Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation in OFDMA Networks

The widespread application of multimedia wireless services and requirements of ubiquitous access have triggered rapidly booming energy consumption at both the base station side and the user equipment (UE) side. Hence, energy-efficient design in wireless networks is very important and is becoming an inevitable trend. In this paper, we study the energy-efficient resource allocation in both downlink and uplink cellular networks with orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). For the downlink transmission, the generalized energy efficiency (EE) is maximized while for the uplink case the minimum individual EE is maximized, both under certain prescribed per-UE quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. For both transmission scenarios, we first provide the optimal solution and then develop a suboptimal but low-complexity approach by exploring the inherent structure and property of the energy-efficient design. For the downlink case, by modifying the original problem, we also find a computationally efficient and numerically tractable upper bound on the EE, which indicates the performance limit and is demonstrated to be quite tight if the number of subcarriers is larger than that of UEs and motivates us to find a near-optimal approach relying on the quasiconcave relation between the modified EE and transmit power. Simulation results show that the energy-efficient design greatly improves EE compared with the conventional spectral-efficient design and the low-complexity suboptimal approaches can achieve a promising tradeoff between performance and complexity.
Evidence for a Conformational Change in Actin Induced by Fimbrin (N375) Binding

Fimbrin belongs to a superfamily of actin cross-linking proteins that share a conserved 27-kD actin-binding domain. This domain contains a tandem duplication of a sequence that is homologous to calponin. Calponin homology (CH) domains not only cross-link actin filaments into bundles and networks, but they also bind intermediate filaments and some signal transduction proteins to the actin cytoskeleton. This fundamental role of CH domains as a widely used actin-binding domain underlines the necessity to understand their structural interaction with actin. Using electron cryomicroscopy, we have determined the three-dimensional structure of F-actin and F-actin decorated with the NH2-terminal CH domains of fimbrin (N375). In a difference map between actin filaments and N375-decorated actin, one end of N375 is bound to a concave surface formed between actin subdomains 1 and 2 on two neighboring actin monomers. In addition, a fit of the atomic model for the actin filament to the maps reveals the actin residues that line, the binding surface. The binding of N375 changes actin, which we interpret as a movement of subdomain 1 away from the bound N375. This change in actin structure may affect its affinity for other actin-binding proteins and may be part of the regulation of the cytoskeleton itself. Difference maps between actin and actin decorated with other proteins provides a way to look for novel structural changes in actin.
Maestro: quality-of-service in large disk arrays

Provisioning storage in disk arrays is a difficult problem because many applications with different workload characteristics and priorities share resources provided by the array. Currently, storage in disk arrays is statically partitioned, leading to difficult choices between over-provisioning to meet peak demands and resource sharing to meet efficiency targets. In this paper, we present Maestro, a feedback controller that can manage resources on large disk arrays to provide performance differentiation among multiple applications. Maestro monitors the performance of each application and dynamically allocates the array resources so that diverse performance requirements can be met without static partitioning. It supports multiple performance metrics (e.g., latency and throughput) and application priorities so that important applications receive better performance in case of resource contention. By ensuring that high-priority applications sharing storage with other applications obtain the performance levels they require, Maestro makes it possible to use storage resources efficiently. We evaluate Maestro using both synthetic and real-world workloads on a large, commercial disk array. Our experiments indicate that Maestro can reliably adjust the allocation of disk array resources to achieve application performance targets.
Thermal aging estimation with load cycle and thermal transients for XLPE-insulated underground cable

Loading profiles and thermal transient models of XLPE-insulated underground cables are analyzed for thermal aging evaluation of the cable. Since the underground cables have limitations in accessibility, observability, and application of diagnosis techniques, it is crucial to assess the cable condition and to determine appropriate replacement time. The thermal aging of power cables is mainly caused by heat loss on its conductor by the load current. Therefore, in this paper, real-world load profiles of an XLPE insulated underground cable are used to assess the thermal aging. With the load profiles, the thermal transient models are used to estimate the conductor temperature. The estimated temperatures are applied to the Arrhenius model for thermal aging evaluation. For three different load profiles, the results of the thermal aging assessment are compared and the results show the relation between average loads and thermal aging. The proposed technique will enable us to determine the proper replacement time of the underground cable in terms of the thermal aging.
Assessing the Impact of Characteristics of the Test, Common-Items, and Examinees on the Preservation of Equity Properties in Mixed-Format Test Equating.

