Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Hybrid EF/DF Protocol With Rateless Coded Network Code for Two-Way Relay Channels

In this paper, we investigate a rateless code design for a two-time slot two-way relay channel (TWRC), where network coding operation is employed at the relay. Rateless codes are used at both users and the relay nodes as they can cope with various channel conditions. We consider a general TWRC framework, where the two users may use different rateless code generator matrices, thus, the relay cannot directly recover the physical-layer network coded (PNC) message of the two users. We propose a hybrid estimate and forward (EF)/decode and forward (DF) protocol with rateless codes for the TWRC. In the proposed scheme, the relay uses a joint belief propagation decoding process to decode the messages of two users. Depending on whether the relay recovers both users' messages, only one user's message or no users' messages, the relay will generate three different types of signals, namely, NC, soft NC, and soft PNC, respectively. We design the degree distributions of the rateless codes for the three nodes of the TWRC, to make them suitable not only for decoding at two users at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), but also for decoding at the relay at low SNR. We show that the proposed hybrid EF/DF protocol with the designed rateless codes outperforms other schemes significantly in terms of bit error rate performance.
A Dual Approach for Solving Nonlinear Infinite-Norm Minimization Problems with Applications in Separable Cases

In this paper, we focus on nonlinear infinite-norm minimization problems that have many applications, especially in computer science and operations research. We set a reliable Lagrangian dual aproach for solving this kind of problems in general, and based on this method, we propose an algorithm for the mixed linear and nonlinear infinite-norm minimization cases with numerical results.
Influence of Static Magnetic Field on Blood Coagulation in Patients Treated with Hemodialysis

The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of static magnetic field (set of Multimag magnets) on the process of blood clotting time measured with APTT (partial thromboplastin time) in patients treated with hemodialysis. Approximately 350-400 ml of blood was drawn from patients with renal transplant and erythrocytosis. Small amount of heparin was added to this blood. Then the resulting volume was divided into two equal parts. Two identical dialyzers and blood lines were filled with this blood. Identical flow of blood was forced through both sets, while one of those sets was equipped with Multimag magnet (0, 1 Tesla). Samples of blood were collected from both lines and a PTT was assessed in each of them. There was significant shortening of a PTT time (average about 30%) in sets without magnets as compared to the lines carrying Multimag. Tests carried out have shown that the magnetic field produced by the magnet system (Multimag) planted on a typical blood line used in hemodialyzed patients, significantly prolonged blood clotting time evaluated by a PTT and thus prolonged the ability to continue treatment as compared with sets without magnets.
Glucose Turnover During Recovery from Intensive Exercise

This study was undertaken to examine glucose turnover during a 30-min recovery period following an acute bout of intensive exercise (85% VO2 max) performed to exhaustion (11.7 ± 1.4 min). Plasma glucose (basal 85 ± 2 mg/dl) rose by 10 mg/dl at exhaustion and increased further during the initial phase of recovery, reaching a peak value of 35 mg/dl above basal at 5 min of recovery. Thereafter, there was a gradual decline, but the values remained 15–20 mg/dl above basal at 30 min. The early rise in plasma glucose during recovery was due to an imbalance between glucose production and utilization caused by a more rapid decline in utilization than production. At 5 min of recovery, glucose production was fivefold greater than in the basal state and comparable to peak values observed at exhaustion, while glucose utilization was 33% lower than observed at exhaustion and only 75% higher than in the basal state. Beyond 5 min of recovery glucose utilization and production again differed in the direction of response. Glucose production fell to basal values while glucose utilization remained 70–80% above baseline. The maintenance of basal rates of glucose production and increased rates of glucose utilization occurred in a setting in which plasma insulin levels were increased by 25–50%. Plasma catechol-amines, which rose 5–10-fold during exercise, fell rapidly during the initial 3 min of recovery. We conclude that recovery from exhaustive exercise is characterized by a biphasic imbalance between glucose production and utilization in which production exceeds utilization for the initial 5 min and utilization exceeds production at 10–30 min. The hormone-substrate milieu (modest increments in plasma insulin and glucose) accompanying the changes in glucose kinetics observed beyond 5 min suggests that the recovery period from acute exercise may be characterized by an increase in peripheral sensitivity to insulin, which could provide a mechanism for facilitating muscle glycogen repletion during recovery from intensive exercise.
APC Stimulated by CpG Oligodeoxynucleotide Enhance Activation of MHC Class I-Restricted T Cells1

