Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urban Resolution: New Metric for Measuring the Quality of Urban Sensing

The rising popularity of smartphones and vehicles equipped with onboard sensors sheds lights on building a city-scale sensing system for urban surveillance. This paper proposes a novel metric, urban resolution, to measure the quality of urban sensing. Urban resolution describes how sensitivity the urban sensing system could achieve for environment monitoring applications. Then, we study the relationship between resolution r and number of sensing nodes s, and reveal the linear growth relationship between √r and √s . Furthermore, by employing a commonly used human/vehicle mobility model, SLAW, we find that the distribution model of urban sensing nodes is able to be described by a truncated Pareto distribution, and derive the complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) of urban resolution. The CCDF reveals the radio of the sub-regions which satisfy the required sensing quality to the whole region. Our findings provide valuable insights to infer the urban sensing quality according to the scale of urban sensing system or determine how many smartphone/vehicles needed for participating in urban sensing applications. Finally, based on five real datasets-three human/vehicle trajectory datasets and two environment monitoring datasets, we examine the metric of urban resolution and evaluate the main results in this paper.
Performance measure for the evaluation of mobile robot autonomy

Measuring the performance of robots, and more precisely of autonomous robots dealing with complex and changing environment, is a long standing issue. There is today no satisfactory known metric to measure quantitatively and precisely how a robot system satisfies accurately the specification expectations, neither do we know how to qualify and delineate in general the operational domains of the robot. This paper presents an approach aiming at qualifying robot autonomy. We present a method based on the measure of robot performance in achieving a given task related to environment complexity. In order to test a large number of tasks and environment configurations, we have designed a robot simulator that allows the use of the same algorithms implemented on the real robot and in simulation. To illustrate the work, we present results based on hundreds of simulations of a navigation mission and compare robot performance when algorithm parameters change
Early and late ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome: early pregnancy outcome and profile.

BACKGROUND Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) in IVF/ICSI cycles may occur either as an early (early onset) or a late pattern (late onset). This observational study was designed to identify whether the onset pattern of OHSS is associated with the occurrence of pregnancy and the early pregnancy outcome. METHODS Among 4376 consecutive IVF/ICSI cycles, 113 patients were hospitalized for OHSS after IVF/ICSI treatment and were included in the study. The setting was the Dutch-speaking Brussels Free University Hospital, between June 2000 and September 2002. RESULTS Early OHSS occurred in 53 patients, and late OHSS complicated 60 patients. A total of 96.7% of the late OHSS cases occurred in a pregnancy cycle and were more likely to be severe than the early cases (P < 0.05). Although in the early group there initially was a 41.5% positive HCG rate per cycle, the clinical pregnancy rate fell to 28.3% as a result of a significantly (P < 0.05) increased preclinical pregnancy loss rate compared with the non-OHSS patients (31.8 versus 88.3%, respectively). The ongoing pregnancy rate per cycle was 14.4% in the early and 26.4% in the late group. Multiple pregnancy rates were high in both groups (40 and 45.5%, respectively), but only in the late group did the incidence reach significance compared with the non-OHSS population (45.5 versus 29.1%, P = 0.02). Estradiol levels and number of follicles on the day of HCG were significantly higher in the early OHSS group. However, there was no difference in estradiol values on the day of hospital admittance between the two groups. In addition, the number of follicles on the day of HCG administration appears to be a better prognostic indicator for the occurrence of severe OHSS than the estradiol values (87% of the severe cases had > or = 14 or follicles of a diameter > or = 11 mm, whereas only 50% of them had an estradiol value > or = 3000 ng/l). CONCLUSIONS The early OHSS pattern is associated with exogenously administered HCG and a higher risk of preclinical miscarriage, whereas late OHSS may be closely associated with the conception cycles, especially multiple pregnancies, and is more likely to be severe. Further clarification of these two different clinical entities could have implications for research protocols as well as for preventive and management strategies for OHSS.
Standard and nonstandard extensions of Lie algebras

We study the problem of quadruple extensions of simple Lie algebras. We find that, adding a new simple root α+4, it is not possible to have an extended Kac-Moody algebra described by a Dynkin-Kac diagram with simple links and no loops between the dots, while it is possible if α+4 is a Borcherds imaginary simple root. We also comment on the root lattices of these new algebras. The folding procedure is applied to the simply laced triple extended Lie algebras, obtaining all the nonsimply laced ones. Nonstandard extension procedures for a class of Lie algebras are proposed. It is shown that the two-extensions of E8, with a dot simply linked to the Dynkin-Kac diagram of E9, are rank 10 subalgebras of E10. Finally the simple root systems of a set of rank 11 subalgebras of E11, containing as sub-algebra E10, are explicitly written.
A qualitative report on the subjective experience of intravenous psilocybin administered in an FMRI environment.