Preservation of equity properties was examined using four equating methods - IRT True Score, IRT Observed Score, Frequency Estimation, and Chained Equipercentile - in a mixed-format test under a common-item nonequivalent groups (CINEG) design. Equating of mixed-format tests under a CINEG design can be influenced by factors such as attributes of the test, the common-item set, and examinees. Additionally, unidimensionality may not hold due to the inclusion of multiple item formats. Different item formats could measure different latent constructs and thus cause a multidimensional test structure. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of test structures (unidimensional versus within-item multidimensional as modeled through a bifactor model), differences in group ability distributions (equivalent versus nonequivalent), and characteristics of the common-item set (format representative versus non-representative) on each equating method’s ability to preserve equity properties. The major findings can be summarized as follows: IRT equating methods outperformed traditional equating methods in terms of equity preservation across all conditions. Traditional equating methods performed similarly when groups were equivalent. However, large discrepancies between the methods were found as a direct function of an increase in mean group ability differences. The IRT true score method was most successful in terms of First-Order Equity preservation regardless of test structure. All methods preserved Second-Order Equity similarly under unidimensional test structures. The IRT true score method was superior to all other equating methods in terms of Second-Order Equity when the test structures were multidimensional. Similar results in terms of the Same Distribution property were obtained for each method when the groups were equivalent. The IRT observed score method was the best preserving when mean group ability differences increased. This was observed regardless of underlying test structure. Lower equity indices were observed when the common-item set was representative of the total test in particular when group differences were large. Similar patterns in terms of the performance of equating methods were observed regardless of the underlying test structure. These results are discussed within the literature framework as it pertains to mixed-format test equating. Limitations of the current study are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.
Maternal Labor Supply and Children&Apos;S Cognitive Development

This paper analyzes the relationship between maternal labor supply and children's cognitive development, using a sample of three- and four-year-old children of female respondents from the 1986 National Longitudinal Surveys Youth Cohort (NLSY). Respondents in the NLSY were aged 21 to 29 in 1986; thus our sample consists of children of relatively young mothers. We show that for this group the impact of maternal labor supply depends upon when it occurs. Maternal employment is found to have a negative impact when it occurs during the first year of the child's life and a potentially offsetting positive effect when it occurs during the second and subsequent years. We find some evidence that boys are more sensitive to maternal labor supply than girls though the gender difference is not significant. The negative first-year effect is not mitigated to any great extent by the increased maternal income that accompanies it, though the increase in maternal income does appears to play an important role in producing the positive effect in the second and later years.
APOE 4-VLDL Inhibits the HDL-Activated Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase / Akt Pathway via the Phosphoinositol Phosphatase SHIP 2

Endothelial cell dysfunction and apoptosis are critical in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). Both endothelial cell apoptosis and atherosclerosis are reduced by high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Low HDL levels increase the risk of CVD and are also a key characteristic of the metabolic syndrome. The apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) allele also increases the risk of atherosclerosis and CVD. We previously demonstrated that the antiapoptotic activity of HDL is inhibited by APOE4 very-low-density lipoprotein (APOE4-VLDL) in endothelial cells, an effect similar to reducing the levels of HDL. Here we establish the intracellular mechanism by which APOE4-VLDL inhibits the antiapoptotic pathway activated by HDL. We show that APOE4-VLDL diminishes the phosphorylation of Akt by HDL but does not alter phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase, p38, or Src family kinases by HDL. Furthermore APOE4-VLDL inhibits Akt phosphorylation by reducing the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase product phosphatidylinositol-(3,4,5)-triphosphate (PI[3,4,5]P3). We further demonstrate that APOE4-VLDL reduces PI(3,4,5)P3, through the phosphoinositol phosphatase SHIP2, and not through PTEN. SHIP2 is already implicated as an independent risk factor for type II diabetes, hypertension and obesity, which are also all components of the metabolic syndrome and independent risk factors for CVD. Significantly, the association between CVD and type 2 diabetes or hypertension is further increased by the APOE4 allele. Therefore the activation of SHIP2 by APOE4-VLDL, with the subsequent inhibition of the HDL/Akt pathway, is a novel and significant biological mechanism and may be a critical intermediate by which APOE4 increases the risk of atherosclerotic CVD. (Circ Res. 2006;99:829-836.)
Edge Detection Techniques-An Overview

In computer vision and image processing, edge detection concerns the localization of significant variations of the grey level image and the identification of the physical phenomena that originated them. This information is very useful for applications in 3D reconstruction, motion, recognition, image enhancement and restoration, image registration, image compression, and so on. Usually, edge detection requires smoothing and differentiation of the image. Differentiation is an ill-conditioned problem and smoothing results in a loss of information. It is difficult to design a general edge detection algorithm which performs well in many contexts and captures the requirements of subsequent processing stages. Consequently, over the history of digital image processing a variety of edge detectors have been devised which differ in their mathematical and algorithmic properties. This paper is an account of the current state of our understanding of edge detection. We propose an overview of research in edge detection: edge definition, properties of detectors, the methodology of edge detection, the mutual influence between edges and detectors, and existing edge detectors and their implementation.
Secure policy-based management solutions in heterogeneous embedded systems networks

