Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A unified approach to model selection and sparse recovery using regularized least squares

Model selection and sparse recovery are two important problems for which many regularization methods have been proposed. We study the properties of regularization methods in both problems under the unified framework of regularized least squares with concave penalties. For model selection, we establish conditions under which a regularized least squares estimator enjoys a nonasymptotic property, called the weak oracle property, where the dimensionality can grow exponentially with sample size. For sparse recovery, we present a sufficient condition that ensures the recoverability of the sparsest solution. In particular, we approach both problems by considering a family of penalties that give a smooth homotopy between L 0 and L 1 penalties. We also propose the sequentially and iteratively reweighted squares (SIRS) algorithm for sparse recovery. Numerical studies support our theoretical results and demonstrate the advantage of our new methods for model selection and sparse recovery.
A new algorithm for improved VDD assignment in low power dual VDD systems

We present the first in-depth study of the two existing algorithms namely, Clustered Voltage Scaling (CVS) and Extended Clustered Voltage Scaling (ECVS), used for assigning the voltage supply to gates in integrated circuits having dual power supplies. We present a comparison of the achievable power savings using these algorithms on various benchmark circuits and first point out that ECVS does provide appreciably larger power improvements compared to CVS. We then provide a new algorithm based on ECVS that further improves the power savings by efficient assignment of the power supplies to the gates. Our new algorithm provides up to 66% power reduction and improves the power savings by up to 28% and 13% with respect to CVS and ECVS respectively. Furthermore, since level conversion is an essential component of dual power supply systems we also present the first circuit-specific sensitivity study of achievable power savings to the energy and delay penalties imposed by level conversion.
Comparative Analysis of the Equivital EQ02 Lifemonitor with Holter Ambulatory ECG Device for Continuous Measurement of ECG, Heart Rate, and Heart Rate Variability: A Validation Study for Precision and Accuracy

Background: The Equivital (EQ02) is a multi-parameter telemetric device offering both real-time and/or retrospective, synchronized monitoring of ECG, HR, and HRV, respiration, activity, and temperature. Unlike the Holter, which is the gold standard for continuous ECG measurement, EQO2 continuously monitors ECG via electrodes interwoven in the textile of a wearable belt. Objective: To compare EQ02 with the Holter for continuous home measurement of ECG, heart rate (HR), and heart rate variability (HRV). Methods: Eighteen healthy participants wore, simultaneously for 24 h, the Holter and EQ02 monitors. Per participant, averaged HR, and HRV per 5 min from the two devices were compared using Pearson correlation, paired T-test, and Bland-Altman analyses. Accuracy and precision metrics included mean absolute relative difference (MARD). Results: Artifact content of EQ02 data varied widely between (range 1.93–56.45%) and within (range 0.75–9.61%) participants. Comparing the EQ02 to the Holter, the Pearson correlations were respectively 0.724, 0.955, and 0.997 for datasets containing all data and data with < 50 or < 20% artifacts respectively. For datasets containing respectively all data, data with < 50, or < 20% artifacts, bias estimated by Bland-Altman analysis was −2.8, −1.0, and −0.8 beats per minute and 24 h MARD was 7.08, 3.01, and 1.5. After selecting a 3-h stretch of data containing 1.15% artifacts, Pearson correlation was 0.786 for HRV measured as standard deviation of NN intervals (SDNN). Conclusions: Although the EQ02 can accurately measure ECG and HRV, its accuracy and precision is highly dependent on artifact content. This is a limitation for clinical use in individual patients. However, the advantages of the EQ02 (ability to simultaneously monitor several physiologic parameters) may outweigh its disadvantages (higher artifact load) for research purposes and/ or for home monitoring in larger groups of study participants. Further studies can be aimed at minimizing the artifacts.
Classification of magnetic resonance images

The aim of the paper is to compare classification error of the classifiers applied to magnetic resonance images for each descriptor used for feature extraction. We compared several Support Vector Machine (SVM) techniques, neural networks and k nearest neighbor classifier for classification of Magnetic Resonance Images (MRIs). Different descriptors are applied to provide feature extraction from the images. The dataset used for classification contains magnetic resonance images classified in 9 classes.
Distributed data-parallel computing using a high-level programming language

