Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Code-Aided DOA Estimation From Turbo-Coded QAM Transmissions: Analytical CRLBs and Maximum Likelihood Estimator

In this paper, we address the problem of direction of arrival (DOA) estimation from turbo-coded square-QAM-modulated transmissions. We devise a new code-aware direction finding concept, derived from maximum likelihood (ML) theory, wherein the soft information provided by the soft-input soft-output decoder, in the form of log-likelihood ratios, is exploited to assist the estimation process. At each turbo iteration, the decoder output is used to refine the ML DOA estimate. The latter is in turn used to perform a more focused receiving beamforming thereby providing more reliable information-bearing sequences for the next turbo iteration. In order to benchmark the new estimator, we also derive the analytical expressions for the exact Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs) of code-aided (CA) DOA estimates. Simulation results will show that the new CA direction finding scheme lies between the two traditional schemes of completely non-data-aided and data-aided (DA) estimations. Huge performance improvements are achieved by embedding the direction finding and receive beamforming tasks into the turbo iteration loop. Moreover, the new CA DOA estimator reaches the new CA CRLBs over a wide range of practical SNRs thereby confirming its statistical efficiency. As expected intuitively, its performance further improves at higher coding rates and/or lower modulation orders.
Neuro-cardiovascular regulation: from molecules to man. Introduction.

The contents of this book reflect the proceedings of a conference entitled “Baroreceptor and Cardiopulmonary Receptor Reflexes,” sponsored by the American Physiological Society (APS) and held on August 23–27, 2000 in Iowa City, Iowa. Baroreceptor and cardiopulmonary reflexes are of major importance in the regulation of arterial blood pressure and autonomic and cardiovascular functions. The history and progress of discovery in an area of science can be appreciated by reviewing the published proceedings of major symposia and conferences. Key symposia in the area of reflex control of the circulation were held in Dayton, Ohio (USA) in 1965 (Baroreceptors in Hypertension1); in Leeds, UK in 1969 (Cardiac Receptors2); in Oxford, UK in 1979 (Baroreceptors and Hypertension3); in Leeds, UK in 1985 (Cardiogenic Reflexes4); and in Glascow, Scotland in 1993 (Cardiovascular Reflex Control in Health and Disease5). The Iowa APS Conference brought together major investigators in the field to discuss recent advances and to identify key areas in need of further investigation. We are hopeful that the published proceedings of this conference will provide a valuable resource to present and future investigators and clinicians interested in the broad field of cardiovascular regulation. The book reflects the overall content of the conference, with the majority of invited speakers contributing chapters. The chapter manuscripts were peer-reviewed prior to acceptance for publication.
Tn5253, the pneumococcal omega (cat tet) BM6001 element, is a composite structure of two conjugative transposons, Tn5251 and Tn5252

Tn5253, carrying tetracycline and chloramphenicol resistance determinants, is a 65.5-kb conjugative transposon originally detected in the chromosome of Streptococcus pneumoniae BM6001. We have identified an 18-kb segment of DNA carrying the tet determinant within Tn5253 to be an independent conjugative transposon when removed from the context of the larger element. In vivo deletion of this DNA segment, now termed Tn5251, from within Tn5253 did not affect the conjugative transposition properties of the remaining sequences. Thus, Tn5253 is a composite element of two conjugative structures: Tn5252, constituting the sequences beyond Tn5251 within Tn5253, and Tn5251. The transfer properties of Tn5252 and Tn5251 suggest that these may belong to two different classes of mobile elements even though they were initially found associated. The notion that a tet-carrying transposon like Tn5251 may have been the ancestral element in the evolution of the larger streptococcal conjugative transposons must be reevaluated in the light of present observations.
Elastic and viscous stiffness of the canine left ventricle.

