Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Burst Noise Cancellation Scheme for Single Carrier Block Transmission with Cyclic Prefix

This paper proposes a burst noise cancellation scheme for single carrier block transmission with cyclic prefix (SC-CP) systems. In the proposed scheme, we simply force the received signals which are collapsed by the burst noise to be zeros. Since this processing introduces an inter-symbol interference (ISI), which cannot be effectively equalized with a conventional frequency domain equalizer (FDE), we also propose an ISI cancellation scheme. We firstly generate a replica signal of the ISI using tentative decisions in order to make the defective channel matrix to be circulant, and then the conventional frequency domain equalization is performed to compensate the ISI. Also, we have utilized newly derived minimum mean-square-error (MMSE) based FDE weights for the replica signals generation. Computer simulation results show that the proposed burst noise cancellation scheme with the ISI cancellation can significantly improve the bit error rate (BER) performance even when almost 10% of the received signals are collapsed by the burst noise
Cerebrospinal Fluid Alzheimer Markers in Depressed Elderly Subjects with and without Alzheimer's Disease

Background: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between cerebrospinal fluid Alzheimer’s disease (AD) markers and depression in elderly people. Method: We included subjects with AD as well as persons with subjective cognitive impairment and normal cognition. Depression was assessed with the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, and a cut-off score of >6 was used to define depression. Cerebrospinal fluid was analyzed using commercially available assays for β-amyloid 1–42, total tau, and phosphorylated tau 181. Results: A total of 183 participants (66.7% female) were included (92 with AD and 91 with subjective cognitive impairment), with a mean age (±SD) of 67.6 ± 7.4 years, a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 26.0 ± 4.0, and a median Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia score of 5 (range 0–19). Depression scores were not associated with higher phosphorylated tau 181 and total tau or reduced β-amyloid 1–42 in AD or non-demented subjects. Conclusions: These results suggest that AD pathology does not contribute to depression, indicating that other factors may be more important. Further studies of the aetiology of depression in elderly people with and without AD are warranted.
Susceptibility to hepatic oxidative stress in rabbits fed different animal and plant fats.

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to determine the effect of diets enriched with plant and animal fats on oxidative stress and glutathione metabolism in rabbit liver tissues. This study was conducted to investigate whether the type of dietary fat will impact fatty acid composition and oxidant/antioxidant status in tissues. METHODS Rabbits were fed diets containing 2 g corn oil/100 g diet (low fat diet, LF) and LF supplemented with 16 g/100 g diet of either corn oil (CO), CO with added cholesterol (CO + C), milk fat (MF), chicken fat (CF), beef tallow (BT), or lard (L) for 30 days. After the feeding period, livers were analyzed for total fatty acid composition, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), conjugated dienes, and reduced glutathione (GSH), as well as for activities of glutathione peroxidase (GP) and glutathione reductase (GR). Moreover, to fully determine the oxidative stability and free radical trapping capacity, TBARS levels were measured after additional exposure of liver homogenates to 10 mM 2,2(1)-azo-bis-amidinopropane- hydrochloride (AAPH) for up to 21 hours. RESULTS CO and CF, but not saturated fats such as MF, increased liver conjugated diene and TBARS levels and decreased liver GSH levels and GP activity. In tissues additionally exposed to AAPH, the maximum oxidation, measured as TBARS, was reached between 6 and 7 hours of treatment, independent of dietary fat. In addition, there was a marked effect of AAPH on the maximum rate of TBARS formation with the following descending order: CO > CF > CO + C > L > MF > BT > LF. This high susceptibility to oxidative stress in liver tissues of rabbits fed the CO diet may be explained in part by the significant elevation in linoleic acid (18:2n-6). DISCUSSION There appears to be an inverse correlation between dietary fat-mediated oxidative stress and antioxidant enzyme activities. The present data suggest that high levels of dietary unsaturated fat should be avoided if oxidative stress is a critical issue in nutrition-related diseases. In addition, these data support our hypothesis that diets rich in MF provide a lipid environment with low susceptibility to oxidative stress.
ANFIS modeling for predicting affective responses to tactile textures

The Adaptive Neuro‐Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) is proposed to simulate and analyze the mapping between the physical properties of tactile textures and people's affective responses. People were asked to rate the tactile feeling of 37 tactile textures against six pairs of adjectives on a semantic differential questionnaire. The friction coefficient, average roughness, compliance, and a thermal parameter of each tactile texture were measured. ANFIS models were built to predict the affective responses to tactile textures. The resulting ANFIS models demonstrated a good match between predicted and actual responses, and always yielded better performance when compared to linear and exponential regression models. The effects of physical properties of textures on affective responses were also analyzed by simulating the synthetic data with ANFIS. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Impact of Variation in Donation After Cardiac Death Policies Among Donor Hospitals: A Regional Analysis