The Dryad and DryadLINQ systems offer a new programming model for large scale data-parallel computing. They generalize previous execution environments such as SQL and MapReduce in three ways: by providing a general-purpose distributed execution engine for data-parallel applications; by adopting an expressive data model of strongly typed . NET objects; and by supporting general-purpose imperative and declarative operations on datasets within a traditional high-level programming language. A DryadLINQ program is a sequential program composed of LINQ expressions performing arbitrary side-effect-free operations on datasets, and can be written and debugged using standard . NET development tools. The DryadLINQ system automatically and transparently translates the data-parallel portions of the program into a distributed execution plan which is passed to the Dryad execution platform. Dryad, which has been in continuous operation for several years on production clusters made up of thousands of computers, ensures efficient, reliable execution of this plan on a large compute cluster. This paper describes the programming model, provides a high-level overview of the design and implementation of the Dryad and DryadLINQ systems, and discusses the tradeoffs and connections to parallel and distributed databases.
Improving Collaborative Filtering Based Recommenders Using Topic Modelling

Standard Collaborative Filtering (CF) algorithms make use of interactions between users and items in the form of implicit or explicit ratings alone for generating recommendations. Similarity among users or items is calculated purely based on rating overlap in this case, without considering explicit properties of users or items involved, limiting their applicability in domains with very sparse rating spaces. In many domains such as movies, news or electronic commerce recommenders, considerable contextual data in text form describing item properties is available along with the rating data, which could be utilized to improve recommendation quality. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to improve standard CF based recommenders by utilizing latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) to learn latent properties of items, expressed in terms of topic proportions, derived from their textual description. We infer user's topic preferences or user profile in the same latent space, based on her historical ratings. While computing similarity between users, we make use of a combined similarity measure involving rating overlap as well as similarity in the latent topic space. This approach alleviates sparsity problem as it allows calculation of similarity between users even if they have not rated any items in common. Our experiments on multiple public datasets indicate that the proposed hybrid approach significantly outperforms standard User Based and Item Based CF recommenders in terms of classification accuracy metrics such as precision, recall and F-measure.
Immunogenicity and safety of single‐dose, 13‐valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in pediatric and adolescent oncology patients

Children receiving immunosuppressive treatment for cancer are at high risk for invasive pneumococcal disease. The 13‐valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) can prevent pneumococcal disease in healthy children; however, there is an absence of literature regarding the benefit of PCV13 in immunocompromised children with cancer.
Domestic Exposure to Fungi and Total Serum IgE Levels in Asthmatic Children

We measured the number of airborne, viable fungi and house dust mite (HDM) allergen levels in the homes of a group of asthmatic children. Blood samples were drawn and the amounts of total and specific serum IgE were determined. The association between the number of fungal colonies, dust mite allergen exposure, and specific and total IgE was evaluated. The number of viable airborne fungi was high (20 543 CFU/m3) in those investigated houses. Der p1 concentrations on child's mattress exceeding 2 μg/g were found in 78.6% of the houses. A quantitative dose-response relationship was demonstrated between the exposure to viable, airborne molds and the amount of total IgE (r = 0.4399 and P = .0249) and the level was further increased in children with coexposure to viable fungi and HDM.
Quality improvement in neurology: Multiple sclerosis quality measures

All clinicians believe they provide quality care, yet most clinicians do not directly measure quality parameters in their practice to provide verifiable health care outcomes.1 Quality measures related to a chronic disease provide reportable and repeatable measures that can either document performance of quality care or identify gaps in care for future action/improvement. Disease-specific quality measures in neurology provide a framework that can assist clinicians in practice measurement and modification; these have the potential to benefit both subspecialist and generalist alike. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common, chronic, and ultimately disabling disease with multiple potential clinical intervention points during its course. It is therefore appropriate to have quality measures specific for this condition that span the course of the disease.
Integrating Annotation Tools into UIMA for Interoperability

In this paper, we discuss the issue of implementing the interoperability of natural language annotation tools for text mining with the Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) (Ferrucci and Lally, 2004; http://incubator.apache.org/uima). In particular, we discuss the practical issue of designing UIMA annotation schemes for text mining applications based on our experience in the EC BOOTStrep Project. Currently, a major obstacle to the efficient integration of existing annotation tools for text mining is their lack of interoperability. Many such tools have been developed in different projects following different theoretical approaches and annotation schemes, hence they are highly specialized. Consequently, much effort and time are being wasted in adjusting and modifying existing tools to make them interoperable, or even worse, in “re-inventing the wheel”. Our experience shows that UIMA provides a practical way of implementing interoperability for tools, but there are some practical issues to be tackled. Particularly, we found it a challenging task to design a common/shared UIMA annotation scheme for different sets of tools. A practical and flexible approach to solve such problems is required.
MAP65 in tubulin/colchicine paracrystals of Vigna sinensis root cells: Possible role in the assembly and stabilization of atypical tubulin polymers

