Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Continuous-time Gaussian process motion planning via probabilistic inference

We introduce a novel formulation of motion planning, for continuous-time trajectories, as probabilistic inference. We first show how smooth continuous-time trajectories can be represented by a small number of states using sparse Gaussian process (GP) models. We next develop an efficient gradient-based optimization algorithm that exploits this sparsity and GP interpolation. We call this algorithm the Gaussian Process Motion Planner (GPMP). We then detail how motion planning problems can be formulated as probabilistic inference on a factor graph. This forms the basis for GPMP2, a very efficient algorithm that combines GP representations of trajectories with fast, structure-exploiting inference via numerical optimization. Finally, we extend GPMP2 to an incremental algorithm, iGPMP2, that can efficiently replan when conditions change. We benchmark our algorithms against several sampling-based and trajectory optimization-based motion planning algorithms on planning problems in multiple environments. Our evaluation reveals that GPMP2 is several times faster than previous algorithms while retaining robustness. We also benchmark iGPMP2 on replanning problems, and show that it can find successful solutions in a fraction of the time required by GPMP2 to replan from scratch.
Image Reconstruction Using Matched Wavelet Estimated From Data Sensed Compressively Using Partial Canonical Identity Matrix

This paper proposes a joint framework wherein lifting-based, separable, image-matched wavelets are estimated from compressively sensed images and are used for the reconstruction of the same. Matched wavelet can be easily designed if full image is available. Also compared with the standard wavelets as sparsifying bases, matched wavelet may provide better reconstruction results in compressive sensing (CS) application. Since in CS application, we have compressively sensed images instead of full images, existing methods of designing matched wavelets cannot be used. Thus, we propose a joint framework that estimates matched wavelets from compressively sensed images and also reconstructs full images. This paper has three significant contributions. First, a lifting-based, image-matched separable wavelet is designed from compressively sensed images and is also used to reconstruct the same. Second, a simple sensing matrix is employed to sample data at sub-Nyquist rate such that sensing and reconstruction time is reduced considerably. Third, a new multi-level L-Pyramid wavelet decomposition strategy is provided for separable wavelet implementation on images that leads to improved reconstruction performance. Compared with the CS-based reconstruction using standard wavelets with Gaussian sensing matrix and with existing wavelet decomposition strategy, the proposed methodology provides faster and better image reconstruction in CS application.
Distinctive disease subgroups according to differentiation stages in adult patients with T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The categorization of T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T‐ALL) into four subgroups according to the degree of thymic differentiation was proposed in 1995, and this categorization scheme has been described in the World Health Organization classification 4th edition with minor changes. The aim of this study is to explore the clinical significance of leukemia cell differentiation stages in patients with T‐ALL.
Estimating the Rental Adjustment Process

Rental adjustment equations have been estimated for a quarter century. In the U.S., models have used the deviation of the actual vacancy rate from the natural rate as the main explanatory variable, while in the UK, drivers of the demand for space have dominated the estimation. The recent papers of Hendershott (1996) and Hendershott, Lizieri and Matysiak (HLM, 1999) fall into the former category. We re-estimate these equations using alternative formulations but can do little to improve them overall. However, we identify econometric concerns with the specifications. We then derive a model incorporating both supply and demand factors within an Error Correction framework, and show how the U.S. and UK traditions are special cases of this more general formulation. We next estimate this equation using data from the City of London office market. Our initial specification of this more generalized model is greatly superior to the vacancy rate model. Finally, we estimate a two-equation variant with a separate vacancy rate equation; this model also performs much better than that of HLM. Importantly, our model passes standard modern econometric requirements for unit roots and co-integration. We find little evidence of special or temporal variation in natural vacancy rates.
IMproved exercise tolerance in patients with PReserved Ejection fraction by Spironolactone on myocardial fibrosiS in Atrial Fibrillation rationale and design of the IMPRESS-AF randomised controlled trial

