Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study of EBG Structures using Metamaterial Technology

In the field of electromagnetic wave engineering, the recent interest is on metamaterial technology, and application of EBG (Electromagnetic Band Gap) structure utilizing this technology to noise suppression and interference control is under consideration. The point to be noted here is that EBG structure can be fabricated using conventional printed circuit board (PCB) materials and manufacturing techniques, thus has the possibility of use in variety of applications. Oki Printed Circuits has been working on a prototype of a compact via-less EBG structure with a stopband in the vicinity of 2GHz to evaluate the effectiveness of the PCBbased EBG structure . This article will describe the design method and evaluation results of the compact via-less EBG structure under development.
Energy-Efficient Full Diversity Collaborative Unitary Space-Time Block Code Designs via Unique Factorization of Signals

In this paper, a novel concept called a uniquely factorable constellation pair (UFCP) is proposed for the systematic design of a noncoherent full diversity collaborative unitary space-time block code by normalizing two Alamouti codes for a wireless communication system having two transmitter antennas and a single receiver antenna. It is proved that such a unitary UFCP code assures the unique identification of both channel coefficients and transmitted signals in a noise-free case as well as full diversity for the noncoherent maximum likelihood receiver in a noise case. To further improve error performance, an optimal unitary UFCP code is designed by appropriately and uniquely factorizing a pair of energy-efficient cross quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations to maximize the coding gain subject to a transmission bit rate constraint. After a deep investigation of the fractional coding gain function, a technical approach developed in this paper to maximizing the coding gain is to carefully design an energy scale to compress the first three largest energy points in the corner of the QAM constellations in the denominator of the objective as well as carefully design a constellation triple forming two UFCPs, with one collaborating with the other two so as to make the accumulated minimum Euclidean distance along the two transmitter antennas in the numerator of the objective as large as possible, and at the same time, to avoid as many corner points of the QAM constellations with the largest energy as possible to achieve the minimum of the numerator. In other words, the optimal coding gain is attained by intelligent constellations collaboration and efficient energy compression. Computer simulations demonstrate that error performance of the optimal unitary UFCP code presented in this paper outperforms those of the differential code and the signal-to-noise-ratio-efficient training code.
Oral folic acid and vitamin B-12 supplementation to prevent cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults with depressive symptoms--the Beyond Ageing Project: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Evidence remains unclear as to whether folic acid (FA) and vitamin B-12 supplementation is effective in reducing depressive symptoms. OBJECTIVES The objective was to determine whether oral FA + vitamin B-12 supplementation prevented cognitive decline in a cohort of community-dwelling older adults with elevated psychological distress. DESIGN A randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a completely crossed 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design comprising daily oral 400 μg FA + 100 μg vitamin B-12 supplementation (compared with placebo), physical activity promotion, and depression literacy with comparator control interventions for reducing depressive symptoms was conducted in 900 adults aged 60-74 y with elevated psychological distress (Kessler Distress 10-Scale; scores >15). The 2-y intervention was delivered in 10 modules via mail with concurrent telephone tracking calls. Main outcome measures examined change in cognitive functioning at 12 and 24 mo by using the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-Modified (TICS-M) and the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (processing speed); the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly was administered at 24 mo. RESULTS FA + vitamin B-12 improved the TICS-M total (P = 0.032; effect size d = 0.17), TICS-M immediate (P = 0.046; d = 0.15), and TICS-M delayed recall (P = 0.013; effect size d = 0.18) scores at 24 mo in comparison with placebo. No significant changes were evident in orientation, attention, semantic memory, processing speed, or informant reports. CONCLUSION Long-term supplementation of daily oral 400 μg FA + 100 μg vitamin B-12 promotes improvement in cognitive functioning after 24 mo, particularly in immediate and delayed memory performance. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00214682.
Optical Feedback-Tolerant Gain-Coupled DFB Lasers for Isolator-Free Modules in the Access Networks

