Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Blind adaptive noncoherent multiuser detection for nonlinear modulation

Noncoherent multiuser detection for nonlinear modulation was previously studied and the idea of phase-independent noncoherent decorrelation was introduced and three post-decorrelative detectors were obtained and analyzed. However, their implementation requires the knowledge of the signature waveforms of all the users, which may be available only for centralized implementation. In this paper, we obtain a blind adaptive noncoherent decorrelative detector for nonlinear modulation that is suitable for distributed implementation with the knowledge of only the normalized signals of the desired user and the additive noise variance. This detector is based on the stochastic approximation method and does not require the overhead of any kind of "training. " Two adaptive algorithms are developed, one guided by every signal in the desired user's signal set individually, and the other by the user's entire signal space. While this paper focuses on the particular problem of blind adaptive noncoherent decorrelative detection, it addresses a more general adaptation issue, namely, that of improving the convergence properties of an adaptive scheme by effectively using all the information that is known, and adapting only to the part of the desired solution that is truly unknown. Convergence is shown in the mean squared error sense for both the fixed step-size and time-varying step-size versions of the two algorithms.
Clinical practice. Neurogenic orthostatic hypotension.

n engl j med 358;6 www.nejm. org february 7, 2008 615 A 65-year-old man reports a 6-month history of dizziness, light-headedness, weakness, and fatigue while upright. He takes no medication and has no personal or family history of neurologic disease. On physical examination, his supine blood pressure is 160/100 mm Hg, with a heart rate of 72 beats per minute; on standing, his blood pressure falls to 70/40 mm Hg, with no change in heart rate. The results of the remainder of the examination, including neurologic examination, are normal. How should he be evaluated and treated?
A multi-scale extensive Petri net model of the bacterial-macrophage interaction

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is considered one of the most efficient intracellular pathogens responsible for chronic infection, resulting in over 1.3 million of deaths a year. Exploring the host-cell signalling pathways, the bacteria evade host immune responses and enhance the infection inside the macrophage. Understanding how the bacteria interact with the im- mune system is an important step in the development of new therapies for mycobacterium pathogen. The aim of this paper is to present a prototype draft of a Petri Net model that highlights the interference strategies used by mycobacteria to achieve intracellular survival. The hierarchical model presents an overview of the important host-cell signalling pathways that occur at multiple (molecular, intracellular and intercellular) scales.
Identification of the IL-17 Receptor Related Molecule IL-17RC as the Receptor for IL-17F

The proinflammatory cytokines IL-17A and IL-17F have a high degree of sequence similarity and share many biological properties. Both have been implicated as factors contributing to the progression of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Moreover, reagents that neutralize IL-17A significantly ameliorate disease severity in several mouse models of human disease. IL-17A mediates its effects through interaction with its cognate receptor, the IL-17 receptor (IL-17RA). We report here that the IL-17RA-related molecule, IL-17RC is the receptor for IL-17F. Notably, both IL-17A and IL-17F bind to IL-17RC with high affinity, leading us to suggest that a soluble form of this molecule may serve as an effective therapeutic antagonist of IL-17A and IL-17F. We generated a soluble form of IL-17RC and demonstrate that it effectively blocks binding of both IL-17A and IL-17F, and that it inhibits signaling in response to these cytokines. Collectively, our work indicates that IL-17RC functions as a receptor for both IL-17A and IL-17F and that a soluble version of this protein should be an effective antagonist of IL-17A and IL-17F mediated inflammatory diseases.
Influence of enzyme supplementation of maize–soyabean meal diets on carcase composition, whole-body nutrient accretion and total tract nutrient retention of broilers

1. Carcase composition, whole body nutrient accretion rates and total tract nutrient retention of broilers in response to supplemental phytase or carbohydrase and protease from 0 to 21 d of age were investigated. 2. A total of 480 broilers were allocated to 4 slaughter groups (SG) of 30, 150, 150 and 150 broilers. Thirty broilers, in 6 replicates of 5 birds, comprised the initial SG killed at d 0; 150 broilers were allocated to each of the d 7, 14 and 21 final SG. Broilers in the final SG were allocated to 5 treatments in a randomised complete block design; each treatment had 6 replicate cages of 5 broilers per replicate cage. 3. The diets were maize–wheat–soyabean based and the treatments were: (1) positive control which met NRC (1994) energy and nutrients requirements for broiler, (2) negative control (NC) deficient in metabolisable energy (ME) and P, (3) NC plus phytase added at 1000 FTU/kg, (4) NC plus cocktail of xylanase, amylase and protease (XAP), and (5) NC plus phytase and XAP. 4. Except for ash and Ca, the treatments had no effect on carcase composition. Phytase or XAP individually or combined had variable effects on body nutrient accretion rates at various age periods of the broilers compared with the NC diet. Phytase alone or combined with XAP consistently improved body accretion rates of DM, protein, fat, ash, Ca, and P. 5. Addition of phytase alone or combined with XAP to the NC diet improved total tract N and P retention compared with the NC diet. Cocktail of XAP alone or combined with phytase improved Ca retention. Combination of phytase and XAP improved metabolisable energy (ME) and dry matter retention. 6. Overall, the results showed that the exogenous enzymes used had greater effects on the rates of nutrient accumulation in the carcase rather than on the proportion of nutrients deposited in the carcase.
Counter Embedded Memory architecture for trusted computing platform

