Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fiber Optic Networks for Distributed Radio Architectures: FUTON Concept and Operation

The growing importance of wireless communications has been driving the research and development of advanced network architectures to enable the cost-effective support of large numbers of users at very high data rates. In this context, the FUTON project aims to fulfil the objectives of the so-called 4th Generation (4G) wireless communications through an innovative Distributed Antenna System (DAS) with centralized signal processing. An overview of the FUTON concept is presented in this paper, with emphasis on the optical link design for radio-over-fiber communication providing the virtual-MIMO functionalities between multiple remote antenna units with a centralized processing site. Also, the units being fabricated for the final demonstration are described, and some preliminary measurements are presented.
High-Frequency Transformation, by Electroporation, of Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris Grown with Glycine in Osmotically Stabilized Media

An efficient method for genetic transformation of lactococci by electroporation is presented. Highly competent lactococci for electrotransformation were obtained by growing cells in media containing high concentrations of glycine and 0.5 M sucrose as the osmotic stabilizers. These cells could be stored at −85°C without loss of competence. With Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris BC101, a transformation frequency of 5.7 × 107 transformants per μg of pIL253 DNA was obtained, which represents 5% of the surviving cells. All the lactococcal strains tested could be transformed by the present method.
Nonlinguistic Outcome Measures in Adult Cochlear Implant Users Over the First Year of Implantation

Objectives: Postlingually deaf cochlear implant users’ speech perception improves over several months after implantation due to a learning process which involves integration of the new acoustic information presented by the device. Basic tests of hearing acuity might evaluate sensitivity to the new acoustic information and be less sensitive to learning effects. It was hypothesized that, unlike speech perception, basic spectral and temporal discrimination abilities will not change over the first year of implant use. If there were limited change over time and the test scores were correlated with clinical outcome, the tests might be useful for acute diagnostic assessments of hearing ability and also useful for testing speakers of any language, many of which do not have validated speech tests. Design: Ten newly implanted cochlear implant users were tested for speech understanding in quiet and in noise at 1 and 12 months postactivation. Spectral-ripple discrimination, temporal-modulation detection, and Schroeder-phase discrimination abilities were evaluated at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postactivation. Results: Speech understanding in quiet improved between 1 and 12 months postactivation (mean 8% improvement). Speech in noise performance showed no statistically significant improvement. Mean spectral-ripple discrimination thresholds and temporal-modulation detection thresholds for modulation frequencies of 100 Hz and above also showed no significant improvement. Spectral-ripple discrimination thresholds were significantly correlated with speech understanding. Low FM detection and Schroeder-phase discrimination abilities improved over the period. Individual learning trends varied, but the majority of listeners followed the same stable pattern as group data. Conclusions: Spectral-ripple discrimination ability and temporal-modulation detection at 100-Hz modulation and above might serve as a useful diagnostic tool for early acute assessment of cochlear implant outcome for listeners speaking any native language.
The Association of Health Literacy with Physical Activity and Nutritional Behavior in Older Adults, and Its Social Cognitive Mediators

ABSTRACT Inadequate health literacy is a common problem among older adults and is associated with poor health outcomes. Insight into the association between health literacy and health behaviors may support interventions to mitigate the effects of inadequate health literacy. The authors assessed the association of health literacy with physical activity and nutritional behavior in community-dwelling older adults. The authors also assessed whether the associations between health literacy and health behaviors are mediated by social cognitive factors. Data from a study among community-dwelling older adults (55 years and older) in a relatively deprived area in The Netherlands were used (baseline n = 643, response: 43%). The authors obtained data on health literacy, physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and potential social cognitive mediators (attitude, self-efficacy, and risk perception). After adjustment for confounders, inadequate health literacy was marginally significantly associated with poor compliance with guidelines for physical activity (OR = 1.52, p = .053) but not with poor compliance with guidelines for fruit and vegetable consumption (OR = 1.20, p = .46). Self-efficacy explained 32% of the association between health literacy and compliance with physical activity guidelines. Further research may focus on self-efficacy as a target for interventions to mitigate the negative effects of inadequate health literacy.
Predictors of recurrent hypoglycemia following a severe hypoglycemic event among hospitalized patients