SUMMARY Passive optical network topology has been widely adopted in access networks due to its low-cost and yet flexible network structure. To further promote the passive optical networks, the cost reduction of optical modules is critical. Relatively expensive combination of a conventional index-coupled distributed feedback laser diode (IC-DFB-LD) and an optical isolator is commonly used for passive optical networks with transmission distance more than 30 km. Although gain-coupled DFB-LDs (GCDFB-LD) have been widely investigated in the hope of eliminating the isolator in optical modules, their limited output power keeps them from practical use in passive optical networks. In this paper, we describe the development of 1.31 μm and 1.49 μm GC-DFB-LDs with high output power and optical feed back tolerance for isolator-free optical modules in access networks. The relative intensity noise (RIN) degradation was well suppressed below −120 dB/Hz at −8 dB optical feedback in the temperatures range from 0 ◦ Ct o 85 ◦ C from both 1.31 μm and 1.49 μm GC-DFBLDs. Optical feedback tolerance of 1.31 μm and 1.49 μm GC-DFB-LDs were improved by more than 6 dB and 4 dB as compared with conventional IC-DFB-LDs. Dispersion power penalty after over 30 km transmission at 1.25 Gbps were achieved less than 0.3 dB and 0.7 dB under −15 dB optical feedback conditions. The proposed 1.31 μm GC-DFB-LD prototypes experimentally demonstrated 14 mW output power with over 5,000-hour operation at 85 ◦ C. Our devices are found to fully complying IEEE 802.3ah standard and seem to be promising for the low-cost optical modules in longreach access network applications. The details of the device structure as well as transmission experiments are also reported.
CO/sub 2/-laser-induced long-period gratings in graded-index multimode fibers for sensor applications

Long-period grating (LPG) fabricated in a graded-index multimode fiber (MMF) by deforming the geometry of the fiber periodically with a focused CO/sub 2/-laser beam is reported. The effects of the grating parameters on the transmission of the grating are investigated. We show that the transmission characteristics of the grating are similar to those of an MMF subject to periodic microbending. Strong mode couplings take place in the grating when the pitch of the grating is equal to a specific value (/spl sim/1 mm), known as the critical spatial period of the fiber. The responses of some fabricated gratings to the axial strain and the change in the surrounding refractive index are measured and good sensitivities are achieved. Such MMF LPGs can be used potentially as physical and chemical sensors.
pT4 stage II and III colon cancers carry the worst prognosis in a nationwide survival analysis. Shepherd's local peritoneal involvement revisited

The aim of this study is to clarify the prognostic importance of several well‐known but still debated pathological variables related to the survival of colon cancer patients. The study focuses on the definition and survival carried by the pT4 category and stage II where the presence of high‐risk variables may determine whether or not adjuvant chemotherapy is administered. A retrospective nationwide study was carried out including all colon cancer patients that underwent resection in Iceland between 1990 and 2004 (n = 889). All histopathology was reassessed. Cancer‐specific survival (CSS) and overall survival were analysed using Kaplan‐Meier and Cox regression analysis. In stage II, the five‐year CSS for pT4 was 50% (95% CI, 32–69%), which was the lowest survival observed in that stage. In stage III the five‐year CSS was 30% (95% CI, 18–41%) and 37% (95% CI, 26–48%) for pT4 and pN2 tumors, respectively. Lymphatic invasion and differentiation had no prognostic value in stage II. The survival associated with pT4a versus pT4b depends on how these categories are defined with regard to Shepherd's local peritoneal involvement (LPI). In the present series, pT4 is a major indicator of poor prognosis in patients with stage II and III colon carcinoma. Four‐tiered TNM or Dukes staging systems are insufficient by not taking this variable into account. Only Shepherd's LPI4 and a subgroup of LPI3 (i.e., borderline LPI3/LPI4) should qualify for the pT4a subcategory. The results do not support lymphatic invasion or poor differentiation as high‐risk stage II variables.
A novel hybrid approach for far-field characterization from near-field amplitude-only measurements on arbitrary scanning surfaces

