Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Symmetric Generalized Gaussian Multiterminal Source Coding

Consider a generalized multiterminal source coding system, where $\begin{pmatrix} \ell\\ m \end{pmatrix}$ encoders, each observing a distinct size-m subset of $\ell(\ell\geq 2)$ zero-mean unit-variance symmetrically correlated Gaussian sources with correlation coefficient $\rho$, compress their observations in such a way that a joint decoder can reconstruct the sources within a prescribed mean squared error distortion based on the compressed data. The optimal rate-distortion performance of this system was previously known only for the two extreme cases $m=\ell$ (the centralized case) and m = 1 (the distributed case), and except when $\rho=0$, the centralized system can achieve strictly lower compression rates than the distributed system under all non-trivial distortion constraints. Somewhat surprisingly, it is established in the present paper that the optimal rate-distortion performance of the aforedescribed generalized multiterminal source coding system with $m\geq 2$ coincides with that of the centralized system for all distortions when $\rho\leq 0$ and for distortions below an explicit positive threshold (depending on m) when $\rho > 0$.
On the Exploration of Promising Analog IC Designs via Artificial Neural Networks

In this paper, deep learning and artificial neural networks (ANNs) are used to size analog integrated circuits. In classical optimization-based sizing strategies the computational intelligent techniques are used to iterate over the map from devices sizes to circuits' performances, provided by design equations or circuit simulations, whereas here, it is performed an exploratory work on how ANNs can be capable of solving analog integrated circuit sizing as a direct map from specifications to the sizing. The proposed methodology was implemented and tested on a real circuit topology, with promising results. Moreover, trained ANNs were able to extend the circuit performance boundaries outside the train/validation set, showing that more than a mapping for the training data, the model is capable of learning reusable design patterns and provide promising designs.
Feasibility, Safety, and Periprocedural Complications Associated with Endovascular Treatment of Ruptured Intracranial Aneurysms according to the Depth of Anesthesia

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to report the feasibility, safety, and periprocedural complications associated with EVT of ruptured intracranial aneurysms according to the depth of anesthesia. In most centers, endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysm is performed under general anesthesia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between March 2011 and December 2016, a total of 183 consecutive patients with 183 aneurysms were treated endovascularly at the authors' center. The data about the depth of anesthesia (local anesthesia, conscious sedation, deep sedation, and general anesthesia), procedural details, and clinical and radiologic outcomes were reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 183 consecutive patients with 183 aneurysms (mean age, 60.2 ± 14.8 years; 54 men and 129 women) were successfully treated. Of these, 70 (38.3%) patients underwent endovascular treatment under local anesthesia, 33 (18.0%) patients underwent endovascular treatment under conscious sedation, 78 (42.6%) patients underwent endovascular treatment under deep sedation, and only 2 (1.1%) patients underwent endovascular treatment under general anesthesia. For patients who presented with Hunt and Hess grades 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, 75%, 59.6%, 59.1%, 53.3%, and 35.3% were treated under local anesthesia or conscious sedation, respectively. The procedure-related complication rates amounted to 8.7% (16/183, with 11 thromboembolic complications and 5 intraprocedural ruptures) overall, and 7.7% (14/183) of complications were symptomatic events. In the patients with good clinical grade (Hunt and Hess 1 or 2), the procedure-related complication rate was 4.1% (4/97), and all complications were symptomatic events under local anesthesia or conscious sedation. CONCLUSIONS: In the authors' experience, local anesthesia or conscious sedation seemed safe and feasible for the patients with good clinical grade SAH.
Common and well‐documented HLA alleles of German stem cell donors by haplotype frequency estimation

We present a catalog of common and well‐documented (CWD) alleles of the German population for the six HLA loci A, B, C, DRB1, DQB1, and DPB1. This study is based on a sample of over 5 million volunteer adult hematopoietic stem cell donors from the 26 German donor centers. To establish the catalog, allele and haplotype frequencies were estimated with a validated implementation of the expectation‐maximization algorithm. CWD criteria similar to existing CWD catalogs were applied in order to be able to put our findings into the context of relevant existing references. Overall, 2155 HLA‐A, ‐B, ‐C, ‐DRB1, ‐DQB1, and ‐DPB1 alleles were identified as CWD in the German donor population representing about 20% of the HLA alleles at two‐field resolution in the IPD‐IMGT/HLA Database release v3.25. 0 from July 2016 for these six loci. We found a substantial concordance of CWD alleles between the three catalogs and showed the contribution of the German donor population to the CWD alleles domain. In conclusion, the definition of CWD criteria that allow interoperability, scalability, and flexibility will be crucial for the development of a worldwide CWD catalog.
Chromatic Pupillometry in Children

