Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy as a Commodity: Enhancing the Sum-Rate of MISO Interference Channels via Energy Cooperation

Cooperation among network devices is envisioned to be a key enabler for the expected performance increase brought by the deployment of future 5G networks. In practice, new interesting opportunities for both smart signal processing and resource allocation in interference channels (ICs) are made possible by means of cooperative strategies. In this work, we propose a novel notion of cooperation for future 5G networks in which not only information but also energy is shared among the devices involved in the communication. In particular, we envision deployment policies for heterogeneous networks where transceivers may not have access to fixed power supplies. As a first study in this direction, we assess the impact of energy sharing paradigms by considering a target system of two multi-antenna transmitters serving their associated receivers by means of beamforming strategies based on a linear combination of maximal ratio transmission and zero forcing. We first characterize the achievable rate region for the resulting two-user multiple-input single-output (MISO) IC. Subsequently, relying on a parametric model of the system, we provide a closed-form expression for the optimal energy cooperation policy that maximizes the sum-rate with a QoS requirement on the transmitter that donates energy. Finally, numerical results show that parameters for which the energy cooperation policy preserves or improves the sum-rate of the two-user MISO IC can always be found.
Evidential Grid-Based Tracking and Mapping

Tracking and mapping the local environment form the basis of an autonomous vehicle system. They are often realized separately using occupancy grids, which do not require object or shape assumptions, and model-based object tracking algorithms. Many approaches require a binary classification of the sensor measurements into coming from a static or from a dynamic object, as otherwise inconsistencies between the different representations are likely to occur. This paper presents grid-based tracking and mapping (GTAM), a low-level grid-based approach that simultaneously estimates the static and the dynamic environment, their uncertainties, velocities, as well as information about free space. GTAM works on the level of grid cells, rather than creating object hypotheses. A particle filter is used to obtain continuous cell velocity distributions for all obstacles. Continuous evidences in a Dempster–Shafer model are derived without requiring a binary pre-classification of the sensor measurements. Results and evaluations using a vehicle moving in real dynamic street environments demonstrate the performance of the presented approach.
MOTIVATION AND REWARDS TO HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

Users of the public or private health systems are demanding a better quality in the provision of these services.However, health professionals are not recognized as the key link to improve these systems. This theoretical essayaimed to identify and describe the motivational factors and analyze the pay for performance of healthprofessionals. Given the findings, we propose grants to improve care and satisfaction of users and professionalsas: a) to recognize good performance to the extent that the effort is expended; b) to allow professionals to selfmanagetheir work; c) to allow challenges and development opportunities as a career plan and compatibleposition and salary; d) to reward according to the individual motivation; e) to provide adequate infrastructure andworking conditions and; f) to provide, financial and non-financial incentives. DOI: 10.21714/2178-8030gep.v17i1. 3534
Purine Metabolism and Clinical Status of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated with Dipyridamole

The anti-inflammatory activities of methotrexate and sulphasalazine may be mediated by increases in endogenous adenosine levels. Since the vascular protective drug dipyridamole inhibits the uptake and metabolism of adenosine we have now tested this compound in patients with rheumatoid arthritis to assess its effects on their symptoms. Forty patients (aged 18–75 years) received dipyridamole 400 mg/day or placebo. The levels of adenosine and its major metabolites were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in blood samples taken at baseline and at monthly intervals during treatment for 6 months. After three months of treatment there was a significant reduction in the modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ) score, but these effects were not maintained, and dipyridamole did not modify disease severity scores or the levels of adenosine and its metabolites. We conclude that the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis were not modified by treatment with dipyridamole.
Isolated character recognition using projections of oriented gradients

