Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Processing Radio Access Network Functions in the Cloud: Critical Issues and Modeling

Commoditization and virtualization of wireless networks are changing the economics of mobile networks to help network providers (e.g., MNO, MVNO) move from proprietary and bespoke hardware and software platforms toward an open, cost-effective, and flexible cellular ecosystem. Cloud radio access network is a novel architecture that perform the required base band and protocol processing on a centralized computing resources or a cloud infrastructure. This replaces traditional base stations with distributed (passive) radio elements with much smaller footprints than the traditional base station and a remote pool of base band units allowing for simpler network densification. This paper investigates three critical issues for the cloudification of the current LTE/LTE-A radio access network. Extensive experimentations have been performed based on the OpenAirInterface simulators to characterise the base band processing time under different conditions. Based on the results, an accurate model is proposed to compute the total uplink and downlink processing load as a function of bandwidth, modulation and coding scheme, and virtualization platforms. The results also reveal the feasible virtualization approach towards a cloud-native radio access network.
Rapid design and analysis of communication systems using the BEE hardware emulation environment

This paper describes the early analysis and estimation features currently implemented in the Berkeley Emulation Engine (BEE) system. BEE is an integrated rapid prototyping and design environment for communication and digital signal processing (DSP) systems, consisting of four multi-FPGA based processing units, each capable of emulating 10 million ASIC (application specific integrated circuits) equivalent gates at an overall system clock rate up to 60 MHz. This translates to over 600 billion 16 bit additions (operations) per second on one unit. An integrated software design flow enables the users to specify the design using a data-flow diagram, then automatically generates both the FPGA implementation for real-time rapid prototyping and a cycle-accurate, bit-true, and functionally equivalent ASIC implementation. For system-level design, the BEE hardware and software support rapid design turn-around and early performance analysis, without full synthesis or hardware mapping, from the high-level design entry. A case study detailing a turbo-decoder explains how the processing capability of the emulator can be utilized to verify a design using one billion input vectors with a speed-up factor exceeding 106 over equivalent software simulation methods.
Reemergence of Endemic Chikungunya, Malaysia

Chikungunya virus infection recently reemerged in Malaysia after 7 years of nondetection. Genomic sequences of recovered isolates were highly similar to those of Malaysian isolates from the 1998 outbreak. The reemergence of the infection is not part of the epidemics in other Indian Ocean countries but raises the possibility that chikungunya virus is endemic in Malaysia.
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Anemia among Adolescents in Denizli, Turkey

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of anemia among adolescents in Denizli where Mediterranean cuisine (fresh fruit and vegetables) is adopted. Methods We accepted hemoglobin values below 12 g/dl for girls and 13 g/dl for boys as the criteria of anemia. We recorded a detailed history including nutritional habits, consumption of animal source foods especially red meat, consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, presence of parasitic infestation, psychosocial status, school success and any materials consumed except ordinary food. Findings We investigated the prevalence of anemia in 1120 children (672 girls and 448 boys), aged 12 to 16 years. We found that the overall prevalence of anemia was 5.6%. 8.3% of the girls and 1.6% of the boys were anemic. We diagnosed iron deficiency anemia in 37(59%) anemic patients and combined iron deficiency and vitamin B12 deficiency anemia in 26 (41%) anemic patients. None of the patients had folic acid deficiency. Conclusion Our results suggest that the socioeconomic status of the family, traditional eating habits of the region, the fear of gaining weight and irregular eating habits are of great importance in the development of adolescent anemia in Denizli.
Entry and retention in medical care among HIV-diagnosed persons: a meta-analysis

Objective:A ‘test and treat’ strategy to reduce HIV transmission hinges on linking and retaining HIV patients in care to achieve the full benefit of antiretroviral therapy. We integrated empirical findings and estimated the percentage of HIV-positive persons in the United States who entered HIV medical care soon after their diagnosis; and were retained in care during specified assessment intervals. Methods:We comprehensively searched databases and bibliographic lists to identify studies that collected data from May 1995 through 2009. Separate meta-analyses were conducted for entry into care and retention in care (having multiple HIV medical visits during specified assessment intervals) stratified by methodological variables. All analyses used random-effects models. Results:Overall, 69% [95% confidence interval (CI) 66–71%, N = 53 323, 28 findings] of HIV-diagnosed persons in the United States entered HIV medical care averaged across time intervals in the studies. Seventy-two percent (95% CI 67–77%, N = 6586, 12 findings) entered care within 4 months of diagnosis. Seventy-six percent (95% CI 66–84%, N = 561, 15 findings) entered care after testing HIV-positive in emergency/urgent care departments and 67% (95% CI 64–70%, N = 52 762, 13 findings) entered care when testing was done in community locations. With respect to retention in care, 59% (95% CI 53–65%, N = 75 655, 28 findings) had multiple HIV medical care visits averaged across assessment intervals of 6 months to 3–5 years. Retention was lower during longer assessment intervals. Conclusion:Entry and retention in HIV medical care in the United States are moderately high. Improvement in both outcomes will increase the success of a test and treat strategy.
FeltRadio: Sensing and Making Sense of Wireless Traffic

