Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Power sharing in microgrids with minimum communication control

Proportionate sharing of load changes in a microgrid without communication among the generators is a difficult problem. In this paper an exact power sharing algorithm is developed that uses an optimization-based technique to minimize the exchange of state information among the generators. To demonstrate the application of the developed framework we present simulation results for a system constructed using the data obtained from IEEE 14 bus system. Simulation results reveal that power sharing can be achieved using relatively few communication links among the generators.
Interleukin‐27 displays interferon‐γ–like functions in human hepatoma cells and hepatocytes

Interleukin‐27 (IL‐27) is a cytokine belonging to the IL‐6/IL‐12 cytokine family. It is secreted by antigen‐presenting cells, strongly acts on T cells, and also stimulates innate immune cells. In most studies, the effects of IL‐27 on T cells were investigated; however, not much is known about possible effects of IL‐27 on other cell types. IL‐27 signals via the common IL‐6–type cytokine receptor chain gp130 and the IL‐27–specific chain WSX‐1. Given the importance of gp130 in regulating liver responses such as the acute phase response or liver regeneration, we investigated whether IL‐27 could also have a function in liver cells. We find that IL‐27 stimulates hepatoma cells and hepatocytes by inducing a sustained signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)1 and STAT3 activation. Whereas the STAT3 mediated responses to IL‐27 (γ‐fibrinogen and hepcidin induction) are not detectable, we observe an interferon‐gamma (IFN‐γ)–like STAT1 response leading to the induction of interferon‐regulated proteins such as STAT1, STAT2, interferon response factor (IRF)‐1, IRF‐9, myxovirus resistance A and guanylate binding protein 2. Conclusion: Our study provides evidence for a function of IL‐27 in hepatoma cells and hepatocytes and shows that IL‐27 responses are not restricted to the classical immune cells. Our results suggest that IL‐27 exerts IFN‐like functions in liver cells and that it can contribute to the antiviral response in these cells. (HEPATOLOGY 2009.)
Achievable energy efficiency resource allocation in OFDM system with mixed traffic

Energy efficiency is becoming more and more important to the development of wireless communication. In this paper, we study energy-efficient resource allocation in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system with mixed traffic. Considering both the energy efficiency and spectral efficiency, we model the allocation of sub-carriers and power as a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem maximizing the utility per Watt. The formulated problem is non-convex and is computationally forbidden. To simplify the solution of the problem, a two-step resource allocation (TSRA) algorithm is proposed. In the first step, we simplify the problem to a convex one and obtain the sub-carrier allocation using Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions. On this basis, we solve the power allocation problem in the second step by transforming it into a parametric programming problem and applying Dinkelbach's theory. Simulation results show that our algorithm can provide 28% energy efficiency improvement compared to conventional algorithms.
Probabilistic Routing Based on Two-Hop Information in Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networks

We investigate an opportunistic routing protocol in delay/disruption tolerant networks (DTNs) where the end-to-end path between source and destination nodes may not exist for most of the time. Probabilistic routing protocol using history of encounters and transitivity (PRoPHET) is an efficient history-based routing protocol specifically proposed for DTNs, which only utilizes the delivery predictability of one-hop neighbors to make a decision for message forwarding. In order to further improve the message delivery rate and to reduce the average overhead of PRoPHET, in this paperwe propose an improved probabilistic routing algorithm (IPRA), where the history information of contacts for the immediate encounter and two-hop neighbors has been jointly used to make an informed decision for message forwarding. Based on the Opportunistic Networking Environment (ONE) simulator, the performance of IPRA has been evaluated via extensive simulations.The results showthat IPRA can significantly improve the average delivery rate while achieving a better or comparable performance with respect to average overhead, average delay, and total energy consumption compared with the existing algorithms.
Modern Cryptography

Ground Rules. You may choose to complete these homeworks in a group of up to three students. Each group should turn in one copy with the names of all group members on it. You may use any source you can find to help with this assignment but you must explicitly reference any source you use besides the lecture notes or textbook. Electronically typeset copies of your solution should be submitted on the course moodle by 11:59pm on the date above.
Spectrum Sharing Solution for Automotive Radar

Automated driving has become increasingly viable through the deployment of a number of sensing technologies on vehicles. These intelligent transportation systems (ITS) employ sensors such as radar, camera and lidars for collision avoidance and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication links for active environment sensing. Since the available spectrum for vehicular systems is limited, spectrum sharing in ITS sensors is a subject of active investigation. This paper presents a spectrum sharing technology that enables interference-free operation of an automotive radar and a V2X communication system within a common spectrum. Both systems dynamically share information with each other and optimize their spectral resources to the changing RF environment. The V2X system is a cognitive radio that is capable of blind sensing its spectrum using very low sampling and processing rates. The radar system is also modeled as a cognitive system that employs a Xampling-based sub-Nyquist receiver and transmits in several narrow bands that occupy a fraction of the conventional radar bandwidth. We present a hardware realization of this vehicular spectrum sharing technology and demonstrate spectral coexistence through real-time experiments.
AGENT COORDINATION CONTEXTS IN A MAS COORDINATION INFRASTRUCTURE

