Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel energy-efficient reporting scheme for spectrum sensing results in cognitive radio

Energy efficiency during spectrum sensing in cognitive radio has received a lot of attention during recent years. Such issue becomes challenging, especially with battery-powered terminals, because of its direct influence on achievable performance represented by detection accuracy. In this paper, we present a novel reporting scheme for spectrum sensing results, which significantly reduces the energy consumption without any effect on the detection accuracy. The proposed scheme is based on the observation that sensing results are consecutively reported to a Fusion Center (FC), which allows the FC to terminate the process whenever the received results are enough to make a decision according to the employed Fusion Rule (FR). Hence, the energy consumed in results' reporting is reduced as the number of reporting users is lower. Mathematical expressions for the average number of reporting users for several FRs are obtained. Simulation and analytical results show a significant reduction of the energy consumption.
Waveform diversity in multi sensor systems : Orthogonal pulse compression waveforms

This paper deals with an orthogonal pulse compression code set design problem in multi sensor systems. A set of orthogonal waveforms with the same operating frequency can improve the performance of multi sensor systems. We provide the signal model for multi sensor system using a set of orthogonal pulse compression codes. Moreover, a novel algorithm is proposed to obtain the set of orthogonal pulse compression codes. This algorithm minimizes the sidelobe peak of sum of autocorrelation and crosscorrelation function while maintaining the orthogonality of each code. Some of the designed results are presented by evaluating the characteristics of autocorrelation and crosscorrelation functions. In addition, the waveform diversity system and non-waveform diversity system are compared in terms of the probability of detection performance.
How Structural Deficiencies Hamper Estonia’s Catching-Up Process

Estonia is widely regarded as a paramount example for a successful transformation of a socialist economic system to a functioning market economy. Against the backdrop of this positive image which contrasts strongly with the crisis scenarios in Southern Europe the remaining problems of Estonia are often ignored. Estonia has hardly succeeded in catching-up economically with the richer countries of the EU. In this paper the authors raise the question why the catching-up process of Estonia is not as successful as it could have been expected from the policy performance during the last decades. It turns out that Estonia faces a serious productivity problem, particularly in the manufacturing sector producing tradable goods which is normally the driving engine behind economic and technological catching-up. The Estonian economy has failed to undergo the necessary structural change towards technologically more advanced employment structures and export patterns. Accordingly, Estonian economic policy needs to create a suitable business environment to support this kind of structural change.
Influence of chronic alcohol administration on representative indices of puberty and sexual maturation in male rats and the development of their progeny.

The effects of chronic alcohol administration on reproductive endocrinology in the developing male rat were examined. Prepubescent male rats (25 days of age) were maintained on an alcohol liquid diet or were pair-fed a control diet until early adulthood and selected indices of sexual maturation were examined at weekly intervals. To determine whether sexually immature animals were more sensitive to the effects of alcohol than adults, fully mature male animals were exposed to an identical period of alcohol exposure and comparisons were made between the two groups. The results demonstrated that alcohol significantly affected many of the primary indices of puberty and sexual maturation. The normal pubertal increases in serum testosterone levels, the weights of the testes and secondary sex organs and beta-endorphin levels in the hypothalamus were substantially reduced in alcohol-exposed animals compared with controls. In contrast to these results, the effects of alcohol on reproductive endocrinology in the fully mature animal were transitory and of considerably less magnitude. After a 2-week alcohol-free period, male rats exposed to alcohol during development were bred with drug-naive primiparous females. Although the same number of pregnancies resulted from matings between alcohol-exposed males and drug-naive females compared with controls, litter sizes were significantly smaller in alcohol-derived offspring than in controls. In all other respects, such as body weights, sex ratios, mortality rates and gross developmental features (eye opening, incisor eruption and testes descent), alcohol-derived offspring were identical with controls. Upon closer examination, however, significant disturbances were detected in alcohol-derived male offspring. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Galantamine protects against oxidative stress induced by amyloid‐beta peptide in cortical neurons