TEMPLETON, GORDON H. , AND Louxs R. NARDTZZI. Elastic and viscous stifness of the canine left ventricle. J. Ap pl. Ph ysiol. 36 ( I ) : 123-I 27. 1974. -Elastic and viscous stiffness of canine left ventricles was measured continuously over the entire cardiac cycle. These mechanical properties were determined from the sinusoidally varying portion of the left ventricular pressure induced by an externally applied sinusoidal volume change with a constant peak amplitude of 0.5 ml and a frequency of 22 Hz. The sinusoidal pressure perturbations varied during the cardiac cycle both in peak amplitude and in the time of occurrence of the peak amplitude with respect to the volume changes that produced them. Determinations were made of ventricular stiffness, or elastance, which is defined as the ratio of the peak change in the pressure perturbations to the peak change in volume. Stiffness and the time difference between the occurrence of the peak volumetric perturbation and the corresponding peak of the pressure perturbation were used to calculate the elastic and viscous components of ventricular stiffness. These elastic and viscous components of stiffness increased proportionally with ventricular pressure, and the percentage change in elastic stiffness from diastole to systole was greater than that of viscous stiffness.
Imaging Calcium Entry Sites and Ribbon Structures in Two Presynaptic Cells

We investigated the location of calcium entry sites and synaptic ribbons in the type-Mb goldfish bipolar neuron and the bullfrog saccular hair cell. Cells were loaded with a fast calcium indicator (Fluo-3 or Fluo-5F) and an excess of a high-affinity but slow Ca buffer (EGTA). The cell surface was imaged by evanescent field microscopy. Small fluorescent “hot spots” representing calcium entry sites appeared abruptly when a voltage step opened Ca channels and disappeared or dimmed abruptly when Ca channels closed. In bipolar cells, the fluorescence of hot spots tracked the calcium influx. Hair cells showed similar Ca hot spots. Synaptic ribbons or dense bodies were labeled by immunofluorescence with an antibody that recognizes the ribbon protein ribeye. The antibody labeled punctate structures beneath the plasma membrane. In both bipolar neurons and hair cells, the number of Ca entry sites was similar or identical to that of ribbons or dense bodies, consistent with the idea that calcium-channel clusters reside near ribbons, and that both mark active zones. In bipolar cells, the number of Ca entry sites and ribeye-positive fluorescent spots is also strikingly similar to that of exocytic active zones but significantly less than the number of total exocytic sites including solitary fusion events outside active zones. We suggest that in bipolar terminals, active zones, Ca entry sites, and synaptic ribbons all colocalize, but also that a significant number of vesicles can fuse outside active zones and, hence, independently of synaptic ribbons.
Measurement of rigidity in Parkinson's disease

Clinical assessment of rigidity in parkinsonian patients is largely qualitative. The reliability and validity of the assessments are sometimes in doubt. Several “engineering” methods of quantifying rigidity have been described, but none has been adopted into general clinical practice. A possible reason is that these methods differ in crucial aspects from the clinical exam. We therefore tackled the problem by monitoring the clinical exam itself, using small sensors to measure the forces and displacements applied. Limb impedance(Z) was computed using parameter identification methods and compared to raters' verbalized ratings of rigidity based on a 5‐point scale: the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating System. The qualitative and quantitative estimates of impedance covaried over a fourfold range, depending on the forces imposed and the subject's motor set. Raters differed by up to 1 full point in their mean qualitative ratings and sometimes disagreed on whether levodopa reduced rigidity. This was not due to any significant differences in the overall range of rigidity they evoked, but rather to the way they scored this range [the ratio of mean rating to mean impedance (R/Z) varied between raters and subjects]. On the other hand, the R/Z ratio was reproducible over separate sets of ratings and may therefore serve to convert measured impedance into a standardized rating. Our results indicate that the current clinical exam may be too abbreviated to detect the sometimes quite small reductions in rigidity after levodopa. We conclude that a device that conveniently quantifies the clinical assessment of rigidity is now available and will lead to more standardized protocols for rating rigidity in the near future.
Comportamento informacional no uso de sistemas de informação: o caso do SICOR