Members of the MAP65 family, colocalizing with microtubule arrays, have been identified in Vigna sinensis root cells by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. MAP65 proteins were also found in tubulin/colchicine paracrystals, which were formed during colchicine treatment by both immunofluorescence and immunogold microscopy. During recovery from colchicine, MAP65 signal was depleted from disintegrating paracrystals appearing in the reinstating microtubule arrays. MAP65‐free perinuclear tubulin/colchicine aggregates were observed in plasmolyzed colchicine‐treated cells. Deplasmolysis of the above cells resulted in the formation of MAP65‐decorated paracrystals. As confirmed by appropriate biochemical assays with the Phos‐tag reagent, MAP65 proteins underwent phosphorylation during plasmolysis, which was reversible by deplasmolysis. According to the effect of the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitor UO126, the phosphorylation status of MAP65, as well as its presence in tubulin/colchicine polymers is probably controlled by MAPK‐mediated phosphorylation. According to the above, it seems likely that apart from binding to microtubules, MAP65 proteins may act as “tubulin associated proteins” in a broader manner, promoting the polymerization and/or stabilization of atypical polymers such as tubulin/colchicine paracrystals. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Economic Evaluation in Medical Information Technology: Why the Numbers Don't Add Up

Standards for the economic evaluation of medical technologies were instituted in the mid-1990s, yet little is known about their application in medical information technology studies. In a review of evaluation studies published between 1982 and 2002, we found that the volume and variety of economic evaluations had increased. However, investigators routinely omitted key cost or effectiveness elements in their designs, resulting in publications with incomplete, and potentially biased, economic findings.
Optimalsteuerung kooperierender MehrfahrzeugsystemeOptimal Control of Cooperative Multi-Vehicle Systems

Zusammenfassung Nichtlineare hybride dynamische Systemmodelle kooperativer Optimalsteuerungsprobleme ermöglichen eine enge und formale Kopplung von diskreter und kontinuierlicher Zustandsdynamik, d. h. von dynamischer Rollen-, Aktionszuweisung mit wechselnder physikalischer Bewegungsdynamik. In den resultierenden gemischt-ganzzahligen Mehrphasen-Optimalsteuerungsproblemen können Beschränkungen an diskrete und kontinuierliche Zustands- und Steuervariablen berücksichtigt werden, z. B. Formations- oder Kommunikationsanforderungen. Zwei numerische Verfahren werden untersucht: ein Dekompositionsansatz mit Branch-and-Bound und direktem Kollokationsverfahren sowie die Approximation durch große gemischt-ganzzahlige lineare Optimierungsaufgaben. Die Verfahren werden auf exemplarische Problemstellungen angewendet: Die simultane Wegpunktreihenfolge- und Trajektorienoptimierung von Luftfahrzeugen sowie die Optimierung von Rollenverteilung und Trajektorien im Roboterfußball.
Matching mind to world and vice versa: Functional dissociations between belief and desire mental state processing

Abstract With the aim of understanding how different mental or intentional states are processed in the brain, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study examined the brain correlates during the ascription of belief intentional states relative to desire intentional states as well as the effect of incongruent relative to congruent intentional states. To this end, sentences containing scenarios were presented to participants and their task was to make judgments concerning the ascription of intentional states based on this information. Belief ascriptions, relative to desire ascriptions, were accompanied by activations in lateral prefrontal structures that include areas known to be involved in relational and conceptual reasoning. Desire ascriptions, in contrast, were accompanied by activations in regions of the medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal gyri and hippocampal formation, all of which are known for their involvement in self-referential, autobiographical and episodic memory-relevant processes. In addition, the ascription of intentional states that were incongruent with reality (false beliefs and unfulfilled desires) was compared to the ascription of intentional states that were congruent to reality (true belief and fulfilled desires). While no brain region was selectively activated during the processing of unfulfilled desires, the processing of false beliefs was associated with stronger activations in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, an area that has been previously linked to the process of decoupling in false belief attribution. These findings provide new insights into more fine-grained aspects of mental state reasoning.
Question Production in Agrammatism: The Tree Pruning Hypothesis

This study investigated question production in agrammatic aphasia, focusing on the comparison between Wh questions and yes/no questions and on the interaction between the question production deficit and language-specific properties. A total of 16 agrammatic aphasics (13 Hebrew speakers, 2 Palestinian Arabic speakers, and 1 English speaker) participated in the study, which included sentence elicitation and repetition tasks. In addition, the patients' spontaneous speech, containing 2272 utterances, was analyzed. The main findings were that Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking agrammatics encounter severe difficulties in Wh question production but retain the ability to produce yes/no questions. English-speaking agrammatics do not show this dissociation and can form neither Wh nor yes/no questions. These dissociations as well as the error pattern, are explained by reference to the Tree Pruning Hypothesis, according to which the highest nodes of the syntactic tree, which are required for Wh questions in Hebrew, Arabic, and English and for yes/no questions in English, are impaired or inaccessible in agrammatism.
Image-Scenarization: A computer-aided approach for agent-based analysis and design

