Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distributed allocation of subcarrier, power and bit-level in multicell orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access networks

The downlink of multicell orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) networks is studied, and the adaptive allocation of spectrum, power and rate is addressed. The authors consider networks with adaptive frequency reuse and discrete-level rates. Initially, the joint allocation problem is formulated as a centralised non-linear mixed-integer program (MIP), which is computationally intractable to solve optimally for practical problem sizes. Then, the capability of the receivers is exploited to estimate the subcarrier channel gains and the joint allocation problem is accordingly decomposed into subproblems, each of which is solved by a different base station with linear complexity. In the proposed iterative algorithm, the base stations perform rate and receiver allocation per subcarrier, with concurrent iterations. A filtering method is introduced to further decrease the algorithm complexity. Furthermore, for benchmarking purposes, the authors transform the original non-linear MIP to a linear MIP and find the optimal solution by means of standard branch-and-cut solvers. The merit of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated with numerical comparisons of its performance against the solutions of the linear MIP and the iterative waterfilling algorithm.
Anal endosonography and correlation with in vitro and in vivo anatomy

The endosonographic anatomy of the anal sphincters was studied by in vivo and in vitro correlation with anatomical dissection. Fourteen fresh anorectal specimens (eight abdominoperineal resection, six post mortem) were scanned in a water‐bath with sequential dissection and correlation with the ultrasonographic images. Accurate anatomical identification of the layers during dissection was confirmed histologically. Anal endosonography was performed during operation in 12 patients to validate the in vitro findings. The in vivo study confirmed the in vitro results. Basic endosonographic anatomy has been clarified and inaccuracies in the previous description of the longitudinal muscle and external anal sphincter corrected.
Radioimmunotherapy of prostatic adenocarcinomas: Effects of 131I‐labelled E4 antibodies on cells at different depth in DU 145 spheroids

Spheroids of the human prostatic adenocarcinoma cell line DU 145 were used to study experimental radioimmunotherapy. Spheroids were incubated with the 131l‐labelled monoclonal E4 antibody until the radionuclide immunoconjugate had bound the 5 to 6 outermost cell layers of the spheroids. A set of 50 spheroids were exposed, either immediately or 48 hr after antibody incubation and washings, to a dilute trypsin solution with the aim of stripping off cells from the spheroid surface. Stripped cells were collected in fractions corresponding to defined spherical shells. Cells were subsequently plated for clonogenic growth. The technique of automated sequential trypsinization of spheroids followed by a clonogenic survival assay permits studies on therapeutic efficacy for radionuclide immunoconjugates on cells from different layers of spheroids. In addition, the absorbed doses throughout a spheroid were calculated. The binding and retention kinetics of the radionuclide immunoconjugate and the excess of 131l‐E4 in the culture medium during incubation are factors that were all accounted for in the calculations. If the calculated absorbed doses were inserted into the linear‐quadratic survival model and the low dose rate was taken into account, survival values were well in accordance with the experimentally obtained values. The results demonstrate that the 131I‐labelled E4 antibody is capable of sterilizing cultured tumour cells that have bound the radionuclide immunoconjugate and, by means of radiation “cross‐fire”, those cells located in close proximity.
New accelerated graph-based method of image segmentation applying minimum spanning tree

In this paper problem of graph based image segmentation is considered. In particular, attention is paid to minimal spanning tree based algorithm proposed by Felzenszwalb and Huttenlocher (FH). Although the method yields high quality results for various classes of images, its application is limited mainly to off-line processing. Its due to the very long execution time of the FH method, which in the case of high resolution images, requires processing of millions of vertices and edges contained within the resulting graph. Therefore, some improvements to the FH method are proposed in this paper. The modifications aim at the reduction of algorithm execution time and the usage of computer host memory. These goals are achieved both by reducing the size of input image graph and by applying the methods of GPU parallel computing at initial stages of the algorithm. As the reduction of graph size is obtained by processing meta-pixels representing homogenous regions, the new method is most suitable for the segmentation of images including rare, structurally complex objects distributed over nonuniform background. Results obtained by the introduced approach are compared with the results of the original FH method and other popular graph-based approaches to image segmentation. The comparison includes both the accuracy of image segmentation and the execution time. Analysis of the results clearly shows, that the proposed approach in many cases can significantly accelerate segmentation process without a noticeable loss of image segmentation quality.
When the B-team runs plasticity: GluR2 receptor trafficking in cerebellar long-term potentiation.