Introduction Patients with atrial fibrillation frequently suffer from heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. At present there is no proven therapy to improve physical capacity and quality of life in participants with permanent atrial fibrillation with preserved left ventricular contractility. Objective The single-centre IMproved exercise tolerance In heart failure With PReserved Ejection fraction by Spironolactone On myocardial fibrosiS In Atrial Fibrillation (IMPRESS-AF) trial aims to establish whether treatment with spironolactone as compared with placebo improves exercise tolerance (cardiopulmonary exercise testing), quality of life and diastolic function in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation. Methods and analysis A total of 250 patients have been randomised in this double-blinded trial for 2-year treatment with 25 mg daily dose of spironolactone or matched placebo. Included participants are 50 years old or older, have permanent atrial fibrillation and ejection fraction >55%. Exclusion criteria include contraindications to spironolactone, poorly controlled hypertension and presence of severe comorbidities with life expectancy <2 years. The primary outcome is improvement in exercise tolerance at 2 years and key secondary outcomes include quality of life (assessed using the EuroQol EQ-5D-5L (EQ-5D) and Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLWHF) questionnaires), diastolic function and all-cause hospitalisation. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the National Research and Ethics Committee West Midlands—Coventry and Warwickshire (REC reference number 14/WM/1211). The results of the trial will be published in an international peer-reviewed journal. Trial registration numbers EudraCT2014-003702-33; NCT02673463; Pre-results.
Functional Analyses of Complement Convertases Using C3 and C5-Depleted Sera

C3 and C5 convertases are central stages of the complement cascade since they converge the different initiation pathways, augment complement activation by an amplification loop and lead to a common terminal pathway resulting in the formation of the membrane attack complex. Several complement inhibitors attenuate convertase formation and/or accelerate dissociation of convertase complexes. Functional assays used to study these processes are often performed using purified complement components, from which enzymatic complexes are reconstituted on the surface of erythrocytes or artificial matrices. This strategy enables identification of individual interactions between convertase components and putative regulators but carries an inherent risk of detecting non-physiological interactions that would not occur in a milieu of whole serum. Here we describe a novel, alternative method based on C3 or C5-depleted sera, which support activation of the complement cascade up to the desired stages of convertases. This approach allows fast and simple assessment of the influence of putative regulators on convertase formation and stability. As an example of practical utility of the assay, we performed studies on thioredoxin-1 in order to clarify the mechanism of its influence on complement convertases.
Atlas for Stereotaxy of the Human Brain

- Index of Anatomical Abbreviations - Synonyma Table for the Thalamus - Synonyma Table for the Hypothalamus - Unstained Series with Overlays for Variations of the Structures of the Brain - Microscopic Series with fixed Overlays for Anatomic Explanations - Electroanatomical Observations
Towards effective design and evaluation of workplace wellness programs

In an effort to reduce chronic disease burden on the workforce, both public and private initiatives have promoted the rapid expansion of workplace wellness programs to encourage healthy behavior. Despite enthusiasm about these programs, evidence for their effectiveness remains mixed. The major reasons postulated for these mixed results include low participation rates, heterogeneity in program design and non-existent or poorly designed evaluations. In this dissertation, I attempted to address the gaps in the research on program components, their interactions and provide a method for evidencebased evaluation. The first chapter focuses on incentives, which are often prescribed by guidance literature to increase participation. I examined the relationship of high-value and penalty-type incentives to participation rates in a nationwide sample of employers. Results suggested that increasing the value of an incentive may not yield much in terms of participation. Penalty-type incentives were associated with higher participation, but would require significant employee buy-in to implement. The second chapter examines the relationship between program design and employee engagement. Much of the guidance literature recommends adding more components to achieve higher outcomes. However, based on analysis of data from employers and employees, it appears that there are interactions between program components and employee engagement. A program with an average number of services available may be better served by increasing the number of opportunities for employees to participate rather than increasing the number of services. The final chapter synthesizes evidence from the other chapters, guidance from the literature and interviews with wellness program stakeholders in order to provide an evidence base for an interactive evaluation tool. This tool allows small-size employers or employers at the early stages of program implementation to include evidence-based evaluation as part of their program. This dissertation addresses a need in the guidance for a rapidly-expanding wellness market. Researchers can use these findings to adapt guidance to the changing landscape and employers can use the evaluation tool to connect to the evolving guidance.
Te Espero: Varying Child Bilingual Abilities and the Effects on Dynamics in Mexican Immigrant Families

Author(s): Seals, Corinne A | Abstract: This paper offers a closer examination of the effects of an English-dominant society on bilingual abilities by looking at everyday family dynamics in Mexican immigrant families. Three immigrant families from Mexico currently residing in Northern California provided the data for this project through ten hours of audio recordings documenting their normal home interactions. A qualitative analysis of family interactions shows that while the youngest children are proficient in the dominant language of the society they live in, they experience a far greater degree of difficulty with bilingualism than do their older siblings. This difficulty leads to heritage language avoidance with their parents and a weakening of family interaction. As a result, middle children find it necessary to take it upon themselves to act as translators within the family in an effort to maintain cohesive family dynamics.
The DoF of network MIMO with backhaul delays