In this paper, we present a new approach for off-line isolated character recognition. The proposed method relies upon the application of a projection-based feature extraction stage, which resembles the Radon transform, on both the original image and a set of generated images corresponding to different gradient orientations of the original image. For the classification stage, Support Vectors Machines (SVM) are used. The proposed method is evaluated using one typewritten (GRPOLY-DB - Historical Greek) and two handwritten (CIL - Greek, CEDAR - English) publicly available databases. Experimental results prove the efficiency of the proposed method compared to several state-of-the-art techniques.
Adherence to combination antiretroviral treatment and clinical outcomes in a Medicaid sample of older HIV-infected adults

ABSTRACT The adherence threshold for combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has historically been set at 95% or greater. We examined whether different levels of cART adherence (≥95% [optimal adherence], 90–94%, 80–89%, and <80%) were associated with different clinical outcomes (emergency department visits [ED visits] and duration of hospital admission) in a sample of older (50–64 years) persons living with HIV (PLWH). Medicaid data from 29 US states (n = 5177) were used for this study. cART adherence was measured and data regarding relevant covariates, such as race, sex, age, urbanicity, and comorbidity were obtained. Descriptive statistics were conducted to characterize study participants. We conducted univariate and multivariable regression analyses to evaluate the association between cART adherence and ED visits and duration of hospital admission while adjusting for covariates (race, sex, age, urbanicity, and comorbidity). Approximately 32% of all participants (n = 5177) reported optimal cART adherence (≥95%). After adjusting for covariates, only participants who reported <80% adherence were more likely to have an ED visit (adjusted odds ratio = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.08–1.48, p < .0001) and a longer duration of hospital admission (regression coefficient = 1.24, 95% CI = 0.53–1.96, p = .0007) when compared to participants who reported ≥95% adherence. There were no significant differences in likelihood of having an ED visit and longer duration of hospital admission between participants who reported ≥95% adherence and participants who reported 90–94% adherence and 80–89% adherence. Significant differences by covariates were observed. Adverse clinical outcomes were associated with low cART adherence (<80%) among older PLWH, though they did not differ between optimal and moderate cART adherence (90–94% and 80–89%). Although optimal cART adherence is an important goal, clinical outcomes in older PLWH may not differ between moderate and optimal cART adherence.
End-to-End Performance of Satellite Mobile Communications with Multi-Beam Interference

In this paper, we study the communication between terrestrial source and destination terminals via a geosynchronous (GEO) multi-beam satellite in satellite mobile communication (SMC) system. The end-to-end transmission is modeled by a relaying process, in which inter-beam interference plays a key role due to frequency reuse among adjacent beam cells and side-lobe leaking of practical beam antenna. Through theoretic analysis we obtain the closed-form expressions of end-to-end outage probability and system achievable throughput as the major performance metrics. Both theoretic and simulation results, which coincide well with each other under diverse beam frequency planning, suggest that reuse factor of 1/3 is an appropriate compromise between system throughput and reliability in the GEO SMC system.
Sustainability Entrepreneurship and Equitable Transitions to a Low-Carbon Economy

47 Sustainability-driven entrepreneurs design ventures with the primary intention of contributing to improved environmental quality and social well-being in ways that are mutually supportive. It has been suggested that these entrepreneurs can function as important catalysts to larger-scale socioeconomic structural transformations toward sustainability. However, the actual mechanisms underlying such a role are empirically under-researched and theoretically underdeveloped. In this study we investigate the possible catalytic role of sustainability entrepreneurship in the equitable transition to a low-carbon economy. We do this by developing a co-evolutionary framework that links the interactive dynamics of change in technologies, institutions and business strategies, and use this framework to analyse an empirical case study of NativeEnergy, an innovative, for-profit, marketing and finance company launched in the context of the evolving US energy industry. The article concludes by assessing the more general lessons that may be drawn about the role of sustainability entrepreneurs as catalysts to socioeconomic structural transformations. Entrepreneurship
Raspberry MoCA : an Automated Penetration Platform

