Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Approximate Capacity of a Class of Gaussian Interference-Relay Networks

In this paper, we study a Gaussian relay-interference network, in which relay (helper) nodes are to facilitate competing information flows between different source-destination pairs. We focus on two-stage relay-interference networks where there are weak cross links, causing the networks to behave like a chain of Z Gaussian channels. Our main result is an approximate characterization of the capacity region for such ZZ and ZS networks. We propose a new interference management scheme, termed interference neutralization, which is implemented using structured lattice codes. This scheme allows for over-the-air interference removal, without the transmitters having complete access the interfering signals. This scheme in conjunction a new network decomposition technique provides the approximate characterization. Our analysis of these Gaussian networks is based on insights gained from an exact characterization of the corresponding linear deterministic model.
Over-generalization in youth with anxiety disorders

ABSTRACT Over-generalization of dangerous stimuli is a possible etiological account of anxiety. Recently, we demonstrated it could result from alterations in early perceptual mechanisms, i.e., a fundamental change in the way the stimulus is perceived. Yet it is still unclear if these mechanisms already exist in youth, or develop only later. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore the mechanism of generalization in youth suffering from anxiety disorders. Children and adolescents with anxiety disorders and age-matched control participants underwent a conditioning task where a loss or gain outcome was associated with two well-separated tones. A generalization probe then followed in which different surrounding tones were presented and classified. Generalization curves and changes in discrimination abilities were compared between groups and according to the background variables. We found that patients had lower perceptual discrimination thresholds after conditioning, and tended to have wider generalization curve. Relative enhanced generalization was observed in adolescents with anxiety, in males, and as the level of anxiety rose. Our results suggest that over-generalization in anxiety can start already during adolescence, and may suggest that an early perceptual source can give rise to later more cognitive over-generalization during adult anxiety.
Loss of CMAH during Human Evolution Primed the Monocyte–Macrophage Lineage toward a More Inflammatory and Phagocytic State

Humans and chimpanzees are more sensitive to endotoxin than are mice or monkeys, but any underlying differences in inflammatory physiology have not been fully described or understood. We studied innate immune responses in Cmah−/− mice, emulating human loss of the gene encoding production of Neu5Gc, a major cell surface sialic acid. CMP–N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase (CMAH) loss occurred ∼2–3 million years ago, after the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, perhaps contributing to speciation of the genus Homo. Cmah−/− mice manifested a decreased survival in endotoxemia following bacterial LPS injection. Macrophages from Cmah−/− mice secreted more inflammatory cytokines with LPS stimulation and showed more phagocytic activity. Macrophages and whole blood from Cmah−/− mice also killed bacteria more effectively. Metabolic reintroduction of Neu5Gc into Cmah−/− macrophages suppressed these differences. Cmah−/− mice also showed enhanced bacterial clearance during sublethal lung infection. Although monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages from humans and chimpanzees exhibited marginal differences in LPS responses, human monocyte-derived macrophages killed Escherichia coli and ingested E. coli BioParticles better. Metabolic reintroduction of Neu5Gc into human macrophages suppressed these differences. Although multiple mechanisms are likely involved, one cause is altered expression of C/EBPβ, a transcription factor affecting macrophage function. Loss of Neu5Gc in Homo likely had complex effects on immunity, providing greater capabilities to clear sublethal bacterial challenges, possibly at the cost of endotoxic shock risk. This trade-off may have provided a selective advantage when Homo transitioned to butchery using stone tools. The findings may also explain why the Cmah−/− state alters severity in mouse models of human disease.
Ultrasonic power transfer from a spherical acoustic wave source to a free-free piezoelectric receiver: Modeling and experiment