Chromatic pupillometry is a technique that is increasingly used to assess retinal disorders. As age may be one of the various factors which can influence the pupillary light reaction, this study aimed to evaluate the pupil responses to colored light stimuli in the pediatric population. Fifty-three children with normal vision and without any history of ocular disorders were tested with a portable pupillometer. Four test sequences were used: five dim blue (470 nm) stimuli presented in half log steps ranging from −3.15 to −1.15 log cd/m2 after 3 min of dark adaptation, five red (622 nm) stimuli of −1.15, −0.7, −0.15, 0.3, and 0.85 log cd/m2 after 1 min light adaptation, one bright blue stimulus of 2.2 log cd/m2 and one bright red of 2 log cd/m2. The results were grouped by age: a younger group included 27 children aged from 3 to 10 years old and an older group included 26 from 10 and 1 month to 18 years old. The younger group had a smaller pupil diameter after dark adaptation compared with the older group. A linear regression defining the photopic threshold showed that younger subjects had a higher threshold, e.g., needed a brighter red stimulus to evoke a threshold pupil response comparable that of subjects. Age thus seems to influence outer retinal sensitivity at least as evaluated by the pupillary photopic threshold intensity. The post-illumination pupillary reaction was used as a marker of intrinsic melanopsin activity and did not show any difference between the two age groups.
On the Convergence of Learning-Based Iterative Methods for Nonconvex Inverse Problems

Numerous tasks at the core of statistics, learning and vision areas are specific cases of ill-posed inverse problems. Recently, learning-based (e.g., deep) iterative methods have been empirically shown to be useful for these problems. Nevertheless, integrating learnable structures into iterations is still a laborious process, which can only be guided by intuitions or empirical insights. Moreover, there is a lack of rigorous analysis about the convergence behaviors of these reimplemented iterations, and thus the significance of such methods is a little bit vague. This paper moves beyond these limits and proposes Flexible Iterative Modularization Algorithm (FIMA), a generic and provable paradigm for nonconvex inverse problems. Our theoretical analysis reveals that FIMA allows us to generate globally convergent trajectories for learning-based iterative methods. Meanwhile, the devised scheduling policies on flexible modules should also be beneficial for classical numerical methods in the nonconvex scenario. Extensive experiments on real applications verify the superiority of FIMA.
Experimental Research of PD/NOMA

The investigation is devoted to the experimental research and comparison of PD/NOMA (power division nonorthogonal multiple access) signals characteristics with OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) signals in the real conditions of a radio propagation channel indoors. It is shown the channel separation method applying by power may provide a gain in energy and spectral efficiency.
Home-based family focused rehabilitation for adolescents with severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Aims: The purpose of this article is to describe and evaluate a home based, family focused rehabilitative approach for severely affected housebound adolescents with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The main aims were to facilitate a return to school, improve physical functioning, reduce fatigue and assess any adverse effects of the intervention. Methods: Six housebound adolescents aged 11–18, diagnosed with CFS by a paediatrician, were assessed and treated at home by an experienced cognitive behaviour therapist. Outcomes were assessed 12 months after discharge from treatment. Results: At 12 months follow-up all patients had returned to either school or college, and physical functioning had improved in most of the patients. Fatigue had reduced in some. No adverse effects of the intervention were reported. Conclusion: Severely affected adolescents with CFS showed improved physical functioning and social adjustment after a home-based rehabilitative approach. Although several patients showed improvements in physical functioning, they did not all show substantial improvements in fatigue. At this crucial stage of development, it is important to offer young people and their parents hope by stating that improvement is possible.
Assessment of the Stability of von Willebrand Profile Clotting Factors and Platelet Dense Granule Testing Following Air Transport

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of test results dependent upon blood and plasma sample stability when shipped by airfreight courier for reference laboratory assessment. Of particular interest was evaluation of von Willebrand profile assays and platelet dense granule storage pool analysis. Peripheral venous blood was obtained from healthy volunteers. von Willebrand factor (VWF) activity, VWF antigen, and factor VIII coagulant activity assays were performed immediately following venipuncture with additional aliquots of plasma frozen and stored at −70°C for subsequent analysis 48 hours later. One frozen aliquot was shipped via airfreight for analysis 48 hours later, with another frozen aliquot that remained on-site. Blood was also collected to enumerate platelet dense granules to determine whether shipment would affect results. Statistical analysis of all test results demonstrated significant correlation between immediately assayed samples and samples that were stored for 48 hours at −70°C (P < .0001), or frozen and shipped on dry ice (P < .0001) for analysis upon return to our laboratory. No difference was found in the mean number of platelet dense granules between samples retained in our laboratory or samples analyzed upon return of shipment (P = .751).
Patients’ expectations and experiences of eating behaviour change after bariatric procedures

