Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimation of FWA MIMO Channels

Channel estimation schemes for fixed wireless access (FWA) multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) systems are considered in this study. The use of multiple antennas in combination with advanced detection techniques, such as turbo equalization is an effective means for a FWA system to provide high quality and high data rate services. Accurate knowledge, i.e., a good estimate of the underlying channel is essential for turbo equalization to achieve good performance. In this paper, we investigate some algorithms that are suitable for estimating FWA MIMO channels. The proposed schemes are evaluated and compared using different training sequences. Based on our analysis and numerical results, some recommendations are made on how to design appropriate channel estimator and how to choose training sequences for practical FWA systems
Biological effect of microwave on the nervous system

This article presents an overview of the recent RF bioeffects literature dealing with the nervous system. Studies have evaluated the electroencephalography (EEG) of humans and laboratory animals during and after radiofrequency (RF) exposures. Exposure to high levels of RF energy can damage the structure and function of the nervous system. Much research has focused on the neurochemistry of the brain and the reported effects of RF exposure. Studies of individuals who are reported to be sensitive to electric and magnetic fields are discussed. The many exposure parameters such as frequency, orientation, modulation, power density, and duration of exposure make direct comparison of many experiments difficult. At high exposure power densities, thermal effects are prevalent and can lead to adverse consequences. At lower levels of exposure biological effects may still occur but thermal mechanisms are not ruled out. It is concluded that the diverse methods and experimental designs as well as lack of replication of many seemingly important studies prevents formation of definite conclusions concerning hazardous nervous system health effects from RF exposure. The only firm conclusion that may be drawn is the potential for hazardous thermal consequences of high power RF exposure.
An Improved Multipath AODV Protocol Based On Minimum Interference

: Frequent link failures are caused in MANET due to node’s mobility and use of unreliable wireless channels. Due to this, multipath routing protocols become an important issue. However, the inter-path interference limits the gain of multipath routing in MANET. In this paper, I propose a Node disjoint minimum interference multi-path (ND-MIM) routing protocol for MANETs based on AODV protocol. The main goal of the propose method is to determine all node-disjoint routes from source to destination with minimum routing overhead. When the route is broken, the data is transmitted continuously through other route . Simultaneously in selecting node-disjoint path, the protocol takes also into account the energy and distance of intermediate node in the path for extending the network lifetime.
A 3D Reconstruction Method Based on Images Dense Stereo Matching

A new 3D reconstruction method based on image dense stereo matching is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the feature-points of stereo images must be extracted by SIFT algorithm and they are matched through similarity constraints. The second step is to select seed points which determine the performance of the algorithm and then we can do dense matching with these seed points. Afterward, the false matches can be eliminated by Symmetrical epipolar distance algorithm and the 3D points coordinates can be calculated in virtue of camera matrix. Finally, the 3D model can be established by Delauny triangulation and texture mapping. Experimental results show that the new method based on dense stereo matching can optimize existing 3D reconstruction method. Moreover, the efficiency and accuracy of the method are both better than those traditional methods based on dense matching.
Leptin Locally Synthesized in Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaques Could Be Associated With Lesion Instability and Cerebral Emboli

Background Unstable carotid plaques cause cerebral emboli. Leptin promotes atherosclerosis and vessel wall remodeling. We hypothesized that carotid atherosclerotic lesion instability is associated with local leptin synthesis. Methods and Results Carotid endarterectomy plaques from symptomatic (n=40) and asymptomatic patients with progressive stenosis (n=38) were analyzed for local expression of leptin, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1. All lesions exhibited advanced atherosclerosis inclusive of thick- and thin-cap fibroatheromas or lesion rupture. Symptomatic lesions exhibited more plaque ruptures and macrophage infiltration (P=0.001 and P=0.05, respectively). Symptomatic plaques showed preferential leptin, TNF-α, and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 transcript (P=0.03, P=0.04, and P=0.05, respectively). Leptin mRNA and antigen in macrophages and smooth muscle cells were confirmed by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Plasma leptin levels were not significantly different between groups (P=1.0), whereas TNF-α was significantly increased in symptomatic patients (P=0.006). Human aortic smooth muscle cell culture stimulated by TNF-α, lipopolysaccharide, or lipoteichoic acid revealed 6-, 6.7-, and 6-fold increased secreted leptin antigen, respectively, at 72 hours (P<0.05). Conclusions Neurologically symptomatic patients overexpress leptin mRNA and synthesize leptin protein in carotid plaque macrophages and smooth muscle cells. Local leptin induction, presumably by TNF-α, could exert paracrine or autocrine effects, thereby contributing to the pathogenesis of lesion instability. Clinical Trial Registration URL: www.Clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT00449306.
Chinese a Nti鄄 Cancer a Ssociation