Contactless powering of small electronic components has lately received growing attention for wireless applications in which battery replacement or tethered charging is undesired or simply impossible, and ambient energy harvesting is not a viable solution. As an alternative to well-studied methods of contactless energy transfer, such as the inductive coupling method, the use of ultrasonic waves transmitted and received by piezoelectric devices enables larger power transmission distances, which is critical especially for deep-implanted electronic devices. Moreover, energy transfer by means of acoustic waves is well suited in situations where no electromagnetic fields are allowed. The limited literature of ultrasonic acoustic energy transfer is mainly centered on proof-of-concept experiments demonstrating the feasibility of this method, lacking experimentally validated modeling efforts for the resulting multiphysics problem that couples the source and receiver dynamics with domain acoustics. In this work, w.
Proteomic analysis of cold acclimation in winter wheat under field conditions

A proteomics analysis was used to investigate how a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv Pishgam) adapted to LT during the autumn season and then initiated reproductive growth under field conditions. Cross-comparisons of leaf proteome were performed for consecutive stages including T 1 (before the beginning of cold acclimation; zero-tolerance), T 2 (initiation of the cold acclimation; LT tolerance=~-6 °C), T 3 (vernalization fulfillment stage; LT tolerance=~-15 °C) and T 4 (first weeks of reproductive stage; LT tolerance=~-10 °C). Approximately 400 protein spots were reproducibly detected on each gel. However, only 56 differentially abundant protein spots showed any considerable change (p)0.05) between experimental stages. Proteomic analysis indicated a substantial decrease in the abundance of several proteins such as oxygen-evolving enhancer protein, NADH dehydrogenase and dehydroascorbate reductase during the initiation of cold acclimation. However, the abundance of some metabolic regulator, ion transporter, redox and photosynthetic proteins increased by achieving maximum LT tolerance (T 3 ). By initiation of the reproductive phase (T 4 ) the abundance of some proteins that mainly participate in photosynthesis and carbon metabolism significantly increased.
Detecting and comparing brain activity in short program comprehension using EEG

Program comprehension is a common task in software development. Programmers perform program comprehension at different stages of the software development life cycle. Detecting when a programmer experiences problems or confusion can be difficult. Self-reported data may be useful, but not reliable. More importantly, it is hard to use the self-reported feedback in real time. In this study, we use an inexpensive, non-invasive EEG device to record 8 subjects' brain activity in short program comprehension. Subjects were presented either confusing or non-confusing C/C++ code snippets. Paired sample t-tests are used to compare the average magnitude in alpha and theta frequency bands. The results show that the differences in the average magnitude in both bands are significant comparing confusing and non-confusing questions. We then use ANOVA to detect whether such difference also presented in the same type of questions. We found that there is no significant difference across questions of the same difficulty level. Our outcome, however, shows alpha and theta band powers both increased when subjects are under the heavy cognitive workload. Other research studies reported a negative correlation between (upper) alpha and theta band powers.
Up-regulation of neural indicators of empathic concern in an offender population

ABSTRACT Empathic concern has traditionally been conceived of as a spontaneous reaction to others experiencing pain or distress. As such, the potential role of more deliberate control over empathic responses has frequently been overlooked. The present fMRI study evaluated the role of such deliberate control in empathic concern by examining the extent to which a sample of offenders recruited through probation/parole could voluntarily modulate their neural activity to another person in pain. Offenders were asked to either passively view pictures of other people in painful or non-painful situations, or to actively modulate their level of concern for the person in pain. During passive viewing of painful versus non-painful pictures, offenders showed minimal neural activity in regions previously linked to empathy for pain (e.g., dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and bilateral insula). However, when instructed to try to increase their concern for the person in pain, offenders demonstrated significant increases within these regions. These findings are consistent with recent theories of empathy as motivational in nature, and suggest that limitations in empathic concern may include a motivational component.
Discover and Tame Long-running Idling Processes in Enterprise Systems

