Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GF(q)-based precoding: information theoretical analysis and performance evaluation

In this paper, a new precoding scheme that is based on the operations in Galois field of size q D 2m (GF .q/) is proposed. Generally, precoding is a processing technique at transmitters to match the input signal to the channel in order to achieve optimal channel capacity through fully utilizing space, time, and frequency diversity. Precoding schemes can be divided into two main categories: linear precoding and nonlinear precoding. It has been shown from an information theoretical aspect that both the linear and nonlinear precoding schemes can achieve the optimal channel capacity. Our proposed GF . q/-based precoding scheme is a nonlinear precoding technique, and the idea originates from finite inputs of the modulated symbols. When representing the modulated symbols and the elements in precoding matrix with the finite elements in Galois field of size q, and applying the operations defined in GF . q/, we can obtain the precoded symbols that contains information of the original symbols. Starting from binary symmetry channel to additive Gaussian white noise channels, we have demonstrated that the proposed GF . q/-based precoding schemes can enhance the system mutual information when the original finite inputs are not uniformly distributed. In addition, inspired by the mutual information analysis in binary symmetry channel, we investigated the selection of the precoding matrix in GF . q/-based precoding schemes. As mutual information indicates the information about the source carried by the symbols of the channel output, greater mutual information enables the receivers to recover more information about the original source. To further utilize the greater mutual information brought by the proposed GF . q/-based precoding schemes, we proposed a novel-receiving structure by exchanging soft information between the GF . q/ decoding block and channel decoding block. Simulation results show that the proposed iterative receiver improves the system bit error rate performance by 1 and 2 dB at the bit error rate level of 10 6 with binary phase shift keying and quadrature phase shift keying modulations, respectively. Inspired by the encouraging results of greater mutual information and better bit error rate performance, we are convinced that the proposed GF . q/-based precoding schemes can be extended to fading channels and multiple input–multiple output systems to further approach channel capacity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Recovery of an Isolated Coral Reef System Following Severe Disturbance

Reef Repair Coral reefs suffer mass mortality because of coral bleaching, disease, and tropical storms, but we know much more about when, where, and how rapidly these ecosystems have collapsed than we do about their recovery. Gilmour et al. (p. 69; see the Perspective by Polidoro and Carpenter) studied a highly isolated coral reef before and after a climate-induced mass mortality event that killed 70 to 90% of the reef corals. The initial recovery of coral cover involved growth and survival of remnant colonies, which was followed by increases in larval recruitment. Thus, in the absence of chronic disturbance, even isolated reefs can recover from catastrophic disturbance. Isolated reefs with thriving herbivorous fish populations can recover rapidly after major bleaching events. [Also see Perspective by Polidoro and Carpenter] Coral reef recovery from major disturbance is hypothesized to depend on the arrival of propagules from nearby undisturbed reefs. Therefore, reefs isolated by distance or current patterns are thought to be highly vulnerable to catastrophic disturbance. We found that on an isolated reef system in north Western Australia, coral cover increased from 9% to 44% within 12 years of a coral bleaching event, despite a 94% reduction in larval supply for 6 years after the bleaching. The initial increase in coral cover was the result of high rates of growth and survival of remnant colonies, followed by a rapid increase in juvenile recruitment as colonies matured. We show that isolated reefs can recover from major disturbance, and that the benefits of their isolation from chronic anthropogenic pressures can outweigh the costs of limited connectivity.
Mandibular Remains Support Taxonomic Validity of Australopithecus sediba

Since the announcement of the species Australopithecus sediba, questions have been raised over whether the Malapa fossils represent a valid taxon or whether inadequate allowance was made for intraspecific variation, in particular with reference to the temporally and geographically proximate species Au. africanus. The morphology of mandibular remains of Au. sediba, including newly recovered material discussed here, shows that it is not merely a late-surviving morph of Au. africanus. Rather—as is seen elsewhere in the cranium, dentition, and postcranial skeleton—these mandibular remains share similarities with other australopiths but can be differentiated from the hypodigm of Au. africanus in both size and shape as well as in their ontogenetic growth trajectory.
Learning flexible, multi-modal human-robot interaction by observing human-human-interaction