Common wisdom among neuroscientists holds that cerebellar learning and synaptic plasticity are “somehow” different from their counterparts in other brain areas. This notion is largely based on the assumption that forms of cerebellar motor learning are mediated by long-term depression (LTD) of synaptic transmission at parallel fiber (PF)–Purkinje cell (PC) synapses, whereas in other brain areas, such as the hippocampus, long-term potentiation (LTP) is seen as the cellular learning correlate. But what distinguishes cerebellar synaptic plasticity mechanisms from those at other types of synapses, for example, at the well characterized hippocampal CA3–CA1 synapse? In a recent issue of PNAS, Kakegawa and Yuzaki (1) demonstrate that α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor delivery into synapses is involved in a recently discovered form of cerebellar LTP, enabling comparison with similar processes at hippocampal CA3–CA1 synapses. At these glutamatergic synapses, fast excitation relies on AMPA receptors, which are heteromeric complexes of the four homologous subunits GluR1 to GluR4 (also GluRA to GluRD). In hippocampal pyramidal cells, the majority of AMPA receptors consist of GluR1–GluR2 and GluR2–GluR3 heteromeric complexes. The current understanding is that hippocampal plasticity largely rests on modifications of the GluR1 subunit, resulting in altered GluR1 subunit trafficking and/or single-channel conductance changes. Kakegawa and Yuzaki (1) present evidence that plasticity at cerebellar PF–PC synapses differs substantially from hippocampal plasticity and relies on GluR2 subunit trafficking. Their data provide an example of a form of LTP that depends on the activity-dependent insertion of GluR2 subunits into synapses. These findings complement an emerging picture of remarkable differences between hippocampal and cerebellar plasticity, but also astonishing similarities. In several aspects, cerebellar plasticity provides a mirror image of hippocampal plasticity: hippocampal LTP induction requires large calcium transients that promote the activation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase II …
Pseudotumor Cerebri Pathophysiology

Pseudotumor cerebri syndrome (PTCS) is an uncommon disorder of raised intracranial pressure of unknown etiology. The signs and symptoms have been well described but the pathogenesis remains a mystery. Most of the evidence suggests increased resistance to cerebrospinal fluid outflow as being pivotal to the disorder. Any comprehensive theory on causation will have to explain the preponderance of obese women of childbearing age with primary PTCS and lack of ventriculomegaly in the disorder. It is possible that female sex hormones, along with endocrinologically active adipose tissue, directly result in the syndrome, in those genetically predisposed. Aldosterone has been proposed also as important in the development of PTCS. Vitamin A, in the form of retinoic acid, may also play a pivotal role, and is influenced by both estrogen and adipose tissue. This article reviews proposed mechanisms of PTCS.
Measuring the Effects of Salinity Stress In the Red Mangrove, Rhizophora mangle L.

The mangrove habitat exhibits many unique physical features, one of the most important of which is a salinity gradient. Photosynthetic rates, as measured by leaf stomatal conductance and leaf chlorophyll fluorescence induction, were tested as indicators of salinity stress in seedlings of the red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle, grown under five different salinity levels: 0, 15, 30, 45, and 60 parts per thousand. Photosynthetic gas exchange (measured by stomatal conductance), as well as the light reaction of photosynthesis (measured by chlorophyll fluorescence) were found to decrease as salinity increased. The use of leaf stomatal conductance and chlorophyll fluorescence as a measure of photosynthesis allowed a rapid and reliable quantification of the known stressor, salinity, in seedlings of R. mangle. These non-destructive in-vivo techniques were found to be rapid and reliable for monitoring photosynthetic stress, an important physiological parameter determining survival and growth of mangrove plants. These techniques should be considered in forestry management and mangrove restoration projects to assess plant condition.
Takayasu arteritis.

