Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prediction-based cluster management for target tracking in wireless sensor networks

The key impediments to a successful wireless sensor network (WSN) application are the energy and the longevity constraints of sensor nodes. Therefore, two signal processing oriented cluster management strategies, the proactive and the reactive cluster management, are proposed to efficiently deal with these constraints. The former strategy is designed for heterogeneous WSNs, where sensors are organized in a static clustering architecture. A non-myopic cluster activation rule is realized to reduce the number of hand-off operations between clusters, while maintaining desired estimation accuracy. The proactive strategy minimizes the hardware expenditure and the total energy consumption. On the other hand, the main concern of the reactive strategy is to maximize the network longevity of homogeneous WSNs. A Dijkstra-like algorithm is proposed to dynamically form active cluster based on the relation between the predictive target distribution and the candidate sensors, considering both the energy efficiency and the data relevance. By evenly distributing the energy expenditure over the whole network, the objective of maximizing the network longevity is achieved. The simulations evaluate and compare the two proposed strategies in terms of tracking accuracy, energy consumption and execution time. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Post-Perovskite Lens and D'' Heat Flux Beneath the Central Pacific

Temperature gradients in a low-shear-velocity province in the lowermost mantle (D″ region) beneath the central Pacific Ocean were inferred from the observation of a rapid S-wave velocity increase overlying a rapid decrease. These paired seismic discontinuities are attributed to a phase change from perovskite to post-perovskite and then back to perovskite as the temperature increases with depth. Iron enrichment could explain the occurrence of post-perovskite several hundred kilometers above the core-mantle boundary in this warm, chemically distinct province. The double phase-boundary crossing directly constrains the lowermost mantle temperature gradients. Assuming a standard but unconstrained choice of thermal conductivity, the regional core-mantle boundary heat flux (∼85 ± 25 milliwatts per square meter), comparable to the average at Earth's surface, was estimated, along with a lower bound on global core-mantle boundary heat flow in the range of 13 ± 4 terawatts. Mapped velocity-contrast variations indicate that the lens of post-perovskite minerals thins and vanishes over 1000 kilometers laterally toward the margin of the chemical distinct region as a result of a ∼500-kelvin temperature increase.
Symbol-index-feedback polar coding schemes for low-complexity devices

Recently, a new class of error-control codes, the polar codes, have attracted much attention. The polar codes are the first known class of capacity-achieving codes for many important communication channels. In addition, polar codes have low-complexity encoding algorithms. Therefore, these codes are favorable choices for low-complexity devices, for example, in ubiquitous computing and sensor networks. However, the polar codes fall short in terms of finite-length error probabilities, compared with the state-of-the-art codes, such as the low-density parity-check codes. In this paper, in order to improve the error probabilities of the polar codes, we propose novel interactive coding schemes using receiver feedback based on polar codes. The proposed coding schemes have very low computational complexities at the transmitter side. By experimental results, we show that the proposed coding schemes achieve significantly lower error probabilities.
Determinants of the Maternal 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Response to Vitamin D Supplementation During Pregnancy

