Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RAKE performance for a pulse based UWB system in a realistic UWB indoor channel

The performance of a RAKE receiver for a pulse based ultra-wideband (UWB) communications system is studied in a realistic channel model that is based on an extensive set of indoor channel measurements. The RAKE receiver is shown to contribute to a mitigation of the ISI. In particular, at low input SNR values and small number of RAKE taps, it is shown that employing additional RAKE taps for energy capture is more important to overall system performance than employing equalization to combat the ISI. The performance of the RAKE with some realistic channel estimation errors is also studied.
Students Motivations For Voluntary Remedial Learning In High School

Most high schools offer remedial learning sessions to their students; however, very little is known about the perception of these activities, especially with regards to the students motivations. In order to gain insights into both topics, an exploratory study was conducted within a sample of 1388 high school students in the Province of Quebec (Canada). Participants were selected on the basis of their voluntary participation or non-participation in remedial learning sessions held at school. School motivation was measured with a questionnaire based on Deci and Ryans SDT (Self Determination Theory); perceptions were gathered and measured with open-ended and multiple choice items. Quantitative results indicated that participants of remedial learning sessions were more strongly motivated towards school. No significant relationships were found between attendance and grades, with similar proportions of high, average and below average participating and non-participating students; however, among participants, girls outnumbered boys by 2:1. Two main categories emerged from qualitative analyses: remedial learning can be seen as: a) an instrumental support linked to the subject matter; or b) a relational support which fosters better learning.
Drosophila melanogaster Mini Spindles TOG3 Utilizes Unique Structural Elements to Promote Domain Stability and Maintain a TOG1- and TOG2-like Tubulin-binding Surface*

Background: XMAP215 family members contain arrayed TOG domains that promote microtubule polymerization. Results: TOG3 has a unique architecture that positions conserved residues in a TOG1- and TOG2-like tubulin-binding mode. Conclusion: TOG1, TOG2, and TOG3 have similar architectures and predicted tubulin-binding modes that contrast with TOG4. Significance: XMAP215 family members use a structurally diverse, polarized TOG domain array to promote microtubule polymerization. Microtubule-associated proteins regulate microtubule (MT) dynamics spatially and temporally, which is essential for proper formation of the bipolar mitotic spindle. The XMAP215 family is comprised of conserved microtubule-associated proteins that use an array of tubulin-binding tumor overexpressed gene (TOG) domains, consisting of six (A–F) Huntingtin, elongation factor 3, protein phosphatase 2A, target of rapamycin (HEAT) repeats, to robustly increase MT plus-end polymerization rates. Recent work showed that TOG domains have differentially conserved architectures across the array, with implications for position-dependent TOG domain tubulin binding activities and function within the XMAP215 MT polymerization mechanism. Although TOG domains 1, 2, and 4 are well described, structural and mechanistic information characterizing TOG domains 3 and 5 is outstanding. Here, we present the structure and characterization of Drosophila melanogaster Mini spindles (Msps) TOG3. Msps TOG3 has two unique features as follows: the first is a C-terminal tail that stabilizes the ultimate four HEAT repeats (HRs), and the second is a unique architecture in HR B. Structural alignments of TOG3 with other TOG domain structures show that the architecture of TOG3 is most similar to TOG domains 1 and 2 and diverges from TOG4. Docking TOG3 onto recently solved Stu2 TOG1· and TOG2·tubulin complex structures suggests that TOG3 uses similarly conserved tubulin-binding intra-HEAT loop residues to engage α- and β-tubulin. This indicates that TOG3 has maintained a TOG1- and TOG2-like TOG-tubulin binding mode despite structural divergence. The similarity of TOG domains 1–3 and the divergence of TOG4 suggest that a TOG domain array with polarized structural diversity may play a key mechanistic role in XMAP215-dependent MT polymerization activity.
Studying on Conductivity of Cardiac Tissues in Magnetocardiography

