This paper focuses on the computation of the joint spectral radius (JSR), when the involved matrices are sparse. We provide a sparse variant of the procedure proposed by Parrilo and Jadbabaie to compute upper bounds of the JSR by means of sum-of-squares (SOS) programming. Our resulting iterative algorithm, called SparseJSR, is based on the term sparsity SOS (TSSOS) framework developed by Wang, Mag

OBJECTIVES: To define the clinical spectrum time-course and prognosis of non-Asian patients positive for anti-MDA5 antibodies.METHODS: We conducted a multicentre, international, retrospective cohort study.RESULTS: 149 anti-MDA5 positive patients (median onset age 53 years, median disease duration 18 months), mainly females (100, 67%), were included. Dermatomyositis (64, 43%) and amyopathic dermato

The European Spallation Source, currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, will be the world's most powerful neutron source. It is driven by a proton linac with a current of 62.5 mA, 2.86 ms long pulses at 14 Hz. The final section of its normal-conducting front-end consists of a 39 m long drift tube linac (DTL) divided into five tanks, designed to accelerate the proton beam from 3.6 MeV to 90 M

The nature of quadrupole and octupole collectivity in Rn222 was investigated by determining the electric-quadrupole (E2) and octupole (E3) matrix elements using subbarrier, multistep Coulomb excitation. The radioactive Rn222 beam, accelerated to 4.23 MeV/u, was provided by the HIE-ISOLDE facility at CERN. Data were collected in the Miniball γ-ray spectrometer following the bombardment of two targe

The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study enrolled 8676 children, 3-4 months of age, born with HLA-susceptibility genotypes for islet autoimmunity (IA) and type 1 diabetes (T1D). Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed in 1119 children in a nested case-control study design. Telomere length was estimated from WGS data using five tools: Computel, Telseq, Telomerecat,

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) biomarkers can diagnose and prognosticate kidney disease. Renal volume validation studies are however scarce, and measurements are limited by use of contrast agent or advanced post-processing.Purpose: To validate a widely available non-contrast-enhanced MRI method for quantification of renal cortical and medullary volumes in pigs; investigate observer v

The MM500 study is an initiative to map the protein levels in malignant melanoma tumor samples, focused on in-depth histopathology coupled to proteome characterization. The protein levels and localization were determined for a broad spectrum of diverse, surgically isolated melanoma tumors originating from multiple body locations. More than 15,500 proteoforms were identified by mass spectrometry, f

Metrics are instrumental in design assessments. Solar performance metrics help designers to evaluate solar access in cities. Metrics should be used early in the urban planning stages in order to enable sustainable urban development with greater access to solar energy. Currently, solar assessments at this design stage are limited in practice; established methods or routines are lacking, and so are

OBJECTIVE: Copy number variation of the C4 complement components, C4A and C4B, has been associated with systemic inflammatory autoimmune diseases. We asked if C4 copy number variation is connected to the autoimmune repertoire in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) or myositis.METHODS: Using targeted DNA sequencing, we determined the copy number and genetic variants

Background: Herbivores modify the structure and function of tundra ecosystems. Understanding their impacts is necessary to assess the responses of these ecosystems to ongoing environmental changes. However, the effects of herbivores on plants and ecosystem structure and function vary across the Arctic. Strong spatial variation in herbivore effects implies that the results of individual studies on

Background: Factor H regulates the alternative pathway of complement. The protein has three heparin-binding sites, is synthesized primarily in the liver and copurifies from platelets with thrombospondin-1. Factor H mutations at the C-terminus are associated with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition in which platelets are consumed. Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate if f

Objectives The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is one of the most commonly used measures for screening, diagnosing and monitoring of depression. So far, four studies have examined some of the psychometric properties of Persian version of PHQ-9 in physical and psychiatric patients; however, some aspects of its psychometrics have not yet been adequately evaluated in the student population. Th

We introduce a new family of continuous distributions and study the mathematical properties of the new family. Some useful characterizations based on the ratio of two truncated moments and hazard function are also presented. We estimate the model parameters by the maximum likelihood method and assess its performance based on biases and mean squared errors in a simulation study framework.

In this paper, a flexible modified extended exponential power life testing (MEEPLT) distribution is proposed. The MEEPLT distribution has increasing, decreasing and bathtub hazard rate function. The MEEPLT density is arc, left skewed, right-skewed and symmetrical shaped. The MEEPLT distribution is developed on the basis of the generalized Pearson differential equation. Some structural and mathemat

Industrial control systems (ICSs) are a significant part of industry and they play an important role in monitoring and controlling industrial processes. Traditionally, ICSs have been isolated from the Internet, and thereby secured from various Internet-based security threats. In recent years, since the cloud can provide huge advantages regarding storage and computing resources, industry has been m

Wild chimpanzee populations in West Africa (Pan troglodytes verus) have dramatically decreased as a direct consequence of anthropogenic activities and infectious diseases. Little information is currently available on the epidemiology, pathogenic significance, and zoonotic potential of protist species in wild chimpanzees. This study investigates the occurrence and genetic diversity of intestinal an