Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance analysis of non-regenerative opportunistic relaying in Nakagami-m fading

Opportunistic relaying is an efficient way of acheiving diversity in wireless cooperative communication systems. In this paper, we analyze the performance of a proactive opportunistic non-regenerative relaying protocol, considering both maximum ratio combining (MRC) and selection combining (SC) schemes at the destination. We derive a closed-form expression for the cummulative distribution function (CDF) of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the presence of Nakagami-m fading and a SC receiver. Utilizing this statistical result, we then derive a new closed-form expression for average symbol error probability (ASEP), valid for many generic modulations, assuming identical integer fading parameters. Furthermore, we also derive a new closed-form expression for the moment generating function (MGF) of the end-to-end SNR considering Nakagami-m fading environment and MRC at the destination. Moreover, using the MGF-based approach, we derive and analyze new closed-form expressions for ASEP when MRC is employed at the destination.
Swarm Intelligence and Swarm Robotics - The Swarm-Bot Experiment

A transistor formed in a semiconductor substrate having improved ESD protection is disclosed. The transistor includes a first ESD implant formed underneath the source region and the drain region of the transistor. The first ESD implant has the same impurity type as the source region and the drain region. Further, a second ESD implant is formed underneath the first ESD implant, the second ESD implant having an impurity type opposite to that of said first ESD implant. The second ESD implant also is spaced apart vertically from the first ESD implant.
Anthropologie des économistes

[fre] Anthropologie des economistes. La crise de la « science » economique est surtout celle des economistes. A) The history of economies may be divided into four periods : 1) from the 16th le discours des praticiens est recupere par la philosophie sociale; 2) de 1840 a 1870 la theorie classique se degrade en apologetique, aussitot contestee conceptuellement et pratiquement; 3) de 1870 aux annees 1920 les contradictions sociales s'aggravent tandis que le marginalisme s'isole des autres anthropologies sociales; 4) depuis s'opere une convergence mais sans integration. B) La science nait de l'ideologie: 1) la sociologie de la connaissance s'attache a trouver le noyau rationnel enferme dans l'ideologie; 2) dans les disciplines anthropologiques le critere de la verification par la pratique prend une acception specifique ; 3) une application a quelques economistes pris a titre d'exemple. [eng] Economists' anthropology. The crisis of economics is mainly the economists' crisis. A) The history of economics may be divided into four periods : 1) from the 16th century to J.S. Mill, the practising economist language was captured by social philosophy ; 2) from 1840 to 1870, the classical theory degraded into apologetics which is immediately disputed both conceptually and practicaily; 3) from 1870 to the 1920 s, the social contradictions worsened while marginalism was separated from other social anthropologies ; 4) since that time, we have witnessed a convergence without integration. B) Science stems from ideology: 1) the sociology of knowledge has as its objective to find out the rational core within ideology ; 2) in anthropological branches the praxis criterium of thruth is taking on a specifie meaning ; 3) An illustration of this argument is given in a study of some economists.
Bacterial membrane disruption in food pathogens by Psidium guajava leaf extracts

The mode of action and activities of guava leaf extracts against various food pathogens were studied. The killing kinetics, viability and cell leakage of Kocuria rhizophila, Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7, measured after exposure to guava methanolic extracts (GME) revealed a significantly higher (p≤0.05) release of bacterial nucleic acids, K + ions and protein than that of untreated microbes, indicating disruption of the bacterial membrane. GME caused a significantly higher (p≤0.05) release of RNA in gram-negatives compared to gram-positives. GME caused a relatively small but significant release of pyrines and pyrimidines in all organisms investigated. GME probably disrupted the integrity of the Gram-negative microorganism lipopolysaccharide (LPS) layer. Unlike all the other microorganisms tested, E. coli O157:H7, demonstrated the lowest protein leakage, the highest K+ leakage, the highest pyrines and pyrimidines leakage within the first 10 min of extract exposure, but the lowest after 30 minutes, which may indicate their good homeostasis ability or adaptability. Understanding the mode of action of this flavonoid rich guava leaf extract, would help develop it as an alternative biodegradable and safe, antimicrobial for food and medicine, and as a by-product of the guava industry.
Valuing Internet Business

Is there a bubble in internet stock prices, has the new economy changed the rules of stock valuation? In this article, the authors argue that the old rules still apply. The only way to test the reasonableness of new economy stock prices is to model the company's ability to generate cash in the future. This analysis also allows the development of a view about the performance that would be needed to justify current valuations. The analysis suggests that many internet valuations are stretched. Investors are focused on growth prospects for the firms, but realistic analysis about future profitability has been neglected in what will be an increasingly competitive world. Further, investors' assumptions that the new economy businesses will not require assets are unrealistic in many cases. Finally, because some new economy stocks are overvalued, there is a risk of misdirection of productive resources.
HIV-1-specific mucosal IgA in a cohort of HIV-1-resistant Kenyan sex workers.