Galantamine is currently used in the treatment of patients with mild‐to‐moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Although its action is mostly directed at the regulation of cholinergic transmission, galantamine can also afford neuroprotection against amyloid‐beta peptide (Aβ), which is involved in AD pathogenesis. In this study, we used cultured rat cortical neurons treated with two forms of Aβ1–40, fresh and previously aged (enriched in fibrils). First, we confirmed that galantamine prevented neurodegeneration induced by both peptide forms in a concentration‐dependent manner. Moreover, we observed that when neurons were co‐incubated with fresh Aβ1–40 plus galantamine, the amount of amyloid aggregates was reduced. As oxidative conditions influence Aβ aggregation, we investigated whether galantamine prevents oxidative stress induced by this peptide. The data show that either fresh or aged Aβ1–40 significantly increased the amount of reactive oxygen species and lipoperoxidation, these effects being prevented by galantamine. In Aβ1–40‐treated neurons, the depletion of reduced glutathione (GSH) seems to be related to the decrease in glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase activities. These alterations in the GSH antioxidant system were prevented by galantamine. Overall, these results constitute the first evidence that galantamine can prevent the neuronal oxidative damage induced by Aβ, providing an in vitro basis for the beneficial actions of galantamine in the AD neurodegenerative process.
Examining the career transitions and transformations of an urban educator

v List of Figures . xii Chapter 1: Introduction of Study . 1 Personal Rationale for the Study.2 Teacher Transformation . 3 Transforming Through Change.6 Transformation Defined . 8 Purpose of Study . 10 The Transition Process . 10 Research Questions . 11 Significance of Study . 12 Conclusion . 14 Chapter 2: Literature Review . 16 Career Teacher Transitions . 16 Mid-Career Teacher Transitions . 18 Teacher Transformation . 22 Urban School Environments . 25 Burnout . 32 Theories of Burnout . 35 Self-Efficacy in Education . 40 Conclusion . 45 Chapter 3: Methodology . 46
Robust inventory control of production systems subject to uncertainties on demand and lead times

In this paper, we are interested in the controller design for constrained production systems subject to uncertainties on the demand and the production delays. The case study focuses on the inventory regulation problem in production systems which must respond to the customer demands of finite products. Such systems are characterised by the presence of delays due to production processes, the saturation of the input command and the constraints due to the finite capacities of stocks. In our study, we assume that (i) the customer demands are considered to be unknown but bounded by a given value, (ii) both the control input and the inventory output are subject to assigned constraints, and (iii) the production delay is defined with an uncertainty interval. Our model includes two factors that commonly have an impact on the supply chain performances and cause the bullwhip effect: the variability of the customer demand and the uncertainty on the lead time. The proposed approach is based on a saturated predictor-feedback structure, in which the constraints and the physical limitations of the production system are taken into account. The concepts used in this approach are the BIBO-stability and the -invariance properties. We examine then the bullwhip effect phenomenon, which is an important observation in supply chain management. In order to study the robustness of the control system state feedback, the proposed approach gives necessary and sufficient conditions on the controller parameters, for which the system requirements will be completely met, and permits to ensure the bounds of solutions for the control parameters. The accuracy of the proposed methodology is illustrated through simulation result which demonstrates that the bullwhip effect can be reduced, but not completely eliminated, using a saturated command and a predictor-feedback structure.
An efficient model to simulate the influence of the modulation strategy in inverters of electric power trains

In this work an object-oriented traction drive model utilizing an averaged inverter model together with models of the electric machine and the drive control system is presented. The inverter model is used for loss calculation and is applicable for continuous and discontinuous modulation strategies. With the proposed model inverter losses and junction temperatures can be calculated together with electrical and mechanical quantities of the machine in one simulation. Therefore, the proposed model can be used to identify the most efficient modulation strategy for each operation point in traction drive inverters.
Lane Detection Method Based on Improved RANSAC Algorithm

Lane detection based on computer vision is a key technology of Automatic Drive System for intelligent vehicles. In this paper, we propose a real-time and efficient lane detection algorithm that can detect lanes appearing in urban streets and highway roads under complex background. In order to enhance lane boundary information and to be suitable for various light conditions, we adopt canny algorithm for edge detection to get good feature points. We use the generalized curve lane parameter model, which can describe both straight and curved lanes. We propose an improved random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm combined with the least squares technique to estimate lane model parameters based on feature extraction. Experiments are conducted on both real road lane videos captured by Tongji University and Caltech Lane Datasets. The experimental results show that our algorithm is can meet the real time requirement and fit lane boundaries well in various challenging road conditions.
“Oh My Gosh! The Expression Is Too Chinese”: Attitudes of University Teachers and Students towards China English

