Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shortest Path under Uncertainty: Exploration versus Exploitation

In the Canadian Traveler Problem (CTP), a traveler seeks a shortest path to a destination through a road network, but unknown to the traveler, some roads may be blocked. This paper studies the Bayesian CTP (BCTP), in which road states are correlated with known prior probabilities and the traveler can infer the states of an unseen road from past observations of other correlated roads. As generalized shortest-path problems, CTP and BCTP have important practical applications. We show that BCTP is NP-complete and give a polynomial-time approximation algorithm, Hedged Shortest Path under Determinization (HSPD), which approximates an optimal solu-tion with a polylogarithmic factor. Preliminary experiments show promising results. HSPD outperforms a widely used greedy algorithm and a state-of-the-art UCT-based search algo-rithm for CTP, especially when signiﬁcant exploration is required.
Sharing Personal Health Information : Personalization versus Privacy Full Paper

Personal health information (PHI) is increasingly becoming a critical component of personalized healthcare. However, investment in PHI capabilities may be severely undermined if consumers are unwilling to share PHI. While consumers are concerned about potential compromise of PHI, they also value the personalization benefits of PHI use. In light of the limited understanding of this tension, this research develops a parsimonious model to predict consumer’s willingness to share PHI as a result of the tradeoff between concern for privacy and value for personalization. Grounded on theoretical positions of Information Boundary Theory, we examine the mechanism through which privacy concern and personalization influence willingness to share PHI. Results of the study suggests that the attitude towards sharing PHI is shaped by two competing forces of privacy concerns and value for personalization. Insights from the study can be used to craft future healthcare implementation policies.
Proteomic Analysis of Microglia-Derived Exosomes: Metabolic Role of the Aminopeptidase CD13 in Neuropeptide Catabolism1

Vesicle transport is a fundamental mechanism of communication in the CNS. In this study we characterized a novel type of vesicle released by murine brain microglial cells: microglial exosomes. Analysis of their protein content identified several enzymes, chaperones, tetraspanins, and membrane receptors previously reported in B cells and dendritic cell-derived exosomes. Additionally, microglia-derived exosomes expressed the aminopeptidase CD13 and the lactate transporter MCT-1. Exosomal CD13 was metabolically active in cleaving leucine- and methionine-enkephalins peptides by releasing the N-terminal tyrosine. Cleaved neuropeptides were unable to bind to the neuronal opioid receptor as assessed by cAMP response. Microglial exosomal vesicles may represent an important, previously unrecognized, cellular communication system in an organ in which cell motility is highly restricted.
Evaluation of Slice Shield Collimators for Multi-Layer Positron Emission Computed Tomographs

Evaluation of slice shield collimators is carried out using theoretical event rate formulas. This approach permits calculation of system performance in terms of sensitivity, scatter fraction, and high-counting rate characteristics. Electronics counting efficiency is also taken into account. A rational approach to optimal design is presented along with design examples. Effectiveness of collimator replacement is suggested. A system using sub-collimator with relatively small detector ring radius is proposed. It achieves a level of performance similar to that of a conventional collimator system with large ring radius.
Distributed Hybrid Precoding for Indoor Deployments Using Millimeter Wave Band

Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) are an alternative of network deployment that allows reducing the distance between transmitter and receiver by distributing the antennas throughout the coverage area. Moreover, the performance of the millimeter wave (mmWave) band can be significantly high within short transmitter-receiver distances. In this paper, the potential benefits of DAS deployments in the mmWave band are studied. To this aim, a distributed hybrid precoding (DHP) solution with remote antenna unit (RAU) selection capabilities is proposed and analyzed in an indoor DAS working in mmWaves and compared to two other indoor deployment strategies: a conventional cellular system with colocated antenna arrays and a small cell deployment. The results show that, using DHP, DAS not only brings huge gains to cell-edge users rate but also increases system capacity, becoming the best overall deployment. Further simulations including practical limitations have revealed that DAS using DHP is quite robust to combiner losses, although its performance is significantly degraded by outdated channel reports.
Performance Analysis of the Combined AMCMultiuserMIMO LTE-Advanced System

