Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Poster : Exploiting Multiple-Antenna Diversity for Shared Secret Key Generation in Wireless Networks

Generating a secret key between two parties by extracting the shared randomness in the wireless fading channel is an emerging area of research. Previous works focus mainly on single-antenna systems. Multiple-antenna devices have the potential to provide more randomness for key generation than single-antenna ones. However, the performance of key generat ion using multiple-antenna devices in a real environment remains unknown. Different from the previous theoretical work on multiple-antenna key generation, we propose and implement a shared secret key generation protocol, Multiple-Antenna KEy generator (MAKE) using off-the-shelf 802.11n multiple-antenna devices. We also conduct extensive experiments and analysis in real indoor and outdoor mobile environments. Using the measured Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) to genera te keys, our experimental results show that using laptops with three antennas, MAKE can increase the bit generation rate by more than four times over single-antenna systems. Our experiments validate the effectiveness of using multi-level quantization when there is enough randomness in the channel. Our results also show the trade-off between bit generation rate and bit agreement rat io when using multi-level quantization. We further find that even if an eavesdropper has multiple antennas, he cannot gain much more information about the legitimate channel.
An Overview on Wavelets in Source Coding, Communications, and Networks

The use of wavelets in the broad areas of source coding, communications, and networks is surveyed. Specifically, the impact of wavelets and wavelet theory in image coding, video coding, image interpolation, image-adaptive lifting transforms, multiple-description coding, and joint source-channel coding is overviewed. Recent contributions in these areas arising in subsequent papers of the present special issue are described.
Preoperative Serum CA125 Levels Predict the Prognosis in Hyperbilirubinemia Patients With Resectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

AbstractSerum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) is widely used to predict the prognosis for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, hyperbilirubinemia and the CA19-9 nonsecretor phenotype restrict the usage of serum CA19-9 alone. The goal of this study was to confirm the prognostic role of preoperative serum CA125 in PDAC, especially in patients with jaundice.A total of 211 patients with resected PDAC were eligible for this retrospective study, and were classified into 2 groups based on serum bilirubin levels. The prognostic significance of all clinicopathologic factors was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses, and the performance of each factor in predicting overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) was compared.High preoperative CA125, high TNM stage, and lymph node metastasis were independent risk predictors for OS and RFS in all patients and the 2 subgroups, but high CA19-9 was only significant when considering all patients and those with nonelevated bilirubin. Using time-dependent receiver-operating characteristic analysis, better predictive performance for OS and RFS was observed for serum CA19-9 as compared to serum CA125 in these patients.High serum CA125 can independently predict poor prognosis. Importantly, in PDAC patients with hyperbilirubinemia, preoperative serum CA125 can predict the prognosis, whereas CA19-9 cannot. Preoperative CA19-9 had better predictive performance for survival than CA125, and the performance of CA19-9 did not decline between all patients and those with nonelevated bilirubin, but was significantly affected by hyperbilirubinemia.
An Intercarrier Interference Cancellation Technique with SSC and ASIZ in OFDM Systems

For intercarrier interference (ICI) due to frequency offsets, an ICI cancellation scheme is proposed for combating the impact of ICI on OFDM systems in this paper. A received symbol shift cancellation (SSC) algorithm and an adjacent subchannel inserting zero (ASIZ) algorithm are designed for the ICI cancellation scheme, respectively. At the transmitter, original data symbols are mapped into one special symbol block by using ASIZ, and then it is transmitted as a regular OFDM system. At the receiver, Received signals are demodulated to obtain the data symbols as a regular OFDM system, and then these symbols are processed by using SSC. By doing so, the estimation of original data symbols is obtained, and meanwhile ICI is mitigated, finally. Simulation results show that the ICI contained in the received signals can be effectively reduced by using the ASIZ scheme, and the Signal-to-Interference power Ratio (SIR) of the scheme is obviously much better than that of a regular scheme. Similarly, bit error rate (BER) performance of the scheme is much better than that of others.
Side Channel Attacks: Measures and Countermeasures

— The main focus of modern cryptanalysis is on breaking the implementation of cryptographic algorithms as opposed to traditional attacks which primarily target on mathematically breaking the algorithms. For over the last decade these new trend of attacks, Side Channel Attacks (SCAs), are becoming increasingly popular and pose a serious threat to cryptographic devices. Researchers proposing countermeasures and adversaries ﬁndingout new means of access to the system ultimately made this a continuous race. To best of our knowledge, not a perfect solution exists to counter all such attacks. However, by using appropriate countermeasures it is possible to make the task of the attacker harder. This paper analyzes the prevailing vulnerabilities in side channels considering their destructive effects and critically evaluates the proposed countermeasures.
Inefficiency in Legislative Policy-Making: A Dynamic Analysis