Context: Current approaches to antenatal vitamin D supplementation do not account for interindividual differences in 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) response. Objective: We assessed which maternal and environmental characteristics were associated with 25(OH)D after supplementation with cholecalciferol. Design: Within-randomization-group analysis of participants in the Maternal Vitamin D Osteoporosis Study trial of vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy. Setting: Hospital antenatal clinics. Participants: A total of 829 pregnant women (422 placebo, 407 cholecalciferol). At 14 and 34 weeks of gestation, maternal anthropometry, health, and lifestyle were assessed and 25(OH)D measured. Compliance was determined using pill counts at 19 and 34 weeks. Interventions: 1000 IU/d of cholecalciferol or matched placebo from 14 weeks of gestation until delivery. Main Outcome Measure: 25(OH)D at 34 weeks, measured in a single batch (Diasorin Liaison). Results: 25(OH)D at 34 weeks of gestation was higher in the women randomized to vitamin D (mean [SD], 67.7 [21.3] nmol/L) compared with placebo (43.1 [22.5] nmol/L; P < .001). In women randomized to cholecalciferol, higher pregnancy weight gain from 14 to 34 weeks of gestation (kg) (β = −0.81 [95% confidence interval −1.39, −0.22]), lower compliance with study medication (%) (β = −0.28 [−0.072, −0.48]), lower early pregnancy 25(OH)D (nmol/L) (β = 0.28 [0.16, 0.40]), and delivery in the winter vs the summer (β = −10.5 [−6.4, −14.6]) were independently associated with lower 25(OH)D at 34 weeks of gestation. Conclusions: Women who gained more weight during pregnancy had lower 25(OH)D in early pregnancy and delivered in winter achieved a lower 25(OH)D in late pregnancy when supplemented with 1000 IU/d cholecalciferol. Future studies should aim to determine appropriate doses to enable consistent repletion of 25(OH)D during pregnancy.
QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE REACTIONS OF LYMPHOCYTES TO X RAYS *

The effect of x rays on lymphocytes of man and lower animals was studied by the slide-chamber method and the method of unstained cell counts. Large doses of x rays (4000 r or more) killed lymphocytes by delayed fixation. Moderate doses (1000 r or less) killed lymphocytes by intranuclear vacuolization. Nonirradiated lymphocytes also died by intranuclear vacuolization, but at a slower rate. Irradiation with 10 r produced a perceptible decrease in the survival time of human lymphocytes incubated at 37 deg C in slide chambers. Human lymphocytes were slightly more radiosensitive than lymphocytes of the rat, rabbit, and guinea pig. The effect produced by irradiation was a linear function of the logarithm of the dose. Blood lymphocytes from rats irradiated in vivo with 50 r had a shortened 10 per cent survival time: 0.75 days as compared to 2.3 days for lymphocytes from nonirradiated rats. This shortened survival time demonstrated that irradiation in vivo produced a deleterious change in circulating lymphocytes of rats.
The Welfare State In Israel: The Evolution Of Social Security Policy And Practice

Though a latecomer to the ranks of social democratic welfare states, Israel developed a modern system of social security in the span of three decades. The authors examine the key policy issues common to all social security systems, while analyzing the distinctive Israeli process of policymaking in each case. They look specifically, for example, at the role played in the development of social security policy by ideology, politics, public opinion, demography, and ethnicity; the conditions under which various forms of social protection reduce inequality; and the effects of different types of institutional structures on the development of social policy.
Estimation of the Frequency and Decay Factor of a Decaying Exponential in Noise

In this paper, we examine the estimation of the parameters of a decaying complex exponential in noise. The strategy adopted consists of a computationally simple two stage scheme where an interpolation stage refines the coarse estimate obtained from an initial maximum bin search. The interpolators of Quinn, and of Aboutanios and Mulgrew, developed for undamped exponentials are extended to the damped case. In the process, we show that Quinn's estimator can be viewed as a linearized version of Bertocco's algorithm. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that the resulting estimators exhibit similar behavior to the undamped case, leading us to propose two alternative hybrid implementations that yield a significant improvement in the estimation performance. Unlike the undamped case, however, we show that there exists a finite number of samples for which the estimation performance is best, and which we determine in terms of the damping factor. This enables us to adjust the actual number of samples should it deviate significantly from the optimum. Extensive simulation results are presented to support the theoretical findings.
Family Structure and Intergenerational Exchanges

