Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal Cooperative Wireless Transmission With Limited Channel State Information

This paper tackles the problem of minimum-energy cooperative transmission in wireless networks under the assumption of limited channel state information at the transmitters. It is assumed that only the average statistics of the fading channels are known to the transmitters. The objective here is to jointly optimize the set of relays and the transmission powers for both the broadcasting and cooperative transmission phases while satisfying probabilistic signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) constraints at the relays and at the destination node. Increasing the broadcasting power expands the set of potential relays and decreases the required power for cooperative transmission. Hence, there is a compromise in the selection of the power values, which is addressed in this work using a chance-constrained optimization framework. A closed-form approximate solution is also presented, which provides a low-complexity transmission scheme for energy-harvesting wireless networks. Simulations are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach and the approximate solution.
An operant analysis of joint attention and the establishment of conditioned social reinforcers

An operant analysis of joint attention skills suggests that conditioned social reinforcers play a crucial role in shaping and maintaining joint attention skills in typically developing humans. Although joint attention response topographies can be established successfully in children with autism through contrived reinforcers, natural consequences may not maintain the behavior. Hence, treatment of joint attention problems in children with autism may require the establishment of natural social consequences as conditioned reinforcers. The standard procedure for conditioning new reinforcers is the “pairing procedure. ” However, clinical observations suggest that a pairing procedure may not be particularly effective. The current study compared the “pairing procedure” with an explicit operant discrimination procedure. First, a previously neutral stimulus was established as discriminative stimulus for a response that produced a reinforcer, and then tested for conditioned reinforcer effects when being presented contingent upon an arbitrary response with no additional contingent reinforcers. Second, another previously neutral stimulus was repeatedly paired with a reinforcer, and then tested for conditioned reinforcer effects as in the first procedure. Seven of the eight children completed both sequences, and five of these seven children emitted a markedly higher number of responses when stimuli established as SDs were contingent upon them than when stimuli used in the pairing procedure were response contingent. For the sixth child, the difference in favor of the SD procedure was minor, whereas for the last child, the difference was in the opposite direction. In sum, the results suggest that conditioned reinforcers can be more effectively established through the discriminative stimulus procedure than through simple pairing with an unconditioned reinforcer. Possible implications for joint attention teaching procedures are discussed.
QoE aware video content adaptation and delivery

The explosion of traffic associated with video content poses significant challenges for mobile content provision. While, on the one hand, mobile video traffic surge is forecast-ed to require significant investments in bandwidth acquisition and infrastructure dimensioning and roll-out, on the other hand, users are not likely to be willing to pay significantly more than today. This increases the pressure to develop solutions capable of making the mobile provision of video more affordable without either affecting user experience or limiting usage. In this respect, this paper proposes a novel methodology for video content delivery which is based on a user video quality perception model. According to this scheme, the video quality of each scene in a movie is selected, from among a finite set of available qualities, with the purpose of reducing the overall bandwidth required to attain a given user experience level targeted by the system for each user and each video. This novel methodology also adopts a clustering approach to identify users with similar Quality of Experience (QoE) profiles and leverages this information for improving the accuracy of user perceived quality predictions. This approach has been validated through a crowd-sourced subjective test evaluation performed with real users using a novel method involving the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. The results showed that the proposed method is capable of achieving a prediction accuracy in the order of ±0.5 MOS points. This approach can be effectively used to select the video qualities minimizing bandwidth costs while delivering predefined level of perceived quality to the end users.
Self-Driving Database Management Systems