ABSTRACT Objectives: Severe hypoglycemia is associated with poor hospital outcomes, but variables contributing to the adequacy of treatment have not been described. The objective of this study was to determine predictors of recurrent hypoglycemia among hospitalized patients with a severe hypoglycemic event. Methods: Patients with severe hypoglycemia (glucose <40 mg/dl) with a concomitant insulin order were identified using the study institution’s Information Warehouse. The primary outcome was the prevalence of recurrent hypoglycemia (defined as <70 mg/dl within 24 hours) and to identify independent predictors of recurrent hypoglycemia. Secondary outcomes included time to blood glucose recheck, time to blood glucose ≥70 mg/dl, and rebound hyperglycemia (defined as glucose >300 mg/dl within 24 hours). Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were performed. Results: A total of 129 patients with severe hypoglycemia were identified. The median time to repeat glucose measurement was 29 (IQR 15–61) minutes, while the time to resolution of hypoglycemia was 49 (IQR 26–103) minutes. Recurrent hypoglycemia occurred in 49% of patients, while 19% of patients experienced rebound hyperglycemia. Independent predictors of recurrent hypoglycemia included lower repeat glucose (p = 0.025), low glomerular filtration rate (p = 0.033), and lack of insulin adjustment (p = 0.012). Independent predictors of maximum glucose post-event were type 1 diabetes (p = 0.0003), history of any diabetes (p = 0.013), and total bolus dose of insulin (p < 0.0001). Overnight timing of events was the only predictor of shorter time to hypoglycemia resolution (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Recurrent hypoglycemia following severe hypoglycemia is common in the hospital, suggesting the need for enhanced monitoring in such patients. Further research is needed to identify methods to reduce the incidence of recurrent hypoglycemia.
Categorical skylines for streaming data

The problem of skyline computation has attracted considerable research attention. In the categorical domain the problem becomes more complicated, primarily due to the partially-ordered nature of the attributes of tuples. In this paper, we initiate a study of streaming categorical skylines. We identify the limitations of existing work for offline categorical skyline computation and realize novel techniques for the problem of maintaining the skyline of categorical data in a streaming environment. In particular, we develop a lightweight data structure for indexing the tuples in the streaming buffer, that can gracefully adapt to tuples with many attributes and partially ordered domains of any size and complexity. Additionally, our study of the dominance relation in the dual space allows us to utilize geometric arrangements in order to index the categorical skyline and efficiently evaluate dominance queries. Lastly, a thorough experimental study evaluates the efficiency of the proposed techniques.
Die differentielle Bedeutung des Handlungskontrollmodus für klärungs- und bewältigungsorientierte Therapien

Zusammenfassung. Die Rolle des Handlungskontrollmodus als differentielle Psychotherapieprozessvariable wird in einem 4 × 2 × 4 Versuchsplan mit den Faktoren Therapieerfolg, Therapiebedingung und Therapieverlauf untersucht. Als Therapiebedingungen wurden je ein Vertreter einer bewaltigungsorientierten und einer klarungsorientierten Richtung, sowie zwei Bedingungen, welche sowohl bewaltigungs- wie auch klarungsorientiert vorgehen, ausgewahlt. Die Ergebnisse sprechen fur eine differentielle Wirkungsweise von klarungsorientierten und bewaltigungsorientierten Therapien. Es wird gezeigt, dass insbesondere der lageorientierte Modus der Handlungskontrolle eine differentielle funktionale Rolle fur das Zustandekommen der Therapieeffekte bei bewaltigungs- und klarungsorientierten Vorgehensweisen spielt. Dagegen konnte kein Haupteffekt fur den handlungsorientierten Kontrollmodus nachgewiesen werden. Die Ergebnisse werden auf dem Hintergrund des Rubikonmodells von Heckhausen diskutiert.
Gendered Reactions

Considering the 2004 campaign’s attention to the gender gap in voting between women and men and efforts to turn out the youth vote, this study examines the reactions of 301 female and male young voters to televised political advertisements aired on behalf of the two major party presidential candidates. Specifically, the authors compare how women and men rate each candidate’s overall favorability and individual character traits as well as indicate their vote intention for George W. Bush or John Kerry. The authors find that the gender gap in vote intention is similar to, but larger than, the actual gender gap in voting in 2004, both overall and for young voters. However, assessments of candidate favorability follow the gender gap only for the Democratic candidate.
Cooperative Energy Broadcasting System With Massive MIMO

Different from information transmission, inter-cell interference benefits energy harvesting of energy users (EUs) in multi-cell scenario. Therefore, the objective of this letter is to maximize the average energy harvesting utility of multiple EUs by leveraging inter-cell cooperation. Considering channel state information (CSI) delay, a cooperative energy precoder with centralized implementation is first proposed when the energy stations (ESs) employ massive multiple-input multiple-output. Then, its distributed implementation is presented in terms of a local constraint at each ES and information exchange among ESs. Results indicate that the cooperative energy transfer significantly outperforms the non-cooperative energy transfer with either perfect or delay CSI, and the proposed energy precoder with proportional fairness utility can balance the harvested energy and fairness among different EUs.
Understanding Reduced-fat Milk Consumption among Male Adolescents Using the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract This study identifies factors that influences reduced-fat milk consumption among 560 male students, ages 13-18 years, attending North Los Angeles County public high schools. Participants completed a group-administered Theory of Planned Behavior-based questionnaire. The majority of the participants, 94.8%, reported that they currently drank some kind of milk. Of those who reported that they drank milk, 68.2% reported that they currently drank reduced-fat milk or skim milk. Attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control were each significant predictors of intention to drink reduced-fat milk and together explained 62% of its variance. The strongest predictor was attitude, followed by perceived behavioral control and subjective norm. Taste and possible health benefits were the primary predictors of attitude; parents, siblings and doctors' opinions predicted subjective norm; and availability of reduced-fat milk at home and school predicted perceived control. These findings may guide health professionals in planning programs intended to increase reduced-fat milk consumption among male adolescents.
αCheck: A mechanized metatheory model checker*

