Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reconstruction of sparse signals by minimizing a re-weighted approximate ℓ0-norm in the null space of the measurement matrix

A new algorithm for signal reconstruction in a compressive sensing framework is presented. The algorithm is based on minimizing a re-weighted approximate ℓ0-norm in the null space of the measurement matrix, and the unconstrained optimization involved is performed by using a quasi-Newton algorithm. Simulation results are presented which demonstrate that the proposed algorithm yields improved signal reconstruction performance and requires a reduced amount of computation relative to iteratively re-weighted algorithms based on the ℓp-norm with p < 1. When compared with a known algorithm based on a smoothed ℓ0-norm, improved signal reconstruction is achieved although the amount of computation is increased somewhat.
On Learning Wavelet Control for Affine Nonlinear Systems

Function Approximation has been proven to be an effective approach when dealing with nonlinear dynamics. Among numerous function approximation methods, wavelet network shows unique advantage in terms of its orthonormality and multi-layer resolution properties, which enable the on-line tuning or closed-loop tuning for the wavelet network structure. Using such a constructive wavelet network, an adaptive iterative learning control approach was proposed for finite interval tracking problems [1]. In this work, the adaptive learning control approach with wavelet approximation (denoted by learning wavelet control or LWC) is applied two general classes of plants affine-in-input. One class is with nonlinear unknown input coefficient, and the other class is in cascade form. With the help of Lyapunov method, the learning convergence properties of the adaptive learning control system can be analyzed while the wavelet network undergoes on-line structure adaptation.
COMPLICATIONS FOLLOWING INTRAVENOUS ADMINISTRATION OF SOLUTIONS CONTAINING XYLITOL

Twenty‐two patients who had received intravenous infusions of solutions containing xylitol were studied. Ten were thought to have developed a syndrome of adverse reactions produced by these solutions. This syndrome consisted of diuresis, oliguria and azotæmia, liver and cerebral disturbances, elevated serum uric acid levels and calcium oxalate crystal deposition. Most patients exhibited several of these adverse reactions, whereas only one person developed the complete syndrome. In a number of cases it was not possible to decide whether an adverse reaction had occurred because of the presence of preexisting disease. Five patients were considered not to have shown any adverse reactions.
Clients’ perceptions and satisfaction with HIV counselling and testing: A cross-sectional study in 56 HCT sites in South Africa

Background Client satisfaction serves as a predictor for acceptance of HIV counselling and testing (HCT) services. Therefore, the study of clients’ perception and satisfaction may offer insights on how to improve HCT programmes. Aim and setting The aim of this study was to assess clients’ satisfaction with HCT as well as describe perceived barriers to and facilitators of HIV testing by HCT clients in South Africa. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted through interviews with 498 clients purposefully selected at the end of an HCT visit at 56 HCT sites throughout the country. Results All the 498 study participants had tested for HIV with 98.8% receiving their results. Most (88.2%) reported testing for HIV before. The vast majority (75.5%) of clients reported that they had decided to be tested for HIV by themselves. High levels of satisfaction with HCT service (89.8%), low levels (27.7%) of difficulty in making the decision to have an HIV test and high levels of perceived confidentiality (94.6%) of the HIV test results were reported in this study. The most cited perceived barrier to HIV testing was lack of awareness about the HCT service (98%), while staff attitudes (37%), confidentiality (29.6%) and privacy (23.6%) were perceived facilitators. In multivariate logistic regression, staff attitude was significantly associated with client satisfaction (p < 0.05). Conclusion High levels of client satisfaction with HCT services were observed. Various barriers to and facilitators of – including staff attitude – HCT were identified which can help guide the improvement of HCT services in South Africa.
Estimating mutual information on data streams

Mutual information is a well-established and broadly used concept in information theory. It allows to quantify the mutual dependence between two variables -- an essential task in data analysis. For static data, a broad range of techniques addresses the problem of estimating mutual information. However, the assumption of static data is not applicable for today's dynamic data sources such as data streams: In contrast to static approaches, an online estimator must be able to deal with the evolving, changing, and infinite nature of the stream. Furthermore, some tasks require the estimation to be available online while processing the raw data stream. Our proposed solution Mise (Mutual Information Stream Estimation) allows a user to issue mutual information queries in arbitrary time windows. As a key feature, we introduce a novel sampling scheme, which ensures an equal treatment of queries over multiple time scales, e.g., ranging from milliseconds up to decades. We thoroughly analyze the requirements of such a multiscale sampling scheme, and evaluate the resulting quality of Mise in a broad range of experiments.
Development of Scientific Software: a Systematic Mapping, a bibliometrics Study, and a Paper Repository