In the last two decades, both researchers and vendors have built advisory tools to assist database administrators (DBAs) in various aspects of system tuning and physical design. Most of this previous work, however, is incomplete because they still require humans to make the final decisions about any changes to the database and are reactionary measures that fix problems after they occur. What is needed for a truly “self-driving” database management system (DBMS) is a new architecture that is designed for autonomous operation. This is different than earlier attempts because all aspects of the system are controlled by an integrated planning component that not only optimizes the system for the current workload, but also predicts future workload trends so that the system can prepare itself accordingly. With this, the DBMS can support all of the previous tuning techniques without requiring a human to determine the right way and proper time to deploy them. It also enables new optimizations that are important for modern high-performance DBMSs, but which are not possible today because the complexity of managing these systems has surpassed the abilities of human experts. This paper presents the architecture of Peloton, the first selfdriving DBMS. Peloton’s autonomic capabilities are now possible due to algorithmic advancements in deep learning, as well as improvements in hardware and adaptive database architectures.
Discoid lupus erythematosus presenting as acneiform pitting scars

A 32‐year‐old man presented with conspicuous acneiform pitting scars on the right nasolabial fold of 3 years’ duration ( Fig. 1 ). He stated that the scars were preceded by erythematous plaques. Physical examination also revealed perilesional erythematous infiltration and telangiectasia. Tracing back the history, there was no malar erythema, oral ulcer, or arthralgia. A skin biopsy showed irregular acanthosis, follicular plugging, vacuolar degeneration of the basal cell layer with marked melanin incontinence, and heavy periadnexal mononuclear cell infiltration ( Fig. 2a,b ). Direct immunofluorescence studies displayed continuous granular deposition of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and C3 along the dermo‐epidermal junction. The hemogram, antinuclear antibody (ANA) test, complement, and urinalysis were within normal limits. Based on the histopathologic findings and a positive lupus band test, a diagnosis of discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) was made.
Enjoyment Levels of Youth with Visual Impairments Playing Different Exergames

One possible method to engage youth with visual impairments in physical activity may be exergaming. The purpose of this study was to measure differences in the enjoyment levels of youths with visual impairments playing three commercially available exergames. Participants (n = 12) ages 9 to 16 years old with a visual impairment were randomly assigned one of three games on three separate nights and played each game for 10 minutes. Games played were Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 (DDR), EyeToy Kinetic, and Wii Boxing. After each game participants filled out the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale. The scores were summed for final analysis with a highest aftainable score of 144. A Friedman's ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Players of the three different games showed no significant difference in their enjoyment between games. The consistently high mean scores attained by all three of the exergames (DDR = 129 [20.9], EyeToy = 127 [23.4], Wii = 137.67 [9.4]) indicate that the participants enjoyed playing these games. This result suggests that youth with visual impairments can enjoy being physically active through use of the exergames.
Variability in Surgical Caseload and Access to Intensive Care Services

Background Variability in the demand for any service is a significant barrier to efficient distribution of limited resources. In health care, demand is often highly variable and access may be limited when peaks cannot be accommodated in a downsized care delivery system. Intensive care units may frequently present bottlenecks to patient flow, and saturation of these services limits a hospital's responsiveness to new emergencies. Methods Over a 1-yr period, information was collected prospectively on all requests for admission to the intensive care unit of a large, urban children's hospital. Data included the nature of each request, as well as each patient's final disposition. The daily variability of requests was then analyzed and related to the unit's ability to accommodate new admissions. Results Day-to-day demand for intensive care services was extremely variable. This variability was particularly high among patients undergoing scheduled surgical procedures, with variability of scheduled admissions exceeding that of emergencies. Peaks of demand were associated with diversion of patients both within the hospital (to off-service care sites) and to other institutions (ambulance diversions). Although emergency requests for admission outnumbered scheduled requests, diversion from the intensive care unit was better correlated with scheduled caseload (r = 0.542, P < 0.001) than with unscheduled volume (r = 0.255, P < 0.001). During the busiest periods, nearly 70% of all diversions were associated with variability in the scheduled caseload. Conclusions Variability in scheduled surgical caseload represents a potentially reducible source of stress on intensive care units in hospitals and throughout the healthcare delivery system generally. When uncontrolled, variability limits access to care and impairs overall responsiveness to emergencies.
Link between colorectal cancer and polymorphisms in the uridine-diphosphoglucuronosyltransferase 1A7 and 1A1 genes.