The growth of wireless networks in recent years coupled with applications demanding high data rates. This paper considers feedback and pre-coding design for multi-user MIMO in LTE-Advanced systems. LTE aims to provide improved service quality over 3G systems in terms of throughput, spectral efficiency, latency, and peak data rate, and the MIMO technique is one of the key enablers of the LTE system for achieving these diverse goals. In this paper, we propose a AMC based pre-coding for multiuser multiinput multi-output (MIMO) systems. Adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) is a powerful technique to enhance the link performance by adjusting the transmission power, channel coding rates and modulation levels according to channel state information.
Executive Functions in Children With Specific Language Impairment: A Meta-Analysis.

Purpose Mounting evidence demonstrates deficits in children with specific language impairment (SLI) beyond the linguistic domain. Using meta-analysis, this study examined differences in children with and without SLI on tasks measuring inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Method Databases were searched for articles comparing children (4-14 years) with and without SLI on behavioral measures of inhibition or cognitive flexibility. Weighted average effect size was calculated using multilevel modeling to measure potential group differences. Results The analysis included 46 studies. Of those, 34 included inhibitory control measures and 22 included cognitive flexibility tasks. Children with SLI performed below same-aged peers on both inhibitory control tasks (g = -.56) and cognitive flexibility tasks (g = -.27). Moderator analyses showed no effect of linguistic task demands, participant age, or severity of language impairment on the degree of difference between children with SLI and controls on measures of inhibitory control. Conclusion Reliable differences between children with and without SLI were found on inhibition and cognitive flexibility tasks. A moderate group effect was found for inhibition tasks, but there was only a small effect for cognitive flexibility tasks. Results of moderator analyses suggest that these deficits are present throughout development despite task demands or severity of linguistic impairment.
The parameters of filters based on a system of slots in the hollow inner conductor of a coaxial waveguide with parallel genetic algorithm optimization

In this paper the genetic algorithm for the parameters optimization of filter based on a coaxial waveguide with slots in the hollow inner conductor and dielectric discs is used. The numerical method of solution of corresponding bounded problem is based on the mode matching technique and operator method. The used approach allows us to decrease the optimization time due to using of parallel calculations and saving of the scattering operators in the computer memory. The results of these research should be a basis of narrow band and wide band filters designing in the nearest future.
Leptin, Adiponectin, and Ghrelin Levels in Female Patients with Asthma during Stable and Exacerbation Periods

Objective. The mechanisms underlying the relationship between obesity and asthma have not been fully established. Data in the literature suggest that adipose tissue-derived hormones may be implicated. However, no definite conclusions regarding the role of leptin and adiponectin with asthma are available. No studies have examined the role of ghrelin in asthma. Methods. We assessed the circulating concentrations of leptin, adiponectin, and ghrelin in 32 postmenopausal stable asthma patients, 37 female asthmatics during exacerbations and 8 weeks later, and 22 controls. We examined the relationship between the three peptides and indexes of pulmonary function, airway inflammation, and atopy. Results. Stable asthma patients exhibited higher leptin and lower ghrelin concentrations compared with controls. Patients with severe asthma had higher leptin and lower adiponectin levels versus patients with mild to moderate asthma. Both leptin concentrations and leptin/adiponectin ratio served as markers for discriminating asthma patients from controls on the one hand, and severe from mild to moderate asthmatics on the other. Leptin levels were inversely correlated with both FEV1/FVC and FEF25–75 in patients with mild to moderate asthma. Atopic asthma patients had higher leptin concentrations than nonatopic asthma patients. There was a positive correlation between serum leptin and total IgE levels in atopic asthmatics. Finally, serum leptin levels and leptin/adiponectin ratio were significantly increased during asthma exacerbations, while adiponectin and ghrelin levels were significantly decreased. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that leptin, adiponectin, and ghrelin may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of asthma during both stable state and asthma exacerbation, independent of obesity.
Prosodic rhythm and the status of vowel reduction in Greek

