Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance Analysis for MIMO System with Deletion Based on Turbo Code

In this work channel is modelled with synchronization errors due to the mismatches between the transmitter and receiver clocks using bit drop-outs (deletions). [3] Each bit is received independently in the binary symmetric channel with error probability P where each bit is erased, Shannon invented the fundamental results through the development as well as analysis of low density parity check code and based on the capacity of such channels. It is easier to analyse the achievement of maximum capacity performance for these channels with more perfectness. To understand better, considering a channel, n bits are sent where each bit is independently deleted with fixed probability P. Such type can be called as binary independent and identically distributed deletion channel, which may be often called as binary deletion channel. Eraser channel is quite different from deletion channel. Since with an erasure channel ,while after sending n bits, n symbols are received, a third symbol often denoted as’? ’ is achieved at the receiver to indicate an erasure. consider 10001010 was sent the receiver obtains 10011 the third, sixth, eighth bits are deleted and would attain 10? 01? 1? in case if the bits were erased. Channels with synchronization errors including both insertion and deletions as well as more general timing errors were expected. The previous works includes the use of single transmitter and a single receiver. Many applications involves the use of multipletransmit and multiple-receive elements. The main objective of this work is to bring about a new channel modelling synchronization errors by considering possible mismatches between different transmit and receive element pairs, [5] and a practical channel coding solution for reliable communication is considered. Special focus is made on the case of deletion type synchronization errors (i.e., the MIMO deletion channel) for understanding the incorporation of insertion type errors is also possible in a similar manner. [2] The MIMO deletion channels model is enthused by some practical digital communications applications, In this work N ×M MIMO channel is considered with deletion errors. Unambiguously, symbols may be deleted independently of each during transmission. This model is an extension of the identically distributed deletion channel model for the single input single-output communications scenario. [4] symbols are modulated using binary phase shift keying and the effects of the electronic noise at the receivers are considered. To make a reliable communication over the MIMO deletion channel, the coding scheme, is LDPC code, and At the receiver, a bit level maximum-a-posteriori (MAP) detector is set up which jointly achieves synchronization for the deletion channel and detection for the MIMO channel. The resulting flexible information is then fed to the message passing decoder [6]
Roles of payments for ecosystem services in agro-food demands and welfare

Agricultural food products are subjected to the provisioning service from ecosystems. Meanwhile, the vales of ecosystem service (ES) and natural species are marginal in the economy. Rising consumption of agro-food commodities causes excessive inputs of natural resources and then depletes them. This can mean greater ecosystem crisis and welfare losses in the economy. Additionally, payments for ecosystem services (PES) are of current interest as an economic measure for the nature conservation. However, what remains unclear is merit and demerit of PES on the agro-food consumption, welfare, i.e. general equilibrium effects. Thus, this study develops a method to understand the ES-biodiversity-economy interaction then to investigate the economy reform needed for sustainable development in the market with the biodiversity and ES goods. Thus, this study supposes a small economy in continental high income countries where major parts of the biodiversity and ES are from forests. A regression analysis shows that the bird species-forest area relationships depend on not only either island or continent but also GDP per capita. A CGE model is combined with the model and bottom-up technological information of the forest conservation. Then, this study defines the production function which describe that the forest conservation sector produce a composite goods of the forest conservation area, biodiversity, and ES. Analytical results show that additional payments for the biodiversity and ES may not always lead to the improvement of welfare and agriculture industry development. To solve the problem, the economy needs technological progress to conserve forest area in addition to PES.
The Evaluator Effect: A Chilling Fact About Usability Evaluation Methods