In order to harness complexity in multi-agent systems (MAS), first-class entities that mediate interaction between agents and environment are required, which can encapsulate control over MAS behavior and evolution. To this end, MAS infrastructures should provide mediating artifacts, both enabling and constraining agent interactions, and possibly representing admissible agent perceptions and actions over the environment. Along this line, in this paper, we take the notion of agent coordination context (ACC) as a means to model agent-environment interactions, and show how it can be embedded within a MAS infrastructure in terms of model and runtime structures. Then, we take the TuCSoN coordination infrastructure as a reference, and extend it with the ACC abstraction to integrate the support for coordination with organization and security.
Challenges and changing roles for medical journals in the cyberspace age: Electronic pre-prints and e-papers

In May 1999, the Director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Harold Vermus, proposed a project, then dubbed "E-biomed" [1] (now called "PubMed Central" [2]). In this proposal, the National Institutes of Health through the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a component of the National Library of Medicine proposed to establish an Internet-accessible database of full electronic papers, which would be submitted directly by their authors. The original E-biomed plan [1] envisaged two sections in this system: one that allowed authors to submit papers which would only be electronically released after going through peer-review by editorial boards; and another one that allowed authors to publish electronic papers directly, without any peer-review, but with some minimal filtering in the form of requiring "approval by two individuals with appropriate credentials (.) to provide protection of the database from extraneous or outrageous material. "
Comparison of the antinociceptive effects of pre- and posttreatment with intrathecal morphine and MK801, an NMDA antagonist, on the formalin test in the rat.

Current thinking emphasizes that protracted small afferent input can evoke mechanisms that mediate a significant potentiation of spinal nociceptive processing and that this facilitory component has a unique pharmacology. To investigate the behavioral parallels of this spinal facilitation, we evaluated the effects of pre- and post-treatment of intrathecal morphine (mu agonist) and MK801 (N-methyl-D-aspartate [NMDA] antagonist) on the formalin test. Intraplantar formalin resulted in a biphasic appearance of flinching behavior (phase 1 = 0-5 min; phase 2 = 10-60 min). Morphine and MK801 were administered intrathecally 15 min before formalin injection in the pretreatment study and 9 min after formalin injection in the posttreatment study. Pretreatment with intrathecal morphine produced comparable dose-dependent suppressions of the phase 1 and phase 2 behaviors (ED50 = 0.5 micrograms [95% CI = 0.3-0.9] and 0.3 micrograms [95% CI = 0.1-0.7], respectively). Posttreatment with morphine also resulted in comparable suppression of the phase 2 response (ED50 = 0.2 micrograms [95% CI = 0.1-0.3]). At the highest dose of intrathecal morphine (10 micrograms), an almost complete suppression of formalin-evoked behavior was observed. Pretreatment with MK801 inhibited the second-phase response more strongly than the first-phase response (ED50 = 1.6 micrograms [95% CI = 0.5-5.7] vs. 0.1 microgram [95% CI = 0.3 - 0.4], respectively). In contrast, posttreatment with the highest dose of MK801 had no effect on the phase 2 response. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Optimization result for constrained beamformer design

The column-unitary matrix whose range space is closest, in the Frobenius norm metric, to the range of a given matrix and whose columns belong to the null space of another specified matrix is obtained. An application of the matrix optimization result derived herein to constrained beamformer design in array signal processing is briefly described. <<ETX>>
A hierarchical graph matching based key point correspondence method for large distance rover localization

Key point correspondence plays a critical role in large distance lunar rover localization and navigation, which can decrease accumulative errors and facilitate the rover to approach probing target accurately. Lunar surface images often contain similar patterns, noisy points and obvious illumination changes, especially along with large distance movement, overlapping regions of image pairs have large deformations and sorely different scales. Traditional appearance based matching methods fail in such conditions as local appearance features become less distinctive. In this paper, we proposed a novel hierarchical graph matching strategy to fully utilize structure property of key points. For vertexes in bigger scale, their neighborhood graphs in smaller scale are regarded as vertex labels and the differences of neighborhood graphs are regarded as differences of vertexes. Based on the new strategy, both global and local constraint are considered such that the dependency on local appearance is alleviated. Furthermore, an active key point detection method is proposed to serve the graph matching method for better performance. Finally, several experiments are conducted on lunar surface images collected by Chang'E-3 rover, which demonstrates the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Increased rectal mucosal expression of interleukin 1β in recently acquired post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome

Background and aims: Chronic bowel disturbances resembling irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) develop in approximately 25% of patients after an episode of infectious diarrhoea. Although we have previously shown that psychosocial factors operating at the time of, or prior to, the acute illness appear to predict the development of post-infectious IBS (PI-IBS), our finding of an increased inflammatory cell number in the rectum persisting for at least three months after the acute infection suggested that there is also an organic component involved in the development of PI-IBS. To evaluate this further, we measured expressions of interleukin 1β (IL-1β) and its receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) in these patients to provide additional evidence that the pathogenesis of PI-IBS is underpinned by an inflammatory process. Methods: Sequential rectal biopsy samples were prospectively obtained during and three months after acute gastroenteritis, from eight patients who developed post-infectious IBS (INF-IBS) and seven patients who returned to normal bowel habits after acute gastroenteritis (infection controls, INF-CON). Eighteen healthy volunteers who had not suffered from gastroenteritis in the preceding two years served as normal controls (NOR-CON). IL-1β and IL-1ra gene expressions were assayed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and their levels of expression were quantitated by optical densitometry after electrophoresis on agarose gel. Results: INF-IBS patients exhibited significantly greater expression of IL-1β mRNA in rectal biopsies than INF-CON patients both during and three months after acute gastroenteritis. Moreover, IL-1β mRNA expression had increased in biopsies taken from INF-IBS patients at three months after the acute infection but no consistent change was observed in INF-CON patients. IL-1β mRNA expression of INF-IBS patients at three months post gastroenteritis was significantly greater than NOR-CON whereas that of INF-CON patients was not significantly different from NOR-CON. Despite these differential changes in IL-1β mRNA expression, no significant changes were observed in IL-1ra mRNA expression among the three groups. Conclusions: These findings indicate that those patients who develop IBS post infection exhibit greater IL-1β mRNA expression, both during and after the infection, compared with individuals who do not develop PI-IBS. We conclude that such patients may be susceptible to inflammatory stimuli, and that inflammation may play a role in the pathogenesis of PI-IBS.
Remote Origins of Tail‐Anchored Proteins

C‐tail‐anchored (TA) proteins constitute a heterogeneous group of membrane proteins that are inserted into membranes by unique post‐translational mechanisms and that play key roles within cells. During recent years, bioinformatic screens on eukaryotic genomes have helped to obtain comprehensive pictures of the number, intracellular distribution and functions of TA proteins, but similar screens had not yet been carried out on prokaryotic cells. Here, we report the results of a bioinformatic screen of the genomes of two bacteria and one archeon. We find that all three of these prokaryotes contain TA proteins in proportions approaching those found in eukaryotic cells, indicating that this protein group is present in all three domains of life. Although some of our hits correspond to proteins of unknown function, others are enzymes with hydrophobic substrates or have functions carried out at the inner face of the cytoplasmic membrane. To generate hypotheses on the insertion mechanisms of prokaryotic TA proteins, we compared the sequences of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic versions of Asna1/Trc40/GET3, a cytosolic ATPase that plays a key role in TA protein post‐translational delivery to membranes in eukaryotic cells. We found that hydrophobic residues involved in TA binding by the eukaryotic chaperone (Mateja et al., Nature 2009;461:361–366) are generally replaced with equally hydrophobic amino acids in the archeal homologue (ArsA), whereas this is not the case for the bacterial protein. Thus, eukaryotes may have inherited the GET3 targeting pathway from our archeal ancestor, while the bacterial homologue may be exclusively dedicated to heavy metal resistance.
Living with Type 1 diabetes: A by-person qualitative exploration

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition which places enormous demands on the individual diabetic. A strict care routine is necessitated, yet even the most controlled and disciplined diabetic is likely to experience associated health problems and automatically faces a reduced life expectancy. The current study explores the psychological repercussions of this situation via a small scale qualitative study which focuses on the very different viewpoints and experiences of four adults living with Type 1 diabetes. A new and original form of by-person (or by-case) qualitative analysis is employed in order to capture, in a rich and holistic fashion, each participant's current relationship with their condition, their experience of living and dealing with diabetes and the ways in which diabetes is integrated within their lives and identities. The findings have implications for, and are discussed in relation to, issues of control, regimen adherence, and what it means to be a ‘good’ or ‘successful’ diabetic. The conclusion is drawn that the satisfaction of personal goals and a focus on psychological as well as physical health may be very important if positive quality of life outcomes are to be attained in the context of Type 1 diabetes.
Evidence That [sigma] Factors Are Components of Chloroplast RNA Polymerase