The present paper reports on a production experiment, in which the spectra and duration of the five Greek vowels were measured in trisyllabic and pentasyllabic words. The results suggest that vowel shortening and reduction in Greek vowels are extensive even in normal speech rates for all five vowels. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between the number of syllables in a word and the likelihood of shortening and reduction: greater tendency for shortening and reduction was found in longer words. Finally, the rhythmic category of Greek was assessed to fall between stress timed and syllable timed languages.
PDE Backstepping Boundary Observer Design for Microfluidic Systems

In this brief, we explore the use of conformal mapping theory to reduce the complexity in PDE backstepping boundary observer design. The technique is applied to a genetic analysis microchip that features a collocated sensor-actuator architecture in which the temperature of the reaction chamber is the spatially distributed control variable. The size and structure of the microchip do not allow for sensor placement within the reaction chamber, making temperature estimation mandatory. The PDE backstepping boundary observer design is chosen to provide real-time data from the temperature inside the microchip. The standard PDE backstepping boundary observer design results in a partial differential equation for the kernel function with double the spatial dimension of the original problem, which makes the design intractable for the problems with dimensions higher than one. We show that the spatial domain of the original problem can be reduced with the use of the conformal mapping. The resulting observer is tested and experimentally validated, shown excellent performance with respect to the spacial L2 norm of the estimation error.
Probing the Stability of Insulin Oligomers Using Electrospray Ionization Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry

The peptide hormone insulin is central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body by controlling blood sugar levels. Insulin's most active form is the monomer and the extent of insulin oligomerization is related to insulin's activity of controlling blood sugar levels. Electrospray ionization (ESI) of human insulin produced a series of oligomers from the monomer to the undecamer identified using quadrupole ion mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Previous research suggested that only the monomer, dimer and hexamer are native forms of insulin in solution and the range of oligomers observed in the gas phase are ESI artifacts. Here the properties of three distinct oligomer bands, I, II and III, where both the charge state and number of insulin units of the oligomer increase incrementally, were investigated. When Zn(II) was added to the insulin sample the same oligomers were observed, but with 0–6 Zn(II) ions bound to each of the oligomers. The oligomers of bands I, II and III were characterized by comparing their drift times, collision cross-sections, relative intensities, collision-induced dissociation (CID) patterns and relative breakdown energies. Insulin oligomers of band I dissociated primarily by releasing either the 2+ or 3+ monomer accompanied by an oligomer that conserved the mass, charge and Zn(II) of the precursor. Insulin oligomers of bands II and III dissociated primarily by releasing the 2+ monomer accompanied by an oligomer that conserved the mass, charge and Zn(II) of the precursor. Comparison of CID patterns and breakdown energies showed all the oligomers in band II required higher collision energies to dissociate than oligomers in band I, and the oligomers of band III required higher energies to dissociate than the oligomers of band II. These results show that the amount of excess charge on the oligomer in respect to the number of insulin monomers in the oligomer affects their stability.
EXCITED STATE DYNAMICS IN FMO ANTENNA COMPLEXES FROM PHOTOSYNTHETIC GREEN SULFUR BACTERIA : A KINETIC MODEL

We have simulated the excited state dynamics of the FMO (Fenna−Matthews−Olson) bacteriochlorophyll a-protein complexes of the green sulfur bacteria Chlorobium (C.) tepidum and Prosthecochloris (P.) aestuarii at cryogenic temperature in terms of an exciton model. The simulation is based on the electronic structure, as described in previous publications (Louwe, R. J. W.; Vrieze, J.; Hoff, A. J.; Aartsma, T. J.; J. Phys. Chem. 1997, 101, 11280. Vulto, S. I. E.; de Baat, M. A.; Louwe, R. J. W.; Permentier, H. P.; Neef, T.; Miller, M.; van Amerongen, H.; Aartsma, T. J. J. Phys. Chem. 1998, 102, 9577). Relaxation between exciton states is described by linear electron phonon coupling as a perturbation term in the Hamiltonian of the system. The simulation was compared with experimental data obtained by pump−probe measurements with various wavelengths of excitation. For C. tepidum, a quite good agreement was obtained between the calculated and measured dynamics. For P. aestuarii, the simulations are less satisfact.
Extraction of motor primitive in consideration of arm posture, movement direction and velocity using Hidden Markov Model

