Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Underlay Cognitive Radios with Capacity Guarantees for Primary Users

To use the spectrum efficiently, cognitive radios leverage knowledge of the channel state information (CSI) to optimize the performance of the secondary users (SUs) while limiting the interference to the primary users (PUs). The algorithms in this paper are designed to maximize the weighted ergodic sum-capacity of SUs, which transmit orthogonally and adhere simultaneously to constraints limiting: i) the long-term (ergodic) capacity loss caused to each PU receiver; ii) the long-term interference power at each PU receiver; and iii) the long-term power at each SU transmitter. Formulations accounting for short-term counterparts of i) and ii) are also discussed. Although the long-term capacity constraints are non-convex, the resultant optimization problem exhibits zero-duality gap and can be efficiently solved in the dual domain. The optimal allocation schemes (power and rate loadings, frequency bands to be accessed, and SU links to be activated) are a function of the CSI of the primary and secondary networks as well as the Lagrange multipliers associated with the long-term constraints. The optimal resource allocation algorithms are first designed under the assumption that the CSI is perfect, then the modifications needed to accommodate different forms of imperfect CSI (quantized, noisy, and outdated) are analyzed.
Boosting workplace stair utilization: a study of incremental reinforcement.

PURPOSE This study was designed to determine whether engagement in stair taking can be increased in a worksite setting through the provision of an employer-sponsored, behavior-based incentive system in which employees (members) accumulate points that can be redeemed for merchandise. METHODS/DESIGN ChipRewards implemented stair utilization in one employer as a part of a larger health incentive engagement program. Using an AB (baseline-intervention) design, members (N = 216) were observed for 6 months (6.17.10 to 12.14.10 or 129 weekdays after excluding 52 weekend days) before the intervention (baseline) and after 6 months (1.1.11 to 6.30.11 with the same number of weekdays) of implementation. RESULTS Members were 84% female, 51% Caucasian, 48% African American, 3% Hispanic, and 45 years average age. The number of total stair transactions for all members for all days monitored increased from 5,070 to 38,900, and the average number of stair transactions per day rose from 39 to 301, representing over a 600% increase. The overall cost of incentives for stair utilization was $3,739.30 or $17.55 per member on average. CONCLUSION/IMPLICATIONS This study supports that stair usage in the workplace is a viable way to increase physical activity. This study adds to existing research that attempted to increase stair utilization through promotion only by adding a behavioral reinforcement strategy. Finally, this study demonstrates that a physical activity among employees at the worksite can be increased with minimal relative cost.
Inflammation and Epstein-Barr Virus Infection Are Common Features of Myasthenia Gravis Thymus: Possible Roles in Pathogenesis

The thymus plays a major role in myasthenia gravis (MG). Our recent finding of a persistent Epstein-Barr (EBV) virus infection in some MG thymuses, combined with data showing that the thymus is in a proinflammatory state in most patients, supports a viral contribution to the pathogenesis of MG. Aim of this study was to gain further evidence for intrathymic chronic inflammation and EBV infection in MG patients. Transcriptional profiling by low density array and real-time PCR showed overexpression of genes involved in inflammatory and immune response in MG thymuses. Real-time PCR for EBV genome, latent (EBER1, EBNA1, LMP1) and lytic (BZLF1) transcripts, and immunohistochemistry for LMP1 and BZLF1 proteins confirmed an active intrathymic EBV infection, further supporting the hypothesis that EBV might contribute to onset or perpetuation of the autoimmune response in MG. Altogether, our results support a role of inflammation and EBV infection as pathogenic features of MG thymus.
Origin and Post-Glacial Dispersal of Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups C and D in Northern Asia