This paper presents a technique to learn flexible action selection in autonomous, multi-modal human-robot interaction (HRI) from observing multi-modal human-human interaction (HHI). A model is generated using the proposed technique with symbolic states and actions, representing the scope of the observed mission. Variations in human behavior can be learned as stochastic action effects while execution time perception noise is taken into account, using likelihood models. During execution, the model is used for dynamic action selection in HRI situations. The model as well as the evaluation system integrate the interaction elements of spoken dialog, human body configuration and exchanged objects. The technique is evaluated on a multi-modal service robot which is both able to observe the demonstration of two humans as well as execute the generated mission autonomously.
Cerebral Perfusion Pressure—Targeted Approach in Children With Central Nervous System Infections and Raised Intracranial Pressure: Is It Feasible?

This study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of cerebral perfusion pressure—targeted therapy in children with raised intracranial pressure caused by central nervous system infection. A prospective observational pilot study was conducted in the pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Twenty children (ages 6 months to 12 years) with a clinical diagnosis of meningitis or meningoencephalitis were included. Intracranial pressure and blood pressure monitoring were initiated soon after enrollment. Interventions to reduce intracranial pressure and elevate blood pressure were used to achieve a target cerebral perfusion pressure of greater than 70 mm Hg in children 2 years of age or older and greater than 60 mm Hg in children less than 2 years. Therapies used to achieve target cerebral perfusion pressure were initial fluid boluses (in 14 patients), vasopressors (in 8), and mannitol (in 10). The target cerebral perfusion pressure was achieved in 6 patients, whereas a cerebral perfusion pressure greater than 50 mm Hg was achieved in 16 patients. All 4 patients with mean cerebral perfusion pressure less than 50 mm Hg died of intractable, raised intracranial pressure. In contrast, only 3 of 16 patients with mean cerebral perfusion pressure more than 50 mm Hg died. In children with raised intracranial pressure caused by central nervous system infection, it was feasible to achieve a cerebral perfusion pressure greater than 50 mm Hg, mainly by increasing the blood pressure within the first 24 hours and by reducing intracranial pressure after the first 24 hours.
Clinical Observation of Self-Injurious Behavior Correlated With Changes in Scalp Morphology in a Child With Congenital Hydrocephalus

We report the case of a 12-year-old girl born with cerebral dysgenesis and congenital hydrocephalus first shunted shortly after birth. She had severe tissue-damaging self-injurious behavior, profound mental retardation, quadriparesis, as well as multiple cranial anomalies including turricephaly. After stage 1 cranial remodeling, a bone window was left pending second stage remodeling. Episodic changes in fluctuation of the scalp overlying the bone window were easily observed. During the course of a behavioral assessment for her self-injury, it was observed that the overall frequency of occurrence of self-injury increased significantly (P < .01) when the scalp was protruding and bulging compared with when the scalp was flush with the skull table. Periods of increased scalp protrusion were also associated with higher scores on a pain scale developed for children with communicative impairments associated with severe neurological impairment. After shunt replacement, there was remarkable improvement in functional status and decreased episodic self-injury.
Rebar Technique for Revision of the Failed Patellar Component

Revision of a failed patellar implant can be a challenging surgical procedure. The majority of revision total knee procedures can be handled with implant retention or straightforward revision. However, many revisions present significant patellar bone loss. The author has developed a new technique for resurfacing the deficient patella. The rebar technique uses threaded K-wires in a reinforcing configuration to support the pegs of the patellar implant and strengthen the bone–cement interface. The patellar rebar technique allows secure implant fixation in cases of severe patellar bone loss and offers a useful option for revision of the failed patellar component.
Aire-Dependent Thymic Development of Tumor-Associated Regulatory T Cells

