Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Data Combination over Physical Layer Using Network Coding with PUM Turbo Codes

The Base Station (BS) or access point is the building block of wireless networks, so, we propose exploiting it together with the Network Coding (NC) principle. NC suffers from the complexity of the decoding processes, i.e., complicated Jordan Gaussian Elimination (JGE) processes. So, this paper proposes a deterministic NC algorithm to reduce the number of sequential network decoding steps, and hence minimizing the complexity of JGE process resulting to better time delay and processing time. We propose an algorithm that combines higher number of the transmitted packets resulting to better data-rate but worse Bet Error Rate (BER). However, using such strong Forward error correction channel code, which is Partial Unit Memory Turbo Code (PUMTC) results to minimize the losses in the BER to a very acceptable lever, in fact, in Decode-and-Forward (DF) BS, the BER can be regarded as minimum. Simulation results, for both Amplify-and-Forward (AF) and DF BS schemes using PUMTC based on (8, 4, 3, 8) component codes, confirm that using PUMTC mitigates the problem of noise aggregation resulting from applying NC in the proposed schemes.
Interleukin-6 Induces Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-C Expression via Src-FAK-STAT3 Signaling in Lymphatic Endothelial Cells

Elevated serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels correlates with tumor grade and poor prognosis in cancer patients. IL-6 has been shown to promote tumor lymphangiogenesis through vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) induction in tumor cells. We recently showed that IL-6 also induced VEGF-C expression in lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). However, the signaling mechanisms involved in IL-6-induces VEGF-C induction in LECs remain incompletely understood. In this study, we explored the causal role of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) in inducing VEGF-C expression in IL-6-stimulated murine LECs (SV-LECs). FAK signaling blockade by NSC 667249 (a FAK inhibitor) attenuated IL-6-induced VEGF-C expression and VEGF-C promoter-luciferase activities. IL-6’s enhancing effects of increasing FAK, ERK1/2, p38MAPK, C/EBPβ, p65 and STAT3 phosphorylation as well as C/EBPβ-, κB- and STAT3-luciferase activities were reduced in the presence of NSC 667249. STAT3 knockdown by STAT3 siRNA abrogated IL-6’s actions in elevating VEGF-C mRNA and protein levels. Moreover, Src-FAK signaling blockade reduced IL-6’s enhancing effects of increasing STAT3 binding to the VEGF-C promoter region, cell migration and endothelial tube formation of SV-LECs. Together these results suggest that IL-6 increases VEGF-C induction and lymphangiogenesis may involve, at least in part, Src-FAK-STAT3 cascade in LECs.
Performance of 18F-FET versus 18F-FDG-PET for the diagnosis and grading of brain tumors: systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND For the past decade (18)F-fluoro-ethyl-l-tyrosine (FET) and (18)F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) have been used for the assessment of patients with brain tumor. However, direct comparison studies reported only limited numbers of patients. Our purpose was to compare the diagnostic performance of FET and FDG-PET. METHODS We examined studies published between January 1995 and January 2015 in the PubMed database. To be included the study should: (i) use FET and FDG-PET for the assessment of patients with isolated brain lesion and (ii) use histology as the gold standard. Analysis was performed on a per patient basis. Study quality was assessed with STARD and QUADAS criteria. RESULTS Five studies (119 patients) were included. For the diagnosis of brain tumor, FET-PET demonstrated a pooled sensitivity of 0.94 (95% CI: 0.79-0.98) and pooled specificity of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.37-0.99), with an area under the curve of 0.96 (95% CI: 0.94-0.97), a positive likelihood ratio (LR+) of 8.1 (95% CI: 0.8-80.6), and a negative likelihood ratio (LR-) of 0.07 (95% CI: 0.02-0.30), while FDG-PET demonstrated a sensitivity of 0.38 (95% CI: 0.27-0.50) and specificity of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.31-0.99), with an area under the curve of 0.40 (95% CI: 0.36-0.44), an LR+ of 2.7 (95% CI: 0.3-27.8), and an LR- of 0.72 (95% CI: 0.47-1.11). Target-to-background ratios of either FDG or FET, however, allow distinction between low- and high-grade gliomas (P > .11). CONCLUSIONS For brain tumor diagnosis, FET-PET performed much better than FDG and should be preferred when assessing a new isolated brain tumor. For glioma grading, however, both tracers showed similar performances.
How Do Search Engines Work? A Massive Open Online Course with 4000 Participants