OBJECTIVES Most HIV-1 transmission is sexual; therefore, immune responses in the genital mucosa may be important in mediating protection against HIV infection. This study examined HIV-1-specific mucosal IgA in a cohort of HIV-1-resistant Kenyan female sex workers. METHODS HIV-1-specific immune responses were compared in HIV-1-resistant and HIV-1-infected sex workers, and in lower risk uninfected women. Cervical and vaginal samples from each group were tested for HIV-1-specific IgA and IgG by enzyme immunoassay. Systemic T-helper lymphocyte cell responses to HIV-1 envelope peptide epitopes were assayed using an interleukin 2 bioassay. HIV-1 risk-taking behaviours were assessed using standardized questionnaires. RESULTS HIV-1-specific IgA was present in the genital tract of 16 out of 21 (76%) HIV-1-resistant sex workers, five out of 19 (26%) infected women, and three out of 28 (11%) lower risk women (P < 0.0001). Among lower risk women, the presence of HIV-1-specific IgA was associated with HIV-1 risk-taking behaviour. Systemic T-helper lymphocyte responses to HIV-1 envelope peptides were present in 11 out of 20 (55%) HIV-1-resistant women, four out of 18 (22%) infected women, and one out of 25 (4%) lower risk women (P < 0.001). T-helper lymphocyte responses did not correlate with the presence or titre of virus-specific mucosal IgA in any study group. CONCLUSIONS HIV-1-specific IgA is present in the genital tract of most HIV-1-resistant Kenyan sex workers, and of a minority of lower risk uninfected women, where it is associated with risk-taking behaviour. These data suggest a role for mucosal HIV-1-specific IgA responses in HIV-1 resistance, independent of host cellular responses.
Socioeconomic inequalities in caries experience, care level and dental attendance in primary school children in Belgium: a cross-sectional survey

Objectives Oral health inequality in children is a widespread and well-documented problem in oral healthcare. However, objective and reliable methods to determine these inequalities in all oral health aspects, including both dental attendance and oral health, are rather scarce. Aims To explore oral health inequalities and to assess the impact of socioeconomic factors on oral health, oral health behaviour and dental compliance of primary school children. Methods Data collection was executed in 2014 within a sample of 2216 children in 105 primary schools in Flanders, by means of an oral examination and a validated questionnaire. Intermutual Agency database was consulted to objectively determine individuals’ social state and frequency of utilisation of oral healthcare services. Underprivileged children were compared with more fortunate children for their mean DMFt, DMFs, plaque index, care index (C, restorative index (RI), treatment index (TI), knowledge and attitude. Differences in proportions for dichotomous variables (RI100%, TI100% and being a regular dental attender) were analysed. The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Ghent (2010/061). All parents signed an informed consent form prior to data collection. All schools received information about the study protocol and agreed to participate. Children requiring dental treatment or periodic recall were referred to the local dentist. Results Underprivileged children had higher D1MFT (95% CI 0.87 to 1.36), D3MT (95% CI 0.30 to 0.64), plaque scores (95% CI 0.12 to 0.23) and lower care level (p<0.02). In the low-income group, 78.4% was caries-free, compared with 88.4% for the other children. Half of the low-income children could be considered as regular dental attenders, while 12.6% did not have any dental visit during a 5-year period. Conclusion Oral health, oral hygiene, oral healthcare level and dental attendance patterns are negatively affected by children’s social class, leading to oral health inequalities in Belgian primary school children.
A dynamic approach to Germany's unemployment problem

This dissertation consists of theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature on search and matching, with a particular focus on the German labour market. The first chapter provides an introduction to the search and matching model of the labour market and its empirical counterpart, the flow approach to labour market dynamics. The second chapter investigates the consequences of endogenizing the job destruction decision in a model with skill mismatch. This leads to two key insights: on the one hand, raising unemployment benefits in the model leads to a longer expected duration of post-unemployment job matches. On the other hand, an increase in skill mismatch in the aggregate production function lowers the level of unemployment in an economy with high unemployment benefits. The third chapter empirically investigates worker flows in the West German economy using data derived from social security records provided by the Institute for Employment Research. After providing stylised facts on the cross-sectional and the timeseries features of gross worker flows, their cyclical properties are investigated. Separations are found to be less volatile than hirings; however, the flatness of separations is shown to hide important compositional changes over the business cycle, i.e. the flows underlying separations are relatively volatile. Furthermore, an econometric panel data analysis shows that a major reason for workers becoming unemployed during a recession is a reduction in the hiring activity of firms, which is witnessed by a reduction in direct job-to-job transitions. The fourth chapter uses the same data set in order to examine the interaction between structural change and labour market dynamics. An important finding is that the pace of sectoral reallocation accelerated around 1990 in the West German economy, and did not recede to previous levels afterwards. Sectors are shown to differ in employment growth rates because of differences in inflow rates, rather than outflow rates. Growing sectors recruit most of their workers from non-participation, while for shrinking sectors, flows to and from unemployment also play an important role. Direct job-to-job transitions, while being crucial for the cyclical dynamics of the labour market, are negligible with respect to sectoral reallocation.
Exact Hedonic Price Indexes

