julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Collected Rain Water as Cost‐Efficient Source for Aquifer Tracer Testing
2019-04-30

Locally collected precipitation water can be actively used as a groundwater tracer solution based on four inherent tracer signals: electrical conductivity, stable isotopic signatures of deuterium [δ 2 H], oxygen‐18 [δ 18 O], and heat, which all may strongly differ from the corresponding background values in the tested groundwater. In hydrogeological practice, a tracer test is one of the most important methods for determining subsurface connections or field parameters, such as porosity, dispersivity, diffusion coefficient, groundwater flow velocity, or flow direction. A common problem is the choice of tracer and the corresponding permission by the appropriate authorities. This problem intensifies where tracer tests are conducted in vulnerable conservation or water protection areas (e.g., around drinking water wells). The use of (if required treated) precipitation as an elemental groundwater tracer is a practical solution for this problem, as it does not introduce foreign matters into the aquifer system, which may contribute positively to the permission delivery. Before tracer application, the natural variations of the participating end members' tracer signals have to be evaluated locally. To obtain a sufficient volume of tracer solution, precipitation can be collected as rain using a detached, large‐scale rain collector, which will be independent from possibly existing surfaces like roofs or drained areas. The collected precipitation is then stored prior to a tracer experiment.
Fool's gold or value for money? The link between abnormal audit fees, audit firm type, fair‐value disclosures, and market valuation
2019-04-30

We analyze whether the audit firm type and abnormal audit fees are associated with the market valuation of banks' fair‐value assets. Our results indicate that different auditor types use different strategies when auditing fair values. First, we show that Big 4 auditors restrict the Level 3 valuations to the most illiquid assets. Thus, those banks audited by a Big 4 auditor have a lower proportion of Level 3 assets. Second, the market discount on the Level 3 assets is higher for the banks audited by a Big 4 auditor than for those audited by a non‐Big 4 auditor. Third, the discount on the Level 3 portfolios of banks with non‐Big 4 auditors is higher if the unexpected audit fees are high. Thus, non‐Big 4 auditors seem to allow more high‐uncertainty valuations but charge a risk premium. We find similar effects for industry‐specialist auditors.
Project AutoVision: Localization and 3D Scene Perception for an Autonomous Vehicle with a Multi-Camera System
2019-05-01

Project AutoVision aims to develop localization and 3D scene perception capabilities for a self-driving vehicle. Such capabilities will enable autonomous navigation in urban and rural environments, in day and night, and with cameras as the only exteroceptive sensors. The sensor suite employs many cameras for both 360-degree coverage and accurate multi-view stereo; the use of low-cost cameras keeps the cost of this sensor suite to a minimum. In addition, the project seeks to extend the operating envelope to include GNSS-less conditions which are typical for environments with tall buildings, foliage, and tunnels. Emphasis is placed on leveraging multi-view geometry and deep learning to enable the vehicle to localize and perceive in 3D space. This paper presents an overview of the project, and describes the sensor suite and current progress in the areas of calibration, localization, and perception.
Development of the PGx‐Passport: A Panel of Actionable Germline Genetic Variants for Pre‐Emptive Pharmacogenetic Testing
2019-05-01

Pre‐emptive pharmacogenetics ( PG x) testing of a panel of germline genetic variants represents a new model for personalized medicine. Clinical impact of PG x testing is maximized when all variant alleles for which actionable clinical guidelines are available are included in the test panel. However, no such standardized panel has been presented to date, impeding adoption, exchange, and continuity of PG x testing. We, therefore, developed such a panel, hereafter called the PG x‐Passport, based on the actionable Dutch Pharmacogenetics Working Group ( DPWG ) guidelines. Germline‐variant alleles were systematically selected using predefined criteria regarding allele population frequencies, effect on protein functionality, and association with drug response. A PG x‐Passport of 58 germline variant alleles, located within 14 genes ( CYP 2B6 , CYP 2C9 , CYP 2C19 , CYP 2D6 , CYP 3A5 , DPYD , F5 , HLA ‐A , HLA ‐B , NUDT 15 , SLCO 1B1 , TPMT , UGT 1A1 , and VKORC 1 ) was composed. This PG x‐Passport can be used in combination with the DPWG guidelines to optimize drug prescribing for 49 commonly prescribed drugs.
SIOP-E-BTG and GPOH Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Low Grade Glioma
2019-05-01