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have introduced a new form of education. With thousands of participants per course, lecturers are confronted with new challenges in the teaching process. In this paper, we describe how we conducted an introductory information retrieval course for participants from all ages and educational backgrounds. We analyze diﬀerent course phases and compare our experiences with regular on-site information retrieval courses at university
Compact Triband ACS-Fed Monopole Antenna Employing Open-Ended Slots for Wireless Communication

A compact triband asymmetric coplanar strip (ACS)-fed printed monopole antenna employing open-ended slots for wireless communication is presented. The proposed antenna is composed of an ACS-fed monopole and two special open-ended slots, which occupies a very compact size of 27.5 × 13 mm2. By carefully selecting the lengths and positions of these slots, good dual stopband rejection characteristic can be achieved. The three obtained bands of 2.35-2.53, 3.34-3.85, and 5.05-6.28 GHz can successfully cover the WLAN and WiMAX operation bands. The principle and key parameters of the slot in producing notched band are analyzed in detail. The measured results demonstrate that the proposed antenna has good omnidirectional radiation patterns with reasonable gains across the operating bands, which is suitable to be integrated within the portable device for wireless communication.
Electrophoretic analysis of Histoplasma capsulatum chromosomal DNA

Seven chromosome-sized DNA molecules in the Downs strain of Histoplasma capsulatum were resolved by using chromosome-specific DNA probes in blot hybridizations of contour-clamped homogeneous electric field (CHEF) and field-inversion gel electrophoresis (FIGE) agarose gels. The sizes of the chromosomal DNA bands extended from that of the largest Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome to beyond that of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe chromosomes. Under our experimental conditions, the order of the five largest DNA bands was inverted in the FIGE gel relative to the CHEF gel, demonstrating a characteristic of FIGE whereby large DNA molecules may have greater rather than lesser mobility with increasing size. Comparison of the Downs strain with other H. capsulatum strains by CHEF and FIGE analysis revealed considerable variability in band mobility. The resolution of seven chromosome-sized DNA molecules in the Downs strain provides a minimum estimate of the chromosome number.
A method for compensation of Jacobian in speaker normalization

In the conventional maximum likelihood based speaker normalization approach, the optimal frequency warping factors are estimated by maximizing the likelihood of warped features in a grid search. The conventional method of likelihood computation for warped features does not account for the Jacobian of the transformation. This fact is pointed out by some researchers who have also shown that frequency warping is equivalent to the transformation in the cepstral domain. As an approximation, variance normalization of cepstral features is used before likelihood computation to account for the Jacobian. In this paper, we suggest an alternate method to avoid the Jacobian problem. Our preliminary investigation shows that our proposed method provides improvement in normalization performance compared to the conventional method of warping factor estimation for a digit recognition task.
The Novel VEGF Receptor Antagonist , VGA 1155 , Reduces Edema , Decreases Infarct and Improves Neurological Function after Stroke in Rats JUNJI KOYAMA * , SHIGERU MIYAKE , TAKASHI SASAYAMA , YOSHIYUKI CHIBA , TAKESHI KONDOH , and

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a major mediator of angiogenesis and also a strong vascular permeability factor. Blockade of VEGF may have a potential to treat cerebral edema after brain injury. We evaluated the effect of VGA1155 (5[N-Methyl-N-(4-octadecyloxyphenyl)acetyl]amino-2methylthiobenzoic acid), a novel binding antagonist of VEGF, on cerebral edema after transient focal cerebral ischemia. Focal cerebral ischemia was induced with the suture occlusion method for 2 h. In the treatment group, a single dose of VGA1155 (1 ~ 50 mg/kg i.p.) was administrated 30 min before the induction of focal ischemia, and the vehicle group received phosphate buffer only. The brain water content, Evans blue extravasation, infarct volumes and neurological score were determined. Physiological parameters were not influenced by the administration of VGA1155. The brain water content at 24 h after cerebral ischemia was significantly reduced by intraperitoneal administration of VGA1155 and the dose of 10 mg/kg showed the maximum effect on brain water content (81.8 ± 0.5% in non treated group vs. 80.2 ± 0.6% in treated group). With this dose, VGA1155 also reduced vascular permeability from 2.2 ± 0.8 μg/g to 1.2 ± 0.5 μg/g studied at 6 h after the ischemia by intravenous injection of Evans blue. VGA1155 administration significantly reduced infarct volume and improved neurological scores at 1 week after ischemic injury. The data suggested that VGA1155 has antiedematous effect in acute phase after transient focal cerebral ischemia and improves neurological and histological outcomes 1 week after ischemic injury.
Theory and applications of NMR-based screening in pharmaceutical research.

