Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Jointly minimum MSE transmitter and receiver FIR MIMO filters in the presence of near-end crosstalk and additive noise

A theory for jointly minimizing the mean square error (MSE) between the desired and decoded signal with respect to the transmitter and receiver FIR multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) filters is developed in the presence of near-end crosstalk and two additive noise sources independent of the original signal. The additive noise sources account for noise at the input signal and on the channel. The transfer functions are known FIR MIMO transfer functions that can model the desired communication link and the undesired near-end crosstalk channel. The channel input vector time series is average power constrained. An iterative numerical optimization algorithm is proposed. When compared to the methods available in the literature, the proposed method yields better results due to the joint optimization of the transmitter-receiver pair, and is applicable to a more general scenario that may include correlated sources and near-end crosstalk.
Hydrogen-Rich Saline Protects Myocardium Against Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rats

Protective effect of hydrogen (H2) gas on cardiac ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury has been demonstrated previously. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that hydrogen-rich saline (saline saturated with molecular hydrogen), which is easy to use, induces cardioprotection against ischemia (30 min) and reperfusion (24 h) injury in rats. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent 30-min occlusion of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery and 24-h reperfusion. Intraperitoneal injection of hydrogen-rich saline before reperfusion significantly decreased plasma and myocardium malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, decreased cardiac cell apoptosis, and myocardial 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in area at risk zones (AAR), suppressed the activity of caspase-3, and reduced infarct size. The heart function parameters including left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), left ventricular diastolic pressure (LVDP), +(dP/dt)max and −(dP/dt)max were also significantly improved 24 h after reperfusion. It is concluded that hydrogen-rich saline is a novel, simple, safe, and effective method to attenuate myocardial I/R injury.
Long-range transport and vertical structure of Asian dust from CALIPSO and surface measurements during PACDEX

Knowledge of long-range transport and vertical distribution of Asian dust aerosols in the free troposphere is important for estimating their impact on climate. Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), surface micropulse lidar (MPL), and standard surface measurements are used to directly observe the long-range transport and vertical distribution of Asian dust aerosols in the free troposphere during the Pacific Dust Experiment (PACDEX). The MPL measurements were made at the Loess Plateau (35.95 degrees N, 104.1 degrees E) near the major dust source regions of the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts. Dust events are more frequent in the Taklamakan, where floating dust dominates, while more intensive, less frequent dust storms are more common in the Gobi region. The vertical distribution of the CALIPSO backscattering/depolarization ratios indicate that nonspherically shaped dust aerosols floated from near the ground to an altitude of approximately 9 km around the source regions. This suggests the possible long-range transport of entrained dust aerosols via upper tropospheric westerly jets. A very distinct large depolarization layer was also identified between 8 and 10 km over eastern China and the western Pacific Ocean corresponding to dust aerosols transported from the Taklamakan and Gobi areas, as confirmed by back trajectory analyses. The combination of these dust sources results in a two-layer or multilayered dust structure over eastern China and the western Pacific Ocean.
Cognitive effects of long‐term treatment with phenobarbital and valproic acid in school children

The Weschler Intelligence Scales for Children was applied to 64 epileptic children and 60 healthy subjects; patients followed chronic treatment with valproic acid (n = 32) or phenobarbital (n = 32). None of the children suffered mental retardation or neurological abnormalities. The test was repeated after a 9–12 month interval: 26 of the valproatetreated children and 23 of the phenobarbital‐treated children performed the second evaluation. At baseline, total, verbal and performance IQ scores of children receiving phenobarbital were lower than those of controls. When the results of the first and the second tests were compared, a significant increase in IQ scores was detected among controls and patients treated with valproic acid, but not among phenobarbital‐treated patients. It is concluded that long‐term phenobarbital therapy induces a significant impairment in learning ability whereas long‐term vaiproate therapy does not exert a noticeable noxious effect at this respect.
High correlation between oxidation loci on graphene oxide.