O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o comportamento informacional dos usuarios do Sistema Integrado de Compras e Orcamento (SICOR) utilizado pelos funcionarios da Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL). Dentre os 277 usuarios ativos identificados, participaram da pesquisa 40 (14,44%) servidores. A coleta de dados englobou caracterizacoes dos participantes, uso de sistemas informatizados, necessidades informacionais e busca de informacoes. Os resultados indicaram que a maior parte dos usuarios e do sexo feminino, a media de idade e de 47 anos e 75% possuem pos-graduacao. Foi possivel, verificar tambem, que a maioria teve contato com as tecnologias de informacao por muitos anos. Alem disso, constou-se que os usuarios, no geral, reconhecem quando uma informacao e necessaria para execucao do trabalho, bem como encontram as informacoes e refazem o planejamento de busca caso seja necessario.
Wordnet extension via word embeddings: Experiments on the Norwegian Wordnet

This paper describes the process of automatically adding synsets and hypernymy relations to an existing wordnet based on word embeddings computed for POS-tagged lemmas in a large news corpus, achieving exact match attachment accuracy of over 80%. The reported experiments are based on the Norwegian Word-net, but the method is language independent and also applicable to other wordnets. Moreover, this study also represents the ﬁrst documented experiments of the Norwegian Wordnet.
Precision of EMR Data: The Case for a Drug and Alcohol Service

Error-laden data can negatively affect clinical and operational decision making, research findings and funding allocation. This study examined the number and types of data errors in an electronic medical record (EMR) system in a Drug and Alcohol service. Specifically, errors in service data were examined. Three months after the implementation of the EMR system, 9,379 errors were identified from ten error reports generated between March 2015 and May 2016. The errors were grouped into four types: mismatched data fields (60.5%), duplicate medical record error (3.2%), date/time error (8.8%) and blank field error (27.4%). The errors can be prevented by adding functions, such as alert messages in the EMR system. How and why the errors occur need to be investigated in future studies.
Arcobacter: an emerging food-borne zoonotic pathogen, its public health concerns and advances in diagnosis and control – a comprehensive review

ABSTRACT Arcobacter has emerged as an important food-borne zoonotic pathogen, causing sometimes serious infections in humans and animals. Newer species of Arcobacter are being incessantly emerging (presently 25 species have been identified) with novel information on the evolutionary mechanisms and genetic diversity among different Arcobacter species. These have been reported from chickens, domestic animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, dogs), reptiles (lizards, snakes and chelonians), meat (poultry, pork, goat, lamb, beef, rabbit), vegetables and from humans in different countries. Arcobacters are implicated as causative agents of diarrhea, mastitis and abortion in animals, while causing bacteremia, endocarditis, peritonitis, gastroenteritis and diarrhea in humans. Three species including A. butzleri, A. cryaerophilus and A. skirrowii are predominantly associated with clinical conditions. Arcobacters are primarily transmitted through contaminated food and water sources. Identification of Arcobacter by biochemical tests is difficult and isolation remains the gold standard method. Current diagnostic advances have provided various molecular methods for efficient detection and differentiation of the Arcobacters at genus and species level. To overcome the emerging antibiotic resistance problem there is an essential need to explore the potential of novel and alternative therapies. Strengthening of the diagnostic aspects is also suggested as in most cases Arcobacters goes unnoticed and hence the exact epidemiological status remains uncertain. This review updates the current knowledge and many aspects of this important food-borne pathogen, namely etiology, evolution and emergence, genetic diversity, epidemiology, the disease in animals and humans, public health concerns, and advances in its diagnosis, prevention and control.
On the use of disaster prediction for failure-tolerance in feedback control systems

Feedback control algorithms are inherently designed to compensate for external disturbances that the controlled system may suffer. This resilience is also extensible to late or wrong control actions produced by a failed controller computer, providing a degree of fault tolerance without the use of any particular mechanism. However, some controller failures, due to their duration or value, may indeed collapse the system, and thus other recovery measures must be taken. This paper proposes the inclusion of an Oracle that calculates, in a timely manner, the controlled system behavior under a failed controller, and triggers recovery when the control algorithm is predictably no more able to compensate for a particular controller failure. The systems so built follow the Fail-Bounded model. The main contribution of this paper is to show how this model can be implemented in a practical way for the very important class of applications based on feedback control, thus turning that model into a technique that can be used effectively to build production systems. The method was validated experimentally through fault injection on the controller computer of an inverted pendulum, one of the most time-demanding control system benchmarks.
A study on the effect of architecture on maintainability of object-oriented systems

