Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust self-tuning controller under outliers

In this paper, we propose a robust self-tuning controller (STC) under outliers. A parameter update law of a conventional STC consists of a recursive least squares estimation, and the estimation is given by a solution of a minimization problem of estimated errors. In the proposed method, we estimate parameters and outliers explicitly by addition of a l1 regression term to the minimization problem like a robust Kalman filter via l1 regression, and the estimated outliers are removed from measurement outputs in the controller. We also analyze control performances of the proposed method under outliers, and it is shown theoretically that performances in the proposed method with outliers are nearly equal to ones in the conventional STC without outliers. A numerical simulation, in which a controlled plant is a non-minimum phase system, demonstrates effectiveness of the proposed method.
School Nursing in New Zealand

There are universal concerns about youth health and recognition of the potential of school health services but little consensus internationally as to how these are best configured. Limited information about nursing services in New Zealand secondary schools, changing patterns of youth health needs and expanding roles for nurses in primary health care indicated a need to research school nursing services. This study found that within New Zealand schools there was wide variation in the types of health services and their funding; that nurses are well qualified and highly experienced, although some lack clinical supervision; that students present most commonly for sexual health and injuries or sickness; and that they choose school health services for accessibility and confidentiality. It concludes that one way forward would be to develop a national-level policy for nurse-led school health centers, with appropriate funding, that allows for local flexibility and includes a career pathway for school nurses.
Comparative Analysis of B 7-1 and B 7-2 Costimulatory Ligands : Expression and Function

From the *Experimental Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute and ~National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892; the SDepartment of Immunology, L. Eotvos University, 1-1-2131 God, Hungary; the IISection of Immunology, Department of Sciences and Biomedical Technologies, School of Medicine, University of Udine, Udine, Italy, 1-33100; and IBristol-Meyers Squibt; Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Seattle, Washington 98121.
PET image reconstruction and motion correction using direct backprojection on point grids and clouds

PET and SPECT images are traditionally reconstructed using voxel grids. In situations where non-rigid motion correction is required, meshes are believed to be better suited than voxels for image reconstruction. With meshes, deformations can be modeled explicitly by changing the coordinates of the mesh nodes. Previously proposed approaches to mesh-based image reconstruction relied either on computing the projection of mesh polyhedrons onto the detector planes, or computing the length-of-intersection between the polyhedrons and the lines-of-response.
A New Model to Study the Role of Arachidonic Acid in Colon Cancer Pathophysiology

A significant increase in cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) gene expression has been shown to promote cylcooxygenase-dependent colon cancer development. Controversy associated with the role of COX2 inhibitors indicates that additional work is needed to elucidate the effects of arachidonic acid (AA)-derived (cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase) eicosanoids in cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis. We have recently developed a novel Fads1 knockout mouse model that allows for the investigation of AA-dependent eicosanoid deficiency without the complication of essential fatty acid deficiency. Interestingly, the survival rate of Fads1-null mice is severely compromised after 2 months on a semi-purified AA-free diet, which precludes long-term chemoprevention studies. Therefore, in this study, dietary AA levels were titrated to determine the minimal level required for survival, while maintaining a distinct AA-deficient phenotype. Null mice supplemented with AA (0.1%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 2.0%, w/w) in the diet exhibited a dose-dependent increase (P < 0.05) in AA, PGE2, 6-keto PGF1α, TXB2, and EdU-positive proliferative cells in the colon. In subsequent experiments, null mice supplemented with 0.6% AA diet were injected with a colon-specific carcinogen (azoxymethane) in order to assess cancer susceptibility. Null mice exhibited significantly (P < 0.05) reduced levels/multiplicity of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) as compared with wild-type sibling littermate control mice. These data indicate that (i) basal/minimal dietary AA supplementation (0.6%) expands the utility of the Fads1-null mouse model for long-term cancer prevention studies and (ii) that AA content in the colonic epithelium modulates colon cancer risk. Cancer Prev Res; 9(9); 750–7. ©2016 AACR.
The Advantage of Resource Queues Over Spot Resource Markets: Decision Coordination in Experiments Under Resource Uncertainty

Farmers have to make key decisions, such as which crops to plant or whether to prepare the soil, before knowing how much water they will get. They face losses if they make costly decisions but do not receive water, and they may forego profits if they receive water without being prepared. We consider the coordination of farmers' decisions, such as which crops to plant or whether to prepare the soil when farmers must divide an uncertain water supply. We compare ex-ante queues (pre-decision) to an ex-post spot market (post-decision & post-rain) in experiments in rural Brazil and a university in England. Queues have greater coordination success than does the spot market. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.
Evaluating the Quality of Subgroup Analyses in Randomized Controlled Trials of Therapist-Delivered Interventions for Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review

