Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal Control of Uncertain Systems with Incomplete Information for the Disturbances

We investigate the problem of optimization of a terminal cost function for a system depending on a control, and on two disturbances for which a priori set membership is known. The disturbances are of different natures: One becomes known to the controller at the current time (we called it observable) while the other remains unknown. No state measurements are available. The problem can be viewed as a differential game of min-max type where the controller aims at minimization of the objective function by a strategy which depends only on the observable disturbance. Since the state of the system is not exactly known due to the presence of an unobservable disturbance, we reformulate the problem through a set-valued dynamics describing the evolution of the current set estimation of the state. To reduce the complexity of the problem, we pass to a suboptimal problem where the evolution of the state estimation is restricted to a prescribed collection of sets. The main result of the paper is a characterization of the value function of this problem through a Hamilton--Jacobi inequality in terms of Dini derivatives, which implies a convergent scheme for numerical computations. As necessary auxiliary tools, we provide new results on evolution and viability of tubes in a given collection of sets that may be of independent interest.
Thesaurus dataset of educational technology in Chinese

The thesaurus dataset of educational technology is a knowledge description of educational technology in Chinese. The aims of this thesaurus were to collect the subject terms in the domain of educational technology, facilitate the standardization of terminology and promote the communication between Chinese researchers and scholars from various countries. This thesaurus contains 2367 subject terms and 752 relation pairs between subject terms. This thesaurus can be used in bilingual control, index and retrieval of information resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
An inflammatory gene-expression fingerprint in monocytes of autoimmune thyroid disease patients.

CONTEXT In monocytes of patients with autoimmune diabetes, we recently identified a gene expression fingerprint of two partly overlapping gene clusters, a PDE4B-associated cluster (consisting of 12 core proinflammatory cytokine/compound genes), a FABP5-associated cluster (three core genes), and a set of nine overlapping chemotaxis, adhesion, and cell assembly genes correlating to both PDE4B and FABP5. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to study whether a similar monocyte inflammatory fingerprint as found in autoimmune diabetes is present in autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD). DESIGN AND PATIENTS Quantitative PCR was used for analysis of 28 genes in monocytes of 67 AITD patients and 70 healthy controls. The tested 28 genes were the 24 genes previously found abnormally expressed in monocytes of autoimmune diabetes patients plus four extra genes found in whole-genome analysis of monocytes of AITD patients reported here. RESULTS Monocytes of 24% of AITD and 50% of latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA) patients shared an inflammatory fingerprint consisting of the set of 24 genes of the PDE4B, FABP5, and overlapping gene sets. This study in addition revealed that FCAR, the gene for the Fcalpha receptor I, and PPBP, the gene for CXCL7, were part of this proinflammatory monocyte fingerprint. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides an important tool to determine a shared, specific proinflammatory state of monocytes in AITD and LADA patients, enabling further research into the role of such proinflammatory cells in the failure to preserve tolerance in these conditions and of key fingerprint genes involved.
Maximal Solutions in Decentralized Supervisory Control

The decentralized supervisory control problem is to construct for a discrete-event system a set of supervisors each observing only part of the system and each controlling only part of the events such that the interconnection of the system and the supervisors meets control objectives of safety and liveness. Definitions are provided of the concepts of a maximal solution, of a Nash equilibrium, and of a strong Nash equilibrium for a set of supervisors with as order relation the inclusion relation on the set of closed-loop languages. The main result is that a set of supervisors is a maximal solution if and only if it is a strong Nash equilibrium. A procedure to determine a Nash equilibrium is described and illustrated by an example. There is no guarantee that the procedure halts in finite time. However, in the case that it halts in finite time, then it is proven that a Nash equilibrium is obtained.
Exact Boundary Controllability of a Maxwell Problem