Media Over Coaxial Alliance (MoCA) is a protocol encapsulating Ethernet protocols over coaxial cabling common to interior television wiring. Previous work discussed the vulnerabilities presented by common implementations of the protocol. In this paper, these vulnerabilities are realized with the development of Raspberry MoCA, an embedded device that provides a drop-in, automated exploitation kit which can be installed outside the target structure in less than five minutes, providing remote access and complete control over the connecting LAN.
Nanoscale bondability between Cu-Al intermetallic compound for Cu wirebonding

In this paper, the interfacial nanoscale bondability between copper (Cu) and Aluminum (Al) intermetallic compound (IMC) for Cu wirebonding has been carefully investigated. Preliminary results demonstrated that IMC cracks from the edge of bonding interface and spreads into the center area. This is the cause of open fail. The IMC between Cu and Al was initially generated in the form of CuAl2, and gradually increased the content of Cu and turned into CuAl when the working temperature was increased. The final stage of IMC growth is Cu9Al4 and the aluminum pad will be vanished as the result of Cu diffusivity. Nanoscale atomic modulus and rupture strength are predicted by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Atomic-level tensile stress and tensile strain are predicted to examine the IMC bonding strength along the bonding interface. Temperature and tensile speed are two major factors on determining the bonding strength. Material in high temperature has greater kinetic energy and has better formability. Higher pulling speed in tensile test would results in material easier fracture. Interfacial fracture is different in different tensile speed as well as the working temperature. Nano-indentation tests demonstrate an excellent agreement with the MD simulation. A series of comprehensive s studies are conducted in the present research.
Lightning return strokes to tall towers: Ability of engineering models to reproduce nearby electromagnetic fields

We present measurements of nearby vertical and horizontal electric fields from leaders and return strokes associated with lightning strikes to the 100-m tall Gaisberg Tower in Austria obtained in 2007 and 2008. The fields were measured at a distance of about 20 m from the tower's vertical axis. Simultaneously with the fields, return-stroke currents were also measured at the top of the tower. The measured data are used to test engineering models for the return stroke. In general, the agreement between measured waveforms and model-predicted ones are satisfactory.
Age at diagnosis indicated poor prognosis in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND Effect of age at diagnosis on treatment failure and mortality was rarely evaluated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. METHODS We analyzed 1252 patients staged III-IVb and underwent concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Age was categorized as 20 to 49 years (n=804), 50 to 59 years (n=282) and 60 years or older (n=166). Distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), overall survival (OS) and locoregional relapse-free survival (LRFS) were assessed by age group. RESULTS The 4-years DMFS decreased with age group (86.7% [20-49 years], 86.7% [50-59 years], 77.1% [≥60 years]; P=0.014); likewise, 4-years CSS were 91.0%, 87.4% and 74.2% (P<0.001); 4-years OS were 90.8%, 87.4% and 73.6% (P<0.001), respectively. In multivariate analysis, compared with patients aged 20 to 49 years, DMFS decreased with age for patients aged 50 to 59 years (HR=1.10, 95% CI 0.77-1.57) and aged 60 years or older (HR=1.75, 95% CI 1.20-2.56) (P=0.015). Similarly, both CSS and OS were inferior in patients aged 50 to 59 years (HR=1.77, 95% CI 1.25-2.52 for CSS; HR=1.71, 95% CI 1.21-2.43 for OS) and aged 60 or older (HR=3.73, 95% CI 2.63-5.29 for CSS; HR=3.96, 95% CI 2.83-5.54 for OS) (P<0.001). Yet age did not affect LRFS in univariate and multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS Increasing age at diagnosis of locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma was associated with higher risk of distant metastasis and mortality.
High diving metabolic rate indicated by high-speed transit to depth in negatively buoyant long-finned pilot whales