Scientific and engineering research is heavily dependent on effective development and use of software artifacts. Many of these artifacts are produced by the scientists themselves, rather than by trained software engineers. To address the challenges in this area, a research community often referred to as "Development of Scientific Software" has emerged in the last few decades. As this research area has matured, there has been a sharp increase in the number of papers and results made available, and it has thus become important to summarize and provide an overview about those studies. Through a systematic mapping and bibliometrics study, we have reviewed 130 papers in this area. We present the results of our study in this paper. Also we have made the mapping data available on an online repository which is planned to be updated on a regular basis. The results of our study seem to suggest that many software engineering techniques and activities are being used in the development of scientific software. However, there is still a need for further exploration of the usefulness of specific software engineering techniques (e.g., regarding software maintenance, evolution, refactoring, re(v)-engineering, process and project management) in the scientific context. It is hoped that this article will help (new) researchers get an overview of the research space and help them to understand the trends in the area.
First Case of Angioleiomyoma Originating from the Ovary of an Adult Woman

similar to those described in the case of the young girl although history, clinical exam and immunohistochemical profile are slightly different. A 42-year-old woman gravida 6, para 3 consulted for exacerbated lower abdominal discomfort persisting for 1 year. She was operated on for uterine leiomyoma. The patient did not take any hormonal medication. The physical exam did not reveal any palpable abdominal mass. UltraDear Sir, We read with great interest the paper by Hsu et al. [1] regarding the first case of angioleiomyoma (ALM) originating from the ovary of an 11-year-old girl. We are presenting the second case of ALM originating from the ovary of a 42-year-old woman. Although it is the second report in the literature of an angioleiomyoma involving the ovary, it is the only reported case in an adult. The histopathological features are Received: December 16, 2008 Accepted after revision: October 27, 2009 Published online: February 2, 2010
What is Good General Practice?

Peter Toon Royal College of General Practitioners, pounds sterling11.50, pp 57 ISBN 0-85084-199-2 Tonight, listening to the Cleveland Quartet playing Mozart's String Quartet No 1 on instruments all made before the quartet's publication in Vienna in 1785, I wonder about the modern axiom that change is essential. Scientific and technological advance changes the means we use to achieve our ends; but how much should those ends—our aspirations and our purpose—change? Striving to adapt to constantly changing means, we risk losing sight of the ends. Much has been …
The Outer Radiation Belt Response to the Storm Time Development of Seed Electrons and Chorus Wave Activity During CME and CIR Driven Storms

Gyroresonant wave‐particle interactions with very low frequency whistler mode chorus waves can accelerate subrelativistic seed electrons (hundreds of keV) to relativistic energies in the outer radiation belt during geomagnetic storms. In this study, we conduct a superposed epoch analysis of the chorus wave activity, the seed electron development, and the outer radiation belt electron response between L* = 2.5 and 5.5, for 25 coronal mass ejection and 35 corotating interaction region storms using Van Allen Probes observations. Electron data from the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer and Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope instruments are used to monitor the storm‐phase development of the seed and relativistic electrons, and magnetic field measurements from the Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science instrument are used to identify the chorus wave activity. Our results show a deeper (lower L*), stronger (higher flux), and earlier (epoch time) average seed electron enhancement and a resulting greater average radiation belt electron enhancement in coronal mass ejection storms compared to the corotating interaction region storms despite similar levels and lifetimes of average chorus wave activity for the two storm drivers. The earlier and deeper seed electron enhancement during the coronal mass ejection storms, likely driven by greater convection and substorm activity, provides a higher probability for local acceleration. These results emphasize the importance of the timing and the level of the seed electron enhancements in radiation belt dynamics.
Cancer patients' decision-making regarding treatment and nursing care.

BACKGROUND Patient participation in decision-making has produced many debates among health care professionals. The research evidence concerning patient participation in decision-making is not clear, and shows conflicting results. AIMS To identify to what extent cancer patients participate in decision-making and to what extent background characteristics, information obtained and relationships with staff explain cancer patients' participation in decision-making. DESIGN/METHOD A structured questionnaire based on earlier research and qualitative interviews was designed. The questionnaire was completed by 273 cancer patients who were inpatients or outpatients in haematology, oncology clinics and other clinics at two university hospitals in Finland. The questionnaire consisted of five areas: (1) demographic data; (2) mood; (3) information obtained; (4) relationships with staff; and (5) decision-making. The scale used was ordinal. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests such as Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskall-Wallis, and Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank tests. RESULTS The majority of the respondents perceived that they had participated in making treatment decisions at least to some extent, together with the physician. In decision-making about nursing care, respondents felt that they had participated most in decisions about personal hygiene, rest and sleep. Respondents' physical condition, marital status, age and time since diagnosis, as well as information obtained and relationships with staff, were associated with participation in decision-making. CONCLUSION This study provided evidence that some cancer patients participated in decision-making and felt participation to be important. Staff played a crucial role in patient participation in decision-making. In future, staff should work to improve cancer patients' opportunities to participate in decision-making in order that those who wish to be involved can do so.
Monitoring the Supervisors: Optimal Regulatory Architecture in a Banking Union

