Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the balance of multiuser diversity and spatial multiplexing gain in random beamforming

This paper is concerned with the problem of exploiting spatial multiplexing gain through opportunistic beamforming with multiple random beams. The base station transmits multiple pilot sequences using orthogonal beams, and each user feeds the channel gain of each beam back. Then, the base station selects the subset of users and beams for which the sum-rate is maximized. We aim to exploit spatial multiplexing gain in a controlled fashion, i.e., the number of beams used for data transmission is chosen depending on the available multiuser diversity in the system. Two schemes are proposed: dynamic Orthonormal Random Beamforming with Systematic Beam Selection (ORBF/SBS), for which the number of beams used for data transmission is dynamically changed from one fading block to another so that the sum-rate is maximized; and static ORBF/SBS, which selects a fixed number of beams for a given signal-to-noise ratio and user number. The static scheme achieves the sum-rate of the dynamic one up to a small gap with much reduced computational and feedback complexity. We derive an approximate expression for the sum-rate achieved by the dynamic scheme, and provide insight into the optimal data stream number in the static scheme by means of asymptotical results. Computer simulations are provided to evaluate the performance of the proposed schemes.
Combined Effects of Cadmium and UVB Radiation on Sea Urchin Embryos: Skeleton Impairment Parallels p38 MAPK Activation and Stress Genes Overexpression.

Human and natural activities release many pollutants in the marine environment. The mixture of pollutants can affect many organisms concurrently. We used Paracentrotus lividus as a model to analyze the effects on signal transduction pathways and stress gene expression in embryos exposed continuously to double stress, i.e., cadmium (Cd) from fertilization and UVB at cleavage (Cd/UVB-embryos). By microscopical inspection, we evaluated embryonic morphology after 72 h of development. Tissue-specific markers were used to assess mesoderm differentiation by immunofluorescence. We analyzed p38MAPK, ERK1/2, and JNK activation by Western blot and mRNA profiles of Pl-MT, Pl-14-3-3epsilon, and Pl-jun genes by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and the localization of their transcripts by whole mount in situ hybridization (WMISH). We found that the Cd/UVB combined exposure induced morphological malformations in 76% of pluteus embryos, mainly affecting the development of the skeleton, including the normal branching of skeletal roads. In Cd/UVB-embryos, p38MAPK was activated 1 h after UVB exposure and a remarkable overexpression of the Pl-MT, Pl-14.3. 3epsilon, and Pl-jun genes 24 h after UVB exposure. Pl-MT and Pl-14.3. 3epsilon mRNAs were misexpressed as they were localized in a position different from that observed in wild-type embryos, i.e., the intestine. On the contrary, Pl-jun mRNA has remained localized in the skeletogenic cells despite their displacement in exposed embryos. In conclusion, Cd/UVB exposure affected skeletal patterning producing alternative morphologies in which p38MAPK activation and Pl-MT, Pl-14.3. 3epsilon, and Pl-jun gene overexpression seem linked to a protective role against the stress response induced by Cd/UVB.
Characterization of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 envelope glycoproteins: dimerization of the glycoprotein precursor during processing

Four glycoproteins with apparent molecular weights of 300,000, 140,000, 125,000, and 36,000 (gp300, gp140, gp125, and gp36) were detectable in human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2)-infected cells. gp125 and gp36 are the external and transmembrane components, respectively, of the envelope glycoproteins of HIV-2 mature virions. gp300 and gp140 are only detectable in virus-infected cells. They have identical isoelectric points, suggesting that gp300 might be a dimeric form of the immature precursor, gp140. The purified gp300 can be dissociated in a slightly acidic buffer to give rise to monomers of 140,000 molecular weight. Such dissociated monomers and the purified gp140 showed identical patterns of polypeptides after partial proteolysis with Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease. Pulse-chase experiments indicated that gp300 is formed after synthesis of gp140 and before the detection of the mature external envelope glycoprotein, gp125. These results were confirmed by using various inhibitors of glycosylation and inhibitors of trimming enzymes. Dimer formation of the envelope glycoprotein precursor was also observed in cells infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a virus closely related to HIV-2. On the other hand, the envelope glycoprotein precursor of HIV-1 did not form a dimer during its processing. Therefore, dimer formation seems to be a specific property of HIV-2 and SIV envelope gene expression. Such transient dimerization of the glycoprotein precursor might be required for its efficient transport to the Golgi apparatus and for its processing.
BTF-based Material Representations: Current Challenges