The Joint Commission requires all hospitals have a policy regarding donation after cardiac death. To this date however, a quantitative analysis of adult hospital donation after cardiac death (DCD) policies and its impact on transplantation outcomes has not been reported. Specific characteristics for DCD polices were identified from 90 of the 164 (54.9%) hospitals within the New England Organ Bank's donor service area. Forty‐five policies (50.0%) allow family members to be present during withdrawal of life‐sustaining therapy (WLST) whereas eight (8.9%) prohibit this. Seventeen policies (18.9%) require WLST to occur in the operating room (OR); 20 (22.2%) specify a location outside of the OR. Fifty‐six (62.2%) policies fail to state the method of determining death; however, some require arterial line (15 policies, 16.6%) and/or EKG (10 policies, 11.1%). These variables were not associated with organ recovery, utilization or donor ischemia time. Our regional analysis highlights the high degree of variability of hospital DCD policies, which may contribute to misunderstanding and confusion among providers and patients that may influence acceptance of this mode of donation.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth: Victimization and its correlates in the USA and UK

Research on lesbian, gay and bisexual young people in the USA and UK has provided an important tool for advocacy and for developing appropriate public policy. Studies suggest that lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are more frequently victims of discrimination as a result of actual or perceived sexual orientation than adults, and anecdotal information suggests that transgender young people may be particularly vulnerable. During the past decade, high rates of victimization, particularly in school and community settings, has paralleled increased visibility. Increased media attention has focused on gay youth in schools, highlighting the need for support, appropriate policies and intervention. This paper reviews research and policy needs related to sexual minority youth in the USA and the UK and identifies strategies and approaches for reducing victimization and harassment and providing safer communities and school environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people.
The Development of Adolescents’ Online Sexual Risk Behavior and its Relationship to Negative Online Experiences

The aim of this study was to investigate developmental pathways of online sexual risk behavior from early to late adolescence. Moreover, this study examined how these trajectories are related to negative online experiences, such as online sexual solicitation, online harassment, and online rumination. A four-wave longitudinal study with a representative sample of 1,762 Dutch adolescents aged 12 to 17 was conducted. Group-based modeling revealed three distinct developmental pathways. One group of adolescents showed no online sexual risk behavior during adolescence, a second group showed low levels and the third group high levels of online sexual risk behavior. The high online risk group followed the typical adolescence-limited developmental pathway with a peak in risk engagement in mid-adolescence. Further analyses suggested that engagement in online sexual risk behaviors is related to three types of negative online experiences: online sexual solicitation, online harassment, and online rumination.
Influence of Physical Activities on the Academic Pe rformance of Medical College Students

Back Ground: Regular physical activity, in addition to reducing stress level, has beneficial effect on body as well as mind. This beneficial effect on mind is assessed in terms of academic performance especiall y in medical college students. Retrospective analysis wa s carried out using students’ bio-data (n=279) and their University exam results to see the effect of physical activity of students on their academic performance. Their physical activities were grouped under exercise, contact sports activities, non-con tact sports activities, non-sports activities and sedent ary group. Statistical analysis revealed positive correlation between physical activity and academic performance. Success rate is high (64.2%) in physically active group and failure rate is high (7 6.9%) in sedentary group of students. Within the physically active group, contact sports (P= 0.0002) and non-sports activity group (P= 0.0003) showed higher academic performance. Statistically signific ant correlation was not found between exercise grou p and academic performance (P= 0.0724) as well betwee n non-contact sports group and academic performance (P= 0.1302). Thus the study concludes t hat physical activity is beneficial to students in their academic performance.
An MPC-based Energy Management System for multiple residential microgrids