Takayasu arteritis, also known as pulseless disease, is a rare chronic inflammatory arteritis predominantly involving larger vessels especially the aorta and its branches. Involvement of the aortic arch and its major branches usually occurs at the origin from the aorta. The most frequently affected arteries are the subclavian (90%), carotid (45%), vertebral (25%), and renal (20%). The cause of Takayasu arteritis is unknown, but it is generally thought to originate in the vasa vasorum. Ultimately, the inflammation may lead to wall thickening, fibrosis, vessel stenosis, thrombosis, and aneurysm. The incidence in Europe and in the United States varies from 1.2 to 2.6/million/yr, but it is probably higher in Japan. Clinical manifestations are quite variable. Constitutional symptoms may include fatigue, weight loss, low-grade fever, arthralgia, and myalgia. Vascular disease may range from no symptoms to catastrophic disease related to vascular occlusion. Neurological manifestations include headache, transient ischemic attack, cerebral infarction and hemorrhage, hypertensive encephalopathy, confusion, vertigo, dementia, and bilateral blindness. Sonography is often the first modality used to evaluate a patient with suspected Takayasu arteritis. Sonographic findings include uniform thickening of the arterial wall (video; Supplementary Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/RUQ/A44), which leads to decreased luminal diameter/stenosis usually over a long segment of arterial wall. Visualization of flow in enlarged vasa vasorum may occur, as noted in this case (videos; Supplementary Digital Content 2, http://links.lww.com/RUQ/A45; Supplementary Digital Content 3, http://links.lww.com/RUQ/A46; Supplementary Digital Content 4, http://links.lww.com/RUQ/A47; Figs. 1 and 2).
Emotional Intelligence: An Integral Part of Positive Psychology

Both “emotional intelligence” and “positive psychology” are rapidly becoming very visible, popular and important areas within psychology. This article suggests that emotional intelligence should be considered an integral part of positive psychology. Empirical findings are presented that support this notion in addition to examining the way both disciplines have been described, defined and conceptualised over the past decade. This approach to categorising emotional intelligence is one way of justifying where it should be placed within the field of psychology. In light of the fact that the current article addresses this issue directly and based on the specific approach which is applied, it is hoped that this publication will represent a useful contribution to the literature.
Bacterial catalysis of nitrosation: involvement of the nar operon of Escherichia coli

We have developed a rapid and sensitive fluorimetric method, based on the formation of a fluorescent product from nitrosation of 2,3-diaminonaphthalene, for measuring the ability of bacteria to catalyze nitrosation of amines. We have shown in Escherichia coli that nitrosation can be induced under anaerobic conditions by nitrite and nitrate, that formate is the most efficient electron donor for this reaction, and that nitrosation may be catalyzed by nitrate reductase (EC 1.7.99.4). The narG mutants defective in nitrate reductase do not catalyze nitrosation, and the fnr gene is essential for nitrosation. Induction by nitrite or nitrate of nitrosation, N2O production, and nitrate reductase activity all require the narL gene.
Obliquely cut open ended coaxial probe for obtaining complex permittivity of lossy materials

In microwave frequencies, the usual technique to measure the complex permittivity of high lossy material as human tissue is to use the open ended coaxial probe. In this paper, to carry reliable contact between the open end and the measuring sample, obliquely cut open ended coaxial probe has been developed. The result of measurement for sample is compared with those obtained from Debye equation. From the results, it is found that by the obliquely cut open coaxial probe, the complex permittivity of ethanol with the purity of 99.5% can be measured. In addition, the electric field distribution is simulated to confirm the area of measurement. By this measuring system, it can be measured for deep point in the material and biological body.
Urban Landscapes and Sustainable Cities