Two approaches, indirectly estimate and directly calculate the conductivity of cardiac tissues, were studied by using real magnetocardiography (MCG) data. The first approach is to estimate the magnetic induction produced by the volume current firstly, then, to calculate the conductivity. The second approach is to directly calculate the conductivity. Our results verified that the effective cardiac conductivity could be reasonably close to that was measured by other methods. The cardiac conductivity of normal and abnormal subjects from an experimental point of view was also discussed.
Maximum likelihood BPSK and QPSK classifier in fading environment using the EM algorithm

Modulation classification is to identify the modulation type of a received signal automatically. It is a promising technique that can increase the throughput of adaptive modulation systems such as IEEE 802.11 and HIPERLAN systems. While a variety of approaches have been proposed for modulation classification, most of them rely on the unrealistic assumption that the channel is additive white Gaussian noise channel. This paper presents an algorithm using hybrid likelihood ratio test for BPSK and QPSK classification in multipath fading environment. The unknown channel coefficients are first estimated blindly using the EM algorithm. The estimates are then used in likelihood ratio test for classification. Simulations show that the proposed classifier has high accuracy and is superior to the classifier that does not take the channel distortion into account. An added advantage of the proposed algorithm is that the maximum likelihood estimate of the channel coefficients can be used in equalization and data demodulation
Clinical profile of children with Down syndrome treated in a genetics outpatient service in the southeast of Brazil.

OBJECTIVE Considering that studies about the frequencies of phenotypic features of Down syndrome (DS) in the Brazilian population with large ethnic variability are scarce in literature, this study analyzed clinical and demographic characteristics of DS children from the Southeastern region of Brazil. METHODS Sixty-two DS children with free trisomy 21 were evaluated by physical examination using reference values that considered the children s gender and age at their presentation. Data about clinical complications were collected by retrospective analysis of the children's medical records and/or information supplied by their mothers. Statistical analysis was performed using Likelihood Ratio Test, with significance level less or equal to 5%. RESULTS Clinical features observed in more than 90% of the individuals were flat facial profile, brachycephaly, slanted palpebral fissures, hypotonia at birth and flat nasal bridge. Congenital heart disease was present in 56.5% of the cases, verbal language acquisition disorder in 87%, and global delayed development in 77.8%. CONCLUSION The comparison between our data and related literature showed a great variability of the phenotype features frequencies of DS among studies. Besides environmental factors, this can reflect individual as well as population characteristics.
The parameter of aspect in second language acquisition

The goal of this article is to present a detailed study of the second language acquisition (SLA) of English aspect by native speakers of Slavic languages. A parameterized distinction between English and Slavic aspect accounts for the subtle differences between English and Slavic telic and atelic sentences. Based on a syntax-theoretical treatment of aspect, the article investigates the process of SLA of aspect in Slavic speakers at three levels of proficiency in English: low intermediate, high intermediate and advanced. Second language (L2) learners are found to be capable of resetting the aspectual parameter value to the English setting, thus successfully acquiring a property of language almost never taught in language classrooms. The article also studies the acquisition of a cluster of constructions, which syntactic research relates to the English value of the aspectual parameter, and which have been found to appear together in the speech of English children (Snyder and Stromswold, 1997): double objects, verb–particles and resultatives. Results indicate that each of these constructions forms part of this aspect-related cluster and that knowledge of aspect and knowledge of the cluster co-occur. The results of the experimental study bring new evidence to bear on the theoretical choice between direct access to the L2 value (Epstein et al., 1996; Flynn, 1996) or starting out the process of acquisition with the L1 value of a parameter (Schwartz & Sprouse, 1994;1996),supporting the latter view.
Psychophysiology and psychopathology: a motivational approach.