This paper develops an infinite horizon model of public spending and taxation in which policy decisions are determined by legislative bargaining. The policy space incorporates both productive and distributive public spending and distortionary taxation. The productive spending is investing in a public good that benefits all citizens (e.g., national defense or air quality) and the distributive spending is district-specific transfers (e.g., pork barrel spending). Investment in the public good creates a dynamic linkage across policy-making periods. The analysis explores the dynamics of legislative policy choices, focusing on the efficiency of the steady state level of taxation and allocation of tax revenues. The model sheds new light on the efficiency of legislative policy-making and has a number of novel positive implications.
Innovative biological approaches for monitoring and improving water quality

Water quality is largely influenced by the abundance and diversity of indigenous microbes present within an aquatic environment. Physical, chemical and biological contaminants from anthropogenic activities can accumulate in aquatic systems causing detrimental ecological consequences. Approaches exploiting microbial processes are now being utilized for the detection, and removal or reduction of contaminants. Contaminants can be identified and quantified in situ using microbial whole-cell biosensors, negating the need for water samples to be tested off-site. Similarly, the innate biodegradative processes can be enhanced through manipulation of the composition and/or function of the indigenous microbial communities present within the contaminated environments. Biological contaminants, such as detrimental/pathogenic bacteria, can be specifically targeted and reduced in number using bacteriophages. This mini-review discusses the potential application of whole-cell microbial biosensors for the detection of contaminants, the exploitation of microbial biodegradative processes for environmental restoration and the manipulation of microbial communities using phages.
Specificity in endoplasmic reticulum-stress signaling in yeast entails a step-wise engagement of HAC1 mRNA to clusters of the stress sensor Ire1

Insufficient protein-folding capacity in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) induces the unfolded protein response (UPR). In the ER lumen, accumulation of unfolded proteins activates the transmembrane ER-stress sensor Ire1 and drives its oligomerization. In the cytosol, Ire1 recruits HAC1 mRNA, mediating its non-conventional splicing. The spliced mRNA is translated into Hac1, the key transcription activator of UPR target genes that mitigate ER-stress. In this study, we report that oligomeric assembly of the ER-lumenal domain is sufficient to drive Ire1 clustering. Clustering facilitates Ire1's cytosolic oligomeric assembly and HAC1 mRNA docking onto a positively charged motif in Ire1's cytosolic linker domain that tethers the kinase/RNase to the transmembrane domain. By the use of a synthetic bypass, we demonstrate that mRNA docking per se is a pre-requisite for initiating Ire1's RNase activity and, hence, splicing. We posit that such step-wise engagement between Ire1 and its mRNA substrate contributes to selectivity and efficiency in UPR signaling. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.05031. 001
Federated queries of clinical data repositories: the sum of the parts does not equal the whole.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE In 2008 we developed a shared health research information network (SHRINE), which for the first time enabled research queries across the full patient populations of four Boston hospitals. It uses a federated architecture, where each hospital returns only the aggregate count of the number of patients who match a query. This allows hospitals to retain control over their local databases and comply with federal and state privacy laws. However, because patients may receive care from multiple hospitals, the result of a federated query might differ from what the result would be if the query were run against a single central repository. This paper describes the situations when this happens and presents a technique for correcting these errors. METHODS We use a one-time process of identifying which patients have data in multiple repositories by comparing one-way hash values of patient demographics. This enables us to partition the local databases such that all patients within a given partition have data at the same subset of hospitals. Federated queries are then run separately on each partition independently, and the combined results are presented to the user. RESULTS Using theoretical bounds and simulated hospital networks, we demonstrate that once the partitions are made, SHRINE can produce more precise estimates of the number of patients matching a query. CONCLUSIONS Uncertainty in the overlap of patient populations across hospitals limits the effectiveness of SHRINE and other federated query tools. Our technique reduces this uncertainty while retaining an aggregate federated architecture.
Reliability and Validity of the Benefit Finding Scale in Women with Breast Cancer

Objective: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of Benefit Finding Scale(BFS-C) in women with breast cancer.Methods: 605 women with breast cancer were measured by BFS-C,CES-D and BAI.One month later,100 of the patients finished BFS-C again.Results: The scale was composed of five factors: personal growth,world view,family relations,social relations and acceptance;the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the total scale was 0.96 and for the five factors ranged from 0.77 to 0.90;the test-retest reliability of the total scale and five factors were more than 0.70;the confirmatory factor analysis results confirmed the structure of five factors model.Conclusion: The BFS-C is a reliable and valid measure for Chinese women with breast cancer.
A BASIS OF ONTOLOGY FOR ASPECT ORIENTED METRICS