Patients’ pre‐surgical expectations and post‐surgical experiences of eating‐related behaviour change after bariatric surgery may vary by procedure and time since surgery. To investigate this, data were coded from 206 Australian adults ≥2 months post‐Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass (RYGB; 17%), adjustable gastric band (AGB; 23%) or vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG; 60%) who completed an online questionnaire including open‐ended questions about pre‐surgical eating‐related expectations and post‐surgical experiences. Participants were 94% female, and mean age was 45.9 (SD = 10.0). Average time since surgery varied (AGB: 69.6 months; RYGB: 22.8; and VSG: 17.8). The proportions reporting any one or more ‘positive’ (healthy, helpful or desired; RYGB 82%; AGB 76%; and VSG 84%) or any one or more ‘negative’ (unhealthy, unhelpful or unwanted; RYGB 46%; AGB 46%; and VSG 42%) post‐surgical eating‐related experience did not differ by procedure. Negative experiences were more often reported at ≥18 months than 2 to <18 months (P = 0.035). After both VSG and AGB, but not RYGB, reporting any one or more positive eating‐related experience was related to better outcomes (VSG: in mental health; AGB: in weight loss, physical health, satisfaction) and negative experiences were linked to poorer outcomes (VSG: in mental health, satisfaction; AGB: in mental and physical health, satisfaction). Reporting any one or more positive experience was related to better mental health improvement at 2 to <18 months and greater satisfaction at 18+ months post‐surgery. The findings highlight the necessity of long‐term, multidisciplinary patient care and further investigation into impacts of eating‐related experiences on outcomes, with attention to procedure‐based and temporal effects.
Losing my hand. Body ownership attenuation after virtual lesion of the primary motor cortex

A fundamental component of the self‐awareness is the sensation that we are acting with our own body. Thus, a coherent sense of self implies the existence of a tight link between the sense of body ownership and the motor system. Here, we investigated this issue by taking advantage of a well‐known experimental manipulation of body ownership, i.e., the rubber hand illusion (RHI), during which the subjects perceive a fake hand as part of their own body. To test the effect of the motor system down‐regulation on the RHI susceptibility, we designed a sham‐controlled study, where the primary motor cortex (M1) excitability was modulated by off‐line low‐frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). After rTMS (real or sham), subjects underwent the RHI either on the right hand, contralateral to the inhibited hemisphere (Experiment 1), or on the left hand, ipsilateral to the inhibited hemisphere (Experiment 2). Only in Experiment 1, the procedure strengthened the illusory experience, as proved by a significant increase, in rTMS compared to Sham, of both subjective (Embodiment/Disembodiment Questionnaires) and objective (Proprioceptive Drift) RHI measures. This evidence demonstrates that, when the M1 activity is down‐regulated, the sense of body ownership is attenuated and the subjects become more prone to incorporate an alien body part. This, in turn, supports the existence of a mutual interaction between the sense of body ownership and the motor system, shedding new light on the construction of a coherent sense of self as an acting body.
Control Strategy for Grid-Connected Three-Phase Inverters During Voltage Sags to Meet Grid Codes and to Maximize Power Delivery Capability

Inverter-based distributed generation plays a vital role in the stability and reliability of new power systems. Under voltage sags, these systems must remain connected to the electrical network according to the stringent requirements of grid codes (GCs). Low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) control strategies are becoming a common trend in power electronics research. However, previous studies of these control strategies have not dealt with the different possible scenarios presented by new GCs, and many of them focus on a very limited number of control objectives. In this study, an algorithm to maximize the converter capabilities was developed and subjected to experimental tests during different voltage sags. In this research, based on unbalanced voltage drops of several severity levels, six different cases of current injection are identified while taking into consideration the restrictions imposed by GCs. The research results represent a further step toward the development of flexible controllers adaptable to the environments of intelligent electricity grids with high integration of distributed generation.
Detecting Socially Significant Music Events Using Temporally Noisy Labels