Using the marginal value of characteristics, the author shows how to construct bounds on the exact hedonic price index. When prices are above marginal costs, then his bounds still apply but the value of characteristics cannot be measured so easily from a hedonic regression. Since the price-cost markups are an omitted variable, they will bias the coefficients obtained. For a special class of utility functions, the author argues that a linear regression will still provide a measure of the marginal value of characteristics but a log-linear regression will overstate these values. Copyright 1995 by MIT Press.
Chromosomal imbalances, loss of heterozygosity, and immunohistochemical expression of TP53, RB1, and PTEN in intraductal cancer, intraepithelial neoplasia, and invasive adenocarcinoma of the prostate

Recent studies have shown that intraductal prostate carcinoma (IDC‐P) should be considered as a separate lesion distinct from prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN). The purpose of the present study was to analyze the genetic relationship between benign prostatic tissue, PIN, invasive cancer, IDC‐P, and extracapsular tumor tissue to get further information about the role of IDC‐P in the development of prostate cancer. One hundred five radical prostatectomy specimens were investigated immunohistochemically, 77 cases were analyzed by PCR for LOH of the tumor suppressor genes TP53 and RB1, and 11 cases of IDC‐P and 10 cases of PIN were investigated using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). At CGH analysis, IDC‐P showed several chromosomal imbalances in contrast to PIN, where no changes were found. We could demonstrate a significant increase of LOH for TP53 or RB1 from benign tissue to PIN. LOH of both TP53 and RB1 were frequently found in IDC‐P (52%), followed by extracapsular tumor tissue (44%), invasive cancer (24%), PIN (19%), and benign prostatic tissue (17%). Increased immunohistochemical expression was found in invasive cancer for TP53, RB1, and for PTEN. Decreased expression could be demonstrated in extracapsular tumor tissue and in IDC‐P. Our results indicate that IDC‐P in general follows the genetic pathway from normal epithelium over PIN lesion. IDC‐P represents a separate prostatic lesion and should be graded as a poorly differentiated carcinoma. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Liquidity risk: what lessons can be learnt from the crisis in Japan’s banking system?

With the need to expel huge amounts of non‐performing loans from their balance sheets, their share prices sinking and their credit ratings lowered, Japan’s banks are struggling to raise new capital and may face collapse. But the current crisis could have been avoided. If they had implemented rigorous liquidity risk management structures, the banks would have a clear view of their true position and could have avoided spinning into the vicious circle of a funding crisis.
Impact of RF transmitter hardware on 5G waveforms: Signal conditionings for UF-OFDM

We compare the 5G candidate waveforms UF-OFDM and CP-OFDM, as well as their single carrier DFT-spread variants, with respect to their sensitivity to impacts arising from RF processing in conjunction with respective signal conditioning algorithms, using both simulations and hardware measurements. Clipping algorithms are used for dealing with the high peak-to-average-power-ratio (PAPR), while taking care on fulfilling requirements for signal integrity and spectral masks. The fragmented spectrum scenario imposes a special challenge to all waveforms, as band gaps may be filled with clipping noise when using conventional clipping algorithms. We show that by applying the so-called content aware clipping technique to UF-OFDM, we are able to support also narrow band gaps with attenuations in the order of 50 dB. Measurement results for PAPR, error vector magnitude (EVM) and symbol error rate are provided. We show that in general, existing signal conditioning algorithms work smoothly with the UF-OFDM waveform and its DFT-spread variant.
Vitamin D and gastrointestinal diseases: inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer

Over the past 5 years, there has been a rapid resurgence of interest in vitamin D outside of its traditional role in metabolic bone disease. Some nontraditional roles ascribed to vitamin D include anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects. These effects have led to possible implications in the pathophysiology of immune-mediated diseases including multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In addition, vitamin D insufficiency has been linked to higher rates of cancers including colon, prostate and breast cancers. Given these diverse associations of vitamin D and disease states, this review describes recent advances with regard to vitamin D and gastrointestinal diseases, in particular IBD and colorectal cancer.
Antigenic heterogeneity in high- and low-virulence strains of Rickettsia rickettsii revealed by monoclonal antibodies