On the Origin of Tumor Tregs The tumor microenvironment is often seeded with regulatory T cells (Tregs), which inhibit antitumor immunity. Using mice with genetically driven prostate cancer, Malchow et al. (p. 1219; see the Perspective by Joshi and Jacks) found a population of Tregs that were enriched in the prostate of tumor-bearing mice. Surprisingly, these cells were also present in female mice and were found to be specific, not for a tumor-specific antigen, but rather for an antigen normally expressed in the prostate. Prostate antigen–specific Tregs arose in the thymus and their selection was dependent on Aire, a protein that drives the expression of tissue-specific antigens in the thymus. Thus, Tregs that seed tumors likely arise in the thymus, are not necessarily tumor-specific, and are recruited and/or expand in an organ when a tumor arises. Prostate tumors in mice recruit thymus-derived regulatory T cells that are specific for tissue autoantigens. [Also see Perspective by Joshi and Jacks] Despite considerable interest in the modulation of tumor-associated Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) for therapeutic benefit, little is known about the developmental origins of these cells and the nature of the antigens that they recognize. We identified an endogenous population of antigen-specific Tregs (termed MJ23 Tregs) found recurrently enriched in the tumors of mice with oncogene-driven prostate cancer. MJ23 Tregs were not reactive to a tumor-specific antigen but instead recognized a prostate-associated antigen that was present in tumor-free mice. MJ23 Tregs underwent autoimmune regulator (Aire)–dependent thymic development in both male and female mice. Thus, Aire-mediated expression of peripheral tissue antigens drives the thymic development of a subset of organ-specific Tregs, which are likely coopted by tumors developing within the associated organ.
Open Wedge Osteotomy in the Treatment of Medial Osteoarthritis of the Knee

ABSTRACTOpen wedge high tibial osteotomy is a well known and reliable method for the treatment of medial osteoarthritis of the knee. It is indicated in patients with medial cartilage damage and varus deformity due to osteoarthritis, traumatic cartilage lesions, osteochondrosis dissecans, and condyla
Efficient detection of public key infrastructure-based revoked keys in mobile ad hoc networks

Key revocation involves secure and efficient managing of the information about compromised keys. Spreading the information of revoked keys to the receivers of the key is a challenging task in public key infrastructure (PKI). PKI is more suitable for wired Internet infrastructure and lacks any tailor-made protocols for extension over an ad hoc network. The paper presents a Mobile Ad hoc Key Revocation Server (MAKeRS) scheme which proposes to improve the performance and reliability of the system. Simulation shows that the concept presented in the paper is more reliable, faster, and scalable than the existing usage of PKI over Ad hoc networks. It proposes auto-creation of zone of network availability (ZoNA) by each MAKeRS, which holds the revocation list and is the best service provider in its zone. A node automatically updates the identity of the key revocation server when it enters a new ZoNA. Each node maintains a list of identities of the key revocation servers sorted in order of their communication overhead. This list is regularly updated based on the broadcast from the servers and also gets modified based on the mobility of nodes and servers. The various scenarios of mobility of nodes and servers are considered and the scheme is designed to suit such scenarios in an optimum way. It reduces the time to gain information about the revocation list and ensures availability and, thus, improvement of the system as a whole. Hence, the proposed system results in scalable, reliable, and faster PKI infrastructure and will be attractive for the mobile Ad hoc network (MANET) users who frequently connect to the Internet for secured transactions. We discuss the architecture as well as the performance of our scheme compared to the popular existing scheme. However, our scheme does not call for the entire change in PKI, but is compatible with the existing scheme. Our simulations show that the proposed scheme is better for key revocation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (The paper presents a Mobile Ad hoc Key Revocation Server (MAKeRS) scheme which improves the performance and reliability of the system by auto-creation of Zone of Network Availability (ZoNA) by each MAKeRS which holds the revocation list and is the best service provider in its zone. Each node maintains a list of identities of the key revocation servers sorted in order of their communication overhead and automatically updates the identity of the key revocation server when it enters a new ZoNA. The scheme support the movement of ad hoc nodes or the receivers of the signatures across a MANET, so as to enable them to remain connected to the strongest server in terms of communication delay and overhead and also a way to ensure the availability of the ad hoc Key Revocation Server, even if the server to which it is presently attached goes out of the network for any possible reason. )
On the robust asymptotical stability of uncertain complex matrices over the complex unit circumference