The development of Bidirectional Texture Functions (BTFs) has made it possible for a wide range of different materials to acquire their characteristic appearance from a real-world counterpart and reproduce it faithfully in a high-quality rendering, that is hard to distinguish from an actual photograph. However, they have not yet found wide-spread use in practical applications. In this paper, we discuss, from our point of view, the main reasons for this and which unanswered questions and challenges for future research in this area remain. We focus on three different aspects: How can BTFs be measured and represented more efficiently? How can they be edited intuitively? And finally, can we find a perceptual difference metric between materials?
Spectrum-based fault localization tool with test case preprocessor

Spectrum-based Fault Localization (SBFL) is an emerging debugging technique that assists software developers to locate faulty code in software. By utilizing code execution information (spectra), SBFL metrics rank lines of codes in software according to their likeliness to be faulty. However, recent studies showed that contradicting, duplicated or noisy spectra may deteriorate the ranking accuracy of SBFL metrics. In this paper, we propose and develop a novel SBFL tool with test case preprocessor to filter out test cases with contradicting, duplicated or other noisy spectra. Case studies conducted on real life faulty programs show that the proposed SBFL tool with test case preprocessor has successfully improved the performance of SBFL metrics in majority of the cases studied.
Falls and catastrophic thoughts about falls predict mobility restriction in community-dwelling older people: A structural equation modelling approach

Objectives: How and when concerns about falls emerge is not yet completely known, because these concerns are present in both people with and without a falls history. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of catastrophic beliefs about falls and previous falls in the development of concerns about falls and resulting mobility restrictions (MR). Method: Within a cross-sectional design, 896 older people (mean age 76.2 ± 4.7) living independently in the community completed a battery of questionnaires. Self-report data was gathered on previous falls, catastrophic beliefs about consequences of a fall (Catastrophizing About Falls Scale), concerns about falls (modified Falls Efficacy Scale) and mobility restrictions during daily life (Sickness Impact Profile 68). Results: Using structural equation modelling, we found that the number of falls in the previous year was not directly related to mobility restrictions in daily life, but via an increase of concerns about falls. Also catastrophic beliefs about the consequences of falls were related to concerns about falls and to mobility restrictions. Goodness-of-fit indices revealed that the presented model had an acceptable fit. Alternative models resulted in lesser-fit indices. Conclusion: Both previous falls and catastrophic beliefs about falls are unique and independent predictors of concerns about falls and, subsequently, of mobility restrictions. A cognitive-behavioural perspective upon mobility restrictions may provide important additional components for treatment and prevention of excessive concerns about falls in older people.
Party development in the early decades of the Australian parliament: a new perspective

ABSTRACT This study offers a new perspective on the development of political parties in the Australian House of Representatives. We analyse a data set of 3060 legislative votes to estimate how parties influenced the behaviour of 287 legislators who served in the first 12 parliaments (1901-31). We show that the socialisation of members and cohort replacement effects, as well as a decline in private member business and committee votes, explain why partisanship increased over time. Our results challenge two widely held beliefs about the organisation of political parties in the legislative arena and the Australian party system. First, the analysis demonstrates that the government’s ability to increase party discipline through control of the legislative agenda is limited when parliament is engaged in nation-building projects. Second, our study suggests that introducing restrictive parliamentary procedures played a role in consolidating Australia’s unique two-party system, which opposes Labor to the Liberal–National coalition.
VHF switching DC/DC converter: Electromagnetic emissions assessment