I study the optimal architecture of bank supervision in a federal system. A central supervisor gets information about a bank, for instance through stress-testing, and decides whether an on-site examination should be performed by a local or a central authority. Local supervisors have lower inspection costs, but do not internalize cross-border externalities. The optimal degree of centralization depends on the severity of these externalities, the opacity of the supervised bank and the specificity of its assets. The market reacts to the chosen architecture, so that a centralized supervision endogenously increases market integration and cross-border externalities, strengthening the need for centralized supervision. The economy can be trapped in an equilibrium with low supervision and integration, while a forward-looking design of the supervisory architecture would coordinate economic agents on a superior equilibrium.
Do arterial stiffness and wave reflections improve more with angiotensin receptor blockers than with other antihypertensive drug classes?

In their meta-analysis Chen and co-authors pooled together ten randomized controlled studies assessing the effect of angiotensin II receptors blockers (ARBs) on pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIx), compared to a mix of other antihypertensive drugs (1). The authors documented that ARB treatment was as effective as dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers and diuretics on PWV, whereas the effect on AIx was superior with ARBs. Authors deliberately settled to limit their systematic review to hypertensive patients with no co-morbidities, in order to avoid any external bias on the evaluation of treatment efficacy. They also decided to include in the meta-analysis only studies with a sufficiently long-term follow-up, in order to increase the chance of observing a significant treatment effect.
Microtubule nucleation and release from the neuronal centrosome

We have proposed that microtubules (MTs) destined for axons and dendrites are nucleated at the centrosome within the cell body of the neuron, and are then released for translocation into these neurites (Baas, P. W., and H. C. Joshi. 1992. J. Cell Biol. 119:171-178). In the present study, we have tested the capacity of the neuronal centrosome to act as a generator of MTs for relocation into other regions of the neuron. In cultured sympathetic neurons undergoing active axonal outgrowth, MTs are present throughout the cell body including the region around the centrosome, but very few (< 10) are directly attached to the centrosome. These results indicate either that the neuronal centrosome is relatively inactive with regard to MT nucleation, or that most of the MTs nucleated at the centrosome are rapidly released. Treatment for 6 h with 10 micrograms/ml nocodazole results in the depolymerization of greater than 97% of the MT polymer in the cell body. Within 5 min after removal of the drug, hundreds of MTs have assembled in the region of the centrosome, and most of these MTs are clearly attached to the centrosome. A portion of the MTs are not attached to the centrosome, but are aligned side-by-side with the attached MTs, suggesting that the unattached MTs were released from the centrosome after nucleation. In addition, unattached MTs are present in the cell body at decreasing levels with increasing distance from the centrosome. By 30 min, the MT array of the cell body is indistinguishable from that of controls. The number of MTs attached to the centrosome is once again diminished to fewer than 10, suggesting that the hundreds of MTs nucleated from the centrosome after 5 min were subsequently released and translocated away from the centrosome. These results indicate that the neuronal centrosome is a highly potent MT- nucleating structure, and provide strong indirect evidence that MTs nucleated from the centrosome are released for translocation into other regions of the neuron.
Functional independence of layer IV barrels in rodent somatosensory cortex.

Layer IV of rodent primary somatosensory cortex is characterized by an array of whisker-related groups of neurons, known as "barrels. " Neurons within each barrel respond best to a particular whisker on the contralateral face, and, on deflection of adjacent whiskers, display relatively weak excitation followed by strong inhibition. A prominent hypothesis for the processing of vibrissal information within layer IV is that the multiwhisker receptive fields of barrel neurons reflect interconnections among neighboring barrels. An alternative view is that the receptive field properties of barrel neurons are derived from operations performed on multiwhisker, thalamic inputs by local circuitry within each barrel, independently of neighboring barrels. Here we report that adjacent whisker-evoked excitation and inhibition within a barrel are unaffected by ablation of the corresponding adjacent barrel. In supragranular neurons, on the other hand, excitatory responses to the ablated barrel's associated whisker are substantially reduced. We conclude that the layer IV barrels function as an array of independent parallel processors, each of which individually transforms thalamic afferent input for subsequent processing by horizontally interconnected circuits in other layers.
Screening of Natural Waters for Viruses Which Infect Chlorella Cells