BACKGROUND This report documents the phenomenology of the subjective experiences of 15 healthy psychedelic experienced volunteers who were involved in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that was designed to image the brain effects of intravenous psilocybin. METHODS The participants underwent a semi-structured interview exploring the effects of psilocybin in the MRI scanner. These interviews were analysed by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The resultant data is ordered in a detailed matrix, and presented in this paper. RESULTS Nine broad categories of phenomenology were identified in the phenomenological analysis of the experience; perceptual changes including visual, auditory and somatosensory distortions, cognitive changes, changes in mood, effects of memory, spiritual or mystical type experiences, aspects relating to the scanner and research environment, comparisons with other experiences, the intensity and onset of effects, and individual interpretation of the experience. DISCUSSION This article documents the phenomenology of psilocybin when given in a novel manner (intravenous injection) and setting (an MRI scanner). The findings of the analysis are consistent with previous published work regarding the subjective effects of psilocybin. There is much scope for further research investigating the phenomena identified in this paper.
Consumed Energy as a Factor for Cluster Head Selection in Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy is the primary constraint on designing Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) practically. This leads to limited network life time of WSN. Different communication protocols and algorithms are investigated to find ways to reduce power consumption. Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) and LEACH with deterministic cluster head selection are some of the cluster head algorithms that enable to optimize power consumption of WSN. However both rotation of cluster heads and metric of residual energy are not sufficient to balance the energy consumption across the network. This paper focuses on reducing power consumption by considering consumed energy as a factor for cluster head selection of each node to increase network life time of WSN rather than residual energy. Hence we propose a new threshold formula of LEACH. MATLAB simulation results show with this new approach, an increase of network lifetime by about 47-575% can be achieved.
Prospective Evaluation of Whole Genome MicroRNA Expression Profiling in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Dysregulation of microRNA (miRNA) expression contributes to the pathogenesis of several clinical conditions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the associations between miRNAs and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) to discover their role in the course of the disease. Forty-three children with ALL and 14 age-matched healthy controls were included in the study. MicroRNA microarray expression profiling was used for peripheral blood and bone marrow samples. Aberrant miRNA expressions associated with the diagnosis and outcome were prospectively evaluated. Confirmation analysis was performed by real time RT-PCR. miR-128, miR-146a, miR-155, miR-181a, and miR-195 were significantly dysregulated in ALL patients at day 0. Following a six-month treatment period, the change in miRNA levels was determined by real time RT-PCR and expression of miR-146a, miR-155, miR-181a, and miR-195 significantly decreased. To conclude, these miRNAs not only may be used as biomarkers in diagnosis of ALL and monitoring the disease but also provide new insights into the potential roles of them in leukemogenesis.
The Effect of Sitagliptin on Carotid Artery Atherosclerosis in Type 2 Diabetes: The PROLOGUE Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Experimental studies have suggested that dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors provide cardiovascular protective effects. We performed a randomized study to evaluate the effects of sitagliptin added on to the conventional therapy compared with conventional therapy alone (diet, exercise, and/or drugs, except for incretin-related agents) on the intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid artery, a surrogate marker for the evaluation of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods and Findings We used a multicenter PROBE (prospective, randomized, open label, blinded endpoint) design. Individuals aged ≥30 y with T2DM (6.2% ≤ HbA1c < 9.4%) were randomly allocated to receive either sitagliptin (25 to 100 mg/d) or conventional therapy. Carotid ultrasound was performed at participating medical centers, and all parameters were measured in a core laboratory. Of the 463 enrolled participants with T2DM, 442 were included in the primary analysis (sitagliptin group, 222; conventional therapy group, 220). Estimated mean (± standard error) common carotid artery IMT at 24 mo of follow-up in the sitagliptin and conventional therapy groups was 0.827 ± 0.007 mm and 0.837 ± 0.007 mm, respectively, with a mean difference of −0.009 mm (97.2% CI −0.028 to 0.011, p = 0.309). HbA1c level at 24 mo was significantly lower with sitagliptin than with conventional therapy (6.56% ± 0.05% versus 6.72% ± 0.05%, p = 0.008; group mean difference −0.159, 95% CI −0.278 to −0.041). Episodes of serious hypoglycemia were recorded only in the conventional therapy group, and the rate of other adverse events was not different between the two groups. As it was not a placebo-controlled trial and carotid IMT was measured as a surrogate marker of atherosclerosis, there were some limitations of interpretation. Conclusions In the PROLOGUE study, there was no evidence that treatment with sitagliptin had an additional effect on the progression of carotid IMT in participants with T2DM beyond that achieved with conventional treatment. Trial Registration University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry UMIN000004490
Financial Applications in Signal Processing Curricula