Agent-based modeling has been of interest to researchers for some time now. Some research has focused on the analysis and design of such software, but none has truly addressed the need for automated assistance in creating agent-based simulators from initial problem comprehension. This paper proposes an approach addressing the gap and supporting the spiral process of generating an agent-based simulator. In particular, this approach enables the incremental and iterative representation of a problem and its translation into an executable model. Initially using an unconstrained ontology, the designer draws conceptual graphs representing the problem. Progressively, graph elements are linked hierarchically under concepts that are part of a predefined generic Scenarization Vocabulary (i.e., agent, patient, behaviour, attribute, parameter, variable …). This Scenarization semantic defines roles in the simulation. This approach is part of a broader research effort known as IMAGE that develops a toolset concept supporting collaborative understanding of complex situations.
Chromatographic Comparison of Caries-immune and Caries-susceptible Salivas

This study is part of a continuing investigation of biologic and chemical differences between caries-immune and caries-susceptible human saliva. ' 4 Study of chromatographic techniques was undertaken to determine if this type of fractionation would disclose any major differences in components of immune and susceptible saliva and if the previously described lactobacillus-lytic factor4 could be purified to any extent. Ellison and Mandel5 have demonstrated the applicability of column chromatography to saliva fractionation. Materials and Methods
Performance analysis and simulation in wireless mesh networks

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) can be used as convenient replacements of wireline networks in the context of emergency scenarios. WMNs technologies can be advan t geously exploited to quickly set-up a new communication inf rastructure to recover from terrestrial network collapse. However, in order to enable effectively operative communications thro ugh a WMN infrastructure, traffic control measures are generally needed, as wireless communications especially in mesh network configurations can be affected by significant conge stion and channel impairments problems. In this work , we are focusing on performance assessment and enhancement in WMNs. In particular we are examining traffic control design aided by simulation. Experimental res ults are presented from simulation models of IEEE802.11b techn ology obtained through the open source INET framework of OMNET++. Index Terms — Wireless Mesh Networks, traffic control, IP QoS
Use of Recombinant Mitogillin for Improved Serodiagnosis of Aspergillus fumigatus-Associated Diseases

ABSTRACT During human infection, Aspergillus fumigatus secretes a 18-kDa protein that can be detected as an immunodominant antigen in the urine of infected patients. Recently, this protein was shown to be mitogillin, a ribotoxin that cleaves a single phosphodiester bond of the 29S rRNA of eukaryotic ribosomes. We proved the immunogenic capacity of mitogillin in a rabbit animal model, indicating its usefulness as an antigen for serological diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis. The mitogillin gene from A. fumigatus was transferred from plasmid pMIT+ to expression vector pQE30 and expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein. Purified recombinant mitogillin was recognized by serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) of polyclonal rabbit sera that were obtained by immunization with purified native mitogillin. Consequently, we developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies to recombinant mitogillin. In serum samples of patients suffering from aspergilloma (AO; n = 32), invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA; n = 42), or invasive disseminated aspergillosis (IDA; n = 40), a good correlation of production of IgG antibody against mitogillin and clinical disease was observed (for patients with AO, 100% [32 of 32] were positive; for patients with IPA, 64% [31 of 42] were positive; for patients with IDA, 60% [24 of 40] were positive). In contrast, positive titers for serum IgG and IgM antibodies against mitogillin were found in only 1.3% of the serum samples of healthy volunteers and positive titers for IgA antibody were found in only 1.0% of the serum samples of healthy volunteers (n = 307; specificity = 95.4%). These results indicate that recombinant mitogillin expressed inE. coli can be used for improvement of the serodiagnosis of A. fumigatus-associated diseases.
Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in cryptogenic stroke

Introduction: Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) is perhaps the most underdiagnosed mechanism of apparent cryptogenic stroke (CS). Various studies have shown that increasing the duration of monitoring can increase the diagnosis of PAF in CS. Methods: We compared demographic and risk factors for ischemic stroke across different TOAST (Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment) stroke subtypes to look for clinical differences between other subtypes and CS and subsequently performed periodic Holter monitoring and imaging studies in apparent CS patients. Results: Of the 298 patients with ischemic stroke, 17% had CS. Periodic holter monitoring enabled diagnosis of PAF in 29% of patients. Five of 51 patients with CS had recurrent ischemic stroke and all 5 were demonstrated as PAF on repeated Holter monitoring. Conclusions: Long-term periodic rhythm monitoring in patients with apparent CS showed PAF in a significant percentage of CS patients, which altered subsequent treatment.