A novel hybrid procedure is proposed in this paper for far-field reconstruction from phaseless near-field data. A basically interferometric approach is adopted to retrieve the near-field phase from amplitude-only measurements, which are collected by a simple microstrip circuit used in conjunction with two identical probes moving on the scanning surface. A certain number of sets of complex near-field data is obtained, apart from constant phase-shifts to be computed, one for each set. A nonredundant representation based on the introduction of the reduced field is then adopted to evaluate these shifts, with an accurate and fast convergence to the solution. In order to validate the proposed technique, an X-band prototype using two flanged WR-90 waveguides is successfully designed and tested on a cylindrical geometry for a standard pyramidal horn.
Particle models from orientifolds at Gepner-orbifold points

We consider configurations of stacks of orientifold planes and D-branes wrapped on a non trivial internal space of the structure (Gepner model)c = 3n × 2(3−n)/N, for n = 1,2,3. By performing simple moddings by discrete symmetries of Gepner models at orientifold points, consistent with a N orbifold action, we show that projection on D-brane configurations can be achieved, generically leading to chiral gauge theories. Either supersymmetric or non-supersymmetric (tachyon free) models can be obtained. We illustrate the procedure through some explicit examples.
A Calibration Test Platform of Power Quality Instruments for Grid Integration of Wind Energy System

Evaluation of power quality (PQ) becomes an important issue for the grid integration of wind energy systems. To provide accurate estimation of grid situations, a calibration test platform is designed in this paper to assess the capability of commercial PQ instruments. In accordance with the latest International Electrotechnical Commission standards, the test power signals can be generated, and the standard PQ indices can be precisely obtained by designed autoregressive-model-based synchronization and voltage envelope extraction processes. In this way, the commercial PQ instruments can be conveniently calibrated to meet the measurement requirements during the continuous operation of wind turbine.
Trajectory-based Mobile Advertising

Rapid improvements in the precision of mobile technologies make it possible for advertisers to go beyond using the real-time static location and contextual information about consumers. In this study, we propose a new mobile advertising strategy that leverages full information on consumers’ offline movement trajectories from different mobility dimensions. To analyze the effectiveness of this new trajectory-based mobile advertising strategy, we design a large-scale randomized field experiment in a large shopping mall that examines the redemption rates of mobile coupons. Our experiment results are validated based on 83,370 unique user responses for a 14-day period in June 2014. We find that trajectory-based mobile advertising can lead to higher redemption probability, faster redemption behavior, and higher transaction amount from customers compared to other kinds of advertising, all of which facilitate higher revenues for the focal store as well as the overall shopping mall. Interestingly, however trajectory-based mobile advertising becomes significantly less effective in boosting the revenues of the shopping mall during the weekend. This finding suggests that customers are likely to be in an “exploratory” shopping mode during the weekend and are likely to engage in “impulsive purchases. ” However, closely targeted mobile advertising can have the inadvertent impact of reducing impulse purchase behavior suggesting that marketers need to be careful when implementing mobile advertising strategies. Finally, trajectory-based mobile advertising is especially effective in attracting high-income consumers, suggesting the potential of mobile advertising in approaching high-end customers to achieve better customer lifetime value. On a broader note, our work can be viewed as a first step to study the digitization of individual offline behavior and how it can be linked to a better understanding individual preferences and decision-making. 1 Author names are in alphabetic order.
Genetic Placement

A placement algorithm, Genie, is presented for the assignment of modules to locations on chips. Genie is an adaptation of the genetic algorithm technique that has traditionally been a tool of the artificial intelligence community. The technique is a paradigm for examining a state space. It produces its solutions through the simultaneous consideration and manipulation of a set of possible solutions. The manipulations resemble the mechanics of natural evolution. For example, solutions are "mated" to produce "offspring" solutions. Genie has been extensively run on a variety of small test instances. Its solutions were observed to be quite good and in several cases optimal.
From Theory Construction to Deconstruction The Many Modalities of Theorizing in Psychology