Software development techniques have seen significant progress since the 1960s. Most research accomplishments have been in software development but not in software maintenance. This is also true for the object-oriented paradigm. We believe that the features of object-oriented approach have a significant impact on maintainability. We report an incipient study indicating that the architecture of an object-oriented system indeed affects its maintainability. This is attributed to the structure of its inheritance hierarchy, among other factors. We also attempt to provide some rationale behind this phenomenon. The possible tension between object reuse and the maintainability of its product is also discussed in the paper.
Productividad Regional Y Sectorial En Colombia:Análisis Utilizando Datos De Panel

En este documento se estimo la productividad total de los factores (PTF) y las elasticidades de los factores para la industria manufacturera colombiana, por area metropolitana y sector economico, durante el periodo 1975-2000, con el fin de incorporar las diferencias regionales en el analisis de la productividad. Para este fin, se utilizo la metodologia de datos de panel y los desarrollos recientes de pruebas de raiz unitaria y cointegracion para paneles. Para el total nacional, se obtuvo una elasticidad del trabajo de 0.85 y una del capital de 0.15. En cuanto a los parametros de productividad, los sectores industriales mas productivos son el de industria de bebidas, fabricacion de sustancias quimicas industriales y fabricacion de papel y productos de papel. Al estimar las elasticidades factoriales tanto a nivel regional como sectorial, se encontro una gran heterogeneidad entre ellas.
The effects of bleomycin on survival and cell progression in Chinese hamster cells in vitro.

Summary Bleomycin is most effective at killing Chinese hamster ovary cells in mitosis and in G2 phase. Mitosis is the most sensitive phase. In order of increasing resistance were cells treated in G2 phase, early S phase, late S phase, and G1 phase. Interference with cell progression occurred only in cell populations treated with Bleomycin in G2 phase.
Identiﬁcation and functional analysis of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium PmrA-regulated genes

The PmrA–PmrB two-component regulatory system of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is activated in vivo and plays an important role in resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides. Resistance is partly mediated by modiﬁcations to the lipopolysaccharide. To identify new PmrA-regulated genes, microarray analysis was undertaken comparing cDNA derived from PmrA-consti-tutive and PmrA-null strains. A combination of RT-PCR and transcriptional analysis conﬁrmed the inclusion of six new loci in the PmrA–PmrB regulon: STM1253, STM1269, STM4118, STM0459, STM3968 and STM4568. These loci did not aﬀect the ability to grow in high iron conditions, the ability to modify lipid A with aminoarabinose, or virulence. STM4118, a putative phosphoethanolamine phosphotransferase, had a minor eﬀect on polymyxin resistance, whereas the remaining genes had no role in polymyxin resistance. Although several of the identiﬁed loci lacked the consensus PmrA binding site, PmrA was demonstrated to bind the promoter of a PmrA-activated gene lacking the consensus site. A more complete deﬁnition of the PmrA–PmrB regulon will provide a better understanding of its role in host and non-host environments. (cid:1) 2004 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Performance Models for Automatic Evaluation of Virtual Scanning Keyboards

Virtual scanning keyboards are commonly used augmentative communication aids by persons with severe speech and motion impairments. Designers of virtual scanning keyboards face problems in evaluating alternate designs and hence in choosing the better design among alternatives. Automatic evaluation of designs will be helpful to designers in making the appropriate design choice. In this paper, we present performance models for virtual scanning keyboards that can be used for automatic evaluation. The proposed models address the limitations present in the reported work on similar models. We compared the model predictions with results from user trials and established the validity of the proposed models.
Studies on the viral spectra of tissue culture lines of human cells.