The Gallium Nitride semiconductor technology allows switching operation at high frequency and supports voltage levels compatible with medium power applications. Its emergence has resulted in a number of works investigating the feasibility of high frequency DC/DC converter prototypes primarily in terms of efficiency. The present paper goes one step beyond and reports electromagnetic emission measurements, both conducted and radiated, made on a DC/DC converter operated at 50 MHz Very High Frequency, 30 V input voltage and 7.5 W power level. The measured performances are tentatively assessed to drive the design of future VHF converters.
Inhibition of phorbol ester-induced cellular adhesion by competitive binding of NF-kappa B in vivo

Adhesive interactions between cells are essential for the organization and function of differentiated tissues and organs and are mediated by inducible cell surface glycoproteins. In normal tissues, cell adhesion molecules contribute to immune regulation, inflammation, and embryogenesis. Additionally, they play an important role in a variety of pathogenic processes. Cell adhesion molecule expression can be induced by stimuli known to activate NF-kappa B, a ubiquitous transcription factor found in a variety of cell types. To investigate the role of NF-kappa B in cell adhesion molecule expression, we treated HL-60 cells with a double-stranded oligonucleotide which specifically inhibits NF-kappa B-mediated transcription. This treatment resulted in the inhibition of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-induced cellular adhesion, morphological changes, and the expression of leukocyte integrin CD11b. In a similar fashion, expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 on human endothelial cells induced by PMA was specifically inhibited by the NF-kappa B antagonist. We suggest that NF-kappa B activation is a necessary event for the PMA-induced differentiation of HL-60 cells and the expression of certain activation is a necessary event for the PMA-induced differentiation of HL-60 cells and the expression of certain adhesion molecules. Furthermore, the inhibition of transcription factor functions by this generally applicable mechanism can be used to define their role in cellular differentiation and function.
Dragon's Blood May Have Radioprotective Effects in Radiation-Induced Rat Brain Injury

Dragon's blood is a bright red resin obtained from Dracaena cochinchinensis. It is a traditional medicinal that is used for wound healing and to stop bleeding. Its main biological activity appears to be from phenolic compounds found in Dragon's blood. In this study, the radioprotective effects of Dragon's blood were examined after whole brain irradiation of rats with either 100 MeV/u Carbon 12C6+ heavy ions or 60Co γ-rays. The amounts of radiation-induced oxidative stress, inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis in irradiated rat brains were compared with and without Dragon's blood treatment. Compared to the “irradiation only” control group, the Dragon's blood treatment group significantly decreased malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide levels, and increased superoxide dismutase activity and glutathione levels induced by oxidative stress in radiation exposed rats (P < 0.05). Dragon's blood also significantly reduced radiation-induced inflammatory cytokines of tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ and interleukin-6 levels (P < 0.05) and inhibited hippocampal neuronal apoptosis in 60Co γ-ray irradiated rats. Furthermore, Dragon's blood significantly increased expression of brain-derived neurophic factor and inhibited the expression of pro-apoptotic caspase 3 (P < 0.05–0.01). Finally, Dragon's blood significantly inhibited expression of the AP-1 transcription factor family members c-fos and c-jun proteins (P < 0.05–0.01). The results obtained here suggest that Dragon's blood has radioprotective properties in rat brains after both heavy ions and 60Co γ-ray exposure.
Fair Principles for Sustainable Development

Fair Principles for Sustainable Development is one of the first books to study the developmental implications of these basic tenets of environmental policy. Having assessed the merits, drawbacks and technical feasibility for developing countries of applying the Polluter-Pays and User-Pays principles, the contributors then examine the Precautionary principle from the same perspective. This is followed by discussion of Subsidiarity, which offers guidance on the application of these principles and aims to ensure that local interests are articulated and incorporated in the decision-making process. Finally an overview by the editor draws the material together to support the application of these principles, particularly in international trade and global environmental agreements, to serve the sustainable development in the Third World.
Modeling on the PA-BDI agent in rumors spreading

