Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
User Cooperation for NOMA-Based Mobile Edge Computing

In this paper, we propose a non-orthogonal multiple-access (NOMA)-based cooperative computing scheme in a basic three-node mobile edge computing (MEC) system consisting of a user, a helper and an access point (AP). In particular, the user can simultaneously offload partial data of its computation task to the helper and the AP using NOMA. The helper can locally compute the received data from the user and the partial data of its own task, in parallel with offloading its rest data to the AP. The proposed cooperative computing scheme is a win-win strategy that benefits both the user and helper. The energy consumption minimization problem is studied by joint communication and computation resource sharing of the user and helper subject to a latency constraint. This problem is non-convex and we find the optimal solution by some proper mathematical methods. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme compared with the benchmark schemes.
Acceleration of MCMC-based algorithms using reconfigurable logic

Monte Carlo (MC) methods such as Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) have emerged as popular tools to sample from high dimensional probability distributions. Because these algorithms can draw samples effectively from arbitrary distributions in Bayesian inference problems, they have been widely used in a range of statistical applications. However, they are often too time consuming due to the prohibitive costly likelihood evaluations, thus they cannot be practically applied to complex models with large-scale datasets. Currently, the lack of sufficiently fast MCMC methods limits their applicability in many modern applications such as genetics and machine learning, and this situation is bound to get worse given the increasing adoption of big data in many fields. The objective of this dissertation is to develop, design and build efficient hardware architectures for MCMC-based algorithms on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and thereby bring them closer to practical applications. The contributions of this work include: 1) Novel parallel FPGA architectures of the state-of-the-art resampling algorithms for SMC methods. The proposed architectures allow for parallel implementations and thus improve the processing speed. 2) A novel mixed precision MCMC algorithm, along with a tailored FPGA architecture. The proposed design allows for more parallelism and achieves low latency for a given set of hardware resources, while still guaranteeing unbiased estimates. 3) A new variant of subsampling MCMC method based on unequal probability sampling, along with a highly optimized FPGA architecture. The proposed method significantly reduces off-chip memory access and achieves high accuracy in estimates for a given time budget. This work has resulted in the development of hardware accelerators of MCMC and SMC for very large-scale Bayesian tasks by applying the above techniques. Notable speed improvements compared to the respective state-of-the-art CPU and GPU implementations have been achieved in this work.
microRNA‐340‐5p inhibits hypoxia/reoxygenation‐induced apoptosis and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes by regulating the Act1/NF‐κB pathway

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to play critical roles in the occurrence, progression, and treatment of many cardiovascular diseases. However, the molecular mechanism by which miRNA regulates target gene expression in ischemia‐reperfusion (I/R) injury in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is not entirely clear. MiR‐340‐5p was reported to be downregulated in acute ischemic stroke. However, it still remains unknown whether miR‐340‐5p is mediated in the pathogenesis process of I/R injury after AMI. In the present study, male C57BL/6 J mice and H9C2 cardiomyocytes were used as experimental models. Real‐time polymerase chain reaction analysis, Western blot analysis, and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP nick‐end‐labeling immunofluorescence staining assay were conducted to examine related indicators in the study. We confirmed that the expression of miR‐340‐5p is downregulated after I/R in AMI mice and hypoxia/reperfusion (H/R)‐induced cardiomyocytes. miR‐340‐5p could inhibit apoptosis and oxidative stress in H/R‐induced H9C2 cells via downregulating activator 1 (Act1). The inhibiting action of miR‐340‐5p on H/R‐induced apoptosis and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes was partially reversed after Act1 overexpression. Moreover, the results showed that the NF‐κB pathway may be mediated in the role of miR‐340‐5p on H/R‐induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and oxidative stress. We demonstrated that upregulation of miR‐340‐5p suppresses apoptosis and oxidative stress induced by H/R in H9C2 cells by inhibiting Act1. Therapeutic strategies that target miR‐340‐5p, Act1, and the NF‐κB pathway could be beneficial for the treatment of I/R injury after AMI.
Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation for Wireless-Powered Backscatter Communication Networks

In this paper, we investigate energy-efficient resource allocation in a wireless powered backscatter communication network (WPBCN), which consists of two types of wireless devices. To fully exploit the information transmission time, the two devices are supported to operate in different modes, i.e., the harvest-then-transmit (HTT) mode and backscatter communication (BackCom) mode, respectively. To improve the efficiency of wireless power transfer, energy beamforming technique is adopted at the PB. We formulate the system energy efficiency (EE) maximization problem by jointly optimizing the energy beamforming vector, power allocation, and time allocation. Since the formulated problem is non-convex, we employ variable substitutions, fractional programming theory, and semi-definite relaxation (SDR) to transform the non-convex problem into a convex problem. An algorithm is finally proposed to derive the optimal solution. Simulation results show that the proposed resource allocation scheme can improve the system EE.
Asymmetric visual capture of virtual sound sources in the distance dimension

