LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Left atrial contractility is preserved after successful circumferential pulmonary vein ablation in patients with atrial fibrillation.

INTRODUCTION
Circumferential pulmonary vein ablation (CPVA) for atrial fibrillation (AF) consists of creating extensive lesions in the left atrium (LA). The aim of the study was to evaluate changes in LA contractility after ablation and their relationship with procedure outcome.


METHODS AND RESULTS
A series of 90 consecutive patients underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before and 4-6 months after CPVA. Only patients in sinus rhythm during both imaging acquisitions were included in the study to measure LA end-diastolic (LAmax) and LA end-systolic (LAmin) volumes. Fifty-five patients were finally analyzed (41 men, 52 +/- 11 years, 74% paroxysmal AF). During a mean follow-up of 12 +/- 7 months and after 1.2 +/- 0.3 ablation procedures, 38 patients (69%) were arrhythmia-free (group I), and the remaining 17 patients had recurrences (group II). There was a significant decrease in mean LAmax volume in both groups, whereas mean LAmin volume only decreased in group I. Mean LA ejection fraction (EF) was preserved after CPVA in group I (40 +/- 11% vs 38 +/- 10%; P = 0.27) but decreased in patients with arrhythmia recurrences (37 +/- 10% vs 27 +/- 10%; P < 0.001). In fact, LA EF remained stable or increased in 68% of patients without arrhythmia recurrences.


CONCLUSIONS
LAmax volume reduction following CPVA occurs regardless of the clinical efficacy of the procedure, whereas mean LAmin volume only decreased in patients without recurrences. LA EF was preserved or even increased in most patients with successful CPVA.
Topological quantum

We analyzesurface codes , the topological quantum error-correcting codes introduced by Kitaev. In these codes, qubits are arranged in a two-dimensional array on a surface of nontrivial topology, and encoded quantum operations are associated with nontrivial homology cycles of the surface. We formulate protocols for error recovery, and study the efficacy of these protocols. An order-disorder phase transition occurs in this system at a nonzero critical value of the error rate; if the error rate is below the critical value~the accuracy threshold !, encoded information can be protected arbitrarily well in the limit of a large code block. This phase transition can be accurately modeled by a three-dimensional Z2 attice gauge theory with quenched disorder. We estimate the accuracy threshold, assuming that all quantum gates arelocal, that qubits can be measured rapidly, and that polynomial-size classical computations can be executed instantaneously. We also devise a robust recovery procedure that does not require measurement or fast classical processing; however, for this procedure the quantum gates are local only if the qubits are arranged in four or more spatial dimensions. We discuss procedures for encoding, measurement, and performing fault-tolerant universal quantum computation with surface codes, and argue that these codes provide a promising framework for quantum computing architectures. ©2002 American Institute of Physics. @DOI: 10.1063/1.1499754 #
Why Measure Performance ? Different Purposes Require Different Measures

measures are worthless. To use a performance measure—to extract information from it—a manager needs a specific, comparative gauge, plus an understanding of the relevant context. A truck has been driven 6.0 million. Six million what? Six million miles? That’s impressive. Six million feet? That’s only 1,136 miles. Six million inches? That’s not even 95 miles. Big deal—unless those 95 miles were driven in two hours along a dirt road on a very rainy night. To use performance measures to achieve any of these eight purposes, the public manager needs some kind of standard with which the measure can be compared. 1. To use a measure to evaluate performance, public managers need some kind of desired result with which to compare the data, and thus judge performance. 2. To use a measure of performance to control behavior, public managers need first to establish the desired behavioral or input standard from which to gauge individual or collective deviance. 3. To use efficiency measures to budget, public managers need an idea of what is a good, acceptable, or poor level of efficiency. 4. To use performance measures to motivate people, public managers need some sense of what are reasonable and significant targets. 5. To use performance measures to promote an agency’s competence, public managers need to understand what the public cares about. 6. To use performance measures to celebrate, public managers need to discern the kinds of achievements that employees and collaborators think are worth celebrating. 7. To use performance measures to learn, public managers need to be able to detect unexpected (and significant) developments and anticipate a wide variety of common organizational, human, and societal behaviors. 8. To use performance measures to improve, public managers need an understanding (or prediction) of how their actions affect the inside-the-black-box behavior of the people who contribute to their desired outputs and outcomes. All of the eight purposes require (explicitly or implicitly) a baseline with which the measure can be compared. And, of course, the appropriate baseline depends on the context. The standard against which to compare current performance can come from a variety of sources—each with its own advantages and liabilities. The agency may use its historical record as a baseline, looking to see how much it has improved. It may use comparative information from similar organizations, such as the data collected by the Comparative Performance Measurement Consortium organized by the International City/County Management Association (1999), or the effort to measure and compare the performance of local jurisdictions in North Carolina organized by the University of North Carolina (Rivenbark and Few 2000). Of course, comparative data also may come from dissimilar organizations; citizens may compare—implicitly or quite explicitly—the ease of navigating a government Web site with the ease of navigating those created by private businesses. Or the standard may be an explicit performance target established by the legislature, by political executives, or by career managers. Even to
Preferences for chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: descriptive study based on scripted interviews.

