Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aalborg Universitet Cell-Edge Multi-User Relaying with

Carefully designed protocols can turn overheard interference into useful side information to allow simultaneous transmission of multiple communication flows and increase the spectral efficiency in interference-limited regime. We propose a novel scheme in a typical cell-edge scenario. By exploiting the overhearing link through proper relay precoding and adaptive receiver processing, rate performance can be significantly improved compared to the conventional transmission which does not utilize overhearing.
Estimating Overweight Risk in Childhood From Predictors During Infancy

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a risk score algorithm for childhood overweight based on a prediction model in infants. METHODS: Analysis was conducted by using the UK Millennium Cohort Study. The cohort was divided randomly by using 80% of the sample for derivation of the risk algorithm and 20% of the sample for validation. Stepwise logistic regression determined a prediction model for childhood overweight at 3 years defined by the International Obesity Task Force criteria. Predictive metrics R2, area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC), sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated. RESULTS: Seven predictors were found to be significantly associated with overweight at 3 years in a mutually adjusted predictor model: gender, birth weight, weight gain, maternal prepregnancy BMI, paternal BMI, maternal smoking in pregnancy, and breastfeeding status. Risk scores ranged from 0 to 59 corresponding to a predicted risk from 4.1% to 73.8%. The model revealed moderately good predictive ability in both the derivation cohort (R2 = 0.92, AUROC = 0.721, sensitivity = 0.699, specificity = 0.679, PPV = 38%, NPV = 87%) and validation cohort (R2 = 0.84, AUROC = 0.755, sensitivity = 0.769, specificity = 0.665, PPV = 37%, NPV = 89%). CONCLUSIONS: Using a prediction algorithm to identify at-risk infants could reduce levels of child overweight and obesity by enabling health professionals to target prevention more effectively. Further research needs to evaluate the clinical validity, feasibility, and acceptability of communicating this risk.
LEPA: Incentivizing Long-term Privacy-preserving Data Aggregation in Crowdsensing

In this paper, we study the incentive mechanism design for real-time data aggregation, which holds a large spectrum of crowdsensing applications. Despite extensive studies on static incentive mechanisms, none of these are applicable to real-time data aggregation due to their incapability of maintaining PUs' long-term participation. We emphasize that, to maintain PUs' long-term participation, it is of significant importance to protect their privacy as well as to provide them a desirable cumulative compensation. Thus motivated, in this paper, we propose LEPA, an efficient incentive mechanism to stimulate long-term participation in real-time data aggregation. Specifically, we allow PUs to preserve their privacy by reporting noisy data, the impact of which on the aggregation accuracy is quantified with proper privacy and accuracy measures. Then, we provide a framework that jointly optimizes the incentive schemes in different time slots to ensure desirable cumulative compensation for PUs and thereby prevent PUs from leaving the system halfway. Considering PUs' strategic behaviors and combinatorial nature of the sensing tasks, we propose a computationally efficient on-line auction with close-to-optimal performance in presence of NP-hardness of winner user selection. We further show that the proposed on-line auction satisfies desirable properties of truthfulness and individual rationality. The performance of LEPA is validated by both theoretical analysis and extensive simulations.
FIB‐4: An inexpensive and accurate marker of fibrosis in HCV infection. comparison with liver biopsy and fibrotest

To optimize the management of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, noninvasive tests to determine the degree of hepatic fibrosis have been developed. The aims of this study were (1) to validate a simple, inexpensive, noninvasive test called FIB‐4, which combines standard biochemical values (platelets, ALT, AST) and age, in a series of 847 liver biopsies performed in HCV‐monoinfected patients; and (2) to compare the results of 780 FIB‐4 and FibroTests performed the same day in a series of 592 HCV‐infected patients. The FIB‐4 index enabled the correct identification of patients with severe fibrosis (F3‐F4) and cirrhosis with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.85 (95% CI 0.82‐0.89) and 0.91 (95% CI 0.86‐0.93), respectively. An FIB‐4 index <1.45 had a negative predictive value of 94.7% to exclude severe fibrosis with a sensitivity of 74.3%. An FIB‐4 index higher than 3.25 had a positive predictive value to confirm the existence of a significant fibrosis (F3‐F4) of 82.1% with a specificity of 98.2%. Using these ranges, 72.8% of the 847 liver biopsies were correctly classified. The FIB‐4 index was strongly correlated to the FibroTest results for a score <1.45 or >3.25 (κ = 0.561, P < 0.01). A FIB‐4 value <1.45 or >3.25 (64.6% of the cases) was concordant with FibroTest results in 92.1% and 76%, respectively. Conclusion: For values outside 1.45‐3.25, the FIB‐4 index is a simple, accurate, and inexpensive method for assessing liver fibrosis and proved to be concordant with FibroTest results. (HEPATOLOGY 2007.)
A Principled Method for Determining the Functionality of ERP Components.