This article documents differentials in patterns of exchange of aid and assistance between elderly American parents and their non-coresidential adult children by marital status and other components of family structure using data drawn from the National Survey of Families and Households. Descriptive results show that overall levels of giving and receiving support between elderly parents and their adult children are not especially high. However, these patterns vary considerably by marital status of the aging parent and of their adult children, with widowed and divorced parents less likely to provide support to their children. In contrast, widowed but not divorced parents are significantly more likely to receive support. Even with controls for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the parents and availability of adult children, parents who are widowed or divorced give less to their children, although there are few marital-status differences for reception of support. The marital status of children appears to be less important to the exchange process. However, the proportion of children who are stepchildren exerts a strong negative influence on giving assistance to children. Among the other characteristics of family structure that exert an effect on exchanges, the number of adult children remains strongly positively associated with both giving and receiving most forms of support.
Time-memory tradeoffs in vector quantizer codebook searching based on decision trees

The paper presents several algorithms for designing fixed- and variable-depth decision trees for searching vector quantizer (VQ) codebooks. Two applications of such are explored. First, given a source vector, a tree can be used to find the closest codevector in the VQ codebook with many fewer arithmetic operations than the usual "full search. " This decrease in complexity comes at the expense of an increase in auxiliary table storage. Second, the tree can be used as the first stage of fine-coarse vector quantization, which yields further savings in complexity at the cost of somewhat more storage and a small increase in distortion. The design methods involve incrementally growing trees with a variety of node splitting criteria and, subsequently, optimally pruning trees on the basis of performance functionals such as distortion, storage, and computational complexity. The pruning is done with the BFOS algorithm, which optimally trades one performance functional with another, and with an extension of the BFOS algorithm wherein one performance measure is traded with a combination of two others. The results of applying these methods to i.i. d. Gaussian, Gauss-Markov, and sampled speech sources at encoding rates of one and two bits per source sample demonstrate the tradeoffs achievable amongst time (complexity), memory (storage), and distortion. >
Face work in annual reports: a study of the management of encounter through annual reports, informed by Levinas and Bauman

Purpose - Annual reporting has moved from the conveyance of “simple” accounting numbers and more towards narrative, graphical, pictorial and broader aesthetic content conveyance. At the same time, there has been a small but growing discussion of the work of Emmanuel Levinas and Zygmunt Bauman and in particular the ethic of the Other. The aim of this paper is to explore the presence of faces in annual reports. Design/methodology/approach - Based on initial observations from the analysis of human representations in the annual reports of 14 companies for all years 1989 to 2003 (210 annual reports), the paper interprets the increase from a Levinasian perspective, drawing substantially from Bauman's articulation of Levinas' ethic of the Other. Particularly within the work of Levinas, this ethic is articulated through the nakedness of the face. Analysis is partly performed through illustration of the site of audiencing, a key visual methodology, in annual report images. Findings - A significant rise in total human representation over time is interpreted in Levinasian terms and the range of sites of audiencing is demonstrated. Arguments are discussed that suggest a counter-hegemonic understanding of the corporations' responsibility to the Other. Originality/value - The paper provides a critical analysis of what this kind of face work means within the context of Levinas' ethics of the Other. The paper explores what this kind of face work means for the possibility of Levinasian-inspired moral development and the potential for a counter-hegemonic face work that may promote accountability.
Let’s Put Our Money Where Our Mouth Is

A number of scholars recently have argued for fundamental changes in the way psychological scientists conduct and report research. The behavior of researchers is influenced partially by incentive structures built into the manuscript evaluation system, and change in researcher practices will necessitate a change in the way journal reviewers evaluate manuscripts. This article outlines specific recommendations for reviewers that are designed to facilitate open data reporting and to encourage researchers to disseminate the most generative and replicable studies. These recommendations include changing the way reviewers respond to imperfections in empirical data, focusing less on individual tests of statistical significance and more on meta-analyses, being more open to null findings and failures to replicate previous research, and attending carefully to the theoretical contribution of a manuscript in addition to its methodological rigor. The article also calls for greater training and guidance for reviewers so that they can evaluate research in a manner that encourages open reporting and ultimately strengthens our science.
Parameterized Cellular Automata in Image Segmentation