This paper addresses the problem of establishing whether a complex matrix depending polynomially on a scalar parameter and its conjugate constrained over the complex unit circumference is robustly asymptotically stable in either the continuous-time case or the discrete-time case. A necessary and sufficient condition is proposed in terms of a linear matrix inequality (LMI) feasibility test based on complex Lyapunov functions depending polynomially on the uncertainty. Specifically, the condition is sufficient for any arbitrarily chosen degree of the Lyapunov function. Moreover, the condition is also necessary for a sufficiently large degree of the Lyapunov function, and an upper bound on the minimum degree required for achieving necessity is also provided. Some numerical examples illustrate the proposed results.
Repeated Cortico-Striatal Stimulation Generates Persistent OCD-Like Behavior

What Causes Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Obsessive compulsive disorder is a severe, chronic mental illness that affects millions of individuals. However, the mechanisms underlying this disease are still largely unknown (see the Perspective by Rauch and Carlezon Jr.). Ahmari et al. (p. 1234) stimulated glutamatergic pathways between the orbitofrontal cortex and the ventromedial striatum and used grooming to assess obsessive compulsive behavior in mice. Repetitive stimulation over days triggered changes in the neuronal responses of the ventromedial striatum. Over time, the behavior of the animals became independent of stimulation and could be prevented by the antidepressant fluoxetine. Burguière et al. (p. 1243) investigated the neural basis of obsessive compulsive symptoms in a mutant mouse that showed excessive expression of a conditioned form of grooming. Hyperactivation of projections from the orbitofrontal cortex to the striatum increases repetitive grooming in mice. [Also see Perspective by Rauch and Carlezon] Although cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit dysregulation is correlated with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), causation cannot be tested in humans. We used optogenetics in mice to simulate CSTC hyperactivation observed in OCD patients. Whereas acute orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)–ventromedial striatum (VMS) stimulation did not produce repetitive behaviors, repeated hyperactivation over multiple days generated a progressive increase in grooming, a mouse behavior related to OCD. Increased grooming persisted for 2 weeks after stimulation cessation. The grooming increase was temporally coupled with a progressive increase in light-evoked firing of postsynaptic VMS cells. Both increased grooming and evoked firing were reversed by chronic fluoxetine, a first-line OCD treatment. Brief but repeated episodes of abnormal circuit activity may thus set the stage for the development of persistent psychopathology.
BER performance of MQAM with L-branch MRC diversity reception over correlated Nakagami-m fading channels

Exact and closed form generalized expressions for bit error rate (BER) of M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (MQAM) with L-branch maximal ratio combining (MRC) space diversity reception in fading channels are derived and analyzed. The fading channels are modeled as identical but correlated frequency-nonselective slow Nakagami-m fading channels corrupted by additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). Analytical results obtained are in terms of few finite range integrals with an integrand composed of elementary functions. Because of their simple form, these analytical results readily allow numerical evaluation in cases of practical interest. The results are also general enough to include Nakagami-m fading channels with and without correlation, no diversity system, Rayleigh fading channels with and without correlation, and AWGN as special cases. The numerical results for the case of 16QAM are shown graphically and also in tabular form in order to examine the effects of fading severity, order of diversity, and branch correlation on the BER performance. The two correlation models considered are constant correlation model and exponential correlation model. One may be interested to know how the BER of MQAM is related to symbol error rate (SER) of MQAM. Therefore, the BER results obtained in this paper are also compared with that obtained directly from the SER. It is expected that the analytical results presented in this paper will provide a convenient tool for design and analysis of a radio communication system with space diversity reception in uncorrelated and correlated fading environment. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Secreted PTEN Phosphatase That Enters Cells to Alter Signaling and Survival

