Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On Time-of-Arrival Estimation in Dense Ultra-Wideband Channels

We derive a pilot-assisted maximum likelihood (ML) timing estimator for ultra-wideband radio systems for the realistic scenario in which the received pulse shape and the channel are unknown. We compare the performance of the ML timing estimator to the Cramer-Rao bound and to sub-optimal methods such as the dirty-template method and a delay-correlate timing estimator for transmitted reference systems, both of which do not require knowledge of the channel and received pulse shape. The performance results indicate that, at medium-to-high signal-to-noise ratios, the ML estimator significantly outperforms the sub-optimal schemes, especially in non-line-of-sight channels
Centralized scheduling for joint transmission coordinated multi-point in LTE-Advanced

Coordinated multi-point transmission/reception is considered for LTE-Advanced as a tool to improve the coverage of high data rates, the cell-edge throughput and/or to increase the system throughput [1]. Joint transmission schemes are mentioned in [1] as an example of coordinated transmission between cells for the downlink. Here, data are transmitted simultaneously either coherently or non-coherently from multiple cells to a single mobile station. In this paper, a centralized MAC scheduling approach for joint transmission coordinated multi-point (JT CoMP) is proposed. Since several base stations transmit jointly to a single mobile station, the base stations are grouped together in so-called clusters. Several cluster strategies are investigated as well. The focus is on schemes that add only low complexity to the existing 3GPP LTE Release 8 system. Simulation results are provided for non-coherent transmission for full buffer and bursty traffic models with various system loads for different static cell clustering approaches.
Inference of Surfaces, 3D Curves, and Junctions From Sparse, Noisy, 3D Data

We address the problem of obtaining dense surface information from a sparse set of 3D data in the presence of spurious noise samples. The input can be in the form of points, or points with an associated tangent or normal, allowing both position and direction to be corrupted by noise. Most approaches treat the problem as an interpolation problem, which is solved by fitting a surface such as a membrane or thin plate to minimize some function. We argue that these physical constraints are not sufficient, and propose to impose additional perceptual constraints such as good continuity and "cosurfacity". These constraints allow us to not only infer surfaces, but also to detect surface orientation discontinuities, as well as junctions, all at the same time. The approach imposes no restriction on genus, number of discontinuities, number of objects, and is noniterative. The result is in the form of three dense saliency maps for surfaces, intersections between surfaces (i.e., 3D curves), and 3D junctions, respectively. These saliency maps are then used to guide a "marching" process to generate a description (e.g., a triangulated mesh) making information about surfaces, space curves, and 3D junctions explicit. The traditional marching process needs to be refined as the polarity of the surface orientation is not necessarily locally consistent. These three maps are currently not integrated, and this is the topic of our ongoing research. We present results on a variety of computer-generated and real data, having varying curvature, of different genus, and multiple objects.
Minimizing Interference in Satellite Communications Using Chaotic Neural Networks

We solve the frequency assignment problem (FAP) in satellite communications with transiently chaotic neural networks (TCNN). The objective of this optimization problem is to minimize cochannel interference between two satellite systems by rearranging the frequency assignments. For an N-carrier-M-segment FAP problem, the TCNN consists of N x M neurons. The performance of the TCNN is demonstrated through solving a set of benchmark problems, where the TCNN finds comparative if not better solutions compared to the existing algorithms.
The plant traits that drive ecosystems: Evidence from three continents