The current zeitgeist strongly emphasizes genetic and biochemical approaches to psychopathology over psychological and psychobiological approaches. It is argued that a psychobiological model, involving a theory of motivation derived from the animal learning literature, offers an attractive theoretical bridge between neurochemical influences and the phenotypic features of psychiatric disorders. This model involves separate but interactive appetitive and aversive motivational systems that control behavioral activation (appetitive) and inhibition (aversive). Ways in which these motivational constructs can be relevant to psychopathology are discussed for anxiety, psychopathy, childhood disorders, depression, mania, drug abuse, and schizophrenia. Because of this general application, motivational constructs offer an attractive theoretical framework for understanding psychopathology. Application of the motivational theory to psychophysiology suggested that heart rate may be significantly influenced by appetitive motivation. A series of studies have shown that heart rate during performance of a continuous motor task does respond to appetitive motivation in the form of performance-contingent monetary incentives, but does not respond to aversive stimulation in the form of failure feedback. Nonspecific skin conductance fluctuations have not responded to appetitive motivation in this paradigm, but this failure could possibly be due to ceiling effects. Nonspecific skin conductance fluctuations do respond to aversive stimulation in other contexts. These findings suggest that under the right circumstances appetitive motivation can be assessed via heart rate and aversive motivation via skin conductance.
Parents’ perception of Effective Components of a Parenting Programme for Parents of Adolescents in Hong Kong

The present study investigates participating parents’ perception of the effectiveness of the components of a parenting programme aimed at reducing parent-adolescent conflicts in Hong Kong. Sixty-five parents of adolescents completed a four-week parenting programme of two hours per week. They responded to a questionnaire concerning the usefulness of the components of the programme. After responding to the questionnaire, they were invited to attend a semi-structured interview to express their views on the components of the programme. The result indicates that participants found self-reflection, discussion among participants and listening to facilitators’ advice to be the three most important components of the programme. They also benefited from learning communication skills and more about adolescents’ development. Nevertheless, the granting of autonomy and conflict resolution skills were not totally acceptable to Chinese parents. The present study indicates culturally sensitive components of parenting programmes for Chinese in Hong Kong.
Cardiac 123I‐Meta‐iodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy and lewy body pathology in a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and parkinsonism–dementia complex of Kii, Japan

After its initial description in 1967, the existence of benign hereditary chorea (BHC) was questioned when patients originally reported as having BHC had their diagnosis revised, most commonly to myoclonus-dystonia (M-D), largely based on clinical phenomenological features. Subsequent gene discovery confirmed that despite some similarities, BHC and M-D are distinct diseases. We present a case with genetically proven BHC who had typical childhood chorea, but progressed to a myoclonic syndrome more suggestive of M-D in adulthood.
Association between Bone Mineral Density and Clinical Consequences: Cross-Sectional Study of Korean Postmenopausal Women in an Orthopaedic Outpatient Clinic

This study is to identify the characteristics of BMD and the related clinical consequences through a nationwide, consecutive, cross-sectional study. A total of 1,281 postmenopausal women was enrolled nationwide and underwent measurement for BMD using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Following the T-spine and L-spine plane radiography, they were evaluated for vertebral fracture by a semi-quantitative method using the Genant's method. Relationship between BMD and osteoporotic fracture and a degree of deformity in vertebral fracture, treatment history in osteoporosis and the EQ-5D was analyzed. The distribution of the normal, osteopenia and osteoporosis group was 25.9%, 37.0%, and 37.2% in lumbar spine, and 31.4%, 45.3%, and 23.3% in femur neck, respectively. BMD in subjects with symptomatic or asymptomatic vertebral fracture was significantly lower than those without fracture. The femur neck and total hip BMDs were significantly lower in hip fracture group (0.646 g/cm2 and 0.643 g/cm2, respectively) and wrist fracture group (0.661 g/cm2 and 0.712 g/cm2, respectively) than in subjects without fracture (0.721 g/cm2 and 0.712 g/cm2, respectively). The BMD was significantly lower with more severe degree of deformity in vertebral fracture and lower scores in mobility, usual activities and pain/discomfort of the EQ-5D. In Korean postmenopausal women, the prevalence of osteoporosis and vertebral, hip and wrist fracture increase and quality of life decreases with lower BMD. Graphical Abstract
On Quadratic Convergence of DC Proximal Newton Algorithm in Nonconvex Sparse Learning