Modern signal processing heavily relies on probability and statistics. Naturally, these subjects are emphasized in the signal processing curricula, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Historically, however, both probability and statistics were developed in order to solve various applied problems arising in economics and finance. Specifically, probability theory owes its existence to games of chance [1], [2], and statistics made its first significant appearance in the pricing of insurance premia and bonds [1]. More recently, both finance and economics have been steady sources of data—much of it 1D temporal signals—generating demand for the statistical analysis and modeling tools commonly developed and used by signal processing researchers and practitioners. Such interrelationships suggest that courses on applied probability and random processes taught to signal processing students should frequently turn to finance for motivating examples, illustrations, homework problems, and lab exercises. In addition, courses dedicated to financial applications of signal processing should perhaps be as common as those on applications to biomedical imaging and speech analysis. In reality, however, this happens very rarely. Financial signal processing is absent from most electrical engineering curricula. The main objectives of this column are to share several ways in which financial signal processing has been incorporated into the undergraduate and graduate curricula at Purdue’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), and to encourage other schools to do the same. The most obvious spot in the undergraduate curriculum for a cornucopia of finance-related examples and problems is an undergraduate course on applied probability. At Purdue’s ECE, it is a required course, typically taken during the junior year. In addition to students who will ultimately pursue signal processing, the audience usually includes many other students with varied interests, coming both from Electrical Engineering and from Computer Engineering. It is therefore advisable to use motivating examples from many different application areas, in order to insure that as many students as possible are engaged and
Ecological Specialization and Trade Affect the Outcome of Negotiations in Mutualism

By definition, mutualisms involve the exchange of goods or services between partners. It has been shown that mutualism can grade into parasitism, but even when exchange is mutually beneficial, a conflict of interest remains because each partner benefits from reaping more benefits at a lower cost. Metaphorically, the partners negotiate the conditions of trade, the outcome of which will determine the net benefit to each partner. Each partner can adjust its allocation to self-provisioning while negotiating the ratio at which benefits are exchanged. To understand how these two features of trade affect mutualisms, we used the example of the plant–arbuscular mycorrhizal mutualism and modeled uptake and trade of two resources, phosphorus and carbon. In most contexts, the fungus specialized on phosphorus uptake while the plant took up both phosphorus and carbon. However, when phosphorus was abundant and light was scarce, the plant specialized, taking up only carbon and relying on trade for phosphorus. Resource availability was the most important factor determining specialization and the outcome of negotiation and trade, but other aspects of the context were also important. These results suggest experiments to link these two key features of trade with environmental conditions to determine the outcome of mutualism.
Integrating Measurement with Improvement: An Action-Oriented Approach Experience Report

In 1986, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) was tasked to design, develop, deploy, and maintain a health care system. Over the last ten years, extensive measurement data has been collected and analyzed. By setting goals in terms of a few key indicators, establishing baselines for those indicators, and measuring success in terms of the baseline, management easily monitors development trends and the impacts of process improvement activities. This paper describes the measurement program implemented within SAIC's health care software development organization, illustrates how the measurements are used to influence process improvement, and concludes with general observations and lessons learned.
Comparison of two biasing Monte Carlo methods for calculating outage probabilities in systems with multisection PMD compensators

We evaluate the performance of single-section and three-section polarization-mode-dispersion (PMD) compensators using the biasing Monte Carlo methods of importance sampling (IS) and multicanonical Monte Carlo (MMC). We show that standard IS that biases only first-order PMD is insufficient to compute penalties in most compensated systems, while multiple IS that biases both first- and second-order PMD and MMC work well with all the compensators that we investigated. We show that multiple IS works well even in a system with a three-section compensator, when both first- and second-order PMD are compensated. The applicability of IS in these systems is consistent with the existence of a large correlation between first- and second-order PMD of the transmission line and higher orders of PMD after compensation, so that the first two orders, even when compensated, remain highly correlated with the residual penalty. We directly demonstrate the existence of this correlation.
The softest handoff design using iterative decoding (Turbo coding)