PTEN Variations The product of the tumor suppressor gene phosphate and tensin homolog on chromosome ten (PTEN) is a lipid and protein phosphatase that regulates important cellular processes, including growth, survival, and metabolism (see the Perspective by Leslie and Brunton). Though PTEN is best known for effects on the phosphatidylnositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway, the PTEN protein is also found in the nucleus. Bassi et al. (p. 395) found that PTEN's presence in the nucleus was regulated in response to covalent modification of the protein by SUMOylation and phosphorylation. Cells lacking nuclear PTEN showed increased sensitivity to DNA damage and underwent cell death if the PI3K pathway was also inhibited. Hopkins et al. (p. 399, published online 6 June) discovered an alternative translation start site in human PTEN messenger RNA that allowed expression of a protein, PTEN-Long, with about 170 extra amino acids. The unusual enzyme was released from cells and then taken up into other cells. In a mouse tumor model, uptake of the enzyme inhibited the PI3K pathway and inhibited tumor growth. An alternative translation start site produces an elongated PTEN that can enter tumor cells and kill them. [Also see Perspective by Leslie and Brunton] Phosphatase and tensin homolog on chromosome ten (PTEN) is a tumor suppressor and an antagonist of the phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) pathway. We identified a 576–amino acid translational variant of PTEN, termed PTEN-Long, that arises from an alternative translation start site 519 base pairs upstream of the ATG initiation sequence, adding 173 N-terminal amino acids to the normal PTEN open reading frame. PTEN-Long is a membrane-permeable lipid phosphatase that is secreted from cells and can enter other cells. As an exogenous agent, PTEN-Long antagonized PI3K signaling and induced tumor cell death in vitro and in vivo. By providing a means to restore a functional tumor-suppressor protein to tumor cells, PTEN-Long may have therapeutic uses.
How to train your robot - teaching service robots to reproduce human social behavior

Developing interactive behaviors for social robots presents a number of challenges. It is difficult to interpret the meaning of the details of people's behavior, particularly non-verbal behavior like body positioning, but yet a social robot needs to be contingent to such subtle behaviors. It needs to generate utterances and non-verbal behavior with good timing and coordination. The rules for such behavior are often based on implicit knowledge and thus difficult for a designer to describe or program explicitly. We propose to teach such behaviors to a robot with a learning-by-demonstration approach, using recorded human-human interaction data to identify both the behaviors the robot should perform and the social cues it should respond to. In this study, we present a fully unsupervised approach that uses abstraction and clustering to identify behavior elements and joint interaction states, which are used in a variable-length Markov model predictor to generate socially-appropriate behavior commands for a robot. The proposed technique provides encouraging results despite high amounts of sensor noise, especially in speech recognition. We demonstrate our system with a robot in a shopping scenario.
A investigação genética na surdez hereditária não-sindrômica

The precise diagnosis of hearing loss can be clarified by genetic investigation. Non-syndromic hearing loss is responsible for 70% of all genetic causes of hearing loss. More than 100 genes are potentially involved in non-syndromic hearing loss. A specific mutation (35delG) on the GJB2 gene that codifies Conexin 26 protein is the most common finding in non-syndromic hereditary hearing loss. AIM: In this study the presence of mutations 35delG, A1555G/12SeRNA and A7445G/tRNASer (UCN) where investigated for patients with hearing loss of unknown cause. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical study with transversal cohort. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 75 outpatients from the Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery of the University of Campinas-UNICAMP were evaluated from July to December of 2000. A total of six mutations were found, four 35delG/GJB2, one A7445G/tRNASer (UCN) and W172X/GJB2, a mutation not yet described in previous literature. CONCLUSION: The investigation of mutations associated with hearing loss can be carried out easily, elucidates the etiology and allows genetic counseling of the family.