Radio waves surround us but still they remain largely undetected by our senses. Unless we use specifically tuned hardware, such as FM radios, cell phones or WiFi modems, human beings cannot perceive wirelessly transmitted data. This paper presents FeltRadio, a portable and wireless technology that makes it possible to turn radio signals into visual and tactile stimuli as a form of sensorial augmentation. FeltRadio explores and makes us reflect upon what it would be like if we could sense, and feel, wireless traffic such as WiFi or Bluetooth. We present the technological design behind FeltRadio and the outcome of two exploratory studies with the technology focused on people's experience of being able to suddenly sense and make sense of wireless traffic. We discuss the possible qualities of this embodied experience of FeltRadio and point to future experiments with the technology.
A Generative Context Model for Semantic Music Annotation and Retrieval

While a listener may derive semantic associations for audio clips from direct auditory cues (e.g., hearing “bass guitar”) as well as from “context” (e.g., inferring “bass guitar” in the context of a “rock” song), most state-of-the-art systems for automatic music annotation ignore this context. Indeed, although contextual relationships correlate tags, many auto-taggers model tags independently. This paper presents a novel, generative approach to improve automatic music annotation by modeling contextual relationships between tags. A Dirichlet mixture model (DMM) is proposed as a second, additional stage in the modeling process, to supplement any auto-tagging system that generates a semantic multinomial (SMN) over a vocabulary of tags when annotating a song. For each tag in the vocabulary, a DMM captures the broader context the tag defines by modeling tag co-occurrence patterns in the SMNs of songs associated with the tag. When annotating songs, the DMMs refine SMN annotations by leveraging contextual evidence. Experimental results demonstrate the benefits of combining a variety of auto-taggers with this generative context model. It generally outperforms other approaches to modeling context as well.
Fast wireless protocol: A network stack design for wireless transmission

The robust and efficient streaming of video over wireless networks poses serious challenges. Inherent instabilities in the wireless medium lead to large, highly variable delay, throughput variations, and data loss. To cope with this problem the wireless MAC has incorporated many features such as reliability and aggregation. These features allow transport protocols such as TCP to work by hiding the frame losses from layers above the MAC. The problem is that in doing so they create overhead leading to loss of throughput. In this paper, we investigate a receiver side network stack design that allows these features to be switched off in the MAC. We instead provide reliability and aggregation features at the session layer. Our network stack design reduces the overhead cost significantly over MAC frame aggregation and increases throughput. We demonstrate the throughput advantages of our approach in testbed and emulation and analyze the effects of overhead created by our system.
Les mécanismes de sollicitation à la demande d'aide privilégiés par les étudiants du postsecondaire

A la suite d’une enquete menee aupres d’etudiants qui rencontrent des difficultes (n =417) ou qui ont recu un diagnostic de trouble d’apprentissage (n =42), nous presentons les mecanismes de sollicitation qui ont un interet pour ces etudiants afin de leur faire connaitre l’aide disponible ainsi que les mecanismes qui les incitent a demander de l’aide. Une evaluation portant sur 28 mecanismes de sollicitation a la demande d’aide demontre que le courriel et le site Web de l’etablissement constituent les mecanismes les plus apprecies, autant pour faire connaitre l’aide disponible que pour les inciter a y avoir recours. Les etudiants du collegial montrent une preference significative pour les mecanismes bases sur le relationnel (individu a individu), contrairement aux etudiants universitaires qui preferent les mecanismes technologiques (p < .05). Les etudiants qui eprouvent frequemment des difficultes et qui n’ont pas de trouble d’apprentissage n’ont recours a l’aide disponible que pour 49,1 % d’entre eux, contre 75,8 % des etudiants qui presentent un trouble d’apprentissage.
Prescription Surveillance and Polymerase Chain Reaction Testing to Identify Pathogens during Outbreaks of Infection