Abstract With the wide spread of English in the global context, scholars increasingly call for the reshaping of English education towards teaching English as an international language. One oft-mentioned proposal is to increase students’ exposure to more English varieties, in particular the variety of English used in their country or region. Against this backdrop, this study investigated the attitudes of Chinese university students and teachers towards China English (CE), an emerging variety in China and the ideological underpinnings beneath their attitudinal responses. In the study, 33 English teachers and 31 students were asked to first evaluate the understandability and acceptability of CE features that are identified in literature and then provide reasons justifying their choices in a questionnaire survey. Results show that both teacher and student participants were reluctant to accept CE as a legitimate variety but their attitudes diverged as regards specific CE features. The in-depth exploration of their justifications revealed that native speaker English ideology, Chinglish stigma and the communicativeness of CE to the outside world were their major concerns in evaluating CE. Findings in this study have implications for educators who attempt to localize English language teaching.
Exploring Service Quality Impacts on Customer Satisfaction in Military Medical Centres: Moderating Role of Perceived Value

Much has been written about service quality impacts on customer satisfaction. However, little research on this perspective has been carried out in military settings. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction, and moderating effects of perceived value in military medical centre. A survey method was employed and data was collected from customers at medical centers under the administration of Malaysian army organization. Analysis was performed using SmartPLS path model analysis. The results show two important findings: first, the interaction between four service quality components (i.e., tangible, reliability, responsiveness and assurance) and customers perceived value were significantly correlated with customer satisfaction. Second, the interaction between one service quality component (i.e., tangible) were not significantly correlated with customer satisfaction. In overall, this result confirms that effect of tangible, reliability, responsiveness and assurance on customer satisfaction has been moderated by customers perceived value. Conversely, effect empathy on customer satisfaction has not been moderated by customers perceived value. Further, this study offers discussion, implications and conclusion.
Detection of benzodiazepines and tribenzazolams by TRIAGE: confirmation by solid-phase extraction utilizing SPEC.3ML.MP3 microcolumns and GC-MS.

A new point-of-care urine drugs-of-abuse testing device, the BIOSITE TRIAGE, was evaluated for detection of benzodiazepines (BNZs). TRIAGE utilizes a unique, competitive, visual immunoassay methodology to simultaneously detect seven classes of drugs of abuse. Because of the unique ASCEND Multimmunoassay technology, conflicting results may arise when TRIAGE is compared with conventional immunoassay techniques. Apparent TRIAGE BNZ false-positive results may occur when gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) confirmation utilizes oxazepam as the analyte used to confirm the presence of BNZs. TRIAGE BNZ results were correlated with those of Syva EMIT, (n = 106, overall agreement 85%). Both negative and positive urine samples were tested by GC-MS for the following drugs: oxazepam, nordiazepam, desalkylflurazepam, OH-ethylflurazepam, lorazepam, temazepam, alpha-OH-alprazolam and alpha-OH-triazolam. Urine samples were extracted using the new ANSYS SPEC.3ML. MP3 solid-phase extraction microcolumn. The ANSYS procedure for BNZs was modified to include desalkylflurazepam, OH-ethylflurazepam, lorazepam, temazepam, alpha-OH-alprazolam, and alpha-OH-triazolam. Deuterated oxazepam and alpha-OH-alprazolam were used as internal standards. Limits of quantitation (LOQs) ranged from 25 to 100 ng/mL with a limit of detection of 25 ng/mL for all analytes. Individual analytes demonstrated within-run precision and between-run precision ranging from 0.9 to 4.7% CV and 1.3 to 16.9% CV, respectively. All analytes were linear from their LOQs to 1000 ng/mL.
CREATING HEALTHY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS THROUGH CHILDREN – AN ACTION COMPETENCE APPROACH

Drawing on a case study of a school in a low-income neighbourhood of an urban area in Botswana, the broader aim of this article is to explore opportunities available for developing learners’ action competence (i.e. their abilities to make decisions and act more independently or collectively) (Jensen & Schnack, 2006) to respond to environmental health issues in their school. Using focus group interviews and observations, selected primary school children are used in the study. The study further demonstrates how children can actually undertake action-oriented initiatives with the aim of developing some sense of purpose in these initiatives to improve their school environmental health. Article visualizations:
Longitudinal detection of optic nerve head changes by spectral domain optical coherence tomography in early experimental glaucoma.