In this study we present a Model Predictive Control (MPC) approach to Energy Management Systems (EMSs) for multiple residential microgrids. The EMS is responsible for optimally scheduling end-user smart appliances, heating systems and local generation devices at the residential level, based on end-user preferences, weather-dependent generation and demand forecasts, electric pricing, technical and operative constraints. The core of the proposed framework is a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model aiming at minimizing the overall costs of each residential microgrid. At each time step, the computed optimal decision is adjusted according to the actual values of weather-dependent local generation and heating requirements; then, corrective actions and their corresponding costs are accounted for in order to cope with imbalances. At the next time step, the optimization problem is re-computed based on updated forecasts and initial conditions. The proposed method is evaluated in a virtual testing environment that integrates accurate simulators of the energy systems forming the residential microgrids, including electric and thermal generation units, energy storage devices and flexible loads. The testing environment also emulates real-word network medium conditions on standard network interfaces. Numerical results show the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Fumarate Reductase Activity Maintains an Energized Membrane in Anaerobic Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Oxygen depletion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis engages the DosR regulon that coordinates an overall down-regulation of metabolism while up-regulating specific genes involved in respiration and central metabolism. We have developed a chemostat model of M. tuberculosis where growth rate was a function of dissolved oxygen concentration to analyze metabolic adaptation to hypoxia. A drop in dissolved oxygen concentration from 50 mmHg to 0.42 mmHg led to a 2.3 fold decrease in intracellular ATP levels with an almost 70-fold increase in the ratio of NADH/NAD+. This suggests that re-oxidation of this co-factor becomes limiting in the absence of a terminal electron acceptor. Upon oxygen limitation genes involved in the reverse TCA cycle were upregulated and this upregulation was associated with a significant accumulation of succinate in the extracellular milieu. We confirmed that this succinate was produced by a reversal of the TCA cycle towards the non-oxidative direction with net CO2 incorporation by analysis of the isotopomers of secreted succinate after feeding stable isotope (13C) labeled precursors. This showed that the resulting succinate retained both carbons lost during oxidative operation of the TCA cycle. Metabolomic analyses of all glycolytic and TCA cycle intermediates from 13C-glucose fed cells under aerobic and anaerobic conditions showed a clear reversal of isotope labeling patterns accompanying the switch from normoxic to anoxic conditions. M. tuberculosis encodes three potential succinate-producing enzymes including a canonical fumarate reductase which was highly upregulated under hypoxia. Knockout of frd, however, failed to reduce succinate accumulation and gene expression studies revealed a compensatory upregulation of two homologous enzymes. These major realignments of central metabolism are consistent with a model of oxygen-induced stasis in which an energized membrane is maintained by coupling the reductive branch of the TCA cycle to succinate secretion. This fermentative process may offer unique targets for the treatment of latent tuberculosis.
Furin-mediated Processing of Pro-C-type Natriuretic Peptide*

C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) is a member of the natriuretic peptide family that is involved in a variety of homeostatic processes. Here we characterize the processing essential for the conversion of the precursor, human pro-CNP, to the biologically active hormone. In human embryonic kidney 293 and chondrosarcoma SW 1353 cells, recombinant pro-CNP was converted into a mature peptide intracellularly as detected by Western analysis. Expression of recombinant human corin, a proatrial natriuretic peptide convertase, did not enhance the processing of pro-CNP in these cells. The processing of pro-CNP was inhibited in the presence of an inhibitor of the endoprotease furin but was not affected by inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases and tumor necrosis factor-α convertase. In furin-deficient human colon adenocarcinoma LoVo cells, no conversion of recombinant pro-CNP to CNP was detected. Expression of recombinant human furin in LoVo cells restored the ability of these cells to process pro-CNP. Furthermore, incubation of purified recombinant human furin with LoVo cell lysate containing pro-CNP led to the conversion of the precursor to a mature peptide. The furin-processed CNP was shown to be biologically active in a cell-based cGMP assay. These results demonstrate that furin is a critical enzyme for the processing of human pro-CNP.
Identifying members of the domain Archaea with rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes

Two 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes were designed for the archaeal kingdoms Euryachaeota and Crenarchaeota. Probe specificities were evaluated by nonradioactive dot blot hybridization against selected reference organisms. The successful application of fluorescent-probe derivatives for whole-cell hybridization required organism-specific optimizations of fixation and hybridization conditions to assure probe penetration and morphological integrity of the cells. The probes allowed preliminary grouping of three new hyperthermophilic isolates. Together with other group-specific rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes, these probes will facilitate rapid in situ monitoring of the populations present in hydrothermal systems and support cultivation attempts.
A Prospective Evaluation of Lymphatic Dissemination in Endometrial Cancer: Is It Adequate to Perform Lymph Node Dissection Up to the Inferior Mesenteric Artery?