Computer professionals have a need for robust, easy-to-use usability evaluation methods (UEMs) to help them systematically improve the usability of computer artifacts. However, cognitive walkthrough (CW), heuristic evaluation (HE), and thinking- aloud study (TA)-3 of the most widely used UEMs-suffer from a substantial evaluator effect in that multiple evaluators evaluating the same interface with the same UEM detect markedly different sets of problems. A review of 11 studies of these 3 UEMs reveals that the evaluator effect exists for both novice and experienced evaluators, for both cosmetic and severe problems, for both problem detection and severity assessment, and for evaluations of both simple and complex systems. The average agreement between any 2 evaluators who have evaluated the same system using the same UEM ranges from 5% to 65%, and no 1 of the 3 UEMs is consistently better than the others. Although evaluator effects of this magnitude may not be surprising for a UEM as informal as HE, it is certainly notable that a substantial evaluator effect persists for evaluators who apply the strict procedure of CW or observe users thinking out loud. Hence, it is highly questionable to use a TA with 1 evaluator as an authoritative statement about what problems an interface contains. Generally, the application of the UEMs is characterized by (a) vague goal analyses leading to variability in the task scenarios, (b) vague evaluation procedures leading to anchoring, or (c) vague problem criteria leading to anything being accepted as a usability problem, or all of these. The simplest way of coping with the evaluator effect, which cannot be completely eliminated, is to involve multiple evaluators in usability evaluations.
α-Synuclein in Central Nervous System and from Erythrocytes, Mammalian Cells, and Escherichia coli Exists Predominantly as Disordered Monomer*

Background: The oligomeric state of α-syn in vivo remains unknown. Results: α-syn in the CNS and produced by erythrocytes, mammalian cells, and Escherichia coli exists predominantly as a disordered monomer. Conclusion: Native α-syn from various sources behaves as unstructured and monomeric. Significance: Stabilizing monomeric α-syn, lowering its levels, and/or inhibiting its fibrillization remain viable therapeutic strategies for Parkinson disease. Since the discovery and isolation of α-synuclein (α-syn) from human brains, it has been widely accepted that it exists as an intrinsically disordered monomeric protein. Two recent studies suggested that α-syn produced in Escherichia coli or isolated from mammalian cells and red blood cells exists predominantly as a tetramer that is rich in α-helical structure (Bartels, T., Choi, J. G., and Selkoe, D. J. (2011) Nature 477, 107–110; Wang, W. , Perovic, I. , Chittuluru, J., Kaganovich, A. , Nguyen, L. T. T. , Liao, J., Auclair, J. R. , Johnson, D. , Landeru, A. , Simorellis, A. K. , Ju, S. , Cookson, M. R. , Asturias, F. J., Agar, J. N. , Webb, B. N. , Kang, C. , Ringe, D. , Petsko, G. A. , Pochapsky, T. C. , and Hoang, Q. Q. (2011) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 108, 17797–17802). However, it remains unknown whether or not this putative tetramer is the main physiological form of α-syn in the brain. In this study, we investigated the oligomeric state of α-syn in mouse, rat, and human brains. To assess the conformational and oligomeric state of native α-syn in complex mixtures, we generated α-syn standards of known quaternary structure and conformational properties and compared the behavior of endogenously expressed α-syn to these standards using native and denaturing gel electrophoresis techniques, size-exclusion chromatography, and an oligomer-specific ELISA. Our findings demonstrate that both human and rodent α-syn expressed in the central nervous system exist predominantly as an unfolded monomer. Similar results were observed when human α-syn was expressed in mouse and rat brains as well as mammalian cell lines (HEK293, HeLa, and SH-SY5Y). Furthermore, we show that α-syn expressed in E. coli and purified under denaturing or nondenaturing conditions, whether as a free protein or as a fusion construct with GST, is monomeric and adopts a disordered conformation after GST removal. These results do not rule out the possibility that α-syn becomes structured upon interaction with other proteins and/or biological membranes.
Discrimination Power of Short-Term Heart Rate Variability Measures for CHF Assessment