Theoretical psychology seems to have moved from helping theory construction in mainstream psychology to deconstructing and criticizing it. Three projects for theoretical psychology are sketched: theory construction (Kukla), naturalism (the Churchlands) and its variant metascience, and social constructionism (Gergen). It is argued that each is in itself valuable, but also that each is lacking in important respects. Metascience has no resources for a critical distance; social constructionism seems often stuck in de(con)structive mode; and theory construction seems captive to an outdated divide between data and theory. The thesis is that we may conceive of theoretical psychology as a continuum from theory construction to deconstruction, with different degrees of reflection, interpretation, integration, and criticism of research programs in psychology. Furthermore, reflection will often start from existing empirical research (contra Kukla, and, in a different way, contra Gergen), but nevertheless have the res.
Short Message Noisy Network Coding With a Decode–Forward Option

Short message noisy network coding (SNNC) differs from long message noisy network coding (LNNC) in that one transmits many short messages in blocks rather than using one long message with repetitive encoding. Two properties of SNNC are developed. First, SNNC with backward decoding achieves the same rates as SNNC with offset encoding and sliding window decoding for memoryless networks where each node transmits a multicast message. The rates are the same as LNNC with joint decoding. Second, SNNC enables early decoding if the channel quality happens to be good. This leads to mixed strategies that unify the advantages of decode-forward and noisy network coding.
Low-Dose Interleukin-1 Partially Counteracts Osteogenic Protein-1-Induced Proteoglycan Synthesis by Adult Bovine Intervertebral Disk Cells

Izawa KP, Watanabe S, Omiya K, Hirano Y, Oka K, Osada N, Iijima S: Effect of the self-monitoring approach on exercise maintenance during cardiac rehabilitation: A randomized, controlled trial. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2005;84:313–321. Objective: To evaluate the effect of the self-monitoring approach (SMA) on self-efficacy for physical activity (SEPA), exercise maintenance, and objective physical activity level over a 6-mo period after a supervised 6-mo cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program. Design: We conducted a randomized, controlled trial with 45 myocardial infarction patients (38 men, seven women; mean age, 64.2 yrs) recruited after completion of an acute-phase, exercise-based CR program. Patients were randomly assigned to an SMA group (n 24) or control group (n 21). Along with CR, the subjects in the SMA group self-monitored their weight and physical activity for 6 mos. The SMA used in this study was based on Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and was designed to enhance confidence for exercise maintenance. The control group participated in CR only. All patients were evaluated with the SEPA assessment tool. Exercise maintenance, SEPA scores, and objective physical activity (average steps per week) as a caloric expenditure were assessed at baseline and during a 6-mo period after the supervised CR program. Results: Mean period from myocardial infarction onset did not differ significantly between the SMA and control groups (12.1 1.3 vs. 12.2 1.2 mos, P 0.692). All patients maintained their exercise routine in the SMA group. Mean SEPA score (90.5 vs. 72.7 points, P 0.001) and mean objective physical activity (10,458.7 vs. 6922.5 steps/wk, P 0.001) at 12 mos after myocardial infarction onset were significantly higher in the SMA than control group. SEPA showed significant positive correlation with objective physical activity (r 0.642, P 0.001). Conclusions: SMA during supervised CR may effectively increase exercise maintenance, SEPA, and objective physical activity at 12 mos after myocardial infarction onset.
Functions and harms associated with simultaneous polysubstance use involving alcohol and cocaine