PURPOSE We determined if the detection of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) optic nerve head (ONH) change precedes the detection of confocal scanning laser tomography (CSLT) ONH surface, SDOCT retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), scanning laser perimetry (SLP), and multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) change in eight experimental glaucoma (EG) eyes. METHODS Both eyes from eight monkeys were tested at least three times at baseline, and then every 2 weeks following laser-induced chronic unilateral IOP elevation. Event and trend-based definitions of onset in the control and EG eyes for 11 SDOCT neural and connective tissue, CSLT surface, SDOCT RNFL, SLP, and mfERG parameters were explored. The frequency and timing of onset for each parameter were compared using a logrank test. RESULTS Maximum post-laser IOP was 18 to 42 mm Hg in the EG eyes and 12 to 20 mm Hg in the control eyes. For event- and trend-based analyses, onsets were achieved earliest and most frequently within the ONH neural and connective tissues using SDOCT, and at the ONH surface using CSLT. SDOCT ONH neural and connective tissue parameter change preceded or coincided with CSLT ONH surface change in most EG eyes. The SDOCT and SLP measures of RNFL thickness, and mfERG measures of visual function demonstrated similar onset rates, but occurred later than SDOCT ONH and CSLT surface change, and in fewer eyes. CONCLUSIONS SDOCT ONH change detection commonly precedes or coincides with CSLT ONH surface change detection, and consistently precedes RNFLT, SLP, and mfERG change detection in monkey experimental glaucoma.
Color vision abnormalities in type II diabetes: Sankara Nethralaya Diabetic Retinopathy Epidemiology and Molecular Genetics Study II report no 2

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess color vision abnormalities in a cohort of subjects with type II diabetes and elucidate associated risk factors. Methods: Subjects were recruited from follow-up cohort of Sankara Nethralaya Diabetic Retinopathy Epidemiology and Molecular Genetics Study I. Six hundred and seventy-three eyes of 343 subjects were included from this population-based study. All subjects underwent detailed ophthalmic evaluation, including the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test. Results: The prevalence of impaired color vision (ICV) was 43% (CI: 39.2–46.7). Risk factors for ICV were higher heart rate (odds ratio [OR]: 1.043, [1.023–1.064]) and a higher intraocular pressure (IOP) (OR: 1.086, [1.012–1.165]). Subjects with clinically significant macular edema (CSME) had three times higher chance of having ICV. C1, C2, and C3 are the commonly found Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) patterns. The moment of inertia method showed that the angle did not reveal any specific pattern of color vision defect. Although the major and minor radii were high in those with ICV, we did not observe polarity. Confusion index was high in subjects with ICV, indicating a severe color vision defect. Conclusions: The prevalence of ICV was 43% among subjects with type II diabetes. The most commonly observed patterns were increasing severities of the blue–yellow defect on ETDRS patterns, but no specific pattern was observed at the moment of inertia analysis. The presence of CSME, a higher heart rate, and IOP was significant risk factors for ICV. This functional impairment in color vision could significantly contribute to morbidity among subjects with diabetes.
Object Classification and Occlusion Handling Using Quadratic Feature Correlation Model and Neural Networks

Occlusion handling is an old but important problem for the computer vision and pattern recognition community. Features from different objects may twist with each other, and any matched feature points may belong to different objects for many traditional object recognition algorithms. To recognize occlusions, we should not only match objects from different view points but also match features extracted from the same object. In this paper, we propose a method to consider these two perspectives simultaneously by encoding various types of features, such as geometry, color and texture relationships among feature points into a matrix and find the best quadratic feature correlation model to fit them. Experiments on our own built dataset and the publicly available PASCAL VOC dataset shows that, our method can robustly classify objects and handle occluded objects under large occlusions, and the performance is among the state-of-the-art.
Elections and externalities of health expenditures

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of local public health expenditure in a decentralized health system, taking into account the electoral calendar and the effect of central and local elections, besides spatial interaction among municipalities and political alignment. The authors state that the expenditure in public health at the local level is positively influenced by vicinity and by elections calendar. Design/methodology/approach The authors performed a Spatial Durbin Model with a balanced panel using the data from 399 Brazilian municipalities from 2005 to 2012. The authors use a distance-based spatial matrix, whose choose was based on simplicity and relevance of Moran’s I and Geary’s C coefficients for spatial autocorrelation. The authors also cluster the data in the estimations, according to the distribution of regional facilities in the entire period and considering the occurrence of regionalization in public health services. Findings The empirical contribution lies in four issues: first, the authors demonstrate a positive spatial effect in the public health expenditure. Second, the estimations show that election-year shifts public spent, as a response for vote-seeking incumbents’ behavior. Third, reelected mayors increase local public health allocations, as well as single candidates and incumbents from the same party of central governments. Finally, populational concentration directly decreases health expenditure (even if those municipalities represent a lower unit cost of acquiring votes, the optimization of public health infrastructure and mobility in achieving public health services negatively affect health spent). Originality/value This study supports the statement that public health spent at local level is positively influenced by vicinity and by occurrence of elections.