Oligonucleotides containing unmethylated CpG motifs (cytosine-phosphorothioate-guanine oligodeoxynucleotide (CpG ODN)) are potent immunostimulatory agents capable of enhancing the Ag-specific Th1 response when used as immune adjuvants. We evaluated the cellular mechanisms responsible for this effect. Development of a CTL response was enhanced when mice were immunized with peptide-pulsed dendritic cells (DCs) treated with CpG ODN. However, in vitro, CpG ODN had no direct effect on highly purified T cells. In vitro, CpG ODN treatment of peptide- or protein-pulsed DCs enhanced the ability of the DCs to activate class I-restricted T cells. The presence of helper T cells enhanced this effect, indicating that treatment with CpG ODN does not obviate the role of T cell help. The enhanced ability of CpG ODN-treated DCs to activate T cells was present but blunted when DCs derived from IL-12 knockout mice were used. Fixation of Ag-pulsed, CpG ODN-treated DCs limited their ability to activate T cells. In contrast, fixation had little effect on DC activation of T cells when DCs were not exposed to CpG ODN. This indicates that production of soluble factors by DCs stimulated with CpG ODN plays a particularly important role in their ability to activate class I-restricted T cells. We conclude that CpG ODN enhances the development of a cellular immune response by stimulating APCs such as DCs, to produce IL-12 and other soluble factors.
Cathepsin K Knockout Mice Develop Osteopetrosis Due to a Deficit in Matrix Degradation but Not Demineralization

Cathepsin K is a cysteine protease expressed predominantly in osteoclasts. Activated cathepsin K cleaves key bone matrix proteins and is believed to play an important role in degrading the organic phase of bone during bone resorption. Mutations in the human cathepsin K gene have been demonstrated to be associated with a rare skeletal dysplasia, pycnodysostosis. The degree of functional activity of the mutated forms of cathepsin K in these individuals has not been elucidated, but is predicted to be low or absent. To study the role of cathepsin K in bone resorption, we have generated mice deficient in the cathepsin K gene. Histologic and radiographic analysis of the mice revealed osteopetrosis of the long bones and vertebrae, and abnormal joint morphology. X‐ray microcomputerized tomography images allowed quantitation of the increase in bone volume, trabecular thickness, and trabecular number in both the primary spongiosa and the metaphysis of the proximal tibiae. Not all bones were similarly affected. Chondrocyte differentiation was normal. The mice also had abnormalities in hematopoietic compartments, particularly decreased bone marrow cellularity and splenomegaly. The heterozygous animals appeared normal. Close histologic examination of bone histology revealed fully differentiated osteoclasts apposed to small regions of demineralized bone. This strongly suggests that cathepsin K–deficient osteoclasts are capable of demineralizing the extracellular matrix but are unable to adequately remove the demineralized bone. This is entirely consistent with the proposed function of cathepsin K as a matrix‐degrading proteinase in bone resorption.
Heat Shock Protein 75 (TRAP1) Antagonizes Reactive Oxygen Species Generation and Protects Cells from Granzyme M-mediated Apoptosis*

Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in innate immunity against virally infected or transformed cells as the first defense line. Granzyme M (GzmM) is an orphan granzyme that is constitutively highly expressed in NK cells and is consistent with NK cell-mediated cytolysis. We recently demonstrated that GzmM induces caspase-dependent apoptosis with DNA fragmentation through direct cleavage of inhibitor of caspase-activated DNase (ICAD). However, the molecular mechanisms for GzmM-induced apoptosis are unclear. We found GzmM causes mitochondrial swelling and loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential. Moreover, GzmM initiates reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and cytochrome c release. Heat shock protein 75 (HSP75, also known as TRAP1) acts as an antagonist of ROS and protects cells from GzmM-mediated apoptosis. GzmM cleaves TRAP1 and abolishes its antagonistic function to ROS, resulting in ROS accumulation. Silencing TRAP1 through RNA interference increases ROS accumulation, whereas TRAP1 overexpression attenuates ROS production. ROS accumulation is in accordance with the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria and enhances GzmM-mediated apoptosis.
Realizing Automated Test Recommendations in Software Development Environments

Software testing is a mainly manually performed and thus very labour intensive process. Beside time, it demands a high amount of domain knowledge, concentration and problem awareness from the developer. Although software reuse is a well examined area –in both academia and industry – it is mainly focussed on the reuse of different kinds of documentation and program code. In this thesis we create a client-side recommendation system for the novel idea for an automated test recommendation approach that is based on lessons learned from traditional software reuse and recommendation. While most existing testing assistance systems help a developer by providing information about various coverage criteria only ex post, we want to support the developer pro-actively while writing the test and create as little overhead as possible during his work. Thereby we benefit from the lessons learned in the area of ”traditional” software reuse and apply them in a kind of test reuse for test recommendation approach. To validate our theoretical considerations, we present a tool that will help writing tests with less effort.
Application of importance and satisfaction indicators for service quality improvement of customer satisfaction

In the contest of competitive differentiation and customer retention, both service quality and customer satisfaction have increasingly been identified as the major factors. Through integration of ‘importance-satisfaction model (I-S model)’ and ‘performance control matrix (PCM)’, this study provides a more complete evaluation model for improving service quality attributes. Due to limited business resources, the providers must plan appropriate strategies to control costs while improving service quality, so as to ensure a viable competitive edge. This study has been identified as the five attributes whose improvement should be noted as the first priority and the six attribute whose improvement should be given subsequently. These models can meet the important demands and improve the satisfaction level of customers, as well as promote the development of importance level investigations. This study shows that the I-S model and the PCM not only offer an excellent measuring model but also confirm the improvement attributes.
Analysis and Design of Spatially-Coupled Codes with Application to Fiber-Optical Communications

The theme of this thesis is the analysis and design of error-correcting codes that are suitable for high-speed fiber-optical communication systems. In particular, we consider two code classes. The codes in the first class are protograph-based low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes which are decoded using iterative soft-decision decoding. The codes in the second class are generalized LDPC codes with degree-2 variable nodes—henceforth referred to as generalized product codes (GPCs)—which are decoded using iterative bounded-distance decoding (BDD). Within each class, our focus is primarily on spatially-coupled codes. Spatially-coupled codes possess a convolutional structure and are characterized by a wave-like decoding behavior caused by a termination boundary effect. The contributions of this thesis can then be categorized into two topics, as outlined below. First, we consider the design of systems operating at high spectral efficiency. In particular, we study the optimization of the mapping of the coded bits to the modulation bits for a polarization-multiplexed system that is based on the bit-interleaved coded modulation paradigm. As an example, for the (protograph-based) AR4JA code family, the transmission reach can be extended by roughly up to 8% by using an optimized bit mapper, without significantly increasing the system complexity. For terminated spatially-coupled codes with long spatial length, the bit mapper optimization only results in marginal performance improvements, suggesting that a sequential allocation is close to optimal. On the other hand, an optimized allocation can significantly improve the performance of tail-biting spatially-coupled codes which do not possess an inherent termination boundary. In this case, the unequal error protection offered by the modulation bits of a nonbinary signal constellation can be exploited to create an artificial termination boundary that induces a wave-like decoding for tail-biting spatially-coupled codes. As a second topic, we study deterministically constructed GPCs. GPCs are particularly suited for high-speed applications such as optical communications due to the significantly reduced decoding complexity of iterative BDD compared to iterative soft-decision decoding of LDPC codes. We propose a code construction for GPCs which is sufficiently general to recover several well-known classes of GPCs as special cases, e.g., irregular product codes (PCs), block-wise braided codes, and staircase codes. Assuming transmission over the binary erasure channel, it is shown that the asymptotic performance of the resulting codes can be analyzed by means of a recursive density evolution (DE) equation. The DE analysis is then applied to study three different classes of GPCs: spatially-coupled PCs, symmetric GPCs, and GPCs based on component code mixtures.
Refugee or Internally Displaced Person?