Recent experiments have shown the coexistence of both large unoxidized and oxidized regions on graphene oxide (GO), but the underlying mechanism for the formation of the GO atomic structure remains unknown. Now, using density functional calculations, 52 oxidation pathways for local pyrene structures on GO were identified, and a kinetic profile for graphene oxidation with a high correlation between oxidation loci was proposed, which is different from the conventional view, which entails a random distribution of oxidation loci. The high correlation is an essential nature of graphene oxidation processes and can be attributed to three crucial effects: 1) breaking of delocalized π bonds, 2) steric hindrance, and 3) hydrogen-bond formation. This high correlation leads to the coexistence of both large unoxidized and oxidized regions on GO. Interestingly, even in oxidized regions on GO, some small areas of sp(2)-hybridized domains, similar to "islands", can persist because of steric effects.
Climate change in the four corners and adjacent regions: Implications for environmental restoration and land-use planning

This document contains the workshop proceedings on Climate Change in the Four Corners and Adjacent Regions: Implications for Environmental Restoration and Land-Use Planning which took place September 12-14, 1994 in Grand Junction, Colorado. The workshop addressed three ways we can use paleoenvironmental data to gain a better understanding of climate change and its effects. (1) To serve as a retrospective baseline for interpreting past and projecting future climate-induced environmental change, (2) To differentiate the influences of climate and humans on past environmental change, and (3) To improve ecosystem management and restoration practices in the future. The papers presented at this workshop contained information on the following subjects: Paleoclimatic data from the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, climate change and past cultures, and ecological resources and environmental restoration. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.
Developmental changes in Na+ conductances in rat neocortical neurons: appearance of a slowly inactivating component.

1. Na+ conductances have been characterized in rat neocortical neurons from the sensorimotor area. Neurons were obtained by acute dissociation from animals at developmental stages from embryonic day 16 (E16) to postnatal day 50 (P50) to quantify any developmental changes in the kinetic properties of the Na+ conductance. 2. Neurons were divided into two classes, based on morphology, to determine whether there are any cell-type specific differences in Na+ conductances that contribute to the different action potential morphologies seen in current-clamp recordings in vitro. 3. Upon isolation, neurons were voltage clamped using the whole-cell variation of the patch-clamp technology. Both cell types, pyramidal and nonpyramidal, demonstrate large increases in Na+ current density during this developmental period (E16-P50). Normalized conductances were near 10 pS/micron2 in neurons from embryonic animals, and increased 6- to 10-fold during the first 2 wk postnatal. The final conductance reached in pyramidal neurons was higher than in non-pyramidal neurons. 4. We found no differences between the two cell types, pyramidal and nonpyramidal, in the voltage dependence of activation, inactivation kinetics, voltage dependence of steady-state inactivation, and recovery from inactivation. 5. The time course of Na+ current in immature neurons were fit with classical Hodgkin-Huxley kinetics. However, in more mature neurons the kinetics of inactivation became more complicated such that two decay components were required to obtain good fit. The slowly decaying component had a time course 5 to 10 times slower than the fast component. 6. Several procedures were used to reduce the magnitude of Na+ conductance in mature neurons to ensure graded, voltage-dependent inward currents. These included reduced extracellular [Na+], submaximal tetrodotoxin concentrations, and reduced holding potential. Under each of these conditions we were able to verify the observation that Na+ current inactivation occurs with two exponentials. 7. Single-channel Na+ currents were obtained from cell-attached patches. The membrane density of active Na+ channels increases with development, and ensemble averages from mature neurons demonstrated two inactivation processes. The slow inactivation process was accounted for by long-latency single-channel openings of the same amplitude as the short-latency openings. 8. We conclude that there are no kinetic differences in the Na+ channels between cell types. Differences in action potentials are then not explained by differences in Na+ current kinetics, but might be partially explained by the different densities. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Not all classes are created equal: toward a recommendation system for focusing testing

When evolving an object oriented system, one relevant question is the following: given a finite amount of resources, what are the most critical classes on which testers should focus their attention? In this paper, we propose a new way for identifying critical classes: classes often changed and playing a key role in the system. We rely on error correcting graph matching (ECGM) and random walks to associate each class with a pair of values representative of the frequency of changes and the class overall connectivity. With those two metrics, we have a grid for assessing the criticality of any class in the system. Classes with high values in both metrics should be identified and reported to developers, as a residual error in those classes will more likely deeply impact the whole system. We show the feasibility of the proposed approach by studying the Mozilla suite evolution over the year 2007.
Constraining anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking framework via ongoing muon g − 2 experiment at Brookhaven

The ongoing high precision E821 Brookhaven National Laboratory experiment on muon $g\ensuremath{-}2$ is promising to probe a theory involving supersymmetry. We have studied the constraints on the minimal anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB) model using the current data of muon $g\ensuremath{-}2$ from Brookhaven. A scenario of seeing no deviation from the standard model is also considered, within a $2\ensuremath{\sigma}$ limit of the combined error from the standard model result and the Brookhaven predicted uncertainty level. The resulting constraint is found to be complementary to what one obtains from $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{b}s+\ensuremath{\gamma}$ bounds within the AMSB scenario, since only a definite sign of $\ensuremath{\mu}$ is effectively probed via $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{b}s+\ensuremath{\gamma}. $ A few relevant generic features of the model are also described for disallowed regions of parameter space.
Early Intermediate State of Transforming Deoxyribonucleic Acid During Uptake by Bacillus subtilis

