Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Real-Time Delivery of 4G Services With Cross-Layered and Power-Optimized Cognitive Radio Architecture

In this paper, we develop a cognitive radio (CR)-based architecture for fourth generation (4G) users that provides real-time delivery of service to its applications through the intelligent assignment of the CR spectrum. CRs work in an unlicensed network setting, so it is important that cognitive users utilize the spectrum opportunistically, i.e., without interrupting the licensed user's activity. To provide the opportunistic access for a cognitive 4G user, we propose an architecture that delivers the desired solution by following a novel five-step process. First, the cognitive (or secondary) user relays its throughput requirements from the application layer down to the media access layer by way of cross-layering. Second, the media access layer at its end senses the licensed spectrum and, based on the sensed parameters, characterizes the licensed (or primary) user's amount of spectrum occupancy into three different occupancy level types. Third, the licensed user's spectrum occupancy, categorized into three levels, is statistically represented by setting up a Markov model that evaluates the probability that the licensed channel could be found in a particular state at a given time instant for each level. Fourth, to provide opportunistic spectrum access to the secondary user, an optimization strategy is devised in the media access control layer that will bring face to face the throughput requirements obtained from the application layer and the steady-state probabilities for the licensed channel from the physical layer. Fifth, optimal performance metrics concerning the 4G user throughput and power are attained by solving the optimization problem. Results obtained are simulated against a variety of network parameters, and performance improvement through the proposed scheme is assessed by simulations conducted for a long-term evolution (LTE) system.
Estimation of Physical Parameters for Dynamic Processes with Application to an Industrial Robot

The unknown parameters of physical laws which govern the dynamics of processes can be gained from measured input and output signals in a two step procedure. First the parameters of differential equations are estimated and then the physical parameters are calculated based on algebraic relations. After considering the model structures a suitable parameter estimation method for continuous time signals is described and the influence of a priori known parameters on the convergence is shown. Then the determination of physical parameters is considered based on nonlinear algebraic relations known from theoretically modeling. Applying the implicit function theorem identifiability conditions for the unique determination of physical parameters are given. Then applications are shown for the estimation of the ratios of inertia, d.c. motor damping coefficients and Coulomb friction coefficients of an 6-axis-industrial robot.
Effects of Hydrothermal Cooling and Magma Injection on Mid‐Ocean Ridge Temperature Structure, Deformation, and Axial Morphology

Fault development at mid-ocean ridge spreading centers is strongly dependent on the thermal state of the axial lithosphere. Thermal conditions at a ridge axis are a combined function of spreading rate, mantle temperature, magma injection, and hydrothermal circulation. In this study, we test the sensitivity of fault development in slow-spreading environments to the efficiency of hydrothermal cooling and the depth extent of magma injection near the ridge axis. A 3-D finite difference scheme is first used to calculate axial temperature structure, and deformation is then modeled in 2-D vertical sections of lithosphere using a visco-plastic finite element model. Strain-rate softening in the brittle regime is used to simulate the rate-dependence of frictional strength observed in laboratory studies. This formulation results in the formation of localized zones of high strain rate (analogous to faults) that develop in response to the rheology and boundary conditions and are not imposed a priori. Comparing our numerical experiments with observed faulting at the center and ends of several segments along the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge, we find that temperatures near the segment end must be warmer than predicted by previous models. These predicted high temperatures can be explained by either inefficient hydrothermal cooling in the shallow crust or heating of the upper mantle through magmatic accretion below the Moho. Because geophysical and geochemical evidence support efficient hydrothermal cooling in young oceanic lithosphere, we favor a model in which heat is supplied to the upper mantle beneath the ends of slow-spreading segments by either crystallization of rising asthenospheric melts or episodic lateral dike propagation from the segment center.
Stereoselective synthesis of optically active bicyclic β-lactam carboxylic acids that target pilus biogenesis in pathogenic bacteriaElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: 13C NMR spectra of 7(a–g), 10–14, 16(a and d) and 17(a–b). See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/ob/b2/b210551a/