More than a half of the northern Asian pool of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is fragmented into a number of subclades of haplogroups C and D, two of the most frequent haplogroups throughout northern, eastern, central Asia and America. While there has been considerable recent progress in studying mitochondrial variation in eastern Asia and America at the complete genome resolution, little comparable data is available for regions such as southern Siberia – the area where most of northern Asian haplogroups, including C and D, likely diversified. This gap in our knowledge causes a serious barrier for progress in understanding the demographic pre-history of northern Eurasia in general. Here we describe the phylogeography of haplogroups C and D in the populations of northern and eastern Asia. We have analyzed 770 samples from haplogroups C and D (174 and 596, respectively) at high resolution, including 182 novel complete mtDNA sequences representing haplogroups C and D (83 and 99, respectively). The present-day variation of haplogroups C and D suggests that these mtDNA clades expanded before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), with their oldest lineages being present in the eastern Asia. Unlike in eastern Asia, most of the northern Asian variants of haplogroups C and D began the expansion after the LGM, thus pointing to post-glacial re-colonization of northern Asia. Our results show that both haplogroups were involved in migrations, from eastern Asia and southern Siberia to eastern and northeastern Europe, likely during the middle Holocene.
The academic concept reconsidered: Plato, Leibniz, Xanadu and the NetAcademy

Reasoning about cognition and establishing orders for knowledge has been a noble tradition in philosophy since reflection was born. Congregations of wise men got established at specific places as a means to discuss and teach knowledge. Plato's academia, Aristotle's Lykaion, the monastery schools, the hence arising universities (since the 11th ct.) and, since the Italian Renaissance beginning in the 15th ct. , the academies: They all eventually established conventions about pursuing truth and comprehensibleness. The three basic components are valid until today:- - Archiving: Establishing a repository for proved findings, aiming at an encompassing accumulation of knowledge, and the according meta data management. - - Method to evaluate truth: Establishing open, concerted procedures to assess hypotheses and according measures. - - Create a forum: Establishing an academy for the scientific community, i.e. open discussions among experts to discuss (and teach) hypotheses and abduct new knowledge by doing so. In the course of history, each of these three components has been continuously improved, by installing libraries, fostering research, enabling new communication means. It would be interesting to investigate more in-depth the contributions which enable the quest of truth. Milestones are, e.g.: Plato ? Leibniz ? the encyclopedists (Diderot/Alembert) ? Nelson's Xanadu resp. the world wide web ? the NetAcademy concept.
Who is Afraid of Pirates? An Experiment on the Deterrence of Innovation by Imitation

In the policy debate, intellectual property is often justified by what seems to be a straightforward argument: if innovators are not protected against others appropriating their ideas, incentives for innovation are suboptimally low. Now in most industries for most potential users, appropriating a foreign innovation is itself an investment decision fraught with cost and risk. Nonetheless standard theory predicts too little innovation. Arguably the problem is exacerbated by innovators’ risk aversion as well as their aversion against others benefitting from their efforts without contributing to the cost, and without bearing innovation risk. We model the situation as a game and test it in the lab. We find even more appropriation than predicted by standard theory. But the risk and the experience of appropriation does not deter innovation. We find even more innovation than predicted by theory, and actually more than would be efficient. In the lab, the prospect of givingimitators a free lunch does not have a chilling effect on innovation.
A Parallel Multilevel Spectral Galerkin Solver for Linear Systems with Uncertain Parameters

We introduce a parallel multilevel method for spectral Galerkin projected linear systems with uncertain parameters using Polynomial Chaos expansions. We utilize the hierarchical multilevel structure with respect to the polynomial degree and carry out the smoothing of high mode errors by employing the mean based preconditioner. The multilevel scheme only requires solutions of deterministic systems based on the mean operator, which makes the approach feasible for use with existing code for deterministic models. We develop an efficient load balancing strategy for the parallel computation of the matrix vector product using distributed memory, which allows for a decoupled application of the restriction and prolongation operators in the multilevel scheme. The parallel efficiency and convergence properties of the numerical method are evaluated on a Poisson benchmark problem with uncertain parameters of varying stochastic complexity.
Genetic Algorithms: From Hegemony to Chaos