The roles of individuals in an actual rumors network are different, so the rumors network is unequal. And the authoritative individual who has public authority (PA) has a significant impact on others. This paper proposes the PA-BDI model based on public authority and BDI model, and study the model structure and the reasoning process for individuals in unequal rumors networks. With the help of Anylogic, the actual course of rumor spreading is simulated based on the individual model of PA-BDI. Simulation experiment takes the event that citizens rush to purchase salt owning to Japanese Earthquake into consideration. The result of experiment indicates that the simulation can generally fit the actual event on the whole. Therefore, the PA-BDI model and the simulation in this paper can reflect the action of individuals in the network of rumor spreading.
Hardware efficient digital auto-tuning average current-mode controller

This paper introduces a new hardware efficient auto tuning for digitally controlled average current-mode (ACM) controllers. The auto-tuning procedure extracts the required coefficients of the ACM controller to achieve tight voltage regulation as well as closed-loop dynamic performance that may be defined by the end-user. System stability is facilitated for wide operation range under parameters uncertainties and other variations. It is found that information of the change in the state-variables suffice for a successful and accurate closed-loop operation without the need of a detailed extraction of the values of the passive components. The algorithm is applicable upon power up of the SMPS and has been integrated into the soft-start routine of the converter, assuring tight and stable regulation of the output voltage under all scenarios. The effectiveness of the new digital auto-tuning ACM controller is demonstrated on an experimental 500kHz, 12V-to-1.2V digitally controlled synchronous buck converter.
Community-Aware Data Propagation with Small World Feature for Internet of Vehicles

The IoV enables drivers to obtain information on road conditions, accidents, and navigation. Applications in this framework collect information through message exchanges among vehicles. However, existing routing protocols in wireless sensor networks are not suitable for IoV due to the dynamically changing network topology. Furthermore, when the density of vehicles is sparse, it is difficult to achieve long-distance transmission for common routing protocols. In this article, we present a novel scheme that incorporates a community-aware mechanism to propagate data packets based on smartphones and vehicles. Cell connections via smartphones are incorporated to transmit data packets over long distances in this scheme. The process of searching usable smartphones is based on a community-aware mechanism. We use this to determine a contact list for each vehicle for long-distance transmission, thus significantly reducing the data packet delay. The small world feature is added to IoV by constructing communication relationships between smartphones. When a vehicle fails to forward messages, our scheme can quickly find another vehicle to replace it. Thus, the robustness of IoV is enhanced. We compare our protocol to CAR and GPSR. The simulation results show that our scheme outperforms these protocols in terms of data packet delays and the packet delivery ratio.
Union formation in Russia 1985-2001.

We examine an aspect of demographic change in contemporary Russia that has received less attention from scholars: union formation. Decisions to marry and cohabit are affected by a variety of economic political and socio-cultural factors. Because the collapse of the Soviet Union has brought about dramatic changes in each of these dimensions we would expect corresponding changes in rates of marriage and cohabitation. In fact the rapid and sweeping nature of Russias economic and social transformations make Russia an especially suitable case for the study of how patterns of union formation change in response to economic and social crises. In turn nuptiality clearly affects fertility and probably also affects morbidity and mortality as well as host of other economic and social outcomes. Thus by analyzing union formation in Russia we can gain insight into other demographic and social processes that have attracted more attention. (excerpt)
Fragment‐based discovery of novel thymidylate synthase leads by NMR screening and group epitope mapping