Abstract Question: A set of easily-measured (‘soft’) plant traits has been identified as potentially useful predictors of ecosystem functioning in previous studies. Here we aimed to discover whether the screening techniques remain operational in widely contrasted circumstances, to test for the existence of axes of variation in the particular sets of traits, and to test for their links with ‘harder’ traits of proven importance to ecosystem functioning. Location: central-western Argentina, central England, northern upland Iran, and north-eastern Spain. Recurrent patterns of ecological specialization: Through ordination of a matrix of 640 vascular plant taxa by 12 standardized traits, we detected similar patterns of specialization in the four floras. The first PCA axis was identified as an axis of resource capture, usage and release. PCA axis 2 appeared to be a size-related axis. Individual PCA for each country showed that the same traits remained valuable as predictors of resource capture and utilization in all of them, despite their major differences in climate, biogeography and land-use. The results were not significantly driven by particular taxa: the main traits determining PCA axis 1 were very similar in eudicotyledons and monocotyledons and Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Poaceae. Links between recurrent suites of ‘soft’ traits and ‘hard’ traits: The validity of PCA axis 1 as a key predictor of resource capture and utilization was tested by comparisons between this axis and values of more rigorously established predictors (‘hard’ traits) for the floras of Argentina and England. PCA axis 1 was correlated with variation in relative growth rate, leaf nitrogen content, and litter decomposition rate. It also coincided with palatability to model generalist herbivores. Therefore, location on PCA axis 1 can be linked to major ecosystem processes in those habitats where the plants are dominant. Conclusion: We confirm the existence at the global scale of a major axis of evolutionary specialization, previously recognised in several local floras. This axis reflects a fundamental trade-off between rapid acquisition of resources and conservation of resources within well-protected tissues. These major trends of specialization were maintained across different environmental situations (including differences in the proximate causes of low productivity, i.e. drought or mineral nutrient deficiency). The trends were also consistent across floras and major phylogenetic groups, and were linked with traits directly relevant to ecosystem processes. Nomenclature: Bolòs et al. (1990); Flora Iranica (1963 onwards); Stace (1991); Zuloaga et al. (1994); Zuloaga & Morrone (1996, 1999).
Bose-Einstein Condensation of Metastable Helium

Two groups, in Orsay and in Paris, have recently obtained experimental evidence for Bose-Einstein condensation on He4 atoms in the metastable state 23S1. The condensates which have been obtained are the first ones where atoms are condensed, not in their electronic ground state, but in an excited state, in this case a metastable state about 20 eV above the ground state. In principle, Penning collisions should very rapidly destroy the cloud of cold metastable atoms and it seems hopeless to observe Bose-Einstein condensation in such a system. But, as suggested by Shlyapnikov et al, the conservation of the total spin during the collision reduces the Penning collision cross-sections by several orders of magnitude and this explains why large enough densities of metastable atoms can be obtained to observe the condensation. We briefly describe the first experimental results which have been obtained in Paris. Atoms are optically detected by optical imaging at 1083 nm (wavelength of the transition connecting the metastable state 23S1 to the triplet state 23P2). The evolution of the anisotropy of the images during a ballistic expansion gives clear evidence for the condensation. Orders of magnitude are also obtained for the scattering length describing the collision between 2 metastable atoms. The large value of this scattering length (of the order of 10 nm) allows one to reach the so called hydrodynamic regime where the mean free path between 2 collisions in the thermal cloud becomes smaller than the size of the cloud. Preliminary results showing the transition between the collisionless regime and the hydrodynamic regime are presented and compared to theoretical predictions.
Determining Leaders and Communities on Networks Using Neighborhood Similarity

Networks are used to represent interactions in a wide variety of fields, like biology, sociology, chemistry, and more. They have a great deal of salient information contained in their structures, which have a variety of applications. One of the important topics of network analysis is finding influential nodes. These nodes are of two kinds —leader nodes and bridge nodes. In this study, we propose an algorithm to find strong leaders in a network based on a revision of neighborhood similarity. This leadership detection is combined with a neighborhood intersection clustering algorithm to produce high quality communities for various networks. We also delve into the structure of a new network, the Houghton College Twitter network, and examine the discovered leaders and their respective followers in more depth than which is frequently attempted for a network of its size. The results of the observations on this and other networks demonstrate that the community partitions found by this algorithm are very similar to those of ground truth communities.
Nuclear pore components affect distinct stages of intron-containing gene expression