Visual capture describes the tendency of a sound to be mislocalized to the location of a plausible visual target. This effect, also known as the ventriloquist effect, has been extensively studied in humans, but primarily for mismatches in the angular direction between auditory and visual targets. Here, visual capture was examined in the distance dimension using a single visual target (an un-energized loudspeaker) and invisible virtual sound sources presented over headphones. The sound sources were synthesized from binaural impulse-response measurements at distances ranging from 1 to 5 m (0.25 m steps) in the semi-reverberant room (7.7 × 4.2 × 2.7 m3) in which the experiment was conducted. Listeners (n = 11) were asked whether or not the auditory target appeared to be at the same distance as the visual target. Within a block of trials, the visual target was placed at a fixed distance of 1.5, 3, or 4.5 m, and the auditory target varied randomly from trial-to-trial over the sample of measurement distances. The resulting psychometric functions were generally consistent with visual capture in distance, but the capture was asymmetric: Sound sources behind the visual target were more strongly captured than sources in front of the visual target. This asymmetry is consistent with previous reports in the literature, and is shown here to be well predicted by a simple model of sensory integration and decision in which perceived auditory space is compressed logarithmically in distance and has lower resolution than perceived visual space.
Linking cognitive functioning and postural balance control through virtual reality environmental manipulations

Background Dementia is becoming a relevant problem worldwide. A simple screening at an early stage will be important to detect the risk of developing dementia. Vestibular dysfunction is likely to be associated with cognitive impairment. Since head-mounted display (HMD) virtual reality (VR) technology has the potential to activate the vestibular function, assessing postural sway with visual stimulation using HMD VR technology could be potentially useful for dementia screening. Objective The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of HMD-based VR visual stimuli on posture in older adults and the relationship between the stimulated body sway behaviors and cognitive performance. Method Using a cross-sectional study design, we investigated the effect of an optokinetic design-based room with stripes (OKR) VR environment oscillating forwards and backwards at 23/60Hz. Center of pressure (COP) displacement was measured in older adults aged 65 years and over in the OKR VR environment. The frequency response of COP was compared to the cognitive performance of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Results 20 healthy older adults (70.4 ± 4.9 years; 27.2 ± 1.6 MoCA score) and 3 people with mild cognitive impairment (74.7 ± 4.0 years; 20.3 ± 2.1 MoCA score) were assessed. The results reveal that the oscillating OKR VR environment induced different postural sway in the anterior-posterior direction in the real world. Correlation analysis shows that the cognitive test score was associated with the frequency response of stimulated postural sway in the anterior-posterior direction (frequency Band 1 of 0−0.5Hz related to the visual and vestibular systems: rs = 0.45, P = 0.03). Conclusion Outcomes would suggest that a potential link may emerge between cognition and posture when the HMD-based VR visual stimuli are applied. The simple screening of stimulated postural sway could explain cognitive functioning. Further studies are warranted to clarify the vestibular system and spatial cognitive function more specifically in the proposed assessment system.
Rate Optimization with Distributed Network Coordination of Multiuser MIMO Communications

An adaptive rate optimization solution is presented to utilize the benefits of multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) communications in a wireless network with distributed and decentralized control that adapts to dynamic channel, interference, and traffic conditions. First, the ergodic sum rates of MIMO multiple access channel (MAC) and interference channel (IC) configurations are determined by jointly integrating the error and overhead effects due to channel estimation (training) and feedback into the rate optimization. Then, a distributed channel access protocol that leverages local information without any centralized scheduler is developed to select and activate MU-MIMO configurations with the maximum achievable sum rates depending on channel, interference, and traffic conditions. In a mobile ad hoc network (MANET), MU-MIMO is shown to provide major gains in network throughput (after accounting for the control message overhead) compared with single antenna and point-to-point (P2P) MIMO communications.
The ratio of serum neuron-specific enolase level to admission glasgow coma scale score is associated with diffuse axonal injury in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury

Background Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is frequently accompanied by diffuse axonal injury (DAI). Considering the low sensitivity of computed tomography (CT) examination for microbleeds and axonal damage, identification of DAI is difficult using conventional diagnostic methods in the acute phase. Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) has been demonstrated to be increased in serum following various types of TBI and is already clinically/commercially available. We conjecture that serum NSE level to admission GCS score ratio (NGR) may be a useful indicator for the early diagnosis of DAI. Methods This study included 115 patients with moderate-to-severe TBI who underwent NSE measurements within 6 h after injury and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 30 days. The positive and negative DAI groups were divided according to MRI findings. Results Among the 115 patients, 49 (42.6%) were classified into the DAI group and 66 (57.4%) patients into the non-DAI group by clinical MRI. The NGR of patients without DAI was found to be significantly lower than those of patients with DAI (p < 0.0001). NGR presented the largest Pearson r value (r = 0.755, 95% CI 0.664–0.824, p < 0.0001) and high diagnostic accuracy for DAI [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.9493; sensitivity, 90.91%; and specificity, 85.71%]. Patients with TBI presenting with higher NGR were more likely to suffer an unfavorable neurological outcome [6-month extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOSE) 1–4]. Conclusions The NGR on admission could serve as an independent predictor of DAI with moderate-to-severe TBI.
Pan-cancer analysis of forkhead box Q1 as a potential prognostic and immunological biomarker

Forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1) is a member of the forkhead transcription factor family involved in the occurrence and development of different tumors. However, the specific expression patterns and functions of FOXQ1 in pan-cancer remain unclear. Therefore, we collected the expression, mutation, and clinical information data of 33 tumors from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Via public pan-cancer transcriptome data analysis, we found that FOXQ1 is differentially expressed in various tumors at tissue and cell levels, such as liver hepatocellular carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, thyroid carcinoma, and kidney renal clear cell carcinoma. Kaplan–Meier and Cox analyses suggested that FOXQ1 expression was associated with poor overall survival of cutaneous melanoma and thymoma. Its expression was also associated with good disease-specific survival (DSS) in prostate adenocarcinoma but poor DSS in liver hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition, FOXQ1 expression was associated with poor disease-free survival of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Moreover, FOXQ1 expression was closely related to the tumor mutational burden in 14 tumor types and microsatellite instability (MSI) in 8 tumor types. With an increase in stromal and immune cells, FOXQ1 expression was increased in breast invasive carcinoma, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, thyroid carcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma, and ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma, while its expression was decreased in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, bladder urothelial carcinoma, and stomach adenocarcinoma. We also found that FOXQ1 expression was related to the infiltration of 22 immune cell types in different tumors (p < 0.05), such as resting mast cells and resting memory CD4 T cells. Last, FOXQ1 was coexpressed with 47 immune-related genes in pan-cancer (p < 0.05). In conclusion, FOXQ1 expression is closely related to prognosis, clinicopathological parameters, cancer-related pathway activity, the tumor mutational burden, MSI, the tumor microenvironment, immune cell infiltration, and immune-related genes and has the potential to be a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker as well as an immunotherapy target for tumors. Our findings provide important clues for further mechanistic research into FOXQ1.
Turbulent diapycnal mixing in stratified shear flows: the influence of Prandtl number on mixing efficiency and transition at high Reynolds number

Motivated by the importance of small-scale turbulent diapycnal mixing to the closure of the large-scale meridional overturning circulation (MOC) of the oceans, we focus on a model problem which allows us to address the fundamental fluid mechanics that is expected to be characteristic of the oceanographic regime. Our model problem is one in which the initial conditions consist of a stably stratified parallel shear flow which evolves into the turbulent regime through the growth of a Kelvin–Helmholtz wave to finite amplitude followed by transition to turbulence. Through both linear stability analysis and direct numerical simulations (DNS), we investigate the secondary instabilities and the turbulent mixing at a fixed high Reynolds number and for a range of Prandtl numbers. We demonstrate that the oceanographically expected high value of the Prandtl number has a profound influence on the nature of the secondary instabilities that govern the transition process. Specifically through non-separable linear stability analysis, we discover new characteristics for the shear-aligned convective instability such that it is modified into a mixed mode that is driven both by static instability and by shear. The growth rate and ultimate strength of this mode are both strongly enhanced at higher $\mathit{Pr}$ while the growth rate and ultimate strength of the stagnation point instability (SPI), which may compete for control of the transition process, are simultaneously impeded. Of equal importance is the fact that, for higher $\mathit{Pr}$ , the characteristic length scales associated with the dominant mixed mode of instability decrease and therefore there ceases to be a strong scale selectivity. In the limit of much higher $\mathit{Pr}$ , we conjecture that a wide range of spatial scales become equally unstable so as to support an ‘ultraviolet catastrophe’, in which a direct injection of energy occurs into a broad range of scales simultaneously. We further establish the validity of these analytical results through a series of computationally challenging DNS analyses, and provide a detailed analysis of the efficiency of the turbulent mixing of the density field that occurs subsequent to transition and of the entrainment of fluid into the mixing layer from the high-speed flanks of the shear flow. We show that the mixing efficiency decreases monotonically with increase of the molecular value of the Prandtl number and the expansion of the shear layer is reduced as such entrainment diminishes.
How does the digital economy promote green technology innovation by manufacturing enterprises? Evidence from China