3.1. Fast Exchange Approximation 3645 4. Ligand-Based versus Receptor-Based Screening 3646 5. Ligand-Based NMR Screening Methods 3646 5.1. Transverse Relaxation Rates 3647 5.2. Longitudinal Relaxation Rates 3649 5.3. Paramagnetic Relaxation Enhancements 3649 5.4. 19F Relaxation 3650 5.5. Saturation Transfer Difference (STD) Methods 3650 5.6. WaterLOGSY 3653 5.7. Exchange-Transferred NOE 3656 5.8. Competition Binding Experiments 3656 5.9. Troubleshooting Common Problems: Aggregation and Nonspecific Binding 3657
Autoinhibition and Signaling by the Switch II Motif in the G-protein Chaperone of a Radical B12 Enzyme*

Background: MeaB is a G-protein chaperone of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MCM). Results: Mutations in the canonical switch II motif disrupt signaling in the MeaB-MCM complex. Conclusion: The switch II loop is autoinhibitory for the intrinsic GTPase activity of MeaB. Significance: Signaling in the MeaB-MCM complex is achieved via nucleotide-dependent conformational coupling between switches II and III. MeaB is an accessory GTPase protein involved in the assembly, protection, and reactivation of 5′-deoxyadenosyl cobalamin-dependent methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MCM). Mutations in the human ortholog of MeaB result in methylmalonic aciduria, an inborn error of metabolism. G-proteins typically utilize conserved switch I and II motifs for signaling to effector proteins via conformational changes elicited by nucleotide binding and hydrolysis. Our recent discovery that MeaB utilizes an unusual switch III region for bidirectional signaling with MCM raised questions about the roles of the switch I and II motifs in MeaB. In this study, we addressed the functions of conserved switch II residues by performing alanine-scanning mutagenesis. Our results demonstrate that the GTPase activity of MeaB is autoinhibited by switch II and that this loop is important for coupling nucleotide-sensitive conformational changes in switch III to elicit the multiple chaperone functions of MeaB. Furthermore, we report the structure of MeaB·GDP crystallized in the presence of AlFx− to form the putative transition state analog, GDP·AlF4−. The resulting crystal structure and its comparison with related G-proteins support the conclusion that the catalytic site of MeaB is incomplete in the absence of the GTPase-activating protein MCM and therefore unable to stabilize the transition state analog. Favoring an inactive conformation in the absence of the client MCM protein might represent a strategy for suppressing the intrinsic GTPase activity of MeaB in which the switch II loop plays an important role.
Recognition and killing of cancer stem-like cell population in hepatocellular carcinoma cells by cytokine-induced killer cells via NKG2d-ligands recognition

ABSTRACT There is an urgent need for more potent and safer approaches to eradicate cancer stem cells (CSCs) for curing cancer. In this study, we investigate cancer-killing activity (CKA) of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells against CSCs of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To visualize CSCs in vitro by fluorescence imaging, and image and quantify CSCs in tumor xenograft-bearing mice by bioluminescence imaging, HCC cells were engineered with CSC detector vector encoding GFP and luciferase controlled by Nanog promoter. We found that CIK cells have a strong CKA in vitro against putative CSCs of HCC, as shown by tumorsphere formation and time-lapse imaging. Additionally, time-lapse recording firstly revealed that putative CSCs were attacked simultaneously by many CIK cells and finally eradicated by CIK cells, indicating the necessity of achieving sufficient effector-to-target ratios. We firstly illustrated that anti-NKG2D antibody blocking partially but significantly inhibited CKA of CIK cells against putative CSCs. More importantly, intravenous infusion of CIK cells remarkably delayed tumor growth in mice with a significant decrease in putative CSC number monitored by bioluminescence imaging. Taken together, these findings demonstrate CKA of CIK cells against putative CSCs of HCC, at least in part, by NKG2D-ligands recognition.
War and disaster in Sri Lanka: Depression, family adjustment and health among women heading households