Several nuclear pore-associated factors, including the SUMO-protease Ulp1, have been proposed to prevent the export of intron-containing messenger ribonucleoparticles (mRNPs) in yeast. However, the molecular mechanisms of this nuclear pore-dependent mRNA quality control, including the sumoylated targets of Ulp1, have remained unidentified. Here, we demonstrate that the apparent ‘pre-mRNA leakage’ phenotype arising upon ULP1 inactivation is shared by sumoylation mutants of the THO complex, an early mRNP biogenesis factor. Importantly, we establish that alteration of THO complex activity differentially impairs the expression of intronless and intron-containing reporter genes, rather than triggering bona fide ‘pre-mRNA leakage’. Indeed, we show that the presence of introns within THO target genes attenuates the effect of THO inactivation on their transcription. Epistasis analyses further clarify that different nuclear pore components influence intron-containing gene expression at distinct stages. Ulp1, whose maintenance at nuclear pores depends on the Nup84 complex, impacts on THO-dependent gene expression, whereas the nuclear basket-associated Mlp1/Pml39 proteins prevent pre-mRNA export at a later stage, contributing to mRNA quality control. Our study thus highlights the multiplicity of mechanisms by which nuclear pores contribute to gene expression, and further provides the first evidence that intronic sequences can alleviate early mRNP biogenesis defects.
Extended CPHD Filter for Combining Multi-Target Tracking with Sensor Alignment

An extended CPHD (Cardinalised Probability Hypothesis Density) filter for combining multi-target tracking with sensor alignment is proposed. The augmented state is established by appending the sensor biases to the single-target state. The cardinality distribution of the targets and the intensity of the augmented state are propagated by employing Gaussian mixtures. The target states and the sensor biases are jointly estimated. Simulation results show that the proposed filter successfully achieves the sensor alignment and outperforms the standard CPHD filter. Streszczenie: Zaproponowano rozszerzony filtr CPHD do polączenia śledzenia wielu celow z wyrownaniem czujnikow. Wyrazenia dotyczące pojedynczego celu rozszerzono przez dodanie offsetu czujnika. Moc (kardynalnośc) rozkladu celow i intensywnośc rozszerzonego wyrazenia są zrealizowane przez zastosowanie przeksztalcen Gaussa. Przeprowadzono jednoczesna estymacje wyrazen celu i offsetu czujnika. Wyniki symulacji wykazują, ze proponowane rozwiązanie satysfakcjonująco dokonuje wyrownania czujnikow i wyjściowych parametrow standardowego filtru CPHD. Rozszerzony filtr CPHD do polączenia śledzenia wielu celow z wyrownaniem czujnika
Kalman Predictor Design for Frequency-Adaptive Scheduling of FDD OFDMA Uplinks

Frequency-adaptive multiuser scheduling in OFDM utilizes the frequency-selective small-scale fading to allocate subcarriers with advantageous signal-to-noise ratio to each user. Due to channel time-variability and delays of the transmission control loop, this will in general require channel prediction. FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) uplinks pose the most challenging prediction problem: All sub-bands that may potentially be allocated must here be predicted for all involved user terminals, based on pilots transmitted from all terminals. This poses challenges with respect to prediction accuracy, estimator complexity and pilot overhead. This paper explores the design, performance and complexity of Kalman predictors used for uplink prediction, in the context of the EU WINNER project baseline design system. One conclusion is that uplink prediction that is useful at vehicular velocities in 4G systems operating at 3-5 GHz is indeed feasible. However, the channel predictability depends crucially on the local fading environment, so predictors should be based on models of the Doppler spectrum for each terminal.
Emotional Self-Management Experiences of Practical Nursing Students