Among all head and neck (H&N) cancers, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) represents a distinct entity regarding epidemiology, clinical presentation, biological markers, carcinogenic risk factors, and prognostic factors. NPC is endemic in certain regions of the world, especially in Southeast Asia, and has a poor prognosis. In Indonesia, the recorded mean prevalence is 6.2/100 000, with 13 000 yearly new NPC cases, but otherwise little is documented on NPC in Indonesia. Here, we report on a group of 1121 NPC patients diagnosed and treated at Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia between 1996 and 2005. We studied NPC incidence among all H&N cancer cases (n=6000) observed in that period, focusing on age and gender distribution, the ethnic background of patients, and the disease etiology. We also analyzed most prevalent signs and symptoms and staging of NPC patients at first presentation. In this study population, NPC was the most frequent H&N cancer (28.4%), with a male鄄 to鄄 female ratio of 2.4, and was endemic in the Javanese population. Interestingly, NPC appeared to affect patients at a relatively young age (20% juvenile cases) without a bimodal age distribution. Mostly, NPC initiated in the fossa of Rosenmuller and spreaded intracranially or locally as a mass in the head. Occasionally, NPC developed at the submucosal level spreading outside the anatomic limits of the nasopharynx. At presentation, NPC associated with hearing problems, serous otitis media, tinnitus, nasal obstruction, anosmia, bleeding, difficulty in swallowing and dysphonia, and even eye symptoms with diplopia and pain. The initial diagnosis is difficult to make because early signs and symptoms of NPC are not specific to the disease. Early鄄 age Epstein鄄 Barr virus (EBV) infection combined with frequent exposure to environmental carcinogenic co鄄 factors is suggested to cause NPC development. Undifferentiated NPC is the most frequent histological type and is closely associated with EBV. Expression of the EBV鄄 encoded latent membrane protein 1(LMP1) oncogene in biopsy material was compared between NPC patients of < 30 years old and those of 逸30 years old, matched for sex and tumor stage. Higher LMP1 expression in patients of <30 years old was observed, which was related to more locoregional progressivity. Increased medical awareness of prevailing early stage signs and symptoms coupled to use of EBV鄄 related diagnostic tumor markers may lead to down鄄 staging and timely treatment to improve survival of patients with this aggressive disease.
On the effectiveness of dynamic modeling in UML: Results from an external replication

This paper describes the results of an external replication of an experiment for assessing whether the use of dynamic modeling influences the comprehension of software requirements. The results of the original experiment conducted in Italy did not confirm that there was a significant difference in the comprehension of software requirements when dynamic modeling is used. The goal of the replication was therefore to verify these findings with a group of more experienced students at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) in Spain. The results shows that the use of dynamic modeling does significantly improve the comprehension of software requirements, thus providing evidence that dynamic modeling facilitates the interpretation and comprehension of requirements.
Phenotypic Instability and Rapid Gene Silencing in Newly Formed Arabidopsis Allotetraploids

Allopolyploid hybridization serves as a major pathway for plant evolution, but in its early stages it is associated with phenotypic and genomic instabilities that are poorly understood. We have investigated allopolyploidization between Arabidopsis thaliana (2n = 2x = 10; n, gametic chromosome number; x, haploid chromosome number) and Cardaminopsis arenosa (2n = 4x = 32). The variable phenotype of the allotetraploids could not be explained by cytological abnormalities. However, we found suppression of 20 of the 700 genes examined by amplified fragment length polymorphism of cDNA. Independent reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction analyses of 10 of these 20 genes confirmed silencing in three of them, suggesting that ∼0.4% of the genes in the allotetraploids are silenced. These three silenced genes were characterized. One, called K7, is repeated and similar to transposons. Another is RAP2.1, a member of the large APETALA2 (AP2) gene family, and has a repeated element upstream of its 5′ end. The last, L6, is an unknown gene close to ALCOHOL DEHYDROGENASE on chromosome 1. CNG DNA methylation of K7 was less in the allotetraploids than in the parents, and the element varied in copy number. That K7 could be reactivated suggests epigenetic regulation. L6 was methylated in the C. arenosa genome. The present evidence that gene silencing accompanies allopolyploidization opens new avenues to this area of research.
Interactive Construction of Smoothly Blended Star Solids

We introduce a computationally efficient method for interactive construction of implicitly represented star solids. These solids smoothly approximate control shapes that are defined by exact union and intersections over half-spaces containing the origin. Based on our algorithm, computation of a new solid shape when a new half-space is added or when the position of an existing half-space is changed can be performed in constant time and in space linear in the number of half-spaces. Our implicit shape construction is based on a family of non-polynomials called ray-linears [Akl93]. Computation of an implicitly represented shape is a root finding process and in general can be extremely difficult. However since ray-linear implicit representations can easily be parameterized, the computation of any ray-linearly represented shape simplifies to evaluation of a parametric equation instead of root finding. But the related parametric equations are non-polynomials and their complexity increases as the number of building blocks (in this case halfspaces) increases. Our algorithm makes the computation of this parametric equation independent of the number of half-spaces. We develop an interactive platform based on our algorithm with which we are able to construct star solids that resemble human faces. CR
Oops! What about a Million Kernel Oopses?