Background: The civil war, lasting from 1983 to 2009, and the tsunami that struck Southeastern Asia in 2004 were major stressors that changed the demographic landscape of the northern province of Sri Lanka. The composition of families changed dramatically, with an increase in female-headed households, largely due to casualties. The conservation of resources (COR) model was applied in this study to examine relationships between risk and resiliency factors among women heading households, including women widowed by war or disaster. Aims: This study represents an investigation of the association between predictive risk and resiliency factors (i.e. war damage and loss, social support, economic status, religious participation and discrimination) and outcomes representing well-being (depressive symptoms, family adjustment and a rating of physical health). Methods: Data from 514 women heading households living in the Kilinochchi district of Sri Lanka were collected through face-to-face interviews in 2013, and associations among the data were estimated using path analysis. Results: Results suggest that resiliency factors that are representative of greater resources generally predicted lower levels of distress and vice versa. Conclusion: Further study informing intervention development with women heading households in Sri Lanka is warranted to better understand which individual, family and community resources are most important to mobilize for sustainable recovery efforts to be successful in the decades following war and natural disaster.
Cell-free DNA testing after combined test: factors affecting the uptake

Abstract Objective: First, to assess what was the uptake of cell free DNA (cfDNA) testing after a combined test and the maternal and fetal factors that influenced this decision, and second, to assess the uptake and factors that influence the choice of invasive testing. Methods: This observational retrospective study included 1083 singleton pregnancies who had a combined test for screening for Down syndrome between 11 + 0 and 13 + 6 weeks. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine which factors affected the uptake of cfDNA test and invasive testing among risk for trisomies 21, 18, and 13, maternal characteristics and fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness. Results: Two-hundred fifty-seven (23.7%) women had a cfDNA test, 89 (8.2%) had an invasive test, and 737 (68.1%) had no further test. The uptake of cfDNA increased with the risk for trisomies (p < 0.001), maternal age (p = 0.013), and was higher in nulliparous women (p = 0.004). The uptake of invasive test increased with the risk for trisomies (p < 0.001) and NT thickness (p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study shows that the uptake of cfDNA testing increases with the risk for trisomies, maternal age, and is higher in nulliparous, whereas the uptake of invasive testing increases with the risk for trisomies and NT thickness.
Health Insurance and Fertility Decisions : Evidence from Affordable Care Act Young Adult Provision

This study provides evidence of the impact of health insurance on fertility decisions in the context of young adults. The Affordable Care Act young adult provision has been shown to expand private health insurance coverage for the intended age group. Having health insurance improves access to family planning services and could reduce unintended pregnancy. The provision may also improve health insurance access during pregnancy and encourage child births. Using birth certificate data and a differencein-differences study design, we examined the impact of the provision on fertility rates, prenatal care and birth outcomes by comparing the targeted group to slightly older adults. We found that the young adult provision reduced fertility rates by about 5% in the first 3 years following the policy change and increased the share of children born to unmarried, minority, or less educated mothers. The evidence also suggests that the provision encouraged earlier initiation of prenatal care and reduced maternal smoking and pregnancy complications. However, birth weight and gestational age seems to be non-responsive to the provision.
Experience with INTELLECT: Artificial Intelligence Technology Transfer

Editor’s Note: At the 1983 National Conference, there was a special session on Technology Transfer. Six speakers from different industrial organizations presented their personal views on the process of turning the results of AI restarch and development into commercial practice. Unfortunately there was not time to produce and distribute a written record of the Symposium for the attendees. To correct that problem, we will publish edited versions of the six oral presentations, at the rate of one or two per issue. The following two articles, by Larry Harris of Artificial Intelligence Corporation and S. Jerrold Kaplan of Teknowledge, inaugurate the series Other speakers at the Symposium were Reid Smith (Schlumberger), Stephen Polit (DEC), Ed T yl a or (TRW) and Earl Sacerdoti (formerly Machine Intelligence Corporation, now with Teknowledge). Robert S. Engelmore
CMOS current-mode design of an S-shape correction curve generator