In this study, we investigated the discrimination power of short-term heart rate variability (HRV) for discriminating normal subjects versus chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. We analyzed 1914.40 h of ECG of 83 patients of which 54 are normal and 29 are suffering from CHF with New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification I, II, and III, extracted by public databases. Following guidelines, we performed time and frequency analysis in order to measure HRV features. To assess the discrimination power of HRV features, we designed a classifier based on the classification and regression tree (CART) method, which is a nonparametric statistical technique, strongly effective on nonnormal medical data mining. The best subset of features for subject classification includes square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent NN intervals (RMSSD), total power, high-frequencies power, and the ratio between low- and high-frequencies power (LF/HF). The classifier we developed achieved sensitivity and specificity values of 79.3% and 100 %, respectively. Moreover, we demonstrated that it is possible to achieve sensitivity and specificity of 89.7% and 100 %, respectively, by introducing two nonstandard features ΔAVNN and ΔLF/HF, which account, respectively, for variation over the 24 h of the average of consecutive normal intervals (AVNN) and LF/HF. Our results are comparable with other similar studies, but the method we used is particularly valuable because it allows a fully human-understandable description of classification procedures, in terms of intelligible “if . then . ” rules.
Impact of the Random Number generator quality on particle swarm optimization algorithm running on graphic processor units

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a bioinspired technique widely used to solve real optimization problems. In the recent years, the use of Graphics Processing Units (GPU) has been proposed for some general purpose computing applications. Some PSO implementations on GPU were already proposed. The major benefit to implement the PSO for GPU is the possibility to reduce the execution time. It occurs due to the higher computing power presented nowadays on GPUs platform. A study on the impact of the quality of Random Number generator has been made but it only covered some variations of the algorithm on a sequential platform. In this paper, we present an analysis of the performance of the random number generator on GPU based PSOs in terms of the RNG statistical quality. We showed that the Xorshift random number generator for GPU presents enough quality to be used by the PSO algorithm.
Energy Efficient Content Sharing in Smart Phones using Wi-Fi Networks

Because of increasing popularity of mobil e devices their applications and infrastructure tends to adva nce quickly. The use of Smartphone’s for the efficient content s haring among the wireless Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN) is growing worldwide. There are many methods recently presented by various researchers for efficient content sharing in DTN. H owever these methods are suffered from the various limitations. Hence this area of research is still challenging problem for resear chers. Most of methods presented for content sharing are based on prediction of whether two nodes would encounter each other, regardle ss of considering the time and place of the encounter. But this method has many limitations which were later overcome by rec ently presented method. The recent method presented is ba ed on discover-predict-deliver which is practically result ed as improved and efficient content sharing scheme for delay-tole rant Smartphone networks. However the limitation of this m ethod is excessive battery power consumption which limits the lif time of Smartphone. In this paper we have designed the metho d f r android Smartphone in order to minimizing the batte r power consumption. This method tries to use the idle time s of Smartphone in order to stop applications like , Blue tooth and various other applications which are consuming the b attery power during the idle condition. Also while sharing content s we will focus on file transfer rate, transmission cost and security.
In what ways does peer coaching contribute to the academic attainment of higher education students