OBJECTIVE
To determine how patients with lung cancer value the trade off between the survival benefit of chemotherapy and its toxicities.


DESIGN
Scripted interviews that included three hypothetical scenarios. Each scenario described the same patient with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with an expected survival of 4 months without treatment. Subjects were asked to indicate the minimum survival benefit required to accept the side effects of chemotherapy in the first two scenarios (mild toxicity and severe toxicity). In the third scenario, subjects were asked to choose between chemotherapy and supportive care when the benefit of chemotherapy was either to prolong life by 3 months or to palliate symptoms.


SUBJECTS
81 patients previously treated with cis-platinum based chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Survival threshold for accepting chemotherapy.


RESULTS
The minimum survival threshold for accepting the toxicity of chemotherapy varied widely in patients. Several patients would accept chemotherapy for a survival benefit of 1 week, while others would not choose chemotherapy even for a survival benefit of 24 months. The median survival threshold for accepting chemotherapy was 4.5 months for mild toxicity and 9 months for severe toxicity. When given the choice between supportive care and chemotherapy only 18 (22%) patients chose chemotherapy for a survival benefit of 3 months; 55 (68%) patients chose chemotherapy if it substantially reduced symptoms without prolonging life.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients' willingness to accept chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic lung cancer varies widely. Many would not choose chemotherapy for its likely survival benefit of 3 months but would if it improved quality of life. The conflict between these patients' preferences and the care they previously received has several explanations, one being that some patients had not received the treatment they would have chosen had they been fully informed.
Changes in detrital garnet assemblages related to transpressive uplifting associated with strike–slip faulting: An example from the Cretaceous System in Kii Peninsula, Southwest Japan

Abstract The chemical characteristics of detrital garnet have served as relatively reliable and definitive indicators of the major tectonic settings of sedimentary units in many parts of the world. In Southwest Japan a multidisciplinary approach combining sandstone modal, heavy mineral and garnet compositional analyses of the Cretaceous upper continental slope to trench deposits of the Kurosegawa and Shimanto belts combined with a comparison of the detrital garnet features in and around Kii Peninsula revealed the following characteristics. The garnet assemblages show significant changes with age. The Lower Cretaceous Yuasa Formation is characterized by pyrope-rich almandine garnets derived from granulite-facies metamorphic rocks. These are associated with garnet grains that have pyrope–almandine compositions and high grossular contents suggesting an eclogite-origin. Garnet assemblages of the lower Upper Cretaceous Yukawa Formation are dominated by grains with chemical characteristics indicating an origin as low P / T type metamorphic rocks. There are also spessartine–almandine garnets derived from acidic igneous rocks, some with a high P / T type metamorphic origin and others with a grandite composition. Garnet assemblages of the upper Upper Cretaceous Miyama Formation are similar to those of the Yukawa Formation, with the exception that grandite garnets are absent. The above compositional changes of garnets in the deposits allow us to characterize the corresponding provenances and by combining these results with stratigraphic ages temporal changes of these provenances can also be determined. The source area for the granulite- facies metamorphic rocks that continuously supplied detritus throughout the Cretaceous might be Precambrian continental basement in East Asia. In early Late Cretaceous time, the detritus was derived from terranes distributed along the Median Tectonic Line, a major strike–slip fault stretching throughout Southwest Japan. The garnet compositions suggest the source area included eclogite in the Kurosegawa belt that forms the basement to the Cretaceous strata, and the low P / T type metamorphic rocks and granitic rocks in the Paleo-Ryoke belt including the Higo belt. Studies of the Miyama Formation show that at this time widespread acidic volcanism began and this was the source for much of the volcanic sediment in the formation. The provenance change between the Lower and lower Upper Cretaceous Formations is likely to have been caused by uplifting and unroofing associated with Cretaceous transpression expressed by the strike–slip movement along the Median Tectonic Line and other lateral faults in the Chichibu belt.
Effects on TCP of routing strategies in satellite constellations