A challenging issue in relating brain function to perception and cognition concerns the functional interpretation of brain responses. For example, while there is agreement that the N170 component of event-related potentials is sensitive to face processing, there is considerable debate about whether its response reflects a structural encoder for faces, a feature (e.g. eye) detector, or something else. We introduce a principled approach to determine the stimulus features driving brain responses. Our analysis on two observers resolving different face categorisation tasks (gender and expressive or not) reveal that the N170 responds to the eyes within a face irrespective of task demands. This suggests a new methodology to attribute function to different components of the neural system for perceiving complex stimuli.
Promoting Family-Centered Teaching: Can One Course Make a Difference?.

The Article Research indicates that when families participate in their child’s education, there is an increased gain in the attainment of developmental milestones in early years. Therefore, it is important for teacher education programs to support new teachers in the development of practices that encourage family involvement and participation. The study was guided by the question of whether one 16 week course could enhance preservice teachers’ attitudes towards collaborating with their students’ families. Students enrolled in the class were asked to complete a blank concept map based on their perceptions and beliefs regarding “Serving Individuals with Disabilities and Their Families” at the beginning of the class. Students were then instructed over the following 16-week period on the benefit of parental involvement, home-school communication techniques, and the role of family throughout the IEP process. At the end of the semester, students were again instructed to complete a blank concept map. These maps were matched with the original maps and compared using a series of McNemar tests. The authors examined four overarching categories: Communication, the Role of School/Teachers, Perception of Family Issues, and other (for those responses not fitting in other categories). Results indicated a significant improvement in students’ perceptions in the categories of Communication, the Role of School/Teachers, and Perception of Family Issues. Students expanded their communication role to include sharing resources and information with families and expanded their conceptions of the role of the teacher to include positive interactions with family members, Additionally, Bingham and Abernathy found that “students clearly developed a broader perspective of the characteristics that define and contribute to the distinctive qualities of each family system. ”
Measurement of angle error of gyroscopes using a rotary table enhanced by self-calibratable rotary encoder

This paper reports a novel system to evaluate angle error of rate-integrating gyroscopes. The system equips with a self-calibratable rotary encoder (SelfA) so that it has enough angle accuracy below 10-4-degree level even in rotation at several tens of degrees per second. Angle errors in such a small level cannot be measured with ordinary rotary tables. Therefore, our system can contribute to characterization of high-performance inertial sensors.
Maternal Psychological Problems Associated with Neonatal Intensive Care Admission

Background. Mothers of infants admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are believed to have heightened distress. The purpose of this paper was to determine depression and anxiety symptoms and attachment style in NICU mothers. Methods. The NICU group consisted of mothers whose infants were admitted to the NICU and the control group consisted of mothers of healthy term infants. The psychosocial assessments were done at the first month. Results. The mean Edinburgh Postpartum Depression (EPDS) score of NICU mothers was significantly higher than that of the control group mothers (9.6 ± 5.6 versus 7.3 ± 4.9, P = .005). NICU mothers who had high EPDS (≥13) scores had significantly higher anxiety scores and insecure attachment style in comparison to the subgroup of NICU mothers who had low EPDS scores. Conclusion. Mothers of NICU babies had higher EPDS scores. Mothers who had higher EPDS scores had higher anxiety scores as well. These NICU mothers should receive appropriate counseling during the hospitalization of their babies.
EFNS guideline on diagnosis and management of limb girdle muscular dystrophies

F. Norwood, M. de Visser, B. Eymard, H. Lochmüller, K. Bushby and Members of EFNS Guideline Task Force Institute of Human Genetics, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; King’s Neuroscience Centre, King’s College Hospital, London, UK; Department of Neurology, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Holland; Hôpital de la Pitié, Salpétriere, Paris, France; and Genzentrum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
5th - 7th Grade Girls’ Conceptions of Creativity: Implications for STEAM Education