Due to various hacker attacks, trusted computing platform has received a lot of attentions recently. Encryption is introduced to maintain the confidentiality of data stored on such platform, while Message Authentication Codes (MACs) and authentication trees are employed to verify the data memory integrity. These encryption and authentication architectures suffer from several potential vulnerabilities which have been omitted by the previous work. In this paper, we first address our concern about a type of cryptanalysis; a ciphertext stored on memory can be decrypted and attacked by an adversary and the MACs and the authentication trees would become the victim of cryptanalytic attacks. In addition, we show that such an attack can be extended to multi-core systems by simply corrupting other unprotected cores and performing malicious behaviors. To handle these scenarios, we propose a Counter Embedded Memory (CEM) design, and employ embedded counters to record every data fetch and trace malicious operations. The proposed platform with CEM allows the system to trace unexpected memory access, thus can indicate potential attack in progress. We present both qualitative discussion and quantitative analysis to show the effectiveness of the proposed architecture. Our FPGA rapid prototype shows that the additional memory overhead is only 0.10% and the latency can be totally neglected.
Prospectively gated transverse coronary CT angiography versus retrospectively gated helical technique: improved image quality and reduced radiation dose.

PURPOSE To retrospectively compare image quality, radiation dose, and blood vessel assessability for coronary artery computed tomographic (CT) angiograms obtained with a prospectively gated transverse (PGT) CT technique and a retrospectively gated helical (RGH) CT technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS This HIPAA-compliant study received a waiver for approval from the institutional review board, including one for informed consent. Coronary CT angiograms obtained with 64-detector row CT were retrospectively evaluated in 203 clinical patients. A routine RGH technique was evaluated in 82 consecutive patients (44 males, 38 females; mean age, 55.6 years). The PGT technique was then evaluated in 121 additional patients (71 males, 50 females; mean age, 56.7 years). All images were evaluated for image quality, estimated radiation dose, and coronary artery segment assessability. Differences in image quality score were evaluated by using a proportional odds logistic regression model, with main effects for three readers, two techniques, and four arteries. RESULTS The mean effective dose for the group with the PGT technique was 2.8 mSv; this represents an 83% reduction as compared with that for the group with the RGH technique (mean, 18.4 mSv; P < .001). The image quality score for each of the arteries, as well as the overall combined score, was significantly greater for images obtained with PGT technique than for images obtained with RGH technique. The combined mean image quality score was 4.791 for images obtained with PGT technique versus 4.514 for images obtained with RGH technique (proportional odds model odds ratio, 2.8; 95% confidence interval: 1.7, 4.8). The percentage of assessable coronary artery segments was 98.6% (1196 of 1213) for images obtained with PGT technique versus 97.9% (1741 of 1778) for images obtained with RGH technique (P = .83). CONCLUSION PGT coronary CT angiography offers improved image quality and substantially reduced effective radiation dose compared with traditional RGH coronary CT angiography.
Design of robust decentralised controllers using the M−Δ structure robust stability conditions

This article proposes a new frequency domain approach to the design of robust decentralised controllers (DC) for continuous-time systems described by a set of transfer function matrices. Nominal stability, required nominal performance and robust stability (RS) are guaranteed using the independent design approach applied for nominal system, adapted so as to satisfy the M−Δ structure-based RS conditions modified for the closed-loop system under a decentralised controller. The proposed design technique enables us to include nominal interactions in the nominal model thus relaxing the conservatism of the RS conditions.
Prevalence of the Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Coagulase-Positive-and Negative-Staphylococcus in Chicken Meat Retailed to Consumers