Optically active bicyclic β-lactams were synthesized, starting from 2-H-Δ2-thiazolines and Meldrum's acid derivatives. Several methods to accomplish an ester hydrolysis without damaging the β-lactam framework were investigated. A rapid CsOH saponification of the β-lactam methyl esters was developed and protonation of the Cs-carboxylates by Amberlite (IR-120 H+) afforded a series of bicyclic β-lactam carboxylic acids. Moreover, a convenient method for the synthesis of 2-H-Δ2-thiazolinecarboxylic acid methyl ester 2 was developed. Bicyclic β-lactam carboxylic acids 7a–g and aldehydes 4a–d were screened for their affinity to the bacterial periplasmic chaperone PapD using a surface plasmon resonance technique. β-Lactams substituted with large acyl substituents showed better binding to the chaperone than the native C-terminal peptide PapG 8, demonstrating that bicyclic β-lactams constitute a new class of potential bacterial chaperone inhibitors.
Lack of association between FokI polymorphism in vitamin D receptor gene (VDR) & type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Tunisian population

Background & objectives: The impact of several environmental and genetic factors on diabetes is well documented. Though the association between the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been analyzed in different ethnic groups, the results have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible association between VDR FokI polymorphism and genetic susceptibility to T2DM in Tunisian population. Methods: A total of 439 unrelated patients with T2DM and 302 healthy controls were included in the study. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood and genotyped for the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of FokI (T/C: (rs2228570) by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. Results: The genotype distribution and the relative allelic frequencies for the FokI polymorphism were not significantly different between T2DM and controls: in T2DM patients the frequencies of the CC, CT, and TT genotypes were 52.6, 41.0, and 6.1 per cent, respectively, and in controls the genotype frequencies were 55.6, 38.7, and 5.6 per cent, respectively. In our study, the TT genotype of the FokI polymorphism was not associated with T2DM (OR =1.19, 95% CI 0.63 - 2.25, P=0.577). Interpretation & conclusions: Our study showed no significant association of the FokI polymorphism in the vitamin D receptor gene with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Tunisian population.
BLOOD PROGESTERONE LEVELS IN ABNORMAL PREGNANCIES

A RELATIVELY simple method has recently been described for the chemical determination of progesterone in peripheral blood (Short, 1958), and a series of normal values has been obtained for women from the 11th week after the last menstrual period up to the day of parturition (Short and Eton, 1959). There is reason to believe that blood progesterone levels may provide a more accurate estimate of the rate of progesterone production than urinary pregnanediol determinations (Short and Eton, 1959). The purpose of the present study has therefore been to investigate the blood progesterone levels in a number of cases of abnormal pregnancy in which it has been suggested that progesterone production might be altered.
Wear Between Lift Tab and Load/Unload Ramp in Hard Disk Drives

A method was developed to characterize wear between the suspension lift tab and the load/unload ramp during load/unload testing in hard disk drives. The change of the friction force between the lift tab and the load/unload ramp was obtained by measuring the change of the voice coil motor (VCM) current. Scanning electron microscopy was used to evaluate the amount of wear debris deposited on the lift tab. The change of the VCM current was correlated with the area of adhering wear debris on the lift tab surface as a function of load/unload cycles and temperature. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis was performed to identify the chemical composition of the wear debris and determine the wear mechanism.
Estimation of Time and the Subclassification of Schizophrenic Disorders

Estimation of short time intervals by 60 healthy subjects, 50 patients with schizophrenic disorders, and 8 with schizotypal personality disorders, was investigated using the three different methods, adjusting a metronome, verbal estimation, and operative estimation (production). The schizophrenic patients tended to over-estimate time with all three methods. Over-estimation was also found when longer intervals were studied. Patients with different types of schizophrenic disorders, classified according to DSM-III criteria, over-estimated time about the same; no significant differences were found. Different courses of schizophrenia were also studied. Patients in remission over-estimated time to the same extent as chronic patients; the subchronic patients probably over-estimated less. Schizotypal personality disorders did not seem to be associated with a tendency to over-estimate short time intervals. The results were discussed in the context of perceptual disturbances in schizophrenic disorders.
Transfer of Tsukamurella wratislaviensis Goodfellow et a. 1995 to the genus Rhodococcus as Rhodococcus wratislaviensis comb. nov..