Managing a large number of heterogeneous nodes in a network of embedded systems is a challenging task, mainly due to differences in requirements and resources. Nano nodes with very limited capabilities, such as the nodes of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), may not be suitable for adopting solutions designed for power nodes that have no such constraints. Using these devices in dynamic, ad-hoc infrastructures that feature a plethora of characteristics, has brought up the need for appropriate management of participating nodes to satisfy the corresponding policy restrictions. Many schemes have been proposed for various types of devices in terms of resources, ranging from the well-studied policy-based management in computer networks to the more challenging management in sensor networks. This paper identifies these schemes and proposes a framework for the secure and interoperable policy-based management of heterogeneous, resource-constrained, embedded systems networks.
A singer identification technique for content-based classification of MP3 music objects

As there is a growing amount of MP3 music data available on the Internet today, the problems related to music classification and content-based music retrieval are getting more attention recently. In this paper, we propose an approach to automatically classify MP3 music objects according to their singers. First, the coefficients extracted from the output of the polyphase filters are used to compute the MP3 features for segmentation. Based on these features, an MP3 music object can be decomposed into a sequence of notes (or phonemes). Then for each MP3 phoneme in the training set, its MP3 feature is extracted and used to train an MP3 classifier which can identify the singer of an unknown MP3 music object. Experiments are performed and analyzed to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Improving the quality of H.264/AVC by using a new rate-quantization model

Rate control plays a key role in video coding standards. Its goal is to achieve a good quality at a given target bit-rate. In H.264/AVC, rate control algorithm for both Intra and Inter-frames suffers from some defects. In the Intra-frame rate control, the initial quantization parameter (QP) is mainly adjusted according to a global target bit-rate and length of GOP. This determination is inappropriate and generates errors in the whole of video sequence. For Inter coding unit (Frame or Macroblock), the use of MAD (Mean Average Differences) as a complexity measure, remains inefficient, resulting in improper QP values because the MAD handles locally images characteristics. QP miscalculations may also result from the linear prediction model which assumes similar complexity from coding unit to another. To overcome these defects, we propose in this paper, a new Rate-Quantization (R-Q) model resulting from extensive experiments. This latter is divided into two models. The first one is an Intra R-Q model used to determine an optimal initial quantization parameter for Intraframes. The second one is an Inter R-Q model that aims at determining the QP of Inter coding unit according to the statistics of the previous coded ones. It does not use any complexity measure and substitutes both linear and quadratic models used in H.264/AVC rate controller. Objective and subjective simulations have been carried out using JM15.0 reference software. Compared to this latter, the global R-Q model (Intra and Inter models combined) improves the coding efficiency in terms of PSNR, objectively (up to +2.01dB), subjectively (by psychophysical experiments) and in terms of computational complexity.
On-the-fly maintenance of series-parallel relationships in fork-join multithreaded programs

A key capability of data-race detectors is to determine whether one thread executes logically in parallel with another or whether the threads must operate in series. This paper provides two algorithms, one serial and one parallel, to maintain series-parallel (<b><i>SP</i></b>) relationships "on the fly" for fork-join multithreaded programs. The serial <b><i>SP-order</i></b> algorithm runs in <i>O</i>(1) amortized time per operation. In contrast, the previously best algorithm requires a time per operation that is proportional to Tarjan's functional inverse of Ackermann's function. SP-order employs an order-maintenance data structure that allows us to implement a more efficient "English-Hebrew" labeling scheme than was used in earlier race detectors, which immediately yields an improved determinacy-race detector. In particular, any fork-join program running in <i>T</i><inf>1</inf> time on a single processor can be checked on the fly for determinacy races in <i>O</i>(<i>T</i><inf>1</inf>) time. Corresponding improved bounds can also be obtained for more sophisticated data-race detectors, for example, those that use locks.By combining SP-order with Feng and Leiserson's serial <b><i>SP-bags</i></b> algorithm, we obtain a parallel SP-maintenance algorithm, called <b><i>SP-hybrid</i></b>. Suppose that a fork-join program has <i>n</i> threads, <i>T</i><inf>1</inf> work, and a critical-path length of <i>T</i><inf>∞</inf>. When executed on <i>P</i> processors, we prove that SP-hybrid runs in <i>O</i>((<i>T</i><inf>1</inf>/<i>P</i> +<i>PT,/i>∞)lg <i.n</i>) expected time. To understand this bound, consider that the original program obtains linear speed-up over a 1-processor execution when <i>P</i>=<i>O</i>(<i>T</i><inf>1</inf>T<inf>∞</inf>). In contrast, SP-hybrid obtains linear speed-up when <i>P</i>=<i>O</i>(√<i>T</i><inf>1</inf><i>T</i><inf>∞</inf>), but the work is increased by a factor of <i>O</i>(lg <i>n</i>).
Botulinum toxin in urology: a review of clinical potential in the treatment of urologic and sexual conditions