We consider the problem of steering some initial state of the time-dependent Maxwell equations to rest by controlling the lateral boundary condition. Depending on the topology (Betti numbers) of the given domain $\Omega$, we identify completely those subspaces which can be steered to rest and those which cannot. In the positive case it is shown that each time interval which is longer than diam $\Omega$ suffices. This result is almost sharp for the class of regions $\Omega$ which contain a segment of length diam $\Omega $.
Adaptive Finite Element Methods for Optimal Control of Partial Differential Equations: Basic Concept

A new approach to error control and mesh adaptivity is described for the discretization of optimal control problems governed by elliptic partial differential equations. The Lagrangian formalism yields the first-order necessary optimality condition in form of an indefinite boundary value problem which is approximated by an adaptive Galerkin finite element method. The mesh design in the resulting reduced models is controlled by residual-based a posteriori error estimates. These are derived by duality arguments employing the cost functional of the optimization problem for controlling the discretization error. In this case, the computed state and costate variables can be used as sensitivity factors multiplying the local cell-residuals in the error estimators. This results in a generic and simple algorithm for mesh adaptation within the optimization process. This method is developed and tested for simple boundary control problems in semiconductor models.
Exact Boundary Controllability for the Linear Korteweg--de Vries Equation on the Half-Line

This paper is concerned with the controllability of the linear Korteweg--de Vries equation on the domain $\O =(0,+\infty )$, the control being applied at the left endpoint x=0. It is shown that the {\em exact} boundary controllability holds true in $L^2(0,+\infty )$ provided that the solutions are not required to be in $L^{\infty }(0,T,L^2(0,+\infty ))$. The proof rests on a Carleman's estimate and an approximation theorem. A similar result is obtained for the heat equation and for the Schrodinger equation.
Long‐term outcomes after high dose therapy and autologous haematopoietic cell rescue for refractory/relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma

The standard treatment for patients with refractory or relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is high‐dose chemotherapy and/or radiation with autologous haematopoietic cell rescue (AHCR). In this study, we assessed quality of life and evaluated the risk of late morbidity and mortality for HL patients who underwent AHCR. One hundred and fifty‐four patients who underwent AHCR at Stanford University from 1988 to 2002 and survived ≥2 years were evaluated. Median follow‐up was 10·2 years. There were 54 deaths, 34 from HL, 20 from other causes. The 10‐year cumulative incidence of death from HL or other causes was 21·7% and 12·7%, respectively. Thirteen deaths were from second malignancies. The risk ratio of second malignancies was 8·0 [95% confidence interval (CI), 4·7–12·6] compared with the general population, and 3·0 (95% CI, 1·8–4·8) compared with HL patients not undergoing AHCR. The risk ratio of second malignancies was 1·5 (95% CI, 0·9–2·4) compared with HL patients receiving non‐AHCR therapy. Overall quality of life did not differ from the general population, but AHCR survivors did note reduced functioning and some worse symptoms. AHCR survivors may be at increased risk of death from HL and other causes compared with the general population, but not compared with the HL population as a whole.
A Backward Error Analysis of a Null Space Algorithm in Sparse Quadratic Programming

We present a roundoff error analysis of a null space method for solving quadratic programming minimization problems. This method combines the use of a direct LU factorization of the constraints with an iterative solver on the corresponding null space. Numerical experiments are presented which give evidence of the good performance of the algorithm on sparse matrices.
Quasi-Birth-and-Death Processes with Level-Geometric Distribution

A special class of homogeneous continuous-time quasi-birth-and-death (QBD) Markov chains (MCs) which possess level-geometric (LG) stationary distribution is considered. Assuming that the stationary vector is partitioned by levels into subvectors, in an LG distribution all stationary subvectors beyond a finite level number are multiples of each other. Specifically, each pair of stationary subvectors that belong to consecutive levels is related by the same scalar, hence the term level-geometric. Necessary and sufficient conditions are specified for the existence of such a distribution, and the results are elaborated in three examples.
A Divide-and-Conquer Algorithm for the Bidiagonal SVD

