Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Primal-dual subgradient methods for convex problems

In this paper we present a new approach for constructing subgradient schemes for different types of nonsmooth problems with convex structure. Our methods are primal-dual since they are always able to generate a feasible approximation to the optimum of an appropriately formulated dual problem. Besides other advantages, this useful feature provides the methods with a reliable stopping criterion. The proposed schemes differ from the classical approaches (divergent series methods, mirror descent methods) by presence of two control sequences. The first sequence is responsible for aggregating the support functions in the dual space, and the second one establishes a dynamically updated scale between the primal and dual spaces. This additional flexibility allows to guarantee a boundedness of the sequence of primal test points even in the case of unbounded feasible set (however, we always assume the uniform boundedness of subgradients). We present the variants of subgradient schemes for nonsmooth convex minimization, minimax problems, saddle point problems, variational inequalities, and stochastic optimization. In all situations our methods are proved to be optimal from the view point of worst-case black-box lower complexity bounds.
Role of HLA-B Alleles and Clinical Presentation of B27 Negative Spondyloarthritis Patients from Mumbai, Western India

Seronegative spondyloarthritis (SpA) are variably associated with HLA-B∗27 antigen. HLA-B∗27 negative SpA has also been reported from different parts of the world. There is paucity of data on this entity from Indian subcontinent. We studied 100 consecutively diagnosed HLA-B27 negative spondyloarthritis patients from a tertiary care center in India. Modified New York Criteria for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and ESSG criteria for SpA were used for diagnosing patients. HLA-B∗27 typing was done by an in-house PCR-SSP technique in SpA patients to exclude B∗27 positive patients and PCR-SSOP technique was used to type 100 B∗27 negative SpA patients and 100 controls from the same ethnicity. Frequency of B∗07 was significantly increased (B∗07: % PF 54 versus 18; OR 5.348; 95% CI 2.808–10.186; P value 1.14E − 07), whereas frequency of B∗40 was significantly decreased (B∗40: % PF 17 versus 32; OR 0.435; 95% CI 0.222–0.850; P value 0.013) when compared with B∗27 negative controls. Among 100 SpA patients, 47 were undifferentiated spondyloarthritis and 33 patients were reactive arthritis patients. 40% of the patients were suffering from polyarticular arthritis, 35% had pauciarticular arthritis with knee joint, hip joint, ankle joint, and SI joint involvement. We conclude that B∗07 was significantly associated with B27 negative spondyloarthropathy from Western India and majority of B∗27 negative patients were uSpA.
Potassium Feeding Reduces Hyperactive Central Nervous System Pressor Responses in Dahl Salt‐Sensitive Rats

SUMMARY Dahl showed that feeding KCI prevents the rise in Mood pressure caused by a high NaCl diet in salt-sensitive Dahl "S" rats. Such S rats when normotensive on a low Na d diet have a 2 to 3 times greater pressor response than Dahl "R" rats to intracerebroventricular hypertonic saline (600 mOsm/liter) or angiotensin II (AH) (500 ng). Does dietary KCI prevent NaCl hypertension in S rats partly by abolishing these hyperactive central nervous system (CNS) pressor responses? The effect of potassium-loading on CNS pressor responses was studied in S rats on a low (03%) NaCl diet. Drinking a 2% KCI solution reduced the CNS pressor responses in S rats to both AH and hypertonic saline by 44% (p < 0.025) and brought them down almost as low as in R rats. KQ added to the low NaCl dry diet also decreased the CNS pressor responses in S rats to AH and to hypertonic saline by 39% (p < 0.01) and 59% (p < 0.02) respectively. K-citrate added to the low NaO diet was generally as effective as KQ in reducing CNS pressor responses. K-citrate reduced the angiotensin pressor response by 44% (p < 0.001) and the hypertonic saline pressor response by 46% (p < 0.05). Thus, potassium feeding greatly diminished the hyperactive CNS pressor responses in S rats. This CNS action may well explain a good part of the protective effect of KQ against NaCl hypertension in S rats. (Hypertension 3 (supp I): I-128-1-134, 1981)
Convergence Assessment for Reversible Jump MCMC Simulations

In this paper we introduce the problem of assessing convergence of reversible jump MCMC algorithms on the basis of simulation output. We discuss the various direct approaches which could be employed, together with their associated drawbacks. Using the example of fitting a graphical Gaussian model via RJMCMC, we show how the simulation output for models which can be parameterised so that parameters of primary interest retain a coherent interpretation throughout the simulation, can be used to assess convergence. In the context of this example, we extend the work of Gelman and Rubin (1992) and Brooks and Gelman (1998), to provide convergence assessment procedures for graphical model determination problems, but which may be applied to any form of model choice problem and, indeed, MCMC simulations more generally.
How Translation Alters Sentiment