ABSTRACT To maximize foraging duration at depth, diving mammals are expected to use the lowest cost optimal speed during descent and ascent transit and to minimize the cost of transport by achieving neutral buoyancy. Here, we outfitted 18 deep-diving long-finned pilot whales with multi-sensor data loggers and found indications that their diving strategy is associated with higher costs than those of other deep-diving toothed whales. Theoretical models predict that optimal speed is proportional to (basal metabolic rate/drag)1/3 and therefore to body mass0.05. The transit speed of tagged animals (2.7±0.3 m s−1) was substantially higher than the optimal speed predicted from body mass (1.4–1.7 m s−1). According to the theoretical models, this choice of high transit speed, given a similar drag coefficient (median, 0.0035) to that in other cetaceans, indicated greater basal metabolic costs during diving than for other cetaceans. This could explain the comparatively short duration (8.9±1.5 min) of their deep dives (maximum depth, 444±85 m). Hydrodynamic gliding models indicated negative buoyancy of tissue body density (1038.8±1.6 kg m–3, ±95% credible interval, CI) and similar diving gas volume (34.6±0.6 ml kg−1, ±95% CI) to those in other deep-diving toothed whales. High diving metabolic rate and costly negative buoyancy imply a ‘spend more, gain more’ strategy of long-finned pilot whales, differing from that in other deep-diving toothed whales, which limits the costs of locomotion during foraging. We also found that net buoyancy affected the optimal speed: high transit speeds gradually decreased during ascent as the whales approached neutral buoyancy owing to gas expansion. Highlighted Article: High diving metabolic rate indicated by high-speed transit to depth and negative buoyancy of long-finned pilot whales implies a costly diving strategy compared with that in other deep-diving toothed whales.
Persistence and Amplification of Financial Frictions

We quantitatively evaluate the various types of working capital loans affected by borrowing constraints using a simple real business cycle model. We explore which borrowing constraints generate persistence and/or amplified output responses to productivity and financial shocks. We find that limiting investment on account of borrowing constraints generates a persistent response to a one-time transitory shock. This finding implies that investment wedge plays an important role in generating persistence. There is a trade-off relationship between persistence and amplification among models and the working capital loan channel does not always generate amplification.
A critical appraisal of the quality of analgosedation guidelines in critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND The management of analgesia and sedation in critically ill patients is still a challenge due to the shortage of evidence-based treatments. The main objectives of the present study were to critically evaluate the quality of current clinical practice guidelines (CPGL) published on this matter and to identify the contrasting positions and unsolved questions. METHODS Four members of the Italian Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) council, with an extensive background in the management of critically ill patients and practice guidelines, evaluated CPGL on sedation and analgesia in critically ill patients published from January 2006 to December 2013. Evaluation was performed in accordance with the appraisal of guidelines for research and evaluation tool (AGREE II). RESULTS Five documents proposed by European and American scientific societies of critical care medicine were identified and evaluated. The CPGL published in 2013 by the American Society of Critical Care Medicine showed the highest scores in all domains of the AGREE II tool, whereas scores for CPGL published in 2006 by SIAARTI showed the lowest scores. In all documents, most recommendations on the use of drugs or non-pharmacological strategies for analgesia, sedation and delirium treatment had low evidence. CONCLUSIONS This quality evaluation indicated that CPGLs published by the German Association of Scientific Medical Societies, the American College of Critical Care Medicine and the PanAmerican and Iberica Federation of the Critical Care Medicine Societies should be recommended for use. Even in guidelines with a high quality rating, numerous recommendations have moderate or low levels of evidence.
Analytical Calculation of Magnetic Field Distribution in Magnetic Gears with Consequent-Pole Rotors by Subdomain Method

This paper presents a novel coaxial magnetic gear (MG), in which dual consequent-pole permanent magnet rotors are adopted. The MG is attractive for torque conversion in the advanced vehicle thanks to its high torque density. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of the MG, a subdomain model is established to analytically calculate the magnetic field in the MG by solving the vector magnetic potential equations while considering the corresponding boundary and continuity conditions. Consequently, the air-gap field distribution and the electromagnetic performance of the MG can be predicted. The finite element analysis method is also used to validate the accuracy of the proposed analytical method. In comparison with the conventional MG, both methods verify that the proposed MG can offer higher torque transmission density while consume less volume of magnets.
Improvement of Stopband Performance OF Microstrip Reconfigurable Band Pass Filter By Defected Ground Structure