AIM To investigate the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms in the uridine-diphosphoglucuronosyltransferase (UGT) UGT1A7 and UGT1A1 genes and patients suffering from colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS A case-control study was designed in order to investigate the genotypes of the UGT1A7 and UGT1A1 genes, which were identified by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method, for 268 CRC patients and 441 healthy controls. RESULTS The results of simple logistical regressions revealed odds ratios (ORs) of 1.97 (P<0.001), 1.91 (P<0.001), and 2.03 (P<0.001) for patients who carried the UGT1A7*1/*3 genotype, UGT1A7*3 allele, and variant-211 UGT1A1 allele. The interaction of UGT1A7*3 allele and variant-211 UGT1A1 allele produced an additive effect on the risk for the development of CRC (observed OR (2.34) greater than expected OR (1.59)). For the 268 patients, the results of simple logistical regressions indicated that the OR of developing metastases was 4.90 (P<0.001) and 4.89 (P<0.001) for the individuals possessing UGT1A7*3 allele and variant-211 UGT1A1 allele, respectively. The results of multivariate logistical regressions confirmed these findings (OR = 2.51, P = 0.01; and OR = 2.71, P = 0.01, respectively). The interaction of these two variants resulted in an additive effect on the risk for metastases amongst patients (observed OR (6.83) greater than expected OR (4.56)). CONCLUSION In conclusion, carriage of the UGT1A7*3 allele, as well as variant-211 UGT1A1 allele represents a risk factor for the development of, and a determinant for, metastases associated with CRC patients.
Wellness tourists: in search of transformation.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and compare the benefits sought by three different types of wellness tourists: beauty spa, lifestyle resort, and spiritual retreat visitors.Design/methodology/approach – Based on the findings from 27 semi‐structured interviews with wellness tourists a benefits of wellness tourism scale (BWTS) was developed. It was used to measure 46 benefit items and was mailed to people included on the client/member lists of three Australian wellness tourism organisations.Findings – In total, six benefit factors emerged from a principal axis factor analysis: transcendence; physical health and appearance; escape and relaxation; important others and novelty; re‐establish self‐esteem; and indulgence. A one‐way MANOVA, followed by a series of ANOVAS, revealed significant differences between the three types of tourists regarding the importance attributed to each of the six benefit factors. While all participants in the study sought transformation of the self, each identifiable.
A Low Level Evaluation of Head-Tracker and Speech Commands Interactions in Information Visualization Tasks

This paper presents results of head tracker and speech commands interaction evaluation in information visualization context at low level task taxonomy. The head tracker is used to move a pointer and the voice commands to perform actions. In the evaluation, we used 20 public information visualization techniques, 62 simple tasks (aiming low-level interactions), and 10 participants performed all tasks. The evaluation shows results about user performance (UP) and user experience (UE) by visualization and interaction taxonomies. Finally, we highlight some good practices suggestions for design of this type of interaction.
Compact Object Descriptors from Local Colour Invariant Histograms

Much emphasis has recently been placed on the detection and recognition of locally (weak) affine invariant region descriptors for object recognition. In this paper, we take recognition one step further by developing features for non-planar objects. We consider the description of objects with locally smoothly varying surface. For this class of objects, colour invariant histogram matching has proven to be very encouraging. However, matching many local colour cubes is computationally demanding. We propose a compact colour descriptor, which we call Wiccest, requiring only 12 numbers to locally capture colour and texture information. The Wiccest features are shown to be fairly insensitive to photometric effects like shadow, shading, and illumination colour. Moreover, we demonstrate the features to be applicable to highly compressed images while retaining discriminative power.
Phytoandrogenic properties of Eurycoma longifolia as natural alternative to testosterone replacement therapy