Sentiment analysis research has predominantly been on English texts. Thus there exist many sentiment resources for English, but less so for other languages. Approaches to improve sentiment analysis in a resource-poor focus language include: (a) translate the focus language text into a resource-rich language such as English, and apply a powerful English sentiment analysis system on the text, and (b) translate resources such as sentiment labeled corpora and sentiment lexicons from English into the focus language, and use them as additional resources in the focus-language sentiment analysis system. In this paper we systematically examine both options. We use Arabic social media posts as stand-in for the focus language text. We show that sentiment analysis of English translations of Arabic texts produces competitive results, w.r. t. Arabic sentiment analysis. We show that Arabic sentiment analysis systems benefit from the use of automatically translated English sentiment lexicons. We also conduct manual annotation studies to examine why the sentiment of a translation is different from the sentiment of the source word or text. This is especially relevant for building better automatic translation systems. In the process, we create a state-of-the-art Arabic sentiment analysis system, a new dialectal Arabic sentiment lexicon, and the first Arabic-English parallel corpus that is independently annotated for sentiment by Arabic and English speakers.
Helicobacter pylori in the dental plaque: is it of diagnostic value for gastric infection?

AIM The aim of present study was the assessment of association of helicobacter pylori of dental plaque and stomach in a more homogenous population and also to determine the diagnostic value of dental plaque for gastric infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS Based on the results of Rapid urease test (RUT) on specimens from gastric antrum, 88 patients with symptoms of dyspepsia were assigned into two groups of infected and non-infected with helicobacter pylori. Supragingival plaque samples were collected from mandibular first and second molar area using and sterile curette and were investigated using RUT. Statistical analysis of data was performed using chi-square test and independent t-test. RESULTS H. pylori was detected in 34.1 % of dental plaque specimens. The prevalence of helicobacter pylori infection in dental was 31.8 % and 36.4 % in patients with and without gastric infection (P=0.6). Also the interaction of age and infection was not significant but the prevalence of H. pylori both in the dental plaque and the stomach of male patients was higher than female patients. CONCLUSION There is not any significant association between the helicobacter pylori of the dental plaque and the stomach. Also the dental plaque can not be used as a primary diagnostic aid for gastric infection.
The MTHFR 1298A>C Polymorphism and Genomic DNA Methylation in Human Lymphocytes

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) balances the pool of folate coenzymes in one-carbon metabolism for DNA synthesis and methylation, both implicated in carcinogenesis. Epidemiologic studies have shown that two functional polymorphisms in MTHFR gene, 677C>T and 1298A>C, are related to increased cancer risk. We aimed to analyze lymphocyte DNA from 198 subjects to evaluate the MTHFR 1298A>C polymorphism and folate status affecting genomic DNA methylation as a possible mechanism underlying the relationship between MTHFR polymorphisms and cancer susceptibility. Carriers of the 1298AA wild-type genotype showed lower genomic DNA methylation compared with 1298AC or 1298CC genotypes [3.72 versus 8.59 or 6.79 ng 5-methyl-2′-deoxycytidine (5-mCyt)/μg DNA, P < 0.0001 and P = 0.007, respectively]. When DNA methylation was evaluated according to plasma folate status, only 1298AA with low folate levels revealed diminished DNA methylation (P < 0.0001). Moreover, when the two MTHFR polymorphisms were concomitantly evaluated at the low folate status, DNA methylation was reduced only in 1298AA/677TT compared with 1298AA/677CC (3.11 versus 7.29 ng 5-mCyt/μg DNA, P = 0.001) and 1298CC/677CC genotypes (3.11 versus 7.14 ng 5-mCyt/μg DNA, P = 0.004). However, the high prevalence of 677TT mutants within the 1298AA group (79%) and the similar biochemical features of 1298AA/677CC and 1298CC/677CC combined genotypes suggest that the gene-nutrient interaction affecting DNA methylation in 1298AA is mainly due to the coexistence of the 677TT genotype and that the 1298A>C polymorphism may convey its protective effect not through this interaction but through another pathway in one-carbon metabolism. Further mechanistic studies are warranted to investigate how single polymorphisms as well as MTHFR combined genotypes exert their effect on cancer susceptibility.
Historical sociology and world history: uneven and combined development over the longue durée