A polyphasic study was undertaken to clarify the taxonomic position of the type strain (N805T) of Tsukamurella wratislaviensis. This organism showed a combination of phenotypic properties, notably chemotaxonomic markers, consistent with its classification in the genus Rhodococcus. Comparative 16S rDNA sequencing studies indicated that strain 805T falls into the Rhodococcus erythropolis subclade, where it forms a monophyletic group with the type strains of Rhodococcus opacus and Rhodococcus percolatus. The close relationship between these strains was underpinned by the results of mycolic acid analyses. However, strain N805T was distinguished from the R. opacus and R. percolatus strains in DNA-DNA pairing experiments and by using a range of phenotypic properties. In light of these studies, it is clear that strain N805T is misclassified in the genus Tsukamurella. It is, therefore, proposed that Tsukamurella wratislaviensis Goodfellow et al. 1995 be transferred to the genus Rhodococcus as Rhodococcus wratislaviensis comb. nov.
Branding e integración de las audiencias en la creación de la marca periodística

Las empresas de comunicacion han comenzado a comportarse como marcas y promover el branding o sistematizacion de actividades dirigidas a la audiencia para fortalecer su imagen de marca. Por la naturaleza intangible de los productos informativos y los nuevos modos de consumo, el exito en la gestion de la marca requiere un compromiso corporativo duradero de los implicados: propietarios, gestores, consumidores y otros stakeholders . De ellos, la integracion de las audiencias en la construccion de la marca periodistica supone el mayor reto. Sin olvidar la calidad del producto, la gestion estrategica de la marca debe propiciar una relacion con los consumidores coherente con su identidad y abierta a que estos participen y cocreen la marca periodistica. Basada en un analisis de la bibliografia, este articulo propone una gestion estrategica centrada en las audiencias, como requisito para generar un capital de marca sostenible. Primero se analiza el concepto de marca desde las teorias del marketing, para posteriormente estudiar los principales enfoques teoricos de la investigacion sobre la gestion de marcas en el sector de la comunicacion. Por ultimo, se proponen cuatro criterios para orientar la gestion de la marca centrada en la audiencia: participacion, personalizacion, identidad personal y simbolo social.
Twist‐ing cell fate: Mechanistic insights into the role of twist in lineage specification/differentiation and tumorigenesis

Bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), are multipotent cells that give rise to multiple lineages including osteoblasts, adipocytes, muscle, and fibroblasts. MSCs are useful for clinical applications such as cell therapy because they can be isolated from an individual and expanded for use in tissue repair, as well as other therapeutic applications, without immune rejection. However, one of the key problems in the use of MSCs for these applications is the efficiency of these cells to engraft and fully regenerate damaged tissues. Therefore, to optimize this process, a comprehensive understanding of the key regulators of MSCs self‐renewal and maintenance are critical to the success of future cell therapy as well as other clinical applications. The basic helix loop helix transcription factor, Twist, plays a master regulatory role in all of these processes and, therefore, a thorough understanding of the mechanistic insights in the role of Twist in lineage specification/differentiation and tumorigenesis is vital to the success of future clinical applications for the therapeutic use of MSCs. In this article, we highlight the basic mechanisms and signaling pathways that are important to MSC fate, maintenance, and differentiation, as well as the critical role that Twist plays in these processes. In addition, we review the known literature suggesting a critical role for Twist in the generation of cancer stem cells, as this information may contribute to a broader understanding of stem cell biology and stem‐cell‐based therapeutics. J. Cell. Biochem. 110: 1288–1298, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Reduced Left Ventricular Compliance and Mechanical Efficiency after Prolonged Inhibition of NO Synthesis in Conscious Dogs