Objectives: Alcohol is among the most common psychoactive substances to be co-administered with a variety of other drugs. It is frequently used simultaneously (i.e. on the same occasion) with cocaine. The objectives of this qualitative investigation are (1) to explore the functions and motivational factors underlying the simultaneous use of alcohol and cocaine, and (2) to explore the associated consequences. Methods: In-depth open-ended interviews with simultaneous alcohol and cocaine users were conducted at a residential treatment centre in Ontario, Canada (n = 10). The interview transcripts were coded by two independent coders. A thorough content analysis of the transcripts was performed in order to identify themes. Findings: Respondents used cocaine and alcohol simultaneously to control cravings; to alter their state of consciousness; to manage their emotions; to enhance sexual, physical and social functioning; and to minimise financial costs. Negative consequences experienced from simultaneous use include psychological, physical, social and financial harms. These findings have been used to develop potential hypotheses for testing in future studies.
A Metric for Measuring Degree of Service Cohesion in Service Oriented Designs

Service Orientation has gained momentum as a fundamental design paradigm for developing distributed enterprise applications. However, comprehensive and quantitative metrics for estimating the appropriateness of the service designs are still lacking. One of the quality attributes as to a SOA is cohesion, which is a determining factor for many other desirable features of the software including reusability, agility and etc. The previous studies on the measuring the degree of cohesion failed to comprehensively consider the relationship among entities to evaluate service cohesion. Therefore, this paper puts forward a new metric for measuring the cohesiveness of service and whole design based on design level information, especially the information embedded in entity model. This metric takes into account both Entity-Entity and Entity-Activity relations. Furthermore, the metric conforms to mathematical properties that cohesion metrics must have. The metric is empirically evaluated in a case study.
Effect of a monoclonal antibody to PCSK9 on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in statin-intolerant patients: the GAUSS randomized trial.

CONTEXT An estimated 10% to 20% of patients cannot tolerate statins or adequate doses to achieve treatment goals. Plasma proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) binds to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors, promoting their degradation and increasing LDL cholesterol levels. In phase 1 studies, a human monoclonal antibody to PCSK9, AMG145, was well tolerated and reduced LDL cholesterol levels. OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and tolerability of AMG145 in patients with statin intolerance due to muscle-related side effects. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS A 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo- and ezetimibe-controlled, dose-ranging study conducted between July 2011 and May 2012 in statin-intolerant adult patients at 33 international sites. INTERVENTION Patients were randomized equally to 1 of 5 groups: AMG145 alone at doses of 280 mg, 350 mg, or 420 mg; AMG145 at 420 mg plus 10 mg of ezetimibe; or 10 mg of ezetimibe plus placebo. AMG145 or placebo was administered subcutaneously every 4 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary end point was percentage change from baseline to week 12 in ultracentrifugation-measured LDL cholesterol. Other end points included measures of safety and tolerability of different doses of AMG145 and AMG145 plus ezetimibe. RESULTS Of 236 patients screened, 160 were randomized (mean age, 62 years; 64% female; mean baseline LDL cholesterol, 193 mg/dL); all patients had intolerance to 1 or more statins because of muscle-related events. At week 12, mean changes in LDL cholesterol levels were -67 mg/dL (-41%; 95% CI, -49% to -33%) for the AMG145, 280-mg, group; -70 mg/dL (-43%; 95% CI, -51% to -35%) for the 350-mg group; -91 mg/dL (-51%; 95% CI, -59% to -43%) for the 420-mg group; and -110 mg/dL (-63%; 95% CI, -71% to -55%) for the 420-mg/ezetimibe group compared with -14 mg/dL (-15%; 95% CI, -23% to -7.0%) for the placebo/ezetimibe group (P < .001). Four serious adverse events were reported with AMG145 (coronary artery disease, acute pancreatitis, hip fracture, syncope). Myalgia was the most common treatment-emergent adverse event during the study, occurring in 5 patients (15.6%) in the 280-mg group (n = 32); 1 patient (3.2%) in the 350-mg group (n = 31), 1 patient (3.1%) in the 420-mg group (n = 32), 6 patients (20.0%) receiving 420-mg AMG145/ezetimibe, and 1 patient (3.1%) receiving placebo/ezetimibe. CONCLUSION In this phase 2 study in statin-intolerant patients, subcutaneous administration of a monoclonal antibody to PCSK9 significantly reduced LDL cholesterol levels and was associated with short-term tolerability. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01375764.