A broadband satellite network uses a constellation of a number of similar satellites to provide wireless networking services to the Earth. A number of these constellation networks are under development. This article introduces the types of satellite constellation networks, and examines how overall performance of TCP communications carried across such a network can be affected by the choice of routing strategies used within the network. Constellations utilizing direct intersatellite links are capable of using multiple paths between satellites simultaneously as a strategy to spread network load. This allows more general routing strategies than shortestpath routing, but we show these strategies to be detrimental to the performance of individual TCP connections.
Lattice Attacks on Digital Signature Schemes

We describe a lattice attack on the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) when used to sign many messages, mi, under the assumption that a proportion of the bits of each of the associated ephemeral keys, yi, can be recovered by alternative techniques.
A prospective randomised study of dense Infinity cytological brush versus regularly used brush in pancreaticobiliary malignancy.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with a cytological sample is a valuable tool in the diagnosis of the aetiology of biliary stricture. Our aim was to evaluate whether a more dense Infinity® cytological brush is more sensitive in diagnosing malignancy than the regularly used brush.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
We recruited 60 patients with a biliary stricture suspicious for malignancy for a randomised controlled trial. Patients were randomly assigned to an Infinity® brush group (n = 30) and a regularly used cytology brush group (n = 30). All the patients had verified cancer during follow-up.


RESULTS
Crossing the brush over the stricture was possible in each case without dilatation of the biliary duct. Brush cytology yield was good or excellent in 86.7% of cases with the Infinity® brush and 96.7% with the regular brush (p = 0.161). The cytological sample showed clear malignancy in three patients (10.0%) in the Infinity® group and in 12 (40.0%) patients of the regular brush group (p = 0.007). The cytological diagnosis was highly suspicious for malignancy or malignant in 14 patients (46.7%) in the Infinity® group and in 23 patients (76.7%) in the regular brush group (p = 0.017). The result was benign in 10 patients (33.3%) in the Infinity® group and in four patients (13.6%) in the regular brush group (p = 0.067).


CONCLUSIONS
With the standardised technique, the sensitivity of brush cytology is fairly good. The dense Infinity® brush does not show any advantage regarding sensitivity compared with the conventional cytology brush.
Mismatch Analysis and Direct Yield Optimization by Spec-Wise Linearization and Feasibility-Guided Search

We present a new method for mismatch analysis and automatic yield optimization of analog integrated circuits with respect to global, local and operational tolerances. Effectiveness and efficiency of yield estimation and optimization are guaranteed by consideration of feasibility regions and by performance linearization at worst-case points. The proposed methods were successfully applied to two example circuits for an industrial fabrication process.
The burden of hospitalizations and clinic visits for rotavirus disease in children aged <5 years in the Philippines.

BACKGROUND
Recent data on the burden of hospitalization and clinic visits for rotavirus gastroenteritis are needed to support the decision to introduce rotavirus vaccine in the Philippines.


METHODS
From 2005 through 2006, children aged <5 years with acute diarrhea who attended 1 of 7 clinics and/or hospitals in Muntinlupa City, the Philippines, were enrolled. Clinical and demographic data were collected, and a stool specimen was obtained for rotavirus testing and typing for G and P antigens. The incidences of different clinical outcomes of rotavirus gastroenteritis were determined for 3 townships under surveillance and were extrapolated to the Philippines with use of national data sets.


RESULTS
The prevalence of rotavirus was 31% (171/560) among children hospitalized with diarrhea, 30% (155/520) among those who presented to the emergency department, and 15% (56/385) among those who presented to a clinic. The annual estimated incidence (per 100,000 children aged <5 years) of rotavirus gastroenteritis in outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient settings was 755, 451, and 279, respectively. Of 274 strains, 50 (18%) were nontypeable. Of the 128 strains that underwent G and P typing, 98% belong to the globally common strains G3P[P], G2P[4], and G1P[8].


CONCLUSIONS
The burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis in the Philippines is high and is predominantly caused by strains against which current vaccines have shown good efficacy, suggesting that routine immunization will have a large impact on rotavirus disease burden.
Engineered Resilient Systems: A DoD Perspective

Department of Defense (DoD) systems are required to be trusted and effective in a wide range of operational contexts with the ability to respond to new or changing conditions through modified tactics, appropriate reconfiguration, or replacement. As importantly, these systems are required to exhibit predictable and graceful degradation outside their designed performance envelope. For these systems to be included in the force structure, they need to be manufacturable, readily deployable, sustainable, easily modifiable, and cost-effective. Collectively, these requirements inform the definition of resilient DoD systems. This paper explores the properties and tradeoffs for engineered resilient systems in the military context. It reviews various perspectives on resilience, overlays DoD requirements on these perspectives, and presents DoD challenges in realizing and rapidly fielding resilient systems. This paper also presents promising research themes that need to be pursued by the research community to help the DoD realize the vision of affordable, adaptable, and effective systems. This paper concludes with a discussion of specific DoD systems that can potentially benefit from resilience and stresses the need for sustaining a community of interest in this important area. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the University of Southern California.
Therapeutic horseback riding in breast cancer survivors: a pilot study.