Objective: This study aimed to assess para-aortic metastases relative to the inferior mesenteric artery (IMA). In addition, the clinicopathologic features of these patients are discussed. Materials and Methods: Between 2007 and 2009, a total of 78 consecutive patients who had open systematic pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy surgery for endometrial cancer extending to the renal vessels and who were treated at the gynecologic oncology department were included in this prospective study. The para-aortic lymph nodes (PALNs) removed from these patients were classified as supramesenteric (between the renal vein and the IMA) or inframesenteric (between the IMA and the presacral). Patients' clinical data, pathologic tumor characteristics, and operative and early postoperative data were recorded after surgery. Descriptive statistics were calculated using the SPSS 17.0 package program. Results: Of these 78 patients, 18 (21.3%) had metastatic nodal involvement. From a total of 12 patients with PALN metastasis, 7 had only supramesenteric and 1 had only inframesenteric nodal involvement, whereas 4 had both supramesenteric and inframesenteric metastases. Of the 5 patients in the inframesenteric ± supramesenteric group, none had a grade 1 tumor. On the other hand, of the 7 patients with only supramesenteric metastasis, 57.1% (n = 4) had a grade 1 tumor and 42.8% (n = 3) had less than half of myometrial invasion. Conclusions: In the case of well-defined risk factors in which a lymphadenectomy is indicated according to current guidelines from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, a PALN dissection should be extended up to the renal vessels. We also conclude that tumor grade, histologic type, and myometrial invasion cannot be used as markers to decide on supramesenteric lymphadenectomy in endometrial cancer.
Cirrhosis is associated with development of tolerance to cardiac chronotropic effect of endotoxin in rats

Sepsis is a common complication of cirrhosis with a high mortality. Cirrhosis is associated with cardiac chronotropic and inotropic dysfunction, which is known as cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and might be linked to endotoxaemia. This study was aimed to explore the hypothesis that the inflammatory response induced by administration of low dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exacerbates cardiac chronotropic dysfunction in cirrhotic rats; and if so, whether this is associated with altered cardiac toll‐like receptor expression.
Enabling Agility through Coordinating Temporally Constrained Planning Agents

In crisis response, hierarchical organizations are being replaced by dynamic assemblies of autonomous agents that promise more agility. However, these autonomous agents might cause a decrease in effectiveness when individually constructed plans for moderately-coupled tasks are not jointly feasible. Existing coordination techniques can be applied in the pre-planning phase to guarantee feasible joint plans for partially-ordered tasks, which allows for human improvisation in the planning phase. Temporal relations in crisis response are often more complex than the simple precedence relations in current work. Therefore, we analyze whether temporal information can be dealt with by a conversion to partially-ordered tasks with only precedence constraints. Time windows and two temporal constraints (overlaps and during) can be rewritten in such a way that the task remains partially-ordered. When other temporal constraints (meets, starts, finishes, and equals) are used, tasks become tightly-coupled, requiring coordination in the execution phase as well. This work shows the applicability of pre-planning coordination as an enabling technology for the effective formation of agile organizations.
Knowledge-based vessel position prediction using historical AIS data

The improvement in Maritime Situational Awareness (MSA), or the capability of understanding events, circumstances and activities within and impacting the maritime environment, is nowadays of paramount importance for safety and security. Enhancing coverage of existing technologies such as Automatic Identification System (AIS) provides the possibility to integrate and enrich services and information already available in the maritime domain. In this scenario, the prediction of vessels position is essential to increase the MSA and build the Maritime Situational Picture (MSP), namely the map of the ships located in a certain Area Of Interest (AOI) at a desired time. The integration of de-facto maritime traffic routes information in the vessel prediction process has the appealing potential to provide a more accurate picture of what is happening at sea by exploiting the knowledge of historical vessel positioning data. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian vessel prediction algorithm based on a Particle Filter (PF). The system, aided by the knowledge of traffic routes, aims to enhance the quality of the vessel position prediction. Experimental results are presented, evaluating the algorithm in the specific area between the Gibraltar passage and the Dover Strait using real AIS data.
Variations in Housing Foreclosures by Race and Place, 2005–2012

This study describes the spatial and racial variations in housing foreclosure during the recent housing crisis. Using data on the 9.5 million visible foreclosures (public auctions and bank repossessions) occurring between 2005 and 2012, we show that the timing and depth of the foreclosure crisis differed considerably across regions and metropolitan areas, with those located in the Mountain and Pacific West regions experiencing the highest foreclosure risks. The crisis was patterned sharply along racial/ethnic lines, with metros and neighborhoods with large black and Latino populations—as well as racially mixed neighborhoods—having high rates of foreclosure. Our analysis also highlights the particular vulnerability of Latino households, who not only had very high individual risk of foreclosures but tended to reside in areas hit hardest by the crisis. The race-stratified geographic patterns of foreclosure revealed here are substantially more complicated than a narrative that depicts only the unique disadvantage of black households during the crisis, and likely reflect some level of specific targeting of minority populations and neighborhoods by predatory and subprime lenders.