Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A SAW-Less FDD Receiver with TX Leakage Cancellation in Receive and Transmit Bands

Facoltà di Ingegneria Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale e dell’Informazione Doctor of Philosophy A SAW-Less FDD Receiver with TX Leakage Cancellation in Receive and Transmit Bands by Daniele Montanari In modern mobile communication standards such as 4G LTE, the implementation of multi-band transceivers as well as the increasing channel bandwidth are the main need for high data-rate communications. However, close proximity of the Receiving (RX) and Transmitting (TX) antennas causes part of the transmitted signal to be coupled to the RX, bringing it to desensitization. To reduce this effect, Self-Interference Cancellation (SIC) techniques are a promising solution that avoids the use of bulky, costly and not tunable SAW-filters. However, antenna coupling group delay in the order of 2-3 ns limits the cancellation bandwidth of conventional SIC thus making it difficult to ensure good isolation over both TX and RX bands. In this thesis, a diversity receiver with SI cancellation over both bands is presented: a highly linear receiver is aided by an RF SIC that reduces the main TX signal power at the RX input; an auxiliary path (AUX) implements a notch filter in the TX band followed by a digital equalizer whose output is employed to reduce the TX noise leakage in the RX band. The diversity and auxiliary receivers were fabricated in 28 nm TMSC CMOS technology and operate between 1 and 2 GHz while the equalizer performing the Digital TX-Noise Reduction (DNR) algorithm was implemented on FPGA. The stand-alone RX has a Noise Figure (NF) of 4-5 dB and an out-of-band IIP3 of 18 dBm. Thanks to the SIC, the effective IIP3 is improved up to 25-29 dBm with a NF degradation of only 0.8 dB. Due to its high dynamic range, the AUX is able to reduce the TX noise by more than 29 dB degrading only by 1 dB the RX NF at full TX power (23 dBm).
Genomic and Transcriptomic Insights into the Genetic Basis of Foam Secretion in Rice Spittlebug Callitettix versicolor

Many animal species produce protective foams, the majority of which exhibit evolutionary adaptability. Although the function and composition of foams have been widely studied, the genetic basis of foam secretion remains unknown. Unlike most species that produce foam under specific situations, spittlebugs continuously secrete foams throughout all nymphal stages. Here, we capitalize on the rice spittlebug (Callitettix versicolor) to explore the genetic basis of foam secretion through genomic and transcriptomic approaches. Our comparative genomic analysis for C. versicolor and eight other insect species reveals 606 species-specific gene families and 66 expanded gene families, associated with carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. These functions are in accordance with the composition of foams secreted by spittlebugs. Transcriptomic analyses of malpighian tubules across developmental stages detected 3192 differentially expressed genes. Enrichment analysis of these genes highlights functions also revealed by our comparative genomic analysis and aligns with previous histochemical and morphological observations of foam secretion. This consistency suggests the important roles of these candidate genes in foam production. Our study not only provides novel insights into the genetic basis of foam secretion in rice spittlebugs but also contributes valuable knowledge for future evolutionary studies of spittlebugs and the development of pest control strategies for C. versicolor.
Use of Essential Oils to Counteract the Phenomena of Antimicrobial Resistance in Livestock Species

Antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly widespread phenomenon that is of particular concern because of the possible consequences in the years to come. The dynamics leading to the resistance of microbial strains are diverse, but certainly include the incorrect use of veterinary drugs both in terms of dosage and timing of administration. Moreover, the drug is often administered in the absence of a diagnosis. Many active ingredients in pharmaceutical formulations are, therefore, losing their efficacy. In this situation, it is imperative to seek alternative treatment solutions. Essential oils are mixtures of compounds with different pharmacological properties. They have been shown to possess the antibacterial, anti-parasitic, antiviral, and regulatory properties of numerous metabolic processes. The abundance of molecules they contain makes it difficult for treated microbial species to develop pharmacological resistance. Given their natural origin, they are environmentally friendly and show little or no toxicity to higher animals. There are several published studies on the use of essential oils as antimicrobials, but the present literature has not been adequately summarized in a manuscript. This review aims to shed light on the results achieved by the scientific community regarding the use of essential oils to treat the main agents of bacterial infection of veterinary interest in livestock. The Google Scholar, PubMed, SciELO, and SCOPUS databases were used for the search and selection of studies. The manuscript aims to lay the foundations for a new strategy of veterinary drug use that is more environmentally friendly and less prone to the emergence of drug resistance phenomena.
Building resilience in Boston: "best practices" for climate change adaptation and resilience for existing buildings.