With the rapid development of the digital economy and the increasingly severe environmental issues, the role of the digital economy in green innovation has been attracting more attention; however, only a limited amount of research has been done in this area. Therefore, based on matching data at the city and manufacturing enterprise level in China during 2011–2018, this paper attempted to integrate the digital economy (more specifically, the Internet and digital finance) with resource allocation and green technology innovation together in a unified scheme. Our study confirmed that the digital economy could significantly promote green technology innovation by manufacturing enterprises, but that digital finance was the dominant feature. Resource allocation efficiency played a partial mediating role between digital economy and green technology innovation. Furthermore, considering the heterogeneity in enterprise ownership and industrial pollution, the digital economy had a more positive effect on green technology innovation in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and high pollution industries. As for the heterogeneity of region, the Internet significantly contributed to green technology innovation in regions with different levels of development. In the eastern region of China, especially, the influence of digital finance on green technology innovation was more significant. In view of these findings, this study provides important insights for strengthening the integration of the digital economy with green transformation, emphasizing the rationality of resource allocation, and formulating policies for different enterprises.
Towards social acceptability of genome-edited plants in industrialised countries? Emerging evidence from Europe, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan

The agricultural biotechnology world has been divided into two blocks; countries adopting GM crops for commercial cultivation (adopters) and others without any or without relevant cultivation of such crops (non-adopters). Meanwhile, an increasing number of adopter countries have exempted certain genome-edited (GE) crops from legal GMO pre-market approval and labelling requirements. Among them are major exporters of agricultural commodities such as United States, Canada, and Australia. Due to the relaxed legislation more GE plants are expected to enter the market soon. Many countries in the non-adopter group, however, depend on import of large volumes of agricultural commodities from adopter countries. Unlike first generation GM, certain GE crops cannot be identified as unambiguously originating from genome editing using available techniques. Consequently, pressure is mounting on non-adopter jurisdictions to reconsider their policies and legislations. Against this backdrop, the paper explores recent developments relevant for social acceptability in selected non-adopters, Japan, New Zealand, the EU, Norway, and Switzerland in contrast to United States, Canada, and Australia. While Japan is already opening-up and Norway and Switzerland are discussing revisions of their policies, the EU and New Zealand are struggling with challenges resulting from high court decisions. In an attempt to take a closer look into the inner dynamics of these developments, the concept of social acceptability proposed by Wüstenhagen et al. (Energy Policy, 2007, 35(5), 2683–2691) is employed. This aids the understanding of developments in the jurisdictions considered and identifies specific or cross-cutting challenges.
Genomic mapping of copy number variations influencing immune response in breast cancer

Identification of genomic alterations that influence the immune response within the tumor microenvironment is mandatory in order to identify druggable vulnerabilities. In this article, by interrogating public genomic datasets we describe copy number variations (CNV) present in breast cancer (BC) tumors and corresponding subtypes, associated with different immune populations. We identified regulatory T-cells associated with the Basal-like subtype, and type 2 T-helper cells with HER2 positive and the luminal subtype. Using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) for the Type 2 T-helper cells, the most relevant processes included the ERBB2 signaling pathway and the Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) signaling pathway, and for CD8+ T-cells, cellular response to growth hormone stimulus or the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Amplification of ERBB2, GRB2, GRB7, and FGF receptor genes strongly correlated with the presence of type 2 T helper cells. Finally, only 8 genes were highly upregulated and present in the cellular membrane: MILR1, ACE, DCSTAMP, SLAMF8, CD160, IL2RA, ICAM2, and SLAMF6. In summary, we described immune populations associated with genomic alterations with different BC subtypes. We observed a clear presence of inhibitory cells, like Tregs or Th2 when specific chromosomic regions were amplified in basal-like or HER2 and luminal groups. Our data support further evaluation of specific therapeutic strategies in specific BC subtypes, like those targeting Tregs in the basal-like subtype.