A high speed and low power CMOS current-mode circuit design is proposed for generating an S-shape correction curve. We divide the correction curve into three segments to reduce the polynomial order for curve fitting. We assemble three simple current-mode circuits to construct an S-shape correction curve generator. The circuit consists of only 16 transistors and 3 current sources. The −3dB bandwidth and the maximum power dissipation are 285 MHz and 2.97 mW, respectively. The input
A metamorphotic Network-on-Chip for various types of parallel applications

A metamorphotic Network-on-Chip (NoC) architecture is proposed in order to customize for performance or energy consumption on a per-application basis. Adding reconfigurability on conventional topologies has been studied so far especially for application workloads that can be statically analyzed. In this context, we propose such a platform to take care of both the static and the dynamic cases where application workloads cannot be statically analyzed while performance or energy constraints are given. Our metamorphotic NoC reconfigures its topology, routing, operating frequency, and supply voltage based on the following three modes. 1) Regular mode uses a traditional mesh topology for neighboring communications. As the link length is short and uniform, it can be operated at a higher frequency and higher voltage, while a long-range communication increases the path length. 2) Random mode uses a random topology for unknown workloads to reduce the path length by exploiting the small-world effect. As the path length is reduced but the wire delay is increased, it is intended for a lower operating frequency and lower voltage. 3) Custom mode uses an optimized topology for given workloads. To support Random and Custom modes, assembled multiplexers are embedded into the metamorphotic NoC. Random and Regular/Custom modes are generated by randomly or selectively reconfiguring these multiplexers, respectively, based on the performance or energy constraints. This paper explores the design space of assembled multiplexers and provides a reasonable design recommendation through a graph analysis. It is demonstrated based on experimental results on the area overhead, operating frequency, network performance, and energy consumption. The results show that Regular mode can operate at 1.27GHz and Random mode can reduce the average network latency by 19.6% and the energy consumption by 44.2% compared with a traditional NoC that has mesh topology with little overhead. Custom mode can reduce them as well as Random mode.
Validation-Based Sparse Gaussian Process Classifier Design

Gaussian processes (GPs) are promising Bayesian methods for classification and regression problems. Design of a GP classifier and making predictions using it is, however, computationally demanding, especially when the training set size is large. Sparse GP classifiers are known to overcome this limitation. In this letter, we propose and study a validation-based method for sparse GP classifier design. The proposed method uses a negative log predictive (NLP) loss measure, which is easy to compute for GP models. We use this measure for both basis vector selection and hyperparameter adaptation. The experimental results on several real-world benchmark data sets show better or comparable generalization performance over existing methods.
Segmentation of brain MRI using active contour model

Alzheimer disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that impairs memory, cognitive function, and gradually leads to dementia, physical deterioration, loss of independence, and death of the affected individual. In this context, segmentation of medical images is a very important technique in the field of image analysis and Computer‐Assisted Diagnosis. In this article, we introduce a new automatic method of brain images’ segmentation based on the Active Contour (AC) model to extract the Hippocampus and the Corpus Callosum (CC). Our contribution is to combine the geometric method with the statistical method of the AC. We used the Caselle Level Set and added a learning phase to build an average shape and to make the initialization task automatic. For the step of contour evolution, we used the principle of Level set and we added to it the a priori knowledge. Experimental results are very promising. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 27, 3–11, 2017
Isolation of phenol-degrading Bacillus stearothermophilus and partial characterization of the phenol hydroxylase

Bacillus stearothermophilus BR219, isolated from river sediment, degraded phenol at levels to 15 mM at a rate of 0.85 mumol/h (4 x 10(6) cells). The solubilized phenol hydroxylase was NADH dependent, exhibited a 55 degrees C temperature optimum for activity, and was not inhibited by 0.5 mM phenol.