Study Design. Systematic review. Objective. To evaluate the quality, conduct, and reporting of subgroup analyses performed in randomized controlled trials of therapist-delivered interventions for nonspecific low back pain (NSLBP). Summary of Background Data. Randomized controlled trials of therapist-delivered interventions for NSLBP to date have, at best, shown small to moderate positive effects. Identifying subgroups is an important research priority. This review evaluates the quality, conduct, and reporting of subgroup analyses performed in the NSLBP literature. Methods. Multiple electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials of therapist-delivered interventions for NSLBP. Of the identified articles, only articles reporting subgroup analyses (confirmatory or exploratory) were included in the final review. Methodological criteria were used to evaluate the quality of subgroup analyses. The quality of conduct and reporting was also evaluated. Results. Thirty-nine articles were included in the final review. Of these, only 3 (8%) tested hypotheses about moderators (confirmatory findings), 18 (46%) generated hypotheses about moderators to inform future research (exploratory findings), and 18 (46%) provided insufficient findings. The appropriate statistical test for interaction was performed in 27 of the articles, of which 10 reported results from interaction tests, 4 incorrectly reported results within individual subgroups, and the remaining articles reported either P values or nothing at all. Conclusion. Subgroup analyses performed in NSLBP trials have been severely underpowered, are only able to provide exploratory or insufficient findings, and have rather poor quality of reporting. Using current approaches, few definitive trials of subgrouping in back pain are very likely to be performed. There is a need to develop new approaches to subgroup identification in back pain research. Level of Evidence: 1
Outbreak investigation of fever mimicking dengue in Havelock Island, an important tourist destination in the Andaman & Nicobar Archipelago, 2014

SUMMARY An upsurge of fever cases of unknown origin, but resembling dengue and leptospirosis was reported in Havelock, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, an important tourism spot, during May 2014. Investigations were carried out to determine the aetiology, and to describe the epidemiology of the outbreak. The data on fever cases attending Primary Health Centre (PHC), Havelock showed that the average number of cases reporting per week over the last 2 years was 46·1 (95% confidence interval 19·4–72·9). A total of 27 (43·5%) patients out of the 62 suspected cases were diagnosed as having DENV infection based on a positive enzyme immunoassay or reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction. The overall attack rate was 9·4 cases/1000 population and it ranged between 2·8 and 18·8/1000 in different villages. The nucleotide sequencing showed that the virus responsible was DENV-3. DENV-3 was first detected in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in 2013 among wharf workers in Port Blair and within a year it has spread to Havelock Island which is separated from South Andaman by 36 nautical miles.
Three Acyltetronic Acid Derivatives: Noncanonical Cryptic Polyketides from Aspergillus niger Identified by Genome Mining

Induced production of tetronate derivatives: We activated a dormant PKS-NRPS gene cluster in Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 by expressing its dedicated transcription activator (caaR). As a result, the transformant expressing caaR produces three acyltetronate derivatives: carlosic acid (1), agglomerin F (2), and carlosic acid methyl ester (3).
XDvision: Dense outdoor perception for autonomous vehicles

Robust perception is the cornerstone of safe and environmentally-aware autonomous navigation systems. Autonomous robots are expected to recognise the objects in their surroundings under a wide range of challenging environmental conditions. This problem has been tackled by combining multiple sensor modalities that have complementary characteristics. This paper proposes an approach to multi-sensor-based robotic perception that leverages the rich and dense appearance information provided by camera sensors, and the range data provided by active sensors independently of how dense their measurements are. We introduce a framework we call XDvision where colour images are augmented with dense depth information obtained from sparser sensors such as lidars. We demonstrate the utility of our framework by comparing the performance of a standard CNN-based image classifier fed with image data only with the performance of a two-layer multimodal CNN trained using our augmented representation.
Predictive Provisioning: Efficiently Anticipating Usage in Azure SQL Database

Over-booking cloud resources is an effective way to increase the cost efficiency of a cluster, and is being studied within Microsoft for the Azure SQL Database service. A key challenge is to strike the right balance between the potentially conflicting goals of optimizing for resource allocation efficiency and positive user experience. Understanding when cloud database customers use their database instances and when they are idle can allow one to successfully balance these two metrics. In our work, we formulate and evaluate production-feasible methods to develop idleness profiles for customer databases. Using one of the largest data center telemetry datasets, namely Azure SQL Database telemetry across multiple data centers, we show that our schemes are effective in predicting future patterns of database usage. Our methods are practical and improve the efficiency of clusters while managing customer expectations.
Monitoring global volume-related hemodynamic or regional variables after initial resuscitation: What is a better predictor of outcome in critically ill septic patients?*