We propose a DC proximal Newton algorithm for solving nonconvex regularized sparse learning problems in high dimensions. Our proposed algorithm integrates the proximal Newton algorithm with multi-stage convex relaxation based on the difference of convex (DC) programming, and enjoys both strong computational and statistical guarantees. Specifically, by leveraging a sophisticated characterization of sparse modeling structures/assumptions (i.e., local restricted strong convexity and Hessian smoothness), we prove that within each stage of convex relaxation, our proposed algorithm achieves (local) quadratic convergence, and eventually obtains a sparse approximate local optimum with optimal statistical properties after only a few convex relaxations. Numerical experiments are provided to support our theory.
Generating Factoid Questions With Recurrent Neural Networks: The 30M Factoid Question-Answer Corpus

Over the past decade, large-scale supervised learning corpora have enabled machine learning researchers to make substantial advances. However, to this date, there are no large-scale question-answer corpora available. In this paper we present the 30M Factoid Question-Answer Corpus, an enormous question answer pair corpus produced by applying a novel neural network architecture on the knowledge base Freebase to transduce facts into natural language questions. The produced question answer pairs are evaluated both by human evaluators and using automatic evaluation metrics, including well-established machine translation and sentence similarity metrics. Across all evaluation criteria the question-generation model outperforms the competing template-based baseline. Furthermore, when presented to human evaluators, the generated questions appear comparable in quality to real human-generated questions.
Occupational back pain among schoolteachers in Jordan: estimated prevalence and factors associated with self-reported pain and work limitations

Purpose. To investigate the point prevalence of upper back pain and lower back pain in Jordanian schoolteachers and to estimate the work-related reported disability. Method. A cross-sectional survey was used to assess back pain in a convenience sample of teachers in Jordan. Crude and weighted prevalence estimates of self-reported spinal pain and limited productivity were described. Demographic and occupational factors associated with self-reported pain and limited productivity were identified by multinomial/logistic regression. Results. Crude rates differed by gender, geographic location, school funding and grade levels of teaching. Weighted estimates for self-reported pain were 46% for females and 36% for males. Pain with limitation was 55% for males and 49% for females. Pain without limitation was associated with female gender (odds ratio [OR] = 5.26). Pain with limitations was associated with female gender (OR = 2.92), teaching in public school (OR = 2.06) and body mass index (OR = 1.1). Among subjects with pain, limitations were associated with male gender (OR = 2.34), teaching in public school (OR = 3.18) and pain in both upper and lower back (OR = 4.64). Conclusions. Pain and occupational limitations are highly prevalent in schoolteachers in Jordan.
Novel lipophilic probe for detecting near-membrane reactive oxygen species responses and its application for studies of pancreatic acinar cells: effects of pyocyanin and L-ornithine.