Ecological research targeting sustainable urban landscapes needs to include findings and methods from many lines of ecological research, such as the link between biodiversity and ecosystem function, the role of humans in ecosystems, landscape connectivity, and resilience. This paper reviews and highlights the importance of these issues for sustainable use of ecosystem services, which is argued to be one aspect of sustainable cities. The paper stresses the need to include social and economic factors when analyzing urban landscapes. Spatially explicit data can be used to assess the roles different green areas have in providing people with ecosystem services, and whether people actually have access to the services. Such data can also be used to assess connectivity and heterogeneity, both argued to be central for continuous, long-term provision of these services, and to determine the role urban form has for sustainability.
Application-aware solid-state drives (SSDs) with adaptive coding

Application-aware solid-state drives (SSDs) with 2 adaptive coding schemes to improve reliability are presented. In NAND flash memory, a direct reliability trade-off exists between write/erase (W/E) cycle and data-retention (DR) time. Thus, SSDs can be used for applications that have long DR time and low W/E cycles, or short DR time with high W/E cycles. The n-out-of-8 level cell (nLC) scheme is proposed for low-cost, long-term, archive storage which is indispensable to preserve human digital data. nLC eliminates the memory states of the Triple-Level Cell (TLC) NAND flash memory from 8 to 7.4 levels. Universal asymmetric coding (UAC) is also proposed for cloud/security camera/enterprise storage environments which require high endurance but shorter DR time. Both nLC and UAC optimize coding based on the applications' required W/E cycle and DR. Bit-error rates (BERs) are improved by 79% and 52% with nLC and UAC, respectively.
Single Injections of a DNA Plasmid That Contains the Human Bcl-2 Gene Prevent Loss and Atrophy of Distinct Neuronal Populations after Spinal Cord Injury in Adult Rats

Spinal cord injury in adult mammals causes atrophy or loss of axotomized neurons. We have previously found that the product of the antiapoptotic gene Bcl-2, delivered by intraspinal injection of a DNA plasmid, reduces atrophy and loss of axotomized Clarke's nucleus neurons in adult rats. Here we studied whether the same treatment protects axotomized red nucleus (RN) neurons. Two months after the right dorsolateral funiculus was ablated in adult Sprague-Dawley rats by C3/C4 subtotal hemisection there was ∼48% loss of RN neurons in the magnocellular portion of the RN contralateral to the lesion and atrophy of many surviving neurons. When a DNA plasmid encoding the human Bcl-2 gene and the bacterial reporter gene LacZ, complexed with cationic lipids, was injected just rostral to the subtotal hemisection site, 87% of RN neurons survived, and there was partial, but robust, protection from atrophy. These and our previous results indicated that intraspinal administration of the Bcl-2 gene can prevent retrograde cell loss and reduce atrophy of axotomized RN and Clarke's nucleus neurons in adult rats and provide an effective means to rescue neurons whose survival depends on different growth factors.
Efficient Implementation of Dual First Order Algorithms

In this Thesis, numerical implementation of optimization algorithms for convex quadratic problems that appear in model predictive control for embedded linear systems, are examined. Different versions of dual first order methods are introduced and their complexity estimates are presented. The methods are implemented in the efficient programming language C, and optimized for low iteration complexity and low memory footprint. Extensive numerical simulations are conducted to test their performance and robustness, both against each other and against a commercial solver. Furthermore, a toolbox called DuQuad [1], that contains the implemented algorithms, is developed. The toolbox has a dynamic MATLAB interface which make the process of testing, comparing, and analysing the algorithms simple. The algorithms are implemented using only basic arithmetic and logical operations and are suitable to run on low cost hardware. It is shown that if an approximate solution is sufficient for a given application, there exists problems where some of the implemented algorithms obtain the solution faster than the state-of-the-art commercial solver.
Chromosomal tet(O)-Harboring Regions in Campylobacter coli Isolates from Turkeys and Swine