This study investigates the circumstances that lead some countries to produce a large number of refugees and relatively few internally displaced persons (IDPs) as opposed to a large number of IDPs and relatively few refugees. The authors develop the hypothesis that refugee flows are greater in the face of state (sponsored) genocide/politicide than they are in response to other state coercion, dissident campaigns of violence, or civil wars. They also argue that countries surrounded by poor, authoritarian regimes will produce fewer refugees (relative to IDPs) than those surrounded by wealthy, democratic neighbors. A sample selection model is employed to conduct statistical analyses using data on a global sample of countries for the period from 1976 to 1995. The results support many of the authors' hypotheses and suggest that the choice-centered approach produces useful answers to new questions that other scholars have yet to ask.
Stigmatisation of people with mental illnesses.

BACKGROUND Recognition of the additional social handicaps and distress that people with mental illnesses experience as a result of prejudice. AIMS To determine opinions of the British adult population concerning those with mental illnesses as baseline data for a campaign to combat stigmatization. METHOD Survey of adults (n = 1737 interviewed; 65% response) regarding seven types of common mental disorders. Responses evaluated concerned eight specified perceptions. RESULTS Respondents commonly perceived people with schizophrenia, alcoholism and drug addiction as unpredictable and dangerous. The two latter conditions were also viewed as self-inflicted. People with any of the seven disorders were perceived as hard to talk with. Opinions about effects of treatment and prognosis suggested reasonable knowledge. About half the respondents reported knowing someone with a mental illness. CONCLUSIONS Negative opinions indiscriminately overemphasize social handicaps that can accompany mental disorders. They contribute to social isolation, distress and difficulties in employment faced by sufferers. A campaign against stigma should take account of the differences in opinions about the seven disorders studied.
Anterior screw fixation of posteriorly displaced type II odontoid fractures.

Posteriorly displaced Type II odontoid fractures (Type II-P) are difficult to stabilize in an anatomic position with accepted methods of posterior atlantoaxial arthrodesis. Nine patients with Type II-P odontoid fractures with 4 to 15 mm displacement were treated with anterior odontoid screw stabilization. Seven of these patients had associated fractures or defects of the posterior arch of the first cervical vertebra (C1). Atlantoaxial posterior arthrodesis in these patients would not have been possible initially because of the lack of structural integrity of the posterior arch of C1. Two patients, later in the study, had no injury to the ring of C1. The odontoid fractures were stabilized with two 4.0-mm cancellous screws inserted through an anterior approach to the neck under fluoroscopic control with the skin incision at the C5 level. Preoperative reduction of the displaced odontoid process and immediate operative stability of the atlantoaxial complex were obtained in each case. No neurological complications related to the procedure occurred. Two patients died of causes unrelated to their cervical fracture surgery. The 7 patients who survived were followed for a minimum of 6 months. Fracture union and cervical stability were demonstrated in each of the surviving patients, without evidence of screw loosening or loss of fixation. Normal range of motion of the neck was documented at follow-up in all surviving patients. Although this series represents a limited experience with this treatment technique, anterior odontoid screw fixation has significant advantages over accepted methods of cervical stabilization for Type II-P odontoid fractures. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Chapter 2 Using RNA-seq Data to Detect Differentially Expressed Genes

RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) technology has become a major choice in detecting differentially expressed genes across different biological conditions. Although microarray technology is used for the same purpose, statistical methods available for identifying differential expression for microarray data are generally not readily applicable to the analysis of RNA-seq data, as RNA-seq data comprise discrete counts of reads mapped to particular genes. In this chapter, we review statistical methods uniquely developed for detecting differential expression among different populations of RNA-seq data as well as techniques designed originally for the analysis of microarray data that have been modified for the analysis of RNA-seq data. We include a very brief description of the normalization of RNA-seq data and then elaborate on parametric and nonparametric testing procedures, as well as empirical and fully Bayesian methods. We include a brief review of software available for the analysis of differential expression and summarize the results of a recent comprehensive simulation study comparing existing methods. 2.
Evidence-based Physical Therapies for Treating Incontinence and Pelvic Organ Prolapse in Women

Aims of course/workshop The aims of this workshop are: 1. To present an overview of the evidence of physical therapy (PT) for urinary incontinence (UI) and to provide key information on the effectiveness of different treatment regimens. 2. To present the evidence for pelvic floor PT in the prevention and treatment of pre and postnatal UI. 3. To present the evidence for PT in the treatment of UI in the elderly women and to discuss emerging therapies such as postural and motor control strategies. 4. To present the evidence for PT in the prevention and treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP).
On the M/G/1 Queue with Rest Periods and Certain Service-Independent Queueing Disciplines

The M/G/1 queue with rest periods and FCFS order of service was first studied by Miller. We give further results concerning the behavior of the delay under the FCFS discipline. We then solve for the second moment of the waiting time in an M/G/1 queue with rest periods and Random Order of Service ROS. We finally solve for the Laplace-Stieltjes transform of the distribution function of the waiting time in an M/G/1 queue with rest periods and nonpreemptive LCFS order of service. The relationship found between the second moments of the waiting time in an M/G/1 queue with rest periods under the FCFS, ROS and LCFS disciplines is precisely that found by Takacs for the M/G/1 queue without rest periods.
Effect of Manganese Doping of BaSrTiO 3 on Diffusion and Domain Wall Pinning

In the present paper, the influence of manganese doping on the dielectric properties of BaSrTiO 3 thin films is presented. The real and imaginary parts of the material's permittivity have been measured in a large frequency range (100 Hz – 1 MHz) and as a function of the electric field. The tunability and the figure of merit of the material have been obtained from the measurement of the permittivity under an applied DC bias electric field. For the undoped material, the dielectric losses become important for a large DC bias which leads to breakdown. At a suitable dopant rate, this effect disappears. In order to better understand the origin of the related phenomena, we measure the permittivity as a function of the AC excitation amplitude and we decompose the obtained permittivity with the hyperbolic law. This enables to extract the different contributions of the bulk (low frequency diffusion and high frequency lattice relaxation) and of the domain wall motions (vibration and pinning/unpinning) to the material's dielectric permittivity and to understand the effect of manganese doping on each contribution. Knowledge of the related mechanisms allows us to establish the optimum dopant rate (mainly conditioned by the lattice contribution) and to reduce the domain wall motion, which finally is beneficial for the desired properties of the ferroelectric thin film. A particular attention is paid to low frequency diffusion, an especially harmful effect when a DC biasing is mandatory (tunable electronic component in mobile telecommunication devices for example).
Assessing the security of the cloud environment

Nowadays, many organizations find it economically attractive to host their services in a cloud environment. Still, security remains the number one concern for many organizations in adopting the cloud services. In this paper, we assess and study the security of a typical cloud environment as that of the popular Amazon AWS Cloud. The cloud security is assessed by deploying and running Dionaea honeypots for a few months in the cloud provide networks. Collected data and logs from Dionaea honeypots show that the cloud environment is surprisingly insecure and is in fact a target of malicious activities and attacks from different countries.