The use of antibiotics in farm management (growing crops and raising animals) has become a major area of concern. Its implications is the consequent emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and accordingly their access into the human food chain with passage of antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) to the normal human intestinal microbiota and hence to other pathogenic bacteria causative human disease. Therefore, we pursued in this study to unravel the frequency and the quinolone resistance determining region, mecA and cfr genes of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCNS) and methicillin-susceptible coagulase-negative staphylococci (MSCNS) isolated from the retail trade of ready-to-eat raw chicken meat samples collected during 1 year and sold across the Great Cairo area. The 50 Staphylococcus isolated from retail raw chicken meat were analyzed for their antibiotic resistance phenotypic profile on 12 antibiotics (penicillin, oxacillin, methicillin, ampicillin-sulbactam, erythromycin, tetracycline, clindamycin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, and vancomycin) and their endorsement of the quinolone resistance determining region, mecA and cfr genes. The isolation results revealed 50 isolates, CPS (14) and CNS (36), representing ten species (S. aureus, S. hyicus, S. epidermedius, S. lugdunensis, S. haemolyticus, S. hominus, S. schleiferi, S. cohnii, S. intermedius, and S. lentus). Twenty seven isolates were methicillin-resistant. Out of the characterized 50 staphylococcal isolates, three were MRSA but only 2/3 carried the mecA gene. The ARG that bestows resistance to quinolones, β-lactams, macrolides, lincosamides, and streptogramin B [MLS(B)] in MRSA and MR-CNS were perceived. According to the available literature, the present investigation was a unique endeavor into the identification of the quinolone-resistance-determining-regions, the identification of MRSA and MR-CNS from retail chicken meat in Egypt. In addition, these isolates might indicate the promulgation of methicillin, oxacillin and vancomycin resistance in the community and imply food safety hazards.
One Consequence of Infertility Treatment: Multifetal Pregnancy

This article discusses the issue of multifetal pregnancy as a result of fertility treatments. Pregnancies with multiple gestations are associated with serious infant and maternal health risks as well as psychological distress and significant financial consequences, and are a far too common consequence of infertility treatments such as assisted reproductive technology (ART) and ovulation induction drugs. Women with multifetal pregnancies are at a higher risk for multiple pregnancy complications and maternal morbidity/mortality as well as stress, depression, and anxiety disorders, especially when there is the threat of a loss of one or more fetuses. The rise in rates of multifetal gestation and the accompanying increased risk to both mother and fetuses have led the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology to develop guidelines to limit the number of transferred embryos during in vitro fertilization. Nurses who work with infertile women are in a position to educate them about the risks, benefits, and alternatives associated with ARTs and multifetal pregnancies, and should endeavor to learn as much as possible about this topic.
Multiresolution Phase-Based Bidirectional Stereo Matching with Provision for Discontinuity and Occlusion

Stereo image matching is the most robust and domain-independent way of reconstructing object surfaces from perspective images. Dense feature space matching is desirable because it constructs a disparity field without arbitrary selection of interest points for individual matching. Multiresolution or coarse-to-fine strategies have been shown to be effective in overcoming the inherent ambiguities of dense feature space matching. We use Gabor phase as the basis for dense multiresolution matching, as it is a stable, ubiquitous feature of a signal. The use of Gabor-like complex wavelets enables the efficient transformation of images to Gabor-phase-based feature pyramids. Disparity discontinuity and occlusions are the major potential disruptions to coarse-to-fine image matching. Through perspective geometry, we show that depth discontinuities are the direct cause of the discontinuity of disparity field, and bidirectional matching is required to detect disparity discontinuities (and their dual counterpart, occlusions) in both views. To handle these, a global objective function incorporating feature similarity, disparity smoothness, and discontinuity/occlusions is established under the maximuma posterioriprobability criterion and equivalently transformed into a minimum description length criterion. A general procedure, using stochastic relaxation with special provision for occlusions, is developed for minimising the objective function. The result is a disparity field which is regularised in the continuous regions, while the discontinuities and occlusions are detected and preserved. Some results from an aerial terrain image pair indicate the applicability of this approach.
Software fault tolerance using dynamically reconfigurable FPGAs

An emerging class of Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) permits partial reconfiguration of the device without disturbing the rest of the array-even while the device is operating. Dynamic device reconfiguration allows novel approaches to the migration of algorithms from software to hardware. New simulation tools are required in order to fully exploit the FPGA's versatility. We demonstrate how FPGA cells can be programmed and reprogrammed to provide a virtual FPGA that is much larger than the physical FPGA. In the context of dependable computing, our FPGA-based approach shows promise of significant performance gains over traditional software-intensive approaches. We apply this capability to the enhancement of software fault tolerance.
Data Surveying: Foundations of an Inductive Query Language