Abstract Low grade gliomas (LGGs) constitute the largest, yet clinically and (molecular-) histologically heterogeneous group of pediatric brain tumors of WHO grades I and II occurring throughout all pediatric age groups and at all central nervous system (CNS) sites. The tumors are characterized by a slow growth rate and may show periods of growth arrest. Around 40% of all LGG patients can be cured by complete neurosurgical resection and are followed by close observation. In case of relapse, second resection often is possible. Following incomplete resection observation is recommended, as long as there is no radiologic tumor growth and the patient does not suffer from significant, tumor-related symptoms. This also applies to patients with a diagnosis of LGG on the basis of radiological criteria. By contrast, clinical worsening and / or radiologic progression are an indication to treatment with either chemo- or radiotherapy. Overall survival is around 90%, and many patients survive with residual tumor, i. e. they suffer from chronic disease. All patients need comprehensive neuro-oncological care, the principles and details of which are summarized in the current guidelines. These represent standard of care for diagnostic work-up (including neuroimaging and neuropathology), and for therapeutic decisions (including the indications to non-surgical treatment) as well as concepts for neurosurgical intervention, chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as surveillance and rehabilitation. The current treatment algorithm was compiled by members of the LGG working group of the SIOP-E brain tumor group (SIOP-E-BTG) and is based upon the results of previous European LGG studies and international reports.
Early blood-brain barrier dysfunction predicts neurological outcome following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage
2019-05-01

We suggest that early identification of BBBD may serve as a key predictive biomarker for neurological outcome in aSAH. FUND: Dr. Dreier was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (DFG DR 323/5-1 and DFG DR 323/10-1), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) Center for Stroke Research Berlin 01 EO 0801 and FP7 no 602150 CENTER-TBI. Dr. Friedman was supported by grants from Israel Science Foundation and Canada Institute for Health Research (CIHR). Dr. Friedman was supported by grants from European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013; grant #602102).
Real-Time Dense Mapping for Self-Driving Vehicles using Fisheye Cameras
2019-05-01

We present a real-time dense geometric mapping algorithm for large-scale environments. Unlike existing methods which use pinhole cameras, our implementation is based on fisheye cameras whose large field of view benefits various computer vision applications for self-driving vehicles such as visual-inertial odometry, visual localization, and object detection. Our algorithm runs on in-vehicle PCs at approximately 15 Hz, enabling vision-only 3D scene perception for self-driving vehicles. For each synchronized set of images captured by multiple cameras, we first compute a depth map for a reference camera using plane-sweeping stereo. To maintain both accuracy and efficiency, while accounting for the fact that fisheye images have a lower angular resolution, we recover the depths using multiple image resolutions. We adopt the fast object detection framework, YOLOv3, to remove potentially dynamic objects. At the end of the pipeline, we fuse the fisheye depth images into the truncated signed distance function (TSDF) volume to obtain a 3D map. We evaluate our method on large-scale urban datasets, and results show that our method works well in complex dynamic environments.
S2k guidelines for Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC, neuroendocrine carcinoma of the skin) – update 2018
2019-05-01