Genetic algorithms are known to be convergent algorithms, with final population tending to become homogeneous. In this paper we show that it is possible to exhibit complex dynamics for a genetic algorithm by slightly modifying the canonical algorithm. Indeed, adding a meta level in the interpretation of the individuals, associated with a coupling between indivuduals gives rise to periodic or chaotic behavior.
Entropy driven self-assembly of nonamphiphilic colloidal membranes

We demonstrate that homogeneous monodisperse rods in the presence of attractive interactions assemble into equilibrium 2D fluid-like membranes composed of a one-rod length thick monolayer of aligned rods. Unique features of our system allow us to simultaneously investigate properties of these membranes at both continuum and molecular lengthscales. Analysis of thermal fluctuations at continuum lengthscales yields the membranes’ lateral compressibility and bending rigidity and demonstrates that the properties of colloidal membranes are comparable to those of traditional lipid bilayers. Fluctuations at molecular lengthscales, in which single rods protrude from the membrane surface, are directly measured by comparing the positions of individual fluorescently labeled rods within a membrane to that of the membrane’s continuum conformation. As two membranes approach each other in suspension, protrusion fluctuations are suppressed leading to effective repulsive interactions. Motivated by these observations, we propose an entropic mechanism that explains the stability of colloidal membranes and offers a general design principle for the self-assembly of 2D nanostructured materials from rod-like molecules.
Responses in gut hormones and hunger to diets with either high protein or a mixture of protein plus free amino acids supplied under weight-loss conditions

High-protein diets are an effective means for weight loss (WL), but the mechanisms are unclear. One hypothesis relates to the release of gut hormones by either protein or amino acids (AA). The present study involved overweight and obese male volunteers (n 18, mean BMI 36·8 kg/m2) who consumed a maintenance diet for 7 d followed by fully randomised 10 d treatments with three iso-energetic WL diets, i.e. with either normal protein (NP, 15 % of energy) or high protein (HP, 30 %) or with a combination of protein and free AA, each 15 % of energy (NPAA). Psychometric ratings of appetite were recorded hourly. On day 10, plasma samples were taken at 30 min intervals over two consecutive 5 h periods (covering post-breakfast and post-lunch) and analysed for AA, glucose and hormones (insulin, total glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide, active ghrelin and total peptide YY (PYY)) plus leucine kinetics (first 5 h only). Composite hunger was 16 % lower for the HP diet than for the NP diet (P< 0·01) in the 5 h period after both meals. Plasma essential AA concentrations were greatest within 60 min of each meal for the NPAA diet, but remained elevated for 3–5 h after the HP diet. The three WL diets showed no difference for either fasting concentrations or the postprandial net incremental AUC (net AUCi) for insulin, ghrelin or PYY. No strong correlations were observed between composite hunger scores and net AUCi for either AA or gut peptides. Regulation of hunger may involve subtle interactions, and a range of signals may need to be integrated to produce the overall response.
Research on Identity-Based Cluster Access Control Model with Dynamic Trust Agent for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In this paper, an identity-based cluster access control model is proposed introducing into the model a concept of dynamic trust agent. In our approach, inter-cluster trust relationship can be built up by the dynamic trust agent of each cluster. And there needs only one authentication between two clusters. When the trust relationship is well established, the communication among members of the two clusters can be secured without further multiple authentications. We give an overall evaluation of our proposed approach by simulations. The simulation results indicate that our approach can achieve high efficiency in the authentication among clusters and provide effective security in mobile ad hoc network
Vaginal colonization by probiotic Lactobacillus crispatus CTV-05 is decreased by sexual activity and endogenous Lactobacilli.