The testosterone deficiency syndrome (TDS) is characterised by numerous symptoms, including low libido, increased fat mass, fatigue, erectile dysfunction or osteoporosis, and up to 80% of men will experience some kind of ageing males' symptoms. This is caused by the age‐depending decline in serum testosterone levels with concentrations being about 40–50% lower in men older than 60 years compared with young men. This significant decline in testosterone levels is further closely linked with medical conditions such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes or hypertension. The conventional way of treating TDS is the testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), for which preparations are on the market. Apart from the beneficial effects of TRT, significant adverse side effects have been described, and prostate cancer (PCa) as absolute contraindication is debated. Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali; TA) is natural alternative to TRT and has been shown to restore serum testosterone levels, thus significantly improving sexual health. This includes significant positive effects on bone health and physical condition of patients. In addition, a significant antihyperglycaemic effect and cytotoxicity against PCas cells has been shown. Thus far, at therapeutic concentrations, no significant side effects of the treatment were obvious. Therefore, TA might be a safe alternative to TRT.
Cerebral Blood Flow Is Independent of Mean Arterial Blood Pressure in Preterm Infants Undergoing Intensive Care

Objective. Preterm infants are often presumed to have a pressure passive cerebral circulation implying that a low mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) results in reduced cerebral perfusion. The aim of this study was to determine whether cerebral blood flow (CBF) was compromised in preterm infants whose MABP fell below 30 mm Hg (4 kPa). Methods. Thirty preterm infants undergoing intensive care were studied within the first 24 hours of life. CBF was measured using near infrared spectroscopy. The infants were analyzed in two groups on the basis of their MABP at the time of study: group 1 had a MABP below 30 mm Hg and group 2 more than 30 mm Hg. CBF in the two groups was compared. Results. There was no significant difference in the mean CBF between the two groups. In group 1 the median MABP was 27.2 mm Hg (range, 23.7–29.9 mm Hg) and CBF was 13.9 (standard deviation, ±6.9) mL · 100 g−1 · min−1. In group 2 the median MABP was 35.3 mm Hg (range, 30.1–39.3 mm Hg) and CBF was 12.3 (standard deviation, ±6.4) mL · 100 g−1 · min−1. Mortality and incidence of cranial ultrasound scan abnormalities were also not significantly different. Conclusion. These results indicate that preterm infants undergoing intensive care are able to maintain adequate cerebral perfusion at a MABP in the range of 23.7 to 39.3 mm Hg.
Schnelle Augenbewegungen und visuelle Fixation bei Kindern mit ADHS

Die Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit/Hyperaktivitatsstorung (ADHS) gehort zu den bedeutendsten psychiatrischen Storungen des Kindes- und Jugendalters. Der Beitrag zeigt auf, wie moderne Blickbewegungs-Systeme helfen, die neurokognitiven Grundlagen der ADHS weitergehend zu erforschen. Exemplarisch wird eine Studie vorgestellt, die kompensatorische Effekte einer Stimulanzien-Medikation auf Fahigkeiten der exekutiven Kontrolle von ADHS-Kindern untersucht. Dazu wurden medikamentos behandelte ADHS-Kinder und gesunde Kontrollkinder in einer Zeitreproduktions- und einer Augenbewegungsaufgabe getestet, die entweder eine aktive Inhibition oder Ausfuhrung von Prosakkaden erforderte. Beide Gruppen zeigten vergleichbar prazise und interferenzstabile Zeitreproduktionen sowie eine vergleichbare Anzahl, Latenz, Amplitude und Dauer von Prosakkaden. Die Ergebnisse lassen eine weitgehende pharmakologische Kompensation von Auffalligkeiten der exekutiven Kontrolle vermuten. Jedoch konnte fur ADHS-Kinder unter Medikamenteneinfluss (im .
Patient and Caregiver Perceptions of Stroke Survivor Behavior: A Comparison