The feature modularization has paved the way for the growth of aspect oriented software development. Aspect Oriented paradigm supports the separation of concerns that are scattered over the system which helps in achieving modularity. Aspect Oriented Software Development encompass software engineering abstractions and complexity at new and different dimensions. As aspect orientation is a comparatively new paradigm, it lacks philosophical basis, as compared to object orientation. Since aspect orientation lacks a theoretical basis as enjoyed by object orientation, there is no clarity over what constitutes an aspect and the best approach to measure and assess the properties of an aspect oriented program. This paper looks at information necessitated to build ontology for aspect oriented quality measurement.
epper chat fruit viroid: Biological and molecular properties of a proposed new pecies of the genus Pospiviroid

In autumn 2006, a new disease was observed in a glasshouse-grown crop of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in the Netherlands. Fruit size of the infected plants was reduced up to 50%, and plant growth was also slightly reduced. Here we show that the disease is caused by a previously non-described viroid. The pepper viroid is transmitted by both mechanical inoculation and pepper seeds and, when inoculated experimentally, it infects several solanaceous plant species inducing vein necrosis and reduced fruit and tuber size in tomato and potato, respectively. The viroid RNA genome consists of 348 nucleotides and,
PERSOC: A Unified Framework for Understanding the Dynamic Interplay of Personality and Social Relationships

The interplay of personality and social relationships is as fascinating as it is complex and it pertains to a wide array of largely separate research domains. Here, we present an integrative and unified framework for analysing the complex dynamics of personality and social relationships (PERSOC). Basic principles and general processes on the individual and dyadic level are outlined to show how personality and social relationships influence each other and develop over time. PERSOC stresses the importance of social behaviours and interpersonal perceptions as mediating processes organized in social interaction units. The framework can be applied to diverse social relationships such as first encounters, short–term acquaintances, friendships, relationships between working group members, educational or therapeutic settings, romantic relationships and family relationships. It has important consequences for how we conceptualize, understand, and investigate personality and social relationships. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KLATTSTAT: knowledge-based parametric speech synthesis

This paper is an initial investigation into using knowledge-based parameters in the field of statistical parametric speech synthesis (SPSS). Utilizing the types of speech parameters used in the Klatt Formant Synthesizer we present automatic techniques for deriving such parameters from a speech database and building a statistical parametric speech synthesizer from these derived parameters. Although the work is exploratory, it shows promise in using more speech production inspired parameterizations for statistical speech synthesis.
The binding of platinum hexahalides (Cl, Br and I) to hen egg-white lysozyme and the chemical transformation of the PtI6 octahedral complex to a PtI3 moiety bound to His15

The platinum hexahalides have an octahedral arrangement of six halogen atoms bound to a Pt centre, thus having an octahedral shape that could prove to be useful in interpreting poor electron-density maps. In a detailed characterization, PtI6 chemically transformed to a square-planar PtI3 complex bound to the Nδ atom of His15 of HEWL was also observed, which was not observed for PtBr6 or PtCl6.
Toward construction of a mobile system with long-range RFID sensors

A simple mobile system is described for humans and robots with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag sensor. In this paper, the system assumes to be used in a hospital to identify the location of patients and recognize their state. At first we use one positive RFID sensor. The range of this directional antenna is long (about 5 meters, 2 meters) and an RIFD antenna is set on a rotating pan-tilt platform we made, making the best use of the directional sensor. It is difficult to recognize a person with an ID tag because the microwave output from the antenna attenuates by human's moisture. However, we confirm the effectiveness of this RFID system against the people who have a tag by experiments. Experimental results show that this system is available for identifying a person. At last we were able to make the extended system, using three RFID sensors without the rotating platform
Non-deterministic learning dynamics in large neural networks due to structural data bias

We study the dynamics of on-line learning in large (N→∞) perceptrons, for the case of training sets with a structural (N0) bias of the input vectors, by deriving exact and closed macroscopic dynamical laws using non-equilibrium statistical mechanical tools. In sharp contrast to the more conventional theories developed for homogeneously distributed or only weakly biased data, these laws are found to describe a non-trivial and persistently non-deterministic macroscopic evolution, and a generalization error which retains both stochastic and sample-to-sample fluctuations, even for infinitely large networks. Furthermore, for the standard error-correcting microscopic algorithms (such as the perceptron learning rule) one obtains learning curves with distinct bias-induced phases. Our theoretical predictions find excellent confirmation in numerical simulations.
Throughput analysis of link adaptation in interference-limited cellular systems