Previously it has been reported that strains of Rickettsia rickettsii that differ greatly in their ability to cause disease in guinea pigs are similar by serological and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analyses. In this study, we used monoclonal antibodies to the virulent R and the relatively avirulent HLP strains to investigate strain differences which might account for the disparate behavior of the strains in guinea pigs. Coomassie blue-stained sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis profiles of the R and HLP strains were nearly identical for polypeptides with apparent molecular weights greater than 32 kilodaltons (kDa). All of the monoclonal antibodies to a lipopolysaccharide-like antigen reacted equally well with antigen from both strains by immunoblotting. None of the antibodies to the lipopolysaccharide-like antigen protected mice against challenge with viable rickettsiae. Some antibodies reacted with both 120- and 155-kDa polypeptides of both strains in radioimmune precipitation and immunoblotting tests, and other antibodies reacted only with the homologous strain. The monoclonal antibodies cross-reacted with the heterologous strain in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay essentially either completely or not at all. The ability of the monoclonal antibodies to the 120- and 155-kDa polypeptides to protect mice against the two strains was correlated with the ability of the antibodies to react with the antigens in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and radioimmune precipitation or immunoblotting tests. These results demonstrate that R and HLP antigens which appear identical in molecular weight differ in their compositions of antigenic determinants.
Convergence and Multistability of Nonsymmetric Cellular Neural Networks With Memristors

Recent work has considered a class of cellular neural networks (CNNs) where each cell contains an ideal capacitor and an ideal flux-controlled memristor. One main feature is that during the analog computation the memristor is assumed to be a dynamic element, hence each cell is second-order with state variables given by the capacitor voltage and the memristor flux. Such CNNs, named dynamic memristor (DM)-CNNs, were proved to be convergent when a symmetry condition for the cell interconnections is satisfied. The goal of this paper is to investigate convergence and multistability of DM-CNNs in the general case of nonsymmetric interconnections. The main result is that convergence holds when there are (possibly) nonsymmetric, non-negative interconnections between cells and an irreducibility assumption is satisfied. This result appears to be similar to the classic convergence result for standard (S)-CNNs with positive cell-linking templates. Yet, due to the presence of DMs, a DM-CNN displays some basically different and peculiar dynamical properties with respect to S-CNNs. One key difference is that the DM-CNN processing is based on the time evolution of memristor fluxes instead of capacitor voltages as it happens for S-CNNs. Moreover, when a steady state is reached, all voltages and currents, and hence power consumption of a DM-CNN vanish. This notwithstanding the memristors are able to store in a nonvolatile way the result of the processing. Voltages, currents and power instead do not vanish when an S-CNN reaches a steady state.
ALERTING COMPANIES THROUGH ON-LINE PATENT TREND ANALYSIS

In a rapidly changing technology environment, companies are seeking reliable and adequate methods or tools to watch and monitor technological changes. The system introduced in this work—Patent Alert System (PAS)—automatically and systematically extracts patent data, which is a well-known and rich source of technological change and extracts the trend changes on the obtained data set. The PAS is initially set or configured to a technology class or subclass on which the users want to be informed of the trend changes. It retrieves the data of associated patent counts by the use of existing XML (Extended Markup Language) schemes of patent offices. Trend analysis is performed through a trend extraction algorithm. Data capture and trend extraction is turned off until alert is made by the user. Trends found in the patent data are expressed as the time evolution of patent and technology with the following symbols: upward (+), downward (−), and steady (stabilized). Consequently, these trends are used to generate alerts, which are forwarded on-line to the people who request/set the alerts. With the proposed software, it is possible evaluate the value of existing technologies and decide on whether the owned technology is trendy or not. Moreover, promising technologies and corresponding investment areas can be determined and irrelevant investments can be avoided. As a consequence, all these findings can be used to establish a long-term strategic technology plan.
Nepal and Bhutan: economic growth in two Shangri‐Las

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the economic development strategies of Nepal and Bhutan to understand the economic factors that have contributed to economic growth. Design/methodology/approach – After a brief discussion of each country's modern history, their economies are examined together with their development strategies during the past half century. Standard economic growth models for Nepal and Bhutan are developed and estimated. To ensure the stationarity of the data series, tests of unit root are conducted. Further, a cointegration test is conducted and an appropriate error-correction model is developed. Findings – The results of the estimations reveal that domestic capital has been a significant source of economic growth in Nepal whereas foreign aid has not had any appreciable effect on growth. In the case of Bhutan, foreign assistance has been a significant source of growth while domestic capital has not. Research limitations/implications – Bhutan and Nepal also differ in terms of non-economic factors such as culture, language, politics, and religion. These factors may also help to explain the difference in economic performance of these countries. While important, these issues are beyond the scope this paper and indicate directions for further research. Originality/value – It is one of the first attempts to compare the economic growth strategies of Nepal and Bhutan. It may provide useful insight to policymakers and others interested in economic growth in Nepal, Bhutan and other developing countries.