A scheme for designing reconfigurable parallel-coupled-line bandpass filters using a SPDT MEMS switch, capable of operating at two different passband is presented. The spurious resonance of the filter has been removed by using defected ground structures to obtain better stopband performance. A proto-type filter with passband center frequency around 3.5 GHz and 5.0 GHz has been designed. The simulation has been done by MOM based IE3D software. Applying defected ground structures under output feed lines, we have achieved stopband with minimum attenuation of -25 dB upto 12 GHz.
National Patterns of Medication Treatment for Depression, 1987 to 2001.

BACKGROUND: We investigated trends in antidepressant use, as well as broader changes in depression treatment, following the availability of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). METHOD: Using data from the National Disease and Therapeutic Index, a nationally representative survey of U.S. office-based physicians conducted by IMS HEALTH, we analyzed trends in antidepressant prescribing patterns from 1987 through the third quarter of 2001. Annual sample sizes of physician visits by patients reported to have depression ranged from 3901 visits in 1987 to 6639 in 1998. Outcomes examined included the frequency of depression visits, the likelihood of antidepressant therapy, and the use of specific medications. RESULTS: The estimated national number of physician visits by patients with depression increased from 14.4 million visits in 1987 to 24.5 million in 2001 (annualized). The rate of antidepressant medication treatment in these patients also increased from 70% in 1987 to 89% in 2001. In 1987, tricyclic antidepressants were prescribed to 47% of patients with depression. The most common individual antidepressants were amitriptyline (14%), trazodone (12%), doxepin (8%), and desipramine (6%). In 1989, a year after its introduction, fluoxetine was prescribed to 21% of patients with depression. The introduction of other SSRIs led aggregate SSRI use to grow to 38% in 1992, 60% in 1996, and 69% in 2000. In 2001, sertraline (18%), paroxetine (16%), fluoxetine (14%), citalopram (13%), and bupropion (9%) were the leading antidepressants, while tricyclics were used in only 2% of patients. The use of benzodiazepines in depression declined from 21% of patients in 1987 to 8% in 2001. CONCLUSION: The increasing therapeutic dominance of SSRIs may have contributed to other changes in depression treatment, including declining benzodiazepine use, increased aggregate antidepressant treatment rates, and increased reporting of depression.
WBC-ALC: A Weak Blocking Coordinated Application-Level Checkpointing for MPI Programs

As supercomputers increase in size, the mean time between failures (MTBF) of a system becomes shorter, and the reliability problem of supercomputers becomes more and more serious. MPI is currently the de facto standard used to build high-performance applications, and researches on the fault tolerance methods of MPI are always hot topics. However, due to the characteristics of MPI programs, most current checkpointing methods for MPI programs need to modify the MPI library (even operating system), or implement a complicated protocol by logging lots of messages. In this paper, we carry forward the idea of Application-Level Checkpointing (ALC). Based on the general fact that programmers are familiar with the communication characteristics of applications, we have developed BC-ALC, a new portable blocking coordinated ALC for MPI programs. BC-ALC neither modifies the MPI library (even operating system) nor logs any message. It implements coordination only by the Barrier operations instead of any complicated protocol. Furthermore, in order to reduce the cost of fault-tolerance, we reduce the synchronization range of the barrier, and design WBC-ALC, a weak blocking coordinated ALC utilizing group synchronization instead of global synchronization based on the communication relationship between processes. We also propose a fault-tolerance framework developed on top of WBC-ALC and discuss an implementation of it. Experimental results on NPB3.3-MPI benchmarks validate BC-ALC and WBC-ALC, and show that compared with BC-ALC, the average coordination time and the average backup time of a single checkpoint in WBC-ALC are reduced by 44.5% and 5.7% respectively.