Examination of the effects of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) on uptake of transforming deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by Bacillus subtilis allowed definition of a new intermediate state of transforming DNA during uptake. Markers in this state, termed “EDTA-resistant,” are bound to the cell, are sensitive to inactivation by deoxyribonuclease, but may become deoxyribonuclease-resistant despite the addition of excess EDTA. Markers become EDTA-resistant quadratically with time after the addition of DNA to a competent culture, but linearly after exposure of competent cells to a brief pulse of DNA. An attractive model consistent with these findings is that EDTA blocks only the initiation of entry of a molecule of DNA.
Genome-Scale Identification Method Applied to Find Cryptic Aminoglycoside Resistance Genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Background The ability of bacteria to rapidly evolve resistance to antibiotics is a critical public health problem. Resistance leads to increased disease severity and death rates, as well as imposes pressure towards the discovery and development of new antibiotic therapies. Improving understanding of the evolution and genetic basis of resistance is a fundamental goal in the field of microbiology. Results We have applied a new genomic method, Scalar Analysis of Library Enrichments (SCALEs), to identify genomic regions that, given increased copy number, may lead to aminoglycoside resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa at the genome scale. We report the result of selections on highly representative genomic libraries for three different aminoglycoside antibiotics (amikacin, gentamicin, and tobramycin). At the genome-scale, we show significant (p<0.05) overlap in genes identified for each aminoglycoside evaluated. Among the genomic segments identified, we confirmed increased resistance associated with an increased copy number of several genomic regions, including the ORF of PA5471, recently implicated in MexXY efflux pump related aminoglycoside resistance, PA4943-PA4946 (encoding a probable GTP-binding protein, a predicted host factor I protein, a δ 2-isopentenylpyrophosphate transferase, and DNA mismatch repair protein mutL), PA0960–PA0963 (encoding hypothetical proteins, a probable cold shock protein, a probable DNA-binding stress protein, and aspartyl-tRNA synthetase), a segment of PA4967 (encoding a topoisomerase IV subunit B), as well as a chimeric clone containing two inserts including the ORFs PA0547 and PA2326 (encoding a probable transcriptional regulator and a probable hypothetical protein, respectively). Conclusions The studies reported here demonstrate the application of new a genomic method, SCALEs, which can be used to improve understanding of the evolution of antibiotic resistance in P. aeruginosa. In our demonstration studies, we identified a significant number of genomic regions that increased resistance to multiple aminoglycosides. We identified genetic regions that include open reading frames that encode for products from many functional categories, including genes related to O-antigen synthesis, DNA repair, and transcriptional and translational processes.
Improved variational Bayes inference for transcript expression estimation

Abstract RNA-seq studies allow for the quantification of transcript expression by aligning millions of short reads to a reference genome. However, transcripts share much of their sequence, so that many reads map to more than one place and their origin remains uncertain. This problem can be dealt using mixtures of distributions and transcript expression reduces to estimating the weights of the mixture. In this paper, variational Bayesian (VB) techniques are used in order to approximate the posterior distribution of transcript expression. VB has previously been shown to be more computationally efficient for this problem than Markov chain Monte Carlo. VB methodology can precisely estimate the posterior means, but leads to variance underestimation. For this reason, a novel approach is introduced which integrates the latent allocation variables out of the VB approximation. It is shown that this modification leads to a better marginal likelihood bound and improved estimate of the posterior variance. A set of simulation studies and application to real RNA-seq datasets highlight the improved performance of the proposed method.
Identifying the biologically relevant gene categories based on gene expression and biological data: an example on prostate cancer

MOTIVATION Most gene-expression based studies aim to identify genes with the capability of distinguishing different phenotypes. Although analysis at the genomic level is important, results of the molecular/cellular level are essential for understanding biological mechanisms. To deliver molecular/cellular-level results, a two-stage scheme is widely employed. This scheme just evaluates biological processes/molecular activities individually, totally overlooking the relationship between processes/activities. This treatment conflicts with the fact that most biological processes/molecular activities do not work alone. In order to deliver improved results, this shortcoming should be addressed. RESULTS We design a selection model from a novel perspective to directly detect important gene functional categories (each category represents a cellular process or a molecular activity). More importantly, the correlations between gene categories are considered. Contributed by this capability, the proposed method shows its advantages over others. AVAILABILITY the source code in Matlab is accessible via http://www.ee. cityu.edu. hk/~twschow/category_selection/category_selection. htm
A New Approach to Detect Congestive Heart Failure Using Short-Term Heart Rate Variability Measures

Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis has quantified the functioning of the autonomic regulation of the heart and heart's ability to respond. However, majority of studies on HRV report several differences between patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and healthy subjects, such as time-domain, frequency domain and nonlinear HRV measures. In the paper, we mainly presented a new approach to detect congestive heart failure (CHF) based on combination support vector machine (SVM) and three nonstandard heart rate variability (HRV) measures (e.g. SUM_TD, SUM_FD and SUM_IE). The CHF classification model was presented by using SVM classifier with the combination SUM_TD and SUM_FD. In the analysis performed, we found that the CHF classification algorithm could obtain the best performance with the CHF classification accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 100%, 100%, 100%, respectively.
On Maximal Cliques with Connectivity Constraints in Directed Graphs

Finding communities in the form of cohesive subgraphs is a fundamental problem in network analysis. In domains that model networks as undirected graphs, communities are generally associated with dense subgraphs, and many community models have been proposed. Maximal cliques are arguably the most widely studied among such models, with early works dating back to the '60s, and a continuous stream of research up to the present. In domains that model networks as directed graphs, several approaches for community detection have been proposed, but there seems to be no clear model of cohesive subgraph, i.e., of what a community should look like. We extend the fundamental model of clique to directed graphs, adding the natural constraint of strong connectivity within the clique. We characterize the problem by giving a tight bound for the number of such cliques in a graph, and highlighting useful structural properties. We then exploit these properties to produce the first algorithm with polynomial delay for enumerating maximal strongly connected cliques.
Effect of diet on asthma and allergic sensitisation in the International Study on Allergies and Asthma in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase Two

Background The increasing prevalence of asthma and allergy might be related to diet, particularly in Western countries. A study was undertaken to assess the association between dietary factors, asthma and allergy in a large international study including objective measurements of atopy. Methods Between 1995 and 2005, cross-sectional studies were performed in 29 centres in 20 countries. Parental questionnaires were used to collect information on allergic diseases and exposure factors and data from 50 004 randomly selected schoolchildren (8–12 years, 29 579 with skin prick testing) were analysed. Random effect models for meta-analysis were applied to calculate combined ORs. Results Fruit intake was associated with a low prevalence of current wheeze in affluent (ORadj 0.86, 95% CI 0.73 to 1.02) and non-affluent countries (ORadj 0.71, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.88). Consumption of fish in affluent countries (ORadj 0.85, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.97) and of cooked green vegetables in non-affluent countries (ORadj 0.78, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.95) was associated with a lower prevalence of current wheeze. Overall, more frequent consumption of fruit, vegetables and fish was associated with a lower lifetime prevalence of asthma, whereas high burger consumption was associated with higher lifetime asthma prevalence. None of the food items was associated with allergic sensitisation. Except for fruit juice and fruit consumption, no associations were found with atopic wheeze. Food selection according to the ‘Mediterranean diet’ was associated with a lower prevalence of current wheeze and asthma ever (ptrend=0.03). Conclusion Diet is associated with wheeze and asthma but not with allergic sensitisation in children. These results provide further evidence that adherence to the ‘Mediterranean diet’ may provide some protection against wheeze and asthma in childhood.
The marine benthos of Arctic and sub-Arctic continental shelves

The study of marine life from the bottom of Arctic and sub-Arctic seas has long been a topic of scientific interest, and such work represents an important part of contemporary biological research in the polar regions. Contributions to this field have been made through the collective efforts of investigators from many nations over the years and include findings of considerable significance for life science studies as a whole, as well as for specific polar problems. Together with contemporary research on the pelagic and planktonic biota of northern waters, current work on the bottom fauna (benthos) offers much potential for developing our fundamental knowledge of biological processes in the Arctic seas.
A distributed architecture for executing complex tasks with multiple robots

This paper presents a software architecture for the network-transparent control of distributed robotic systems. The system consists of two main components: a generic and easily extensible CORBA-based interface to distributed services, and a high-level XML-based description language for specifying the behavior of the robots. The architecture makes it possible to create dynamically modifiable, extensible control software with ease. It is successfully utilized in implementing a coffee serving system in which the co-operation of two very different robots and two other distributed services are needed.