In this paper, we propose a method to extract motor primitives from electromyography(EMG) signals on reaching movements of human arm. EMG signals reflect the motor commands from the central nervous system (CNS). Especially, we extract the motor primitives in consideration of arm posture, movement direction and velocity using only EMG signals. As an experimental task, we performed two kinds of experiments on a horizontal plane, measured ten EMG signals and the hand trajectories during movement. Specially, we extracted motor primitive from the EMG signals during movement by using hidden Markov model. Finally, in order to verify how accurately our proposed method divides the motor primitives, we compared the boundary points between the extracted two motor primitives with via-points that were estimated by using forward and inverse dynamics models
Long‐Term Carcinogenicity Bioassay on Vinylidene Chloride Administered by Inhalation to Sprague‐Dawley Rats a

Vinylidene chloride was administered by inhalation, 7 hours daily, 5 days weekly, at the concentration of 100 and 0 ppm, to Sprague-Dawley rats. The treatment was started on 13-week-old breeders, and male and female offspring (12-day embryos). The breeders and some of the offspring were exposed for 104 weeks; the other offspring were exposed for 15 weeks only. An increased incidence was found of malignant tumors and of leukemias, particularly in offspring treated for 104 weeks.
RF power density measurements for RF energy harvesting in automobile factories

This paper presents RF power density measurements carried out at an automobile manufacturing plant in the UK. This measurement campaign was carried out in order to quantify the amount of ambient RF power available within the plant. Due to the location of the plant, low power density measurements were recorded in the base-station downlink. The dominant frequencies at the plant were GSM-1800 and 3G. Average input RF power density for horizontal and vertical polarizations showed few variations in amplitude compared to the maximum hold technique for the frequency band surveyed. The measurement campaign showed that at some locations at the plant, the input RF power density for 3G mobile transmit band was more than the base-station downlink.
A Survey on Volunteer Management Systems

Voluntary work is indispensable in nearly every area of today's society, e.g., service activities in health care or emergencies. Not least because of this omnipresence of volunteering, already a plethora of volunteer management systems (VMS) has emerged, trying to support diverse volunteering processes and to deal with the broad spectrum and peculiarities of voluntary work. Thus, an in-depth understanding of functional commonalities and differences of VMS is urgently needed. The goal of this paper is therefore to provide an in-depth survey of existing VMS. For this, first, an initial attempt towards a reference model (RM) for VMS is presented, capturing their basic functional ingredients and interrelationships in terms of UML class diagrams. Second, the RM is operationalized by means of a set of evaluation criteria used to compare seven carefully selected VMS, thereby discussing their peculiarities and shortcomings. Third, lessons learned are provided together with research directions for future VMS.
Aperiodic capillary electrophoresis method using an alternating current electric field for separation of macromolecules

Switching from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) electric fields has provided substantial improvements in various instrument techniques that use electric fields for manipulating with various liquid‐based systems. For example, AC fields are now used in both light scattering and electroacoustic instruments for measuring ξ‐potential, largely replacing more traditional microelectrophoresis techniques that use DC fields. In this paper, we suggest a novel way to make a similar transition in the area of separation techniques, capillary electrophoresis (CE) in particular. Dielectrophoresis is one well‐known separation effect in which a drifting motion of particles is produced in a “spatially nonhomogeneous” AC electric field. However, there is another field effect that also causes a similar drift of particles. Instead of a “spatially nonhomogeneous” field, this method relies on a “temporally nonhomogeneous” field, normally referred to as “aperiodic electrophoresis”. Despite a number of recently published experimental and theoretical papers describing this effect, it is less well‐known than dielectrophoresis. We present a short overview of some of the relevant papers. We point out for the first time the idea that “aperiodic electrophoresis” might be useful for separation of macromolecules. We suggest several new mechanisms that could induce this effect in a sufficiently strong AC electric field. This effect can be used as a basis for a new separation method having several important advantages over traditional CE. We present a simple scheme as an example illustrating this new method.
High temperature GaAs X-ray detectors