When a failure occurs in the Linux kernel, the kernel emits an "oops", summarizing the execution context of the failure. Kernel oopses describe real Linux errors, and thus can help prioritize debugging efforts and motivate the design of tools to improve the reliability of Linux code. Nevertheless, the information is only meaningful if it is representative and can be interpreted correctly. In this paper, we study a repository of kernel oopses collected over 8 months by Red Hat. We consider the overall features of the data, the degree to which the data reflects other information about Linux, and the interpretation of features that may be relevant to reliability. We find that the data correlates well with other information about Linux, but that it suffers from duplicate and missing information. We furthermore identify some potential pitfalls in studying features such as the sources of common faults and common failing applications.
Higher levels of serum triglyceride and dietary carbohydrate intake are associated with smaller LDL particle size in healthy Korean women

The aim of this study was to investigate the influencing factors that characterize low density lipoprotein (LDL) phenotype and the levels of LDL particle size in healthy Korean women. In 57 healthy Korean women (mean age, 57.4 ± 13.1 yrs), anthropometric and biochemical parameters such as lipid profiles and LDL particle size were measured. Dietary intake was estimated by a developed semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The study subjects were divided into two groups: LDL phenotype A (mean size: 269.7Å, n = 44) and LDL phenotype B (mean size: 248.2Å, n = 13). Basic characteristics were not significantly different between the two groups. The phenotype B group had a higher body mass index, higher serum levels of triglyceride, total-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein (apo)B, and apoCIII but lower levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol and LDL particle size than those of the phenotype A group. LDL particle size was negatively correlated with serum levels of triglyceride (r = -0.732, P < 0.001), total-cholesterol, apoB, and apoCIII, as well as carbohydrate intake (%En) and positively correlated with serum levels of HDL-cholesterol and ApoA1 and fat intake (%En). A stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that carbohydrate intake (%En) and serum triglyceride levels were the primary factors influencing LDL particle size (P < 0.001, R2 = 0.577). This result confirmed that LDL particle size was closely correlated with circulating triglycerides and demonstrated that particle size is significantly associated with dietary carbohydrate in Korean women.
Achieving end-to-end goals of WSN using Weighted Cognitive Maps

In this paper, a novel cognitive engine for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is proposed in order to achieve its end-to-end goals. This engine is designed using the tool known as Weighted Cognitive Maps (WCM). WCMs have the advantage of being able to consider multiple conflicting objectives and constraints with low complexity. Their inference properties also allow them to resolve complex network interactions using simple mathematical operations. Methods for designing the WCM system are illustrated. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated using computer simulations. Simulation results show that the WCM system outperforms its existing counterparts in metrics of network lifetime, throughput, and PLR.
Improvement on diversity gain with filter bandwidth expansion in fractional sampling OFDM receiver

A diversity scheme with fractional sampling (FS) in an OFDM receiver is investigated recently. Through FS, it is possible to separate multipath components and obtain diversity gain in the OFDM system. Expansion of the bandwidth of the total response including transmit and receive baseband filters allows the FS scheme to achieve path diversity. However, the transmit filter is designed according to the spectrum mask of the standards to avoid interference to the other communication systems. In order to achieve the maximum SNR, the same filter is commonly used in the transmitter and the receiver. In this paper, the trade-off between the SNR deterioration and the diversity gain due to the total response larger than the minimal bandwidth is investigated. Numerical results through computer simulation indicate that BER performance with the receive filter of non-minimal bandwidth shows better performance than that with the filter for maximizing the SNR in certain conditions.
Generic Memory Protection Mechanism for Embedded System and Its Application to Embedded Component Systems

Memory protection mechanisms have become important in an embedded system. Previously, embedded systems, especially small-size systems, did not need memory protection mechanisms. However, recent embedded systems require memory protection mechanisms. That is because large, complex programs in a large embedded system, such as car navigation systems and high-end cellular phones, cause unreliability due to program corruption caused by buggy programs. In embedded systems, unlike a general purpose computer system, several resources to be protected are distributed in an OS through middleware and applications. In this paper, we propose a generic memory protection mechanism for an embedded system with dynamic protection change. We also present its application to embedded component systems for increasing the reliability of the system.
General control for boost PFC converter from a sliding mode viewpoint