The authors present a stable and efficient divide-and-conquer algorithm for computing the singular value decomposition (SVD) of a lower bidiagonal matrix. Previous divide-and-conquer algorithms all suffer from a potential loss of orthogonality among the computed singular vectors unless extended precision arithmetic is used. A generalization that computes the SVD of a lower banded matrix is also presented.
Observations on the undersurface of the skeletalized human acromion in two populations

In late life, the humeral impingement disorder becomes common due to degenerative changes in the rotator cuff which allow the proximal humerus to press against the acromion in elevation of the arm, so producing facets on the tip region of the subacromial surface and on the lateral margin of the greater tubercle of the humerus. To discover what changes occur prior to those described, 184 acromions below the age of 55 years were examined. During the 18–25 year period, the subacromial surface showed patterns of formation of surface trabeculae of new bone, some associated with union of the epiphysis or with remodelling as a response to the presence of the proximal humerus at a distance of 10–15 mm; others indicated a subacromial attachment of the coraco-acromial ligament. As early as 30 years of age, flattening of the surface trabeculae of bone was noted in association with compression lipping of the outer margin of the greater tubercle of the humerus, the part that crosses closest to the subacromial surface during elevation of the arm. Although resembling changes found in the impingement disorder, in both populations by the age of 35 years the changes were too common to be so and were not associated with the erosive pitting of the upper surface of the tubercle regarded as the earliest bony criterion of degenerative change in the cuff. It is postulated that, in the normal shoulder joint, in raising the arm, pressure is exerted, perhaps transiently, in the subacromial bursa and adjacent soft tissues which induces the compressive changes described. Probably due to the physically arduous lifestyle of the islanders, these changes occurred earlier among them; so did (but later) cuff degeneration indicated by erosion of the humeral tubercle. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Basal, but not pulsatile, growth hormone secretion determines the ambient circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor-I.

CONTEXT Previous studies have shown that mean 24-h GH concentrations determine plasma IGF-I levels in patients with acromegaly. However, we have recently shown that continuous GH infusion, mimicking the interpulse GH levels, was significantly more effective than the pulsatile GH administration at increasing IGF-I concentrations. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to ascertain relative roles of total GH output (24-h mean), GH pulses, and interpulse GH level in determining plasma IGF-I concentrations. DESIGN AND SETTING We conducted a point-in-time observational inpatient study in the General Clinical Research Center at the University of Michigan. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS Eighteen patients with acromegaly and 19 healthy control subjects participated in the study. INTERVENTION(S) We performed frequent (every 10 or 20 min) blood sampling over 24 h. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Before data collection, we hypothesized that interpulse nadir levels of GH would correlate with IGF-I levels in normal and acromegalic subjects. RESULTS Mean and valley levels of GH correlated with serum IGF-I levels (r(2) = 0.44 and 0.48, respectively) in normal and acromegalic patients in a log-linear fashion. The strongest correlation, however, was observed between the log of nadir GH and IGF-I concentrations (r(2) = 0.77). GH pulse mass did not significantly correlate with IGF-I (r(2) = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Plasma IGF-I concentrations correlated with mean 24-h GH concentrations. This relationship is dependent exclusively on the basal GH levels. GH pulses do not determine plasma IGF-I concentrations.
Advances in megakaryocytopoiesis and thrombopoiesis: from bench to bedside

Megakaryocytopoiesis involves the commitment of haematopoietic stem cells, proliferation and terminal differentiation of megakaryocytic progenitors (MK‐p) and maturation of megakaryocytes (MKs) to produce functional platelets. This complex process occurs in specialized niches in the bone marrow where MKs align adjacent to vascular endothelial cells, form proplatelet projections and release platelets into the circulation. Thrombopoietin (THPO, TPO) is the primary growth factor for the MK lineage and necessary at all stages of development. THPO is constitutively produced in the liver, and binds to MPL (c‐Mpl) receptor on platelets and MKs. This activates a cascade of signalling molecules, which induce transcription factors to drive MK development and thrombopoiesis. Decreased turnover rate and platelet number result in increased levels of free THPO, which induces a concentration‐dependant compensatory response of marrow‐MKs to enhance platelet production. Newly developed thrombopoietic agents operating via MPL receptor facilitate platelet production in thrombocytopenic states, primarily immune thrombocytopenia. Other drugs are available for attenuating malignant thrombocytosis. Herein, we review the regulation of megakaryocytopoiesis and platelet production in normal and disease states, and the innovative drugs and therapeutic modalities to stimulate or decrease thrombopoiesis.
Bounding the Size of Planar Intertwines