Reducing attack surface is an effective preventive measure to strengthen security in large systems. However, it is challenging to apply this idea in an enterprise environment where systems are complex and evolving over time. In this paper, we empirically analyze and measure a real enterprise to identify unused services that expose attack surface. Interestingly, such unused services are known to exist and summarized by security best practices, yet such solutions require significant manual effort. We propose an automated approach to accurately detect the idling (most likely unused) services that are in either blocked or bookkeeping states. The idea is to identify repeating events with perfect time alignment, which is the indication of being idling. We implement this idea by developing a novel statistical algorithm based on autocorrelation with time information incorporated. From our measurement results, we find that 88.5% of the detected idling services can be constrained with a simple syscall-based policy, which confines the process behaviors within its bookkeeping states. In addition, working with two IT departments (one of which is a cross validation), we receive positive feedbacks which show that about 30.6% of such services can be safely disabled or uninstalled directly. In the future, the IT department plan to incorporate the results to build a "smaller" OS installation image. Finally, we believe our measurement results raise the awareness of the potential security risks of idling services.
Mucoadhesive buccal drug delivery: An Overview

INTRODUCTION Among all dosage form, oral route is more preferred to patient. The per oral route of administration of drug has disadvantages hepatic first pass metabolism and enzymatic degradation within the GI tract, that eliminate oral administration of certain classes of drugs like peptides and proteins. [1] Transmucosal routes of drug delivery offer distinct advantages over per oral administration for systemic drug delivery. Mucoadhesion is define as drug delivery system that utilize the property of bioadhesion of certain watersoluble polymers which become adhesive on hydration and hence can be used for targeting a drug to a particular region of the body for an extended period of time. [2] The transmucosal delivery of drug can involve the mucosal lining of buccal, sublingual, nasal, vaginal, rectal and ocular. Among that oral mucosa is perhaps most convenient and preferred route for drug delivery. [3] The buccal mucosa lines the inner cheek and buccal formulations are positioned in the mouth sandwiched between the upper gingival (gums) and cheek to treat local and systemic conditions. The buccal route offers one of the potential routes for typically hydrophilic, large and unstable proteins, oligonucleotides and polysaccharides, as well as conventional small drug molecules. The oral cavity is mostly preferred site for local and systemic drug delivery. Adhesion of bioadhesive formulation leads to increase concentration gradient of drug across absorption site and therefore improve dosage form bioavailability. That has been used for local and systemic disorder to reduce dose requirement and side effects. [4]Drug Compounds having partition co-efficient in the range 40-20000 and pka 2-10 are considered optimal to be given through buccal drug delivery. [5] Advantages of Buccal drug delivery [6] • It avoids hepatic first-pass metabolism. • Ease of administration of dosage form. • It can be administered to unconscious patient • Fast onset of action. • Patient compliance is more. • Drugs which are not stable in the acidic environment and destroyed by enzymatic or alkaline environment of intestine can be administered by this route. • It deals with a passive system of drug absorption and does not require any activation Review Article
Local transmural action potential gradients are absent in the isolated, intact dog heart but present in the corresponding coronary‐perfused wedge

The left ventricular (LV) coronary‐perfused canine wedge preparation is a model commonly used for studying cardiac repolarization. In wedge studies, transmembrane potentials typically are recorded; whereas, extracellular electrical recordings are commonly used in intact hearts. We compared electrically measured activation recovery interval (ARI) patterns in the intact heart with those recorded at the same location in the LV wedge preparation. We also compared electrically recorded and optically obtained ARIs in the LV wedge preparation. Five Langendorff‐perfused canine hearts were paced from the right atrium. Local activation and repolarization times were measured with eight transmural needle electrodes. Subsequently, left ventricular coronary‐perfused wedge preparations were prepared from these hearts while the electrodes remained in place. Three electrodes remained at identical positions as in the intact heart. Both electrograms and optical action potentials were recorded (pacing cycle length 400–4000 msec) and activation and repolarization patterns were analyzed. ARIs found in the subepicardium were shorter than in the subendocardium in the LV wedge preparation but not in the intact heart. The transmural ARI gradient recorded at the cut surface of the wedge was not different from that recorded internally. ARIs recorded internally and at the cut surface in the LV wedge preparation, both correlated with optically recorded action potentials. ARI and RT gradients in the LV wedge preparation differed from those in the intact canine heart, implying that those observations in human LV wedge preparations also should be extrapolated to the intact human heart with caution.
Modeling and Optimization of the IEEE 802.15.4 Protocol for Reliable and Timely Communications