Summary Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC, ICD‐O M8247 / 3) is a rare malignant primary skin tumor with epithelial and neuroendocrine differentiation. The neoplastic cells share many morphological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural characteristics with Merkel cells of the skin. The diagnosis of MCC is rarely made on clinical grounds. Histological and immunohistochemical studies are usually required to confirm the clinical suspicion. Given the frequent occurrence of occult lymph node metastasis, sentinel lymph node biopsy should be performed once distant metastasis has been ruled out by cross‐sectional imaging. Primary tumors without evidence of organ metastases are treated with complete surgical excision with appropriate surgical margins. Radiation therapy should be considered at all stages of the disease. For advanced MCC that is no longer amenable to curative treatment by surgery or radiation therapy, there is currently no established systemic therapy for which an improvement in recurrence‐free survival or overall survival has been demonstrated in a prospective randomized trial. However, immunotherapy using PD‐1/PD‐L1 blockade seems to be superior to chemotherapy. Various factors warrant that further diagnostic and therapeutic interventions be determined by an interdisciplinary tumor board. These factors include the tumor's aggressiveness, the frequent indication for sentinel lymph node biopsy along with the frequent occurrence in the head and neck region, the potential indication for adjuvant radiation therapy as well as the complexity of the required diagnostic workup.
Update Breast Cancer 2019 Part 3 – Current Developments in Early Breast Cancer: Review and Critical Assessment by an International Expert Panel
2019-05-01

Abstract The treatment of breast cancer patients in a curative situation is special in many ways. The local therapy with surgery and radiation therapy is a central aspect of the treatment. The complete elimination of tumour cells at the site of the primary disease must be ensured while simultaneously striving to keep the long-term effects as minor as possible. There is still focus on the continued reduction of the invasiveness of local therapy. With regard to systemic therapy, chemotherapies with taxanes, anthracyclines and, in some cases, platinum-based chemotherapies have become established in the past couple of decades. The context for use is being continually further defined. Likewise, there are questions in the case of antihormonal therapy which also still need to be further defined following the introduction of aromatase inhibitors, such as the length of therapy or ovarian suppression in premenopausal patients. Finally, personalisation of the treatment of early breast cancer patients is also being increasingly used. Prognostic tests could potentially support therapeutic decisions. It must also be considered how the possible use of new therapies, such as checkpoint inhibitors and CDK4/6 inhibitors could look in practice once study results in this regard are available. This overview addresses the backgrounds on the current votes taken by the international St. Gallen panel of experts in Vienna in 2019 for current questions in the treatment of breast cancer patients in a curative situation.
Lower bound on the Hartree-Fock energy of the electron gas
2019-05-01

The Hartree-Fock ground state of the Homogeneous Electron Gas is never\\ntranslation invariant, even at high densities. As proved by Overhauser, the\\n(paramagnetic) free Fermi Gas is always unstable under the formation of spin or\\ncharge density waves. We give here the first explicit bound on the energy gain\\ndue to the breaking of translational symmetry. Our bound is exponentially small\\nat high density, which justifies posteriori the use of the non-interacting\\nFermi Gas as a reference state in the large-density expansion of the\\ncorrelation energy of the Homogeneous Electron Gas. We are also able to discuss\\nthe positive temperature phase diagram and prove that the Overhauser\\ninstability only occurs at temperatures which are exponentially small at high\\ndensity. Our work sheds a new light on the Hartree-Fock phase diagram of the\\nHomogeneous Electron Gas.\\n
Transition of BH feeding from the quiescent regime into star-forming cold disc regime
2019-05-01

We study the properties of rotating accretion flows onto supermassive black\\nholes (SMBHs) using axisymmetric two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations\\nwith radiative cooling and BH feedback. The simulations resolve the accretion\\ndynamics of gas outside from the BH influence radius through an inner accretion\\ndisk. For lower Bondi accretion rates in units of the Eddington rate\\n( ), the BH feeding is suppressed\\ndue to turbulent motion by several orders of magnitudes from the Bondi rate.\\nThus, the radiative luminosity results in as low as , where is the Eddington luminosity.\\nFor higher rates of , the\\noptically-thin accreting gas cools via free-free emission and forms a\\ngeometrically-thin disk, which feeds the BH efficiently and increases the\\nradiative luminosity to . The transitional behavior of\\naccreting BHs in galactic nuclei from radiatively inefficient phases to cold\\ndisk accretion naturally explains (1) the reason for the offset between the\\nobserved luminosities and theoretical predictions for nearby quiescent SMBHs,\\nand (2) the conditions to fuel gas into the nuclear SMBH. In addition, the cold\\ndisk formed in galactic nuclei tends to be gravitationally unstable and leads\\nto star formation when the Bondi rate is as high as . This is a plausible explanation of the\\ncorrelation observed between star formation rates and BH feeding rates in\\nSeyfert galaxies.\\n
The Diagnostic and Clinical Utility of Autoantibodies in Systemic Vasculitis
2019-05-01