By using a plaque assay with the unicellular green alga Chlorella sp. strain NC64A as a host, viruses were screened from natural pond waters collected in Kyoto and Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan. From some samples tested, two kinds of plaques, large (φ = 6 to 10 mm) and small (φ = 2 to 3 mm), were detected with various frequencies. The frequency of plaques in each of the water sources was seasonal; generally, it reached a peak value (8,000 PFU/ml) in May and gradually decreased to the limit of detection (<1) in November before increasing again in early spring. Electron microscopy revealed that the purified and negatively stained viruses were very large (125 to 200 nm) icosahedral particles. The genome isolated from these particles was always a linear double-stranded DNA of 340 to 370 kbp. Electrophoresis patterns of the DNA fragments produced by digestion with restriction enzymes differed considerably from plaque to plaque, even for plaques from the same water source. However, Southern hybridization showed strong homology among all of the virus DNAs tested, indicating relatedness of those viruses. A possible use of the Chlorella virus assay system to monitor the natural population of algal cells and water quality is discussed.
Programmatic Approach to Management of Tetralogy of Fallot With Major Aortopulmonary Collateral Arteries: A 15-Year Experience With 458 Patients

Background— Tetralogy of Fallot with major aortopulmonary collateral arteries is a complex and heterogeneous condition. Our institutional approach to this lesion emphasizes early complete repair with the incorporation of all lung segments and extensive lobar and segmental pulmonary artery reconstruction. Methods and Results— We reviewed all patients who underwent surgical intervention for tetralogy of Fallot and major aortopulmonary collateral arteries at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford (LPCHS) since November 2001. A total of 458 patients underwent surgery, 291 (64%) of whom underwent their initial procedure at LPCHS. Patients were followed for a median of 2.7 years (mean 4.3 years) after the first LPCHS surgery, with an estimated survival of 85% at 5 years after first surgical intervention. Factors associated with worse survival included first LPCHS surgery type other than complete repair and Alagille syndrome. Of the overall cohort, 402 patients achieved complete unifocalization and repair, either as a single-stage procedure (n=186), after initial palliation at our center (n=74), or after surgery elsewhere followed by repair/revision at LPCHS (n=142). The median right ventricle:aortic pressure ratio after repair was 0.35. Estimated survival after repair was 92.5% at 10 years and was shorter in patients with chromosomal anomalies, older age, a greater number of collaterals unifocalized, and higher postrepair right ventricle pressure. Conclusions— Using an approach that emphasizes early complete unifocalization and repair with incorporation of all pulmonary vascular supply, we have achieved excellent results in patients with both native and previously operated tetralogy of Fallot and major aortopulmonary collateral arteries.
Too packed to change: side-chain packing and site-specific substitution rates in protein evolution

In protein evolution, due to functional and biophysical constraints, the rates of amino acid substitution differ from site to site. Among the best predictors of site-specific rates are solvent accessibility and packing density. The packing density measure that best correlates with rates is the weighted contact number (WCN), the sum of inverse square distances between a site’s Cα and the Cα of the other sites. According to a mechanistic stress model proposed recently, rates are determined by packing because mutating packed sites stresses and destabilizes the protein’s active conformation. While WCN is a measure of Cα packing, mutations replace side chains. Here, we consider whether a site’s evolutionary divergence is constrained by main-chain packing or side-chain packing. To address this issue, we extended the stress theory to model side chains explicitly. The theory predicts that rates should depend solely on side-chain contact density. We tested this prediction on a data set of structurally and functionally diverse monomeric enzymes. We compared side-chain contact density with main-chain contact density measures and with relative solvent accessibility (RSA). We found that side-chain contact density is the best predictor of rate variation among sites (it explains 39.2% of the variation). Moreover, the independent contribution of main-chain contact density measures and RSA are negligible. Thus, as predicted by the stress theory, site-specific evolutionary rates are determined by side-chain packing.
On the hardness of range assignment problems

We investigate the computational hardness of the connectivity, the strong connectivity, and the broadcast type of range assignment problems in ℝ2 and ℝ3. We present new reductions for the connectivity problem, which are easily adapted to suit the other two problems. All reductions are considerably simpler than the technically quite involved ones used in earlier works on these problems. Using our constructions, we can for the first time prove NP‐hardness of these problems for all real distance‐power gradients α > 0 (resp. α > 1 for broadcast) in 2D, and prove APX‐hardness of all three problems in 3D for all α > 1. Our reductions yield improved lower bounds on the approximation ratios for all problems where APX‐hardness was known before already. In particular, we derive the overall first APX‐hardness proof for broadcast. This was an open problem posed in earlier work in this area, as was the question whether (strong) connectivity remains NP‐hard for α = 1. In addition, we give the first hardness results for so‐called well‐spread instances. On the positive side, we prove that two natural greedy algorithms are 2‐approximations for (strong) connectivity, and show that the factor 2 is tight in ℝ2 for α > 1. We also analyze the performance guarantee of the well‐known MST‐heuristic as a function of the input size. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2008