We consider the problem of downlink precoding for Network (multi-cell) MIMO networks where Transmitters (TXs) are provided with imperfect Channel State Information (CSI). Specifically, each TX receives a delayed channel estimate with the delay being specific to each channel component. This model is particularly adapted to the scenarios where a user feeds back its CSI to its serving base only as it is envisioned in future LTE networks. We analyze the impact of the delay during the backhaul-based CSI exchange on the rate performance achieved by Network MIMO. We highlight how delay can dramatically degrade system performance if existing precoding methods are to be used. We propose an alternative robust beamforming strategy which achieves the maximal performance, in DoF sense. We verify by simulations that the theoretical DoF improvement translates into a performance increase at finite Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) as well1.
Subspace-based adaptive direction estimation and tracking in multipath environment

A new computationally efficient subspace-based algorithm is proposed for estimating and tracking the directions of coherent narrowband signals impinging on a uniform linear array (ULA). Specifically the null space is estimated using the least-mean-square (LMS) or normalized LMS (NLMS) algorithm, and the directions are updated using the approximate Newton method. By studying the convergence analyses of the LMS and NLMS algorithms, where the "weight" is in the form of a matrix and there is a correlation between the "additive noise" and "input data" in the updating equation, the step-size stability conditions are derived explicitly. Further the tracking of crossing directions of moving signals is considered. The theoretical analyses and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm are verified.
Morphometrical analysis of intervillous space and villous membrane thickness in maternal anaemia.

BACKGROUND Anaemia in pregnancy is linked with an increased risk of preterm delivery, low birth weight, perinatal and maternal mortality and it is related with variable histo-morphological changes in placenta which show a reflection for the poor foetal outcome. The objective of this study is to assess the micro-morphometery of intervillous space and villous membrane of placenta in anaemic mothers. METHODS This case control study was carried out at Army Medical College, National University of Sciences and Technology Islamabad in collaboration with Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from December 2011 to November 2012. A total of 75 placentas were included, that were divided into study and control group. In control group (n = 15) placentas were taken from mothers having normal haemoglobin levels and study group (n = 60) included placentas from anaemic mothers having haemoglobin less than 11g/dl. Study group was subdivided into three groups, i.e., mildly (10.0-10.9 g/dl), moderately (7.0-9.9 g/dl) and severely (< 7 g/dl) anaemic group. Three representative sections were taken from placenta, i.e., one close to umbilical cord (A), one from periphery (C) and one midway between A and C (B). Ocular micro-meter was used to measure intervillous space and villous membrane thickness. RESULTS Intervillous space was prominent in study groups (41.26 ± 16.33 ìm) as compared to control group (15.98 ± 3.81 ìm) (p < 0.05). Thickness of villous membrane was significantly less in study group as compared to control group (2.97 ± 0.70) (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION The present study showed wide intervillous space and thin villous membrane in study group as compared to control group reflecting adaptive changes in response to hypoxiain maternal anaemia.
Administrative Leadership: In Academic Governance and Management

Chapter 1 Acknowledgements Chapter 2 Preface Chapter 3 Institutional Leadership Chapter 4 Personal Qualities in Leadership Chapter 5 Roles and Responsibilities Chapter 6 Purposes and Performance Chapter 7 Decision Making Chapter 8 Problem Solving Chapter 9 Conflict Resolution Chapter 10 Consensus Building Chapter 11 Leadership Development Chapter 12 References Chapter 13 Topical Index Chapter 14 Author Index
Characterization of primitive hematopoietic cells in normal human peripheral blood.