Acute inhibition of NO synthesis decreases left ventricular (LV) work and external efficiency, but it is unknown whether compensatory mechanisms can limit the alterations in LV mechanoenergetics after prolonged NO deficiency. Eight chronically instrumented male mongrel dogs received 35 mg kg−1 day−1 of Nω‐nitro‐L‐arginine methyl ester orally for 10 days to inhibit NO synthesis. At spontaneous beating frequency, heart rate, coronary blood flow, peak LV pressure, end‐diastolic LV pressure and the maximum derivative of LV pressure (dP/dtmax) were not significantly different vs. baseline, whereas LV end‐diastolic diameter (32.5 ± 1.0 vs. 37.6 ± 1.4 mm) and LV stroke work (515 ± 38 vs. 650 ± 44 mmHg mm), were reduced (all P < 0.05). The slope of the LV end‐systolic pressure‐diameter relationship was increased at 10 days vs. baseline (13.9 ± 1.0 vs. 9.6 ± 0.9 mmHg mm−1, P < 0.05), while the end‐diastolic LV diameter was smaller at matched LV end‐diastolic pressures. At fixed heart rate (130 beats min−1), cardiac oxygen consumption was increased (12.2 ± 1.5 vs. 9.9 ± 1.0 ml min−1), and the ratio between stroke work and oxygen consumption was decreased by 33 ±7 % (all P < 0.05) after NO inhibition. We conclude that sustained inhibition of NO synthesis in dogs causes a decrease in LV work despite an increased contractility, which is most probably due to reduced diastolic compliance and a decrease in external efficiency. Thus, prolonged NO deficiency is not compensated for on the level of LV mechanoenergetics in vivo.
Kidney donation and risk of ESRD.

Kidney Donation and Risk of ESRD To the Editor Dr Muzaale and colleagues1 matched all US kidney donors from 1994 to 2011 with a cohort of selected participants from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and found an increased cumulative incidence and lifetime risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among the donors. The Editorial by Drs Gill and Tonelli2 highlighted several methodological factors that may have biased the findings in the direction of finding increased risk to donors, and we identify an additional factor. A review of eAppendix 1, which lists the exclusion criteria used for selecting healthy controls from the NHANES population, suggests that many individuals who might have been accepted as donors were excluded from the control group. These exclusions included any history of asthma, any cancer besides skin cancer, hypertension, and kidney stones. Selected patients with hypertension and kidney stones are not infrequently accepted as donors.3,4 We argue that a history of mild asthma or a remotely treated thyroid malignancy would not preclude donation. Similarly, functional limitations such as difficulty managing money or requiring special eating utensils were listed as exclusion criteria for NHANES controls, even though such limitations in isolation may not preclude live donation. These exclusions made the control group healthier and less likely to develop ESRD, thus biasing the findings in the direction of greater ESRD risk for donors. We appreciate the difficulty in finding ideal controls in determining outcomes of live kidney donation, especially from retrospective data. Prior studies of kidney donors5 have been criticized as providing excessive reassurance about donor outcomes because the control populations did not exclude persons with diabetes and other individuals who would have been excluded from donation. The study by Muzaale et al1 appears biased in the opposite direction, by excluding many individuals from the control group who might have been allowed to donate. As the authors pointed out, the magnitude of increased ESRD risk among donors was small—we suspect this risk is even smaller than reported and believe these findings should not discourage the many potential kidney donors for whom donation is safe.
Routing with virtual coordinates in mobile sensor networks