Abstract The problem of mechanically formalizing and proving metatheoretic properties of programming language calculi, type systems, operational semantics, and related formal systems has received considerable attention recently. However, the dual problem of searching for errors in such formalizations has attracted comparatively little attention. In this article, we present αCheck, a bounded model checker for metatheoretic properties of formal systems specified using nominal logic. In contrast to the current state of the art for metatheory verification, our approach is fully automatic, does not require expertise in theorem proving on the part of the user, and produces counterexamples in the case that a flaw is detected. We present two implementations of this technique, one based on negation-as-failure and one based on negation elimination, along with experimental results showing that these techniques are fast enough to be used interactively to debug systems as they are developed.
Rights, Democracy, and Fulfillment in the Era of Identity Politics: Principled Compromises in a Compromised World

Rights, Democracy, and Fulfillment in the Era of Identity Politics: Principled Compromises in a Compromised World. By David Ingram. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2004. 280p. $70.00 cloth, $27.95 paper. David Ingram situates his work within the tradition of critical social theory and traces its normative impulse to the young Marx's aspiration for human fulfillment. However, in order to avoid the trap of utopianism, he adopts a pragmatic attitude and highlights the importance of compromises. At the same time, by remaining cognizant of the price paid for normative compromises, he is able to maintain his pragmatic attitude without losing sight of the aspiration for human fulfillment and perfectibility that inspires his work.
Incidence and Characteristics of Type‐2 Breaks in Response to Antitachycardia Pacing Therapy in Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Patients

Introduction: Antitachycardia pacing (ATP) effectively treats monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (VT). The VT may cease immediately upon ATP completion (type‐1 break), or it may persist or change to another tachyarrhythmia for one or more beats before termination (type‐2 break). We investigated the prevalence and characteristics of type‐2 breaks in ICD patients.
Brain Glucose Transport and Phosphorylation Under Acute Insulin-Induced Hypoglycemia in Mice: An 18F-FDG PET Study

We addressed the questions of how cerebral glucose transport and phosphorylation change under acute hypoglycemia and what the underlying mechanisms of adaptation are. Methods: Quantitative 18F-FDG PET combined with the acquisition of real-time arterial input function was performed on mice. Hypoglycemia was induced and maintained by insulin infusion. PET data were analyzed with the 2-tissue-compartment model for 18F-FDG, and the results were evaluated with Michaelis–Menten saturation kinetics. Results: Glucose clearance from plasma to brain (K1,glc) and the phosphorylation rate constant increased with decreasing plasma glucose (Gp), in particular at a Gp of less than 2.5 mmol/L. Estimated cerebral glucose extraction ratios taking into account an increased cerebral blood flow (CBF) at a Gp of less than 2 mmol/L were between 0.14 and 0.79. CBF-normalized K1,glc values were in agreement with saturation kinetics. Phosphorylation rate constants indicated intracellular glucose depletion at a Gp of less than 2–3 mmol/L. When brain regions were compared, glucose transport under hypoglycemia was lowest in the hypothalamus. Conclusion: Alterations in glucose transport and phosphorylation, as well as intracellular glucose depletion, under acute hypoglycemia can be modeled by saturation kinetics taking into account an increase in CBF. Distinct transport kinetics in the hypothalamus may be involved in its glucose-sensing function.
Evaluation of Group and Individual Forms of Embedded-Figures Measures of Field-Independence 1

(1950) Embedded-Figures Test (EFT) ; second, to study the roles of various response determinants, including the influence of memory, color, and item format upon individual consistencies in the extraction of embedded figures; and third, to appraise relationships between performance on group and individual embedded-figures tests and selected cognitive and personality measures. Interest in studying perceptual field-independence and its ramifications in personality theory, development, and cognition has grown steadily since the appearance of a report describing a decade of research by Witkin and his associates (Witkin et al., 1954). At
The Structure of Genealogies in the Presence of Purifying Selection: A Fitness-Class Coalescent