ABSTRACT In turkey-derived Campylobacter coli isolates of a unique lineage (cluster II), the tetracycline resistance determinant tet(O) was chromosomal and was part of a gene cassette (transposon) interrupting a Campylobacter jejuni-associated putative citrate transporter gene. In contrast, the swine-derived C. coli strain 6461 harbored a chromosomal tet(O) in a different genomic location.
Uma interface multimodal para objetos de aprendizagem visualizados na TV digital

This paper proposes a paper interface, with the use of a barcode reader as Digital TV (DTV) interaction device. With the DTV, t-learning arises as an opportunity in order to promote the learning to a major amount of people than the traditional e-learning doesn't reach. But, the use of remote control in the DTV has resulted a complex viewer interaction that may cause the user's frustration and irritation and the ease of use is one of the most important factors in the DTV. This paper aims linking the common paper with DTV, in order to get better usabilility and promote more conditions to t-learning. A prototype was finished, and usability tests were carried out. The results show that the barcode reader can be used as DTV interaction device.
Minocycline as Adjunctive Therapy for Schizophrenia: An Open-Label Study

Minocycline is a caspase inhibitor, decreases inducible nitric oxide synthase, and has been shown to delay disease in a mouse model of neuropsychiatric disorders. Recently, we reported the antipsychotic effects of minocycline in patients with schizophrenia. In a pilot investigation, we administered minocycline (150 mg/d) for 4 weeks as an open-label adjunct to antipsychotic medication to 22 patients with schizophrenia. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for schizophrenia showed statistically significant and robust clinical improvements with minocycline treatment, which were maintained at follow-up evaluation 4 weeks after the end of minocycline treatment. There were no adverse events. These results suggest that minocycline may be a safe and effective adjunct to antipsychotic medications, and that augmentation with minocycline may prove to be a viable strategy for "boosting" antipsychotic efficacy and for treating schizophrenia.
A low power consumption 10-bit rail-to-rail SAR ADC using a C-2C capacitor array

A 10-bit Successive Approximation Register (SAR) Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) for biomedical applications is presented. The proposed SAR ADC achieves rail-to-rail input range and low power consumption. A Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) using C-2C capacitor array and dynamic comparator is used for low power consumption. It is realized in 0.18 mum standard CMOS technology. This ADC has signal to noise and distortion ratios (SNDR) of 53.8dB for 1.5 V supply voltage. It consumes 13.4 muW at sampling rates of 137 kS/s.
Elevated levels of Legionella pneumophila stress protein Hsp60 early in infection of human monocytes and L929 cells correlate with virulence

Legionella pneumophila 2064 was selectively radiolabelled in mouse L929 cells and human monocytes to identify proteins expressed early in the course of infection. Polypeptide profiles (sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and fluorography) of adherent or intracellular bacteria indicated that a 60-kDa stress protein (Hsp60) was preferentially synthesized. Hsp60 synthesis was not induced by medium alone. The synthesis of many polypeptides, including OmpS (major outer membrane protein), diminished over the 1-h period postinfection. However, by 17 h postinfection OmpS and Hsp60 were the dominant proteins synthesized by 2064. To establish whether induction of Hsp60 was a correlate of virulence, an isogenic avirulent strain (2064M) of 2064 was isolated following selection on a nonpermissive medium. 2064M did not exhibit a stress response when adherent or intracellular in L929 cells or in human monocytes and failed to abrogate phagosome-lysosome fusion. When grown in vitro, 2064M exhibited no deficiencies in the heat shock response and its polypeptide profile resembled that of 2064. Immunogold electron microscopy was used to localize Hsp60 in L. pneumophila-infected L929 cells. There was an increase in the number of gold particles associated with phagosomes for phagosomes harboring single 2064 bacteria compared with those harboring 2064M. Moreover, by 1 h postinfection, a sixfold increase in the number of gold spheres associated with the membranes of phagosomes was observed for phagosomes harboring 2064 compared with those harboring 2064M. These studies indicate that virulent, but not NaCl-tolerant avirulent, strains of L. pneumophila respond to host-cell-associated environmental signals early in the course of infection. This response includes increased synthesis and possibly extracellular secretion of Hsp60 concomitant with repression of the expression of other genes, including ompS.