This paper investigates a novel update rule formulti–state Cellular Automata (CA) in the context of greyscaleimage segmentation. The update rule is parameterized and takesinto account the features of neighbouring cells compared to thefeatures of the current cell. We use the resulting CA to segmentseveral real–world images. During this process we also studythe influence of the rule parameters and neighbourhood schemeusing different evaluation measures.
Possible origin of adult T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma cells from human T lymphotropic virus type‐1‐infected regulatory T cells

Adult T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is a lymphoproliferative disorder caused by human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV‐I). Although ATLL cells display an activated helper/inducer T‐cell phenotype, CD4+ and CD25+, they are known to exhibit strong immunosuppressive activity. As regulatory T cells (Treg cells) express CD4+ and CD25+ molecules and possess potent immune response suppressive activity, we investigated a possible link between ATLL cells and Treg cells. In primary ATLL cells, the expression levels of the Treg cell marker molecules Foxp3 and glucocorticoid‐induced tumor necrosis factor receptor family related protein (GITR) were significantly higher than in those from healthy adults. Furthermore, ATLL cells are unresponsive in vitro to concanavalin A stimulation and suppress the proliferation of normal T cells. GITR mRNA expression was induced by the HTLV‐I transactivator Tax, and GITR promoter analyses revealed that this induction depends on the κB site from −431 bp to −444 bp upstream of the putative transcription site. Taken together, ATLL cells may originate from HTLV‐I‐infected Treg cells, and GITR seems to be involved in the progression to ATLL. (Cancer Sci 2005; 96: 527–533)
Evaluation of Authentication-Authorization Tools for VO security

GOLD (Grid-based Information Models to Support the Rapid Innovation of New High Value-Added Chemicals) is concerned with the dynamic formation and management of virtual organizations in order to exploit market opportunities. The project aims to deliver the enabling technology to support the creation, operation and successful dissolution of such virtual organizations. A set of middleware technologies has been designed and being implemented to address issues such as trust, security, contract management and monitoring, information management, etc. for virtual collaboration between companies. In this poster presentation, we will showcase some of the more general requirements for authentication and authorization aspects in GOLD virtual organizations. In conjunction with these requirements we evaluate some of the more popular tools that are currently available in dealing with these issues, together with our own approach that addresses these problems.
Prophet address allocation for large scale MANETs

A mobile device in a MANET must be assigned a free IP address before it may participate in unicast communication. This is a fundamental and difficult problem in the practical use of any MANET. Several solutions have been proposed. However, these approaches have different drawbacks. A new IP address allocation algorithm, namely prophet allocation, is proposed in the paper. The proposed scheme may be applied to large scale MANETs with low complexity, low communication overhead, even address distribution, and low latency. Both theoretical analysis and simulation experiments are conducted to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm over other known algorithms. Moreover, the proposed prophet allocation is able to solve the problem of network partition and merger efficiently.
Exploring the Effect of Individual Factors on Business Failure in Iranian New Established Small Businesses

The majority of Entrepreneurship studies have focused on Business success while little information regarding Business failure exists. However our knowledge of entrepreneurship is not complete without recognition of the business failure. Also, more researches in this field have been done in developed countries and it is limited studies in those countries where economic, social, cultural and political differ. Individual factors are the main ones affecting the entrepreneurial process. This is a study on a sample of new established small businesses in industry sector. First, in qualitative study, interview analysis of 10 semi-structured interviews lead to identified four groups of individual factors including motivations, skills, capabilities, and characteristics. Then, these individual factors have been evaluated in a sample of 158 unsuccessful businesses and data analysis of 52 complete questioners pointed out that “Lack of crisis management skills” and “Lack of marketing, financial and human resource management skills” are the main individual factors affecting business failure in new established small businesses in industry sector.
Direct Evidence for Microdomain-Specific Localization and Remodeling of Functional L-Type Calcium Channels in Rat and Human Atrial Myocytes