Plastid genes are transcribed by DNA-dependent RNA polymerase(s), which have been incompletely characterized and have been examined in a limited number of species. Plastid genomes contain rpoA, rpoB, rpoC1, and rpoC2 coding for [alpha], [beta], [beta]', and [beta]” RNA polymerase subunits that are homologous to the [alpha], [beta], and [beta]'subunits that constitute the core moiety of RNA polymerase in bacteria. However, genes with homology to [sigma] subunits in bacteria have not been found in plastid genomes. An antibody directed against the principal [sigma] subunit of RNA polymerase from the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 was used to probe western blots of purified chloroplast RNA polymerase from maize, rice, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and Cyanidium caldarium. Chloroplast RNA polymerase from maize and rice contained an immunoreactive 64-kD protein. Chloroplast RNA polymerase from C. reinhardtii contained immunoreactive 100- and 82-kD proteins, and chloroplast RNA polymerase from C. caldarium contained an immunoreactive 32-kD protein. The elution profile of enzyme activity of both algal chloroplast RNA polymerases coeluted from DEAE with the respective immunoreactive proteins, indicating that they are components of the enzyme. These results provide immunological evidence for [sigma]-like factors in chloroplast RNA polymerase in higher plants and algae.
System authentication using minutiae and fingercode features of fingerprint

System authentication based on explicit detection of complete ridge structures in the fingerprint is difficult. Ridge structures cannot be completely characterized by minutiae. Further, a minutia based matching has difficulty in quickly matching two fingerprint images containing different number of unregistered minutiae points. The proposed matching algorithm uses both minutiae and texture information. It uses a bank of Gabor filters to capture both local and global details in a fingerprint as a compact fixed length finger code. Matching is achieved with the help of Euclidean distance between the query and template image, hence is extremely fast. Experimental results show that combination of minutiae and texture based (local as well as global) score matching leads to substantial improvement in the overall matching performance even at low resolutions
Stereoselective 4'-hydroxylation of phenytoin: relationship to (S)-mephenytoin polymorphism in Japanese.

AIMS The aim of this study was to clarify whether phenytoin (PHT) stereoselective hydroxylation cosegregates with (S)-mephenytoin phenotype. METHODS A single dose of PHT (100 mg) was administered orally to six healthy Japanese subjects in whom the genotype and phenotype of CYP2C19 had been determined previously. The urinary excretion profiles of the metabolites of PHT, (R)- and (S)-p-HPPH [5-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-phenylhydantoin] up to 361 postdose were compared between the two groups of poor metabolizers (PMs, n = 3) and extensive metabolizers (EMs, n = 3) with respect to CYP2C19. CYP2C9 genotype was also determined. RESULTS All the alleles were found to be wild type (Arg144 Tyr358Ile359Gly417) in each subject. The mean value for cumulative urinary excretion of unchanged PHT was not significantly different between the PMs and the EMs. However, recovery of (R)-p-HPPH at 36 h was 3.5-fold lower and that of (S)-p-HPPH 1.3-fold lower in PMs than in EMs. Although the mean urinary excretion values for both metabolites were significantly lower in the PMs than in the EMs, the difference between the two groups was larger for (R)-p-HPPH. A significant negative correlation was observed between the hydroxylation index of omeprazole (the ratio between the serum concentrations of omeprazole and hydroxyomeprazole in blood samples drawn 3 h after drug intake) and the log10 0-12 h urinary recovery of (R)-p-HPPH. CONCLUSIONS In humans, the 4'-hydroxylation of PHT is highly stereoselective towards formation of the (S)-enantiomer. Thus, (S)-hydroxylation by CYP2C9 might be the major determinant of the disposition of PHT. However, these results support the hypothesis that the stereoselective hydroxylation pathway of PHT to form (R)-p-HPPH cosegregates with the CYP2C19 metabolic polymorphism.
Lighting fibers in a dark network

We consider the problem of network design in transparent, or clear channel, optical networks associated with wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM). We focus on the class of traffic engineering models known as routing, wavelength, and capacity assignment problems. Here, in contrast to traditional networks, traffic flow paths must also be assigned an end-to-end wavelength. This additional requirement means that there can be an increased cost associated with optimal capacity allocations for such WDM-flows. In general, this can be arbitrarily worse than traditional network designs. We argue that in order to evaluate the benefit of different switch technologies, a good benchmark is to measure the increase in costs purely in terms of link capacity, we call this the cost of transparency. Experimental research shows that this cost is small in multifiber networks with modest switching functionality at the nodes. We present theoretical justification for why this occurs, and prove that in multiwavelength multifiber transparent networks the cost of transparency all but disappears if there is moderate traffic load. Our arguments are based on efficient heuristics that may also be useful for more complex network optimizations. This suggests that the cost savings from using wavelength converters is significant only in young networks with relatively few fibers lit. Such savings may, thus, be small relative to the initial capital expense involved in installing wavelength conversion.