“The storm surge model, Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH), is used by the National Weather Service (NWS) in producing storm surge guidance in several ways. SLOSH is run by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to forecast storm surge in real-time when a hurricane is threatening. The model is applied to 38 specific coastal areas, called basins, along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the U.S.; Oahu, Hawaii; Puerto Rico; and the Virgin Islands. SLOSH is also used to create simulation studies to assist in the “hazards analysis” portion of hurricane evacuation planning by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and state and local emergency managers. Two composite products, Maximum Envelopes of Water (MEOW) and Maximum of the MEOWs (MOM), are created to provide manageable datasets for planning. The Probabilistic Storm Surge model (P-surge) overcomes the limitations of a single deterministic SLOSH storm surge forecast by being comprised of an ensemble of SLOSH forecasts. The members of the ensemble vary in speed, direction, intensity, and size, based on NHC’s forecast and past errors associated with NHC’s forecasts. P-surge is prompted to run when NHC issues a hurricane watch for the Atlantic or Gulf coasts. The Extratropical storm surge (ET surge) model uses SLOSH to forecast storm surge from extratropcial cyclones. The ET surge model uses surface wind and pressures that are generated by NWS’s Global Forecast System (GFS) model as driving forces. ”
Cultural techniques capture diverse phosphate-solubilizing bacteria in rock phosphate-enriched habitats

Phosphorus (P) deficiency is a common problem in croplands where phosphate-based fertilizers are regularly used to maintain bioavailable P for plants. However, due to their limited mobility in the soil, there has been an increased interest in microorganisms that can convert insoluble P into a bioavailable form, and their use to develop phosphate-solubilizing bioinoculants as an alternative to the conventional use of P fertilizers. In this study, we proposed two independent experiments and explored two entirely different habitats to trap phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSBs). In the first experiment, PSBs were isolated from the rhizoplane of native plant species grown in a rock-phosphate (RP) mining area. A subset of 24 bacterial isolates from 210 rhizoplane morphotypes was selected for the inorganic phosphate solubilizing activities using tricalcium phosphate (TCP) as the sole P source. In the second experiment, we proposed an innovative experimental setup to select mycohyphospheric bacteria associated to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal hyphae, indigenous of soils where agronomic plant have been grown and trapped in membrane bag filled with RP. A subset of 25 bacterial isolates from 44 mycohyphospheric morphotypes was tested for P solubilizing activities. These two bacterial subsets were then screened for additional plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits, and 16S rDNA sequencing was performed for their identification. Overall, the two isolation experiments resulted in diverse phylogenetic affiliations of the PSB collection, showing only 4 genera (24%) and 5 species (17%) shared between the two communities, thus underlining the value of the two protocols, including the innovative mycohyphospheric isolate selection method, for selecting a greater biodiversity of cultivable PSB. All the rhizoplane and mycohyphospheric PSB were positive for ammonia production. Indol-3-acetic acid (IAA) production was observed for 13 and 20 isolates, respectively among rhizoplane and mycohyphospheric PSB, ranging, respectively, from 32.52 to 330.27 μg mL−1 and from 41.4 to 963.9 μg mL−1. Only five rhizoplane and 12 mycohyphospheric isolates were positively screened for N2 fixation. Four rhizoplane PSB were identified as siderophore producers, while none of the mycohyphospheric isolates were. The phenotype of one PSB rhizoplane isolate, assigned to Pseudomonas, showed four additive PGP activities. Some bacterial strains belonging to the dominant genera Bacillus and Pseudomonas could be considered potential candidates for further formulation of biofertilizer in order to develop bioinoculant consortia that promote plant P nutrition and growth in RP-enriched soils.
Hypothetical Thresholds for Effects of Platinum Group Elements

The platinum-group elements are rhodium, ruthenium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum. Together with rhenium and gold they form the highly siderophilic (“iron-loving”) elements. These are poorly known with respect to toxicity and ecotoxicity. The mobilization by man of the eight metals is about 100 times to 1 million times the natural mobilization. Mean soil concentrations in Europe may now be more than doubled for gold, rhenium and rhodium. The objective of the current work was to enable a preliminary assessment of the consequences of such high environmental levels. Thresholds for ecological effects found in the literature were divided by the element’s mean soil concentration and plotted against group and period in the periodic system. Thresholds for health effects were correspondingly divided by the mean dietary intake of the element over large population groups. For health effects, an upper limit of intake is commonly used. This was shown to be about 4 times the mean normal intake for most period 4 elements. For other periods, occupational exposure thresholds entail upper limits of intake in µg/day of: Ru 18, Rh 8, Pd 17, Re 60, Os 15, Ir 4, Pt 20 and Au 160. For ecological effects, the no effect thresholds for period 4 were 1-5 times the soil concentrations. Very scarce data suggest higher relative thresholds for periods 5 and 6. The current high contaminations of European soil by Rh and possibly Pd may be of concern. Since the estimates of risks are uncertain, further research is warranted.
Stromal cell-derived factor-1 alpha ( SDF-1 a ) improves neural recovery after spinal cord contusion in rats