Solution‐state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a versatile tool for the study of binding interactions between small molecules and macromolecular targets. We applied ligand‐based NMR techniques to the study of human thymidylate synthase (hTS) using known nanomolar inhibitors and a library of small molecule fragments. Screening by NMR led to the rapid identification of ligand pairs that bind in proximal sites within the cofactor‐binding pocket of hTS. Screening hits were used as search criteria within commercially available sources, and a subset of catalog analogs were tested for potency by in vitro assay and binding affinity by quantitative saturation transfer difference (STD)‐NMR titration. Two compounds identified by this approach possess low micromolar affinity and potency, as well as excellent binding efficiency against hTS. Relative binding orientations for both leads were modeled using AutoDock, and the most likely bound conformations were validated using experimentally derived STD‐NMR binding epitope data. These ligands represent novel starting points for fragment‐based drug design of non‐canonical TS inhibitors, and their binding epitopes highlight important and previously unexploited interactions with conserved residues in the cofactor‐binding site.
Losartan and low-dose hydrochlorothiazide in patients with essential hypertension. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of concomitant administration compared with individual components.

BACKGROUND Angiotensin II acts at the cellular level through specific angiotensin II subtype I, AT-1 receptors. Losartan is the first of a new class of antihypertensive agents that specifically block angiotensin II at AT-1 receptors. By acting on complementary and different pharmacologic mechanisms, the concomitant use of low doses of hydrochlorothiazide with losartan may offer an additive antihypertensive activity with fewer adverse experiences. METHODS This double-blind study evaluated losartan concomitantly administered with hydrochlorothiazide as initial therapy in 703 patients with essential hypertension. RESULTS The greatest reduction in blood pressure was observed in the 50 mg of losartan potassium and 12.5 mg of hydrochlorothiazide group (17.2 mm Hg in sitting systolic blood pressure and 13.2 mm Hg in sitting diastolic blood pressure [P < or = .001]), and the effects of the two components appeared to be additive. Seventy-eight percent of the patients treated with 50 mg of losartan potassium and 12.5 mg of hydrochlorothiazide had an excellent or good antihypertensive response (sitting diastolic blood pressure < 90 mm Hg or > or = 90 mm Hg with a reduction of 10 mm Hg or more). Peak (6 hours after dosing) and trough placebo-adjusted ratios for the losartan-hydrochlorothiazide groups ranged from 62% to 85%, indicating that there was a smooth reduction in sitting diastolic blood pressure that was sustained over 24 hours. The most common clinical adverse experiences (> or = 4%) that occurred with an incidence slightly greater than that reported by the placebo-treated patients were headache, asthenia or fatigue, dizziness, sinusitis, and upper respiratory infection. CONCLUSION The concomitant administration of losartan potassium, 50 mg, with 12.5 mg of hydrochlorothiazide once daily produced an additive reduction in trough sitting systolic and diastolic blood pressure and was well tolerated.
A novel hypothesis for Alzheimer disease based on neuronal tetraploidy induced by p75NTR

Cumulative evidence indicates that neuronal cell cycle re-entry represents an early and critical event in AD, recapitulating known hallmarks of the disease including tau hyperphosphorylation and production of Aβ peptide-containing plaques. Neurons that duplicate their DNA are rarely observed to undergo mitosis, and they remain for long time as tetraploid cells, in accordance with the chronic course of the disease. We have recently shown that cell cycle re-entry and somatic tetraploidization occurs during normal development in a subpopulation of RGCs, giving rise to enlarged neurons with extensive dendritic trees. Tetraploization in these neurons occurs in response to the activation of the neurotrophin receptor p75NTR by an endogenous source of NGF. In contrast, BDNF inhibits G2/M transition in tetraploid RGCs, preventing their death by apoptosis. In AD both proNGF and p75NTR are overexpressed, and AD-associated oxidative conditions have been shown to enhance proNGF function. This suggests that p75NTR could be a trigger for neuronal tetraploidization in AD, being the p75NTR-mediated pathway a putative target for therapeutical intervention. Functional changes in affected neurons, derived from tetraploidy-associated hypertrophy, could compromise neuronal viability. The known decline of BDNF/TrkB expression in AD could facilitate G2/M transition and apoptosis in tetraploid neurons.