Background— Distinct subpopulations of L-type calcium channels (LTCCs) with different functional properties exist in cardiomyocytes. Disruption of cellular structure may affect LTCC in a microdomain-specific manner and contribute to the pathophysiology of cardiac diseases, especially in cells lacking organized transverse tubules (T-tubules) such as atrial myocytes (AMs). Methods and Results— Isolated rat and human AMs were characterized by scanning ion conductance, confocal, and electron microscopy. Half of AMs possessed T-tubules and structured topography, proportional to cell width. A bigger proportion of myocytes in the left atrium had organized T-tubules and topography than in the right atrium. Super-resolution scanning patch clamp showed that LTCCs distribute equally in T-tubules and crest areas of the sarcolemma, whereas, in ventricular myocytes, LTCCs primarily cluster in T-tubules. Rat, but not human, T-tubule LTCCs had open probability similar to crest LTCCs, but exhibited ≈40% greater current. Optical mapping of Ca2+ transients revealed that rat AMs presented ≈3-fold as many spontaneous Ca2+ release events as ventricular myocytes. Occurrence of crest LTCCs and spontaneous Ca2+ transients were eliminated by either a caveolae-targeted LTCC antagonist or disrupting caveolae with methyl-&bgr;-cyclodextrin, with an associated ≈30% whole-cell ICa,L reduction. Heart failure (16 weeks post–myocardial infarction) in rats resulted in a T-tubule degradation (by ≈40%) and significant elevation of spontaneous Ca2+ release events. Although heart failure did not affect LTCC occurrence, it led to ≈25% decrease in T-tubule LTCC amplitude. Conclusions— We provide the first direct evidence for the existence of 2 distinct subpopulations of functional LTCCs in rat and human AMs, with their biophysical properties modulated in heart failure in a microdomain-specific manner.
The forensic assessment of combat-related irritability with whole blood serotonin levels: a pilot study

This study explored the relationship between whole blood serotonin, irritability, anger, and aggression among military personnel deployed in support of combat operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. The participants were active duty military personnel with at least one deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. After obtaining the prospective participant's consent, the investigators administered the Anger, Irritability, and Assault Questionnaire, the Post-Trauma Exposure Questionnaire, and drew the post-deployment whole blood serotonin specimen. For purposes of comparison, a pre-combat whole blood serotonin sample was obtained from an aliquot stored at the Department of Defense Serum Repository. Seventeen military subjects met the full inclusion criteria to participate in this pilot study. Participants with normal whole blood serotonin levels had significantly lower scores on the Anger, Irritability, and Assault Questionnaire than subjects who were considered to have either low or high whole blood serotonin. The findings from this study tentatively suggest that any abnormal whole blood serotonin level contributes to some form of behavioral irritability.
Identification of novel stress‐induced genes downstream of chop

CHOP (GADD153) is a small nuclear protein that dimerizes avidly with members of the C/EBP family of transcription factors. Normally undetectable, it is expressed at high levels in cells exposed to conditions that perturb protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum and induce an endoplasmic reticulum stress response. CHOP expression in stressed cells is linked to the development of programmed cell death and, in some instances, cellular regeneration. In this study, representational difference analysis was used to compare the complement of genes expressed in stressed wild‐type mouse embryonic fibroblasts with those expressed in cells nullizygous for chop. CHOP expression, in concert with a second signal, was found to be absolutely required for the activation by stress of a set of previously undescribed genes referred to as DOCs (for downstream of CHOP). DOC4 is a mammalian ortholog of a Drosophila gene, Tenm. Odz, implicated in patterning of the early fly embryo, whereas DOC6 encodes a newly recognized homolog of the actin‐binding proteins villin and gelsolin. These results reveal the existence of a novel CHOP‐dependent signaling pathway, distinct from the known endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein response, which may mediate changes in cell phenotype in response to stress.