We analyze the throughput performance of a link adaptation scheme in which a user, based on his SIR estimate, chooses an appropriate modulation and coding scheme. We consider the scenario where the users face similar path loss and fading models, and always have packets to transmit. The impact of link adaptation thresholds and channel correlation on the system throughput is investigated for a co-channel interference-limited TDMA cellular network. An expression for system throughput is derived in terms of the basic system parameters: channel fade statistics, number of users per cell, and link adaptation thresholds. We show that the optimal thresholds that maximize system throughput do not depend on the channel correlation. This behavior is very different from the stable queues scenario where the channel correlation was shown to be a crucial parameter in determining the impact or the no-transmission mode on system performance. It explains, to some extent, the intuition behind the heuristic formulae proposed in the literature.
MIXDES 2008 Pozna , POLAND 19-21 June 2008 LOW-POWER LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER WITH TUNABLE BAND FOR NEURAL SIGNAL RECORDING

We present the design and simulation of a low noise and a low power fully integrated band-pass amplifier for neural recording applications for work in a very low frequency range. This biosignal amplifier is capable to process neuronal signals in the millihertz to kilohertz frequency range while rejecting input DC offset voltage generated at the electrode-tissue interface. The readout channel is designed in 0.35 μm CMOS process and its total area is 0.24 mm. The amplifier has a gain 40 dB, a low cut-off frequency tunable from 14 mHz to 1.4 Hz and a high cut-off frequency tunable from 2.4 kHz to 9.5 kHz. The input-referred noise is below 6 Vrms (integrated from 1 mHz to 100 kHz) and the single readout channel consumes 200 W power from ±1.5 V supply, what makes it a good candidate for multichannel ASIC.
Psychometric Analysis of the Catalan Version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) in a Community Sample

The aim of this study was to adapt to Catalan the parents' and children's global report forms of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ), using a community sample of 364 children between 10 and 15 years old and their families. Sociodemographic information (from parents) and the presence of externalizing problems (from parents and teachers) were collected. The results suggest a 3-factor structure corresponding to the scales of Positive Parenting Practices (PPP), Inconsistent and Negative Discipline (IND) and Poor Monitoring/Supervision (PMS). The internal consistency is acceptable in all the scales, except for the IND in the children's format. The scales also present good convergent and discriminant validity, and the relations with the external variable studied pointed in the expected direction: inefficient parenting practices are related to the presence of more behavior problems in children. To sum up, the Catalan version of the parents' and children's global report forms of the APQ are considered suitable for use in the area of children's and adolescents' behavior problems. El objetivo de este estudio ha sido la adaptación catalana de las versiones para padres/madres e hijos/as del formato autoinforme del Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) en una muestra comunitaria de 364 niños entre 10 y 15 años y sus familias. Se recogió información sociodemográfica (progenitores) y sobre la presencia de conducta externalizante (progenitores y maestros/as). Los resultados sugieren una estructura de 3 factores a partir de los cuales se han construido las escalas Prácticas Educativas Positivas (PEP), Disciplina Inconsistente y Negativa (DIN) y Escasa Monitorización/Supervisión (EMS). La consistencia interna es aceptable en todas ellas, excepto en la escala DIN de la versión para hijos/as, presentan buena validez convergente y discriminante, así como relaciones con la variable externa estudiada en el sentido esperado: las prácticas educativas parentales ineficientes se asocian con la presencia de mayor problemática conductual en los hijos/as. En suma, las versiones catalanas para padres/madres e hijos/as del formato autoinforme del APQ se presentan como un instrumento adecuado para su uso en el área de los problemas de conducta infanto-juveniles.
Toward Complexity-Effective Verification: A Case Study of the Cray SV2 Cache Coherence Protocol

Modern large-scale multiprocessors, capable of scaling to hundreds or thousands of processors, have proven to be very difficult to design and verify in a timely manner. In particular, the verification process, i.e., proving that the design is functionally correct, is often the most time-consuming aspect of developing the system. This paper discusses the methodology and early experiences of verifying the Cray SV2 cache coherence protocol. This paper proposes a method of dealing with the verification complexity of a directory-based coherence protocol. We provide the framework for a methodology that is built on a formal model of the coherence protocol, a language, and the RTL implementation. Finally, we show how this approach was used to verify the SV2 directory-based coherence protocol at the architectural level and at the corresponding Verilog implementation level.
Bringing communication networks on a chip: test and verification implications

In this article we present test and verification challenges for system chips that utilize on-chip networks. These SOCs and networks on a chip are introduced, where the NOC is exemplified by Philips' AE THEREAL NOC architecture. We discuss existing test and verification methods for SOCs and NOCs, and show the particular advantages of using an NOC for both testing and verifying the network, and testing and verifying the other components of the SOC. This article is concluded with our experiences with NOCs and a description of ongoing work within Philips in this emerging field.