverin has been shown to regulate phototransduction termination in mammalian rods. Here we identify four recoverin genes in the zebrafish genome, rcv1a, rcv1b, rcv2a and rcv2b, and investigate their role in modulating the cone phototransduction cascade. While Recoverin-1b is only found in the adult retina, the other Recoverins are expressed throughout development in all four cone types, except Recoverin-1a, which is expressed only in rods and UV cones. Applying a double flash electroretinogram (ERG) paradigm, downregulation of Recoverin-2a or 2b accelerates cone photoresponse recovery, albeit at different light intensities. Exclusive recording from UV cones via spectral ERG reveals that knockdown of Recoverin-1a alone has no effect, but Recoverin-1a/2a double-knockdowns showed an even shorter recovery time than Recoverin-2a-deficient larvae. We also showed that UV cone photoresponse kinetics depend on Recoverin-2a function via cone-specific kinase Grk7a. This is the first in vivo study demonstrating that cone opsin deactivation kinetics determine overall photoresponse shut off kinetics.
Walrasian equilibrium without survival : existence, efficiency and remedial policy

Standard general equilibrium theory excludes starvation by assuming that everybody can survive without trade. Because trade cannot harm consumers, they can therefore also survive with trade. Here this assumption is abandoned, and equilibria in which not everybody survives are investigated. A simple example is discussed, along with possible policies which might reduce starvation. Thereafter, for economies with a continuum of agents, the usual results are established — existence of equilibrium, the two fundamental efficiency theorems of welfare economics, and core equivalence. Their validity depends on some special but not very stringent assumptions needed to deal with natural non-convexities in each consumer’s feasible set. Acknowledgements This work was originally supported by National Science Foundation Grant SES-85-20666 to Hammond at the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences, Stanford University. Coles wishes to thank the University of Utah Research Committee for financial support. Earlier versions of the paper appeared in 1986 as IMSSS Economics Technical Report No. 483, and in 1991 as European University Institute Working Paper ECO No. 91/50. The main new idea for this last revision arose during a visit by Coles to the European University Institute, financed in part through its research budget. In addition, we wish to thank William Novshek and T.N. Srinivasan for helpful conversations, and David Kiefer and Leslie Reinhorn for helpful comments. Also, Hammond is grateful to Paul Hare and to Partha Dasgupta for arousing and maintaining his interest in the topic over many years; our debt to Amartya Sen is evident. Equilibrium without Survival It is unquestionably true, that in no country of the globe have the government, the distribution of property, and the habits of the people, been such as to call forth, in the most effective manner, the resources of the soil. Consequently, if the most advantageous possible change in all these respects could be supposed at once to take place, it is certain that the demand for labour, and the encouragement to production, might be such as for a short time, in some countries, and for rather a longer time in others, to lessen the operation of the checks to population which have been described. — Malthus (1830, pp. 247-248 of A. Flew (ed.)) A society in which some people roll in luxury while others live in acute misery can still be Pareto optimal if the agony of the deprived cannot be reduced without cutting into the ecstasy of the affluent.
An efficient optimisation method in groundwater resource management

Uncertainty in input parameters to groundwater flow problems has been recognised as an impediment to designing efficient groundwater management strategies. The most popular approach to tackling this problem has been through the Monte Carlo approach. However, this approach is generally too expensive in terms of computer time because of the number of scenarios required to ensure reliable statistics. Furthermore, solutions obtained through this approach are not necessarily robust. In this paper, it is shown how groundwater management problems, where input parameters are uncertain can be reformulated as second-order cone optimisation (SOCO) problems, which are efficiently solved by recently developed interior-point methods. Results for a real-world case application of a groundwater aquifer found in Kenya are presented.
Neuro MR: Principles

The principles of contrast mechanisms and fast pulse sequences underlying neurological and neuroradiological application of MRI are introduced in this part of a two‐part review. In particular, the relaxation time constants T1, T2, and T 2* are introduced, along with pulse sequences harnessing their contrast, spin‐echo, fast spin echo (FSE), inversion recovery (IR), gradient recalled echo (GRE), and echo planar imaging (EPI). The use of gadolinium (Gd)‐based contrast is discussed in both T1‐ and T 2* ‐weighted sequences. Tradeoffs between speed and image quality are discussed, particularly in the context of long echo train sequences (FSE imaging and EPI). The influence of parallel imaging strategies is also discussed. T 2* sensitivity is discussed as both a source of artifact as well as a contrast mechanism (perfusion imaging with contrast agents, susceptibility weighted imaging [SWI], and blood oxygenation level dependent [BOLD] imaging). Finally, the contrast mechanism of diffusion is introduced, as well as the concept of anisotropy. From these principles, the other part of this two‐part review draws upon the pulse sequences and contrast mechanisms to design disease and indication‐specific protocols for state‐of‐the‐art clinical use. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The New York Teacher Rating Scale for disruptive and antisocial behavior.

OBJECTIVE A teacher rating scale designed to reflect current diagnostic descriptors of oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder was developed and standardized. METHOD Teacher ratings were obtained for 1,258 1st-through 10th-grade children from two school districts in New York and for 81 clinically referred children with conduct disorder. RESULTS Three factors relevant to oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder were generated: defiance, physical aggression, and delinquent aggression. A fourth factor reflects peer problems. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and interrater reliability are documented using a population and a conduct disorder sample. The validity of the factors is supported by the factors' ability to discriminate between children in the general population and those with conduct disorders, by correlations with global impairment items, and by expected sex differences. CONCLUSION The scale has utility for assessing symptoms of conduct disorder in school settings.
Low latency, glitch-free booth encoder-decoder for high speed multipliers

This paper is about the implementation of a novel booth encoder-decoder in a 0.35 μm CMOS technology. By introducing a new truth table, the gate level delay from inputs to partial products is reduced to two XOR logic gates plus one transistor which is the main advantage of the proposed architecture. Also, the gate count is reduced which reduces the power dissipation. In addition, because of similar paths from inputs to outputs, the latency for all paths becomes equal. Therefore, the output waveforms will be free of glitch. Post layout simulations demonstrate that the delay of the whole system is 350 ps.
Differential space-time codes with four transmit antennas

We give near optimal differential unitary space-time codes using Bruhat decomposition and Weyl group for four transmit antennas. In case of two transmit antennas, it has been assumed that the two channels are uncorrelated. However, for four transmit antennas, the assumption is no longer justified. Therefore the new codes are found by examination of the average of the minimum squared Euclidean distance between all of the unitary matrices multiplied by various fading coefficients. The performance of the codes are simulated by computer and compared with the well-known cyclic group codes. The near optimal codes are about 2 dB better than the cyclic codes.