PURPOSE
To evaluate the physiologic and psychological effects of an equine-assisted therapy protocol (EAT) in breast cancer survivors.


METHODS
Twenty women (mean age, 45.61±2.71 years) whose breast cancer treatment had concluded at least 6 months previously underwent a screening protocol to certify their eligibility to participate in noncompetitive sports. The patients were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n=10) or a control group (n=10). Intervention patients participated in a 16-week EAT protocol consisting of 2 hours of activity per week. All patients were tested before and after the intervention for maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), fat mass percentage, total body water percentage, strength of principal muscular groups (measured on five weight-lifting machines [leg press, leg extension, leg curl, shoulder press, vertical traction]), and quality of life using the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue questionnaire (FACIT-F).


RESULTS
After intervention, the intervention group showed an improvement in VO2max (28.29%; p<.001), a decrease in fat mass percentage (change, -7.73%; p<0.002), an increase in total body water percentage (6.90%; p=0.027), and an increase in strength (leg press, 17.75% [p=0.018]; leg extension, 21.55% [p=0.005]; leg curl, 26.04% [p<0.001]; shoulder press, 49.72% [p=0.003]; vertical traction, 19.27% [p=0.002]). Furthermore, the increase in the three FACIT-F scores (FACIT-F trial outcome: 9.29% [p=0.010]; Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General total score, 14.80% [p=0.022]; FACIT-F total score, 11.48% [p=0.004]) showed an increase in quality of life. No significant changes for any variable were found for the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
EAT had positive effects on both physiologic and psychological measures, enhancing quality of life of breast cancer survivors. RESULTS suggest a new method for rehabilitation intervention strategies after cancer in a nonmedical environment.
Weighted Unsupervised Learning for 3D Object Detection

This paper introduces a novel weighted unsupervised learning for object detection using an RGB-D camera. This technique is feasible for detecting the moving objects in the noisy environments that are captured by an RGB-D camera. The main contribution of this paper is a real-time algorithm for detecting each object using weighted clustering as a separate cluster. In a preprocessing step, the algorithm calculates the pose 3D position X, Y, Z and RGB color of each data point and then it calculates each data point’s normal vector using the point’s neighbor. After preprocessing, our algorithm calculates k-weights for each data point; each weight indicates membership. Resulting in clustered objects of the scene. Keywords—Weighted Unsupervised Learning, Object Detection, RGB-D camera, Kinect
Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics of Drosophila

XVIII International Congress of Entomology, Vancouver, July
Application of knowledge-based approaches in software architecture: A systematic mapping study

Context: Knowledge management technologies have been employed across software engineering activities for more than two decades. Knowledge-based approaches can be used to facilitate software architecting activities (e.g., architectural evaluation). However, there is no comprehensive understanding on how various knowledge-based approaches (e.g., knowledge reuse) are employed in software architecture. Objective: This work aims to collect studies on the application of knowledge-based approaches in software architecture and make a classification and thematic analysis on these studies, in order to identify the gaps in the existing application of knowledge-based approaches to various architecting activities, and promising research directions. Method: A systematic mapping study is conducted for identifying and analyzing the application of knowledge-based approaches in software architecture, covering the papers from major databases, journals, conferences, and workshops, published between January 2000 and March 2011. Results: Fifty-five studies were selected and classified according to the architecting activities they contribute to and the knowledge-based approaches employed. Knowledge capture and representation (e.g., using an ontology to describe architectural elements and their relationships) is the most popular approach employed in architecting activities. Knowledge recovery (e.g., documenting past architectural design decisions) is an ignored approach that is seldom used in software architecture. Knowledge-based approaches are mostly used in architectural evaluation, while receive the least attention in architecture impact analysis and architectural implementation. Conclusions: The study results show an increased interest in the application of knowledge-based approaches in software architecture in recent years. A number of knowledge-based approaches, including knowledge capture and representation, reuse, sharing, recovery, and reasoning, have been employed in a spectrum of architecting activities. Knowledge-based approaches have been applied to a wide range of application domains, among which ‘‘Embedded software’’ has received the most attention. 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Secure Electronic Voting

The voting technologies in common use today each have distinct strengths and weaknesses. These technologies cannot be evaluated in isolation, but must be evaluated as parts of a larger social and legal system, as demonstrated by a discussion of the problems with the voting technologies in wide use today, the Australian ballot, including punched card and optical mark-sense ballots, and direct recording voting machines, including mechanical lever machines. Alternate models for canvassing and remote voting further complicate the evalua-