The proof of Wagner's conjecture by Robertson and Seymour gives a finite description of any family of graphs which is closed under the minor ordering. This description is a finite set of minimal graphs not in the family; these graphs are called the obstructions of the family. Since the intersection and union of two minor closed graph families is again a minor closed graph family, an interesting question regards computing the obstructions of the new family given the obstructions for the original two families. It is easy to compute the obstructions of the intersection, but nontrivial to compute those of the union. In this paper, we show that if the original families are planar then the planar obstructions of the union are no larger than nO(n2), where n is the size of the largest obstruction of the original families.
Improved survival in patients with stage II adrenocortical carcinoma followed up prospectively by specialized centers.

CONTEXT Median survival in stage II adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) differs widely in published series ranging between 23 and more than 60 months. We hypothesized that these results may have been affected by a referral bias because many patients may contact specialized centers only after recurrence. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was a comparison of outcome in patients with stage II ACC who were followed up prospectively early after surgery and were counseled by a specialized center (prospective group) with patients who registered with the German ACC registry later than 4 months after diagnosis (retrospective group). PATIENTS/METHODS The study was a cohort analysis in 149 adult patients with stage II ACC. RESULTS Patients who were followed up prospectively (n = 30) had a lower recurrence rate and a superior 5-yr survival compared with the 119 patients in the retrospective group (30 vs. 74%, P < 0.01 and 96 vs. 55%, P < 0.05, respectively). In the retrospective group, 67% of the patients had registered only after disease recurrence. In the remaining patients, the recurrence rate was low (21%), and the 5-yr survival was greater than 95%. More patients in the prospective group received adjuvant mitotane (53 vs. 16%, P < 0.001), and adjuvant mitotane was associated with improved survival [hazard risk 0.35 (95% confidence interval 0.13-0.97); P = 0.04]. However, the survival advantage was maintained when only patients without mitotane therapy were analyzed. CONCLUSIONS Patients who are followed up prospectively after surgery for stage II ACC and receive early specialized care have a much better prognosis than previously reported due to a major referral bias in previous series and use of adjuvant mitotane. These findings will impact on the perception of prognosis in newly diagnosed stage II ACC.
Elevated corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) during pregnancy and risk of postpartum depression (PPD).

CONTEXT Perinatal depression has a prevalence of 10% with devastating consequences for mother and baby. The prospective identification of those at risk for postpartum (PPD) or prenatal (PND) depression has led to biomarker searches in pregnancy. There are conflicting reports of associations between midpregnancy placental CRH (pCRH) and PPD or PND. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to quantify the association of maternal pCRH with PPD and PND. DESIGN This was a prospective cohort study (the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition Study). SETTING The study was conducted at a prenatal clinics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. PATIENTS Patients included 1230 pregnant women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The relationship between pCRH at less than 20 wk and 24-29 wk and maternal depression assessed in pregnancy [Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)] and postpartum (12 wk and 1 yr) with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). RESULTS At 24-29 wk, 24.8% of women had CES-D score of 17 or greater, and 9.7% had a CES-D score of 25 or greater. At 12 wk postpartum, 18.2% of women had an EPDS score of 10 or greater and 7.6% had an EPDS score of 13 or greater. CRH measures at less than 20 wk and 24-29 wk were inversely correlated with a CES-D score at 24-29 wk (n = 1080, P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). Pregnancy pCRH was not correlated with the EPDS score at 12 wk (n = 484) or 1 yr postpartum (n = 391). In covariate-adjusted models, higher pCRH was not associated with a CES-D of 17 or greater at 24-29 wk (odds ratio 0.88 per sd change in pCRH at 24-29 wk, 95% confidence interval 0.76-1.03). There was no association between log CRH at 24-29 wk and PPD (covariate-adjusted odds ratio per sd 0.99, 95% confidence interval 0.69-1.42). CONCLUSION Higher midpregnancy pCRH was not associated with an increased risk of PND or PPD.
A Series Inspired CPG Model for Robot Walking Control