Considerable progress has been made in understanding the role of autoantibodies in systemic vasculitides (SV), and consequently testing for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA), anti-glomerular basement membrane antibodies (anti-GBM), and anti-C1q antibodies is helpful and necessary in the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of small-vessel vasculitis. ANCA-directed proteinase 3 (PR3-) or myeloperoxidase (MPO-) are sensitive and specific serologic markers for ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV), anti-GBM antibodies are highly specific for the patients with anti-GBM antibody disease (formerly Goodpasture’s syndrome), and autoantibodies to C1q are characteristic of hypocomlementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome (HUVS; anti-C1q vasculitis). The results of a current EUVAS study have led to changes in the established strategy for the ANCA testing in small-vessel vasculitis. The revised 2017 international consensus recommendations for ANCA detection support the primary use PR3- and MPO-ANCA immunoassays without the categorical need for additional indirect immunofluorescence (IIF). Interestingly, the presence of PR3- and MPO-ANCA have led to the differentiation of distinct disease phenotype of AAV: PR3-ANCA-associated vasculitis (PR3-AAV), MPO-ANCA-associated vasculitis (MPO-AAV), and ANCA-negative vasculitis. Further studies on the role of these autoantibodies are required to better categorize and manage appropriately the patients with small-vessel vasculitis and to develop more targeted therapy.
Draft Genome Sequence of Chlorobium sp. Strain N1, a Marine Fe(II)-Oxidizing Green Sulfur Bacterium
2019-05-01

Here, we present the draft genome sequence of the halotolerant photoferrotroph Chlorobium sp. strain N1. This draft genome provides insights into the genomic potential of the only marine Fe(II)-oxidizing green sulfur bacterium (GSB) available in culture and expands our views on the metabolic capabilities of Fe(II)-oxidizing GSB more generally.
Identification of roof materials in high-resolution multispectral images for urban planning and monitoring
2019-05-01

While the application of very high-resolution imagery is widely acknowledged, the use of sensors of spatial resolutions of five meters and above is constrained in urban settings because of limitations due to the mixed pixel information. This study investigates the potential of Sentinel-2 products for the detection of roof materials in the city of Kigali as input for planning decisions and monitoring of urban expansion. A linear spectral unmixing is applied to spectral information of both artificial and natural surfaces collected in the field. Results indicate that both spatial and radiometric resolution are sufficient to detect even small fractions of roof materials, although a proper calibration and endmember optimization is required. Challenges remain regarding surfaces of similar spectral signatures, such as clay roofs and argillaceous soil, and surfaces which are strongly under-represented within pixels. The spatial distribution of clay roofs as an indicator for upper-class houses matches the reference data collected in the fields, but for a reliable prediction of all materials more attention must be placed on metal roofs of different colors.
Reproducible Scientific Workflows for High Performance and Cloud Computing
2019-05-01

Many complex data analysis tasks are performed by scientific workflows and pipelines deployed on high performance computing (HPC) or cloud computing resources. The complex software stack required by a workflow and unnoticed dependencies can make the deployment of a pipeline a demanding task. Once deployed, workflows tend to be black boxes, especially for users that did not create the pipeline themselves. At the end of a project a researcher should archive the pipeline in order to ensure reproducibility of published results. This paper illustrates a possible solution for each of the three tasks: reproducible deployment via software containers, automated generation of provenance information to break black boxes, and using the CiTAR service for archiving software containers.
The influence of distributed source regions in the formation of the nonlinear distortion component of cubic distortion-product otoacoustic emissions
2019-05-01

Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) are evoked by two stimulus tones with frequency f1 and f2 of ratio f2/f1 in the range between approximately 1.05 and 1.4. This study theoretically and experimentally analyzes the cubic 2f1−f2 DPOAE for different stimulus levels of one of the tones while the other is constant. Simulations for f2/f1 of 1.2 and moderate stimulus levels (30–70 dB sound pressure level) indicate that cubic distortion products are generated along a relatively large length of the basilar membrane, the extent of which increases with stimulus level. However, apical from the place of maximum nonlinear force, the wavelets generated by these distributed sources mutually cancel. Therefore, although the spatial extent of the primary DPOAE sources broadens with increasing stimulus level (up to 1.5 oct), the basilar-membrane region contributing to the DPOAE signal is relatively narrow (0.6 oct) and level independent. The observed dependence of DPOAE amplitude on stimulus level can be well-approximated by a point source at the basilar-membrane place where the largest distortion product (maximum of the nonlinear force) is generated. Onset and offset of the DPOAE signal may contain amplitude overshoots (complexities), which are in most cases asymmetrical. Two-tone suppression was identified as the main cause of these onset and offset complexities. DPOAE measurements in two normal-hearing subjects support the level dependence of the steady-state DPOAE amplitude and the asymmetry in the onset and offset responses predicted by the theoretical analysis.
Bleeding risk of small intracranial aneurysms in a population treated in a reference center
2019-05-01

ABSTRACT Large multicenter studies have shown that small intracranial aneurysms are associated with a minimal risk of bleeding. Nevertheless, other large series have shown that most ruptured aneurysms are, in fact, the smaller ones. In the present study, we questioned whether small aneurysms are indeed not dangerous. Methods: We enrolled 290 patients with newly-diagnosed aneurysms at our institution over a six-year period (43.7% ruptured). We performed multivariate analyses addressing epidemiological issues, cardiovascular diseases, and three angiographic parameters (largest aneurysm diameter, neck diameter and diameter of the nutrition vessel). Risk estimates were calculated using a logistic regression model. Aneurysm size parameters were stratified according to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Finally, we calculated odds ratios for rupture based on the ROC analysis. Results: The mean largest diameter for the ruptured versus unruptured groups was 13.3 ± 1.7 mm versus 22.2 ± 2.2 mm (p &lt; 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed a positive correlation between rupture and arterial hypertension (p &lt; 0.001) and an inverse correlation with all three angiographic measurements (all p &lt; 0.01). Aneurysms from the anterior cerebral artery bled more often (p &lt; 0.05). According to the ROC curves, at the largest diameter of 15 mm, the sensitivity and specificity to predict rupture were 83% and 36%, respectively. Based on this stratification, we calculated the chance of rupture for aneurysms smaller than 15 mm as 46%, which dropped to 25% for larger aneurysms. Conclusion: In the population studied at our institution, small aneurysms were more prone to bleeding. Therefore, the need for intervention for small aneurysms should not be overlooked.
Real-time Model Based Path Planning for Wheeled Vehicles
2019-05-01

This work presents a model based traversability analysis method which employs a detailed vehicle model to perform real-time path planning in complex environments. The vehicle model represents the vehicle's wheels and chassis, allowing it to accurately predict the vehicles 3D pose, detailed contact information for each wheel and the occurrence of a chassis collision given a 2D pose on an elevation map. These predictions are weighted, depending on the safety requirements of the vehicle, to provide a scoring function for an A*-like search strategy. The proposed method is designed to run at frame rates of 30Hz on data from a RGB-D sensor to provide reactive planning of safe paths. For evaluation, two wheeled mobile robots in different simulated and real world environment setups were tested to show the reliability and performance of the proposed method.
DYNAMICS, NUMERICAL ANALYSIS, AND SOME GEOMETRY
2019-05-01

Geometric aspects play an important role in the construction and analysis of structure-preserving numerical methods for a wide variety of ordinary and partial differential equations. Here we review the development and theory of symplectic integrators for Hamiltonian ordinary and partial differential equations, of dynamical low-rank approximation of time-dependent large matrices and tensors, and its use in numerical integrators for Hamiltonian tensor network approximations in quantum dynamics.