Introduction: In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the use of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) to treat medical conditions refractory to conventional treatment. The following article provides an overview of the clinical use and efficacy of BoNT in the treatment of various urologic and sexual conditions. Areas covered: BoNT has been accepted and/or explored as novel treatment for various lower urinary tract and sexual dysfunctions such as overactive bladder/detrusor overactivity (DO), detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia (DSD), benign prostatic hyperplasia, interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome, chronic pelvic pain and more recently premature ejaculation. The following terms ‘botulinum toxin’, ‘BoNT’, ‘botulinum toxin A’, ‘Botox’, ‘Dysport’, ‘Xeomin’, ‘botulinum toxin B’, ‘Myobloc’, ‘OnabotulinumA’, ‘RimabotulinumA’, ‘IncobotulinumA’ and ‘AbobotulinumA’ were used to search several databases including MEDLINE, Pubmed, EMBASE, CINAHL and clinicaltrials.gov for inclusion in this review article. Only English language articles were considered and all studies were limited to BoNT therapy in urological conditions in the adult population. Expert opinion: BoNT-A has received regulatory approval for use in neurogenic DO and overactive bladder, but its use remains unlicensed in other lower urinary tract conditions such as non-neurogenic lower urinary tract symptoms in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia, bladder pain syndrome and DSD. Published literature shows that BoNT can be effective in carefully selected patient groups, has minimal adverse event profile and is generally well tolerated by many patients. However, many questions remain unanswered and larger scale multi-institutional studies are required to determine the key factors in BoNT treatment success.
The associative representation of fear memories mediated by the amygdala

THE ASSOCIATIVE REPRESENTATION OF FEAR MEMORIES MEDIATED BY THE AMYGDALA by Christine Anne Rabinak A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology) in The University of Michigan 2009 Doctoral Committee: Professor Stephen A. Maren, Chair Professor Kent C. Berridge Professor Theresa Lee Assistant Professor Geoffrey G. Murphy
Coset realizations of (super)twistor spaces and structure of (super)twistor correspondence

New types "extended" (super)conformal algebras $G^{(\frac n2)}$ are presented. (Su\-per)twistor spaces $T$ are subspaces in cosets $G^{(\frac n2)}/H$. The (super)twistor correspondence has a cleary defined geometrical meaning.
On-premise ERP Organizational Post-implementation Practices - Comparison between Large Enterprises and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

This paper presents a multiple case study, which was aimed at identifying similarities and differences on how companies of different sizes operate after ERP system go live (post implementation phase). The study has found several differences and similarities and concluded that the differences are caused by the differences in company structures, sizes, financial constraints and decision making processes. Large Enterprises (LEs) often have in-house competence which Small and Medium-Sized Companies (SMEs) usually lack, and this leads to SMEs to depend on external sources, which makes the operations slightly different. SMEs also focus on their technical operations, often disregarding strategic planning, and this leads to higher risks.
MR perfusion imaging. What will be its impact for detection of coronary disease in the future?

Revealing stress-induced myocardial ischaemia is a well-established method for evaluating the presence and pathophysiological severity of coronary artery disease. In clinical practice, exercise or pharmacological stress nuclear imaging are the most widely used techniques for this purpose. According to two meta-analyses, exercise1 and dipyridamole and adenosine stress2 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) have respectively 87, 89, and 90% sensitivity and 64, 65, and 75% specificity for detection of angiographically significant coronary artery disease. Detection of myocardial ischaemia by nuclear imaging also has prognostic value for predicting cardiac events3,4 such as death or myocardial infarction. Nevertheless, nuclear imaging has several significant limitations: indeed the test is quite lengthy, since it usually requires a stress and a rest study to be performed in separate sessions. In addition, conventional cardiac nuclear imaging has poor spatial resolution and lacks the ability to perform quantitative measurement of perfusion. It also suffers from attenuation artefacts. More importantly, it exposes patients to significant doses of ionizing radiation, with the potential risk of radiation-induced cancer. Finally, nuclear imaging is far from being a perfect test for detection of coronary artery disease. As indicated above, the test lacks specificity for detection of coronary disease. Therefore, alternatives for conventional nuclear perfusion imaging would be clearly desirable. Although positron emission tomography perfusion imaging can overcome many of the limitations of conventional nuclear imaging,5 its complexity and cost, and the requirement to have either a cyclotron or a rubidium generator on-site, have prevented widespread use of the technique. Cardiac magnetic resonance (cMR) may be another more … *Corresponding author. Tel: +32 2 7642803, Fax: +32 2 7642811, Email: Bernhard.gerber{at}clin.ucl. ac.be