Data mining systems have to evolve from a set of specialised routines to more generally applicable inductive query languages to satisfy industry's need for strategic information. This paper introduces such an inductive query language called Data Surveying. Data Surveying is the discovery of "interesting subsets" of the database. Groups of customers whose behaviour deviates from average customer behaviour are examples of such interesting subsets. A user specifies what makes a subset interesting through a survey task. The wide applicability of this scheme is illustrated by a variety of examples. To implement an inductive query language system, the "what" (the kind of strategic information sought) has to be made independent from the "how" (how this strategic information is discovered). In other words, the discovery algorithms have to be task independent. In this paper, operators on the search space are introduced to achieve this independence. The discovery algorithms are defined relative to these operators. To enforce efficient discovery, the notion of polynomial convergence is defined for these algorithms. Domain knowledge plays an important role in the specification of both the survey task and the operators.
An FQHC Research Network in Oral Health: Enhancing the Workforce and Reducing Disparities

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) contribute greatly to reducing health disparities by providing care to underserved communities. Yet these safety-net clinics face chronic manpower shortages and turnover. Practice-Based Research Networks aid in translating medical science from bench to clinical practice. These networks have been used to understand and improve health-care delivery and reduce disparities. Initiatives to strengthen lagging translational research in dentistry have begun, but there is no FQHC research network that addresses oral health. This article reviews the potential for, and outlines a model of, an Oral Health FQHC Research Network. It characterizes the needs for an FQHC research network, describes a successful FQHC research-oriented program, and outlines an Oral Health FQHC Research Network conceptual model. It argues that strengthening FQHCs through involvement of their dental staff in clinical research may enhance their jobs, draw staff closer to the community, and strengthen their ability to reduce health disparities.
Robust Reverse Engineering of Dynamic Gene Networks Under Sample Size Heterogeneity

Simultaneously reverse engineering a collection of condition-specific gene networks from gene expression microarray data to uncover dynamic mechanisms is a key challenge in systems biology. However, existing methods for this task are very sensitive to variations in the size of the microarray samples across different biological conditions (which we term sample size heterogeneity in network reconstruction), and can potentially produce misleading results that can lead to incorrect biological interpretation. In this work, we develop a more robust framework that addresses this novel problem. Just like microarray measurements across conditions must undergo proper normalization on their magnitudes before entering subsequent analysis, we argue that networks across conditions also need to be "normalized" on their density when they are constructed, and we provide an algorithm that allows such normalization to be facilitated while estimating the networks. We show the quantitative advantages of our approach on synthetic and real data. Our analysis of a hematopoietic stem cell dataset reveals interesting results, some of which are confirmed by previously validated results.
Inverted curved flexure hinge with torsional reinforcements in a printed prosthetic finger

Flexure-based finger joints for prosthetic hands have been studied, but until now they lack stiffness and load capacity. In this paper we present a design which combines large range of motion, stiffness and load capacity, with a torsional overload protection mechanism. Five design considerations which increase grasp force and limit the stress values are presented: (1) Due to the inverted flexure attachment, the flexures are loaded mainly in tension, avoiding buckling of flexures. (2) Curved flexures have been used of which one straightens out at large deflection angles to improve load capacity at large deflections. (3) To achieve high torsional loads, one of the flexures is outfitted with triangular torsional stiffeners, which increase the out-of-plane stiffness significantly, while only slightly increasing the actuation stiffness. (4) The entire joint is rotated by 20˚ so the combination of actuation and contact forces lead to mainly axial forces in the curved leaf spring, avoiding excessive internal bending. The presented prosthetic flexure-based finger joint is able to achieve 20N of contact force with an additional 5N of out of plane load over the entire 80˚ range of motion, which is a major improvement over existing prosthetic flexure-based finger designs.
Accuracy of neuropsychological tests and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory in differential diagnosis between Frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease

The differential diagnosis between frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is sometimes difficult. Objectives To verify the accuracy of neuropsychological tests and a behavioral disorders scale in the differential diagnosis between FTLD and AD. Methods Retrospective data on 12 FTD patients and 12 probable AD patients were analyzed. The scores on neuropsychological tests (MMSE score, reverse digit span, delayed recall for drawings, semantic fluency of animals) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) in both groups were compared. Results Both groups had similar performance on neuropsychological tests. All FTD patients and 50% of AD patients had neuropsychiatric abnormalities. The NPI score was 58.0±19.3for the FTD patients, and 3.6±4.7for the AD patients (p< 0.01). Using a NPI cut-off score of 13, the sensitivity and specificity were 100% in this sample. The four most common neuropsychiatric disturbances in FTD patients were: apathy, aberrant motor behavior, disinhibition and eating abnormalities. Apathy and dysphoria/depression were the most common behavioral symptoms among the AD patients. Conclusions In this study, NPI was found to be a useful tool for the differential diagnosis between FTD and AD. The neuropsychological tests commonly used in the medical office were unable to distinguish between the two groups.