Syndromic surveillance, including prescription surveillance, offers a rapid method for the early detection of agents of bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases. However, it has the disadvantage of not considering definitive diagnoses. Here, we attempted to definitively diagnose pathogens using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) immediately after the prescription surveillance system detected an outbreak. Specimens were collected from 50 patients with respiratory infections. PCR was used to identify the pathogens, which included 14 types of common respiratory viruses and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Infectious agents including M. pneumoniae, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinovirus, enterovirus, and parainfluenza virus were detected in 54% of patients. For the rapid RSV diagnosis kit, sensitivity was 80% and specificity was 85%. For the rapid adenovirus diagnosis kit, no positive results were obtained; therefore, sensitivity could not be calculated and specificity was 100%. Many patients were found to be treated for upper respiratory tract infections without the diagnosis of a specific pathogen. In Japan, an outbreak of M. pneumoniae infection began in 2011, and our results suggested that this outbreak may have included false-positive cases. By combining syndromic surveillance and PCR, we were able to rapidly and accurately identify causative pathogens during a recent respiratory infection outbreak.
Non-motor symptoms in early Parkinson's disease: a 2-year follow-up study on previously untreated patients

Background Non-motor symptoms are very common among patients with Parkinson's disease since the earliest stage, but little is known about their progression and their relationship with dopaminergic replacement therapy. Methods We studied non-motor symptoms before and after 2 years from dopaminergic therapy introduction in ninety-one newly diagnosed previously untreated PD patients. Results At baseline, nearly all patients (97.8%) referred at least one non-motor symptom. At follow-up, only few non-motor symptoms significantly changed. Particularly, depression and concentration became less frequent, while weight change significantly increased after introduction of dopamine agonists. Conclusions We reported for the first time a 2-year prospective study on non-motor symptoms before and after starting therapy in newly diagnosed PD patients. Even if non-motor symptoms are very frequent in early stage, they tend to remain stable during the early phase of disease, being only few non-motor symptoms affected from dopaminergic therapy and, specifically, by the use of dopamine agonists.
Use of an electronic information system to identify adverse events resulting in an emergency department visit

Objective There is limited information about the nature of adverse events (AEs) that necessitate an emergency department (ED) visit. The objective of the current study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using routinely collected electronic data to identify AEs in patients presenting to EDs in one Canadian health authority. Methods This retrospective cross-sectional study occurred in EDs in two community hospitals, an outpatient community health centre and a tertiary care facility in the Capital District Health Authority in Nova Scotia, Canada between 1 November 2007 and 31 October 2008. The primary outcome was identification of an AE as the main reason for the ED visit. AEs were identified from electronic diagnostic data using previously validated screening criteria. Results There were 142 433 patient visits to the four EDs during the study period. A total of 1870 (1.3%) AEs were identified using the screening criteria. This included 1133 (0.8%) procedure-related, 673 (0.5%) drug-related, 63 (0.04%) device-related and one radiation-related AE. The AEs identified using this method were most likely the manifestation of treatment decisions made prior to the ED visit and/or related to care in other settings (eg, primary or long-term care, acute hospital care) including previous ED visits. Interpretation Although the use of electronic data significantly underestimates AEs treated in the ED, for relatively low cost, it provides new information on AEs arising from a variety of care settings that may otherwise not be captured. Significant and clinically important differences in healthcare utilisation underscore the value in identifying these AEs.
4.4.06…forthcoming in Economic Inquiry When Are Women More Generous than Men?

When are Women More Generous than Men? Previous research on gender differences in behavior has led to seemingly contradictory findings about generosity. From data generated by 290 subject pairs, we find that women are more sensitive than men to the costs of generous actions when deciding whether or not to be generous. The factors that affect the level of generosity observed in our experiments are reciprocal motivation, the level of money payoffs, and the level of social distance in the experimental protocol. The relatively greater sensitivity of women to the costs of generous behavior can explain most of the apparent inconsistencies in previously-reported findings.
The effects of birth weight and postnatal linear growth retardation on blood pressure at age 11–12 years

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of birth weight and linear growth retardation (stunting) in early childhood on blood pressure at age 11–12 years. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Kingston, Jamaica. PARTICIPANTS 112 stunted children (height for age < −2 SD of the NCHS references) and 189 non-stunted children (height for age > −1 SD), identified at age 9–24 months by a survey of poor neighbourhoods in Kingston. MAIN RESULTS Current weight was the strongest predictor of systolic blood pressure (β= 4.90 mm Hg/SD weight 95%CI 3.97, 5.83). Birth weight predicted systolic blood pressure (β = −1.28 mm Hg/SD change in birth weight, 95% CI −2.17, −0.38) after adjustment for current weight. There was a significant negative interaction between stunting in early childhood and current weight indicating a larger effect of increased current weight in children who experienced linear growth retardation in early childhood. There was no interaction between birth weight and current weight. The increase in blood pressure from age 7 to age 11–12 was greater in children with higher weight at age 11–12 and less in children with higher birth weight and weight at age 7. CONCLUSIONS Birth weight predicted systolic blood pressure in Jamaican children aged 11–12. Postnatal growth retardation may potentiate the relation between current weight and blood pressure. Greater weight gain between ages 7 and 11 was associated with a greater increase in systolic blood pressure. The relation between growth and later blood pressure is complex and has prenatal and postnatal components.
Selection and Peer-review under Responsibility of the Scientific Programme Committee of the 5th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion (dsai 2013). 5th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies

Several aspects of older adults' life can benefit from recent technological developments, but success in harnessing this potential depends on careful design and accessible, easy to use products. Design and development must be centered on the elderly and adequately consider interaction. In this paper we follow this design approach and put it to the test in developing a concrete application, aimed to contribute to lower the high levels of non-adherence to medication in the elderly population. The " Medication Assistant " application was developed following an iterative method centered, from the start, on the elderly and interaction design. The method repeats short-time development cycles integrating definition of scenarios and goals, requirements engineering, design, prototyping and evaluation. Evaluation, by end-users, of the increasingly refined prototypes, is a key characteristic of the method. The evaluation results provide information related to strengths and weaknesses of the application and yield suggestions regarding changes and improvements, valuable support further development. Results regarding evaluation of the second prototype of " Medication Assistant " are presented.
In Situ, Noninvasive, T2*-Weighted MRI-Derived Parameters Predict Ex Vivo Structural Properties of an Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction or Bioenhanced Primary Repair in a Porcine Model

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive technology that can quantitatively assess anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) graft size and signal intensity. However, how those properties relate to reconstructed or repaired ligament strength during the healing process is yet unknown. Hypothesis: Magnetic resonance imaging–derived measures of graft volume and signal intensity are significant predictors of the structural properties of an ACL or ACL graft after 15 weeks and 52 weeks of healing. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: The current data were gathered from 2 experiments evaluating ACL reconstruction and repair techniques. In the first experiment, pigs underwent unilateral ACL transection and received (1) ACL reconstruction, (2) ACL reconstruction with collagen-platelet composite (CPC), or (3) no treatment. The surgical legs were harvested after 15 weeks of healing. In the second experiment, pigs underwent ACL transection and received (1) ACL reconstruction, (2) ACL reconstruction with CPC, (3) bioenhanced ACL primary repair with CPC, or (4) no treatment. The surgical legs were harvested after 52 weeks. The harvested knees were imaged using a T2*-weighted 3-dimensional constructive interference in steady state (CISS) sequence. Each ligament was segmented from the scans, and the intra-articular volume and the median grayscale values were determined. Mechanical testing was performed to establish the ligament structural properties. Results: Volume significantly predicted the structural properties (maximum load, yield load, and linear stiffness) of the ligaments and grafts (R2 = 0.56, 0.56, and 0.49, respectively; P ≤ .001). Likewise, the median grayscale values (ie, signal intensity) significantly predicted the structural properties of the ligaments and grafts (R2 = 0.42, 0.37, and 0.40, respectively; P < .001). The combination of these 2 parameters in a multiple regression model improved the predictions (R2 = 0.73, 0.72, and 0.68, respectively; P ≤ .001). Conclusion: Volume and grayscale values from high-resolution T2*-weighted MRI scans are predictive of structural properties of the healing ligament or graft in a porcine model. Clinical Relevance: This study provides a critical step in the development of a noninvasive method to predict the structural properties of the healing ACL graft or repair. This technique may prove beneficial as a surrogate outcome measure in preclinical animal and clinical studies.
Albumin-binding function is reduced in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and correlates inversely with severity of liver disease assessed by model for end-stage liver disease

Background Human serum albumin has multiple functions, the most important being maintaining colloid osmotic pressure, ligand binding and transport. In liver failure, an impaired binding of endogenous substances and drugs can be observed. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the severity of liver disease and an impaired albumin binding. Methods In 44 patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis, Child–Turcotte–Pugh and model for end-stage liver disease scores were assessed and the site II-specific albumin-binding function (albumin-binding capacity) was characterized. Briefly, the unbound amount of diazepam site ligand Dansylsarcosine in a sample was determined and compared with the unbound amount in a reference albumin solution (=100%). Results Thirty-two out of 44 of the patients presented with Child–Turcotte–Pugh class C, the median Child–Turcotte–Pugh score was 10 [6–13 (min–max)], median model for end-stage liver disease score was 21 (8–40) and the median albumin-binding capacity was 63 (24–91)% compared with healthy controls 98 (95–106)% (P<0.001). Albumin-binding capacity was found to be strongly correlated to model for end-stage liver disease (r=0.783; P<0.001). Conclusions An impaired albumin-binding function of a site II-specific marker in decompensated liver cirrhosis was found to be correlated to the severity of the liver disease.