Creativity is at the heart of both art and science, yet art is commonly viewed as more creative than science. A STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) approach to education has the potential to increase understandings about creative practices and dispositions that are common to both fields. In this paper, we examine how 5th - 7th grade girls attending a summer STEAM academy viewed creativity in both art and science. We draw on existing concepts of creativity, with a focus on the 4P framework (person, press, process, product) (Rhodes, 1961), to frame and explain similarities and differences in the girls’ notions of creativity. We found a number of similarities in views about creativity in art and science, as well as some important differences: Girls view creativity as it relates to art as associated with the person, while they more often view creativity as it relates to science as associated with specific practices or processes. Further, the girls viewed art, and creativity in art, as essentially an unstructured enterprise with no rules. We discuss the implications for STEAM instruction that can help support the development of authentic views of creativity in art and science, which in turn may foster interest and engagement with both fields.
Design of Compact and Wideband Suppression Low Pass Elliptic Filter by n-Segment Step Impedance Transmission Line

─ In this paper, the invasive weed optimization technique for compacting a microstrip elliptic low pass filter is proposed and validated. At the first step, the invasive weed optimization (IWO) technique is used to replace the shunt resonators transmission lines of the conventional filter with arbitrary n-segments Step Impedance Transmission Lines (SITLs) for compacting it. To validate the proposed method, the shunt resonator transmission lines of a seventh-order elliptic lowpass filter are replaced with proper SITLs which cause more than 30% compactness in this step. Then the IWO technique is applied on the general filter configuration to design a wideband harmonic suppression and compact elliptic low pass filter. This method extends the stop band bandwidth more than 8.5 f0 and also increases the compactness to 47%. The measurement results of the final optimized fabricated filter are in good agreement with the simulation ones. Index Terms ─ Elliptic low pass filter, harmonic suppression, Invasive Weed Optimization (IWO), microstrip, miniaturization, wideband.
Autonomous Landing of a Quadrotor on a Moving Platform

In this paper, we address the design of a navigation control algorithm for the autonomous landing of a quadrotor on a moving mobile platform. The quadrotor's velocity is unknown, and we assume that it is equipped with an on-board downward-looking single camera for determining its position relative to the target. The proposed autonomous landing operation proceeds in three phases: the search phase, the homing phase, and the landing phase. To prepare for these phases, a safety sphere with a desired radius having the target position as its center is constructed along with a virtual target point that can move on its surface. During the docking procedure, the quadrotor is first commanded to reach the virtual target point; as it approaches this target point, a second stage is initiated to provide the quadrotor with more precise guidance to land safely on the mobile platform. The core design of the landing algorithm is proposed based on a concise adaptive tracking control scheme using backstepping and dynamic surface control. Simulations are carried out to validate the effectiveness of the proposed guidance landing control approach.
Xyloketal-derived small molecules show protective effect by decreasing mutant Huntingtin protein aggregates in Caenorhabditis elegans model of Huntington’s disease

Huntington’s disease is an autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disorder, with chorea as the most prominent manifestation. The disease is caused by abnormal expansion of CAG codon repeats in the IT15 gene, which leads to the expression of a glutamine-rich protein named mutant Huntingtin (Htt). Because of its devastating disease burden and lack of valid treatment, development of more effective therapeutics for Huntington’s disease is urgently required. Xyloketal B, a natural product from mangrove fungus, has shown protective effects against toxicity in other neurodegenerative disease models such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. To identify potential neuroprotective molecules for Huntington’s disease, six derivatives of xyloketal B were screened in a Caenorhabditis elegans Huntington’s disease model; all six compounds showed a protective effect. Molecular docking studies indicated that compound 1 could bind to residues GLN369 and GLN393 of the mutant Htt protein, forming a stable trimeric complex that can prevent the formation of mutant Htt aggregates. Taken together, we conclude that xyloketal derivatives could be novel drug candidates for treating Huntington’s disease. Molecular target analysis is a good method to simulate the interaction between proteins and drug compounds. Further, protective candidate drugs could be designed in future using the guidance of molecular docking results.
The Bottleneck Geodesic: Computing Pixel Affinity

A meaningful affinity measure between pixels is essential for many computer vision and image processing applications. We propose an algorithm that works in the features’ histogram to compute image specific affinity measures. We use the observation that clusters in the feature space are typically smooth, and search for a path in the feature space between feature points that is both short and dense. Failing to find such a path indicates that the points are separated by a bottleneck in the histogram and therefore belong to different clusters. We call this new affinity measure the "Bottleneck Geodesic". Empirically we demonstrate the superior results achieved by using our affinities as opposed to those using the widely used Euclidean metric, traditional geodesics and the simple bottleneck.
From covariation to causation: A causal power theory.