BACKGROUND Two potencies of gelatin capsules containing Lactobacillus crispatus CTV-05 were evaluated for safety and vaginal colonization in 90 young women. METHODS Sexually active females aged 14-21 years were randomized to receive either 10(6)- or 10(8)-cfu CTV-05 capsules inserted intravaginally twice daily for 3 days. At enrollment and at 4 weekly follow-up visits, behavioral and demographic information and quantitative vaginal cultures were collected. Lactobacillus species were identified by DNA hybridization, and the CTV-05 strain was discerned using repetitive-sequence polymerase chain reaction DNA fingerprinting. RESULTS Of the 90 participants, 87 returned for at least 2 follow-up visits. Of 40 participants who lacked L. crispatus colonization at enrollment, 36 (90%) were successfully colonized by CTV-05 at 1 or more follow-up visits, whereas only 24 (51%) of 47 participants colonized by L. crispatus at enrollment were positive for CTV-05 at follow-up (P < .001). Compared with sexually abstinent participants, females engaging in sexual intercourse with the use of condoms (odds ratio [OR], 6.3 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.3-29.4]; P = .02) or having unprotected sex (OR, 75.5 [95% CI, 6.9-820.6]; P < .001) during the first week were less likely to become colonized by CTV-05. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that the factors that predict failure to become colonized by probiotic lactobacilli include exposure to semen, vaginal intercourse, and the presence of lactobacilli of the same species at enrollment.
The Determinants of Bank Interest Spread in Brazil

The behavior of bank interest spreads in Brazil reveal two stylized facts. First, a remarkable fall in the average rates since early 1999. Second, a strong and persistent dispersion of rates across banks. Such stylized facts suggest that both the time series and the cross section dimensions are important elements to understand the trend of the bank interest spread in the country. This paper makes use of panel data techniques to uncover the main determinants of the bank interest spreads in Brazil. A question that the paper aims to address is whether macro or microeconomic factors are the most relevant ones affecting the behavior of such rates. A two-step approach due to Ho and Saunders (1981) is employed to measure the relative relevance of the micro and the macro elements. The roles played by the inflation rate; risk premium, economic activity, required reserves (all macroeconomic factors) and CAMEL-type indicators (microeconomic factors) are highlighted. The results suggest that macroeconomic variables are the most relevant factors to explain the behavior of bank interest spread in Brazil.
Interventions for Upper-Limb Intention Tremor in Multiple Sclerosis

Approximately 25% of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience upper-limb intention tremor (ULIT), which limits their ability to participate in daily activities. Little research has been conducted on the effectiveness of available treatments for ULIT. The objectives of this study were to investigate the use of occupational therapy interventions to improve eating and handwriting performance in adults with MS and ULIT and, based on these findings, to provide recommendations for the development of a treatment protocol for ULIT. Six adults with MS and ULIT were recruited from an MS clinic. Participants rated their pre- and post-intervention functional performance using the Multi-Dimensional Assessment of Tremor. Interventions included education about tremor, proximal stabilization, hand-over-hand technique, weighted tool, weighted wrist, and splinting. Participants evaluated the techniques using visual analogue scales (VASs). One month after the intervention, participants were interviewed to assess susta.
Open Architecture for Mobile Data Collection Using Cloud Computing

This paper presents the architecture of Maritaca, a cloud infrastructure for mobile data collection. The system allows the user create mobile Apps for data gathering using simple interfaces; no programming skill is needed. The platform collects conventional data and, in addition, allows to collect multimedia, location information, sketches, barcodes, etc. The collected data can be shared, allowing the formation of small networks for sharing of mobile data. The data is stored in a scalable cloud infrastructure, based on Cassandra and Hadoop products. The system is based on free software and can be accessed in the following address: http://maritaca.unifesp. br.
GentleRain: Cheap and Scalable Causal Consistency with Physical Clocks

GentleRain is a new causally consistent geo-replicated data store that provides throughput comparable to eventual consistency and superior to current implementations of causal consistency. GentleRain uses a periodic aggregation protocol to determine whether updates can be made visible in accordance with causal consistency. Unlike current implementations, it does not use explicit dependency check messages, resulting in a major throughput improvement at the expense of a modest increase in update visibility. Furthermore, GentleRain tracks causal consistency by attaching to updates scalar timestamps derived from loosely synchronized physical clocks. Clock skew does not cause violations of causal consistency, but may delay the visibility of updates. By encoding causality in a single scalar timestamp, GentleRain reduces storage and communication overhead for tracking causality. We evaluate GentleRain using Amazon EC2, and demonstrate that it achieves throughput equal to about 99% of eventual consistency, and 120% better than previous implementations of causal consistency.
Deformable Surface Techniques for Field Visualization