Central pattern generator (CPG) is a kind of neural network which is located in the spinal cord. It has been found to be responsible for many rhythmic biological movements, such as breathing, swimming, flying as well as walking. Many CPG models have been designed and proved to be useful. But the CPG outputs of these models are often sine waves or quasi-sine waves. Also these outputs are directly used as the control signals to control joint trajectories or joint torques on robots. This is obviously not an accurate design in robot walking control especially when sine or quasisine waves are not the best signals to set walking patters because of the complexity of tasks. In this paper, based on the idea of Righetti, Buchli and Ijspeert, a CPG model is designed, which is inspired by Fourier series and can produce outputs with any shape. There are a limited set of sub-components in the proposed model. Each sub-component learns one harmonic of a reference wave. A summation of these sub-components is used to approximate the wave. In this way, the wave will be learned and embedded in the CPG model. In the proposed model, FFT is used to see the harmonics and calculate the frequency. The system is designed in polar coordinates with new Hebbian learning items and Kuramoto model items. Because the whole system is a limit cycle system, it is robust to perturbation. The experiment conducted on an AIBO robot shows the effectiveness of the proposed model.
The Linear l1 Estimator and the Huber M-Estimator

Relationships between a linear l1 estimation problem and the Huber M-estimator problem can be easily established by their dual formulations. The least norm solution of a linear programming problem studied by Mangasarian and Meyer [SIAM J. Control Optim. , 17 (1979), pp. 745--752] provides a key link between the dual problems. Based on the dual formulations, we establish a local linearity property of the Huber M-estimators with respect to the tuning parameter $\gamma$ and prove that the solution set of the Huber M-estimator problem is Lipschitz continuous with respect to perturbations of the tuning parameter $\gamma$. As a consequence, the set of the linear l1 estimators is the limit of the set of the Huber M-estimators as $\gamma\to 0+. Thus, the Huber M-estimator problem has many solutions for small tuning parameter $\gamma$ if the linear l1 estimation problem has multiple solutions. A recursive version of Madsen and Nielsen's algorithm [SIAM J. Optim. , 3 (1993), pp. 223--235] based on computation of the Huber M-estimator is proposed for finding a linear l1 estimator.
A New SQP Algorithm for Large-Scale Nonlinear Programming

An efficient new SQP algorithm capable of solving large-scale problems is described. It generates descent directions for an $\ell_1$ plus log-barrier merit function and uses a line-search to obtain a sufficient decrease of this function. The unmodified exact Hessian matrix of the Lagrangian function is normally used in the QP subproblem, but this is set to zero if it fails to yield a descent direction for the merit function. The QP problem is solved by an interior-point method using an inexact Newton approach, iterating to an accuracy just sufficient to produce a descent direction in the early stages and tightening the accuracy as we approach a solution. We prove finite termination of the algorithm, at an $\epsilon$-optimal Fritz-John point if feasibility is attained. We also show that if any iterate is close enough to an isolated connected subset of local minimizers, then the iterates converge to this subset. The rate of convergence is Q-quadratic if the subset is an isolated minimizer which satisfies a second-order sufficiency condition, but Q-quadratic convergence to an $\epsilon$-optimal point can still be achieved without any conditions beyond Lipschitz continuity of second-order derivatives. The implementation SQPIPM is designed for problems with many degrees of freedom and is shown to perform well compared with other codes on a range of standard problems.