Because causal relations are neither observable nor deducible, they must be induced from observable events. The 2 dominant approaches to the psychology of causal induction—the covariation approach and the causal power approach—are each crippled by fundamental problems. This article proposes an integration of these approaches thai overcomes these problems. The proposal is that reasoners innately treat the relation between covariation (a function denned in terms of observable events) and causal power (an unobservable entity) as that between scientists' law or model and their theory explaining the model. This solution is formalized in the power PC theory, a causal power theory of the probabilistic contrast model (P. W. Cheng & L. R. Novick, 1990). The article reviews diverse old and new empirical tests discriminating this theory from previous models, none of which is justified by a theory. The results uniquely support the power PC theory.
Meeting students halfway: Increasing self-efficacy and promoting knowledge change in astronomy

Two motivational factors—self-efficacy and interest—may be especially relevant to deepening students’ understanding of astronomy. We examined the relationship between students’ self-efficacy for, interest in learning about, and changes in their knowledge of stars, as measured by the Star Properties Concept Inventory (SPCI). Approximately 700 undergraduate students taking introductory astronomy responded to surveys at the start and end of their semester-long course. A sequential multiple regression analysis showed that self-efficacy post explains an appreciable percentage of variance in SPCI posttest scores, more than twice the percentage explained by all the pretest variables (SPCI, self-efficacy, and interest) combined. Knowledge and self-efficacy improved significantly over instruction; interest did not. Follow-up analyses revealed that instructors whose classes increased in self-efficacy also had the greatest increases in knowledge scores. Interviews with these instructors suggest they provide their students with more opportunities for mastery experiences with elaborated, performance-related feedback, as well as strong positive verbal persuasion and vicarious experiences through peer instruction. Through increased understanding of the relationship between motivational constructs (e.g., self-efficacy, interest) and knowledge, we can both improve our models and better inform instruction.
Logical Compilation of Bayesian Networks

This invention relates to a pump arrangement (54) for use in a linear fluid operated device having a reciprocating piston (14) separating a first active fluid chamber (30) and a second chamber (32) which eliminates the problem associated with fluid leakage buildup developing in the second chamber. The pump arrangement (54) is connected to the reciprocating piston (14) and pumps leakage fluid present in the second chamber (32) from the second chamber (32) and into the first chamber (30) in response to a force of a preselected minimum magnitude being applied to the pump arrangement (54). Thus, the problems of inefficient linear fluid operated device operation, reduced piston stroke length, external fluid leakage, and erratic piston travel speed are eliminated. The pump arrangement (54) is particularly suited for use in a single acting linear hydraulic jack (12) such as used on a material handling vehicle.
Validating Distributed System Test Execution Correctness via System Execution Traces

Effective validation of quality-of-service (QoS) properties (such as event prioritization, latency, and throughput) in distributed real-time and embedded (DRE) system requires evaluating system capabilities in representative execution environments. This validation process typically involves executing DRE systems composed of many software components on many hardware components connected via networks. Unfortunately, evaluating the correctness of such tests is hard since it requires validating many states dispersed across many hardware/software components. This paper provides two contributions to research on validating DRE system capabilities and QoS properties. First, it presents the Test Execution (TE) Score, which a methodology for validating execution correctness of DRE system tests. Second, it empirically evaluates TE Score in the context of a representative DRE system. Results from this evaluation show that TE Score can determine the percentage correctness in test execution—thereby increasing confidence in QoS assurance and improving test quality.
Surveillance of Tax Policies: A Synthesis of Findings in Economic Surveys

Taxation is inevitable in modern economies to finance public spending, which is aimed at meeting fundamental economic and social objectives. However, efficiency losses associated with taxation need to be taken into account when the cost and benefits of public expenditure to be funded are being assessed. The public perception of the fairness of tax systems, the practical enforceability of tax rules and the cost arising from compliance are other important considerations. Against this backdrop, the OECD has reviewed in the past two years the tax systems of a number of Member countries in its periodical Economic Surveys. The analysis and policy recommendations emerging from these reviews may provide some useful lessons for other OECD countries, and these are pulled together in this paper . Dans les economies modernes, la fiscalite est inevitable pour financer la depense publique, car elle vise des objectifs economiques et sociaux fondamentaux. Toutefois, il est necessaire de prendre en compte les pertes d’efficience liees a la fiscalite lorsqu’on evalue les couts et avantages des depenses publiques a financer. La perception par le public de l’equite des systemes fiscaux, les difficultes pratiques rencontrees pour assurer le respect des reglementations fiscales et le cout de la discipline fiscale constituent d’autres aspects importants de la question. Dans ce contexte, l’OCDE a examine, au cours des deux dernieres annees, dans ses Etudes economiques periodiques, les systemes fiscaux d’un certain nombre de pays Membres. Les analyses et recommandations qui se degagent de ces etudes, et qui pourraient etre riches d’enseignements pour tous les pays de l’OCDE, sont rassemblees dans ce document .