A comparison was made of 12 tissue culture cell lines of human origin with respect to their susceptibilities to a limited number of viruses. On the basis of the viral spectra obtained the lines could be divided into 2 groups corresponding to those established in morphological grounds. The observed interactions of the various viruses with the different cells fell into 4 categories: (1) viral multiplication with development of cytopathogenic effects; (2) propagation of virus in the absence of cellular destruction; (3) cytopathogenicity without viral replication; and (4) no growth of virus nor cellular damage. The implications of some of these findings have been discussed. Only cells of one of the groups (I) were susceptible to poliomyelitis, Coxsackie B and adenoviruses. None within group I were more sensitive to poliomyelitis than HeLa cells. Inoculation of cells of both groups with specimens from cases of infectious or serum hepatitis failed to yield evidence of infection.
Enhancement of Pulmonary Metastases following the Intravenous Infusion of a Suspension of Ellagic Acid 1

The intravenous injection of a suspension of ellagic acid increased pulmonary metastases from 33 per-cent in the controls to 85 per-cent in the ellagic acid (EA) treated rats. A significant shortening of the silicone and glass clotting times, and a reduction in bleeding following the partial amputation of the tail was also observed after the infusion of EA. There was no obvious untoward side effect of EA in any of the animals studied in these series.
Neandertal roots: Cranial and chronological evidence from Sima de los Huesos

Neandertal ancestors from Pleistocene Spain The Sima de los Huesos site in Atapuerca, northern Spain, is a rich source of fossil hominin specimens. The site has now yielded further skull specimens that illuminate patterns of human evolution in Europe nearly half a million years ago. Arsuaga et al. studied 17 crania, including 7 that are new specimens and 6 that are more complete than before (see the Perspective by Hublin). This assemblage of specimens reveals the cranial, facial, and dental features of the Atapuerca hominins, which allows more precise evolutionary positioning of these Neandertal ancestors. Science, this issue p. 1358; see also p. 1338 Seventeen skulls from at least 430 thousand years ago illuminate hominin evolutionary patterns in Pleistocene Europe. [Also see Perspective by Hublin] Seventeen Middle Pleistocene crania from the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain) are analyzed, including seven new specimens. This sample makes it possible to thoroughly characterize a Middle Pleistocene hominin paleodeme and to address hypotheses about the origin and evolution of the Neandertals. Using a variety of techniques, the hominin-bearing layer could be reassigned to a period around 430,000 years ago. The sample shows a consistent morphological pattern with derived Neandertal features present in the face and anterior vault, many of which are related to the masticatory apparatus. This suggests that facial modification was the first step in the evolution of the Neandertal lineage, pointing to a mosaic pattern of evolution, with different anatomical and functional modules evolving at different rates.
Studies of oogenesis and follicular development in the golden hamster 1. A quantitative study of meiotic prophase in vivo.

It has been suggested that early follicular development is independent of endocrine control. This view derives largely from studies involving the treatment of young animals with gonadotrophic hormones or from experiments involving hypophysectomy of adults (Price & Ortiz, 1944; Ben Or, 1963; Mauleon, 1969; Peters et al. 1973). More recently, however, several different experimental approaches have suggested that ovaries of neonatal and juvenile animals are sensitive to circulating hormones and that these are required for normal follicular development (Dunlap & Gerrall, 1973; Eshkol, Lunenfeldt & Peters, 1970; Baker & Neal, 1973). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the control of ovarian development in the hamster, a species in which germ cells enter meiotic prophase at the time of birth.
Humans Anticipate the Goal of other People’s Point-Light Actions

This eye tracking study investigated the degree to which biological motion information from manual point-light displays provides sufficient information to elicit anticipatory eye movements. We compared gaze performance of adults observing a biological motion point-light display of a hand reaching for a goal object or a non-biological version of the same event. Participants anticipated the goal of the point-light action in the biological motion condition but not in a non-biological control condition. The present study demonstrates that kinematic information from biological motion can be used to anticipate the goal of other people’s point-light actions and that the presence of biological motion is sufficient for anticipation to occur.