1 CHAPTER 1 . 3 Introduction . 3 Aims and Objectives . 9 Methodology . 10 The Development of the Peer Coaching Programme . 11 My Background . 16 Introduction to Chapters . 19 CHAPTER 2 . 23 Literature Review . 23 1. Peer Mentoring in Higher Education . 29 2. Peer Assisted Learning/Study . 34 3. Peer Tutoring/Teaching . 37 3.1. Peer Assessment . 38 4. Peer Coaching . 39 Summary . 42 Evidencing the Efficacy of Peer Support . 42 Coaching or Mentoring? 44 CHAPTER 3 . 49 Methodology . 49 Case Study . 53 Participants . 58 Limitations of the control group . 61 The Research Process. 64 Pre-coaching Perception ABC Scale Data Collection . 65 Coaching Intervention . 67 Post-Coaching Data Collection . 69 Secondary Data . 69 Focus Groups . 71 Interviews . 72 Survey Questionnaires . 75 Presentation of Findings . 77 CHAPTER 4 . 79 The Peer Coaching Process . 79 Overview of the Coaching Programme . 79 Individual Case Stories . 80 Case Story 1 – Elizabeth and Emily . 81 Case Story 2 – Tatiana and Lydia. 87 Case Story 3 – Deetah and Sandra . 92 Summary . 97 CHAPTER 5 . 99 Perceptions of Attainment Through Peer Coaching . 99 Pre-Coaching Perceptions of Coachees and Coaches . 99 Coaching Topic Requests . 100 Post-Coaching Perceptions . 101 Support with Specific Coursework Modules . 105 Least Discussed Topics for Coaching Awarded by Coachees . 105 Perceptions of Coaching from Focus Groups and Qualitative Survey Data . 107 Theme 1 Academic improvement . 108 Theme 2 Increased Confidence and Motivation . 110 Theme 3 – One to one support . 111 Theme 4 Practical and Emotional Support . 112 Further Comments . 114 Enlightenment . 115 The Coach Perspective . 116 Summary . 121 CHAPTER 6 . 123 The Quantitative Findings on the Impact of Peer Coaching . 123 Student Perceptions and Satisfaction with Academic Performance . 124 Post-Coaching Perceptions . 127 Module Grade Data. 133 Exploring the Effect for Students Studying Different Courses . 134 Correlation . 135 Sanders ABC Pre and Post-Coaching Subscales . 135 Differences in Semester A and Semester B Grades . 137 Difference in Attainment Between Different Groups of Students . 139 Gender . 139 Year Group . 140 Home, International and EU students . 142 Retention . 142 Summary . 143 CHAPTER 7 . 147 Discussion of the Mixed Methods Study .
A Blended Process Model for Agile Software Development with Lean Concept

This research addresses a known set of issues with Agile Software Development through a unique form of solution. In fact, the research approach can be considered as one of the first ever research to propose a hybrid process paradigm to overcome Agile process issues with the assistance of Lean manufacturing principles. Research results show a significant improvement for the normal Agile practices, which indeed a unique and worthy finding for Agile practitioners. After years of being practiced in the industry the Agile software development process possesses standard characteristics of a process paradigm (Perera, 2009). However, due to the inherited higher degree of flexibility and the exceptional abstract nature of the process principles, Agile process heavily depends upon the project and people norms once it is implemented. Having more flexibility is a better attribute for a process, if it is used by competent experts who can take productive decisions at right moments. However, depending too much on expert knowledge to process and product adjustments is a questionable concern to a growing project with rapid changes to its development and releases. Software applications are complex and intangible products, which are difficult to manage. Hence Software Lifecycle management becomes one of the key research areas in software engineering. Due to the nature of the software, software researchers and practitioners are focused on improving the software processes which are used to develop software. The underline assumption is that there is a direct correlation between the quality of the process and the quality of the developed software (Fuggetta, 2000). A software process can be considered as a set of tools, methods and practices, we use to produce a software product (Humphrey, 2006). These are the prime parameters, also known as Key Process Areas (KPAs), that differentiate the process based software development from ad-hoc programming. Identifying KPAs is one of the main considerations when a certain process model to be improved (Fatina, 2005). In this research, the KPAs of Agile practice were studied and reviewed for required improvements, considering criticisms on those. Specially, the driving KPAs of Agile practice such as, the non-standardized process flow, reliance on key people, and immense flexibility were the considerations for this study. Then the Lean principle for possible key practices to incorporate with classical Agile practice was examined. 10
Organization Development: Strategies for Changing Environments

I. THE FIELD OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT. 1. An Introduction to Organization Development. 2. Organizational Change: Adaptation, Growth, and Development. 3. Change Agents. II. THEORY, RESEARCH, AND DIAGNOSIS. 4. Understanding Organizational Architecture. 5. Researching the Organization: Data Collection. 6. Researching the Organization: Analysis and Feedback. III. INTERVENTIONS. 7. The Intervention Process. 8. Individual Interventions. 9. Interpersonal Interventions. 10. Team Development Interventions. 11. Organization-Wide Interventions. IV. ISSUES IN ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT. 12. Power and Politics in OD. 13. Assessing Change: Is OD Effective? 14. Organization Development in the Twenty-First Century.
Inhibition of serotonin reuptake by antidepressants and upper gastrointestinal bleeding in elderly patients: retrospective cohort study