Objective:Regional variables of organ dysfunction are thought to be better monitoring variables than global pressure-related hemodynamic variables. Whether a difference exists between regional and global volume-related variables in critically ill patients after resuscitation is unknown. Design:Prospective diagnostic test evaluation. Setting:University-affiliated mixed intensive care unit. Patients:Twenty-eight critically ill patients. Interventions:Using standardized resuscitation, hemodynamic optimization was targeted at mean arterial pressure, heart rate, occlusion pressure, cardiac output, systemic vascular resistance, and urine output. Primary outcome variable was in-hospital mortality. Measurements and Main Results:During resuscitation, global volume-related hemodynamic variables were measured simultaneously and compared with regional variables. At admission no variable was superior as a predictor of outcome. During resuscitation, significant changes were seen in mean arterial pressure, central venous pressure, oxygen delivery, systemic vascular resistance, total blood volume, right heart and ventricle end-diastolic volume, right ventricle ejection fraction, right and left stroke work index, intramucosal carbon dioxide pressure, gastric mucosal pH, mucosal-end tidal Pco2 gap, indocyanine green blood clearance, indocyanine green plasma clearance, and plasma disappearance rate. Multivariate analysis identified lactate, gastric mucosal pH, mucosal-end tidal Pco2 gap, mucosal-arterial Pco2 gap, indocyanine green plasma clearance, and plasma disappearance rate of dye as nondependent predictors of outcome. Patients who subsequently died had a significantly lower gastric mucosal pH, higher intramucosal carbon dioxide pressure and mucosal-end tidal Pco2 gap, and lower indocyanine green blood clearance, indocyanine green plasma clearance, plasma disappearance rate, and right ventricular end-diastolic volume index, of which gastric mucosal pH, mucosal-end tidal Pco2 gap, and indocyanine green blood clearance were the most important predictors of outcome. Conclusions:Initial resuscitation of critically ill patients with shock does not require monitoring of regional variables. After stabilization, however, regional variables are the best predictors of outcome.
Intraoperative Ultrasonography of the Brain and Spine

Intraoperative ultrasonography can play a particularly useful role in facilitating surgery or guiding biopsies in the brain and spinal canal. Given the limited access that is frequently afforded to the operating surgeon, coupled with lesions that may be located in deep or seemingly inaccessible locations, sonography performed through tiny burr holes is useful for confirming location of lesions, guiding biopsy, and confirming extent of resection. In the spine, sonography is most helpful for confirming the precise location of intradural or extradural masses and guiding biopsies. In this review, we describe the technical requirements necessary for scanning the brain and spinal cord and suggest scanning techniques. The spectrum of pathological entities are illustrated along with potential pitfalls that the inexperienced operator is likely to encounter.
The in‐vitro effect of complementary and alternative medicines on cytochrome P450 2C9 activity

The aim of this study is to establish the inhibitory effects of 14 commonly used complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) on the metabolism of cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) substrates 7‐methoxy‐4‐trifluoromethyl coumarine (MFC) and tolbutamide. CYP2C9 is important for the metabolism of numerous drugs and inhibition of this enzyme by CAM could result in elevated plasma levels of drugs that are CYP2C9 substrates. Especially for anticancer drugs, which have a narrow therapeutic window, small changes in their plasma levels could easily result in clinically relevant toxicities.
The cyberiad: fables for the cybernetic age

Stanislaw Lem's Cyberiad chronicles the adventures of Their Most Sublime and Radiant Constructorships Trurl and Klapaucius, Delight and Terror of the Universe, as they sally forth offtimes to bring to distant lands the benefit of their expertise. Their machines could do anything: the Gnostotron, an ontologue computer, with its theostats adjusted to the proper EMF (epistomotive force), at first claimed that omnipotence is most omnipotent when one does nothing at all, but with its loquacity increased, produced a recipe for Altruizine. Another of their constructions, a machine that could make anything with an N was quite happy doing Nothing. A backtracking machine, an electropoet, simulated the entire growth of civilization (necessary for the proper growth of the program to produce proper verse); after going from fish to amphibian to reptile to mammal, something odd took place among the primates and instead of great apes, he came out with gray drapes but finally managed somehow. A backtalking machine, the creator of the Nth degree, made needles, nankeens, narghiles filled with nepenthe, nymphs, and naiads, but balked at the Latin natrium: "Look, old boy, if I could do everything starting with N in every possible language, I'd be a Machine That Could Do Everything in the Whole Alphabet, since any item you care to mention undoubtedly starts with N in one foreign language or another. It's not that easy. I can't go beyond what you programmed. So no sodium. "
In vitro interaction between azoles and cyclosporin A against clinical isolates of Candida albicans determined by the chequerboard method and time-kill curves.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the in vitro interaction between three azoles (fluconazole, itraconazole and voriconazole) and cyclosporin A against five azole-susceptible (azole-S) and five azole-resistant (azole-R) clinical Candida albicans isolates. METHODS By using a chequerboard technique and time-kill curves, synergistic, indifferent or antagonistic effects when drugs were used in combination were assessed. In the chequerboard assay, the antifungal activity of drug combinations was determined by the microdilution method based on the CLSI M27-A2 guidelines. The effects of the interactions were assessed by two non-parametric approaches (fractional inhibitory concentration index model and deltaE model). In the time-kill assay, a colony counting method was employed against one azole-S strain and one azole-R strain at 0, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h of incubation at 35 degrees C. RESULTS Good concordance was found between the chequerboard method and time-kill curves. Indifference or synergism was observed for azole-S isolates in interactions of azoles and cyclosporin A, while strong synergism was observed for azole-R isolates in all drug combinations. CONCLUSIONS Cyclosporin A showed potent synergism when combined with the three azoles, especially against azole-R C. albicans strains, and there was good agreement between various methods used in this study.
Vacuolar System-Associated Protein-60: A Protein Characterized from Bovine Granulosa and Luteal Cells That Is Associated with Intracellular Vesicles and Related to Human 80K-H and Murine β-Glucosidase II1