This paper is part of a doctoral dissertation based on a 2017 phenomenological study that explored practical nursing (PN) students’ lived experiences with emotional self-management in clinical settings using van Manen’s orientation to hermeneutic phenomenology. A review of PN program curricula in Ontario, Canada, suggested that they do not specifically include emotional intelligence (EI) and the core concept of emotional self-management. Mayer’s and Salovey’s original four-branch ability model of EI was used as the theoretical framework. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a purposive convenience sample of 10 PN students at a southern Ontario community college. Findings suggested that the participants perceived themselves to have basic EI knowledge. Participants expressed that their first knowing, in the phenomenological sense, of EI provided them with more confidence and awareness. An increased understanding of emotional self-management could enhance teaching and learning approaches, particularly with PN students who are exposed to high-stress clinical environments.
Blind calibration and remedy for mis-oriented velocity-sensor triads

This paper introduces a new blind calibration algorithm as well as a new remedy procedure for velocity-sensor triads' mis-orientations. The word “blind” indicates the proposed method requires no priori knowledge of incident sources' direction-of-arrivals (DOAs), and allows the arrays of velocity-sensor triads to be arbitrarily separated at unknown locations in three-dimensional space. Moreover, the present work is applicable to the arrays of velocity-sensor triads with unknown inter-triad gain and phase deviations. Simulation results verify the efficacy and versatility of this proposed scheme.
Artificielle On the Design and Analysis of SLS Algorithms for Multiobjective Combinatorial Optimization Problems

Effective Stochastic Local Search (SLS) algorithms can be seen as being composed of several algorithmic components, each of which plays some specific role with respect to overall performance. In this article, we explore the application of experimental design techniques to analyze the effect of different choices for these algorithmic components on SLS algorithms applied to Multiobjective Combinatorial Optimization Problems that are solved in terms of Pareto optimality. This analysis is done using the example application of SLS algorithms to the biobjective Quadratic Assignment Problem and we show also that the same choices for algorithmic components can lead to different behavior in dependence of various instance features, such as the structure of input data and the correlation between objectives.
Elevated S100B levels do not correlate with the severity of encephalopathy during sepsis.

BACKGROUND Sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) is defined as a diffuse cerebral dysfunction induced by the systemic response to infection without any clinical or laboratory evidence of direct infectious involvement of the central nervous system. The astroglial protein S100B has been used as a marker of severity of brain injury and as a prognostic index in trauma patients and cardiac arrest survivors. We measured S100B serum levels in patients with severe sepsis to investigate if the severity of SAE correlated with an increase in S100B levels. METHODS Twenty-one patients, with a diagnosis of severe sepsis, were included in this study. S100B levels were measured at intensive care unit (ICU) admission, 72 h and 7 days after admission. Their association with markers of brain dysfunction such as Glasgow coma scale (GCS), and EEG, and with sepsis-related organ failure assessment score (SOFA) and ICU mortality was investigated. RESULTS Fourteen patients had elevated S100B levels. The levels did not correlate with GCS at admission, EEG pattern, or SOFA scores. Also, S100B levels did not differ between patients who recovered neurologically and those who did not (P = 0.62). CONCLUSIONS In severe sepsis, an increase in S100B does not allow the physicians to distinguish patients with severe impairment of consciousness from those with milder derangements or to prognosticate neurological recovery.
A Functional Asymmetry in the Leech Heartbeat Timing Network Is Revealed by Driving the Network across Various Cycle Periods