In this paper, we propose a current control methodology for the boost PFC converter based on sliding mode control theory. The resulting control is very general in the sense that it provides input current tracking under all practical conditions by systematically including all necessary control functions that compensate for the possible nonlinearity such as the zero-crossing distortion in high line frequency condition. By choosing suitable state control variables and a proper sliding surface, the derivation arrives at a feedforward control which is similar to a previously proposed method. The implementation takes the form of a typical pulse-width modulation (PWM) control. It can be designed either as an individual current controller or as feedforward control applied to a standard PFC controller.
Multiple Evolvable Hardware Image Filters by Analyzing Noise Types with Fuzzy Relations

Image filtering, which removes or reduces noises from the contaminated images, is an important task in image processing. In the recent years, evolutionary design of image filters that provides adaptive and hardware implement able solutions has been received a lot of attentions. This study deals with the design of multiple evolvable hardware (EHW) based image filters using fuzzy relations. Two indicators, similarity and divergence, are defined as fuzzy sets for describing the relations of pixels contained in a sliding window. In the proposed method, each pixel to be recovered is analyzed by the fuzzy relations and labeled as the associated noise type. Multiple EHW-based image filters, each of which is trained supervisedly by the pixels belonging to the same noise type, are built simultaneously. Because each image filter is dedicated to a specific type of noise, it can recover pixels of the noise type more accurately. With the proposed method, the efficiency of training EHW models and accuracy of image filtering are both improved. This paper evaluates and compares the performance of the proposed method with other ones. To our best knowledge, this is the first attempt to use fuzzy relations for noise categorization for the design of EHW-based image filters.
Reporting usability defects: do reporters report what software developers need?

Reporting usability defects can be a challenging task, especially in convincing the software developers that the reported defect actually requires attention. Stronger evidence in the form of specific details is often needed. However, research to date in software defect reporting has not investigated the value of capturing different information based on defect type. We surveyed practitioners in both open source communities and industrial software organizations about their usability defect reporting practices to better understand information needs to address usability defect reporting issues. Our analysis of 147 responses show that reporters often provide observed result, expected result and steps to reproduce when describing usability defects, similar to the way other types of defects are reported. However, reporters rarely provide usability-related information. In fact, reporters ranked cause of the problem is the most difficult information to provide followed by usability principle, video recoding, UI event trace and title. Conversely, software developers consider cause of the problem as the most helpful information for them to fix usability defects. Our statistical analysis reveals a substantial gap between what reporters provide and what software developers need when fixing usability defects. We propose some remedies to resolve this gap.
Estimation of driver alertness to different colors and intensities using brain visual evoked potentials

The study investigates the effects of street light colors on driver alertness in aim to improve the traffic safety element. In order to achieve this objective, the human P100 visual evoked potentials (VEPs) responses are stimulated to different colors (red, green, blue, and yellow) with to levels of intensity, and twenty (20) healthy subjects with normal or corrected to normal vision are involved. The P100 responses are recorded using checkerboard stimulus and obtained signals are analyzed in terms of their peaks amplitude and latency (high amplitude with early peak latency indicate a high response). Results show a variation within the human P100 VEPs and most subjects record low responses, when blue color is presented, whilst yellow induces the highest. Moreover, the color intensity level plays a major role in motivating the human alertness as higher responses are recorded, when the intensity is increased. This study shows that a solid relation between chromatic stimulation and human alertness exists. Thus, using the proper color combination to design the road signs may enhance the driver alertness and insure a high level of awareness.
Perturbative and nonperturbative studies of the SU(2) Higgs model on lattices with asymmetric lattice spacings

We present a calculation of the O(g^2,\lambda) perturbative corrections to the coupling anisotropies of the SU(2)-Higgs model on lattices with asymmetric lattice spacings. These corrections are obtained by a one-loop calculation requiring the rotational invariance of the gauge and Higgs boson propagators in the continuum limit. The coupling anisotropies are also determined from numerical simulations of the model on appropriate lattices. The one-loop perturbation theory and the simulation results agree with high accuracy. It is demonstrated that rotational invariance is also restored for the static potential determined from space-space and space-time Wilson loops.
COMPARISON OF PREDICTION MODELS OF REFERENCE CROP EVAPOTRANSPIRATION UDC 626 . 85 ( 045 )

The prediction of evapotranspiration is necessary for a reliable management of irrigation systems. This paper is based on several models used for the prediction of reference crop evapotranspiration in the area of Niš, Yugoslavia. Two simple mathematical models (Yearly Differencing model and Monthly AVerage model), in which prediction is based on appropriate previous values of reference crop evapotranspiration, are present here. A seasonal ARIMA (AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average) model is identified and compared to the previous models. Based on the results of model comparisons it is concluded that seasonal ARIMA can provide a reasonably accurate prediction of reference crop evapotranspiration. The obtained results show that the seasonal ARIMA model is a very effective and reliable prediction model.