Distributed processing through ad hoc and sensor networks is having a major impact on scale and applications of computing. The creation of new cyber-physical services based on wireless sensor devices relies heavily on how well communication protocols can be adapted and optimized to meet quality constraints under limited energy resources. The IEEE 802.15. 4 medium access control protocol for wireless sensor networks can support energy efficient, reliable, and timely packet transmission by a parallel and distributed tuning of the medium access control parameters. Such a tuning is difficult, because simple and accurate models of the influence of these parameters on the probability of successful packet transmission, packet delay, and energy consumption are not available. Moreover, it is not clear how to adapt the parameters to the changes of the network and traffic regimes by algorithms that can run on resource-constrained devices. In this paper, a Markov chain is proposed to model these relations by simple expressions without giving up the accuracy. In contrast to previous work, the presence of limited number of retransmissions, acknowledgments, unsaturated traffic, packet size, and packet copying delay due to hardware limitations is accounted for. The model is then used to derive a distributed adaptive algorithm for minimizing the power consumption while guaranteeing a given successful packet reception probability and delay constraints in the packet transmission. The algorithm does not require any modification of the IEEE 802.15. 4 medium access control and can be easily implemented on network devices. The algorithm has been experimentally implemented and evaluated on a testbed with off-the-shelf wireless sensor devices. Experimental results show that the analysis is accurate, that the proposed algorithm satisfies reliability and delay constraints, and that the approach reduces the energy consumption of the network under both stationary and transient conditions. Specifically, even if the number of devices and traffic configuration change sharply, the proposed parallel and distributed algorithm allows the system to operate close to its optimal state by estimating the busy channel and channel access probabilities. Furthermore, results indicate that the protocol reacts promptly to errors in the estimation of the number of devices and in the traffic load that can appear due to device mobility. It is also shown that the effect of imperfect channel and carrier sensing on system performance heavily depends on the traffic load and limited range of the protocol parameters.
Improving ROLO lunar albedo model using PLEIADES-HR satellites extra-terrestrial observations

The accurate on orbit radiometric calibration of optical sensors has become a challenge for space agencies which have developed different technics involving on-board calibration systems, ground targets or extra-terrestrial targets. The combination of different approaches and targets is recommended whenever possible and necessary to reach or demonstrate a high accuracy. Among these calibration targets, the moon is widely used through the well-known ROLO (RObotic Lunar Observatory) model developed by USGS. A great and worldwide recognized work was done to characterize the moon albedo which is very stable. However the more and more demanding needs for calibration accuracy have reached the limitations of the model. This paper deals with two mains limitations: the residual error when modelling the phase angle dependency and the absolute accuracy of the model which is no more acceptable for the on orbit calibration of radiometers. Thanks to PLEIADES high resolution satellites agility, a significant data base of moon and stars images was acquired, allowing to show the limitations of ROLO model and to characterize the errors. The phase angle residual dependency is modelled using PLEIADES 1B images acquired for different quasi-complete moon cycles with a phase angle varying by less than 1°. The absolute albedo residual error is modelled using PLEIADES 1A images taken over stars and the moon. The accurate knowledge of the stars spectral irradiance is transferred to the moon spectral albedo using the satellite as a transfer radiometer. This paper describes the data set used, the ROLO model residual errors and their modelling, the quality of the proposed correction and show some calibration results using this improved model.
Assessment of Immunomodulatory Activity of the Biofield Energy Treated Novel Herbomineral Formulation After Oral Administration in Female Sprague Dawley Rats

