Food was sparse, and the quarters were so tight that many prisoners had been forced to remain standing through the night.
From that moment of encounter in Avignon anyway – whether mythic or actual - flowed the inspiration for the Rime Sparse, written over the next quarter of a century: poems dwelling on Petrarch's helpless love for Laura, his dreaming and desires, his excited and jaded senses, his dismay at his own ageing and his grief over Laura's death – and on the work of poetry, forging its tribute to her.
The sparsity of sparse signal set as a quarter of the number of rows of the sensing matrix in OMP algorithm needs special note.
Most of the rooms, including former servants' quarters, are small and sparse, but for those who prefer more sumptuous accommodations, there are three luxury suites with four-poster beds and private baths.
Cukurcuma is in Beyoglu, Istanbul's pulsating west-thinking quarter where the nightlife is frenetic and head veils are sparse.
On Saturdays away from the market, with most businesses closed and traffic sparse, the neighborhood is usually quiet with a pleasant feeling of openness, in contrast to the French Quarter's throngs of sightseers.
On a recent Tuesday morning flight to Long Beach, about a quarter of the 162 seats were filled; a return flight during the evening rush was equally sparse.
This sparse network, totaling 86,000 kilometers, or 54,000 miles, at the end of 2009, is so overburdened that it carries a quarter of the world's rail traffic on about 6 percent of the world's lines.
Challenges such as economic insecurity, misguided immigration laws, and sparse Hispanic representation in government continue to limit the opportunities of a community poised to form over one quarter of the nation's population by 2050.