SDF-1a regulates multiple physiological processes such as embryonic development and organ homeostasis. There is also good evidence that SDF-1a and its receptor CXCR4 are key regulators of neurorepair processes after brain ischemia and spinal cord injury. In this study, we investigated the influence of chronic intrathecal delivery of SDF-1a after spinal cord contusion. After contusion T9, male Wistar rats at the age of 12 weeks were intrathecally treated with SDF-1a in different doses (100, 500 and 1000 ng/ml) via an osmotic pump for 28 days. Thereafter, animals were subjected to an open field locomotor test. Behavioral scores were significantly higher in SDF-1a treated animals compared to placebo-treated groups. In addition, we evaluated histopathological changes in the spinal cord in the presence or absence of SDF-1a. Chronic delivery of SDF-1a decreased numbers of apoptotic cells, boosted astroglia and microglia response, induced angiogenesis, and potentiated the number of proliferating cells in a dose-dependent manner. These results clearly indicate an improved functional CNS long-term recovery after spinal cord injury. This behavioral restoration was paralleled by a reduction of apoptosis and changes in neuroinflammatory cells. Crown Copyright & 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Prognostic relevance of MRI in early relapsing multiple sclerosis: ready to guide treatment decision making?

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and spinal cord plays a crucial role in the diagnosis and monitoring of multiple sclerosis (MS). There is conclusive evidence that brain and spinal cord MRI findings in early disease stages also provide relevant insight into individual prognosis. This includes prediction of disease activity and disease progression, the accumulation of long-term disability and the conversion to secondary progressive MS. The extent to which these MRI findings should influence treatment decisions remains a subject of ongoing discussion. The aim of this review is to present and discuss the current knowledge and scientific evidence regarding the utility of MRI at early MS disease stages for prognostic classification of individual patients. In addition, we discuss the current evidence regarding the use of MRI in order to predict treatment response. Finally, we propose a potential approach as to how MRI data may be categorized and integrated into early clinical decision making.
Whipple's disease of the respiratory system: A case report

Whipple's disease (WD) is a multiple-system chronic disease caused by Tropheryma whipplei (T. whipplei) infection. The present study describes 3 cases of WD with clinical manifestations of cough, chest pain, headache, dyspnea, sputum, joint pain, abdominal pain, diarrhea and weight loss. Chest computed tomography (CT) showed signs of plaques, nodules and pleural thickening; and bronchoscopic alveolar lavage fluid metagenomic-sequencing indicated that it was T. whipplei. One patient was treated with meropenem as the starting regimen and two patients were treated with ceftriaxone as the starting regimen. Furthermore, two patients were provided with a maintenance regimen of cotrimoxazole and one was given a maintenance regimen of minocycline, which was combined with meropenem and ceftriaxone in order to improve their cough, chest pain, headache and dyspnea symptoms. To the best of our knowledge, there are few reports on WD of the respiratory system caused by T. whipplei, and differential diagnosis is the key to clinical diagnosis. When WD of the respiratory system is difficult to diagnose, metagenomic second-generation sequencing (mNGS) may be a better choice, which can achieve early diagnosis and early treatment. However, its clinical value is still limited; therefore, more research needs to be conducted in the future.
Assessment of Coordinated Multipoint Transmission Modes for Indoor and Outdoor Users at 28 GHz in Urban Macrocellular Environment

Article history: Received: 04 December, 2018 Accepted: 03 March, 2019 Online: 16 March, 2019 The aim of this article is to analyze and evaluate the performance of Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) transmission approach at a frequency of 28 GHz using three dimensional ray tracing simulations in an urban macrocellular environment. The new performance metric introduced in this article is the relative power usage. Other performance metrics examined in this article are received power, the Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), user throughput, relative throughput gain, and the percentage of overlapping area with multiple cells. Indoor and outdoor users are separately analyzed for few key performance indicators. Different cases of coordinated multipoint transmission i.e. intra-node and inter-node coordination is analyzed. The post analysis of the acquired simulation data shows that the use of CoMP functionality is more beneficial for the cell edge users compared with the other users in terms of improving the user’s experience. The throughput gain as well as the transmission overhead of the CoMP approach increases with the increase in number CoMP ports. Inter-node CoMP is much more power efficient and beneficial in comparison with the intra-node CoMP case.
Individualized social niches in animals: Theoretical clarifications and processes of niche change