Two GaAs p+-i-n+ mesa X-ray photodiodes were characterized for their electrical and photon counting X-ray spectroscopic performance over the temperature range of 100 °C to –20 °C. The devices had 10 μm thick i layers with different diameters: 200 μm (D1) and 400 μm (D2). The electrical characterization included dark current and capacitance measurements at internal electric field strengths of up to 50 kV/cm. The determined properties of the two devices were compared with previously reported results that were made with a view to informing the future development of photon counting X-ray spectrometers for harsh environments, e.g., X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy of planetary surfaces in high temperature environments. The best energy resolution obtained (Full Width at Half Maximum at 5.9 keV) decreased from 2.00 keV at 100 °C to 0.66 keV at –20 °C for the spectrometer with D1, and from 2.71 keV at 100 °C to 0.71 keV at –20 °C for the spectrometer with D2. Dielectric noise was found to be the dominant source of noise in the spectra, apart from at high temperatures and long shaping times, where the main source of photopeak broadening was found to be the white parallel noise.Two GaAs p+-i-n+ mesa X-ray photodiodes were characterized for their electrical and photon counting X-ray spectroscopic performance over the temperature range of 100 °C to –20 °C. The devices had 10 μm thick i layers with different diameters: 200 μm (D1) and 400 μm (D2). The electrical characterization included dark current and capacitance measurements at internal electric field strengths of up to 50 kV/cm. The determined properties of the two devices were compared with previously reported results that were made with a view to informing the future development of photon counting X-ray spectrometers for harsh environments, e.g., X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy of planetary surfaces in high temperature environments. The best energy resolution obtained (Full Width at Half Maximum at 5.9 keV) decreased from 2.00 keV at 100 °C to 0.66 keV at –20 °C for the spectrometer with D1, and from 2.71 keV at 100 °C to 0.71 keV at –20 °C for the spectrometer with D2. Dielectric noise was found to be the dominant source of.
A New Approach in Adolescent Alcohol Intoxication – Clinical Pediatric Experience and Research Combined

Misuse of alcohol has become a pediatric health care issue during the last decade. In clinical practice, patients are first treated in an acute care setting. After sobering up, follow-up treatment starts in an outpatient department. To cope with the increasing numbers of underage patients with alcohol intoxication, special programs have been developed to improve follow-up treatment of these patients. The focus has shifted towards underlying neuropsychological and social problems. The main goals of the program are behavioral changes and prevention of new events.
The effect of irrigation of intracisternal papaverine on cerebral blood flow in subarachnoid hemorrhage

Background: Despite different treatments, cerebral vasospasm is still the most important cause of death in patients after subarachnoid hemorrhage. This study was conducted to explore the effect of intracisternal washing with papaverine on cerebral blood flow. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 40 patients and totally 120 arteries in 2010. Then, variations in cerebral blood flow before and after washing with papaverine were measured and analyzed. Results: Twenty (20) patients with aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery (ACOM) and 20 patients with aneurysm of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) were assessed. Mean blood flow before aneurysm and before washing in ACOM and MCA was 70.68 ± 14.8 cm/s and 65.66 ± 9.3 cm/s, respectively, which reached 23.25 ± 5.17 cm/s and 34.1 ± 4.7 cm/s, respectively after washing (P value = 0.016 and 0.024). Mean blood flow after aneurysm and before washing in ACOM and MCA was 95.12 ± 13.9 cm/s and 67.44 ± 15.16 cm/s, respectively, which reached 35.69 ± 6.2 cm/s and 38.01 ± 8.28 cm/s, respectively after washing (P value = 0.001 and 0.01). Conclusion: Washing with papaverine significantly reduces cerebral blood flow and relieves vasospasm.