The use of an herbomineral formulation in the healthcare sector for different chronic diseases is gaining popularity due to its fewer side-effects, high safety profile, and cost effectiveness. A new proprietary herbomineral formulation was formulated, consisting of four essential ingredients viz. herbal (ashwagandha root extract) and minerals (zinc chloride, magnesium gluconate, and sodium selenate). The objective of this study was to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of the Biofield Energy Treated test formulation on female Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. The test formulation was divided into two parts; one was represented as control, while the other part was treated with the Biofield Energy Healing Treatment remotely by renowned Biofield Energy Healers (The Trivedi Effect®) and defined as the Biofield Energy Treated formulation. The effect of the test formulation was monitored using humoral immune response, delayed type hypersensitivity, hematology, biochemistry, relative organ weight, and histopathology. The primary hemagglutination (HA) antibody titre level was significantly (p≤0.05) increased by 185.88% in the Biofield Energy Treated group (G3); while 41.18% increased in the untreated test formulation group (G4) as compared to the disease control group (G2). The secondary HA titre was significantly increased by 540% (p≤0.001) and 166.7% in the G3 and G4 groups, respectively as compared to the G2 group. The secondary HA titre was also increased significantly (p≤0.05) by 193% in the Biofield Energy Treated group per se at day -15 (G6), as compared to the G2 group. The paw volume data showed an alteration in the G3 and G6 groups as compared to the G2 group. The platelet count was significantly increased by 11.16% and 8.69% in the G3 and G4 groups, respectively as compared to the G2 group. The magnesium level was increased by 9.31% in the G3 group as compared to the G2 group. The uric acid was significantly reduced by 23.88% in the G3 group; while it was increased by 17.47% in the G4 group as compared to the G2 group. Since, the relative organ weight and histopathological findings did not produce any signs of toxicity as compared to the normal control group (G1). These data suggested that the Biofield Energy Treated herbomineral formulation was found to be safe and showed better immunomodulatory response as compared to the untreated formulation. Thus, it is assumed that the Biofield Energy Treated herbomineral formulation could be better and more useful to boost-up the immune system in healthy human and patients.
Preliminary development of the new individualized HDQoL questionnaire measuring quality of life in adult hypopituitarism.

OBJECTIVES The objectives were (1) to report the preliminary development of the Hormone Deficiency-dependent Quality of Life (HDQoL) questionnaire, a new individualized questionnaire in which respondents rate personally applicable domains for importance and impact of hormonal deficiency and its treatment; (2) to evaluate the HDQoL's psychometric properties for adults with hypopituitarism including growth hormone deficiency (GHD). METHODS Internal consistency reliability, aspects of validity, and sensitivity to change of the HDQoL were investigated in: (1) a cross-sectional survey of 157 adults with treated or untreated GHD; (2) a randomized, placebo-controlled study of 3 months' growth hormone (GH) withdrawal from 12 of 21 GH-treated adults. RESULTS Thirteen of the original 18 HDQoL domains were relevant and important for GH-deficient adults. The shorter 13-item HDQoL had excellent internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.914, n = 109), and was sensitive to sex differences (cross-sectional study): women perceived worse present QoL than men [t(149.8) = 2.33, P = 0.021]. The HDQoL was sensitive to change (GH-withdrawal study) with a significant between-group difference in change in domain scores for things I can do physically[t(16) = 2.47, P = 0.025, 2-tailed], patients withdrawn from GH reporting greater negative impact of hormone deficiency on this domain at end-point. Qualitative work resulted in the addition of seven new HDQoL domains, including energy and bodily pain. CONCLUSION The HDQoL, although at an early stage of development, proved useful in identifying expected changes following GH withdrawal. The extended 20-item version is recommended for further evaluation in assessing the impact of hypopituitarism on QoL.