Abstract What are social niches, and how do they arise and change? Our first goal in the present article is to clarify the concept of an individualized social niche and to distinguish it from related concepts, such as a social environment and a social role. We argue that focal individuals are integral parts of individualized social niches and that social interactions with conspecifics are further core elements of social niches. Our second goal in the present article is to characterize three types of processes—social niche construction, conformance, and choice (social NC3 processes)—that explain how individualized social niches originate and change. Our approach brings together studies of behavior, ecology, and evolution and integrates social niches into the broader concept of an individualized ecological niche. We show how clarifying the concept of a social niche and recognizing the differences between the three social NC3 processes enhance and stimulate empirical research.
Combined Observer and Lyapunov-Based Control for Switching Power Converters With LC Input Filter

This paper presents a control technique for a boost converter that is connected to a power source via an LC input filter in a continuous conduction mode. The proposed method employs the Lyapunov stability criterion to determine the switching command that guarantees system stability. An estimator is introduced to track the load resistance and losses of the system in real-time. Our control strategy regulates all state variables of the system and additional state variables in the estimator concurrently. Additionally, the start-up transient response is considered in the control algorithm. Finally, experimental results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.
Weighted Pseudo-Labels and Bounding Boxes for Semisupervised SAR Target Detection

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image target detection methods based on semisupervised learning, such as the mean teacher framework, have shown promise in diminishing the issue of limited labeled data. However, several challenges exist in current methods. First, data augmentation techniques designed for optical images may not be suitable for SAR images due to differences in imaging methods. In addition, the contribution of pseudo labels remains constant during the initial retraining stage can lead to degradation in prediction results. Moreover, the low quality of predicted bounding boxes poses a challenge for effective retraining. To address these challenges, we propose an end-to-end semisupervised detection method based on the mean teacher framework. To enhance the robustness of training, we first introduce SAR-specific data augmentation techniques, including multiplicative noise, which effectively increase the diversity of training samples. Second, we propose a method that weights the losses of pseudo-labeled data using a hard-sigmoid function, gradually improving the importance of pseudo-labeled data during retraining, thereby alleviating their potential negative impact on the training process. Finally, we propose an IoU-aware subnetwork to incorporate high-quality pseudo-labeled bounding boxes into retraining, allowing them to contribute to network adjustments while mitigating the impact of low-quality samples. Experimental evaluations on publicly available SAR image datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method in improving the target detection capability of semisupervised SAR target detection.
Identification and development of implementation strategies: the important role of codesign

Background To date, implementation strategies reported in the literature are commonly poorly described and take the implementation context insufficiently into account. To unravel the black box of implementation strategy development, insight is needed into effective theory-based and practical-informed strategies. The current study aims to describe the stepwise development of a practical-informed and theory-based implementation strategy bundle to implement ProMuscle, a nutrition and exercise intervention for community-dwelling older adults, in multiple settings in primary care. Methods The first four steps of Implementation Mapping were adopted to develop appropriate implementation strategies. First, previously identified barriers to implementation were categorized into the constructs of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Second, the CFIR-ERIC matching tool linked barriers to existing implementation strategies. Behavioral change strategies were added from the literature where necessary. Third, evidence for implementation strategies was sought. Fourth, in codesign with involved healthcare professionals and implementation experts, implementation strategies were operationalized to practical implementation activities following the guidance provided by Proctor et al. These practical implementation activities were processed into an implementation toolbox, which can be tailored to a specific context and presents prioritized implementation activities in a chronological order. Results A previous study identified and categorized a total of 654 barriers for the implementation of a combined lifestyle intervention within the CFIR framework. Subsequently, the barriers were linked to 40 strategies. Due to the fact that many strategies impacted multiple barriers, seven overarching themes emerged based on the strategies: assessing the context, network internally, network externally, costs, knowledge, champions, and patient needs and resources. Codesign sessions with professionals and implementation experts resulted in the development of supported and tangible implementation activities for the final 20 strategies. The implementation activities were processed into a web-based implementation toolbox, which allows healthcare professionals to tailor the implementation activities to their specific context and guides healthcare professionals to prioritize implementation activities chronologically during their implementation. Conclusion A theory-based approach in combination with codesign sessions with stakeholders is a usable Implementation Strategy Mapping Method for developing a practical implementation strategy bundle to implement ProMuscle across multiple settings in primary care. The next step involves evaluating the developed implementation strategies, including the implementation toolbox, to assess their impact on the implementation and adoption of ProMuscle.