The realization of smart cities relies on the availability of large amount of data about occurring phenomena/events that can be guaranteed by very large deployments of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). This poses a great challenge to the scalability of current routing protocols for WSN due to the size and density of the network and the presence of mobile sensors.We tackle this problem by proposing a solution based on virtual coordinate systems combined with mechanisms that renew the virtual coordinates and suitable routing schemes. The simulation results show that this approach is actually suited to this context and that it guarantees high delivery rate and low path length.
Shaping the metaphase chromosome: coordination of cohesion and condensation

Recent progress in our understanding of mitotic chromosome dynamics has been accelerated by the identification of two essential protein complexes, cohesin and condensin. Cohesin is required for holding sister chromatids (duplicated chromosomes) together from S phase until the metaphase‐to‐anaphase transition. Condensin is a central player in chromosome condensation, a process that initiates at the onset of mitosis. The main focus of this review is to discuss how the mitotic metaphase chromosome is assembled and shaped by a precise balance between the cohesion and condensation machineries. We argue that, in different eukaryotic organisms, the balance of cohesion and condensation is adjusted in such a way that the size and shape of the resulting chromosomes are best suited for their accurate segregation. BioEssays 23:924–935, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Sodium Thiosulfate Administered Six Hours after Cisplatin Does Not Compromise Antineuroblastoma Activity

Purpose: We determined if the potentially otoprotective agent sodium thiosulfate (STS) could be given 6 h after cisplatin without diminishing the antineuroblastoma activity of cisplatin in human neuroblastoma cell lines in vitro (including cisplatin-resistant cell lines) and in neuroblastoma xenografts in vivo. Experimental Design: We determined the antineuroblastoma activity of cisplatin with or without the addition of STS at 0 or 6 h after cisplatin in six neuroblastoma cell lines, both in standard cell culture conditions (20% O2) and in physiologic hypoxia (2% O2). Drug cytotoxicity was measured using the DIMSCAN fluorescence/digital imaging microscopy assay. In vivo studies of cisplatin combined with STS used a human neuroblastoma subcutaneous xenograft model (SMS-SAN) in athymic nu/nu mice. Results: A significant protection against cisplatin cytotoxicity was seen when the neuroblastoma cells were exposed to cisplatin directly combined with STS. However, when cisplatin was given first and STS exposure occurred 6 h later, no effect on cisplatin cytotoxicity was observed. In a subcutaneous neuroblastoma xenograft model in nu/nu mice, mice receiving cisplatin alone or cisplatin + STS at 6 h had significantly better progression-free survival rates (P < 0.03) compared with controls or mice treated with cisplatin + STS concurrently. There was no statistically significant difference in outcomes between mice treated with cisplatin alone and the group treated with cisplatin followed by STS 6 h later (P = 0.9). Conclusion: These preclinical data suggest that the use of STS 6 h after cisplatin for otoprotection is unlikely to compromise the antineuroblastoma activity of cisplatin.
Determination of relation between αS1 casein concentration and coagulation properties of goat milk

Most abundant goat milk proteins are caseins. Genetic protein polymorphism of αS1 casein is believed to affect cheese yield and production profitability of the cheese-makers. This thesis work aimed to investigate the relationship between concentration of αs1 casein and coagulation properties of goat milk with the use of rheological studies. Milk samples from 58 Swedish Landrace goats from two herds were analyzed in terms of milk composition, αS1 casein concentration and coagulation properties. It was found that most prevalent variants were of goats with low (43%) and medium (34%) αS1 casein concentration,while high concentration of αS1 casein was noted only in 23% of goats. It was observed that the concentration of αS1 casein in caprine milk influences its coagulation properties. Goats with low αS1 casein concentration in milk were characterized by weaker gel firmness, compared to medium and high concentration group and had longer coagulation time. Coagulation time was strongly associated with the pH value of the milk. Moreover,milks with higher levels of αS1 casein were characterized by a lower pH than groups with medium and low level of αS1 casein concentration.