We tested predictions of a computational model (Hill et al., 2002) of the leech heartbeat timing network. The timing network consists of two segmental oscillators located in the third (G3) and fourth (G4) segmental ganglia. Each oscillator consists of two reciprocally inhibitory oscillator interneurons along with the coordinating interneuron fibers that link them. In the model, the network was driven to cycle periods around the normal period of the network by repeatedly stimulating one of the paired oscillator interneurons in G3 or G4. Here we replicate these experiments in the biological system. The model predicts that the G3 and G4 oscillators can entrain the timing network to periods faster but not slower than the inherent period of the nondriven (“follower”) oscillator and that they can do so symmetrically. The biological system can be driven to periods both faster (such that the driven oscillator leads in phase) and slower (such that the driven oscillator lags in phase) than the inherent period of the timing network. Although both oscillators can entrain the network, the G4 oscillator does so over a narrower range of periods. Two differences between the assumptions of the model and the properties of the biological network, spike frequency adaptation in coordinating interneurons and asymmetry in the connections from the oscillator interneurons to the coordinating interneurons, may account for these discrepancies. Individual coordinating interneurons were also able to entrain the oscillators but with little effect of the phase relationship between the oscillators, suggesting that phase relations are determined by properties inherent to the oscillator interneurons.
Multiresolution image registration for two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis

In proteomic research, two‐dimensional electrophoresis (2‐D) is an important tool for investigating differential patterns of qualitative and quantitative protein expression. The strength of the technique is due to its unrivalled power of being able to separate simultaneously thousands of proteins. The key to the comparison of 2‐D protein profiles, however, lies in the use of a fast and robust image matching process which is essential to the subsequent quantification procedure. To satisfy the growing demand for a robust and fully automatic method of matching 2‐D gel protein separation profiles, we describe in this paper a novel registration technique based on image intensity distribution rather than selected features. The method uses a multiresolution representation of the gel profiles and exploits the fact that coarse approximations to the optimal matching can be extracted efficiently from low‐resolution images. This permits the removal of misalignments at different scales in a systematic manner and the strength of the new method has been confirmed by a double blind trial of 111 2‐D gel pairs. The proposed method requires neither landmarks nor an a priori image alignment, and takes about five seconds for processing a typical gel pair on a standard personal computer.
Reactivity of mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite towards Friedel-Crafts acylation of anisole and propionic anhydride

ZSM-5 zeolite is known as solid acid catalyst for many organic reactions. ZSM-5 zeolite is a microporous aluminosilicate catalyst which is not suitable for reactions involving large molecules. Therefore, ZSM-5 with mesopores size needs to be synthesized. In this study, mesoporous ZSM-5 were synthesized in the presence and absence of sucrose as mesotemplate. As comparison, microporous ZSM-5 was also synthesized using standard method. The samples were characterized using XRD, FTIR and nitrogen adsorption analysis. Results from XRD and FTIR of sample with sucrose template showed the formation of crystalline ZSM-5 structure while sample without sucrose showed amorphous phase. Nitrogen adsorption analysis showed that the synthesized mesoporous ZSM-5 has mesoporous structure with type IV isotherm which the average pore is in the range of 4-6 nm and the BET surface area was 400 m 2 /g. The reactivity of all synthesized samples was tested in Friedel-Craft acylation of anisole and propionic anhydride to produce the main product, p-methoxypropiophenone and the side product, propionic acid. Results proved that synthesized mesoporous ZSM-5 with sucrose is the best catalyst in term of conversion and selectivity with 73.66% and 80.45% respectively as compared to sample without sucrose has comparable selectivity, 75.11% but low conversion, 22.63%. In contrast, microporous ZSM-5 has comparable conversion, 80.81% but low selectivity, 55.53%. This indicates that acidity and mesoporosity are responsible enhanced reactivity of ZSM-5 catalyst for Friedel-Crafts reaction involving large molecule.
Overview of the TREC-2014 Microblog Track

Abstract : This year represents the fourth iteration of the TREC Microblog track, which has been running since 2011. The track continued using the evaluation as a service model [8, 7], in which participants had access to the document collection only through an API. In addition to the temporally-anchored ad hoc retrieval task, which has been running since the inception of the track, we introduced a new task called tweet timeline generation (TTG), where the goal is to produce concise summaries about a particular topic for human consumption. Although this overview covers both tasks, more emphasis is placed on the tweet timeline generation task, which necessitated the development of a new evaluation methodology. We refer the reader to previous track overview papers [8, 12, 9] for details on the setup of the ad hoc task.