In this paper, we focus on event detection over the timeline of a music track. Such technology is motivated by the need for innovative applications such as searching, nonlinear access, and recommendation. Event detection over the timeline requires time-code level labels in order to train machine learning models. We use timed comments from SoundCloud, a modern social music sharing platform, to obtain these labels. While in this way the need for tedious and time-consuming manual labeling can be reduced, the challenge is that timed comments are subject to additional temporal noise, as they occur in the temporal neighborhood of the actual events. We investigate the utility of such noisy timed comments as training labels through a case study, in which we investigate three types of events in electronic dance music (EDM): drop, build, and break. These socially significant events play a key role in an EDM track's unfolding and are popular in social media circles. These events are interesting for detection, and here we leverage the timed comments generated in the course of the online social activity around them. We propose a two-stage learning method that relies on noisy timed comments and, given a music track, marks the events on the timeline. In the experiments, we focus, in particular, on investigating to which extent noisy timed comments can replace manually acquired expert labels. The conclusions we draw during this study provide useful insights that motivate further research in the field of event detection.
Beyond simple tests of value: measuring addiction as a heterogeneous disease of computation-specific valuation processes

Addiction is considered to be a neurobiological disorder of learning and memory because addiction is capable of producing lasting changes in the brain. Recovering addicts chronically struggle with making poor decisions that ultimately lead to relapse, suggesting a view of addiction also as a neurobiological disorder of decision-making information processing. How the brain makes decisions depends on how decision-making processes access information stored as memories in the brain. Advancements in circuit-dissection tools and recent theories in neuroeconomics suggest that neurally dissociable valuation processes access distinct memories differently, and thus are uniquely susceptible as the brain changes during addiction. If addiction is to be considered a neurobiological disorder of memory, and thus decision-making, the heterogeneity with which information is both stored and processed must be taken into account in addiction studies. Addiction etiology can vary widely from person to person. We propose that addiction is not a single disease, nor simply a disorder of learning and memory, but rather a collection of symptoms of heterogeneous neurobiological diseases of distinct circuit-computation-specific decision-making processes.
Design-Based Analysis in Difference-in-Differences Settings with Staggered Adoption

In this paper we study estimation of and inference for average treatment effects in a setting with panel data. We focus on the setting where units, e.g., individuals, firms, or states, adopt the policy or treatment of interest at a particular point in time, and then remain exposed to this treatment at all times afterwards. We take a design perspective where we investigate the properties of estimators and procedures given assumptions on the assignment process. We show that under random assignment of the adoption date the standard Difference-In-Differences estimator is is an unbiased estimator of a particular weighted average causal effect. We characterize the proeperties of this estimand, and show that the standard variance estimator is conservative.
Collaborative Learning of Stochastic Bandits Over a Social Network

We consider a collaborative online learning paradigm, wherein a group of agents connected through a social network are engaged in learning a stochastic multi-armed bandit problem. Each time an agent takes an action, the corresponding reward is instantaneously observed by the agent, as well as its neighbors in the social network. We perform a regret analysis of various policies in this collaborative learning setting. A key finding of this paper is that natural extensions of widely studied single agent learning policies to the network setting need not perform well in terms of regret. In particular, we identify a class of non-altruistic and individually consistent policies and argue by deriving regret lower bounds that they are liable to suffer a large regret in the networked setting. We also show that the learning performance can be substantially improved if the agents exploit the structure of the network and develop a simple learning algorithm based on dominating sets of the network. Specifically, we first consider a star network, which is a common motif in hierarchical social networks and show analytically that the hub agent can be used as an information sink to expedite learning and improve the overall regret. We also derive network-wide regret bounds for the algorithm applied to general networks. We conduct numerical experiments on a variety of networks to corroborate our analytical results.
Improved Power Quality Switched Inductor Cuk Converter for Battery Charging Applications

Most of the two-stage converters for electric bike battery charging comprise of a boost converter for power factor correction (PFC) followed by a dc–dc converter with universal input voltage. These two-stage conversions suffer from poor efficiency and increased component count. In this paper, a single-stage switched inductor Cuk converter based PFC converter is proposed, which offers high step-down gain, low current stress, high efficiency, and reduced component count. The operational analysis and design equations for various components of the proposed converter are carried out in continuous current mode. This paper presents mathematical modeling, analysis, simulation, and experimentation on the proposed converter rated for 500 W, 48 V/10.4 A. The performance investigation of the proposed converter with respect to power quality indices like voltage total harmonic distortion (THD), current THD, and total power factor is carried out with various types of loads such as resistive load and battery load in both constant voltage (CV) and constant current (CC) mode. Furthermore, the dynamic performance of the proposed converter with battery charging is investigated in CV mode and CC mode with respect to the wide range of supply variations.
Maximum Power Point Tracking Methods for the Solar Battery

The environmental conditions have the greatest impact on the generation of energy by solar batteries, in connection with this, the popularity of various control systems providing of the maximum power point tracking has increased. Therefore, in this article, traditional methods and artificial intelligence methods widely used in the energy generation platform are subjected to some comparative analysis.