Surface extraction from data fields is often used in scientific visualization, as surfaces can represent meaningful information and they are well suited for display. This paper describes a general method for localized surface extraction from scalar and vector fields. An initial polygonal surface is placed within the field, and the shape of the surface is adapted to the field by iterative displacement of surface nodes according to a displacement criterion. To achieve a good approximation of a smooth surface, the polygon mesh can be locally refined during iteration. The type of surface extracted depends on the displacement criterion, which can be any function of the available field variables. Techniques for displacement and mesh refinement are discussed in detail. The results we show are generation of a local isosurface and extraction of a vortex tube. Finally, we will draw conclusions and discuss some issues for further development.
Cooperative responses to boolean queries

Since cooperation is an essential aspect of human conversation, it is a necessary feature in a natural language interface. Previous work has shown that it is possible to incorporate principles of cooperative behaviour into a system allowing natural language access to a database. It is shown here that some of these principles can also be applied fruitfully in a formal language environment. Specifically, when a query retrieves an empty result set, it is possible, by analyzing the question and running related queries against the database, to give a useful explanation of the zero result. A precise specification of the information that should be presented to the user is described for queries consisting of boolean combinations of predicates of a single variable. Such cooperative responses to boolean queries have been implemented on the large bibliographic database of the Research Libraries Group. The size of the database has motivated a careful optimization of the algorithm, which is discussed.
The Behavioral Signature of Permags: Examining the Behavioral Characteristics of Psychometrically Identified Putative Schizotypes

Title of Thesis: THE BEHAVIORAL SIGNATURE OF PERMAGS: EXAMINING THE BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOMETRICALLY IDENTIFIED PUTATIVE SCHIZOTYPES Clifton Chamberlin, Master of Arts, 2005 Thesis directed by: Associate Professor Jack Blanchard Department of Psychology Perceptual aberrations and magical ideation have been found to be indicators of Meehl’s construct of schizotypy and, more generally, psychosis. Research on social anhedonia (Collins, 2002) indicates that those putatively at-risk for developing schizophrenia spectrum disorders are different from controls on behavioral observations. Extending recent research (Collins, 2002) and determining its replicability in individuals with perceptual aberrations and magical ideation (PerMags), the utility of behavioral sign ratings in the identification of putative schizotypes was examined. Subjects (N = 117) drawn from a diverse community sample were selected based on responses on the Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation Scales and were then videotaped. Group differences on dimensions of behavioral schizotypal characteristics between the PerMag and control groups were examined, under the assumption that putatively high-risk individuals would demonstrate elevated levels of behavioral schizotypal characteristics. Results revealed no significant differences between groups. Possible explanations for these findings, including sampling differences, are discussed. THE BEHAVIORAL SIGNATURE OF PERMAGS: EXAMINING THE BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOMETRICALLY IDENTIFIED PUTATIVE SCHIZOTYPES
Single Input DC-DC Converter for Hybrid Distributed Energy Generators with Maximum Utilization using DSP Controller

Environmental friendly solutions are becoming more prominent than ever as a result of concern regarding the state of our deteriorating planet. This paper presents a new DSP controller based Switching configuration of hybrid Distributed Energy Generators (DER) with a single input DC-DC Buck-Boost converter, based on their availability . This configuration allows the two sources to supply the load separately or simultaneously depending on their availability. Because of its fast operation and reliability, DSP controller is used to improve the system efficiency at the most. Maximum amount of energy is extracted from the available source based on the control logic proposed in this paper. The system can operate in three different modes to obtain maximum efficiency based on the logic projected. The system is simulated using MATLAB/Simulink 2010a, the obtained results are also analyzed and presented in this paper.