Abstract It has been suggested that proteins of molecular size 56–58 kDa play an important role in bovine ovarian follicular development and oocyte maturation. A polyclonal antibody was raised against a 56- to 58-kDa protein band purified from bovine granulosa cells and was used to screen granulosa or luteal cell cDNA expression libraries. This work resulted in the identification of a cDNA encoding for a protein of 60.1 kDa with a signal peptide of 13 residues. The bovine 60.1-kDa protein shared an overall 86.7% and 81.8% identity with, respectively, the human 80K-H protein and the mouse putative β subunit of glucosidase II (β-GII), and was named vacuolar system-associated protein-60 (VASAP-60). Marked differences in sequence identity were noted in a putative molecular adapter domain containing a tandem D and E amino acid stretch flanked by proline-rich sequences presenting the minimal PXXP SH3 motif. VASAP-60 was shown to be unglycosylated using endoglycosidase H treatment and was found mainly in a cellular membrane fraction of bovine corpus luteum. VASAP-60 was localized in a rat hepatic Golgi/endosome fraction and in wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) affinity chromatographic eluates, thereby suggesting the presence of interactions with membrane glycoproteins. A polyclonal antibody was raised against the putative adapter domain of the recombinant VASAP-60; this was shown to recognize a major 88-kDa and two minor 58-kDa and 50-kDa proteins, suggesting that the major 88-kDa protein band represents the complete VASAP-60 protein whereas the 58-kDa and the 50-kDa bands represent its proteolytic fragments. Northern blot analysis demonstrated the presence of a single 2.3-kilobase transcript in all the bovine tissues analyzed with variation in the steady state level between tissues. Immunohistochemical observations showed that VASAP-60 was widely distributed in bovine tissues and was localized in pericytoplasmic and perinuclear membranes. In epithelial cells, the staining presented a basolateral or apical polarity associated with intracellular vacuoles. In conclusion, we have characterized a novel acidic membrane protein, associated with organelles of the vacuolar system, that is widely and histospecifically expressed in bovine tissues. VASAP-60 represents either the bovine ortholog or a new family member of the previously characterized human 80K-H and murine β-GII proteins. Our results suggest that VASAP-60 presents characteristics of a molecular adaptor protein with functions in membrane-trafficking events.
User partitioning based resource allocation and interference coordination in heterogeneous networks

Cell coverage and network capacity are two major challenges for the evolving 4G cellular wireless communication networks. Hierarchical layering of cells with macro base stations coexisting with low-power base stations in a service area has been investigated as a promising technique for enhancing the coverage extension and reducing the transmit power consumption, which has emerged as a candidate for green communications. However, the cell splitting gain can only be achieved when both inter-layer and co-tier interference are properly handled. In this paper, a basic co-channel heterogeneous network (HetNet) deployment scenario with two cell layers is considered. The scheduler groups all the user equipments (UEs) into three sets according to the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) and the factor RI. Furthermore, the total spectrum band is divided into three parts based on the size of user sets and the two layers both reduce the transmission power in some specific bands, so that contributes to interference mitigation and throughput enhancement. Simulation results show that the proposed method can not only promote the energy efficiency (EE) but also enhance system performance in terms of both cell edge users' SINR and system capacity.
Current Accounts in the Long Run and the Intertemporal Approach: A Panel Data Investigation

type="main" xml:id="twec12152-abs-0001"> This paper is a theory-based study of the long-run determinants of the current account (CA). For many OECD economies after the Second World War, there has been more long-run variation in the CA data than is emphasised by a ‘Permanent Income’ version of the intertemporal approach that is based on consumption-smoothing and that allows only transitory CA imbalances. A theoretical model of the CA is developed, based on the ‘broader’ variant of the intertemporal approach that stresses the long-term component of the CA. We find that some key theoretical predictions hold, while others fail, validating the approach but also pointing to its limitations.