The total number of clonogenic cells present in 5-week-old long-term cultures (LTC) initiated by seeding normal human marrow cells on competent adherent cell feeder layers allows for the quantitation of a more primitive hematopoietic input precursor cell type referred to as an LTC-initiating cell (LTC-IC). Previous studies have suggested that LTC-IC also circulate because production of clonogenic cells continues for many weeks when cells from the light-density (< 1.077 g/mL), T-cell-depleted fraction of normal blood are maintained on irradiated, marrow-derived feeder layers in LTC medium. We now show that the number of clonogenic cells present in such reconstructed LTC after 5 weeks is linearly related to the input number of peripheral blood (PB) cells over a wide range of cell concentrations, thereby permitting the quantitation of circulating LTC-IC by limiting dilution analysis. Using this approach, we have found the concentration of LTC-IC in the circulation of normal adults to be 2.9 +/- 0.5/mL. This is approximately 75-fold lower than the concentration of circulating clonogenic cells (ie, burst-forming units-erythroid plus colony-forming units [CFU] granulocyte-macrophage plus CFU-granulocyte, erythroid, monocyte, megakaryocyte) and represents a frequency of LTC-IC relative to all nucleated cells that is approximately 100-fold lower than that measured in normal marrow aspirate samples. Characterization studies showed most circulating LTC-IC to be small (low forward light scatter and side scatter), CD34+, Rh-123dull, HLA-DR-, and 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide-resistant cells, with differentiative and proliferative potentialities indistinguishable from LTC-IC in normal marrow. Isolation of the light-density, T-cell-depleted, CD34+, and either HLA-DR(low) or Rh-123(dull) fraction of normal blood yielded a highly enriched population of cells that were 0.5% to 1% LTC-IC (approximately 1,500-fold enriched beyond the light-density, T-cell-depletion step), a purity comparable to the most enriched populations of human marrow LTC-IC reported to date. However, purification of PB LTC-IC on the basis of these properties did not allow them to be physically separated from a substantial proportion (> 30%) of the clonogenic cells in the same samples, in contrast to previous findings for LTC-IC and clonogenic cells in marrow. These studies show the presence in the blood of normal adults of a relatively small but readily detectable population of functionally defined, primitive hematopoietic cells that share properties with marrow LTC-IC, a cell type thought to have in vivo reconstituting potential. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Genetic Aspects of Scurvy and the European Famine of 1845–1848

The view of scurvy being exclusively a nutritional disorder needs to be updated. Genetic polymorphisms of HFE and haptoglobin (Hp) may explain the geographic variability of mortality caused by the European famine of the mid-19th century. In this period, potatoes had fallen victim to the potato blight and Ireland was more severely hit than continental Europe. Hereditary hemochromatosis is a genetic disorder with mutations in the HFE gene, characterized by iron overload (with a reduced vitamin C stability) and with a predominance of affected men. The Irish have the world’s highest frequency of the C282Y mutation and the particular iron metabolism of the Irish helps to understand the size of the catastrophe and the observed overrepresentation of male skeletons showing scurvy. Hp is a plasma α2-glycoprotein characterized by 3 common phenotypes (Hp 1-1, Hp 2-1 and Hp 2-2). When the antioxidant capacity of Hp is insufficient, its role is taken over by hemopexin and vitamin C. The relative number of scurvy victims corresponds with the Hp 2-2 frequency, which is associated with iron conservation and has an impact on vitamin C stability. As iron is more abundant in males, males are overrepresented in the group of skeletons showing scurvy signs.
Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)-Based Overexpression Screening and Characterization of AgrC, a Receptor Protein of Quorum Sensing in Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus AgrC is an important component of the agr quorum-sensing system. AgrC is a membrane-embedded histidine kinase that is thought to act as a sensor for the recognition of environmental signals and the transduction of signals into the cytoplasm. However, the difficulty of expressing and purifying functional membrane proteins has drastically hindered in-depth understanding of the molecular structures and physiological functions of these proteins. Here, we describe the high-yield expression and purification of AgrC, and analyze its kinase activity. A C-terminal green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion to AgrC served as a reporter for monitoring protein expression levels in real time. Protein expression levels were analyzed by the microscopic assessment of the whole-cell fluorescence. The expressed AgrC-GFP protein with a C-terminal His-tagged was purified using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) at yields of ≥10 mg/L, following optimization. We also assessed the effects of different detergents on membrane solubilization and AgrC kinase activity, and polyoxyethylene-(23)-lauryl-ether (Brij-35) was identified as the most suitable detergent. Furthermore, the secondary structural stability of purified AgrC was analyzed using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. This study may serve as a general guide for improving the yields of other membrane protein preparations and selecting the appropriate detergent to stabilize membrane proteins for biophysical and biochemical analyses.
Does Inequality induce more Borrowing? Electoral Institutions and Responses to Economic Polarization

In several important accounts of the global nancial crisis rising US income inequality plays a prominent role. Contrary to standard models of democratic political economy, these accounts claim that American politicians did not respond to growing inequality with scal redistribution. Instead citizens maintained relative consumption by borrowing more. Why credit-based consumption dominates redistribution is underspecied. We construct a model in which consumers care about relative income, perhaps due to positional externalities in consumption, and then show a trade-o between redistribution and willingness to borrow to fund current consumption. A key implication is that political institutions will have a strong eect on observed credit: politicians in proportional representation (PR) systems will deliver more