The concept of 'uneven and combined development' was originally coined by Leon Trotsky to theorise Tsarist Russia's distinctive experience of modernity and revolution. But it has re-emerged over the last decade or so as a burgeoning research programme within International Relations (IR) and historical sociology. It has been critically and creatively deployed in two main areas: the provision of a sociological foundation to international theory overcoming the chronic schism between ‘sociological’ and ‘geopolitical’ modes of enquiry; and, relatedly, in superseding prevailing Eurocentric approaches in the social sciences. This volume is the first to provide a sustained reflection on the idea of uneven and combined development as the intellectual basis for a non-Eurocentric social theory of ‘the international’. It does so through a series of empirically rich and theoretically informed analyses of socio-historical change, political transformation, and intersocietal conflict over the longue duree. The volume thereby aims to demonstrate the unique potentials of uneven and combined development in overcoming IR and historical sociology’s shared inability to theorize the interactive and multilinear character of development.
Polymerase θ is a robust terminal transferase that oscillates between three different mechanisms during end-joining

DNA polymerase θ (Polθ) promotes insertion mutations during alternative end-joining (alt-EJ) by an unknown mechanism. Here, we discover that mammalian Polθ transfers nucleotides to the 3’ terminus of DNA during alt-EJ in vitro and in vivo by oscillating between three different modes of terminal transferase activity: non-templated extension, templated extension in cis, and templated extension in trans. This switching mechanism requires manganese as a co-factor for Polθ template-independent activity and allows for random combinations of templated and non-templated nucleotide insertions. We further find that Polθ terminal transferase activity is most efficient on DNA containing 3’ overhangs, is facilitated by an insertion loop and conserved residues that hold the 3’ primer terminus, and is surprisingly more proficient than terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase. In summary, this report identifies an unprecedented switching mechanism used by Polθ to generate genetic diversity during alt-EJ and characterizes Polθ as among the most proficient terminal transferases known. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.13740. 001
Frequency of Sobolev dimension distortion of horizontal subgroups of Heisenberg groups

We study the behavior of Sobolev mappings defined on the Heisenberg groups with respect to a foliation by left cosets of a horizontal homogeneous subgroup. We quantitatively estimate, in terms of Euclidean Hausdorff dimension, the size of the set of cosets that are mapped onto sets of high dimension. The proof of our main result combines ideas of Gehring and Mostow about the absolute continuity of quasiconformal mappings with Mattila's projection and slicing machinery.
Computational simulation and analysis of 3D body surface potential patterns generated by common atrial arrhythmias

Atrial arrhythmias are the most common cardiac pathologies and the variety of mechanisms of onset and progression are not well understood. This study proposes a set of indices able to characterize a normal sinus rhythm and discriminate between flutter, tachycardia and fibrillation. Attention was paid to the correlation between atrial sites with high frequency arrhythmic activity and the corresponding torso surface activity to help in the non-invasive diagnosis of electrical cardiac problems. A 3D human torso model that includes an anatomically realistic atria model was used to obtain biophysical simulations of electrical atrial depolarization and surface potential maps. Dominant frequency, power spectral peak, spectral correlation, sample entropy and phasespace diagrams were studied and graphically represented by 3D maps to describe characteristic patterns. These indices and gradients in surface maps revealed important dissimilarities in spatial and temporal distributions among dif erent propagation patterns and allowed classifYing each type of arrhythmia.
Nonfamily employee commitment in family firms: The role of perceived transgenerational intentions, shared vision and organizational identification

The importance of employees’ commitment for organizations is well recognized in the management literature. However, there are only few studies examining the commitment of employees who work in family firms, but do not belong to the owner-manager family. These face specific challenges in family firms with regard to compensations and career chances. In this study I examine the impact of employees’ perceptions of central and most distinct family firm characteristics – the transgenerational intentions – on their affective commitment. Despite the potential disadvantages associated with family involvement and intra-family succession, I propose a mechanism of how perceived transgenerational intentions (expressed through intentions for transgenerational control, succession planning and family cohesion) affect employees’ commitment through the perception of shared vision and through the organizational identification. I test the hypothesized relationships on a sample of 389 employees of German family firms with a structural equation model. The results of the empirical testing provide evidence for the positive impact of all three perceived transgenerational intentions on the affective commitment of nonfamily employees and the mediation effect of perceived shared vision. However, the proposed mediation via organizational identification was only partially confirmed, as only the significance of the mediated effect of the perceived family cohesion could be shown. I discuss the results and their theoretical and practical implications. Further, I outline limitations of the study and potential directions for future research.
Solving SDP completely with an interior point oracle

We suppose the existence of an oracle which solves any semidefinite programming (SDP) problem satisfying strong feasibility (i.e. Slater's condition) simultaneously at its primal and dual sides. We note that such an oracle might not be able to directly solve general SDPs even after certain regularization schemes are applied. In this work we fill this gap and show how to use such an oracle to ‘completely solve’ an arbitrary SDP. Completely solving entails, for example, distinguishing between weak/strong feasibility/infeasibility and detecting when the optimal value is attained or not. We will employ several tools, including a variant of facial reduction where all auxiliary problems are ensured to satisfy strong feasibility at all sides. Our main technical innovation, however, is an analysis of double facial reduction, which is the process of applying facial reduction twice: first to the original problem and then once more to the dual of the regularized problem obtained during the first run. Although our discussion is focused on semidefinite programming, the majority of the results are proved for general convex cones.
Procedural voronoi foams for additive manufacturing