Communication systems, including cell-based mobile communication systems, multiple satellite communication systems or multi-beam satellite systems, require reliable handoff methods between cell-to-cell, satellite-to-satellite or beam-to-beam, respectively. Recent measurement of a CDMA cellular system indicates that the system is in handoff at about 35% to 70% of an average call period. Therefore, system reliability during handoff is one of the major system performance parameters and eventually becomes a factor in the overall system capacity. This paper presents novel and improved techniques for handoff in cellular communications, multi-beam and multi-satellite systems that require handoff during a session. This new handoff system combines the soft handoff mechanism currently implemented in the IS-95 CDMA with code and packet diversity combining techniques and an iterative decoding algorithm (Turbo Coding). The Turbo code introduced by Berrou et al. has been demonstrated its remarkable performance achieving the near Shannon channel capacity [1]. Recently, Turbo codes have been adapted as the coding scheme for the data transmission of the third generation international cellular communication standards: UTRA and CDMA 2000. Our proposed encoder and decoder schemes modified from the original Turbo code is suitable for the code and packet diversity combining techniques. This proposed system provides not only an unprecedented coding gain from the Turbo code and its iterative decoding, but also gain induced by the code and packet diversity combining technique which is similar to the hybrid Type IIARQ. We demonstrate performance improvements in AWGN channel and Rayleigh fading channel with perfect channel state information (CSI) through simulations for at low signal to noise ratio and analyses using exact upper bounding techniques for medium to high signal to noise ratio.
Speed of processing training protects self-rated health in older adults: enduring effects observed in the multi-site ACTIVE randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT Background: We evaluated the effects of cognitive training on self-rated health at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years post-baseline. Methods: In the ACTIVE (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly) randomized controlled trial, 2,802 older adults (≥65 years) were randomly assigned to memory, reasoning, speed of processing, or no-contact control intervention groups. Complete data were available for 1,804 (64%) of the 2,802 participants at five years. A propensity score model was adjusted for attrition bias. The self-rated health question was coded using the Diehr et al. (2001) transformation (E = 95/VG = 90/G = 80/F = 30/P = 15), and analyzed with change-score regression models. Results: The speed of processing (vs. no-contact control) group had statistically significant improvements (or protective effects) on changes in self-rated health at the 2, 3 and 5 year follow-ups. The 5-year improvement was 2.8 points (p = 0.03). No significant differences were observed in the memory or reasoning groups at any time. Conclusion: The speed of processing intervention significantly protected self-rated health in ACTIVE, with the average benefit equivalent to half the difference between excellent vs. very good health.
Toward a psychoanalytic theory of violence, fundamentalism and terrorism

Abstract Why would a group of people behave in ways that appear to us as moral nihilism, such as the events of 9/11? One cause is an affective one that underlies all violent behavior, namely, narcissistic injuries severe enough to threaten the survival of the self or of the group with which the self identifies, in the absence of non-violent means of maintaining or restoring individual or collective self-esteem. But there is also a uniquely modern cognitive reason for this uniquely modern form of violence, and of the apocalyptic fundamentalism that legitimizes it: namely, that terrorists see themselves as destroying the nihilism that they perceive as coming from us, that is, from the modern Western scientific mentality that destroys the credibility of the traditional sources of moral, legal and political authority and legitimacy, God and religion. Fundamentalism originated in the United States and has spread throughout the world as a rebellion against modernity. This suggests means of curing it: by facilitating access to modern education, psychological awareness, socio-economic equality and political democracy, to help protect all societies from the affective threats of shame and humiliation, and the cognitive threats of nihilism, anomie and anarchy (and their alternatives, nationalism, dogmatism and theocracy).
Smart Power Router: A Flexible Agent-Based Converter Interface in Active Distribution Networks

Due to the large-scale implementation of distributed generation, the power delivery system is changing gradually from a “vertically” to a “horizontally” controlled and operated structure. This transition has prompted the emergence of the active distribution network (ADN) concept as an efficient and flexible distribution system to deal with various challenging issues. This paper addresses a multiagent system (MAS) as a suitable technology to manage autonomous control actions and perform the coordination in an ADN. In this agent-based ADN a smart power router is implemented, which can flexibly integrate network areas and optimally manage power flows. Operational and control functions of the power router has been investigated in a laboratory experiment. In this lab setup, a configuration of the power router is established in a combination of a three-inverter system and an agent. The experiments show that the ADN can operate in an efficient and flexible way with the support of the power router interface. The control function of the inverters and the operation of MAS are thoroughly verified.