Compared to a neutral model, purifying selection distorts the structure of genealogies and hence alters the patterns of sampled genetic variation. Although these distortions may be common in nature, our understanding of how we expect purifying selection to affect patterns of molecular variation remains incomplete. Genealogical approaches such as coalescent theory have proven difficult to generalize to situations involving selection at many linked sites, unless selection pressures are extremely strong. Here, we introduce an effective coalescent theory (a “fitness-class coalescent”) to describe the structure of genealogies in the presence of purifying selection at many linked sites. We use this effective theory to calculate several simple statistics describing the expected patterns of variation in sequence data, both at the sites under selection and at linked neutral sites. Our analysis combines a description of the allele frequency spectrum in the presence of purifying selection with the structured coalescent approach of Kaplan et al. (1988), to trace the ancestry of individuals through the distribution of fitnesses within the population. We also derive our results using a more direct extension of the structured coalescent approach of Hudson and Kaplan (1994). We find that purifying selection leads to patterns of genetic variation that are related but not identical to a neutrally evolving population in which population size has varied in a specific way in the past.
Comparative genomics of non-pseudomonal bacterial species colonising paediatric cystic fibrosis patients

The genetic disorder cystic fibrosis is a life-limiting condition affecting ∼70,000 people worldwide. Targeted, early, treatment of the dominant infecting species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, has improved patient outcomes; however, there is concern that other species are now stepping in to take its place. In addition, the necessarily long-term antibiotic therapy received by these patients may be providing a suitable environment for the emergence of antibiotic resistance. To investigate these issues, we employed whole-genome sequencing of 28 non-Pseudomonas bacterial strains isolated from three paediatric patients. We did not find any trend of increasing antibiotic resistance (either by mutation or lateral gene transfer) in these isolates in comparison with other examples of the same species. In addition, each isolate contained a virulence gene repertoire that was similar to other examples of the relevant species. These results support the impaired clearance of the CF lung not demanding extensive virulence for survival in this habitat. By analysing serial isolates of the same species we uncovered several examples of strain persistence. The same strain of Staphylococcus aureus persisted for nearly a year, despite administration of antibiotics to which it was shown to be sensitive. This is consistent with previous studies showing antibiotic therapy to be inadequate in cystic fibrosis patients, which may also explain the lack of increasing antibiotic resistance over time. Serial isolates of two naturally multi-drug resistant organisms, Achromobacter xylosoxidans and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, revealed that while all S. maltophilia strains were unique, A. xylosoxidans persisted for nearly five years, making this a species of particular concern. The data generated by this study will assist in developing an understanding of the non-Pseudomonas species associated with cystic fibrosis.
National Identity and the Interplay between National Pride and Ethnic Exclusionism: The Exceptional Case of the Czech Republic

Abstract This article focuses on national identity in post-communist Czech Republic. It empirically analyses attitudes of national pride and ethnic exclusionism and their interrelations in the years 1995 and 2003. Comparative studies dealing with national identity usually refer to the Czech Republic as an exceptional case. By focusing on the Czech case, this study contributes to a better understanding of local variations of concepts such as national pride and ethnic exclusionism. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to establish the multidimensionality of national pride and ethnic exclusionism in the Czech Republic at two time points. The interrelationships between different dimensions of national pride and of ethnic exclusionism are analysed using structural equation modelling. Data are drawn from the International Social Survey Programme National Identity Modules 1995 and 2003. Following empirical results, the paper suggests more valid dimensions for the concepts of national pride and ethnic exclusionism in the distinctive Czech context and discusses their mutual relationships.
Combining neural-based regression predictors using an unbiased and normalized linear ensemble model

In this paper, we combined a group of local regression predictors using a novel unbiased and normalized linear ensemble model (UNLEM) for the design of multiple predictor systems. In the UNLEM, the optimization of the ensemble weights is formulated equivalently to a constrained quadratic programming problem, which can be solved with the Lagrange multiplier. In our simulation experiments of data regression, the proposed multiple predictor system is composed of three different types of local regression predictors, and the effectiveness evaluation of the UNLEM was carried out on eight synthetic and four benchmark data sets. Results of the UNLEMpsilas performance in terms of mean-squared error are significantly lower, in comparison with the popular simple average ensemble method. Moreover, the UNLEM is able to provide the regression predictions with a relatively higher normalized correlation coefficient than the results obtained with the simple average approach.
What Should Developmental Assessment Centers be Developing

This article raises an important and seldom discussed question for those who design and implement developmental assessment centers (DACs): Are the dimensions traditionally assessed in managerial assessment centers also the most appropriate for DACs? Dimensions in DACs are often borrowed directly from traditional assessment centers, with little consideration of whether, to what extent, or how development can be expected to take place. In this article, we explain the necessity of considering development, and we discuss the importance of both objective and perceived developability. We further discuss the concept of a continuum of developability and offer recommendations for DAC researchers and for practitioners seeking to determine the appropriateness of dimensions for DAC programs.