AIMS The aim of this study was to develop a fluorescent reactive oxygen species (ROS) probe, which is preferentially localized in cellular membranes and displays a strong change in fluorescence upon oxidation. We also aimed to test the performance of this probe for detecting pathophysiologically relevant ROS responses in isolated cells. RESULTS We introduced a novel lipophilic ROS probe dihydrorhodamine B octadecyl ester (H2RB-C18). We then applied the new probe to characterize the ROS changes triggered by inducers of acute pancreatitis in pancreatic acinar cells. We resolved ROS changes produced by L-ornithine, L-arginine, cholecystokinin-8, acetylcholine, taurolithocholic acid 3-sulfate, palmitoleic acid ethyl ester, and the bacterial toxin pyocyanin. Particularly prominent ROS responses were induced by pyocyanin and L-ornithine. These ROS responses were accompanied by changes in cytosolic Ca(2+)concentration ([Ca(2+)]i), mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ), and NAD(P)H concentration. INNOVATION The study describes a novel sensitive lipophilic ROS probe. The probe is particularly suitable for detecting ROS in near-membrane regions and therefore for reporting the ROS environment of plasma membrane channels and pumps. CONCLUSIONS In our experimental conditions, the novel probe was more sensitive than 5-(and-6)-chloromethyl-2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein (CM-H2DCF) and dihydrorhodamine123 (H2R123) and allowed us to resolve ROS responses to secretagogues, pyocyanin, and L-ornithine. Changes in the fluorescence of the new probe were particularly prominent in the peripheral plasma membrane-associated regions. Our findings suggest that the new probe will be a useful tool in studies of the contribution of ROS to the pathophysiology of exocrine pancreas and other organs/tissues.
Evidence for a Premature Termination Mechanism of Subgenomic mRNA Transcription in a Carmovirus

ABSTRACT The transcriptional mechanism utilized by turnip crinkle carmovirus to synthesize subgenomic (sg) mRNAs was investigated by analyzing viral RNAs and their associated regulatory RNA elements. In vivo analyses revealed the following: (i) that minus-strand sg RNAs are detectable in infections, (ii) that minus-strand sg RNA accumulation can be partially uncoupled from that of their plus-strand sg mRNA counterparts, and (iii) that an RNA secondary structure located upstream of the sg mRNA start site mediates transcription by functioning in the plus strand of the viral genome. Collectively, these observations are consistent with this carmovirus using a premature termination mechanism for sg mRNA transcription.
Human Macrophages, but Not Dendritic Cells, Are Activated and Produce Alpha/Beta Interferons in Response to Mopeia Virus Infection

ABSTRACT Lassa virus (LV) and Mopeia virus (MV) are closely related members of the Arenavirus genus, sharing 75% amino acid sequence identity. However, LV causes hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates, whereas MV cannot induce disease. We have previously shown that antigen-presenting cells (APC)—macrophages (MP) and dendritic cells (DC)—sustain high replication rates of LV but are not activated, suggesting that they play a role in the immunosuppression observed in severe cases of Lassa fever. Here, we infected human APC with MV and analyzed the cellular responses induced. MV infection was productive in MP and even more so in DC. Apoptosis was not induced in either cell type. Moreover, unlike DC, MP were early and strongly activated in response to MV, as shown by the increased surface expression of CD86, CD80, CD54, CD40, and HLA-abc and by the production of mRNA encoding alpha interferon (IFN-α), IFN-β, tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6. In addition, MV-infected MP produced less of the virus than DC, which was related to the fact that these cells secreted IFN-α. Thus, the strong activation of MP is probably a major event in the control of MV infection and may be involved in the induction of an adaptive immune response in infected hosts. These results may explain the difference in pathogenicity between LV and MV.
Emotional Expressivity and Loneliness in Religious and Moral Studies Education Students

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between emotional expressivity and loneliness. Participants of the study were 339 university students. Of the participants 175 were female and 164 were male. The Berkeley Emotional Expressivity Scale and the UCLA Loneliness Scale were used as measures. The relationships between emotional expressivity and loneliness were examined using correlation analysis and the hypothesis model was tested through structural equation modeling. In correlation analysis, loneliness was negatively related to both total emotional expressivity scores (r=-.52) and to subscales of emotional expressivity (positive expressivity r=-.57, negative expressivity r=-.38, impulse strength r=-.28). The structural model demonstrated excellent fit (χ 2 =277.46, p =.00000, GFI =.94, AGFI =.93, CFI =.98, IFI =.98, NFI =.96, RFI =.95, and RMSEA =.047) and also accounted 68% of loneliness variances. According to path analysis results, loneliness was predicted negatively by positive expressivity, negative expressivity, impulse strength, and total emotional expressivity scores.