Abstract Objectives: To determine the association between inhibition of serotonin reuptake by antidepressants and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Design: Retrospective cohort study from population based databases. Setting: Ontario, Canada. Participants: 317 824 elderly people observed for more than 130 000 person years. The patients started taking an antidepressant between 1992 and 1998 and were grouped by how much the drug inhibited serotonin reuptake. Patients were observed until they stopped the drug, had an upper gastrointestinal bleed, or died or the study ended. Main outcome measure: Admission to hospital for acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Results: Overall, 974 bleeds were observed, with an overall bleeding rate of 7.3 per 1000 person years. After controlling for age or previous gastrointestinal bleeding, the risk of bleeding significantly increased by 10.7% and 9.8%, respectively, with increasing inhibition of serotonin reuptake. Absolute differences in bleeding between antidepressant groups were greatest for octogenarians (low inhibition of serotonin reuptake, 10.6 bleeds/1000 person years v high inhibition of serotonin reuptake, 14.7 bleeds/1000 person years; number needed to harm 244) and those with previous upper gastrointestinal bleeding (low, 28.6 bleeds/1000 person years v high, 40.3 bleeds/1000 person years; number needed to harm 85). Conclusions: After age or previous upper gastrointestinal bleeding were controlled for, antidepressants with high inhibition of serotonin reuptake increased the risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. These increases are clinically important for elderly patients and those with previous gastrointestinal bleeding. What is already known on this topic A case-control study found that the risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding increases with intake of antidepressants that extensively inhibit serotonin reuptake The study's validity was questioned because antidepressants were not specifically classified by the extent that they inhibit serotonin reuptake, and absolute differences in bleeding rates between antidepressants were unavailable What this study adds The risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in elderly and depressed patients increases with antidepressants having the greatest extent of inhibition of serotonin reuptake This increased risk of bleeding is clinically important for patients with a high risk of bleeding—namely, octogenarians and those with previous upper gastrointestinal bleeding The extent that an antidepressant inhibits serotonin reuptake should be considered when drugs are required for depression in high risk patients
ru2hot?: A public health education campaign for men who have sex with men to increase awareness of symptoms of acute HIV infection

Objectives Teach HIV-negative men who have sex with men (MSM) symptoms of acute HIV infection (AHI) and direct them to nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) though Public Health—Seattle & King County (PHSKC). Design Cross-sectional surveys, retrospective database analysis and chart review. Methods Beginning in June 2009, the ru2hot? campaign described AHI symptoms and NAAT. Two preintervention and two postintervention surveys assessed campaign visibility, symptom knowledge, and healthcare-seeking behaviour. Regression analyses evaluated secular trends in case-finding. Results 366 MSM completed surveys. In survey 4, 23% of 100 men reported seeing the campaign, and 25% knew ‘ru2hot? ’ referred to AHI. From survey 1 to survey 4, the proportion of subjects who knew ≥2 symptoms or that AHI was a ‘flu-like’ illness was unchanged (61% vs 57%, p=0.6). However, in survey 4, 13 (72%) of 18 subjects who saw the campaign named fever as a symptom of AHI compared with 19 (35%) of 55 subjects who had not seen the campaign (p=0.005). From 9/2003 to 12/2010, 622 (2.2%) of 27 661 MSM tested HIV-positive, and 111 (18%) were identified by the Public Health—Seattle & King County NAAT programme. In terms of the impact of the campaign on case-finding, diagnosis of EIA-negative/NAAT-positive and OraQuick-negative/EIA-positive cases increased from six in 2004 to 20 in 2010 (p=0.01), but postcampaign numbers were unchanged. 23 (51%) of 45 cases identified before and 8 (44%) of 18 cases identified after the campaign reported symptoms at initial testing (p=0.6). Conclusions Although a quarter of MSM surveyed saw the campaign and knowledge of fever (the symptom of emphasis) was high, case-finding was unchanged. Increasing campaign visibility could have had greater impact.