Microstructures at the scale of tens of microns change the physical properties of objects, making them lighter or more flexible. While traditionally difficult to produce, additive manufacturing now lets us physically realize such microstructures at low cost. In this paper we propose to study procedural, aperiodic microstructures inspired by Voronoi open-cell foams. The absence of regularity affords for a simple approach to grade the foam geometry --- and thus its mechanical properties --- within a target object and its surface. Rather than requiring a global optimization process, the microstructures are directly generated to exhibit a specified elastic behavior. The implicit evaluation is akin to procedural textures in computer graphics, and locally adapts to follow the elasticity field. This allows very detailed structures to be generated in large objects without having to explicitly produce a full representation --- mesh or voxels --- of the complete object: the structures are added on the fly, just before each object slice is manufactured. We study the elastic behavior of the microstructures and provide a complete description of the procedure generating them. We explain how to determine the geometric parameters of the microstructures from a target elasticity, and evaluate the result on printed samples. Finally, we apply our approach to the fabrication of objects with spatially varying elasticity, including the implicit modeling of a frame following the object surface and seamlessly connecting to the microstructures.
Diagnostic Reliability and Sex Offender Civil Commitment Evaluations: A Reply to Wollert (2007)

A recent article by Richard Wollert (2007) purports to demonstrate that the diagnostic inter-rater reliability of sex offender civil commitment evaluations is not high enough to be worthy for courtroom testimony. That author relies on a series of analyses to support that argument. Unfortunately, those analyses were flawed in serious ways, raising doubt about the overall conclusions drawn. This article delineates Wollert(cid:146)s inaccurate assumptions, addresses methodological flaws
Dating Recessions from Industrial Production Indexes: An Analysis for Europe and the US

In this paper we analyze the business cycles of 15 European countries and the US. We locate the expansionary and recessionary periods by dating the turning points of an industrial production index using the Bry-Boschan procedure. We find that there is high concordance in the business cycles of European countries, especially in terms of the characteristics of the cycle phases (duration and amplitude of expansions and contractions). However, some significant differences still persist, most notably in the concordance of peaks and troughs and in the cycles of a set of non-core countries, which includes Finland, Greece and, less so, Ireland and Italy.
Influence of Deposition Time on Structural and Optical Properties of Chemically Deposited SnS Thin Films

Using chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique SnS thin films have been deposited at room temperature with different deposition times. The deposited films have been investigated through X- ray diffraction measurements to determine structural properties. The deposited SnS films found amorphous and polycrystalline with an orthorhombic herzenbergite structure. The grain size found to increase with deposition time. The surface morphology of the films has been examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical compositions of the films have been determined using energy dispersive analysis of x-rays (EDAX). The optical absorption spectra of the films in the wavelength range of 200-1200 nm have been investigated to determine the optical band gap and types of transitions involved in the absorption process. The direct allowed transitions found to be dominant and the corresponding band gap found to decrease with increase in deposition time. In order to evaluate the electrical parameters, thermoelectric power measurements have been performed. The films exhibited p-type electrical conductivity. A systematic study on the influence of deposition time on the properties of SnS thin films deposited by CBD at room temperature has been reported.
Clinical applications of the C-arm cone-beam CT-based 3D needle guidance system in performing percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy of pulmonary lesions.

PURPOSE This study explored the value of flat detector C-arm CT-guidance system in performing percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB) for lung lesions in clinical practice. METHODS A total of 110 patients with solid lung lesions were enrolled to undergo PTNB procedures. The mean diameter of lesions was 4.63 cm (range, 0.6-15cm). The needle path was carefully planned and calculated on the C-arm CT system, which acquired three-dimensional CT-like cross-sectional images. The PTNB procedures were performed under needle guidance with fluoroscopic feedbacks. RESULTS Histopathologic tissue was successfully obtained from 108 patients with a puncture success rate of 98.2% (108/110). The diagnostic accuracy rate was found to be 96.3% (104/108). There was only one case of pneumothorax (0.9%) requiring therapy. The rates of mild pneumothorax and hemoptysis were low (12.0% and 6.5%, respectively). In addition, procedural time could be limited with this technique, which helped to reduce X-ray exposure. CONCLUSION Our study shows that C-arm CT-based needle guidance enables reliable and efficient needle positioning and progression by providing real-time intraoperative guidance.