This descriptive study was part of a larger research effort that investigated the effects of stroke on the behaviors of stroke survivors and their family caregivers. The objective was to examine the perceptions of stroke survivor behaviors from the perspectives of the stroke survivor and of the caregiver so that behaviors for which proxy data might safely be used could be identified. Behaviors were assessed with the Brain Impairment Behavior Scale (BIBS), which was developed to estimate the behaviors of stroke survivors. Domains indexed by the BIBS are indifference, irritability, inertia, cognitive difficulty, interpersonal exchange, emotional dependency, and physical dependency. Two samples of stroke survivors and their family caregivers contributed data to the study. Caregivers generally perceived stroke survivors as more impaired on each subscale than did the survivors. Paired t tests showed significant differences for the subscales estimating inertia, cognition, and interpersonal exchange. Findings from this study suggest that proxy information may be safely substituted for estimates of irritability and emotional dependence, but perhaps not for other domains of interest. Although several other comparisons did not achieve statistical significance using the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (p = .007), the differences may be important substantively.
Cardiac Mitochondrial NADP+-isocitrate Dehydrogenase Is Inactivated through 4-Hydroxynonenal Adduct Formation

Mitochondrial NADP+-isocitrate dehydrogenase activity is crucial for cardiomyocyte energy and redox status, but much remains to be learned about its role and regulation. We obtained data in spontaneously hypertensive rat hearts that indicated a partial inactivation of this enzyme before hypertrophy development. We tested the hypothesis that cardiac mitochondrial NADP+-isocitrate dehydrogenase is a target for modification by the lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal, an aldehyde that reacts readily with protein sulfhydryl and amino groups. This hypothesis is supported by the following in vitro and in vivo evidence. In isolated rat heart mitochondria, enzyme inactivation occurred within a few minutes upon incubation with 4-hydroxynonenal and was paralleled by 4-hydroxynonenal/NADP+-isocitrate dehydrogenase adduct formation. Enzyme inactivation was prevented by the addition of its substrate isocitrate or a thiol, cysteine or glutathione, suggesting that 4-hydroxynonenal binds to a cysteine residue near the substrate's binding site. Using an immunoprecipitation approach, we demonstrated the formation of 4-hydroxynonenal/NADP+-isocitrate dehydrogenase adducts in the heart and their increased level (210%) in 7-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats compared with control Wistar Kyoto rats. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that mitochondrial NADP+-isocitrate dehydrogenase is a target for inactivation by 4-hydroxynonenal binding. Furthermore, the pathophysiological significance of our finding is supported by in vivo evidence. Taken altogether, our results have implications that extend beyond mitochondrial NADP+-isocitrate dehydrogenase. Indeed, they emphasize the implication of post-translational modifications of mitochondrial metabolic enzymes by 4-hydroxynonenal in the early oxidative stress-related pathophysiological events linked to cardiac hypertrophy development.
Hyperthermophiles and the problem of DNA instability

Rates of chemical decomposition of DNA at the optimal growth temperatures of hyperthermophiles seem incongruent with the requirements of accurate genome replication. The peculiar physiology, ecology and phylogeny of hyperthermophiles combine to suggest that these prokaryotes have solved a molecular problem (spontaneous loss of native DNA structure) of a magnitude that well‐studied microorganisms do not face. The failure of DNA base composition to correlate with optimal growth temperature among hyperthermophiles provides indirect evidence that other mechanisms maintain their chromosomal DNA in the duplex form. Studies in vitro indicate that DNA primary structure is more difficult to maintain at extremely high temperature than is secondary structure, yet hyperthermophiles exhibit only modest levels of spontaneous mutation. Radiation sensitivity studies also indicate that hyperthermophiles repair their DNA efficiently in vivo, and underlying mechanisms are beginning to be examined. Several enzymes of DNA metabolism from hyperthermophilic archaea exhibit unusual biochemical features that may ultimately prove relevant to DNA repair. However, genomic sequencing results suggest that many DNA repair genes of hyperthermophilic archaea may not be recognized because they are not sufficiently related to those of well‐studied organisms.